Echoes of Grace: 1975

In that playful marine acrobat, the porpoise, the shark has an enemy that will permit no intrusion on its feeding grounds. This fact came out in the course of a story told about themselves by two old and experienced Christian fishermen while conducting a fishing excursion off Swan Beach, New Jersey, years ago. The story which appeared first in Harper's Weekly was as follows: "Some ten years ago we were hard drinkers, swearers, wild surf men and fishermen. We never entered a church, and cared neither for God nor devil.

“On a fine Sunday morning in August, we started at daylight for this very reef of rocks. With plenty of bait, we looked for four or five hundred-weight of seabass, flounders, and black-fish. At first we pulled them up as fast as our lines touched bottom; then we had not a single bite.

“Surprised, we looked up and around, preparatory to changing our ground. To our astonishment the water was alive with sharks. We commenced pulling up our anchor, when a savage fish rushed to the bow of the boat and bit the rope in two. Then we hoisted sail, but the moment we put the steering oar into the water, several sharks began biting it into pieces. So we were compelled to take in sail, and drift.

“We were in the midst of a school of sharks two miles long and half a mile broad. They were of all sizes, from six feet long to twelve or fourteen. They swarmed around our boat, and dashed it one third full of water with their tails. We had to bail, one with his hat, and the other with the bait pail. Every moment some big fellow would put his nose almost on our gunwale, while his yellow tiger eye glared ferociously at our pale faces.

“One shark dashed at the boat and seized one of the side planks, and almost shook us out of our seats. Fortunately his teeth broke off, and away he went with a bleeding jaw. In a moment he was torn into pieces, and devoured. Then the school returned to us again.

“We were in despair, and never expected to see shore again. We could not sail, we could not row, and were drifting out to sea. Finally Charley said: "Bill, we are in an awful mess. Let us see if God will help us!' We knelt down, and prayed for help, confessed our sins, and promised amendment and repentance. We had hardly finished before we saw a great school of porpoises. They hurled themselves out of water, jumping twenty feet at a bound. Soon we were in the midst of them. The sharks started out to sea, but the porpoises were too quick for them. They bit and tore the sharks fearfully. Sometimes three porpoises would have hold of one shark. Then they jumped out of the water and fell heavily on those tigers of the ocean. The fight continued for miles. We were saved and rowed safely to shore.”

God's promise in Psa. 50:15 is, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”

In their "day of trouble" the two evidently doomed fishermen called on God. He answered by providentially delivering them from the sharks by means of the porpoises. They lived to prove subsequently, that God sent His Son to save them from their sins (Matt. 1:21). And in their godly walk that followed that "great salvation", the last part of the verse was fulfilled in their lives: "Thou shalt glorify Me.”

Two Classes

However much we choose to divide mankind into races, religions, stations, or attainments, God recognizes only two classes. All that men cling to, and hold most dear, counts in His eyes as but little worth—just the small dust in His scales. The Scriptures define each class very minutely and conclusively, giving the character of each:

Class 1. THE LOST SINNER. "DEAD in trespasses and sins;... by nature the children of wrath" (Eph. 2:1-3). "All have sinned" (Rom. 3:23).

Class 2. THE SAVED SINNER. Christ "who knew no sin" was "made sin for us" (1 Peter 2:21, 2 Cor. 5:21). "We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Eph. 1:7).

Dear reader, to which class do you belong?

No Difference

Louis IX, King of France, was found instructing a poor kitchen boy in God's plan of redemption. Asked why he troubled himself with the lad, the king replied: "The poorest person has a soul as precious as my own, and may be bought with the same precious blood of Christ.”

Jimmy Davis

He was a Chinese lad from Swatow but had spent much of his boyhood as an urchin on the streets of Shanghai where he had early become acquainted with all the vice and corruption of that city.

As he roamed the streets he discovered that the neighborhood of the U. S. gunboats was a fine place to get scraps of food, and so day after day would find him there to paw over the garbage or get handouts from the cooks.

He was an unusually bright and ambitious lad and he soon attracted the notice of some of the sailors and marines. Finally, to his great pride, he was installed as "Cook's boy" on one of the gunboats.

While working on this ship, Jimmy had great expectations that he would in time become an American citizen. But before he could attain this hope, the ship was decommissioned and had to return to the U. S. She was not allowed to take any Chinese personnel with her, so poor Jimmy again returned to the streets.

As he had picked up a good deal of English by this time, Jimmy began to spend his time in the parts of Shanghai where there were more foreigners, and so came in contact with numbers of missionaries. One of these missionaries took him into his own home and sent him to a Christian school. He treated him like a son, but in spite of all his efforts, he finally had to let him go, for it seemed that Jimmy was bound to live his own life. However, "There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24). His eye was upon the wayward lad and He would not let him go.

One memorable evening found Jimmy among a small group gathered for Bible reading in the back room of a Shanghai Bible shop. During the course of the meeting the teacher inquired: "Jimmy, if somebody wanted to buy you, how much do you suppose you would be worth?" Jimmy considered the question carefully and then he answered with great conviction.

“A strong, smart boy of fifteen should be worth at least three thousand dollars!”

“Well, Jimmy, Jesus wants you how much are you worth to Him?" That was another story! Tears suddenly streamed down his face as he replied, "I wouldn't be worth hardly anything to Him." His stated price fell rapidly lower and lower till finally Jimmy had figured that he was "Worth only two cents to Jesus.”

He then received, however, a new idea of what he was really worth. With a shock, which for the moment knocked all the pride out of him, Jimmy learned that the Lord Jesus had esteemed his soul to be of more value than the whole world and had given His own life upon the cross to purchase him, and redeem him from a life of uselessness and sin that he might love and serve God.

Jimmy had often heard his missionary friends read from the Bible such verses as "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15), and that "He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world" (Gal. 1:4), but until that day Jimmy had never grasped that it was for him that the Lord Jesus died. Now he realized how worthless he was, indeed, but that Christ should love him was a marvel that he could not understand. But he believed it, and the wonderful truth changed his life completely. His great desire now was to serve in some way the Lord who loved him so greatly.

He left Shanghai some years before World War 2 and went to Hong Kong with the expectation that he might be able to make the gospel known to the thousands of Swatow Chinese who worked in Hong Kong. But he did not find very many who had any interest beyond the question of where their next day's rice would come from.

As soon as the war came, Jimmy's foreign friends were scattered, and he found himself alone. It was apparently that which brought him, on Pearl Harbor Day, knocking at the door of two Canadian missionaries who had decided to ride out the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.

Throughout the troublous days of the fighting and the vicissitudes which followed, he shared their dangers. However, Jimmy was essentially a restless character. He had never stayed very long in one place, and his thoughts began to turn again to Shanghai which was more like home to him than anywhere else in China.

He found, however, on his arrival again in Shanghai that all his missionary friends had either returned to their homelands or been interned by the invading Japanese. But the servant left in charge of one of their houses allowed Jimmy to make it his home.

From there he went out faithfully and alone day by day to the villages round about Shanghai and preached the gospel to his countrymen. One such expedition however left him worn out, hungry and ill, and the following morning he failed to appear as usual. When the servant went to his room to find out where he was, he found the Lord had called Jimmy Davis to Himself. He who makes no mistakes had taken him to His eternal home.

Jesus Is Able

“Turn your field glasses on that spot on the mountain side, sir, and you will see a lost sheep!" The words were spoken by an old servant to a tourist as they hunted deer together in the Highlands of Scotland, and sure enough, he was able to discern the poor creature on a ledge of rock. Above it were unscalable crags, and beneath it a precipice that dropped down a sheer 500 feet. "However could it have got there without flying?" exclaimed the visitor.

“Do you see a few yards down from the top of the cliff a narrow ledge of rock from which the grass has been eaten, and again to the right, another, and lower down another, and still another just above the one upon which the sheep is now? Well, that silly creature, tempted by those green-looking ledges, has scrambled from one to another, and can't get back.”

“But can nothing be done to save it?”

“Nothing," was the answer. "Even if anybody were foolish enough to risk his life in trying, the poor beast is in such a nervous state now that at the sound of anyone approaching, it would leap over the precipice. And there's an eagle waiting for its prey. Nothing can save it.”

Dear reader, if unsaved, your lost soul is in as great and imminent danger as that sheep was. Jesus alone can reach you and save you!"He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." Heb. 7:25.

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else." Isa. 45:22.

God Holding Out His Hands

I said one night to a hard old sinner who had come on several occasions to the gospel services, "Is it not time you turned to Christ for salvation?”

He told me that he had done so that very night, and that he was a saved man.

I asked him how he knew this. Was it because he had determined to give up the drink and live a decent life?

He said, "No it was not that; but while you were preaching I thought I saw God holding out His hands to me and saying, 'I will receive you just as you are.' And I just came.”

The Indian's Prayer

One of the most touching and beautiful expressions of the Indian faith and true piety is found in the following hymn, composed long ago by one of these converted warriors of the prairie. His name was William Apes, born in Massachusetts, a descendant of the Indian warrior king, Philip.

“I shall never forget", writes an old laborer for God among the Indians, "the effect that the hymn produced upon a crowd of working men when it was sung in the open-air by a native, his dark face beaming with heavenly joy as known only to those who have Christ dwelling in their hearts.”

In de dark wood, no Indian nigh,

Den me look heaben, send up cry,

Upon my knees so low,

Dat God on high, in shinee place,

See me in night, with teary face;

De missionary tell me so.

God send Him angel take me care;

Him come He self and hear un prayer,

If Indian heart do pray.

God see me now, He know me here,

He say, poor Indian, never fear,

Me wid you night and day.

So, me lub God wid inside heart;

He fight for me, He take my part.

He save my life before.

God lub poor Indian in de wood;

So me lub God, and dat be good;

Me pray Him two times more.

When me be old, me head be gray,

Den He no lebe me; so He say,

Me wid you till you die.

Den take me up to shine place,

See white man, red man, black man's face,

All happy like on high.

Few days, den God will come to me,

He knock off chains, He set me free,

Den take me up on high.

Den Indian sing His praises blest,

And lub and praise Him wid de rest,

And neber, neber cry.

“He that has received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." John 3:33.

Where Am I Going?

She was an only child, an heiress. Lovely and accomplished, she lived for this world, and this world offered her no ordinary attractions. Idolized by her parents, loved by her fiance, she knew not the meaning of a wish ungratified.

But an unexpected Visitor arrived at the mansion. The eye of affection soon perceived that the seeds of a dread disease had taken root. The skilled physician pronounced the heartrending verdict that her days were numbered.

“Father", said she, "I am about to die. Where am I going?”

Her father gave no reply.

“Mother, can you tell me what I am to do to get to heaven?”

Her only reply was a flood of tears.

“William, you who were to be the guide of my life, can you tell me anything of the future?" Again there was no response.

“I'm lost!" she exclaimed. "Am I not, Father? Is there anyone who can tell me what I must do to be saved?”

At length the father spoke.

“My child, you have always been a dutiful daughter, and have never grieved your parents. You have regularly attended church, and helped in the services. The minister has performed the rites of the church, and expressed himself satisfied with your state.”

“But I feel that is not enough. It is no rest to my soul. It is hollow it is not real. O! I am about to die, and I don't know where I am going. Can no one teach me what I can do to be saved?”

Death was in their midst. Eternity was looming before them. They knew not how to answer the agonizing appeal of an immortal soul, awakened to a sense of sin—to a dread appearing before—God to the terrors of hell.

By the grace of God, like Naaman of old, she was waited on by a young girl who was in the habit of attending a meeting held in the village where prayer and praise were offered up in simplicity, and where they sang the old hymns—

"There is a fountain filled with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel's veins,

And sinners plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.”

"God laid our sins on Jesus,

The spotless Lamb of God;

He bore them all and freed us

From the accursed load:”

She longed to tell her mistress that she might "wash and be clean," but felt diffident. At last she took courage, and told her mistress, "There is a preacher in the village who tells all they can have salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he urges us to accept forgiveness freely offered in the gospel.”

“O if I could only see him," she exclaimed. She asked her father to invite the strange preacher to the house, and her wish was granted. Again the family were assembled, as the strange preacher entered the room. The dying girl, raising herself, appealed to him: "Can you tell me what must I do to obtain rest for my soul, and die at peace with God?”

“I fear I cannot.”

“Is there no hope for me?”

“Stay," said he, "though I cannot tell you what you can do to be saved, I can tell you what has been done for you!

"Jesus Christ, the Savior-God, has completely finished a work by which lost and helpless sinners may be righteously saved. God, who is love, saw us in our lost and ruined state. He pitied us, and in love and compassion sent Jesus to die for us.

“'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“He shed His precious blood on the accursed tree in the place of sinners, that they might be pardoned and saved.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'”

“And I have nothing to do?”

“Nothing, but to believe. No doing, working, praying, giving, or abstaining, can give relief to the conscience burdened with a sense of guilt, or rest to the troubled heart. It is not a work done in you by yourself, but a work done for you by another, long ago. Jesus has completed the work of our redemption. He has said. "It is finished." Through faith in Him you have pardon. It is impossible to add anything to the perfect work of Christ. Doing is not God's way of salvation, but ceasing from doing, and believing what God in Christ has already done for you. God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son:”

“I do believe that Jesus died on the cross for sinners; but how am I to know that God has accepted me?" she asked.

“Jesus the God-man has ascended into heaven. He has presented His blood before God, and has been accepted for us; and when you believe, you are accepted in Him.”

The awakened sinner listened with breathless attention. She received the Word of God, which revealed Christ to her soul. The glad tidings of salvation fell as balm upon her wounded spirit. Her face was lit up with heaven's sunlight. Looking upwards she exclaimed, "O, what love! what grace!"

Soon after she went home to be with Jesus, triumphant and rejoicing in her salvation.

Christ Is Coming!

“What's coming out of all this?" exclaimed a bewildered man of the world as he surveyed the news headlines reporting the earth-shaking events accruing almost everywhere today. To this a Christian gave the following terse reply:

“Christ Is Coming”

On this momentous subject another has penned the following faithful appeal: 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 left behind for judgment. Think of it—left behind for judgment. The Lord Jesus said "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man." How was it in the days of Noah? 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 hence will be damned throughout eternity. Shall you be one of them?

No Mercy!

There will be terrible crying and wailing in that day, men and women crying out for mercy, and wailing because no mercy can be found. Will your voice be heard?

The myriads who have heard the gospel of God's grace, and turned carelessly away, will realize then that the day of grace is past, and that their doom is forever fixed. Shall you be one of them? Oh, mad lingerer on the brink of that abyss at whose foot dash and roar the flaming waves of eternal judgment, I warn you that Christ's coming is no mere fancy of a disordered mind. Already there are to be heard the mutterings of the approaching tempest. Dare you trifle with the solemn question of your soul's salvation! I solemnly warn you, by Christ's dread appearing, by the love that you have for your soul, by the fear of hell's eternal torment, to fly this moment for refuge to that Savior who still cries, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

Better Than Lighting His Pipe

“It will do to light my pipe" said a man with a laugh, as he accepted a gospel tract. That night, through the providence of God, sleep left him. Getting out of bed for something in his pocket, he came on the tract; and just for something to do, read it. The message arrested him and he did not sleep till he had the peace of God in his heart with the assurance of salvation. The tract served a better purpose than lighting his pipe; it lighted his life to time and eternity.

Five Things That Must Happen

1. Every eye SHALL SEE HIM. (Rev. 1:7.)

2. All the dead SHALL HEAR HIS VOICE, and shall come forth from their graves. (John 5:28.)

3. EVERY KNEE must bow to Jesus. (Phil. 2:10.)

4. EVERY TONGUE must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Phil. 2:11.)

5. EVERY ONE OF US must give an account of himself to God. (Rom. 14:12.)

The Good Black Doctor

In the Franco-Prussian war, which culminated at Sedan, there was a great International Hospital in the town, at the head of which was a distinguished doctor from St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He died there from smallpox caught from a patient, and was so much beloved that he was given a military funeral, which was followed by the troops of both armies and headed by the Mayor of Sedan. This distinguished physician was Dr. Davis, generally known as "The Good Black Doctor.”

He came from Barbados. His father was a European, his mother, a Barbadian. He himself was as black as ebony, a tall and distinguished-looking man. He sent the following account of his last journey, to his friend, Dr. A. T. Schofield, one week before he succumbed to the fatal disease.

At Charring Cross he walked slowly along the platform until he found a seat. Opposite to him sat a little old lady with very bright eyes, busily engaged in knitting. Next to her was her somewhat stolid and burly husband. In the far corner a gentleman sat reading The Times, while at Dr. Davis' side were two elderly and prim ladies.

The doctor, being tired, put his hat upon the rack, and donned a dark velvet cap, whose blue tassel and gold embroidery gave him a striking appearance. He leaned back in the seat, and with closed eyes heard the following conversation between the little lady opposite him, and her husband: "What a handsome man, John!”

“Hush, my dear; he may hear what you say."

“And what if he does?" she retorted. "He can't understand a single word.”

“Don't be too sure of that.”

“Oh, John, you are so foolish. Cannot you see who he is?”

“Well, no, my dear; I cannot say that I do.”

“Why, he's one of those African Princes you read about that have come over to see the Queen. He's as black as coal.”

“You can't be sure, my dear, who he is," said John feebly.

“I tell you he's an African Prince," said his little wife with decision. "Isn't it awful, John, to think that poor heathen is now leaving this country, and probably doesn't even know he's got a soul. I call it disgraceful.”

“Well, you cannot help it, my dear," said John soothingly.

“Can't I?" replied the lady with spirit. "I'd soon let him know if I could speak his language. It's dreadful to think of.”

Just then the train was passing the Crystal Palace on the right. Its panes of glass were shining like diamonds in the rays of the afternoon sun. The gentleman behind The Times began: "Wonderful building that; how fine it looks. I hear it's full of students of an evening. What advantages our young people have now. There was nothing like it in my school life. Young men and women have much to be thankful for today.”

“I'm not so sure of that," replied the little lady to whom he seemed to be addressing his remarks. "I don't see that children now are any better than we were; indeed, in many respects they are worse. These huge places of amusement do a lot of harm. Boys and girls do pretty much as they like now; while as for morality, the less said the better.”

Dr. Davis saw his opportunity, and in the purest English said as he slowly opened his eyes and leaned forward "Morality, ma'am?”

“Oh, sir, I'm so sorry. I'd no idea you understood our language. I don't know what you must think of me!”

“I think you said 'morality,' ma'am?" repeated Dr. Davis.

“Yes, sir, I did. Morality, sir, is a very good thing for both worlds.”

“For both worlds?" he inquired.

“For both worlds, sir. There is another besides ours-indeed, there are two; one is called heaven and the other is called hell.”

“And what are they like, ma'am?”

“Heaven, sir, is where the angels are, and where all the good people go all gold and glass, and harps and happiness; and hell, sir, is where the devil is, and is a dreadful place, where all the bad and wicked people are all flames and horrid darkness; and we must go to one or the other when we die.”

The "African Prince" leaned forward full of interest.

“And how can we get to heaven, ma'am?”

“Well, sir," said the little lady."It's quite easy. Of course, you must be good, and kind to all and forgive everyone their offenses. And you must be baptized and be sorry for your sins, and go to church and take the sacrament, and love your enemies, help the poor, and do as you would be done by, and and that's the way to heaven. Isn't it, John?”

“Quite right, my dear," answered her husband. And then to Dr. Davis, who was still politely listening, he said: "I might say, sir, if you wish any further information on these matters, we have a most excellent clergyman at Folkestone who will tell you all you wish to know. I can give you his address.”

“Sir," replied the black doctor, "we are traveling at fifty miles an hour, and I should like to be sure now of the way to heaven.”

“Well, sir," interposed the little lady rather piqued "haven't I just told you word for word, just as it's written in the Bible?”

“The Bible, ma'am?”

“Oh, ma'am," said the doctor. "I should much like to see it in the Bible.”

“The Bible, sir; the Bible is God's Book, written to tell us the way to heaven. You'll find it all there exactly as I've said.”

“And so you shall, sir," replied the little lady, who proceeded to hunt in her bag. After she had rummaged in it for some time without success, she turned to the unsympathetic John, "Have you got a Bible anywhere?”

