Gospel Light: Volume 1 (1911)

JEHOVAH asked Job this profound question, and no wonder that he exclaimed, "Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.”

If you were asked the same question, what would be your reply?

“Oh," you say at once, " do not we get all our light from the sun, the moon, and the stars, which were created to give light?”

This is the common idea, but it is not the right one; for you overlook the fact, that God said, "Let there be light; and there was light” (Gen. 1:3) BEFORE He made the sun, the moon, and the stars give light upon the earth (v. 16).

So you see that Jehovah's question was not easily answered; and no man could answer it until ONE came who could reveal all the hidden things; and He said, " I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the LIGHT OF LIFE” (John 6:12). He was “in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. IN HIM was life; AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN “(John 1:2-4).

The prophet Isaiah said, “We wait for light... but we walk in darkness" (Isa. 59:9); but he prophesied that the great light should come; and so we find when Jesus came it is written, " He came... that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up " (Matt. 4:13-16).

And why is Jesus this great Light? Isaiah says again, “I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, THAT THOU MAYEST BE MY SALVATION UNTO THE END OF THE EARTH” (Isa. 49:6).

Now we can answer Jehovah's question to Job: “Where is the way where light dwelleth?" It is" IN HIM." Well might Simeon say (for " the Holy Ghost was upon him ")," Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,... a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel " (Luke 2:30, 32).

Dear reader, the GOSPEL presents to you this Great Light, " whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts " (2 Peter 1:19); that when that day dawns your place may be with His redeemed people where " they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever " (Rev. 22:5).

No need of the sunlight in heaven, we're told;

The Light of that world is Jesus;

The Lamb is the Light in the City of Gold;

The Light of the world is Jesus.

Come to the Light, 'tis shining for thee;

Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me;

Once I was blind, but now I can see;

The Light of the world is Jesus.

C. B.

ACQUAINT

NOW thyself with Him, and be at peace.

BEHOLD

NOW is the accepted time.

COME

NOW, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.

(Job 22:21; 2 Cor. 6:2; Isa. 1:18 ).

The Live Bird Let Loose

LEV. 14:7

HOW very good God has been in giving us such plain pictures in His Word; setting forth man's moral condition, and His own great deliverance, through the death and resurrection of Jesus! And certainly there are few more striking than the picture or type of the two birds.

To a person deeply anxious to know, with certainty, that HE Is cleansed from sin, this picture is most valuable. I have seen such brought, by the blessed truth set forth in this type, into the most abiding confidence of faith.

And God gives me this confidence, that many more will be brought, by this little paper, into His own perfect peace.

Let us now look at the picture.

This was the law appointed of God in Israel:

“The leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be “(Lev. 13:45, 46).

What a terrible picture of sin, leprosy is! what a living death of wretchedness and desolation! The disease itself most loathsome.

The person covered with sores, so as to be unfit for human sight. Wandering alone, or with others in like wretchedness. Those most dear to him not allowed to come near. His food left him by a brook, or under a tree; or living as best he could from the wild fruits of the desert. At times there must have been heart-aching longings for home.

One thing was very remarkable: if the leprosy had covered him all over, from head to foot, all turned white; then he was clean.

The priest is appointed of God to express God's mind, or judgment, in the case. The manner of his cleansing was this: “Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds [the margin reads sparrows] alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: as for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field” (Lev. 14:4-7).

Then the priest comes down to this poor, anxious leper, by the brook in the valley.

Solemn moment for the poor leper! Will he be rejected, and left in his wretchedness; or cleansed and restored to his longed-for home?

He watches every movement of the priest.

One bird is killed: its blood falls into the earthen vessel. How expressive of the death of Christ!

And now the priest takes the other bird in his hand. Watch him. He dips it in the blood of the dead bird. You see the blood on its feathers. He sprinkles the blood on the poor leper seven times (the perfect number).

He is about to speak the sentence of God on the poor, anxious leper.

The leper listens with breathless silence. He fixes his eyes on that live bird, held captive in the priest's hand; thoughts of happy home rush into his mind; his liberty is bound up in that little captive bird. If it is let go; then the leper is free. The priest pronounces him clean; the bird is let go loose into the open field; tears of joy gush down the cheeks of the cleansed leper; his streaming eyes gaze on the flight of the blood-stained bird, a living witness of his cleansing and liberty.

Ask him how he knows he is cleansed, and his reply would be, The priest of God pronounces me clean. The bird is free, and flown away. That is how I know.

Yes, as certain as the living bird is flown away, so certain is it that he is cleansed. For this is the way God has made known His mind to the poor leper. The bird could not be set free, until he was pronounced cleansed.

Then followed the washing of his person in water. Nothing could be more plain, or more precious, than the truth thus set forth. The one bird showing the death, and the other the resurrection of our blessed Lord. This is God's only way of cleansing the wretched sinner from his sins. And, blessed be God, your case cannot be too bad for God's cleansing. If you are a sinner all over; if like the leprosy, having spent itself turns white; if you have spent all in sin; if character, health, friends, home, if all is gone. If weary of life; however wretched and desolate, God meets you in the death of His own beloved Son, with the certainty of the forgiveness of all sins, through His blood, to every One that believes.

I think I hear my reader saying, Yes, yes, I have read that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin; but how am I to know that it cleanseth me? You say, “My poor, trembling, anxious heart wants to know THAT! Can you tell me?”

Oh, yes, blessed be God, His Word leaves no uncertainty. How did the leper know he was cleansed? He believed God's priest, and the token he gave him in the living bird. And has not the precious blood of Jesus been shed; has it not been spilled on this earth, as the blood of the bird that was killed? One bird could not be killed, and then let fly, so there had to be two, to show the death and resurrection of our precious Substitute. Watch that bleeding Surety die for sin, and then laid captive for you (trembling believer) in death. Now, as the blood of the bird was sprinkled seven times on the leper, before the living bird could be set free, has not God as surely pronounced His judgment as to the perfect and everlasting efficiency of the blood of Jesus for every one that believes Him? The bird was let loose because the leper was cleansed. Christ is risen; the believer is purged. You don't suppose that the priest, if he had the mere feelings of man, would pronounce the words so as that the leper could not tell whether he was cleansed or not. Nothing could be more cruel than such uncertainty. There was the priest's word, and the bird was flown loose away. This gave him the utmost certainty and joy. And can we then suppose that God has spoken in His Word so indistinctly, as to leave the anxious believer in cruel uncertainty? Oh, no; God could not have spoken more plainly. He says, having raised the captive Surety from the dead, “Be it known unto you, therefore, ... that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things " (Acts 13:38).

Do you believe Jesus died on the cross, bearing your sins in His own body on the tree, there taking our place as Substitute for our sins? Just as the bird could not be let go unless the leper was pronounced clean, so Christ our Surety could not be let go from the prison of death, if His blood had not purged our sins. But God, by the very raising of our Substitute from the grave, pronounces every believer justified from all things. I repeat again, The leper knew HE WAS CLEANSED. The priest said so; the bird was free in the open field.

I know I am forgiven, and justified from all things. God says so, and my captive Surety, the blessed Jesus, is risen, and free in the highest heavens. God could not give me a greater proof of the certainty of my justification, than He has in raising Jesus from er the dead, for my justification.

Then, do you believe the precious blood of Jesus has been shed? And do you believe that God has raised Him from the dead? Then God pronounces the forgiveness of all your sins through Jesus. Nay, more, He pronounces you and every believer justified from all things. God pronounces every believer justified. This gives you the clearest certainty.

Now, as the leper, being cleansed by the sprinkled blood, then washed his person in water; so, my fellow-believer, being justified, let me beg of you to seek the constant washing of the Word. Your standing is certain, justified from all things in the risen Christ.

But your walk needs the constant washing of His precious, priestly service.

As the blood upon the ear, the thumb, and the toe of the cleansed leper, and the oil upon the blood, so may we who are bought with His precious blood be filled, led, and kept by the Holy Ghost. Yea, may spirit, and soul, and body be henceforth sanctified wholly unto Him. Amen.

CHARLES STANLEY

GOD COMMENDETH
His love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.

GOD COMMANDETH
all men everywhere to repent;
because He hath appointed a day in
the which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that Man whom
He hath ordained; whereof He hath
given assurance unto all men, in that
HE HATH RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD
(Rom. 5:8; Acts 17:31, 32).

He Paid

FOUR Christian friends were riding in an omnibus in the City of Bristol. As they neared the place where the omnibus stopped, a youth stepped inside, and asked for the fares. One of the four friends paid for all, which led another of the party to say to the youth, “You won't ask me for my fare, will You?”

No, sir," was the reply.

“Then you are satisfied?”

“Quite.”

“But I did not pay you?”

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

This circumstance, simple in itself, brought to my mind the great transaction which took place eighteen hundred years ago, when God delivered Christ for our offenses, and raised Him again for our justification (Rom. 4:25).

“Behold the Lamb!

'Tis He who bore My burden on the tree,

And paid in blood the dreadful score,

The ransom due for me.”

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

He "gave Himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4). This was the only way sins could be disposed of God “made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Three blessed results flow from Christ giving Himself for our sins, and being made sin for us, to all who believe:

1. SINS ARE GONE.

2. SIN IS JUDGED.

3. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS CONFERRED.

“He paid.”

Who?

The One who was personally and perfectly free from debt, Jesus, the Son of God: “He PAID.”

How?

With His precious blood.

“Jesus paid it all;

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

And just as the youth in the omnibus did not require payment twice, neither will God.

“Payment God will not twice demand;

Once at my bleeding Surety's hand, And then again at mine.”

Dear reader, are you satisfied with what Christ did once for all on the cross?

God grant that you by faith may be able to look up to where Jesus is in heaven, and say, with an adoring heart, "HE PAID.”

H. M. H.

The Friar's Confession

SOME hundreds of years ago, there was a poor Carthusian friar, named Martin, to whom the Lord Jesus revealed Himself by His Spirit.

The friar being shut up in the lonely cell of his convent, had no opportunity of testifying before men of the Saviour he loved. But he longed to utter the praises of Jesus, so he wrote out the following confession, which he placed in a wooden box with its precious contents in a hole within the wall of his cell:

“O most merciful God! I know that I cannot be saved, and satisfy Thy righteousness, otherwise than by the merits, by the innocent passion, and by the death of Thy dearly beloved Son... Holy Jesus! all my salvation is in Thy hands! Thou canst not turn away from me the hands of Thy love, for they have created me, and redeemed me.

Thou hast written my name with an iron pen in great mercy and in an indelible manner, on Thy side, on Thy hands, and on Thy feet.

.. And if I cannot confess these things with my mouth, I confess them at least with my pen, and with MY HEART.”

Some hundreds of years rolled by, and the old convent at Basle went to decay. Part of the building was formed into a dwelling of another kind. All this time the confession of the friar remained unseen by mortal eye.

At length, in the year 1776, some workmen began to pull down the old building which had absorbed the remains of the convent, and in doing so they stumbled upon the box, and thus was brought to light the sweet confession to the preciousness of Jesus, which the friar so long before had hidden in the wall of his cell.

“He being dead yet speaketh." A voice, uttering the worth of Jesus, sounds from the crumbling wall of the old convent cell. Doubtless the writer of the confession prayed over his words. He longed to speak of Jesus, but the darkness of popery prevented him. Yet to-day he speaks to you, reader. With the privileges of an open Bible and of a gospel testimony before you, do you say to God from, your heart, "I know that I cannot be saved otherwise than by the death of Thy dearly beloved Son"?

“IF THOU SHALT CONFESS WITH THY MOUTH THE LORD JESUS, AND SHALT BELIEVE IN THINE HEART THAT GOD HATH RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, THOU SHALT BE SAVED (Rom. 10:9).

Is your name written, as it were, in the very wounds of Jesus? His wounds tell of LOVE, His love, God's love; but they also tell of SIN, our sins; yet those wounds of Jesus speak too of RIGHTEOUSNESS, God's righteousness. Love! Sin! Righteousness! God's love, God's righteousness, our sins.

God gave His Son; and herein is love. Our sins nailed Him to the tree; and now the voice of God's righteousness declares peace by the wounds of the risen Saviour to every one who believes in Him (Rom. 4:23-25).

Do you rest in this love, reader? “Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

The friar had no fear; the confession of his name being written in the hands and side of his Redeemer, is full proof of this. Nor is there other proof for your salvation, save the precious death of the now living and ascended Jesus. God's righteousness is satisfied by the work of Jesus, and now “by Him all who believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:39).

May you confess Jesus boldly in the world which has rejected Him; and the more so, since already the midnight gloom of the dark ages threatens once more to eclipse the gospel's light; and instead of the wounds of Jesus, works, prayers, penances, again clamor for glory. “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord " (1 Cor. 1:31).

Faith is the outward look at CHRIST; not the inward look at SELF.

Worship: or, One in Ten

READ Luke 17:12-19.

IT must have been a grievous sight: ten men met the Lord Jesus; and these men were "lepers, which stood afar off.”

Suffering from that loathsome, incurable disease, they might wander from place to place, seeking relief; but none could give it; nay, none dare touch them, or be near them. Such is the awful picture of MAN'S CONDITION as a sinner. His very nature itself corruption and sin. Afar from God; utterly UNCLEAN and INCURABLE. He may wander from place to place, but none can give him relief.

No remedy can he find for loathsome sin.

There was this difference, however: the poor lepers knew their condition. And when Jesus met them, they cried to Him for help.

How many thousands of leprous sinners know not their condition! Fearful to think, yet such is the case. In the sight of a holy God their sin is far more loathsome than leprosy is in the sight of man. If my reader has not been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, then certainly this is his awful condition, though he may not know it.

But when Jesus meets a sinner, then, like the poor lepers, the sinner both knows his condition, at least in measure, and knows that He alone can save.

I fear great numbers who profess to be Christians have never really known their condition. How can they? They are either quietly careless about it, or they are still going about from place to place, trying ordinances, commandment-keeping, or one remedy or another, to heal the poor, old, leprous self, which can never thus be healed.

But when Jesus meets the poor sinner, then he comes to a dead stand, like the poor woman who had spent all that she had upon physicians, and yet was no better (Luke 8:43). There is now nothing but Jesus. The poor lepers cried in the bitterness of their hearts to Jesus.

I wonder if you have ever thus cried.

What a strange reply did Jesus give them.

“Go show yourselves unto the priests.”

Now it was not the least use going unto the priest, unless they were healed. The leper was to go unto the priest in the day of his cleansing; and the priest would look to see if he were healed (Lev. 14:1-3).

And Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests; and yet there was not the least sign in themselves that they were healed. They had only the bare word of Jesus to rest upon.

And did they stay until they felt they were healed? Or did they look at themselves until they saw some amendment?

Oh, no! They might have stayed forever, mourning and sighing, and saying, I cannot feel I am cleansed; I cannot see any amendment in myself. No, they believed the bare word of God the Son: they went. “And it came to pass that, as they went, they were cleansed.”

It is so with the sinner. Oh, those wretched doctors that set you looking into yourselves for signs of amendment! You have not to wait until you feel you are cleansed. The sinner is saved by faith, not by feeling. God declares that the blood of His Son cleanseth from all sin. And the moment the lost, leprous sinner believes the bare WORD OF GOD, that moment he is cleansed.

Blessed Jesus! He is the only anointed One to heal the sin-burdened, broken hearts.

One of the ten, " when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”

But, why did he not go to the priest, and fulfill the law? Why was not one bird killed over running water, another bird dipped in its blood, and let fly into the open fields (shadows of death and resurrection)? Why did he not need the washings for his cleansing, and the blood of the sin-offering, as commanded in Lev. 14?

He came to JESUS, the substance, of which those offerings were but mere shadows. He goes not back to the shadows, but comes to Jesus, the substance, and owns Him God; falls at His feet a cleansed worshipper, giving glory to God with a loud voice.

Jesus said, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way; they faith hath made thee whole.”

This poor Samaritan stranger had not the Jewish religious tendencies of the other nine to draw him to the law and its shadows. The religion of the nine kept them from taking that happy place at the feet of Jesus as cleansed worshippers, giving glory to God.

And it is so at this very day. Is there even one in ten, of those who are cleansed, who are Christians, who heartily give glory to God, and know their happy place as purged worshippers?

No, their minds are full of dismal doubts whether it is so or not. Oh, this sin of unbelief, how easily it besets! and especially how it besets the nine, who have their self-righteousness to contend with! I believe we are little aware how the pure gospel of God's pure grace has been corrupted by Jewish leaven.

How many washings and offerings were required under the law! But one word from Jesus, and the leper is cleansed. The many sacrifices of bulls and goats could never take away sins, could never bring the sinner to God. But " Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us TO GOD " (1 Peter 3:13).

Has He failed? Oh, no! Every sinner that believes on Him is brought, not half way, no! but really into the happy presence of God, a cleansed worshipper.

Perish the thought that would undervalue the death of Christ! It cannot possibly be true that the believer is half saved, or half cleansed, or brought half way to God, or made half fit to be a worshipper.

Fellow-believers, "we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once” (Heb. 10:10). It is done; yes, and still more wondrous, “By one offering HE HATH perfected forever them that are sanctified” (v. 14).

Yes, I repeat, Jesus died to do all this, and He has done it. If God has given my reader faith in His own bare word, like the one in ten, then pause and survey what Jesus HAS DONE for you. He has sanctified you by His death, and brought you, perfected forever, into the very holiest to God.

That is your place, without sin through the blood of Jesus. I say, You have not to hope to get there; you are there; it is your home.