“No, my dear, I haven't; and you had much better leave the gentleman alone.”

Nothing, however, could daunt the lady's missionary zeal.

“Excuse me, sir," she said, addressing the gentleman in the corner, "Have you a Bible?”

“No, I have not, ma'am; and I consider these religious conversations in railway coaches most improper.”

“Have you a Bible?" pursued the little lady, nothing daunted, turning to the two maiden ladies in turn.

“No," replied each one in succession, "I'm afraid we have not.”

“Dear me," said the little lady. "I fear, sir, we haven't a Bible in the coach.' I'm so sorry. But I have told you word for word the way to heaven; and as John, my husband, sir, says, our vicar will be most pleased to see you at Folkestone.”

“I wish I could see the passage now," said Dr. Davis with a sigh, as he leaned back again and closed his eyes.

There was silence once more in the carriage as the train roared through the dusk of the evening.

After a while Dr. Davis slowly felt in his coat pocket, and drew out a small book. Leaning forward once more, and holding it out, he said to the lady, "Was that what you were looking for?”

“Oh dear, yes, sir. Why, that's the Testament—the very Book.”

“The Testament, ma'am?”

“Yes, sir, the Bible has two Testaments; there is the Old Testament and the New.”

“And which is this, ma'am?”

“This, sir, is the New.”

“And which tells us the way to Heaven?"

“Why, the New, sir; that's the very Book!"

“Would you kindly show me the passage you spoke of, ma'am?”

“With pleasure, sir," said the lady bright again with missionary zeal, taking the Book in her hand.

She then rapidly turned its pages, first one way and then the other. After fumbling in vain for some minutes, and getting very red, she turned to her husband. "John!" she said.

“Yes, my dear.”

“Do you know where that passage is that tells us the way to heaven?”

“No, I don't, Maria; and you see what a mess you've got into. I haven't the least idea where it is.”

In despair the lady rapidly turned over the pages again, but all in vain. "I'm afraid, sir, I can't lay my hands on the exact passage. I know it's just about here. My poor head is not so young as it once was, and I can't think of the verse. But it's all there, sir, exactly as I told you, for I know it by heart.”

“Would you allow me, ma'am?" said Dr. Davis, very politely, gently taking the Testament out of her hands, and turning the leaves over to John 3:16 which he indicated with his finger. "Was that the passage?”

“Oh, dear, yes, sir; why, they are the very words. Just as I said. Now, sir you can read it for yourself, and see it's all true," and she lay back triumphantly.

“Would you allow me to read this passage aloud, ma'am?”

“Certainly.”

So Dr. Davis read: "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.'

“There, sir," said the lady in high spirits, and evidently without any suspicion of the storm about to burst, "the very words I told you. I'm so glad you've found it. I knew it was there.”

“One moment, ma'am. I should first like to say a word to the gentleman in the corner.

Sir, I don't know who you are, or what you call yourself, but of one thing I am sure. The man that says that a British railway coach is not a place where a supposed heathen (which I thank God I am not) may learn the way to heaven is unworthy of the name of Englishman!”

The little lady quietly applauded.

“But as for you, ma'am," he continued, "you are ten times worse. I came into this carriage, and you believed me to be a heathen Prince, and seemed anxious to tell me the way to heaven; so I asked you, and you told me I had to do this, and that, and the other, and you have never opened your mouth to tell me one word of what Christ has done for me. Not one syllable of all you told me is to be found in this glorious text; no word that it contains has passed your lips. You have utterly misled me. Your religion is two letters short.

“It is ‘D-O,’ do; and mine is ‘D-O-N-E,’ done; and this makes all the difference.”

The poor missionary lady collapsed, while the supposed heathen proclaimed the glorious gospel of the Cross to a now attentive audience, until the train drew up at Folkestone Harbor Station.

On his way to the boat in his mackintosh, for a fine rain was falling, Dr. Davis felt a slight tug at his overcoat. Turning round he found the two maiden ladies at his heels.

“Oh, sir," said the one who had given the pull, "you will excuse us, but we could not let you go without thanking you for the blessing your words have been to us.

“We always thought we had to do our best to get to heaven, and never understood that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had done all the work of atonement for us, and that we can now know that we are saved. (1 John 5:13.)

“Sir," she continued, her eyes full of tears, "we shall have to thank God for all eternity for this afternoon.”

Within a week Dr. Davis himself had passed away to his eternal rest.

The Price

In the reign of Edward 1, the price of a Bible, copied by hand in writing, was 37 pounds and a day—laborer's wage was 3 halfpence. Accordingly, the purchase of a Bible would have been the wages of over fifteen years. Today a Bible can be bought for a dollar or less. We found one used book store which would not sell used Bibles—they gave them away. Millions of copies are distributed free every year. The responsibility of having and reading the Bible was never so great as today.

Are You Acquainted With the Author?

“I am personally acquainted with the author." Such was the simple reply of a humble Christian when challenged by a skeptic as to the authenticity of the Bible.

How many there are who have Bibles but have no personal acquaintance with the Author! How many there are who regard the Bible as merely a masterpiece of English literature, or perhaps go as far as to call it, "The good Book.”

Again, how many there are engaged in the production, distribution and sale of the Bible but ignore its message to them. Like so many in Noah's day standing at the door of the ark, but not entering in. An extreme example of this folly is found in the following story.

A Christian who revered and loved the Bible recently visited a major Bible wholesaler in the United States. The proprietor proudly took him by elevator to the top floor of one of his three warehouses, and from there they toured the building floor by floor, the proprietor describing to him his stocks.

The building contained literally thousands upon thousands of Bibles of almost every size and description in versions acceptable to practically every individual, creed and denomination.

Orders flowed in continuously throughout the working hours from all over the continent; and every order was promptly processed and shipped the same day. In his community the proprietor was rightly regarded as a most successful business man, a good citizen, and incidentally, a millionaire.

On leaving the building, the visitor was presented with a Bible bound in white kid, commemorating his visit, as a souvenir. As he accepted it and thanked the proprietor, he was constrained to inquire, "And do you know the Author of this book?”

To this the proprietor gave no reply, but quickly changed the subject. Evidently the correct answer to his question would have been, "No.”

The Bible is divinely given to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (see Psa. 119:105). To possess, handle or make merchandise of the Bible while closing one's ears to its divine message, is to love darkness rather than light and commit folly in the extreme.

Light obeyed increaseth Light; Light rejected bringeth Night. Who shall give me power to choose If the love of Light I lose?

How Many Are Left?

A woman in the city of Dundee, who had been a profligate, but through faith in Christ had been saved and confessed it, was met by the sneer of a self-righteous woman, to whom she had testified of God's grace, who said, "Do you mind what you used to be when I knew you ten years ago?”

“Yes, and you do not know the half of it: I was far worse than you or anybody else knows. But you forgot one thing, 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin!' How many are left after that?”

This silenced her accuser, as it does the devil (see Rev. 12:11). He cannot stand before the all-cleansing blood. As the hymn states it—His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood avails for me.

I Don't Believe There's Any Hell!

“Say, Mr. Willis," said a red-haired lad of about fourteen, "I don't think there's any hell.”

“Yes you do, Arthur. You know right well there's a hell.”

“No I don't. The minister down at Barton Street church says there isn't any hell, and I don't believe there's one either.”

“Yes, you do. You know perfectly well there's a hell: and you know the wicked will be turned into it.”

“Well, anyway, I wish there wasn't a hell!”

Arthur was honest, and we fear that most of those who "don't believe in hell," if they were honest, would have to say the same thing as Arthur "I wish there wasn't a hell.”

Why?

In what has been described as the most spectacular stunt to be staged at Niagara Falls in more than one hundred years, three iron-nerved French acrobats recently crossed the Niagara River Whirlpool on a motor cycle, balanced on a greasy cable tightrope.

While one of the performers controlled the cycle, the chief aerialist stood, with arms outstretched on framework above him, while below him, dangling by one foot, rode his wife, head down facing the whirlpool. Two hundred feet below them, in a veritable valley of death, the roaring white waters raged, churned and whirled.

Whatever the rewards might be in terms of fame, fortune, thrill or fulfillment few would agree that the risks involved were worth it.

As the whole death-defying spectacle is reviewed in the light of the fatal consequences which might easily have been, all reason asks, "Why?”

Years ago a French peasant woman asked that question of some mountaineers who were about to ascend the perilous crag at the foot of which she lived. They had called at her humble home for refreshment. Having told her their object was to reach the top of the mountain, she exclaimed in astonishment: "Pourquoi?" Why were they about to risk their lives? She who had lived so near had never attempted to gain the summit. It was a dangerous climb; what was the good of it? She could not understand that it was worthwhile. The excitement of adventure, added to by the risks they were to run, did not appeal to her imagination.

Could it be that for a mere view they would place their lives in jeopardy? What was their motive? What was their gain?

Why? Why? The question comes even to you, today, if unsaved.

Why will you risk your eternal safety? Why will you go on day after day without forgiveness, without peace with God, without the salvation of your precious soul? Is it worth it?

Why will ye die? Why will ye not come to Christ and live. Oh, consider the dreadful alternative, to be forever lost. Come to the Savior while yet there is time.

“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.

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

Only Two Classes

There were two classes in the time of the flood in Noah's day—those who were inside the ark, and those who were outside; two in the parable of the gospel—net the good fish and the bad; two in the parable of the ten virgins—the wise and foolish; two in the account of the judgment-day—the sheep and the goats; two—only two—abodes when the last unalterable sentence has been passed—heaven and hell.

A Trifler's End

A youth on board the Harbinger, during her last outward voyage to Melbourne, was asked to come to hear the gospel preached on board by a servant of Christ. To this invitation he made this light and trifling reply: "Heaven is not for sailors, it is only for landsmen"; and he refused to come and listen to the joyful tidings.

Now it happened that this very man had in his possession a small New Testament. Many precious verses were marked in it by some unknown hand, and, among others, Acts 13:38, 39:

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

Had he read those verses? If he had, what a flat denial they should have furnished to his own rash statement, "Heaven is not for sailors," since God has said "All that believe are justified."! Alas! for such hardened mockery.

But now read the solemn sequel. On July 25 he had climbed to the foreroyal (to reach the topmost mast but one), when suddenly he lost his hold, and fell with a sickening crash upon the ship's rail, and from there into the water. The man at the wheel saw the accident, and as he floated astern the crew threw a life-buoy close to him: but to all appearance he was dead; for as he floated past his head was under water. And what use, therefore was all the help in the world to a dead man?

Who can tell what may have passed through his mind on the way between that foreroyal—yard and the ships bulwarks?

May this story be a solemn voice to every soul that reads be he sailor or landsman. The limits of your little history are in God's hands. Remember, "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Prov. 29:1.

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

DESPISE today, and you may

WONDER at your own madness tomorrow and

PERISH forever.

The Sinner's Surety

From whence this fear and unbelief

If God, my God, has put to grief

His spotless Son for me?

Can He, the righteous Judge of men,

Condemn me for that debt of sin,

Which, Lord, was charged to Thee?

Complete atonement Thou hast made

And to the utmost farthing paid

Whate'er Thy people owed;

How, then can wrath on me take place,

Now standing in God's righteousness,

And sprinkled by Thy blood?

If Thou hast my discharge procured,

And freely in my place endured

The whole of wrath divine,

Payment God will not twice demand,

First at my bleeding Surety's hand

And then again at mine.

He Is My Savior Too

“Any razor blades today?" inquired a door-to-door salesman as he entered a car repair shop in Toronto and addressed a young Christian welder, busy with his torch and tools.

“No thank you," replied the welder without raising his head or scarcely noticing the stranger.

The salesman lingered, but instead of pressing the sale, he started to sing softly the well known gospel song: "Jesus did it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed me white as snow.”

Lifting his torch and pushing his dark safety goggles from his eyes, the welder gazed at the singer, whom he immediately discerned to be a young Jew.

“Do you know the meaning of what you are singing?" he demanded.

“Yes, I do.”

“But do you know the real meaning of those words?”

“Yes, I do.”

“But you are a Jew.”

“Paul was a Jew. Paul's Savior was Jesus. And Jesus is my Savior too," replied the young salesman.

Here was a clear confession of faith in the Lord Jesus, by one of that nation of whom the Apostle John wrote: "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:11,12.

On his becoming a Christian, Morris Brook-stone (for this was his name) was cast out by his family and friends in New York and came to Toronto to earn a living and witness for Christ.

His father died some years after his departure and in his will bequeathed Morris two hundred dollars. This he determined to put towards renting a room and buying chairs that he might preach Christ to "his brethren after the flesh" and testify to them of Jesus, who, according to his confession, was Paul's Savior and his Savior too.

Isaiah 53, Verse 6

“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.”

Notice that this verse begins with ALL and ends with ALL. An anxious soul (one of thousands) was directed to this verse and found peace with God. Afterward he said, "I bent low down at the first all, I stood up straight and came out at the last.”

At the first all he acknowledged his deep need. At the second all he found how fully his need has been met in the cross of Christ.

Are you one of that happy company who has found salvation through the atoning work which took place on the cross of Calvary?

A Solemn Fact

There is a way for a sinner to keep out of hell. There is no way to get out of hell. The Lord Jesus says, "I am the Way." But the rich man in hell was told there was "a great gulf fixed.”

Christ Gave All

The Greek heiress who recently inherited the principal share of her father's estimated one billion dollar fortune has announced that half of it will be given to help the poor.

Such large-scale philanthropy is praiseworthy indeed; but how limited even so great a gift appears when compared with God's unspeakable gift! "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.

Again, the grace and love expressed by a gift is qualified by what the giver reserves for himself. The measure here is not what he gives, but what he keeps. Jesus, the Son of God, in His infinite love toward God and man, "gave all that He had" not merely the half.

Again: "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 Cor. 8:9.

He held the highest place above,

Adored by all the sons of flame;

But such His self-denying love

He laid aside His crown and came

To seek the lost; and at the cost

Of heavenly rank and earthly fame

He saved me!

Blessed be His Name!

But the Apostle Paul goes further still to express the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in all its divine fullness. In Gal. 2:20 He writes by the Holy Spirit:

“The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

What human mind can fathom or measure the gift of HIMSELF... of Jesus the Son of God?

“That Thou shouldst love me as Thou dost

And be the God Thou art,

Is darkness to my intellect

But sunshine to my heart.”

Is It Well With Thy Soul?

Felix Neff was born in Geneva in 1798. At the age of twenty-five he began laboring for God in the Hautes-Alpes—in the lonely valleys where the faithful Waldenses sought refuge from persecution some three hundred years before. Worn out with the hardships endured in his strenuous missionary work he died at the early age of thirty-one.

One day as this Swiss preacher was walking along a street of Lausanne, he accosted a supposed acquaintance with the words: "Friend, what is the state of your soul?”

The man turned, and Neff, seeing he had addressed a stranger, apologized. In one sense however it proved not to be the wrong man after all, for God carried home the word to his conscience.

Three or four years afterward, the stranger came to Neff and reminding him of the incident, said, "Your question led me to serious reflection, and now I can answer you that it is well with my soul." Reader, is it well with your soul?

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. 11:28-29.

The Kaiser and Prophecy

Prior to the First World War, the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm, invited to his palace a noted student of prophesy to explain the dispensations up to the Second Coming of Christ.

After listening attentively to a lengthy exposition of the prophetic Scriptures and reviewing related charts, the Kaiser said: "Do I understand you aright? Do you mean to say that Jesus Christ is coming back literally, and that when He returns, all the kingdoms of the world are to be destroyed and He will set up His kingdom on the ruins of them all?”

“Exactly, your Majesty, exactly," was the reply. "Oh, no," said the Kaiser. "I can't have that!

Why, that would interfere with all my plans!" That the Kaiser's plans were interfered with is now a matter of history.

Man's refusal to accept the truth of God's Word will not alter God's plans in the slightest; although the execution of them may interfere with ours.

“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Heb. 10:37.

Difference Between History and Faith

A Japanese Christian convert thus expressed it:—Believing that Jesus died—will save nobody—this is simply a matter of history.

Believing that Jesus died for me—will save anybody—this is an act of faith.

The Apostle Paul was no clearer when he said, "The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20

Receive

“How is it that you religious people are always trying to rob us of our pleasures?" inquired a fashionable young man of the world while in serious conversation with a Christian lady.

“You are greatly mistaken," was her reply. "I don't want you to give up anything—I want you to receive.”

"What do you mean?”

“I would rather not say any more at present. Think on that word, receive.”

On his way home the words kept ringing in his ears; "I don't want you to give up; I want you to receive.”

Try as he would, he could not forget them. Night and day he kept repeating to himself, "Receive... Give up." He became thoroughly wretched, till at last he confessed to himself: "I should not be surprised if these Christians have the better part of it after all. Perhaps they do have something which I have not. What are the things I could not give up? What does she wish me to receive?”

Finally he contacted his Christian friend again. He told her how unhappy he had been since their last conversation. He then asked her what it was he was to "receive"?

“Your whole life has been one long attempt to find satisfaction in things that cannot satisfy," she told him. "God wants you to receive from Him that which alone can satisfy. When you have received what God gives, you will be glad to give up the empty husks on which you have been feeding.”

She explained to him from the Bible that Jesus Christ alone can bring peace, rest and satisfaction to the hungry heart; and that when Christ is received by simple faith, the pleasures and amusements of the world lose their charm.

You may try to give up your love for the world, but you will find that you cannot until some greater, fairer object takes its place.

Sinner, God would have you know that He loves you that He so loved you as to give His only Son to die for your sins that you might not perish but have everlasting life. (See John 3:16).

Why not receive God's priceless gift, which is Christ, now?

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

The Blind Boy's Answer

An atheist visiting a home for blind children noticed a boy reading aloud from a Braille Bible.

“Why should you give time to God who caused you to be born blind?" said the atheist to the lad. "What has God done for you?”

The boy lifted his sightless eyes to the speaker and quietly replied in the words of the Lord Jesus: "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight." Matt. 11:26.

The blind boy, like the man born blind in John chapter 9, had learned the preciousness of the One who could bring sight to the poor dark hearts of those who believe in Him.

God Tells It as It Is

Hannibal, the mighty Carthaginian general who lived 200 B.C., lost an eye in one of those perilous campaigns for which he was so famous. When later in life two artists were engaged to paint his portrait, so anxious were they both to hide the physical defects of their hero that neither of them gave a true representation of the man. The one painted him full faced, but gave him two good eyes; while the other produced a side-faced picture, but carefully selected that side which had the good eye! The intention was kind but the result in both cases was deception.

How different are God's ways! Not only does He see beneath the mere outward appearance of a man; but His holy eyes search the dark recesses of his heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Then He clearly reveals to all what he finds within. And what is the revelation?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart...." Jer. 17:9, 10.

A missionary in China once read to a large audience the first chapter of Romans. When he had finished a Chinaman came and said he thought it was very unfair for this foreign devil (as missionaries were called) to come and find out all their secret sins, then write them down in a book and read them out in public.

“God is light" (1 John 1:5); but thanks be to God if we have learned the further truth as well, that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). And what the light shining into our hearts reveals, the precious blood of Christ cleanses away completely and forever.

From Rags to Riches in Christ

The story of Teddy, a London derelict, as told by Harold Begbie, runs somewhat as follows. It does not begin with a godly home despised, a family disgraced, a fortune wasted. Teddy had none of these to regret. He was born in the slums, the child of parents who spent all their money on drink. Life for him had been hard from the start. But in spite of it he grew up smart, active, nimble-witted, and humorous. He came out of the army a hard drinker; and became a rag-and-bone merchant. But as fast as the little money he made came in he drank it away. Fortunately, the woman he married made him a good wife, who was able to exercise a measure of restraint so that Teddy's home, though very poor, was generally happy.

But a terrible catastrophe overtook him. His wife died. He was left alone in the world. It was the death of a wife he sincerely loved which made him a chronic drinker. He drank, laughed and sang to forget his loneliness; and in this he found, what he thought was happiness. But there was no peace.

He became immensely popular. His companions in saloons and taverns laughed at his jokes and cheered when he sang. His good humor was contagious and everybody liked him. In this dissolute course he continued for some years.