Jesus expects you to open your mouth, and give glory to God with a loud voice. His blood cleanseth you from all sin. It is written of Him, "Who being the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3).

Oh, do you know that Jesus sits there, the living proof that your sins are all purged away? Was it not amazing love for such a One to be made a sin offering for you, that you might be brought to God, happy with Him, a purged worshipper? Your sins would shut you out of His presence forever. His blood brings you into His presence forever.

Now look once more at the leper cleansed.

He gave Jesus thanks. He did not hope he was cleansed. He gave thanks because he was cleansed; and this drew out unfeigned worship. Are you a believer, and would you dishonor Christ with a cold hope that you are cleansed? or will you honor Christ, worship Him, and give Him thanks, because you are cleansed by His blood? It is every believer's privilege, with holy boldness, by the blood of Jesus, to worship in the holiest (Heb. 10:18-22).

Where are the nine? Are you one of them?

Have you believed in Jesus, and are you now going to ordinances to be made perfect?

Surely not. Would you add anything to the blood of the Lamb? Oh, return to Jesus; fall down; worship Him; give Him thanks; give the full glory to God with a loud voice.

Do not be ashamed of Him. Do not doubt Him. Trust in 'Jesus with your whole heart.

Trust in His blood. Trust in Him alive from the dead, and trust in nothing but Christ.

From this moment may you walk in the blessed, present, certain assurance that you are a cleansed worshipper by the blood of the Lamb.

CHARLES STANLEY.

Belated Soul Concern

“OH, my poor soul! Oh, my poor soul!” was the lament expressed by one struck down with a painful illness, which soon ended in his death.

I knew the man.

In life and health, disregard for the eternal welfare of his immortal soul was apparent.

Yet how real do things appear when we are closely pressed by death! Pain of body is racking, but now concern for the soul is uppermost. It is not, "Oh, my poor body!” but, " Oh, my poor soul!

Men live (and die, too) as though God had never said, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36, 37).

It is recorded of William Pitt, the great statesman a hundred and fifty years ago, that he said at the end of his life, “I fear I have neglected prayer too much to make it available on a death-bed.”

A certain notorious character could say, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" (Num. 23:10). Yes, but be it borne in mind that the individual who expressed this pious wish died in fact the death of the unrighteous. His “last end" was that of one who wickedly “loved the wages of unrighteousness," and who met his death among the enemies of the Lord (see Num. 31:8).

The longest earthly life is short compared with life hereafter. Yes, reader, be assured there is a life after this.

Dr. Paulus, a professor of literature, entertained atheistic opinions. He was particularly strong in denying the immortality of the soul; and when his final illness began he declared that he was about to die.

In this cheerless conviction he calmly awaited the closing scene.

When the fatal moment came, he lay in a speechless stupor. But at the last, suddenly lifting his eyes upwards, as though seeing something invisible to others, and attempting to raise himself in his bed, he exclaimed:

“THERE IS A LIFE AFTER THIS.”

He then fell back a corpse.

The end of the believer in Christ is peace.

It is true of such that they have not to be occupied about themselves or their sins. On the contrary, they are thinking of their Saviour and of others. The beloved John Bellett, in his last hours on earth, rejoiced in the prospect of seeing “the Man of Sychar," as he was wont to speak of the Lord Jesus (see John 4).

And how beautiful is the account given us of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, in Acts 7:59, 60! "I see," said he, “the Son of man standing on the right hand of God "; and he passed into eternity with prayers for his murderers on his lips.

With the apostle Paul, too, it was “having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23).

My reader, let it be yours to believe in Christ Jesus; then at the approach of death you will rejoice to know that " to be absent from the body "will be" to be present with the Lord," who loved and redeemed you at the cost of His own life's blood.

W. R. C.

Lost!

THE fitful moonlight shone upon the waters at midnight, when a sailor, while carrying out his orders, fell overboard into the dark sea. His cries of agony rang bitterly in our ears as the ship shot past him, and all that we flung to him failed to reach him.

The mate instantly ordered the ship about, and crying, "Lower away the quarter boat,” leaped into her.

Alas! THE TACKLE WAS FOUL. Oh! the terrible delay: moments seemed like hours, A knife!” shouted the mate; and snatching one from a sailor, he cut through the ropes.

The command, "In, men, in," was instantly obeyed by four stout fellows, and at last down went the boat to seek the lost. The crew gathered upon the deck to watch the result; and, dark as it was, there was light enough to see that tears rolled down many a sailor's cheek, and some could be heard murmuring a prayer.

Soon the little boat was out of sight, and we could only hear the shouts as they sought to reach the ear of their drowning comrade.

Then all was still, save the wind howling through the cordage, and the heavy flapping of the sails as the ship lay to.

Suddenly a dark spot rose upon the wave, and we saw the moonbeams flashing across the dripping oars: the boat was returning.

“All well?" we eagerly cried.

A half-spoken "Too late!" murmured along the waves; and we knew, too well, what had become of the brave fellow.

Thus an eye-witness describes the loss of a fellow-man. Perhaps, as the hapless sailor sank, he thought of his childhood's home. It may be his mother's voice sounded in his ears, and her loved countenance filled his eye; but never, never would he see her by his side again upon earth. He was lost! And why?

Willing hearts and hands hastened to his rescue, but "the tackle was foul," and they arrived too late.

Reader, if still unsaved, as a perishing soul, as one who is sinking down into eternity, receive salvation through the blood of Jesus.

It is not a time for you to trifle with your soul.

The drowning man cries for life. Yet his grave is but the sea, his separation from those whom he loves but for time. Your grave is hell, your separation from the home of God, eternal.

Was there delay upon the Saviour's part?

Listen to His words, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." And that will was the salvation of God's people. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once" (Heb. 10:7-10). Did He falter in the great and painful work of saving sinners? “How am I straitened till it be accomplished I " He said (Luke 12:50).

And now, to-day, He knows just where you are, your every sin, your every unbelieving thought. He knows too, to the hour, how long a time you shall have given you for repentance. Could the boat's crew have but heard their drowning comrade's answer to their shouts, they would have found him, and borne him safely to their ship. Alas! with you, dear reader, the deafness is willful: Jesus calls; will you not answer? That voice was uplifted, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). But this suffering was passed through so that to-day He might, by His Spirit, declare to you full and everlasting salvation.

He stretches out His hand; will you not regard? That hand was nailed to the cross for the sake of those who slew Him.

Love to perishing sinners brought Him from heaven to the stormy world; love still calls from heaven to the lost. Believe, poor lost soul, upon this mighty and loving JESUS, and for time and eternity, it shall with you be “ALL WELL!" (See John 10:28-30).

The eye of infinite holiness cannot discern a single stain of guilt upon the conscience that has been once purged by the precious blood of Christ (see Heb. 9:14).

If Thou Knewest the Gift of God!

(John 4:10)

WEARY one sat at Jacob's well. He had left the land of the Pharisees. It was JESUS. He came in love to His own, to save them from their sins; but they received Him not. Weary and grieved was His tender heart, as He sat about the sixth hour at Jacob's well.

There is a woman coming with her waterpot to the well. She is one to whom the proud Pharisee would scorn to speak. She is a despised Samaritan. And that is not all; she is a poor wretched being, living in open sin.

She little knows that she is about to meet the eve of Him who knows all that ever she did.

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

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

My reader, can you meet the eye of Him who knows every thought of your heart from childhood? All that ever you did open and naked to His eye! And can you say that you are not a sinner? How was it, think you, that there was nothing in Jesus to repel this wretched sinner? And what can these words mean, think you: " If thou knewest the gift of God," etc.? Is this the one great thing needed by a poor, wretched sinner? It is; there can be no mistake about it, for Jesus says it. Of whatever nation my reader may be; whatever the sins you may have committed, the first thing you need is not the waters of the Ganges, nor the intercession of saints, nor works of amendment; no, the thing you need is to KNOW THE GIFT OF GOD.

Do you ask who and what is that gift of God? The same that met that poor Samaritan sinner; Jesus the Son of God; as also it is written, " For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." “The GIFT of God is eternal life." “He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (John 3:16; Rom. 6:23; 1 John 5:12).

My reader, it is a gift, a gift, A GIFT. Oh, if thou knewest this! Thou canst not buy it; thou canst not merit it. He that knows all that ever thou didst, all that thou art, sets before thee Jesus the crucified; Jesus the risen one; Jesus the glorified. Dost thou know Him, the gift of all gifts?

Dost thou say, " But my sins are heavy, they press me down; what must I do?”

“If thou knewest the gift of God"! Yes, even though thou hast committed every sin that has been done in this dark world; yet God's gift, "redemption through His blood,” abounds above it all (Eph. 1:7). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). His very business was saving just such burdened, weary, heavyhearted sinners as thou art. Blessed be His holy name, the work is finished.

May God reveal to thy soul, my reader, Christ Jesus. Change of life and holiness of life will follow. But the first thing is THE GIFT OF GOD.

CHARLES STANLEY.

Feeling Versus Faith

A VERY large number of persons in this nineteenth century, not satisfied with our good old Bible, which is the Word of God, are preaching a new Bible, which is not the word of God; and I grieve to say that thousands are always talking about it, and are trusting to it.

The name of this new Bible is feeling. Now the sad thing about these dear people who have such an attachment to this new Bible is, that they are very angry if you speak against it; and, worse still, they do not believe what God says in His Word, because He says it, but because they feel it; consequently, if they do not feel it they do not believe it, and thus prove that they attach much more importance to their variable feelings, than they do to the unchangeable Word of God.

I will suppose a case for the sake of illustration. I meet an infidel, and he asks me, “How do you know that what is written in the so-called Word of God is true?”

I reply, "Because I feel it is.”

When he immediately answers, “Then I do not believe it is true, because I do not feel it is.”

Do you not see that we have neither of us any Scripture to stand upon, and that one is just as much right as the other?

So many have told me, when I have asked them if they were saved, and how they knew it, that they were saved because they felt it.

Such people are invariably distressed with doubts when they do not feel they are saved.

Others again have said that they did not know they were saved, because they did not feel it.

The constant use of the two words feel and feeling in connection with salvation has made me look them up in Cruden's Concordance.

He gives the word feel as occurring seven times, and the word feeling twice in the whole of the Scriptures (Gen. 27:12, 21; Judges 16:26; Job 20:20; Psa. 58:9; Eccles. 8:5; Acts 17:27; Eph. 4:19; Heb. 4:15).

Of the nine times that these two words are used, it is not once about forgiveness, salvation, adoption, sealing by the Spirit, preservation of the believer, or the glory soon to he revealed.

This continual search for feeling that you are forgiven, saved, that you have the Holy Ghost, and are a child of God, is the greatest dishonor to God, as it is allowing a feeling to usurp the place of the Word of God, and of faith in that Word.

Whilst the words feel and feeling only occur nine times in the Bible, the words faith, believe, believest, believed, believeth, and believing are mentioned between five and six hundred times. Then give to the winds thy frames, fears, and feelings, and know that God loves to be trusted, and delights to honor faith.

You ask perhaps, "What is faith?”

It is taking God at His word, and believing what He says because. He says it.

Again you ask, “How is this faith to be had?”

It is not natural to the human heart, “it is the gift of God. "God says," Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

Everything you can see and feel has written upon it, "Fading away, change and decay"; that only is real and abiding that can neither be seen nor felt. “Look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18).

In the Scriptures we shall find faith connected with Christ, eternal blessings, and the walk of a believer through this world. Let us look at a few scriptures where it is so used. "YE BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE also in Me” (John 14:1).

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

“Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of FAITH?" (Gal. 3:2). "After that ye BELIEVED, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13).

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that BELIEVETH on Me hath, everlasting life" (John 6:47).

“These things have I written unto you that BELIEVE on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

“For by grace are ye saved through FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast "(Eph. 2:8, 9).

“And He said to the woman, Thy FAITH hath saved thee; go in peace "(Luke 7:50).

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

“Therefore being justified by FAITH, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ "(Rom. 5:1).

“To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by FAITH "(Acts 26:18).

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our FAITH. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that BELIEVETH that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4, 5).

“Whosoever BELIEVETH that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). “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).

“For ye are all the children of God by FAITH in Christ Jesus "(Gal. 3:26).

“Who are kept by the power of God through FAITH unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" Peter 1:5).

“For we walk by FAITH, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

“But without FAITH it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must BELIEVE that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).

I have now given you a fair sample of the way God presents the subject of faith in His Word.

It is connected with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit; with everlasting life, salvation, and forgiveness; with justification, peace, and sanctification; with the new birth, victory over the world, preservation, and walk.

The words feel and feeling are not thus mentioned once. May God deliver you from morbid feelings, and bring you back to simple faith in Himself and His Word.

Dr. Lyon Play fair (a celebrated scientist) said to the Prince of Wales, when showing him some scientific experiments,” Does your Highness believe in scientific truth?

“I do," replied the Prince.

“Will your Highness then thrust your hand into this crucible of molten lead?”

“Does the doctor tell me to do this?”

“I do," replied the doctor; and the Prince did so, and drew his hand out unhurt, the reason being that the intense heat draws out the moisture from the hand, which for the moment protects the flesh from the molten lead; were the lead less hot it would burn, because it would fail to draw out the moisture.

This is surely what God wants, to be taken at His word, despite appearances.

H. M. H.

Time is short. Life is uncertain. Eternity is at hand. “The Judge standeth before the door." Think of your soul: how great its value! how awful its danger! Think of your sins: how numerous! how great! how aggravated! But all may yet be forgiven. “God is love." Christ has died, and is risen again.

His blood cleanses from all sin. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE POWER OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.

The Serpent of Brass

THERE is, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, a valuable old manuscript which contains on one of its pages an illustration of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness (Num. 21).

Drawn by some cloistered monk at the commencement of the fifteenth century, that simple outline has outlived its originator, and now to the careful observer conveys the lessons which it is evident had been learned by the medieval recluse.

Let me seek to describe it.

In the center of the drawing is the pole upon which the brazen serpent hangs. Upon the left-hand side, pointing with his rod to the serpent, Moses is seen; his lips are parted, as though saying to those around, "Look! look! and live!”

Behind the leader of Israel is a man standing with his arms crossed, and his eyes fixed upon the suspended figure. Near to him are others, who, like himself, have evidently obtained the life and healing promised to those who looked. All seem restful and happy. There are no fiery serpents to disturb the peace which they enjoy.

Upon the other side are the figures-of five men, in differing states and varied postures.

All have been bitten, but none of them have obeyed the command to look at the brazen serpent lifted up above the desert sand.

One is lying stretched out, as though perfectly at ease, perhaps wrapped in sleep, a sleep of death; whilst close to his ear, as though whispering into it, is one of the venomous serpents.

How many are in a similar condition today! As it was in the days of that monastic, so it is now. All around we may see those who, in fancied security, are taking their ease.

Although dying in their sins, they are unawakened, unalarmed, hearing not the Saviour's call, " Look unto Me, and be ye saved " (Isa. 45:22). His solemn words of warning, telling of judgment to come, are alike unheeded; the lullaby of the soul-deceiver and soul-destroyer is so soothing, for he whispers, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace " (Jer. 6:14).

Are you in such a state, my reader? Are you still careless and unconcerned; content to live without Christ; content to neglect the "so great salvation” provided at so great a cost by the Lord of glory? (Heb. What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God!" (Jonah 1:6). A little longer, and you may have passed the unknown boundary line of "the accepted time," “the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2), and then your poverty, your eternal poverty, will come as one that travelleth, and your want; your eternal want, s an armed man. “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?" (Prov. 6:9-11).

In the background of the picture is another man, but not asleep. No, indeed, he is wide awake, and, with a heavy cudgel firmly clasped in both his hands, is earnestly endeavoring to slay the serpents, which, however, still raise their poisonous heads, and dart at their would-be destroyer. His gaze is so fixed upon their wily movements that he cannot turn to look upon the life-giving serpent, but continues his useless labors; soon, doubtless, to wax feebler and feebler, until, the poison overcoming him, he sinks lifeless to the ground: And are there not many such (aroused to see their danger, knowing their sinful state) who seek, in their own fancied strength, to overcome sin, struggling day by day to obtain the victory; often defeated, and yet, with enfeebled efforts, laboring on? They think not of the work of Christ, for their own doings occupy their whole attention. As yet they have not received the truth, so oft declared upon the sacred page, that salvation is "to him that worketh not, but believeth,” that it is " not of works, lest any man should boast"; for" not by works of righteousness mercy "God saves; that" when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly " (Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:9; Titus 3:5; Rom. 5:6).

If the sinner could have accomplished his own salvation, would God have given His own Son to die? If the sinner could have delivered himself from the bondage of sin, why must the Son of man be lifted up? (John 3:14-16).

Not your doings, but His; not your works, but His, avails for forgiveness and salvation, and His one work once done, and done once for all, avails for "every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4).

A little to the left of the man last described are seen two figures with most rueful faces, both bitten, both dying, but neither obeying his leader's call to "look." The one sitting upon the sand is plainly nearing his end, growing weaker and weaker every moment.

The other, bending over him, is seeking to soothe and comfort his dying friend; but, alas! he too is bitten, and must soon succumb to the effects of the serpent's venom.

Surely this also may speak to us of many who are seeking to do temporal good to those around them, but forgetful of their own deep need, forgetful that they, as well as those whom they seek to serve, are sin-bitten, and thus in need of the "so great salvation.”