But eventually his rag-and-bone business dwindled and failed. He couldn't pay his rent. But he went on laughing and singing to his ruin.

He took to sleeping in back yards, alleys, beneath benches, even in ash bins any place where he could fall or stumble into. Such was his poverty.

He would even take the laces from his boots and go into beer parlors where he was not known and offer them for sale. His eyes were quick to spot salable things in garbage and gutters. Thus he begged and bartered his way through life. But he would not steal. He was too good-natured to commit a crime.

But it became increasingly difficult to make enough money to satisfy his ever-growing craving for drink. His old fans began to lose enthusiasm for his songs and grew tired of his jests.

It was at this point in his career that he discovered an old broken down cart in a yard which was never disturbed by its owner. It offered shelter from wind and rain, so here he established himself. The old cart became his home. People got to know about it and laughed at his "lodging." He slunk into the yard late at night, climbed into the cart, lay in his rags on the floor and slept until morning.

One cold night after a fairly successful day he decided he would treat himself to a bed in a common lodging house. As he ambled towards it, anticipating the warm fire, he met an old tramp of his acquaintance, a piteous human wreck, clothed in rags. This man whined about the bitter cold, said he felt sick, wished he had some place where he could sleep. Teddy told him of the cart and gave him permission to occupy it, for that night only.

After a peaceful night in the lodging house, Teddy emerged into the street with renewed vigor and hope. As he walked someone met him... started... turned pale and stood gazing at him.

“What's the matter?" asked Teddy.

“Why!" cried the man with an oath, "You're dead!”

“Dead!" "What do you mean?”

“D' you mean to tell me you're alive? Everybody in the place is saying you're dead," replied the man. "Hundreds say they saw your corpse. You died last night in the cart. I saw them wheeling your body away.”

The old tramp had died in his sleep. Somebody had seen the body lying there. The crowd saw it taken away in an ambulance, Everybody said, "Teddy is dead.”

The thought that he had been considered dead had a tremendous impact on Teddy. It pulled him up. It made him reflect on death. He considered within himself that the hour surely comes, and for him might come suddenly and soon, when a man's soul passes out of the body and he must give account to God of the deeds done in the body. He saw how very easily the corpse of the old tramp might have been his corpse. He might die one night in his sleep. People would say, "Teddy is dead!" But what of his soul?

He thought, What can I do? He could never more sleep in that cart. He must avoid his old haunts. Best of all he must leave the city behind him. Somehow he must find work. Somehow he must begin again.

So the frightened drunkard, born and bred in the slums took to the road—always regarded with suspicion. He was barked at by dogs; followed threateningly by village policemen; refused not only one helpful word or one kindly gift; but refused work of any kind.

One day on the point of collapse from starvation, he sank down in a ditch and covering his face with his hands, weeping like a child, cried aloud, "O God, give me something to eat!”

A feeling of help came to him in the midst of exhaustion and despair. He took his hands from his face and looked to right and left, not a soul was to be seen. Then he looked ahead. In the opposite hedge he saw a piece of paper. He got up, convinced that there was the help he sought. The paper turned out to be a bag which contained two scones.

Whereupon he tramped back to the city, feeling those who knew him would be more likely to help him than villagers and farmers who took him for a criminal.

One day back in his old haunts, the craving for alcohol became so irresistible that he knew whatever the cost, he must obtain it. Rapidly scouring the streets he noticed the landlord of a tavern in which in past days he had spent huge sums of money, standing at the door. Teddy went up to him. "Trust me till tomorrow for a drink, I'm perishing," he begged.

Strangely enough, as he spoke, the pleading message of a gospel hymn floated softly towards them. To Teddy and the landlord the music suggested two different things.

“Go and ask the army for help," snapped the landlord scornfully.

But denied by the tavern keeper, Teddy suddenly thought of Christ—of His great kindness to the outcast and lost—of His dying love for sinners. It was a beam of light from heaven shining into his dark soul.

“Right, govn'or," said Teddy, "I'll take your tip!" And he walked away in his rags.

He went straight to the Open Air Meeting in the next street. They were just leaving for the hall and Teddy went along. There like the repentant sinner of old (Luke 18:13) he knelt and prayed with anguish for mercy.

“Oh, Lord, Oh Lord," he kept saying, "I want to be born again!”

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me," is the unqualified promise of God in Psa. 50:15. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts 2:21.

The answer to Teddy's prayer came with his cry. His burden rolled away. The man who a short while before pleaded for drink was saved.

The shepherd had found His lost sheep, and just as He did to the returning prodigal of old, God the Father ran to meet him "and covered him with kisses." For the perfect work of Christ upon the cross has opened the way. God, in the full power of His righteousness and love, rejoices to receive the vilest who believes.

“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory." 1 Sam. 2:8.

“There's comfort in the memory of a good life," said a visitor to a dying relative. The dying man raised his eyes in wonder, and slowly repeated the lines—

Upon a life I did not live

Upon a death I did not die—

Another's life, Another's death,

I stake my whole eternity.

Arrested by a Song

It was a busy scene at an American railroad station. The train was late and the waiting room crowded.

One loud-voiced man seemed to take pleasure in impious remarks in which the name of Christ was unsparingly mixed, to the intense disgust of many of the passengers. But regardless of the discomfort he caused, the man kept on.

Presently, above the blatant voice of the swearer, rose the sweet words of a hymn sung in a manly voice:

"Jesus lover of my soul,

Let me to thy bosom fly,

While the nearer waters roll,

While the tempest still is high.”

Fearlessly the singer went on till he had sung all the verses.

When he had finished, not a sound was to be heard; the rebuke seemed effectual, at least in stopping the blasphemy.

“Could I see you for a moment outside?”

It was the voice of the swearer, and he had come up to Dr. Vincent, the man who had sung the beautiful song.

“Certainly" was the reply, and out they went. "How came you to sing that hymn?”

“I heard you swearing, and profaning the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and I thought I would let you know that there was someone present who loved His name.”

“That's very singular, certainly," replied the man. "My sister, when she was dying, sang that very same hymn, and she made me promise to meet her in heaven. Will you pray for me?”

Seeking a sheltered spot Dr. Vincent and the man, who had just before shocked everybody with his language, knelt together, and earnestly the good doctor prayed for the now repentant man, asking especially that grace and strength might be given him to trust the Savior and keep the promise made to his dying sister.

Presently the bell rang, the train passed into the station: all was confusion and hurry, and the two parted.

Who shall say what the result of that courageous song and earnest prayer was on the heart of the poor scoffer? One day it will be known. It is believed that the singer and the scoffer will meet again in heaven, through the shed blood of the One who died for both upon the cross "Jesus, lover of my soul.”

The Purest Thing on Earth

What is the foulest thing on earth?

Think if you can and tell!

It is a soul by sin defiled,

'Tis only fit for Hell;

It is the loathsome earthly den

Where evil spirits dwell.

And what's the purest thing on earth?

Come, tell me, if you know!

'Tis that same soul by Jesus' blood

Washed whiter far than snow!

There's naught more pure above the sky,

And naught else pure below.

A Chapter on Bees

Although there is nothing basically new about bees, the ferocious behavior of new hybrid Brazilian bees has added a new chapter to the volumes already written about them. These hybrids of deadly African honey-bees have plagued Brazil since 1957 when a beekeeper accidentally let twenty-six swarms escape.

Headed by queens brought from southern Africa these swarms spread rapidly across southern Brazil, invading the hives and quickly displacing their docile Brazilian cousins.

Noted for their swarming habits, persistent assaults and savage stings, it is estimated that up to one hundred-and-fifty human and countless animals have been killed in unprovoked attacks. During one three-hour raid the mass of bees is said to have been so thick it blotted out the sun.

Although honey is mentioned in Scripture much more frequently than the honey-bees, the ferocity of bees is alluded to in Deut. 1:44 where the fierce Amorites chased the soldiers of Israel "as bees do.”

Most people in their lifetime encounter bees in some way. Following is an account of one youth's experience with a bee which resulted in the salvation of his soul. It is an old story, but worth repeating.

Asked how long he had known his Savior and if he was sure his sins were forgiven, the young man replied: "Oh, yes, I know they are all forgiven: I am quite sure of that.”

“When did you first come to know that?”

“When the bee stung Mother.”

“Tell me what you mean.”

“I have a mother," said the lad, "who for some years told me what Jesus had done for me, but I never really understood how He had taken my place and died in my stead until one summer's afternoon when as a child I was playing at the door of our cottage.

“Mother was ironing in the kitchen, when suddenly a bee came buzzing about my head evidently determined to sting. I tried to drive it away, but round and around me it flew, closer each time.

“At last I ran inside to escape and made for my mother who had been watching the whole performance through the open door. With a cry I hid myself under her long white apron.

“With motherly care she put her iron down and put her arms outside her apron to assure me that I had full protection.

“This was hardly done before the bee landed on one of her bare arms and stung her so deeply that it was unable to pull out its stinger. Then exhausted, it crawled slowly down her arm.

“My mother, who felt the sting terribly, was naturally taken aback; but seeing the bee crawling down her arm, a thought struck her which was the means of my salvation.

“She said to me, "There, you may come out now; the bee has stung Mother instead of you; come out and look at it crawling on my arm. It cannot hurt you now.”

“Cautiously I lifted the apron, and put my head out to see. There was the bee still crawling down her arm; and my mother, pointing to the sting" 'There it is; it has stung Mother instead of you. You may play with it now; it cannot sting again. See, its sting is in Mother's arm; it has only one sting.'

“Half afraid and a little sorry for my mother, I looked at the sting already beginning to swell. She went on to explain how I might play with the bee now and even take it in my hand, as it could not sting twice and therefore could not hurt me any more. Then she told me it was a picture of what for long she had told me about of Jesus taking my place and suffering in my stead on Calvary.

“I had often repeated that verse. ‘With His stripes we are healed,’ but I never understood it till then. With the bee and the bee sting before me I realized that Jesus had given Himself to be punished instead of me. How true are those three short lines—

" 'Payment God will not twice demand;

First at my bleeding Surety's hand,

And then again at mine.'

"It was all so clear God would not punish me, because He had already punished Jesus! Yes, it was when the bee stung Mother. And ever since I have been filled with joy and peace in believing that Jesus died for me.'”

Many a Time Grandmother Lost Her Eye Glasses, and Searched for Hours in All Corners of Her Cottage for Them Only to Find Them Pushed up on Her Forehead. Some Look Far and Wide for Salvation When It Is "Nigh" All the Time. Read Rom. 10:8 and 9.

When the Titanc Sank in Mid-Ocean, There Were Just Two Classes, the Saved and the Lost. Nothing Between. so There Are Now in the World. Read 1 Cor. 1:18.

The Dividing Point

High in the Canadian Rockies is a rushing stream called Divide Creek. At a point in its course the creek divides around a large boulder. Waters which flow to the left of the boulder rush on into Kicking Horse River, and finally into the Pacific Ocean. Waters which travel to the right rush into the Bow River which courses through the mountains into the Saskatchewan River, on into Lake Winnipeg, the Nelson River, Hudson Bay, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.

Once the waters divide at the boulder, the ultimate destiny of the separated streams is settled. Downstream from the rock there is no turning back.

Every person meets his "great divide" which determines his destiny. The greatest "divide" of all comes when one chooses to accept or reject Christ. This "divide" determines eternal destiny.

Selected

All Trusting in Christ

Some years ago all England was shocked by news of the great Barr Pit mine disaster which buried many miners alive.

Heroic rescue operations succeeded (it was thought) in bringing all the entombed men to the surface; but an official count revealed that six were still missing. These, were evidently still trapped in a part of the pit almost hopelessly blocked by tons of debris.

The massive rescue operations however were immediately resumed, and the tunnel leading to the remote work area at last cleared. At the end of the long passage was a fire door which the rescue crew forced open. But it was too late—all of the six men they had risked life and limb to save were found lying side by side—dead. But in their death there was hope.

The final account of the tragedy, as reported by The Morning Leader, carried a photograph showing the inside of the door where the bodies were found. Inscribed on it was the dead men's last message to the world, printed with white chalk. It read:

WE ARE ALL TRUSTING IN CHRIST

Below these words each of the six victims had signed his name.

All trusting in Christ! What a sure refuge in the hour of danger and death. Trusting in Him we can face death unafraid, confident that the One who died for our sins abides with us all the way home.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me." Psa. 23:4.

Christ Himself has entered death's domain and returned victorious over all the power of hell. The stone rolled away, the empty grave and a risen, glorified Savior are eternal proofs of His glorious victory—the spoils of which He shares with all who trust in Him. Are you trusting in Christ? "Will your anchor hold in the floods of death?”

Five Gas Jets

Sitting at dinner at a friend's some years ago, another guest next to me told this true story.

In a family of five, four were Christians, father, mother and two daughters—while the fifth was a wild youth, growing wilder and more self-willed and determined every day.

One Sunday his mother asked him to go to the gospel service, as he hadn't been there for a long time. "All right, mother," he said; "I'll go tonight if you never ask me to go again." She stood aghast at his proposition, but then she consulted his father who said, "Agree.”

The young man was therefore in for it, and had to face the hardship—for him—of going with the family to the preaching that night; but go he did. He made up his mind, however, that he would not listen to anything that was said from the pulpit, or take part in anything that might be done by the congregation. That being so, he must necessarily take up his attention with something or other so as to keep his mind off what was going on around.

When the service began the young fellow began to count some projecting bricks that formed a sort of dado round the walls of the old hall. Again and again he checked them, to see if the number within his range of vision was correct. Then he reckoned up the small diagonal panes of windows all round. This he did several times.

The chandeliers suspended from the roof were likewise counted. These had a number of small coronas, with five gas jets on each. Over these he went time after time—one, two, three, four, five.

“O, what is that? One not lit up. Yes, there it is, a black one—four shining, and a black one. If I had that old janitor by the ear now, wouldn't I let him have it!" he soliloquized. "He often rides me for my shortcomings.”

“Why I smell it too. What a nuisance! The atmosphere will be poisoned. The janitor ought to be severely reprimanded, and I'm the man to do it if I had my hands on him. I expect there would be an explosion before long if gas were allowed to continue to escape. Wouldn't it be a scene to see that old roof going off, and the walls blown out ... what a hullabaloo there would be!”

At that moment the preacher rose and closed the meeting; the people began to leave the hall. The youth had not heard one word. But God had spoken.

Now for the sequel. That night our young man could not sleep a wink. He turned on his right side, then on his left; kicked the blankets off, and pulled them on; tried every conceivable method to woo sleep. But sleep, in the good providence of God, was hid from his eyes that night.

“One, two, three, four lit, and a black one," he kept saying. "Yes, I know that's Dad, Mother, Maggie and Jen; they're lit and I'm not. I won't tell Mother, or she would say I was quite correct. Yes, I remember, the smell was disagreeable; a downright nuisance. Exactly, that's me again; I'm the nuisance in the house, I'm the cause, and the only cause, of everything disagreeable in this family; but for me everything would be pleasant.

“O, yes, I know I'm the black one; I wish I were lit like the others; I do. An explosion in the long run. And so there will be—death, judgment, eternity, the lake of fire. I'd better get lit!"—And he did.

As he knelt in prayer by his bedside, humbled and repentant, before morning the light of the Sun of righteousness dawned on his soul. Thereafter there were five lit in that household. How many are lit in yours?

He had accepted Jesus as his Savior, as the One who had died for him, and he then could seek to have the life of the Lord Jesus manifested in his life, and thus be a light in this dark scene where the Lord Jesus has been cast out.

Fragment

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

Homo Unius Libri (Man of One Book)

I am a creature of a day. I want to know one thing—the way to heaven; how to land safely on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach me the way; for this very end He came down from heaven. He has written it down in a book. O give me that Book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it; here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri (a man of one book). Here, then, I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone; only God is here. In His presence I open, I read His Book; for this end—to find the way to heaven. J. Wesley

If He Should Come Tonight

Two sisters shared a home in a small town near a big city; one lived for Christ, the other for the world.

One night the Christian girl went to hear a lecture on the coming of the Lord. On her return she told her sister what she had heard and remarked, "I felt like this: I thought if He should come tonight what a fearful thing it would be for you. I should be taken up to be forever with the Lord, and you would be left behind for judgment. I could not bear to think of it!" Her sister made no reply.

They slept in the same bed; and in the night the Christian lay awake, thinking, "If the Lord should come, oh, my poor sister!”

At last, unable to bear the dreadful thought any longer, she arose quietly and stole to a corner of the room. There she knelt down and poured out her soul in silent prayer to God.

Presently the other girl awoke. She felt for her sister but she was not there. Not knowing what had happened and in sudden agony of mind she thought to herself, "Can it be that the Lord has come?”

She got up immediately and in almost a frenzy searched about the dark room until she found her sister still on her knees. She knelt beside her, and before she arose she too had trusted in Jesus and was ready to meet Him.

Reader, are you ready?

Christ is coming, oh, be ready!

Let not slumber dull your eyes;

Do not say, "My Lord delayeth”

He is coming, O be wise.

R. A. Torrey Saved

In the salvation of the bitterest enemies of Christ, and their transformation into His most devoted servants, the grace of God displays its most glorious victories. The conversion of R. A. Torrey, the evangelist so greatly used and honored of God, is typical.

Of Torrey it is written that as a young man "he was an awful unbeliever." Steeped in sin, rebellion and infidelity he scouted everything Christian—the Bible, Christ, God, heaven, hell, immortality.

His dear, God-fearing mother yearned after him, pleaded with him, prayed for him, until at last young Torrey told her!

“Mother, I'm tired of it all. I am going to leave you, and I will not bother you any more. I'm tired of all this." And in his revolt and unbelief he left home.

His mother followed him through the door, down the path to the gate, pleading, praying, weeping.

“Son," she said as they parted, "when you come to the darkest hour of all, and everything seems lost and gone, if you will honestly call on your mother's God, you will get help.”

But with hardened heart, Torrey pursued his dark, downward way. Deeper and deeper, month in, month out, he sank into "the horrible pit" of infidelity and sin. But only to prove that a godly mother's prayers are not easily shaken off, and that God hears and answers speedily in His own time end way.

One dark night, in a dingy hotel bedroom, 420 miles from his mother's home, R. A. Torrey lay, the victim of overwhelming remorse and despair. In the providence of God sleep utterly forsook him. Burdened with his sins and weary with life itself, the devil prodded him on to the very brink of self-destruction. Just before daybreak he sat up, saying, "I will get out of this bed, and I will take the gun from my suitcase, I will put it to my temple, and I will end this farce called human life.”

But even as he stood up to do that dreadful thing, and paused and looked through the window into the black, dark night, the last words his mother had spoken to him echoed loud and clear in his mind: "Son, when your darkest hour of all comes, and everything seems lost and gone, if you will honestly call on your mother's God, you will get help.”

In spite of himself he fell on his knees beside his bed and called: "Oh, God of my mother, if there is such a Being, I want light! If Thou wilt give it, no matter how, I will follow it.”

Immediately, light from heaven came. It was the Light that made everything light, but it did not destroy, for it was love itself. With it came faith, the gift of God—and with faith in Christ came salvation. Torrey left the hotel a converted man, "a brand plucked from the burning.”

In his newfound peace he hastened back home. But instead of surprising his mother as he intended, she came to meet him up the path to the gate; laughing and crying with uncontrollable joy.

“Oh, my boy," she cried, "I know why you are coming back, and I know what you have to tell. You have found the Lord. God has told me so!”

Oh, the power of a mother's prayer!

I Can't Pray

The fire burned brightly on the hearth in the King's Head Inn, while the landlord, leaning with his back to the wall, discussed the news of the day with one of his neighbors.

It was the twilight of a winter afternoon. Suddenly the sound of wheels came from outside. Hastily getting up the landlord ran to the front door. The neighbor disappeared through the back door—just as the stable boy entered by it with a lantern to take his master's orders concerning the horses. All was suddenly hustle, bustle and business.

“Good to see you, sir! Come in," said the landlord as he greeted the incoming guest. "The lad will lead your horses to the stable.”

A tall, grave-looking man entered the room. The landlord pushed up a chair.