In the foreground is another who, knowing his need, is kneeling near the pole at the feet of Moses. Plainly he is praying or confessing to the man of God, for his eyes, instead of being directed to the object upon the pole, are fixed upon the servant of the Lord. Near though he is to the means of healing, he is as yet not a whit the better, but, like the rest, is dying, slowly dying, when a look at the right object would bring virtue and healing to the heated frame.

Alas! how many have heard of our Lord Jesus Christ, of His finished work and glorious resurrection and ascension, and yet are looking for healing to professed servants of the Lord, are seeking forgiveness through the affected power of the priest, and salvation through the ordinances which he administers.

But all this is only to fail. The unerring Word of God declares that there is salvation in one name alone, the name of Jesus, whose precious blood flowed forth at Calvary (Acts 4:12). As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Lord Jesus, the Son of man, has been lifted up.

Then the blessed promise made to those bitten Israelites was, " It shall come to pass, that EVERY ONE that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live "; and the faithful record is, " It came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten ANY MAN, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived " (Num. 21:8,9).

Now the message runs, “That WHOSOEVER believeth in Him” who has been lifted up upon the cross, and who is now on the throne, “should not perish, but have everlasting life," and the blessed fact is told," He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36).

“Awake thou that sleepest" (Eph. 5:14).

Death is approaching, and judgment is nigh.

Cease your work, O worker! Your vain efforts cannot avail. Turn, turn ye, from all of self, from all of man! Look, look to Christ, and live!

"It is not thy tears of repentance, nor prayers,

But the blood that atones for the soul;

On Him, then, believe, and the pardon receive

Of thy sins; not of part, but the whole.

“Oh, doubt not thy welcome, since God hath declared

There remaineth no more to be done.

Christ once in the end of the world hath appeared,

And completed the work He begun.

“There is life in a look at the crucified One

There is life at this moment for thee

Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved;

And know thyself living and free:”

That Sad, Sad Face! or, a Sister of Mercy.

I WAS traveling on the Midland some time ago. Among my fellow-passengers were a commercial, an aged general, a major, an aged lady, a sister of mercy (or nun) and a young girl, who, from her agitation, I feared was being tempted from her home to take the veil.

A more sad face than that of the unhappy looking nun was seldom seen.

As I looked at her I thought, If she had but peace with God, oh, how her misery would be turned into joy!

I sat longing for an opportunity to tell her of the finished work of Christ.

By-and-by she felt for her ticket. She could not find it. I helped her to seek it. At last she found it, after much excitement, in her cloak-sleeve. I then said, “It would be a fearful thing at the end of the journey of life to find that we were without the passport to heaven.”

“Indeed, it would," she replied.

I said, “Can you tell me what the passport is to the holy presence of God?”

“A good conscience," she replied.

I said again, " God says in His Word that ' there is none righteous, no, not one,' that ' there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ' (Rom. 3:10, 22, 23). Will you, then, tell me how a sinner can have a good conscience?”

The nun was quite at a loss to know how to answer this question.

“I should think you ought to know," said the aged lady at my left; and pointing to the Word of God in my hand, she added, “That Book will tell you.”

“You are quite right," I said. This Book tells me that 'the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin'; that every believer HAS boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus' (1 John 1:7) Heb. 10:19). It tells me my sins ARE forgiven for His name's sake; that believers HAVE redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (1 John 2:12; Eph. 1:1-7); that God is infinitely righteous in thus justifying a poor sinner, and that without works" (Rom. 3:19-28).

“What!" said the major, “you do not mean to say that a man may know in this world that his sins are forgiven? I cannot think that a man can be quite sure of that.”

“Certainly, Major; and now let me give you an illustration in your own line. Suppose your regiment in rebellion, and you give yourself up to make reconciliation for your men, telling them that if you do not succeed you shall never return, but that if you do return they may be quite sure of their pardon the moment they see you; that the reconciliation will then have been made. Now, suppose you do thus make a complete and satisfactory reconciliation. You do return; and you call your regiment on parade, and announce a free pardon to every soldier. And now a man steps up, and says,' I suppose, your honor, I must not be quite sure that what you say is true.' Now, Major, would you not consider that an insult?”

“That is right," said the old general.

“And now, if it is an insult to doubt the word of a fallible man, what is it to doubt the testimony of the infallible God? Has not the blessed Jesus given Himself the propitiation for sin, ' to make reconciliation for the sins of the people '? (Heb. 2:17). ‘He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and He rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-5). He never could have returned from the cold chambers of the dead, if the reconciliation had not been perfectly made. But believers can say with triumph, He 'was raised again for our justification.

Therefore, being justified by faith, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD, through our Lord Jesus Christ ' (Rom. 4:25; 5:1).

“Do you not see, Major, your return to your regiment would be a proof that reconciliation was made? And the resurrection of Christ is God's proof that the atoning work of Christ is perfectly finished. And if your own word should be enough for your men to believe, what can I want more than the Word of God? God has raised up that very Jesus who groaned and bled on the cross beneath the weight of my sins and guilt. And that is not all. That very Jesus is gone up on high, and sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. That is what gives me the answer of a good conscience, as Peter says, And be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear, having a good conscience.' But how? By good works? No, these will do before men, but the answer of a good conscience toward God [is only} by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is gone into heaven,' etc. (1 Peter 3:15-22). The sacrifices of the law could never make the conscience perfect, much less can the bloodless sacrifices that men pretend now to offer. But the offering of Jesus on the cross, His one offering of Himself, perfects the conscience forever, so perfects it that there needs no more sacrifice for sins (Heb. 10:1-23).

“Major, would you not be happy now if you knew your sins are forgiven”

“Oh, yes, indeed; nothing on this earth could make me so happy.”

And then, addressing the nun, I said, "And would you not be happy if you also knew, like the believing Ephesians, that God had, for Christ's sake, forgiven your sins?”

She said, “I do not know how to answer you.”

The commercial man now spoke: " I have no doubt that a man is justified, as you have said, by faith; but will you tell me WHEN a man may conclude with certainty and safety that he is saved?

“That is a very important inquiry," said I. “Many make a fatal mistake by concluding, because they have passed through a religious excitement, that they may hope they are saved. There is no safety in such a conclusion. Neither can a person be sure that he is saved by fasting and prayers and works of kindness. No; there is sin mixed up with it all. Neither dare the person conclude that he is saved by keeping the holy law of God; for the more sincerely he strives to keep it, the more miserable and desponding he is, for he finds an evil heart that is still breaking it. But when a person sees himself so great a sinner that there is no remedy for him but death, and that God has met his need as a sinner in the death of Christ, and that, being risen from the death which the sinner deserved, He is now his justification and life; in plain words, when stripped of all dependence on himself, he is brought by the Spirit of God to TRUST ALONE IN CHRIST, he may then conclude with certainty and safety that he is saved.”

Yes, my reader, nothing can be so sure as the word of the living God. Be it known unto you that through this [risen] Man [Christ Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 38, 39).

“ARE JUSTIFIED"; not, may be after death.

No, the believer is now beyond death, Jesus having died for him.

If you are brought to give up all self-righteousness, and, as a lost sinner, to receive Christ as your entire salvation, you may be certain that you are saved.

A person may be deceived in doing and enduring anything to save himself; but no man will TRUST ALONE IN CHRIST, but by the Holy Ghost. If this is your faith you may be certain it is of God. You may be certain, therefore, that you are saved.

If you are trusting partly in Christ and partly in something else, you never on that ground can be saved. It must be all Christ, or no Christ at all.

How Can a Sinner Be Justified?

WITH men this is clearly impossible. Man, with all his boasted wisdom, could not devise any plan of effecting this.

For instance, a prisoner stands at the bar, really guilty of the crime charged upon him; the judge may forgive, but can he say to that guilty man, " You go away from this bar justified; from this time no person can lay anything to your charge "?

GOD ALONE can justify the guilty, and be righteous in doing it. The Epistle to the Romans shows God's wondrous plan of justifying the guilty (see chapter’s 1.-8.).

All are guilty, whether Jews or Gentiles, religious or profane. There is no difference; ALL HAVE SINNED. God says so. Conscience says so. You know, I know, it is so. Guilty!

Guilty “Yes," you say, “that is what perplexes me. I know I am a sinner. How, then, can I be justified, so that no charge can be laid to me?”

First let us see how this cannot be done; how you CANNOT be justified, and then see what God's only plan is of justifying the sinner.

“By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight "(Rom. 3:20).

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." “For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain "(Gal. 2:16-21).

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for IT IS WRITTEN, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the works of the law is evident" (Gal. 3:10, 11).

Do you say, “We must do our best to love God, and keep His commandments, and then hope He will forgive us, and justify us?”

Where does He say, if we do our best? or where is the man that does his best? No, on the doing plan no man shall be justified. God has said it, and it is hard to fight against God.

Let us now look at God's only way of justifying the ungodly.

“IT IS CHRIST THAT DIED" (ROM. 8:34).

Oh, wondrous answer to all my sins!

“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood.”

“'Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 3:19-28; 5:1).

"IT IS GOD THAT JUSTIFIETH" (Rom. 8:31-34)

My reader, let your thoughts dwell on the cross of Christ. Blessed are the eyes that sec and the ears that hear God's testimony about the death of Jesus, the propitiation for sins.

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Rom. 5:8).

What man could never do God has done.

He has laid our sins on Jesus; they are put away by His atoning blood. God has raised Him from the dead. “All that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:39). And God thus not only is just in forgiving the believer's sins, but is righteous in justifying the believer.

Though once guilty, yet justified, so justified by the death of Jesus, that not one charge can be laid to him that believeth. Oh, think of it, my fellow-believer! God hath so justified you by the blood of Jesus, that nothing can be laid to your charge: all, all has been borne by Jesus.

Is not this enough to give you peace?

Yea, the peace of God is yours. Yes, yours forever.

CHARLES STANLEY

The Wreck and the Rescue

WE watched the wreck with great anxiety. The life-boat had been out some hours, but could not reach the vessel through the great breakers that raged and foamed on the sand-bank.

The boat appeared to be leaving the Norwegian crew to perish; but it was only to get round the sand-bank. My eye was to the glass: "I think I see the boat leaving the vessel," said I to my friend. "Just you look.”

He did so. "Yes, there she is," said he, “plain enough; but I have lost her again.

Why, dear! dear! the vessel has gone down.”

Yes, it was so. But a' very few minutes after the captain and sixteen of the perishing crew had been taken off, the vessel went down.

We were having a meeting to read the Word of God on the Monday night, and five of the rescued sailors came in. They were so deeply interested in hearing the gospel preached that the whole sixteen “besought that the same words might be preached to them “the next night.

It was very affecting to look at these sixteen men, rescued from the very jaws of death.

There was an aged sailor of near sixty, and a boy about fifteen. A Norwegian Bible had been washed on shore. A beloved brother turned to the passages in it, as I spoke in English. Some could understand me, while the mate read the Norwegian texts, and interpreted to the others.

It was a solemn meeting. We had provided supper, and asked whether they would have tea or coffee. They replied they had come for neither, but to hear the Word of God.

I said, " When your vessel had struck, and those immense waves were rolling over the deck, suppose I had taken a speaking trumpet, and, standing on the shore, had hailed you with these words, 'I invite you to come on shore, and then you will be safe.' Would that have been good news for you?”

“Oh, no, sir," said they," that would not have met our case at all.”

“Well, then, when the life-boat had come three miles, and was now only one hundred yards from you, suppose the captain of the boat had said, There, we have done our part; you must now do yours.' Would that have met your case?”

“Oh, no; that would have been no better than staying on shore.”

Of course not, they might as well have attempted three miles, in such a sea, as one hundred yards. Every sea that struck them threatened to send them to the deep. In such a storm, free will will not help a man a yard.

In their case there was the will, but where was the power?

One more question, “When the life-boat came to you in the storm, did you expect it had brought some tools to repair your old ship? or did you expect to be taken off the old vessel and put in the life-boat?”

“Oh, no; the vessel was a total wreck,” said they.

They well knew that she was past mending.

Two of her masts were gone, and if they had stayed mending her, only a few minutes, they must have gone down, to rise no more in this world. They had to be taken off the vessel and strapped fast to the life-boat.

That is a noble life-boat, The Jessie Knowles, she is so built that she cannot sink.

I think she was buried four times in the waves, but rose, and emptied herself each time.

What a mercy there was such a life-boat at Southport; but for her, there was no way of escape for those poor men.

It is a solemn thing for seventeen men, in health and strength, all to go down in a moment to a watery grave. It was a fearful storm, and many long hours had passed, darkness had come on, but at last they emerged from the darkness, and all were saved.

I tried to illustrate the gospel by the manner of their rescue; some believed the message, and I doubt not I shall meet them at the coming of the Lord.

I showed them that by nature every man is in the very condition that they had been in: a total wreck. The power of Satan, and the awful billows of sin beating on the soul, are of far greater strength than those waves that rolled over the ship. Poor man, when he really awakes to his true condition, he finds, like the stranded vessel, he has lost both his masts. Yes, and if even he has the will, where is the power to escape? The apostle Paul, describing his own experiences when in the flesh, on the old ship, says, “For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good. I find not" (Rom. 7:18).

When the blessed Jesus was upon earth, man's condition was fully proved. He came to His own, but His own received Him not (John 1:11). He invited men to come unto Him; but they rejected, and slew Him. Such is the crew of the old vessel, to which, by nature, my reader belongs.

What a wreck is humanity, and in what a storm! No, the gospel is not a mere invitation to the sinner, to give up his sins, to come out of the storm, and come and serve Christ on shore. No, it shows me how Jesus gave His precious blood to come and serve me in, and save me from, the storm.

In the parable, all rejected the invitation to the gospel supper. None came but those that were fetched, yea, compelled to come in (Luke 14:16-23). Such is man, and such is God.

Where sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded (Rom. 5:20).

Blessed Lord Jesus! Thou didst not come within one hundred yards of us, and then bid us help ourselves.

No, had Jesus only come to this world to invite sinners to Himself, He must have remained alone. To save, He must die (John 12:24). If pity led the crew of the life-boat to go into the midst of the raging storm, right to the sinking vessel, was it not love that led the blessed One to leave the realms of glory, and descend to this world of sin; yea, to take the sinner's place, to die for our sins, according to the Scriptures? Jesus took no half measures. Infinite in love, mighty to save, well did He count the cost. None but He fully knew the perils of that deep, into which He entered, when His soul was made an offering for sin. Before He could reach us, all God's billows must roll over Him; those dark, deep waters of death into which He sank. And, Prince of life, what must that death have been to Him? Such death was never died but then. The awful weight of God's righteous judgment on sin, and on my sins, struck His soul, fell on Him; and, as it fell, made even Him cry out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46).

Ah, had the whole Atlantic, with one mighty swell, struck the Norwegian wreck, this would have been as nothing in comparison. And there was no way to reach poor sin-wrecked man, but through this sin-expiating death. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so MUST the Son of man be lifted up "(John 3:14). "Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ" (Acts 17:3).

However man, duped by the great enemy, may make light of sin, God cannot make light of it. Without the shedding of blood, pardon there is none. In heaven or earth naught could be found to maintain the high consistency of God most holy in pardoning sin, but the expiating death of His ever-beloved Son.

O sinner, “God hath spoken in His holiness, I will rejoice" (Psa. 60:6). In perfect righteousness the gospel comes to every opened ear.

The work is done. The wreck is reached.

Christ sank in death; He is risen in life, in life that dies no more. He was “delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification" (Rom. 3:25).

O sin-tossed, sin-wrecked soul, perishing, sinking, lost one! hear the words of thy great Deliverer, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My words, 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).

Oh, sweetest words of heavenly certainty to him that thus believes the wondrous love of God, in sending Jesus to the wreck! Long may you have been rowing in the dark and stormy night of sin. Oh! do you hear His voice? He says, "Be not afraid; it is I.”

What love to come to you just where you are, helpless and lost! He comes with words of pardon, words of peace. Through Him is proclaimed to you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things. This is the plain statement of His word (Acts 13:38). I only ask, Do you hear His words? Do you believe on God that sent Him, in infinite righteousness, thus to save the lost? Then, as surely as you thus believe God, so surely you are passed from death unto life. It is thus by the Word of God that faith comes to sin-wrecked man.

The Norwegian sailors were a good deal surprised at the illustration of their not trying to mend the old ship. There is no greater, or more common, mistake, than the attempt to mend the old man. The moment these sailors were taken off the wreck, and strapped to the life-boat, that moment the old vessel passed away, and they sailed in the new life-boat. If they had clung to only one rope of the old, they could not have escaped in the new.

It is just so with all who are saved in Christ.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God " (2 Cor. 5:17). The resurrection life-boat is entirely of God; built of God when He raised Christ from the dead.

Thus God takes the once wrecked sinner, from his old condition, in the wrecked vessel of Adam the first, and places him, yea, straps him fast, with cords of never-breaking love, in the resurrection life-boat, the new creation.

Hear what Jesus says of all who are in this life-boat: "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand" (John 10:28). O blessed Captain, those who know Thee best, know that the sin-wrecked sailor, once in the life-boat, is as safe as those who have landed on heaven's shore. True, he is still in the storm; but he cannot sink, he cannot perish. What confidence this gives to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling The Norwegian sailors very gladly pulled at the oar in concert with the life-boat crew. The certainty that they could not sink gave strength to the pull. So it was with Paul, when addressing the sin-wrecked ones in the resurrection life-boat at Philippi. Being confident that he who had begun the work would see them safe to land, he therefore bids them joyfully pull for the shore (see Phil. 2:12, 13).

Man's utmost effort to improve himself is just like trying to mend a sinking ship. Still she settles lower and lower in the water, and the next sea that strikes her may be the last.