“I am going to stay with you, tonight," said the stranger. "I am Rowland Hill. You have family prayers in this house?”

If the king himself had walked in, the landlord could not have been more surprised. He opened his eyes wide and replied, "I never had such a thing as family prayer here." And then, with sullen determination in his voice he added, "And I don't want it now.”

“Oh, very well," said Mr. Hill, "will you kindly have my horses brought round again? I cannot stop in a house where they will not pray to God." And he arose and took up again the heavy cloak he had thrown off.

The landlord saw that he was in earnest, and not wanting to lose a guest when travelers were few, reluctantly said that Mr. Hill might have prayer if he liked.

“Ah, but I'm not in the habit of conducting worship in other people's houses," said Mr. Hill. "You must do it yourself.”

“I never prayed in my life," muttered the man, almost below his breath, "and I couldn't pray." He hung his head, ashamed of the confession. There was silence.

“My dear man," said Mr. Hill persuasively, "you will begin tonight." With that he sat down again in front of the fire, and the landlord relieved at least for the time, busied himself with the many duties of a wayside innkeeper.

But that night something happened in the King's Head Inn which had never happened before. The sight of a family on its knees, and the sound of heartfelt prayer were unfamiliar in that room.

“Now," said Mr. Hill, "every man prays in his own house; you must pray tonight.”

“I can't pray; indeed I can't," said the landlord as he knelt with his wife and children; "I can't pray, Mr. Hill.”

“What, man!" was the solemn reply; "are you so ungrateful that you can't thank God for all His mercies? And can't you ask Him to forgive you your sins?”

But the landlord kept repeating that he never had prayed and that he could not pray.

“Then tell the Lord you can't pray, and ask Him to help you," said Mr. Hill.

And at last the landlord with tears in his eyes, cried out, "O Lord, I can't pray. I wish I could!”

“Ah! You have begun to pray," said Rowland Hill. "Now I will pray for you.”

And the prayer was answered. The landlord of King's Head Inn was brought to Christ, and soon learned to put the prayers he felt in his heart into words.

“Now that God has set you to pray," Rowland Hill told him, "faint though it be, you will never leave off.”

And he never did.

Witnessing to Christ

George Cutting, the author of Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment, was a rather quiet man not given to raising his voice. But one day when cycling past a cottage in Norfolk, England, he was constrained to shout at the top of his voice: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.

The impulse came a second time, and again he shouted the same verse. Then he pedaled away on his bicycle.

Six months later while visiting from house to house in that area, he entered a cottage, and asked the lady within whether or not she were saved.

“Oh, yes!" she replied. "Six months ago I was in great distress of soul, and pleaded with God for help. And while I was calling upon Him, I heard a voice shout loud and clear, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.' And when I asked God to repeat what He had said, the voice came again.”

In an old Inn in Wales a poor Welsh boy who could speak but little English lay dying. A Christian traveler asked him: "What is your hope about your soul?" In broken English the boy replied, "Jesus Christ is plenty for everybody.”

He is just the Savior you need.

Seven Bible Questions

THE ENQUIRER

(1) "How long have I to live?" (2 Sam. 19:34.)

"What is your life? it is even a vapor." (James 4:14.)

THE NEGLECTER

(2) "How shall we escape?" (Heb. 2:3.)

"They shall not escape." (1 Thess. 5:3.)

THE REASONER

(3) "How can these things be?" (John 3:9.)

"The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." (Luke 18:27.)

THE REFUSER

(4) "How long wilt thou refuse?" (Ex. 10:3.)

"Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." (John 5:40.)

THE DOUBTER

(5) "How long halt ye between two opinions?" (Kings 18:21.)

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord." (Isa. 1:18.)

THE PROFESSOR

(6) "How camest thou in hither?" (Matt. 22:12).

"They... have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." (Rom. 10:3.)

THE UNBELIEVER

(7) "How long will it be ere they believe Me?" (Num. 14:11.)

"He that cometh to God must believe that He is." What shall your answer be? (Heb. 11:6.)

Open Thou My Eyes (Psalm 119:18)

PSA 119:18"What are you reading?" demanded a university student of a girl of sixteen.

“God's Book, the Bible." she replied.

“Then do you believe there is a God?" asked the young man.

“Is it possible that you don't believe it?" she answered.

“I used to believe it," he said, "but after living in Paris and studying science and philosophy I learned it is all a mistake. There is no God.”

“I was never in Paris," replied the girl, "and never studied those important things which you speak of. But since you are so educated, may I ask you a question?”

“Certainly, ask as many as you please.”

“You say there is no God. Now suppose I were holding an egg, could you tell me where it came from?”

“What a funny question! Of course the egg comes from the hen.”

“And which then existed first, the egg or the hen?”

“I really don't know what you mean by this question. I suppose of course, the hen existed first.”

“Well, that must have been a hen that did not come from an egg. Can you tell me where that hen came from?”

“I beg your pardon, young lady, I was mistaken. Of course the egg existed first.”

“Then that must have been an egg that did not come from a hen. Where did that egg come from?”

The student became excited and said, "What's the use of asking questions such as these?”

“The use is just this," said the girl, "if the first hen did not come from an egg as other hens do, then Somebody must have made the hen: that Somebody must be God. If you cannot explain how the first egg existed without God, can you explain how the world existed without God?”

That is a question which all the infidels in the world cannot answer. The young man having nothing further to say, departed.

God had opened the eyes of the teenage believer to see what the young man with all his education could not see. This is the sight we all need and should earnestly desire.

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

“All things were made by Him." John 1:3.

Forgiven

A Christian doctor in Scotland was very lenient with his poor patients. If he found they could not pay, he wrote in red across their indebtedness one word— "Forgiven." This was of such frequent occurrence that his case book had few pages where the red letters did not appear. After his death his executors thought the doctor's estate would be greatly benefited if the "forgiven" debts were collected, and took legal proceedings to recover the amounts. But when the judge examined the doctor's case book and saw the word "Forgiven" canceling the entries, he said, "There is no tribunal in the land that could enforce payment of these accounts marked 'forgiven'"; and he dismissed the case.

“And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." Luke 7:48.

A Prodigal’s Return

One Sunday in Glasgow as I stood beside my mother outside the hall waiting for the afternoon service hour, two young men appeared. They were dressed in their working clothes, unshaved, dirty and somewhat intoxicated. As they swaggered past, laughing and singing a profane song, my mother said:

“Follow those men and invite them to a seat in our pew.”

I soon overtook them and delivered her message. One laughed scornfully and began to swear. The other pondered, evidently impressed with my mother's invitation. Finally, looking me in the eye, he said:

“When I was a boy like you I went to church every Sunday. I have not been inside a church for three years. I don't feel right. I believe I will go with you.”

Seizing his hand, and in spite of the remonstrances and oaths of his companion, I led him back and into a seat next to my mother.

A powerful sermon was preached from Ecclesiastes 11:1: "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”

The young man was very attentive; he seemed abashed and downcast. When the service was over my mother asked kindly: "Have you a Bible?”

“No, Ma'am; but I can get one.”

“Well take my son's Bible until you can secure your own, and come back again next Lord's day: I will always be glad to accommodate you with a seat.”

He put the Bible in his pocket and hurried away. That evening, my mother prayed fervently for the conversion of that young man.

Next Sunday came, and the next, but the stranger did not appear. My mother frequently spoke of him, and grieved over his absence. He had doubtless been the subject of her private prayers. On the third Sunday morning the young man again entered our pew.

He was now well dressed and appeared thin and pale as if from recent sickness. Immediately following the benediction he laid my Bible on the desk and left, without giving my mother the desired opportunity of speaking with him.

On one of the blank leaves of my Bible we found some writing in pencil signed "W. C." He asked to be remembered in my mother's prayers.

Time rolled on. My mother passed to her heavenly rest. I grew to manhood. The stranger was forgotten.

Many years afterward, the ship of which I was the medical officer, anchored in Table Bay. The next day being Sunday, after the morning service, a gentleman seated behind me asked to look at my Bible. In a few minutes he returned it, and I walked into the street. I had arranged to eat dinner at "The George" Hotel, and was walking up the steps, when the gentleman who had asked to examine my Bible laid his hand on my shoulder and begged to have a few minutes conversation.

As soon as we were seated, he examined my face with great attention, and then began to sob; tears rolled down his cheeks. He was evidently laboring under some intense emotion. He asked my name, age, occupation and where I was born.

He then inquired if I had not, when a boy, invited a drunken youth to a seat in a church in Glasgow one Sunday afternoon. I was astonished! The subject of my mother's anxiety and prayers was sitting before me. Having exchanged greetings, he gave me a short history of his life.

He was the son of Christian parents who gave him a godly upbringing and a good education. But when he was about fifteen years old, his father died and his mother was obliged to take him from school and put him to learn a trade. In his new situation he imbibed all manner of evil, became incorrigibly vicious and broke his mother's heart. Freed now from all parental restraint, he left his employment and traveled to Scotland. In the city of Glasgow he had lived and sinned for two years, when he was arrested in his godless career by that invitation from my mother to sit with us in church. After leaving the church that day, he was seized with the pangs of unutterable remorse. The sight of a mother and son attending church together recalled the happy days of his own boyhood, when he went to church and Sunday school, and when he had a mother—a mother whose gray hairs he had brought down with sorrow to the grave. His mental suffering threw him on a bed of sickness; but there he found Christ as the great physician and Savior of sinners; and from thence he arose a converted man. He returned to England and cast himself at the feet of his maternal uncle and asked and obtained forgiveness. With his uncle's consent he prepared for the missionary field, and had been laboring for several years in South Africa.

“The moment I saw your Bible this morning," he concluded, "I recognized it. And now, do you know who was my companion on the memorable Sunday you invited me to church? He was the notorious Jack Hill, who was hanged about a year afterward for highway robbery. I was dragged from the very brink of infamy and destruction. You remember the text on the day of my salvation:

"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." Eccl. 11:1.

At Peace With Himself

I once met a man who told me that he had never injured anyone, had never done any wrong, and was no worse than others. But this man was at peace with himself, and not at all at peace with God.

Do you also, as this man, speak of having a good heart? If so, it is because you have never been by faith in the presence of God. Your thought from morning till night is, how you can please yourself or others, rather than God.

Are you at peace with yourself or at peace with God? Have you no Savior, no Jesus? "For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

Do you happen to say, "Oh, you make the gospel to be too easy?”

Was it easy for Christ, who went into judgment that He "should taste death for every man" (Heb. 2:9)? Is it an easy thing for you to take your place as a sinner and to judge sin? "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23.

If you in this world refuse Christ, Christ must deny you; as He has said, "He that denieth Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.”

Between Two Sides

Catastrophic snowslides are not uncommon in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Suddenly and without warning, massive build-ups of snow take off rapidly down the mountain sides, overcoming or burying everything in their paths. One such slide buried a British Columbia motel and gasoline station, killing several people, in 1974. A short time later a skier died there beneath an avalanche. During one fateful week in March years ago over eight hundred people are said to have died in Rocky Mountain snowstorms and slides.

It was during that week that one hundred passengers on an eastbound train barely escaped a catastrophe which could have added them all to the death toll—a disaster described as "missed by the narrowest margin.”

Less than one minute after the train had passed a certain point east of Field Station, a snowslide buried the track behind for one thousand feet, to a depth double that of the engine.

Almost simultaneously another tremendous slide completely buried the track just ahead. The train was hopelessly stranded, caught between two slides. Escape on foot was impossible as blinding snow, whipped on by terrific winds, filled the pass. The position of all aboard was one of gravest danger.

But what would have been the horror of the already frantic passengers had they been told that a third avalanche would bury them alive unless the train moved immediately—that they were doomed if they stayed where they were?

And yet, dear reader, if unsaved, your danger is infinitely greater. You are between two slides. A lifetime of sin lies behind you; the judgment of God lies ahead.

And what threatens to overtake you at any moment like an avalanche of destruction? It is the imminent return of the Lord, which will close the day of His grace, and with it the door of heaven, leaving you forever outside. Or, the cold hand of Death may take you away suddenly if the Lord should tarry.

These railway passengers missed death by the narrowest margin, huge rotary plows arriving in time to clear the track. But your doom draws ever nearer and may claim you in an instant. How terrible! Is there not one hour of escape for you? Yes, thank God, there is. There is One—only One—who can save us from this extremity of peril. It is Jesus.

“I am the door." He says, "by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." John 10:9.

If you remain where you are you will surely be lost; but if you yield to the pleadings of the One who died to save your soul you will surely be saved. Why not come to Him now—just as you are?

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

How far may we go on in sin?

How long will God forbear?

Where does hope end, and where begin

The confines of despair?

An answer from the skies is sent:

“Ye that from God depart,

While it is called Today, repent,

And harden not your heart.”

See Heb. 4:7.

Mrs. Boston, One August Afternoon, Wrote in Her Diary: "I Take Jesus Christ in All His Offices to Be My Savior, and I Take Him on His Own Terms." Have You Made This Decision?

A Little Girl, Anxious About Her Soul Waited at the Close of a Gospel Meeting. One Worker Advised Her to "Read the Bible," Another to "Pray to God." in Agony of Soul She Went Home, Got on Her Knees and Cried, "O Lord, I Cannot Read, I Cannot Pray; so Take Me As I Am!”

Jesus Loves Me

Often a long-forgotten sacred song learned in childhood is recalled years later and used of God to bring a lost soul to Christ. Little is much when God is in it! The mighty power of the simple truth contained in Anna B. Warner's "Jesus loves me," is shown in the following true story—the personally related experience of "a woman that was a sinner.”

She told it to the preacher following a gospel meeting during which he had noted the rapt attention of the woman unknown to him, and heard her irrepressible "Amen!”

“Why should I not praise Him, when He has done so much for me?" she exclaimed. "Oh, sir! you don't know the depths from which Christ has brought me. Let me tell you my story.

“I had a good home; I had a good husband and children; but the curse of drink came on me and I became its slave. I broke my husband's heart and our little home became a place of shame. I sold our furniture to buy the cursed stuff. In the early morning, when the men were on the street, on their way to work, I would be out begging from them for the same purpose.

“But one morning when the burning thirst was upon me I felt I would go mad. I had come to the end of everything. Oh, how great is the mercy of our God! I know not why, but the words of a children's hymn I had learned years ago when I was a little girl in Sunday school came into my mind:

"Jesus loves me, this I know

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak, but He is strong.

"Sir, I flung myself on my knees and bowed my head on a poor rickety chair left from our once happy home, and prayed:

“Oh, Jesus, if there is a Jesus, take away from me this awful thirst and curse. I can do nothing to help myself. Help me to know Thy love and be one of Thy 'little ones.'

“I arose from my knees a free woman. The thirst for drink was gone forever. I came to know the blessed Lord as my Savior. Don't you think I ought to praise Him?”

One Thing Thou Lackest

George Whitfield, the evangelist, born in 1714, preached the gospel in America and Great Britain with untiring zeal. On one of his preaching tours he spent the night at the luxurious home of General Thompson. After he had gone, the General noticed some scratches on the bedroom window-pane. Someone had etched on the glass the words:

But one thing thou lackest

"Depend upon it," said the general to his wife, "this is George Whitfield's work.”

As he thought of his magnificent home, costly furniture and beautiful grounds, his servants and horses, his loving wife and darling children, his big bank account and large financial resources, he wondered, what could be lacking? Ah, the "one thing" he lacked, not all the world's wealth could buy: neither could all the love of his dear ones procure it.

The evening before, George Whitfield had been sorely exercised as he went to bed. Instead of speaking freely to his host and hostess about eternal matters as he usually did wherever he might be staying, a strange power held him back.

Satan was busy with many reasons why on this occasion he should not be as faithful as at other times. Truly nothing could be wanting in the kindness he had been shown—the hearty welcome, the concern for his comfort, the dainties provided all told of tender loving care. And all the surroundings radiated satisfaction so far as earthly things were concerned.

But there was "one thing"—the love for Whitfield's dear Master, whom he delighted to serve, was not in General Thompson's mansion or family, and he felt it keenly; the more so as his tongue kept silence.

Before he left his room in the morning, George Whtifield took off his diamond ring, and etched on the glass the above message which he felt he must leave to bear its silent witness.

As General Thompson read it, the conviction grew on him, "This holy man of God loves my soul." His wife agreed and said,

“Yes, he has evidently not been happy here, although we did our best to make him so. It is because we do not love the Lord.”

Soon father, mother and six children were kneeling together, stricken by that message on the glass.

Earnestly they sought the Savior and prayed for this "one thing." And He who delights in mercy gave a loving answer to their prayer, sending peace and joy into their hearts—the peace which comes from the knowledge of sins forgiven, and the joy which can only be known through possessing the "one thing" needful.

Have you found this "one thing" which is truly one Person? That Person is Christ. If so, then "all things are yours." (1 Cor. 3:21) But without Him you are poor indeed.

So Its Our Life

Twelve hundred years ago a conference of Saxon chiefs was called to consider if they should permit certain new Christian teachers to address them. An old chief speaks:

“Life to me is as though we are seated by the cheerful board in the bright firelight, with storm and darkness outside. Suddenly a bird flies in at the window. For a few minutes we see it in the firelight, then it passes out into the darkness.

“So is our life, we see it for a short time, but know not whence it comes nor whither it goes. If these strange preachers can tell us this, let us hear them.”

To every man at times come quiet thoughts on life and death—the same solemn thoughts as our Saxon forefathers had 1200 years ago. How vital, how priceless the words of Christ to whosoever will hear Him!

“I am the Way, the truth and the life." John 14:6.

Early one July morning, Dr. Wolston was called to the bedside of a middle-aged lady he had been attending. A glance at her face told him that she was dying.

Looking into the doctor's face as he lightly felt her pulse, she said.

“Doctor, am I dying? Don't be afraid to tell me. You know I am quite ready, so you may tell me the truth fearlessly.”

“Yes, my dear friend, I think you have come nearly to the end of life's journey. Your pilgrimage is over, and you will soon be at home with the Lord.”

“Do you really mean that?" was her quick reply, as a smile of deep joy and a flush of glad surprise lit up her handsome face.

“I do indeed," replied the doctor. "I think before the sun has gone to his rest today, you will have gone to yours forever.”

“Oh, that's glorious! Do you mean that today I shall be absent from the body, and present with the Lord?”

“Yes, that is just what I mean.”

“Then I shall see Jesus today, my precious Lord and Savior. Oh, what good news!”

Then fixing her eyes on her husband, she exclaimed: "John, did you hear what the doctor has been saying? He says I am going to see Jesus today; that before the sun sets I shall be forever with Him, in all the rest and glory which His precious blood has secured for me. Is not that glad tidings? I feel much at leaving you and all the dear children; but you will all meet me in heaven. I know. You will be there I know my love.”

Then turning to the children, and calling each endearingly by name she added: "You will be there, won't you? and you?—and you? —and you? —and you, my youngest? Yes, you must all meet me there.”

Crying profusely, as they all were, she bade them not to weep for her, as she added:

“Think of this, the doctor says I am to see Jesus today. Yes, today I am to see Him, and be with Him forever!”

She paused a moment or two, and then turning to the doctor abruptly exclaimed,

“Doctor, you told me I was dying. That is a mistake.

“THIS IS NOT DEATH; THIS IS VICTORY!"

Soon after noon, she joyously passed into the presence of her Lord.

The difference between the end of a believer and the end of an unbeliever is immeasurable. To the former it is "victory." To the unbeliever it is defeat and damnation. Reader, which is before you, victory or despair?

Weep for Yourselves

One, who knew George Whitfield well, said he hardly ever knew him to go through a sermon without weeping.

“You blame me for weeping," he would say, "but how can I help it when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are on the verge of destruction, and for all you know you are hearing your last sermon and may never more have an opportunity to have Christ offered to you?”

Today Is the Day..

In a current so-called "classic novel" the writer views with ominous forebodings the year 1984.

Another contemporary in a more recently published book attempts to disarm the other's "disturbing symbolism of 1984," contending that ever improving technology in a global free market will bring peace, prosperity—and even immortality itself—to all. While fully appreciating the prevailing dismal views of mankind, the writer tells his readers not to worry, because (he says) the good sense of the average man is proof against the rantings of the pessimists. People will prove masters of their fate, he is sure, and the creative energy thus released will not only solve the problems of pollution and famine, but gratify desires yet undreamed of.