And, with all his religiousness and resolutions, man sinks lower and lower in sin. Awful condition! the next sin may be the last; and then he sinks in perdition.

When the vessel is full of water, it is too late to pump. Alas man is not only full of sin; but there is no strength in himself to keep it out; all is rottenness. There must be a new birth, a new creation. All hope in self, like the broken ship, must be given up.

Well, reader, how is it with you? Has God shown you your utterly wrecked condition? It may be you say, “That sinking wreck is an exact picture of my state; but what am I to do? I have tried long to be better, but I only sink lower and lower?”

Nay, it is not, What are you to do? but, What has been done? Christ has died. God needs no more; nay, God says so, by raising Him from the dead. Now, think of the death of Jesus for sins. Do you need more? God is just in justifying; is not this enough? Oh that from this moment you may let go every hope, and every rope of the old ship, self, and believing what God says, through Jesus pass from death unto life.

Does the Bible Say so?

A FEW years ago, a dear servant of the Lord (a man of color) was on his way from London to a town on the sea coast, where he was going on his blessed Master's service, and also with the hope of recruiting his health, which had become much worn down by arduous duties.

Entering a railway carriage, in which were several passengers, he sat down; and, having had to hurry to the station, he leaned back in his seat to recover breath, while he looked out of the window.

Presently the train moved on; and, as they passed the busy crowds still left on the platform, he heaved a sigh at the thought of such multitudes of people rushing through this world without, perhaps, any concern about eternity or their immortal souls.

It might have been the heavy sigh, or it might have been his color and general appearance, that attracted the notice of an elderly lady who was seated opposite to him, for he soon became conscious that she was regarding him with marked attention.

After a time she said to her companion, “What an interesting-looking person that is!

He looks ill. What a fine race of people he must belong to! I wonder who he is. Do you think he is a Turk, or a Hindu?”

“I. should think he is an Indian," said the young lady.

“I wish we could speak to him," continued the elderly lady; “I quite long to tell him about the way to heaven. How sad it is that such a fine, intelligent-looking people should bow down to images and stocks and stones What a pity we can't speak to him, for he does not seem to understand a word we say!”

“Perhaps he may be able to read English a little, if he cannot speak it," suggested the young lady.

“You might offer him a tract," said one of the gentlemen.

The elderly lady opened her bag, and, from a number, selected one, which she presented to him with a smile, and a motion to read it.

He received the tract, bowed his thanks, and read it through in silence.

During the time occupied by our friend in reading the tract, a conversation arose amongst the other passengers respecting the desirability of increased exertion, on the part of this Christian land, to send the gospel to the heathen, and much was said about the great good accomplished in various parts by missionary efforts, etc., etc.

Availing himself of a pause in the conversation, our friend, in good English, thanked the lady for her care for his soul, telling her that it was an all-important object to him, adding, " I heard you say, madam, you longed to tell me the way to heaven; have the kindness to tell me how I may be sure of going there. I want to hear that. This tract does not tell me how I am sure Nov that I shall be saved. It tells me to repent of my sins, and to pray; but how can I know when I have prayed and repented enough? Can you tell me plainly how I may be sure of getting to heaven? Have you no other book that tells a poor sinner how he may get to heaven?”

“Oh, yes," said the lady," the Bible, which is the Word of God, was given on purpose to show the way to heaven. Read the Bible, and pray, and you will be sure to go to heaven.”

“Can you show me in God's Word where that is said? Where does, it say that if I pray, I shall go to heaven? I want to be sure of that. Have you a Bible, madam?

And can you point out the words which plainly tell how I may be sure of that?”

She had no Bible in her bag. The other three passengers were appealed to for a Bible; but no one carried a Bible about with them.

At last our friend drew the precious volume from his pocket, and, holding it up, said, “Is that the book you mean, madam? If it be the Word of God, given on purpose to show the way to heaven, it will surely give plain directions. Will you kindly show me where?”

The lady took the Bible, and, turning over the leaves confusedly, said, " I do not know exactly where to find what I want to show you, but it says if you repent of your sins, and pray earnestly, you will be saved.”

“That does not satisfy me. How am I to know that I have prayed enough to satisfy God? Can you not point out one portion that is enough for me to rest upon?”

Turning to her young companion, she said, “Can you find it?" Receiving a reply in the negative, the lady applied to the others in turn, and the Bible was offered to each with the entreaty that they would point out some passage that told plainly how the sinner was to get to heaven.

But all confessed their inability to recollect where such passages could be found.

The lady, returning the Bible, said, “Well, I cannot find the place, but if you will call upon the Rev. Mr.—, when you reach F—, he will tell you. He is a very good man, an evangelical clergyman; and he will be happy to direct you.”

“But, madam, we may never reach F—. The train may run off the line, and we may all be killed. We may have a collision.

Many things may happen; I do not know that I may live to see F—. Can none of you Christians tell a poor foreigner how he may be saved? You are moved with pity for his darkness and ignorance; can you help him to the light?”

“I have told you, you must pray," said the lady. "The Bible says so.”

He took his Bible, and opening it at John 3:14-16, read out the verses: " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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.”

Then John 5:24: "He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; hut is passed from death unto life.”

Also 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.”

“Are these the portions you mean, madam?” he asked.

Yes," she said," that is what I could not remember.”

“But you told me I must pray and repent.

This precious book tells me to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I shall be saved; to believe on the Son of God, and I shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Praise to His name! The poor foreigner can trust that blessed word, and know he is safe for heaven, safe through that work of the Lord Jesus Christ which was finished on the cross more than eighteen hundred years ago; and is happy in knowing he is justified from all things, in virtue of that blood shed for sinners; and not by his own prayers and repentance; happy in knowing He has made peace by the blood of His cross.”

He then proceeded at some length to set forth to his astonished fellow-travelers the love that led God to send His Son into this world to die for sinners, and the love that brought the Son to do the will of His Father, etc., etc.

“Stop, sir!" exclaimed one of the gentlemen, angrily, “this is no place for such holding forth. It is neither the time nor the place, sir.”

“'When is the time, and where is the place, in this Christian land, for a Christian to speak of Christ? " calmly, but earnestly, asked our friend.

“Sunday is the time, sir, and the church is the place, hut not in a railway carriage.

This is a very improper place.”

They had reached the end of their journey, and they parted, to meet no more on earth, for our beloved friend and brother in Christ was soon afterward " absent from the body, and present with the Lord " (2 Cor. 5:8).

Looking up

A CHRISTIAN was one day passing through a town in Ireland, and coming to a house of business where resided a fellow believer in the Lord Jesus, he called to see him, and asked him how he was getting on in the things of God.

His reply was, "I am looking up.”

This little sentence was overheard by a young man on the premises, whose conscience was at once stricken, and he said within himself, "I am looking down.”

The Lord from that time began to deal with him, and he had no rest until he was brought to Himself, to know the joy of looking up to Him, and praising Him for thus, through His grace, delivering him from this present evil world, and bringing him out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). It was no longer, "I am looking down," but, I am looking up," looking unto Jesus, the One who had saved him from his sins, and brought him to. God (Eph. 2:13).

I Will Fear No Evil

TWO women sat talking together in a hamlet in the West of England, about the possibility of knowing the forgiveness of sins in this world.

One of the two believed it to be possible; the other did not. The one who did believe it endeavored, upon the authority of God's Word, to show her friend that God had laid upon Christ, when He was upon the tree, the sins of all who believe in Him, and that He put them all away forever before He left the cross; that He is now in heaven without them, and therefore that they are all gone, gone forever from Christ, and forever from all who trust Him.

Did not Jesus say to the woman in Luke 7 "Thy sins are forgiven"? And does not the apostle John, in 1 John 2:12, say, “I write unto you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake "? And do not Eph. 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” Col. 1:14, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins"; and Rev. 1:5, "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed up from our sins in His own blood,” prove beyond doubt that all saved persons ought to know that their sins are forgiven them, and to praise God and the Lamb for it?

Annie W., a little girl of about twelve years of age, the daughter of the woman who believed, sat and listened to the conversation between her mother and her friend, and drank it all in. Anxious about her soul, she went upstairs, shut the door upon her, and kneeling down, asked God to forgive her all her sins, and to let her know it before she got off her knees.

Sweetly came the words of Jesus to her soul, “Thy sins are forgiven," which her young soul believed. She thanked Him for forgiveness.

Annie's mother was taken seriously ill, and for some months she remained in that state, and then it was that the young disciple waited lovingly and constantly upon her, and looked after the comfort of her father and the rest of the family. Love is unselfish, and is glad to seize opportunities of showing love to others, and especially at home in the family circle.

But soon Annie herself was taken ill, with an illness from which she never recovered, and that made long and sad work with the poor body. But as the lapidary's wheel takes off the roughness of the apparently ugly stone, and discovers exquisite beauties in it, so did the trying sickness bring out what God had wrought in Annie's soul, and show most clearly the beauties of the "divine nature” which had been implanted in her.