Even if this light-hearted theory were anything more than irresponsible optimism, the fatal flaw in it would be that it leaves out God. It is well to remember that God may exercise His prerogatives and execute His plans, quite independently of man's will or wishes.

The one who says in his heart "there is no God," the Bible designates a "fool". To one who boasted himself of tomorrow, God said,

“Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee." Luke 12:20.

In ancient Egypt, on festive occasions, a corpse was introduced and set at the banquet table to remind the guests of their mortality, and in such a presence the festivities proceeded. In this regard the idolatrous Egyptians were wiser than many in so-called Christendom.

But even if one should be spared to live through 1984, what if the Lord should intervene? What if Christ should come for His own in 1976? What charm would the rosiest 1984 hold for the one who was consciously left behind—shut out of heaven forever?

And what if the Day of the Lord, the judgment day, (which will surely follow the coming of Christ for His Church) should break upon this world before 1984 arrives?

Although such imminent events, divinely foretold in the Bible, are scouted on every hand today, and scoffers ask, "Where is the promise of His coming?"—"the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." (2 Peter 3:4, 10.)

Satan's object is to occupy the minds of men either with the anxious cares of this life now, or with empty dreams of the future. God proclaims that for the ungodly judgment lies ahead; and that TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.

Reader, do not wait till tomorrow—for you its sun may never rise. "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 3:7, 8.

"I Do Therefore Earnestly Exhort You, in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Worth of Your Precious Soul That You Delay Not a Day, nor an Hour Longer. Leave Not the Great, the Momentous Question of Your Personal Salvation, Your Eternal Destiny to an Uncertain Tomorrow. Have It Settled TODAY. "Now Is the Day of Salvation.”

Believe in Him who died for thee,

And sure as He has died,

Thy debt is paid, thy soul is free,

And thou are justified.

I Want Peace

The power of an accusing conscience to banish peace, and the power of the blood of Christ to silence the accuser and bring peace have been proved by millions today. On the other hand millions are seeking for peace by various other means; but in vain.

In Singapore the urgent quest for peace led an elderly native gentleman into the little Christian bookroom there. He arrived near closing time and insisted on being served by "the European lady.”

“What may I do for you?" she asked pleasantly.

“I want to find peace," he replied. "Can you tell me where I can find it?”

“This Book," said the saleslady, picking up a Bible, "shows how to find peace.”

“But you told me that five years ago," he replied. "I came into your store then and asked you the same question. But I am still looking for peace." The saleslady had forgotten the incident, but not so the Good Shepherd. He continued over the years to seek this lost and wandering sheep and would not allow him to rest until he rested safely upon His shoulders.

The native man had all this world had to offer; it was not poverty that kept gnawing at his soul. He had plenty of material things; but his mind was in turmoil. How true are Augustine's words penned nearly 1500 years ago:

“Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.”

“The trouble is," continued the old man, "I cannot believe the Bible.”

“If you do not believe the Bible, there is no hope of you ever finding peace," said the saleslady; "the Bible is the only book that can teach us that.”

But the man contended that the Bible was written by human beings "so how was one to be sure that it was the Word of God?”

The Bible is in truth the very Word of God and carries its own credentials. Many who doubt and criticize it most have really read it the least. Finally the saleslady was able to persuade the gentleman to go home and read the gospel of John, especially the story of Nicodemus in the third chapter, and note how the Lord Jesus insisted that even a morally upright "master in Israel" MUST be born again.

Having referred him to the Word of God she then referred him to an earnest Christian doctor who lived near the old gentleman's home. He said he would be glad to visit the doctor if he could but be cured of the turmoil in his heart.

“But," said the saleslady as they parted, "the doctor will give you the same medicine; ‘ye MUST be born again'.”

On reaching her home she telephoned the doctor, explaining how she had referred to him a patient suffering from sin-sickness. The doctor, a faithful servant of God and true lover of souls, said he would be pleased to be of use to His Lord if He could use him in this case. And He did.

As advised by the saleslady, our elderly friend subsequently kept an appointment with the doctor. But instead of prescribing medication or recommending a psychiatrist, the doctor opened his Bible and together they read in John's Gospel.

“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." Ps. 119.

At last light and understanding began to dawn man who for upon the dark, restless soul of the man who for years had sought peace. He saw indeed that he too “MUST be born again.” It took more than one visit to the good doctor’s office before the full light shone; but on the third visit—at midnight—the man believed the Word of God to the saving of His soul. The peace of God entered his troubled heart. He went home rejoicing with the knowledge of sins forgiven and peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1).

Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin;

The blood of Jesus whispers, "Peace," within.

No Way Back to Childhood

Outside a shop in England some 300 years ago, an unprecedented volley of cursing and swearing

brought the shop lady running to the door where she delivered the following rebuke:

"You are the ungodliest fellow for swearing that I have ever heard in all my life! By thus doing you are able to spoil all the youth in the whole town if they but come in your company. The swearer was a youth named John Bunyan, afterward the author of "The Pilgrims Progress.”

Stunned by this withering reproof, young John hung his head, and to quote his own words, “wished with all my heart that I might be a child again, that my father might learn me to speak without this wicked way of swearing.”

Two hundred years later the poetess Elizabeth Akers Allen wrote:

“Backward, turn backward, O, Time, in your flight,

Make me a child again just for tonight!”

In more modern times a brilliant career woman attached to the league of Nations and mistress of seven languages wrote:

“I would give all I possess if I could begin life over again with the heart of a little child.”

“The heart knoweth its own bitterness." In this world every life has its disappointments. Even the most distinguished careers are checkered with secret regrets. To many, the mythical "Land of Beginning Again" is a desired haven; but alas! we have all reached the point of no return; there is no way back to childhood.

But even suppose a man of today became again the child of yesterday, although he might correct some of his past mistakes, he could not thus fit himself for heaven. He would find that "that which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6) and that "they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:8.)

It is not in the ways of God to begin again with the old nature or the old creation. He has before him a new creation.

“Ye must be born again," (John 3:7) is the firm declaration of the Son of God. To be in Christ is the answer to every heart's deepest longings, for "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature [creation]: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17.

To relive a life as a child of Adam would be but to compound my sins. To be born again a child of God is to be like Christ and perfect in Christ.

“As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

Have you received Him?

And I Refused!

Felix Mendelssehn, the great master of music, was born in Germany in 1801. As a young man his talents had already won him worldwide fame.

One afternoon, being in Frieberg, he wandered, unnoticed and unknown, into its ancient cathedral where he had heard there was a rare old pipe organ. Finding the old man in charge, he humbly asked permission to play it. But the old man stoutly refused, saying,

“No! Strangers are not allowed to play my organ.”

The young musician, however, persisted, and spoke so long and lovingly of the organ and pleaded so fervently, that the old man at last consented to let him play, but only for a few minutes.

Seating himself at the instrument and sweeping his fingers across the keys, the musician began to play. Instantly the old organ responded to the master's touch. It seemed to thrill with new life, as there burst from its pipes such a glorious rhapsody as it had never before produced. As if the great cathedral could not contain all the melody, the music rolled out though the open doors and windows into the streets, while the townsfolk stopped to listen and wonder.

When the short performance ended, the old man, with tears streaming from his eyes, laid two trembling hands on the musician's shoulders and demanded:

“Wonderful man! Who are you?”

Hearing the name "Mendelssohn" he drew back in fear and astonishment, exclaiming,

“Mendelssohn!—and I refused to allow you to play my organ!”

May this story remind us that a heavenly Stranger stands at the heart's door waiting to be admitted... to fill that heart with such heavenly joy and song as it has never known before. His name is Jesus. Have you let Him in?

How Am I to Come to Christ?

A Scotch shepherd, in a state of great anxiety, asked a preacher what was meant by "coming to Christ." "I have been hearing," he said, "a most earnest discourse; we have been urged and entreated to ‘come to Christ'; and I felt as if I had been sitting on needles all the time, for he never told us how to come to Him. Can you tell me?”

“Can you fly to Him?”

“No, I cannot do that.”

“Can you walk on your feet to Christ?”

“No.”

The preacher then told him that Christ though in heaven was beside him on earth, loving him with a deep, strong and tender love, eagerly anxious to save him. He was shown that with his mind and heart, and not with his body, he was to come to Jesus; in other words he was to believe on Him who died that he might live. "Is that it? Is it that simple? I see it now," he said. By faith he came and went on rejoicing.

Have you come to Jesus yet? If not, come to Him now. Believe in His love and death for you, and you will know on the authority of Him who cannot lie, that you are saved, and have eternal life.

The Drover and the Infidel

The train was traveling from Norwich to Yarmouth. Occupying the same compartment were a clergyman, two ladies, and a man who proved to be an infidel. Farther on a cattle-drover also entered the compartment. As the train moved on, the clergyman gave a gospel tract to each. The infidel alone refused it, saying he never read such trash, and that he had two daughters at home whom he would not allow to read the Bible.

For fully ten minutes he then assailed the Word of God, professing to show it up.

“Pardon me, sir," said the clergyman, "but you say this Book is not fit for your daughters to read, yet for the last ten minutes you have quoted extracts from it, in the hearing of these two ladies, extracts which you say are unfit for your children. This is most inconsistent." The clergyman quoted scriptures and argued, but all was rejected by the infidel.

At last the drover spoke: "May I be allowed to say a word, sir? I am a cattle-drover, and sometimes I drive sheep, and sometimes I drive pigs. My boss went to the market the other day and bought some sheep, and I had to drive them home. Near his farm, there is a narrow lane, with nice green grass all through, and a pond at the far end. You should have seen those sheep go for the grass when I got them in the lane! They nibbled it, bleating as though cheering one another on. And when they had put their noses in the pond, they seemed as fresh as though just off the downs. The boss says to me,

“Jim, those sheep look fresh."

“Of course they do,"Ι said, “they have been feeding as they came along.”

“Well, the next week the boss sent me to drive home some pigs. When I got them into the lane, they began rooting up the grass to get at the worms, grubs and dirt. It hurt me to see them destroying the beautiful green sod, so I drove them as fast as I could.

“And when they came to the pond, in they went, stirring up all the mud, and got home filthier than when they started.

“Now, sir," said the drover turning to the infidel, "you are like the pigs. Millions of dear souls find food and comfort in God's word, but you do not; and because it does not suit you, you would try and spoil it for others who could live on it. And while God made the worms to do his work in nature, so has He been pleased to write down in His Word, the Bible, things that you call unfit for reading. And as far as I can see, he has written down these dark sins committed in the lives of men (things we should leave out if we had to write their lives), to show that it is vile sinners that His grace can save. Yes, sir, He shows them up just as he sees them, and yet He says, ‘I can save the vilest; for the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin.’

“Take my advice, sir, give up finding fault with God’s blessed Word, but believe its message, when it says, ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,’ and accept His offer of salvation, to be had through faith in Christ Jesus. And if you will not do that, at any rate stop spoiling the grass for God’s sheep.”

The infidel sat silent all the while, nor did he open his mouth again. But the clergyman said, “My worthy friend, you say you are only a cattle-drover, I have had a college education; but I am free to confess I have learned more from you today than I learned in all my college career.”

I Will Yield

“Once again the gospel message

From the Savior you have heard.”

The above well-known gospel song was used of God to convert a once successful lawyer who had sunk so low in sin and poverty as to become a tramp in the streets of New York. A homeless, penniless wreck of a man, age 54, he happened one night to wander past a gospel mission just as those within sang:

“Will you heed the invitation?

Will you turn and seek the Lord?”

He stopped for a moment to listen. His early training had been Christian and old memories were stirred. He turned and entered the hall just as the second verse was being sung.

“Many summers you have wasted,

Ripened harvests you have seen,

Winter snows by spring have melted;

Yet you linger in your sin.”

He realized that this verse unreeled a truthful record of his own past life away from God. He listened to the third verse ending:

“While the Spirit still is striving,

Yield and seek the Savior’s side.”

Deeply convicted, he jumped to his feet and said, “I will yield, I will seek the Savior’s side.”

He was converted that night, and confessed the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and there was joy in the presence of the angels of God.

Omnipresence (Present Everywhere at the Same Time)

Chateauneuf, keeper of the seals of Louis 13 of France, when a boy of only nine years, was asked many questions by a bishop, and gave very prompt answers to them all. At length the prelate said, “I will give you an orange if you will tell me where God is?”

“My lord," replied the boy, I will give you two oranges if you will tell me where God is not."

Nearly three thousand years before this, David wrote by inspiration of God:

“Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence: If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee." Psalm 139:6-12.

Fragment

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

“SON, REMEMBER." Luke 16:25. The rich man who cared only for this life and forgot God, "died

and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." Luke 16:22, 23. Satan promises what he never gives—an enduring pleasure; but he gives what he never mentions—an eternal torment.

How Grandmother Rested

“Don't go over to Grandmother's during noon-hour!”

That was Mother's standing order to John, her little boy of seven. Grandmother lived in the old cottage across the lane from the farm house where John lived. He had been told that Grandmother rested an hour at noon every day and must not be disturbed.

But the thought of Grandmother resting puzzled John. He had never known her to rest. The idea of her stopping work for a whole hour in the middle of the day was too hard to imagine. His curiosity increased until one day he ventured over to Grandmother's back door just before twelve o'clock.

She was busy as usual this time baking pies for the threshing crew expected next day.

“Grannie", he called shyly, "what do you do when you rest every noonhour?”

“Who told you I rest?" she replied a bit sharply. "Wait a minute and I'll show you how I rest.”

Having removed some pies from the oven and smoothed her long white apron, she led John into the next room, closed the door and sat him on a chair.

Then she knelt down and began to pray aloud while John looked on amazed.

She prayed that God would save John and his brother from the paths of sin. She prayed for his father and mother and other loved ones near and far. She prayed for the neighbors, for the sick, for the preacher and for the Gospel. Then she thanked God for sending His Son into the world to be the Savior of sinners. She thanked Him for all His loving care over them all. Nothing or no one seemed to be overlooked. For nearly an hour she prayed, pouring out her heart to the God who hears and answers the prayer of faith. With her fervent Amen, John slipped off the chair and ran home. At last he knew what grandmother did every noon hour. She prayed!

John was brought up the hard way. By the time he was twelve, he was able to cut wood and handle a logging team almost like a man.

At the close of one long cold day in the woods, his father told him to hurry home ahead of the horses and chop the ice from the waterhole.

Evidently this took longer than expected and when father arrived and found the waterhole still unprepared, he angrily grabbed the ax and wielded it as if to strike John.

The boy dodged the blow and, half in fear and half in anger, ran into the house. Quickly collecting the only extra piece or two of clothing he owned, he ran away, determined never to return.

The winter was spent working for his keep on a neighbor's a few miles away, and in the spring, though still only twelve, John struck out to face the world alone.

For many years he led a hard sinful life, drifting from place to place and job to job, finally becoming a hard rock miner in the Northern Ontario gold fields. Here he was married and had children of his own.

But God, who is the observer as well as the preserver of men, had his eye upon John still, and the time came for Grandmother's prayers for him to be answered.

His wife, unknown to him, had attended a gospel meeting and been brightly saved. Immediately her heart yearned for her husband and the following Sunday she ventured to ask John to attend the gospel meeting with her. To her surprise and delight he readily agreed.

The preacher was also a miner, and after the sermon, John promptly asked him if he would come to their home for supper the next evening.

At the appointed hour the preacher arrived and following supper inquired,

“John, why did you ask me to supper, was there not something you wished to ask me?”

“Yes,” replied John. “You know I am fast traveling the road to hell. Tell me, is there really any hope for a sinner like me?”

How gladly the preacher showed John from the Scriptures God’s way of salvation. How fervently he prayed that John would look to Christ and live!

Far on into the night the light shone into his dark heart and John, weary and heavy laden with his sins, came to Jesus, just as he was, and Jesus gave him rest. (Matt. 11:28)

Grandmother’s prayers for John were answered at last! Today he is happy in Jesus and awaits the moment when he shall look into His Savior’s face—and see his dear old grandmother who prayed daily for his precious soul.

Sailor

He was a sailor. “All right boys,” he said, “go on, say all you want to, make all the fun of me you please; but I have tried it now for over six months. Taverns do not get my money now; and I have got a clear head, a clear eye, and a happy heart; all because I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.”

Last Words of Eminent People

NAPOLEON: "I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon.”

VOLTAIRE (to his doctor): "I am abandoned by God and man! I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months life ... Then I shall go to Hell, and you will go with me. O Christ! O Jesus Christ!”

THOMAS HOBBES, a skeptic: "If I had the whole world, I would give it to live one day. I shall be glad to find a hole to creep out of the world. I am about to take a leap into the dark!"

M. F. RICH, an atheist: "I would rather lie on a stove and broil for a million years than go into eternity with the eternal horrors that hang over my soul! I have given my immortality for gold, and its weight sinks me into an endless, hopeless, helpless Hell.”

DWIGHT L. MOODY, the evangelist: "I see earth receding; Heaven is open. God is calling!"

JOHN WESLEY: "The best of all is, God is with us!”

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD: "I am in the happiest pass to which man can ever come. Christ is mine, and I am His; and there is nothing now between me and resurrection, except Paradise.”

Do you know why the difference in these famous last words? The Bible has the answer: "He that believeth on the Son [Jesus Christ], hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.

Show Me Myself

Years ago a Scottish preacher traveling to Edinburgh put up in a comfortable inn on the Highland road. As it was his practice to hold family worship in every house where he slept, and to insist upon the attendance of every inmate, he summoned the family together.

When all were seated and the Bible opened, the preacher, surveying the company, asked whether every member of the household were present.

“Yes," replied the landlord.

“All?”

“Yes, we are all here. There is a maid in the kitchen, but we never think of asking her. She is not very presentable.”

“Then call in the girl," said the preacher, laying down the Bible, "we will wait till she comes.”

The landlord protested, but the preacher insisted.

“The kitchen maid has a soul and a very precious one," he said. "If she is not in the habit of attending family worship, all the greater need for her to join us now.”

At last the host consented and the poor girl was admitted to the family circle.

After the devotions, the preacher asked the girl his usual introductory question: "Who made you?" There was no answer.

“Do you know that you have a soul?”

“No, I never heard that I had one. What is a soul?”

“Do you ever pray?”

“I don't know what you mean.”

“Well," said the preacher, "I am going to Edinburgh, and I will bring you a little scarf if you promise to pray a prayer that I will teach you. It is very short, there are only four words in it: `Lord, show me MYSELF.'

“If you will pray this prayer each night and morning, I will not forget to bring you what I have promised.”

The little maid was delighted and her promise given. The preacher retired and the next morning he resumed his journey to Edinburgh.

He completed his business there, not forgetting the Highland Inn and its little kitchen-maid, then he resumed his journey from Edinburgh.

He arrived late at the inn, but before eating any supper he summoned as usual, the household around the family altar. Again, however, the little maid was absent and again he inquired the cause. But this time it was a different reason that withheld her.

“Indeed, sir," replied the hostess, "she's been of little use since you were here. She has done nothing but sit and cry night and day, and now she is so weak and exhausted, that she cannot get out of her bed.”

“O, my good woman, let me see the girl!" exclaimed the preacher, instantly grasping the reason for her grief. She took him to a small closet beneath the stairs, where the poor little thing lay on her bed, a pitiful picture of mental agony.

“Well, my child, here is the scarf I have brought you from Edinburgh," said the amiable man; "I hope you have done what you promised, and prayed that prayer I taught you.”

“O no, sir—no, I can never take your present," was her response. "A dear gift it has been to me. You have taught me a prayer that God has answered in an awful way. He has shown me my-self, and oh what a sight it is! Oh, dear sir, what shall I do?”

He entered into her case fully; and after a conversation on God's way of salvation and peace, the interview was ended by the preacher recommending that she use another short and comprehensive prayer:

“Lord, show me THYSELF.”

This second prayer went heavenward from the girl's heart as sincerely as the first, and God answered her with a revelation of Himself, as seen in Jesus. She found in Him a Savior God, and her fears and terrors ceased. By faith she saw that "the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. Her dark soul was brought into the glorious light and liberty of a child of God. And for many years afterward she lived, not only a consistent character, but an eminently holy Christian.

Three Lines and a Bit

I was hailed one morning by a tall, gaunt and haggard looking fellow with, "Is your name Soltau?"

“Yes, that is my name. What is yours?”

“There's my name over my store," pointing to his place of business.

“Bellet, is it? I knew that name well enough. Yes; I think my brother knows your brother.”

“Well," said he, "I am in the dark; and I thought possibly you might to able to help me. I have blotted God out of my thoughts, but somehow, lately I have been awfully troubled in my mind. The great trouble is that I can’t believe a single word of the Bible—not a word." "I'm sorry for that," I said; "but if you can't, and there, you can't, and there's an end to the matter.”

“But can't you help me?”

“No, I'm afraid not; I don't know how I can.”

“It does seem hard that I can't get some light. It's awfully dark.”

“How long has it been troubling you?”

“About three or four weeks.”

“Can you account for it at all?”

“No, it came all of a sudden—night after night—so that I couldn't sleep for thinking. Can you account for it any way?”

“Yes, I think I can. Does your brother ever pray for you?”

“He has never left off since I left England ten years ago.”

“Then what you are now feeling is merely the beginning of the answer to your brother's prayers. You are getting a bit squeezed, and the truths of past years are coming to the front again. How do you like it?”

“Oh, it's awfully dark, and I'm miserable. I can't get any light anywhere. My health is beginning to suffer. Can't you help me?”

“No," said I, "I'm afraid I can't; it's not so easy to get back to God when you have been going away from Him for ten years. Jesus Christ says, `I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.' You can only get back to God by Him. But what I have said comes out of the Bible, so that won't help you at all.”

“No, I can't believe that.”

After further talk we parted. A few weeks passed, and I saw him coming into the service one night. At the close he came up to me, saying, "Will you try and help me tonight? I am worse than ever; and if I don't get help soon I shall die. I can't sleep, eat, or attend to business. It does seem hard.”

"Not hard, my friend, by any means. The Bible says, 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap; but then, I forgot, you can't believe a word in the Bible.”

“No, I can't believe a word in the Bible; but can't you help me, somehow?”

“No, I don't see how I can. I have no other resource but the Bible; and that's no use to you.”

“What shall I do? I am all astray. I have got far away from God!”

“What did you say just then?”

“Why, that I'd got far from God, and gone astray altogether.”

“Well, I think I could find one line that you could believe now. Shall I try?”

“Do. I shall be so glad to get one line that I can really believe.”

Turning to Isaiah 53:6, we read together, "All we like sheep have gone astray.”

“Is that true!”

“Why, yes; that's true.”

“How do you know it is?”

“It describes me. I've gone astray! Why, there's one line that I can believe!”

“Well," said I, "You've got what you wanted now—one line out of the Bible that you can believe; so, good night, friend.”

“Stop! wait a minute! True, I've got a line that I can believe; but it doesn't seem to do me any good. That line hasn't helped me at all.”

“No," said I, "it wasn't meant to. It merely states a fact that you knew before.”

"Would you mind trying another line?”

“I don't mind trying another, but do you think one at a time is enough?”

“Well, you see, I don't feel that one line has helped me at all; and I'd much like to try a second.”

So again we turned to Isa. 53:6, and read the second line: "We have turned every one to his own way.”

“Why, that's true, too; I said: "you went your way from God—I went my way. That line describes us both.”

“Yes, I can believe that line.”

“But observe," said I, "it is a line and a bit—a little more than you expected. So now you have two lines and a bit that you can believe! You never expected that, did you?”

“No, I never did. But yet, somehow, they don't seem to have done me any good. I'm just as dark. I feel no nearer God.”

“No," said I, "they are not meant to bring you into the light, because they merely describe us two; and we know they are true, because they are our experience.”

“Well, would you mind trying the third line?”

“I don't mind, because I can believe all the lines in the Bible; but I wouldn't advise you to try a third. You see, two lines and a bit are a good deal for a man like you to swallow all at once; and I am pretty sure you would find the third line one too many. You wouldn't be able to believe it.”

“I think I might; I think perhaps I might.”

“I feel very sure you will not be able to," I said; "still, if you very much wish it, I will let you see it.”

Once more we read together: "And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." "There, now, this third line is more than you can believe, isn't it?”

“Well, yes, I must confess I can't believe that."

“I told you that two lines and a bit were all you would be able to manage at one time.”

“But how do you account for it that I cannot believe this third line?”

“I could tell you; but you would not much like me to say.”

“I wish you would; for it seems strange that I can believe two lines, but not three.”

“Suppose that instead of this Bible in my hand, I were holding a photograph album, and we were looking at the pictures. The first one would be a picture of John Muir. Yes, you would say, I knew that man well; and it's a good picture of him. The next one, I might say, is that of William Holt. Do you know him? Yes—exactly; a speaking likeness. Now, we will turn over to the third picture. That is Thomas Nelson. Did you ever see him? 'No,' you reply, I never saw him. But I have, I say; and I can vouch for that being a first-rate picture. Now the fourth is James Black. Is he a stranger to you? Yes, I never saw him. But, I say, I know it is as good a picture of him as are the others that we have looked at.

“And then you reply, I can't believe that those last two are a bit like the men you say, because I have never seen them; and until I do see them, I shall never bring myself to believe that those are their pictures, even though they are taken by the same photographer. Wouldn't you be a fool to reason that way?”

“Why, certainly I should; but I have not done that.”

“Yes, you have," I replied. "I have shown you four pictures in that one verse, Isa. 53:6. The first one was yourself—which you immediately recognized. The second was mine; and that, you said, you recognized also. Those two first lines showed us ourselves. Now the third line shows us as plainly the Lord Jesus and God: and you turn around and say, 'I can't believe that third line.' What right have you to call in question the accuracy of the Holy Spirit, in describing to you the Lord Jesus and the Living God, when you have seen His accurate drawing of us two?”

“Let me have the whole verse again.”

“'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD bath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.'”

“I see! I'm entirely wrong after all. You are right!”

We read the verse over; and once more I tried to explain to him the meaning of the statement in the three lines and a bit.

"Do you mean to say” said he, "that my safety and life depend on my believing that third line?”

"Yes, I do.”

"Then I'll stake my sole existence for time and for eternity on that third line. I put my finger on it, and declare that I believe that every word of it is true.”

Solemnly we dropped on our knees, and I repeated his words to the Lord Jesus. He then followed in humble and broken confession of sin; and before he rose again the light had entered his soul. The three lines and a bit had accomplished the purpose of God! They had found entrance through the door of faith, and he was rejoicing in salvation.

Coo-Ee

The late Dr. George Soltau, after addressing a meeting in Australia, was approached by one of the audience, a young man quite unknown to him, who asked for an interview. The conversation which followed is here given in the doctor’s own words:

“Well,” I said, “what is it?”

“I want to have a little talk with you, if you don’t mind. I’m a skeptic. I don’t believe in anything.”

“Lots of fellows are skeptics nowadays, just like you, and it’s not very easy to help them. What do you want to know?”

“Well, I wanted to ask you if you would kindly try and prove to me that Christ really exists.”

“Why should I? He doesn’t interest you at all, if you are a skeptic. It can’t concern you, surely.”

“Well, I am very miserable, and I find things unsatisfactory; and I have been wondering this evening whether I could get any proof about this.”

“Supposing you did; what next?”

“Is it worth your while—being a skeptic?”

“Well, I am so utterly miserable and wretched.”

“That’s no wonder—serves you right; and I’m not going to waste two minutes trying to prove to you that Christ exists.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not worthwhile under the circumstances. Besides, I'm not sure it's possible to do so to a skeptic.”

“I wish you'd try. You have no idea how dark and miserable I am.”

“Perhaps I will, if you will kindly prove to me something first.”

“What's that?”

“That you are your mother's son.”

“That's easy enough.”

“All right, fire away. How will you begin?"

He sat thinking for some time, and then said, "I'm blest if I know how to begin!”

“That's just my fix too, about proving Christ exists. I don't know how to begin. Look here, my dear fellow. All you can tell me is that as far back as you can remember someone taught you to call her Mother, and she called you her own son; and you have gone on doing it ever since. Has it worked all right?”

“Certainly it has.”

“Are you satisfied that she is your mother?"

“Perfectly so.”

“Can you prove it?”

“No, but I'm perfectly satisfied she is.”

“And so am I that Christ exists. Many years ago I first began to call Him my Savior, and to obey Him as such; and He has called me His, and it works perfectly. I have no further proof for you than that.”

“How can I find Him for myself then?”

“Very simply, and quickly, if you are thoroughly honest in the inquiry.”

“Yes, indeed I am.”

“Suppose you were ever to be lost in the bush, you could only do one thing—stand still and coo-ee. Then, if any one, of whose existence you had no knowledge, heard you coo-ee, he would answer you, and you two would keep it up until he found his way to you and took you out the way he came in. You've got to coo-ee to the Lord Jesus Christ. If He exists anywhere around, He will hear. If He hears, I can guarantee He will answer; and if you keep it up He will come to you and lead you out of the dark.”

“That's simple enough.”

“Will you coo-ee?”

“Yes.”

“When will you begin?”

“Here and now.”

“Then just kneel down and begin right away.”

He dropped on his knees and began with some such words as these: "O Lord Jesus, I don't know whether you exist or not, but I'm lost, I'm bushed! Can You save me?”

He paused, and then I began to pray with him, watching his pale anxious face. Presently I saw a great smile steal over it, and I stopped, feeling sure that God was working.

“Does God exist?" I asked him.

“Of course He does.”

“How do you know?”

“He has taken me out of the dark, and I am His. He has saved me. He is my Savior."

“Are you satisfied?”

“Perfectly.”

We rose, and after a few words we parted. More than twelve months passed by, when I was greeted on the top of a streetcar by a young man with a good-sized Bible under his arm.

“Do you remember me?”

“No," I said, "I can't say I do.”

“The coo-ee fellow! That was a good night's work. I have been studying this Book ever since, and it's just grand.”

Be My Guest (Dinner for Two - $4,000.00)

If one were offered dinner for two—at any price—to be eaten in any restaurant, anywhere in the world, where would the choice be? And what would be the cost?

Last year the New York Times proposing these questions was able to provide these answers. The place: Chez Denis in Paris. The cost: $4000.00.

It all began when a large American Corporation awarded the "meal ticket" to the donor of $300 (the largest donation) on a fund-raising program.

The winner took weeks to decide on the restaurant; and having considered famous eating places in Rome, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Brussels and London, finally selected the Chez Denis in Paris.

The historic meal, which was to be the finest dinner in Europe, and money no obstacle, went in three services and comprised a series of thirty luxurious and exotic dishes—besides nine rare and distinguished wines, one of which was one hundred and forty years old.

To the question, "Was the $4000 meal perfect in all respects?" the answer was, "No." By so much do man's best efforts fail to satisfy!

May the above event make us think of an infinitely greater feast made by Another—and note the contrasts. This feast was comprehended in a parable spoken by the Lord Jesus and recorded in Matt. 22 "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son." Matt. 22:2.

The parable immediately commands our most intense interest when we realize that "the king" is none other than God—"the King eternal, invisible, the only wise God." 1 Tim. 1:17. "His Son," is, "Christ Jesus who came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15. Surely on such an occasion all other feasts must fade into insignificance. At such a feast all must be divinely perfect and eternally satisfying. Think! It is to be God's feast to honor His dear Son—the One who "in all things must have the preeminence." Col. 1:18.

And who, today and now, are invited to this feast of all feasts? Read carefully His command to His servants who convey the invitation:

“Go ye therefore into the highways and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage.

“So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests." Matt. 22:9, 10.

Another has commented: "Who could doubt his welcome: for in the world mankind is either ‘good’ or 'bad.' But God's word concludes all in unbelief—"there is none that doeth good" (Rom. 3:10,11,12.) And to all such God sends this invitation: "All things are ready; come unto the marriage.”

The now famous dinner at the Chez Denis was prepared for only two. Furthermore, it was really a reward for a $300 donation. And the two guests had to travel from New York to Paris to be there. God's feast, on the other hand, is prepared for all. It is free to all. And it is for all who accept God's gracious invitation. And again, Christ is coming personally to take all who accept the invitation to heaven to enjoy it. And all this is to be had free, "without money and without price" (Isa. 55). Right well has God's feast been described "the poor man's dinner!”

The bridal hall is filling

for the feast;

Pass in, pass in, and be

the Bridegroom's guest.

Room, room, still room!

O, enter, enter now!

Extracts

"Do you pray for salvation, Johnnie?" a boy asked his companion.

“No, Jim, I've got it: I praise God for it." See Acts 3:8.

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Oh, why was He there as the Bearer of sin,

If on Jesus thy sins were not laid?

Oh, why from His side flowed the sin-cleansing blood,

If His dying thy debt has not paid?

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The Lord Jesus says: "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.

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False and True Religions

THE FALSE: Something in my hands I bring, Be that something what it may.

THE TRUE: Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling.

“He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." John 3:33

The Wedding Garment

It was graduation day. Sixty-six grade eight girls had assembled in their Clifton, Arizona school for the event. But amid all the pomp and happiness one of the graduates was ordered out of the ceremony, because her dress did not conform.

They had all been instructed to wear plain pastel dresses. The penalized girl appeared in a yellow flowered dress; but only to be sent home in tears.

“She was defying authority," explained the school board chairman.

May this unhappy turn of events at an otherwise glad affair, remind us of a far more serious breach, with eternally sad consequences.

It is the sequel to the Lord's parable concerning "a certain King, who made a marriage for His Son" (Matt. 22). The festivities were about to commence and the supreme moment had arrived "when the King came in to see the guests.”

It is not hard to imagine the joyous impact which the royal Presence made upon the assembled company. Surely they arose as one to bow and thank Him for inviting such as they to such a kingly banquet.

And how the great King rejoiced to see the happy guests, each arrayed in a wedding garment which spake to His eye and heart of the sufferings of His Son, of the grace that led Him who knew no sin to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). How those marriage robes must have brought it all before the King's heart, while the guests proclaim,

“He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Isa. 61:10.

But look! Among the guests "the King saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment"—a man who preferred his own clothing to the wedding garment provided by the King.

Whether this man's garment was showy or shabby was not the question. The decisive fact was it was not the wedding garment. As another has commented:

“Nothing could excuse this man's contempt for the King's grace and honor—or excuse his preference for his own robe, especially on the grand occasion planned by the King to honor His Son. It was therefore a direct offense against the grace which did provide according to the King's majesty and magnificence.”

And what was the penalty? Banishment forever from Him who is love and light, from Him whose grace was so utterly despised!

How final, how terribly solemn are the words of the King to this presumptious, self-righteous guest!

“Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?

“And he was speechless.

“Then said the King to the servants,

“Bind him hand and foot, and take Him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matt. 22:12.

Truly "the King's wrath is as a roaring lion!" Prov. 19:12.

Today the gospel invitation goes forth to all; and God's grace is ample for everyone. But since His grace is abused by so many and Christ is received by relatively few, the words of the Lord Jesus on closing this illuminating parable are: "Many are called, but few are chosen.”

Jesus Gave Her Water

You would have loved Aunt Gertie. We met her first in a little gospel hall in Gordon Bay, Ontario. She was very old—one of the pioneers—and had attended the meetings there all her long strenuous life. Her face was all furrows and wrinkles; her hands workworn and hard. But her smile was radiant as the sunshine, and her hearty handshake, genuine and warm.

“How long have you known Jesus," we asked.

“Ever since I got lost in the bush.”

“Tell us about it.”

“I was eight years old. Already I knew I was lost in my sins. But hunting up the cows one hot summer day I got lost in the woods. I ran and ran till I thought I would die of thirst. So I knelt right down and called, "Oh God, give me a drink!" Right away I found a drink waiting. There in front of me was a hole punched in the soft ground by a cow's foot long before. It was full of clear rain water. So while I knelt, I drank."

At the same moment, by faith she saw Jesus offering her living water (John 4:10). She only had to take it. And take it she did.

Late in the day, when at last she reached home with the cows, Gertie was a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17). Had not Jesus said, "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink"? She came, she drank, she was saved. And from that day she became a willing worker for Jesus, always serving others, and helping to bring others to Him.

Jesus gave her water

That was not from the well:

Jesus gave her water

That was not from the well:

She went away singing,

She came back bringing

Others for the water

That was not from the well.

How Spurgeon Found Christ (As Told by Himself)

I had been about five years in the most fearful distress of mind, as a lad. If any human being felt more of the terror of God's law, I can indeed pity and sympathize with him.

I thought the sun was blotted out of my sky—that I had so sinned against God that there was no hope for me. I prayed—the Lord knows how I prayed—but I never had a glimpse of an answer that I knew of. I searched the Word of God: the promises were more alarming than the threatenings—I read the privileges of the people of God, but with the fullest persuasion that they were not for me. The secret of my distress was this: I did not know the gospel. I was in a Christian land; I had Christian parents: but I did not understand the freeness and simplicity of the gospel.

I attended all the places of worship in the town where I lived, but I honestly believe I did not hear the gospel fully preached. I do not blame the men, however. One man preached the divine sovereignty. I could hear him with pleasure: but what was that to a poor sinner who wished to know what he should do to be saved? There was another admirable man who always preached about the law: but what was the use of plowing up ground that needed to be sown? I knew it was said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," but I did not know what it was to believe in Christ.

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, when I was going to a place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a court and came to a little Primitive Methodist chapel. In that chapel there might be a dozen or fifteen people. The minister did not come that morning; snowed up, I suppose. A poor man, a shoemaker, a tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach.

This poor man was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had nothing else to say. The text was, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter.

There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. He began thus: "My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, 'Look!' Now that does not take a deal of effort. It ain't lifting your foot or your finger; it is just 'look.' Well, a man need not go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man need not be worth a thousand a year to look. Any one can look, a child can look. But this is what the text says. Then it says, `Look unto Me.'

“Ay." said he in broad Essex, "many of you are looking to yourselves. No use looking there. You'll never find comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No: look to Him by and by, Jesus Christ says, 'Look unto ME.' Some of you say, 'I must wait the Spirit's working.' You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. It runs, 'Look unto Me.'”

Then the good man followed up his text in this way: "Look unto Me; I am sweating great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hanging on the cross. Look! I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend; I am sitting at the Father's right hand. Oh, look to Me! look to Me!”

When he had got about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I dare say, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. He then said, "Young man, you look very miserable." Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made on my personal appearance from the pulpit before. However, it was a good blow struck. He continued: "And you will always be miserable—miserable in life, and miserable in death—if you do not obey my text. But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.”

Then he shouted, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ: look NOW!" He made me start in my seat, but I did look to Jesus Christ.

There and then, the cloud was gone; the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun. I could have risen that moment and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me that before! Trust Christ, and you shall be saved.

Out of the Jaws of Death

The desperate position of the sinner—with a life of sin behind him and the judgment of God ahead—is well illustrated in the following true story of a sailor who was stationed off the coast of Africa.

In the scorching heat of mid-afternoon, his ship lay anchored on the back of a river infested with crocodiles. Half drunk, and unconscious of danger, he threw himself into the river for a cooling swim and struck out for the opposite bank, while his comrades looked on.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a crocodile appeared above the surface of the water. Warning shouts from the other sailors alerted the swimmer to his danger and a race for life began. Shots were fired from the ship at the crocodile, but to no avail. Nothing would frighten the great reptile away from its prey. The imminence of death, in one of its cruelest forms, completely cleared the sailor's senses as he strove to reach the land.

But just as he thought he had gained the safety of the bank, another equally horrific enemy appeared just ahead. A ferocious tiger had been lurking in the reeds and was awaiting his arrival. While the great beast crouched ready to spring, the crocodile closed in with his terrible jaws open for the kill.

The swimmer's case was utterly hopeless. But suddenly, in a flash, God came into the doomed man's mind. The sins of a lifetime rose before him like a great mountain. His mother's prayers, his father's teaching, his Sunday school teacher's pressing appeals which he had despised—indeed his whole life—seemed to pass before him in one marvelous moment of time. Then, with what seemed to be his last breath, he screamed in indescribable terror:

“O God! have mercy on me, a poor miserable sinner.”

Immediately, in a most remarkable way, his prayer was answered. By a miraculous move he dodged the flying tiger, which landed instead into the very path of the oncoming crocodile. A furious death struggle between tiger and crocodile ensued. The water foamed red with the blood of the tiger, whose claws and teeth were no match for the crocodile's iron-like armor. Slowly the mighty reptile drew its snarling, struggling adversary beneath the water. Together they disappeared into the depths of the river.

His friends, who had watched the terrible drama from the ship, were amazed to see their comrade emerge from the very jaws of death, and stand unscathed on the riverside. A rowboat soon brought him back to the ship.

The moment he reached the deck he fell on his knees and thanked God aloud for His marvelous deliverance.

From then on the Bible, that for years lay unopened at the bottom of his kit, became his constant companion. He confessed to God his sins and the lost state in which he had lived for so long.

He saw that Jesus Christ who had borne all his sins upon the cross asked nothing more of him than to believe. He saw that his divine Substitute had satisfied all the claims of God's holiness. He was saved and "filled with all joy and peace in believing" (Rom. 15:13).

Furthermore, he saw that his privilege and joy from then on was to live for the One who delivered him from so great a death. Now, with nothing before him but glory, he could rejoice in the truth that there "is now no more condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1.

A Certainty

Following a bombing mission during World War 2, a terribly wounded rear gunner was brought into a British military hospital to die.

Turning to the man in the next bed he inquired,

“Do you know anything about religion?”

“Sorry, chum, I don't," was the reply; "but a lady comes here every Thursday giving out tracts, she will tell you.”

“But I might be dead by then," replied the young airman.

“Come to think of it," said the other, "when I was a boy, our Sunday School teacher taught me this Bible verse: "Jesus said, Suffer the children to come unto Me." (Luke 18:16).

“Do you think I could come in on that?" exclaimed the wounded man hopefully.

“You could try," said the other encouragingly; "it's in the Bible.”

Following a long silence the dying man pulled the sheet up over his face and began to pray aloud, closing with these words,

“Suffer... the children... to come.”

The sheet did not come down. With these words of the Son of God on his lips, he died.

Afterward a Christian Wing Commander, having recounted the incident at an officers' mess, was asked by one of the company, "Tell me, padre, do you think that that young fellow had a chance?”

“No," replied the officer, "not a chance, but a certainty. He came by faith to Jesus Christ who declared, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'" John 6:37.

Jesus says, "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." Luke 18:17.

Two "Alls"

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. 53:6.

Notice that this verse begins with all and ends with all. An anxious soul (one of thousands!) who was directed to this verse and found peace with God, afterward said,

“I bent low down at the first all. I stood up straight and came out at the last all.”

At the first all he acknowledged his deep need. At the last all he found how fully his need had been met in the cross of Christ.

Are you one of that happy company that has found salvation through the atoning work of Christ, which took place on the cross of Calvary?

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“It is not a question of the amount of your faith, but of the trustworthiness of the Person you repose your confidence in.”

A Horrible Pit

One Saturday in September, 1975, two teenage college girls were kidnapped and forced into a pit, dug beneath a garage floor in Vancouver, B.C. The pit was then covered with cement, in which a small hole was left for air.

Five days later the police searched the unused garage, broke through the concrete slab and released the two terrified girls.

The million dollar ransom demanded for them was not paid; and the kidnapper was arrested a short time later.

The foul act of stealing and kidnapping people and hiding them in pits is one of the oldest of crimes. Joseph suffered such a fate, as recorded in Gen. 37, nearly 4000 years ago.

The practice of paying ransoms is also very ancient. It is referred to more than once in the book of Job, perhaps the oldest book in the Bible.

The penitent sinner in Job chapter 33 is delivered "from going down to the pit," because God there declares, "I have found a ranson." Job 33:24.

“No man can give to God a ransom for his brother," but God can, and has, provided a ransom Himself.

That stupendous ransom price was the lifeblood of His only Son—"in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Eph. 1:7.

In Psa. 40 we read of "a horrible pit," filled with "miry clay," out of which One was lifted by God; and His "feet set upon a rock." Prophetically, this refers to the Lord Jesus, He having died under the believer's sins, and buried, was after three days and three nights in the grave ("the horrible pit") raised again by the glory of the Father.

As one having been raised together with Christ, (Eph. 2:6) the believer can now sing with Him the new song!

“He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock.... He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." Psa. 40:2, 3.

The two kidnap victims in Vancouver were rescued without ransom. But in the case of sinners held in their sins, this can never be. For "without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. 9:22. But believers are "redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ." 1 Peter 1:18, 19.

Do you know for yourself the value of the death of Christ? Have you been delivered from going down into the pit... and saved from a lost eternity?

=============================

A busy business man was offered a tract. He replied, "I have no time to think of such things.”

“Then God will give you eternity in which to think about them," was the crushing reply. We can either think on these things now, or "remember" (Luke 16:25) in eternity.

=============================

In the historic Mohawk Valley there is a sign which reads:

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Without the Way there is no going.

Without the Truth there is no knowing. Without the Life there is no living.

What Is Grace?

It was the custom of a certain family to meet together during the holiday season. One year the reunion took place in the house of the eldest son, Henry, who was an avowed infidel.

When the family was seated at the table, the old, gray haired father, reverently thanked God for the food they were about to enjoy.

But Henry angrily objected: "You have no right to give God thanks. I bought this food, every bit of it; and I will not have you thanking God for what I bought and paid for. There is no God. I don't believe in any God at all. Look here! If there is a God I'll give Him a chance. I will give Him five minutes to cut me down.”

He took out his watch and laid it on the table, while the rest of the family sat aghast. They knew what God could do: but would He?

One minute went by... two... three... four... five... and the defier of God was not cut down.

“There," he said, "where is your God? He has had His chance, and lost it.”

“Son," said the old father, "when you put your watch on the table, I began to pray to the Lord for you. When you were a child I gave you to God, son, and I have never taken you back. I believe God will yet save you, my boy.”

Soon after the gathering had broken up, the old father died; but Henry went his own way. He knew better than his father.

But after fifteen years he was seen walking down the street in rags. In his pocket he had his last bit of money.

“What shall I do with it?" he thought. "I will have two glasses of whiskey, and carry home a bottle of beer.”

But even as he turned to go to the nearest bar, the recollection of that family scene suddenly struck him and an arrow of conviction entered his soul.

“O God, have mercy upon me, and answer my dear old father's prayer!" he exclaimed.

Instead of going into the bar he went back to his home and his wife. He got down on his knees and cried to God for mercy. And God answered his dear old father's prayers, and blessed him.

He was saved.

That was grace!

Oh, you say, I expected he would be cut down! That's man's way. But God did not cut him down. He spared him, and then saved him. Thus grace wins its noblest victories.

Bring Forth the Best Robe - Luke 15

The best robe that God has is waiting for the sinner.

Afar off is the prodigal. He has spent his substance in riotous living and become a beggar.

But now he is returning to his father's house. The servants may not know him; but his father does. While still a great way off he sees him and he runs to meet him with a kiss!

Then the poor ragged derelict begins the little speech he has prepared. But he only gets the length of the first sentence before his father interrupts him with,

“Bring forth the best robe.”

There doubtless were many robes in the father's house; but the long lost son must have the best.

It is the same with God. He gives like a king. To the returning sinner He gives "the best robe.”

Like the prodigal starving among the swine, the sinner "comes to himself" and is led by grace to decide, "I will arise and go to my Father.”

He starts for home. His back is turned upon the world and sin. His eyes look heavenward.

But will God receive him? No doubt! He sees him while he is yet a great way off, and runs to meet him with His kiss of redeeming love and forgiveness. Then the astonished angels hear His command,

“Bring forth the best robe and put it on him." A far better robe than even the angels wear "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference." Rom. 3:22.

Are you clothed in this "unspotted beauteous dress?" Oh, sinner, come home!

“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him." Luke 15:20.

Ye Must Be Born Again

An elderly Christian lady once felt a strong impulse to invite a neighboring farmer's wife to an open-air meeting. But the neighbor refused.

“Open air meetings are not for the likes of us," she said. "I go to church. Not as often as I should: but as often as I can. I don't need those open-air meetings.”

“Well," replied the Christian; "but don't forget, 'Ye must be born again.'”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Come to the meeting tomorrow afternoon and perhaps you will find out.”

That ended the conversation, but the farmer's wife could not forget those words. All day she went about her work repeating, "Ye must be born again. Ye must be born again. I wonder what she meant?”

Her wonderment built up to the point where at three o'clock the following afternoon she was standing with many others waiting for the open-air meeting to start.

The preacher, without the usual preliminary hymn, or even the usual opening prayer, announced his text:

“Ye must be born again!" He repeated it over and over and over. The effect on the farmer's wife was deep and immediate.

“Dear me!" she exclaimed; "the very same words. What can they mean?”

She found that afternoon that those five words were spoken by none other than the Son of God—and meant something that had never taken place in her soul before. But now the Holy Spirit was shedding the light of truth in her hiding place. She came out of it, abandoning all her religious observances, and was soon led to the Savior's feet. She was born again and knew it.

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

Jesus is tenderly calling thee home -

Calling today!

Why from the sunshine of love do you roam

Further away?

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

Learning to Sing

Amoong the pupils of Porpora, the great Italian master of music, was a lad from Naples in whom the great musician took a special interest.

One day the master asked him if he had the courage to undertake a special course, and stick to it, regardless of how long and wearisome it should seem.

The pupil agreed. Whereupon Porpora wrote upon a single page of ruled paper, the Diatonic and Chromatic scales, ascending and descending, the intervals of the third, fourth, and fifth and

so on, in order to teach him to take them with freedom, and to sustain the sounds, together with the trills groups, appoggiaturas, and passages of vocalization of different kinds.

This page occupied both the master and scholar during an entire year; and the following year was also devoted to it.

When the third year commenced, nothing was said of changing this primary lesson, and the pupil began to murmur. But the master reminded him of his promise and the fourth year slipped away. The fifth followed, and they were always at that one eternal page.

The sixth found them at the same task; but the master added to it some lessons in articulation, pronounciation, and lastly in declamation.

At the end of this year the pupil, who supposed himself still in the ABC's, was much surprised, when one day his master said,

“GO, MY SON, YOU HAVE NOTHING MORE TO LEARN, YOU ARE THE FIRST SINGER OF ITALY, AND OF THE WORLD!”

He spoke the truth, for this singer was none other than the celebrated Carlo Broschi Farinelli, born in 1703 and died in 1783. He was the most extraordinary tenor the world has ever known. It is difficult to imagine the furore which his appearance created in London in 1734.

His fame reached the court of Spain where Phillip V was suffering from black melancholia. The exclusive services of Farinelli were engaged and for ten years he sang the same four airs for the king, night after night.

Such an anecdote as this, as recorded in a standard history of music, well illustrates the Lord's way with those who have accepted Him as their personal Savior.

It is God's purpose to fill heaven with singers who were once sinners; but saved by His grace.

The sweetness of God's grace is tasted when we first accept Christ as Savior—"in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.”

But the fullness of that grace will be learned

all through our Christian pathway through this world.

As Farinelli was told by his master, "you have nothing more to learn, you are the first singer of Italy, and of the world," those saved by grace in the highest sense, having learned their lesson, shall find to their joy and amazement that they are perfect singers.

And oh, what a song will be theirs! Such strains as no ear ever listened to before; telling out, as they will, the praises of Him who is infinitely worthy.

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy... for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”

The Gypsy Boy

Passing near an encampment of gypsies I learned that one of their number was ill, and begged to be allowed to see him. The gypsy father asked:

“Do you want to talk about religion to him?"

“No.”

“What, then?"

“About Christ.”

“Oh, then you may go; but if you talk religion, I'll set the dog on you!”

In the caravan I found a lad alone, and in bed, evidently in the last stage of consumption. His eyes were closed and he looked as one already dead. Very slowly in his ear I repeated 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." I repeated it five times without any apparent response—he did not seem to hear even with the outward ear. On repeating it the sixth time, however, he opened his eyes and smiled. To my delight he whispered:

“And I never thanked Him! But nobody ever told me. Only a poor gypsy boy! I see! I see! I see! I thank Him kindly!”

He closed his eyes with an expression of intense satisfaction. As I knelt beside him I thanked God. His lips moved again. I caught, "That's it!" There were more words, but I could not hear them.

On going again the next day, I found the lad had died, (or rather, he had "fallen asleep in Christ"—1 Cor. 15:18).

A Tale of Two Horses (As Told by a Christian Farmer)

In the old days, not far from our farm was an abattoir where droves of unwanted horses were processed for fox food and dog food. To me it was a dreadful place.

One day I had the misfortune of losing one of my team. So, needing another horse, I called the abattoir to see if I could buy one of their live animals for a replacement. The answer was:

“Yes, go over to the holding pasture and pick out the one that suits you.”

I drove over, and what a sight! There were about one hundred horses in the holding paddock attached to the slaughterhouse. There were all breeds, colors, sizes and ages—some old and feeble, some evidently quite young. One team in particular caught my eye—beautiful creatures with long manes and tails. They were all doomed to die, so many a day, and more to follow.

It was a cold winter morning and the horses were eating what little grass they could find on the bare, frozen sod. Truly, I thought, it is like Lo-Debar, "a place of no pasture," where King David found poor, lame Mephibosheth, and took him home to his palace (2 Sam. 9).

My heart ached for those poor horses in their miseries, and soon to be destroyed.

However, glad to be able to save at least one, I looked around for the horse which would suit me best.

Singling out a fine, sleek mare, I made towards her, calling kindly and holding out my hands. However, she had no wish to be approached, even in kindness. Laying back her ears and opening her mouth wide, she stretched her neck to bite. Then suddenly turning, she quickly ran away.

I thought, how like many poor lost sinners who reject and despise God's proffered grace!

I turned sadly and selected another mare. She was not as good looking, nor so young either. But she gladly received the kindness I offered. So I took a piece of cord and tied it about her neck to identify her as mine. Shortly afterward I happily led her home to our farm, where she lived comfortably and worked faithfully for several years.

To one that loved horses, that packing house scene was a most sorrowful operation. But if we have eyes to see, how infinitely more sad is the sight of multitudes of poor lost sinners treading the broad road that leads to destruction, despising the One whose nail-pierced hands are stretched out to save. Thank God, that some (like my humble horse) receive salvation and escape.

But my illustration is but a feeble picture, and falls far short of reality. I could have only one horse from death that day. But God is not willing that any—man, woman or child—should perish. He has provided a full, free salvation for all who will receive it, without money and without price.

“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die..." Ezek. 33:11.

Fragment

“Almost persuaded" now to believe;

“Almost persuaded". Christ to receive.

He who is almost persuaded is almost saved; but to be almost saved is to be entirely lost.

Jerry Meauley's Own Story

Jerry McAuley was founder of the Water Street Mission in New York. At the age of nineteen he had been sentenced to Sing Sing Penitentiary for sixteen years and six months. Following his conversion to Christ, after serving five years of his sentence, the Spirit of God wrought a remarkable revival within the prison. Missionaries from the city engaged in it and every opportunity was given by the penitentiary management. Jerry was the center of this activity. Subsequently he was pardoned by Governor John A. Dix, eight years of his sentence being remitted.

Following is the account of the conversion of Jerry McAuley in his own words.

I was nineteen when brought before the criminal court on a charge of highway robbery. Sure I was not guilty! But having no friends to take up my case and being unable to prove my innocence, I was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor in a penitentiary.

This was the saddest hour of my life. All seemed to be against me. Yet there was One whose eye looked in grace and pity upon me. God, against whom I had sinned all my life, had compassion upon me and stretched out His hand in love and mercy to save me. To bring me behind prison walls was indeed His own remarkable way to save my soul.

Five years of my sentence had passed when one Lord's day, on arriving at the chapel, a great surprise awaited me. Alongside the prison chaplain stood a man whom I had known too well in years past. He was one of my former pals—"The Terrible Gardner," we called him.

How that man had changed! He addressed the prisoners after a few remarks by the chaplain. Every word sank deep into my heart. What power could have changed this once lawless terror so remarkably? When he concluded he came right down among us and told us, with tears streaming, how he through the grace of God had learned that he was a vile, lost and guilty sinner; but he had found the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and given his heart to Him.

While relating this Gardner had looked so happy that one just knew that all he said was true. I felt more miserable and forsaken than ever. When that man prayed for us we all wept, deeply touched by the power of his testimony.

In concluding he read several portions from the Bible—that old Book for which I had never cared. But now a merciful God was speaking words of love and compassion to me—to me, a poor castaway—through His own blessed Word.

Returning to my cell, still thinking about what I had heard, my eyes wandered around the desolate room. Suddenly I discovered, in an opening which served as a ventilator, an object which had heretofore escaped my attention. I took it down; and what a surprise! It was a Bible.

It was covered with a thick layer of dust, but otherwise well preserved, complete and readable. It was certainly the goodness of God to have kept this Book. Had I found it before this memorable day, I would undoubtedly have torn it to pieces.

How grateful I was to have it for my own! I longed to look up the verses which had been read to us by Gardner. But where to find them?

I began to read at the very beginning of Genesis. My interest increased with every word. Not for the most fascinating romance would I have exchanged my new-found treasure. I read on until I had to go to bed. My interest did not slacken in the following days, but I read on and on until I came finally to the narration of the life and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This touched me so that on one evening, while marveling at the remarkable change in my old friend Gardner, and while pacing up and down my little room, a real hunger for a new life took hold of me.

Could such a change for me be possible? A voice seemed to suggest:

"Pray! Pray the prayer of the publican: 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner." I tried to pray this; but in vain. My sins stood terrorizing and condemning me.

Suddenly the word "whosoever" came to my mind—that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish," I had read.

“That means you," whispered the voice again.

“But I am so ungodly," I protested, "too bad to be forgiven.”

Thus the battle in my soul continued, raging for weeks. At times I was almost despairing; for what could a poor sinner do when between him and a holy God there was nothing but a life of black and awful sins? I prayed and prayed. My desire to be accepted of God was deep and sincere.

One night I determined not to stop praying until I had found peace. I might have to stay on my knees until morning; but, behold! at midnight, my prayers were answered. The sense of my great need seemed to have reached a climax, when suddenly, as it were, a hand was laid on my head and the words came to me:

“My son, thy sins are forgiven thee!”

I do not know if I actually heard this voice speaking, but most certainly these words were received into my soul. It was Jesus, the blessed Savior, who had thus spoken to me by the Holy Spirit.

Now I knew and believed that He had died for my sins on the cross. This fact took hold of me with such power that I sprang to my feet. A flood of heavenly light seemed to fill my being. I did not know at first whether I was still in this world or in the heavenly. Clapping my hands together, I shouted.

“Thanks be to God! Blessed be His name!" One of the watchmen passed by my door and asked what I wanted.

“I have found Christ!" I called out to him. "My sins are forgiven! Thanks be to God!”

Of course the man could not comprehend my joy. He told me to be quiet, and threatened to report me next morning for disturbing the peace. But even this could not dampen my joy; my happiness was too great and too deep. Oh, what a night was this! Never shall I forget when the Lord Himself spoke peace to my soul. Jesus alone can save!

“For other foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 3:1.

That Christ should leave His place

on high,

And come for sinful man

to die...

You think it strange? So once

did I,

Before I knew my Savior.

A Sudden Call

The call for Tommy was sudden and final. In a moment a major stroke paralyzed his left side and rendered him speechless. A few hours later, he lies on a hospital bed—dying. Through the mercy of God his powers of sight and hearing are spared and his mind is clear. He is aware that between him and eternity only a few hours remain, and it is a terrible reality. He is not ready for death, and he dreads it.

Such utter unpreparedness is surprising, because life insurance has been Tommy's chosen profession. He has worked for years for a big insurance firm; and protection against the uncertainties of life and the certainty of death were his stock in trade.

But the fact that the hour surely comes when he must die and meet God, was something he would not think about. It could wait for that indefinite "tomorrow" which never comes.

Adding to his mental anguish is the memory of a Christian office associate who had often pressed upon him the importance of having to do with Christ about his soul. But he would not listen. The blood of Christ as the sinner's only insurance against the second death, he had resolutely ignored. He would not have Jesus then: and it is too late now. Such are his sad thoughts.

But is it too late? Are the pleadings and prayers of his friend back in the office to be forever in vain? Who dares to limit the kindness and patience of God who desires not the death of the sinner!

At this point one lone visitor enters Tommy's room and stands beside his bed. It is his old office associate, true to the end.

For "a friend loveth at all times, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Prov. 18:24. He comes with a message of hope for hopeless Tommy. It is in substance like this:

“Tommy, you know you will not get better. You know the gospel—I have told you many times. Let me tell you once more, "God loves you. He sent His son to die for you. He wants to save you now.

“Call upon Him while He is near. Pray the publican's prayer. Here, I will read it to you from the Bible: 'God be merciful to me a sinner.'

"God knows you cannot speak; but you can believe in your heart. Be like the publican lift your good arm in faith to God. He will see and hear, and forgive all your sins for Jesus' sake. And I will meet you in heaven.”

Tommy tries to speak, but he cannot move his lips. So with eyes full of tears, he raises his right hand (the other is paralyzed) and strikes himself on the chest. Then he lifts the arm heavenwards.

At this point, Tommy's wife and daughter enter the room. His considerate friend leaves.

That night Tommy's soul went to be with his Savior—"a brand plucked from the burning.”

The following evening Tommy's earthly remains lie in a casket in the funeral home. Among the mourners stands his old friend from the office. He is in serious conversation with Tommy's heart-broken wife, who tells him:

“We cannot understand Tommy's action when he was dying. He kept laying his hand on his breast and then pointing upwards. Now he has left us wondering what he was trying to say.”

“I can tell you," replied Tommy's old friend, and he rehearsed to her what had transpired in the hospital the night before.

Perhaps from the way that Tommy went home, his loved ones, too, learned the Way home. May you do the same.

The Publican's Prayer

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified...." Luke 18:13, 14.

“THE SIMPLE BELIEVETH EVERY WORD: BUT THE PRUDENT MAN LOOKETH WELL TO HIS GOING." Prov. 14:15

Wise and simple are relative terms, referring not so much to mental condition as to the fear of the Lord on the one hand, and indifferent self-sufficiency on the other.

The simple are ready with amazing credulity to believe anything given forth by men as foolish as themselves, while stumbling over the clearest truths of revelation.

No one has such strong faith in the greatest absurdities as the very man who quibbles over the truth of God.

The unbeliever can believe, unhesitatingly, that he is the dsecendant of a long line of lower animals ranging all the way from protoplasm to ape, while he sneers at the Christian who receive by faith the divine record that "God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.”

The prudent man mistrusts himself, and trusts the Word of the living God. Ordering his steps in that Word, he looks well to his going.

John 3:16

God—the greatest lover.

So loved—the greatest degree.

The world—the greatest company.

That He gave—the greatest act.

His only begotten Son—the greatest gift.

That whosoever—the greatest opportunity.

Believeth—the greatest simplicity.

In Him—the greatest attraction.

Should not perish—the greatest promise.

But—the greatest difference.

Have—the greatest certainty.

Everlasting life—the greatest possession.

Just Lippen to Jesus

In the broad Scotch translation of the New Testament the word "lippen" is used for the English word "believe." For example, John 3:16 reads:

"For God se loved the world as to gie His Son, the only begotten ane, that like ane wha

lippen till him sudna dee, but has life for aye.”

An exact English equivalent for the word "lip-pen" is not easy to find. It expresses the condition of one who is entirely unable to support or protect himself, but trusts implicitly to the safe-keeping of some other person or object.

For instance, a man walking across a rushing stream on a wooden plank "lippens" to the plank. If it breaks, he can do nothing to save himself.

The word "lippen" implies entire dependence when there is risk and helplessness.

Years ago a Scottish Christian doctor was visiting in a country district. The scene was a low dirty hovel, over whose damp and uneven floor it was difficult to walk without stumbling. The small grimy window admitted scarcely enough light to see a single thing clearly.

The object of the doctor's visit was a poor old woman, bedridden and almost blind. She lay in a miserable bed opposite the fireplace. Seating himself beside her, and after a few general inquiries, the doctor entered into a solemn conversation with her about her soul.

But the heart which he strove to enlighten had been closed so long, and was so dark that it seemed impossible that a single ray of light could ever penetrate it.

Still on the part of the woman there was evidently an anxiety to lay hold on what the doctor was telling her. Encouraged by this he persevered, "plying her," to use his own expression, "with the efforts of the gospel," and urging her to trust in Christ. At length, with a sigh of despair, the old woman said:

“Ah! sir," I would fain do as you bid me, but I dinna ken how. How can I trust in Christ?"

“Oh, woman," was his expressive answer in the dialect of the district, "just lippen to Him."

“Eh! sir," was her reply, "and is that a'?"

“Yes, yes," was his gratified repsonse, "just lippen to Jesus, and lean on Him, and you will never perish.”

“Oh, is it just to lippen to Him? Why surely I will lippen to Jesus. He will never let me doon, will He?" They bowed together, and she settled it. And that, dear reader, is all that God asks you do to be saved. Jesus said,

“He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." John 6:47.

Burke the Burglar

He was a real old-time burglar. His kit and gun were always ready. His picture adorned many a rogues' gallery. He had courage born of many desperate "jobs." Twenty years of his life had been spent in prisons, here and there. He was a big strong fellow, with a hard face and a terrible tongue for swearing, especially at sheriffs and jail guards. But in spite of all his violent wickedness the Spirit of God awakened him. His name was Valentine Burke. This is the substance of his story as told by D. L. Moody to a friend.

It was years ago when Moody was young and not long in his ministry. He went to St. Louis to lead a gospel meeting, and one of the big daily papers announced that it was going to print every word he said—sermon, prayer, exhortation.

Moody said that it made him quake inwardly when he read this; but he made up his mind that he would weave in a lot of Scripture for the paper to print, and that might count, if his own poor words failed.

This he did, and his printed discourses were sprinkled with Bible texts. The paper tried its best at putting big, startling headlines at the top of the columns. The people were either going to hear Moody, or read what he said.

Burke was in the city jail, waiting trial for some offense. Solitary confinement was wearing on him, and he spent his time railing at the guards, or cursing the sheriff on his daily rounds. It was Burke's delight to curse a sheriff.

Somebody threw the daily paper into his cell. The first thing that caught his eye was the big

scareline:

HOW THE JAILER AT PHILIPPI GOT CAUGHT

It was just what Burke wanted, and he sat down with a chuckle to read the story of the jailer's bad luck. He had once passed through a town in Illinois called Phillipi, and concluded that that was where the capture took place. But somehow the story had a strange ring to it, not the usual newspaper style. It was Moody's sermon of the night before.

“What rot is this?" said Burke to himself:

PAUL AND SILAS

A Great Earthquake:

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

“Have the papers got to printing such stuff?" He looked at the date. Yes, it was the morning

paper, just off the press.

He threw it down with an oath, and strode about his cell like a caged lion. After a time he picked up the paper and read its blessed story. It was then a strange something, from where he knew not, came into the burglar's heart, and cut him to the quick.

“What does this mean?" he said to himself; "twenty years and more I've been a burglar and a jailbird, and I never felt like this before. What is it to be saved anyway? I've lived a dog's life and I'm getting tired of it. If there is such a God as that man is telling about, I believe I'll find out even if it kills me.”

Away toward midnight, after hours of bitter remorse over his wasted life, and with broken prayers—the first uttered since he was a child at his mother's knee—Burke learned that there is a God—One who is able and willing to blot out the darkest record with one stroke. He found the wondrous secret of the cross, how on it Jesus Christ bore his many sins and put them all away forever.

That night God saved the burglar. He believed the word of Christ and received everlasting life. Then he waited for day, a new creature, crying and laughing by turns.

Next morning when the guard came round, Burke had a pleasant word for him, and the man eyed him with wonder. When the sheriff came, Burke greeted him as a friend, and told him how he had been led to Christ by reading Moody's sermon.

“Jim," said the sheriff to the guard, "you had better keep an eye on Burke; he's playing the `pious dodge' and the first chance he gets he'll be out of here.”

When the trial came up, through some legal technicality, the case was dismissed and Burke was released.

Friendless in a great city, known only as a daring criminal, for months he lived a life of desperate loneliness and sorrow.

Men read his face when he asked for work and upon its evidence turned him away. But he was brave and sustained by the mighty power of God, he struggled on.

Seeing how his sin-marred face told against him, he asked the Lord "if He couldn't make him a better-looking man, so that he could get an honest job.”

And God answered that prayer. For Moody said that a year from that time, when he met Burke in Chicago, he was as fine a looking man as he knew. This was of the Lord, who did it for him in answer to his childlike faith.

After seeking in vain for a long time to find steady work, Burke went to New York, hoping, far from his old haunts, to find peace and honest employment. But he did not succeed, and came back to St. Louis, much discouraged. He was, however, still kept by the God who had found him in the prison cell.

One day there came a message from the sheriff that he was wanted at the courthouse. With a heavy heart he went, "Some old case they've got against me." he said: "but if I'm guilty, I'll tell them so; I've done with lying.”

The sheriff greeted him kindly.

“Where have you been Burke?”

“To New York.”

“What have you been doing there?”

“Trying to find an honest job.”

“Have you kept a good grip on the religion you told me about?”

“Yes," answered Burke, looking him straight in the eye. "I've had a hard time, sheriff, but I haven't lost my faith.”

“Burke, I had you shadowed every day you were in New York. I suspected that your religion was a fraud. But I want to say to you that I know you have lived an honest Christian life, and I have sent for you to offer you a deputy-ship under me. You can begin at once.”

From that time the tide began to turn. He set his face like a flint. Steadily and with dogged faithfulness Burke went about his duties, until the best men in the city came to know and recognize him. Moody was passing through, and stopped off to meet Burke. He was found in a closed room upstairs in the courthouse, serving as a trusted guard over a bag of diamonds. He sat with the bag of gems in his lap and a gun on the table. There were $60,000 worth of diamonds in the sack.

“Moody," he said, "see what the grace of God can do for a burglar. Look at this sack of diamonds! The sheriff picked me out of his force to guard it!”

He cried like a child as he picked up the stones.

Some time after this, Some Christians in St. Louis had made ready for the coming of an evangelist. He was to lead a series of meetings, but he was prevented from coming. There was sore disappointment until someone suggested that they send for Valentine Burke to carry on the meetings. He led night after night, and many sinful men and women were saved from lives of crime and shame by the wonderful grace of God.

Burke's gentle and faithful life of service was greatly blessed of God in the city where he had been such a sinner. And when at last his work was done and his life here ended, the rich and the poor, saints and sinners, came to the funeral. It is a blessed story of God's mercy and salvation, of His power to save sinners. Are you one of them, dear reader?

54 Words Sold for $16,000

Abraham Lincoln's 54 word "autobiography", written while he was still a congressman, was purchased for $16,000 at an auction sale in 1973.

In 1858 Congressman Lincoln received a letter asking him for a biographical sketch. He wrote the information on the bottom of the letter and mailed it back. His reply was:

“Born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. Education, defective. Profession, a lawyer. Have been a Captain of Volunteers in the Black Hawk War; Postmaster at a very small office; four times a member of the Illinois Legislature; and since a member of the Lower House of Congress.

Yours sincerely, A. Lincoln.

John Newton, born in 1725, and author of the well known hymn, "Amazing Grace," wrote the following 54 word "autobiography," to be his epitaph, and requested that nothing be added or deleted. It appears on his gravestone today:

JOHN NEWTON

Once an infidel and Libertine

A servant of Slaves in Africa,
was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior
JESUS CHRIST

Preserved, restored, pardoned

And appointed to preach the faith
He had long labored to destroy,

Near 16 years at Olney in Bucks;
And (28) years in this church.

The Apostle Paul by inspiration wrote the following 54 words which sum up the "biographies" of countless millions of Christian past and present:

“We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." Titus 3:3,4,5.

Lincoln's 54 words were worth $16,000 to the Boston doctor who made the purchase. He bought them to keep in his private collection. How much are the following 57 words of God worth to you to believe, act upon and keep in your heart?

“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. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." Rom. 10:9.10.11.

Mary Glory-Face

“Mary Glory-Face" was the name by which a happy old Christian woman was known in her native village; and it suited her well. For truly the glory of her beloved Lord shone in her face; while morning, noon and night her heart and lips overflowed with joy and praise.

She praised God as she went about her work. She spoke joyfully of His love and goodness to her neighbors.

One summer morning as she stood at her cottage door, a neighbor said to her:

“We wish you would be more quiet about your God and His love, Mary Glory-face; you're brimful of it.”

“Yes," added another, "we should like you to keep it a bit more to yourself, that's what we mean.”

“Impossible!" said the old lady pleasantly. "No, no, I just can't help praising Him.”

Then some of the neighbors complained to her landlord, and asked him to give her notice to vacate her cottage. But he said:

“Why, Mary Glory-Face pays her rent better than any of you; I shall certainly not lose her." But he did call on the old woman and said:

“Perhaps, Mary, you could come down from the skies a bit. Need you be always so full of praise?”

With a beaming smile she answered:

“It's just eleven years ago that God told me I was saved, bless His holy Name, and He will never hear the last of it!”

So Mary was left in peace. And her influence for good told upon her neighbors and friends till first one and then the other joined her in her songs of praise.

When at last Mary Glory-Face was called to go home to be with her Savior, a young minister sitting by her bedside asked:

“Is your faith strong now, Mary, as you near the glory?" He thought it strange as she shook her head and answered:

“No, it's not faith with me now; but that I have the 'Author and finisher' of faith with me indeed. It's that what is filling me so full of praise. I'm just 'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith' and it's just grand!”

Thus Mary Glory-Face passed into the presence of Him, "Whom having not seen, she loved." Thus for years, even on earth, was this plain old country woman "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord... changed into the same image, from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18.

This same Lord says to all His children: "Who-so offereth praise glorifieth Me." Psa. 50:23.

Too Good for Jesus

He had lived all his long life on the comfortable old farm. Everybody knew him and spoke well of him. He was a kind, helpful neighbor, not greedy of gain: a commendable and upright man.

But "What think ye of Christ is the test." He lacked the "one thing needful.”

Just before he died a Christian neighbor spoke to him about his soul and of his need of being saved. He pointed to the wonderful grace of God in sending His Son to die for sinners. He pleaded with him to accept "the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Having pondered it all the old man replied. "All my life I have lived the way I am. I will not be a coward and accept such a gift at the end—seeing I have not done so earlier in my life.”

Further words were of no avail, and it is feared that he died as he had lived—without Christ.

Far, far better to come when I am old than never to come at all! "For a living dog is better than a dead lion." Eccl. 9:4.

Today is God's day of mercy; tomorrow may be the day of doom.

You cannot repent too soon, for you know not how soon it may be too late to repent.

He who truly hears the gospel believes it just as a little child believes a mother's word. And none but such shall ever enter the kingdom. Read Luke 18:17.

Kept by the Power of God for Over 90 Years

“Anybody that's one hundred years old is news in any language," a newspaper editor once told his staff. Recently we talked to a Toronto man who was born in 1875, "born again" in 1885, and still able to tell the story in 1975.

Here is the account of his conversion to God as he recalled it some 90 years after the fact. Truly our God is both "mighty to save" and "able to keep.”

It was Sunday, his 10th birthday. In the evening, as usual he attended a gospel meeting. The speaker, turning his attention to the children present, remarked:

“Wouldn't it be nice if one boy or girl were saved, here tonight!”

With these words still fresh in his mind the boy walked towards home. Behind him walked a lady who had also attended the meeting. She, knowing the boy, called him by name and when he turned, she inquired, "Stanley, are you saved?”

“My father and mother are," he replied.

“But you must be saved for yourself!”

Here the short dialog ended. Arriving home, the boy went upstairs to his room. He quickly prepared for bed, extinguished the light, and he slid under the covers to think about what he had just heard—not the sermon, but what the lady had said:

“You must be saved for yourself!”

As he thought on these words, he felt suddenly aware that there was someone else in the bed beside him. Whoever it was, it whispered in his ear:

“Don’t you think about what that lady said to you. You are too young. Think about those things when you are older.”

He leaped out of bed, realizing that it was the devil himself who had whispered this lie.

He dropped on his knees beside his bed and called on the Name of the Lord, and told Him, he wished to be saved for himself.

That did it, for “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21. And ninety years later he was still able to tell others of “so great salvation.”

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Heb. 2:3.

Never Too Old

If the above story magnifies the grace of God in saving and keeping a boy through boyhood, manhood and exceeding old age, the following anecdote testifies to the patience of God in waiting for nearly one hundred years for a sinner to come to Christ.

This man had the notorious reputation of being one of the wickedest men ever in the area. Crime had been his occupation from his youth up. Much of his long, hard career had been spent in prisons here and there. Now at the age of well over 100, he lay dying in his sins.

But his desperate case did not pass unnoticed by a servant of God in the community. He frequently visited the old man, read the Bible to him, pleaded with him and prayed for him.

One Sunday afternoon knowing that the end was near, he resolved to pay him a final visit and plead with him once more to receive the Savior, before it was forever too late.

Entering the institution where the dying man lay, a great surprise awaited him. The old man hearing him talking to the matron outside his room, called out,

“Come on in! I've got something good to tell you.”

As the visitor walked into the room, the old man repeated,

“I have something good to tell you!" then added, "The Lord has saved my poor black soul!”

Amazed and incredulous, his visitor inquired how it came about.

“As I lay here thinking," said the old man, "my thoughts went back 100 years to when I was a little boy sitting on my grandmother's knee. There she taught me verses out of the Bible—how 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.' The Lord has helped me to remember it all. I believe it. And now He has saved my poor black soul!”

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Tim. 1:15

Pass in! pass in! that banquet

is for thee.

That cup of everlasting

love is free.

Room, room! still room!

Oh enter, enter now!

"O taste and see that the Lord is good!" Psa. 34:8

Mighty to Save

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.

John 5:2-9

Echoes of Grace: 1975

Table of Contents

A True Shark Story

Two Classes

No Difference

Jimmy Davis

Jesus Is Able

God Holding Out His Hands

The Indian's Prayer

Where Am I Going?

Christ Is Coming!

Better Than Lighting His Pipe

Five Things That Must Happen

The Good Black Doctor

The Price

Are You Acquainted With the Author?

How Many Are Left?

I Don't Believe There's Any Hell!

Why?

Only Two Classes

A Trifler's End

The Sinner's Surety

He Is My Savior Too

Isaiah 53, Verse 6

A Solemn Fact

Christ Gave All

Is It Well With Thy Soul?

The Kaiser and Prophecy

Difference Between History and Faith

Receive

The Blind Boy's Answer

God Tells It as It Is

From Rags to Riches in Christ

Arrested by a Song

The Purest Thing on Earth

A Chapter on Bees

The Dividing Point

All Trusting in Christ

Five Gas Jets

Fragment

Homo Unius Libri (Man of One Book)

If He Should Come Tonight

R. A. Torrey Saved

I Can't Pray

Witnessing to Christ

Seven Bible Questions

Open Thou My Eyes (Psalm 119:18)

Forgiven

A Prodigal’s Return

At Peace With Himself

Between Two Sides

Jesus Loves Me

One Thing Thou Lackest

So Its Our Life

Weep for Yourselves

Today Is the Day..

I Want Peace

No Way Back to Childhood

And I Refused!

How Am I to Come to Christ?

The Drover and the Infidel

I Will Yield

Omnipresence (Present Everywhere at the Same Time)

Fragment

How Grandmother Rested

Sailor

Last Words of Eminent People

Show Me Myself

Three Lines and a Bit

Coo-Ee

Be My Guest (Dinner for Two - $4,000.00)

Extracts

The Wedding Garment

Jesus Gave Her Water

How Spurgeon Found Christ (As Told by Himself)

Out of the Jaws of Death

A Certainty

Two "Alls"

A Horrible Pit

What Is Grace?