Many Christians visited Annie, by whom they were always welcomed; for she loved to hear them speak of Him who had loved her, and given Himself for her, and who had told her that her sins were all forgiven.

Whilst Annie was lying ill, a most gracious work of God's Spirit began in her neighborhood, and many precious souls were truly brought to God; and it was a very real joy to Annie to know that some of the young people with whom she used to associate were among the number of the saved. But it was a still greater joy to her that she was nearing home.

Jesus was becoming daily increasingly precious to her, and she had intense longings to see Him and be with Him.

The grace of God that had saved and kept her now shone brightly in her. She not only loved to hear about the blessed Lord, but she loved to speak about Him. When told she was dying, she smiled with joy at the thought, of so soon being with the Lord, and repeated, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me" (see Psa. 23).

Her mother said, “The valley is not dark, is it?”

“Oh, no! it is bright; it is beautiful.”

Yes; the Lord Jesus has been through the valley, and lit it up for you, my child.”

She said, “Yes; I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto Me, and rest.' I shall soon be at rest, at home. Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou art precious unto me.”

As her sight grew dim, so that she could not see her kind devoted mother, she said, with a sweet forgetfulness of self, “Don’t you be afraid, mother; I hope I shan't frighten you"; and then, without a fear, murmur, or struggle, she sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.

A few days after, devout men carried her body to the grave, and around it we spoke of the positive, comparative, and superlative blessedness of being a Christian. The positive blessedness, living Christ (Phil. 1:21); the comparative, to depart and be with Christ.

(Phil. 1:23); the superlative, for Christ to come again, raise the bodies of all who sleep in Him, and take all away in the chariot of the clouds to meet Him in the air, " and so, shall we ever be with the Lord " (1 Thess. 4:15-18). And then, having sung a hymn of praise, we left the body of Annie in the village burial-ground, in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection.

“BE YE ALSO READY" (Matt. 24:44).

Are you ready, dear reader? Oh, where will you spend ETERNITY? Will it be spent with Jesus, His saints and angels, in the peerless heights of everlasting glory, or with the lost in the fathomless depths of the lake of fire?

If you are not saved, I beseech you no longer to refuse the love of God. Reject not the Christ of God. Resist not the testimony .of the Spirit of God, but at once, where you .are, just as you are, and just now, believe in God, who delivered Christ "for our offenses,” and raised Him again "for our justification,” and you will be saved, and ready for death or Christ's second coming (see Rom. 4:25; Heb. 9:28

H. M. H.

I've Nothing to Fear

A SHORT time previous to the death of a poor invalid who had been recently converted, a gentleman who was in the habit of visiting him, and manifested much kindness to his family, called upon him.

Whilst speaking of his approaching death, he said to the sick man, “It’s a very solemn thing to die.”

“I don't know, sir, about its being solemn," replied the sufferer," but I believe when I leave this world of wickedness, I shall go to a place of happiness, and be with Christ, for I believe in Him; His blood has washed me from my sin, and I'VE NOTHING TO FEAR (see Rev. 1:5, 6).

The Sword of the Spirit

(EPH. 6:17)

I WAS traveling between Paris and Bourdeaux, and had just left Angouleme, when a smart and showy young man stepped into the coupe of the diligence where I was, and seated himself between me and another traveler. He saluted me with politeness; and, after the first customary words, said to me,

"Sir, I think you are from Paris?”

"I left it yesterday," I replied.

"And I am sure," he continued, “you must have seen the Huguenots (a piece of music).

What a wonderful production it is! So original! Every one is flying to it! Were you not enchanted?

“The Huguenots?" replied. I, putting my hand into the pocket of the coach, where I had put the New Testament which I read on my journey, "I have here what the Huguenots held as their greatest treasure.”

The young man exclaimed, with surprise, "The treasure of the Huguenots! What may that be, I pray?”

I presented the book to him; he read its title, and returned it to me immediately, saying with contempt, "Oh, as for that hook, it is good for nobody, I think, but old women and people of weak minds.”

“I know, sir," replied I, with feeling, "that it is excellent for me, who certainly am not an old woman. As to my mind, I shall say nothing; you can judge of that.”

The young man blushed, and said, with some confusion, "A thousand pardons, sir, if I have offended you by my foolish expression; but allow me to speak quite freely, and to tell you that I cannot comprehend how a man of sense and intelligence, such as (with respect) I acknowledge you to be, can approve of, and above all, believe in such a production.”

I confess I was tempted to oppose weapon to weapon, but the words of the Holy Book came to my mind, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (2 Cor. 10:4). Leaving, therefore, in its scabbard of clay the feeble sword of my reason, I seized that of the Spirit, the Word of God, and world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them "(2 Cor. 4:4).

“Yes, yes," replied the young man;" that is what your book says: but where is its authority? That is the question.”

“If any man will do the will of God," I continued, “he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether Christ speaks of Himself "(John 7:17).

“That is to say," answered the young man, “every man of sense and judgment in society is a villain, or infidel, or rather atheist, because he cannot subscribe to the mysteries, not to say the absurdities, of a book scarcely known to any but the lowest people.”

“The faith of the Christian," replied I, “stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, who hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty; and as to the unbeliever, God says that he is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God; and the gospel adds, that such a man shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (1 Car. 1:27; 2:5; John 3:18, 36).

“Very well, sir," replied the young man, with bitterness,” my portion, according to your opinion, is quite settled; and," added he, with a sneer,” it is hell, with its eternal flames, is it not, that awaits me? and along with me all the flower of the human kind. I thank you for your charity.”

“It is not I, sir," I replied, with calmness, it is God Himself who says that the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven given among men, by which they can be saved; and it is Jesus also that says to you, as to every sinner, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (Acts 4:12; John 3:16). You hear this; you hear those words of love and of kindness.”

The young man said nothing, but frowned.

His countenance was sad, and he remained for a long time silent. Night came on; he still remained silent; and I supposed that his discontent would last till he had fallen asleep; when, turning suddenly towards me, he said, with deep feeling, “Where could I procure a copy of the book you have been reading? for, yes, I ought to read it; I begin to believe that possibly I may be wrong, and you right. I regret, also, sir, the very inconsiderate language that....”

“Oh, sir," said I, interrupting him," I beg you will make no apology; and since you already feel that the Word of God is superior to that of the philosophers (of Voltaire, for instance) let us have some talk, if you please, about that Word, which you will allow me to present to you as soon as we arrive at Bourdeaux”

From that happy moment our conversation was easy; and it was not till after we had discussed all the vital doctrines of Christianity that we resigned ourselves to sleep.

The next day my young companion was serene, cordial, and perfectly frank; and before we parted, he took me by the hand, saying, " You remember, I hope, the promise you were so kind as to make to me: here is the name of my hotel.”

I sent him the Bible immediately, and let him know, also, that that day and the following I was to expound some portions of Scripture at religious meetings, where he would be most welcome.

The invitation was not in vain. That same evening the young Voltairian, with his Bible in his hand, took his place among some pious people who came to hear the gospel.

The following day he returned at the same hour; and, after the service, he came to me, and said, with emotion. “Sir, from this time, this book shall be my guide, my study, my only study.”

“And to-morrow,” said I to him," what are you to do? it is the king's fete, and there will be a grand ball and much gaiety; of course you will be invited?”

“I have already refused the invitation,” said the young disciple, with firmness.” shall not appear there. In the morning I shall go and hear you, since you are to preach; in the evening I shall return here, if it please God, and hear you again.”

He did indeed come; and, for the first time, this most accomplished young man, who heretofore had made the theater or the ball his chief pleasure, found his greatest enjoyment in serving God.

That evening I took leave of this young friend of the truth. He testified anew his gratitude to me, and his desire that my wishes concerning him might be fulfilled. He declared, before many witnesses, that he believed the Bible to be the Word of God, that he adored the Saviour, and that he wished to live and die a Christian.

Do not expect God to lead you to Christ by any new revelation, such as you may have pictured to yourself beforehand. Whenever you believe in Christ, it will be the same Christ of whom you have heard and read so much; the same Christ who is now waiting with open arms to receive you. Ungodly, and without strength, we were, but “when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). Dare you not believe this? Can you be worse than ungodly, or in a more hopeless state than without strength? CHRIST DIED FOR SUCH.

Oh, that you may he enabled from your heart to say, “Yes, for me! He loved me, and gave Himself for me!" "I am ungodly, and He died for me! I am without strength, and He died for me!" You will never have a better title than this for depending upon Christ.

God so Loved the World

“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).

WHAT a blessed verse of Holy Scripture this is! It contains the glad tidings of God as announced by Jesus Himself.

I used to think, what so many still think, that I had to love God, give to God, and do for God, before I could be saved; but this precious verse showed me I was all wrong, and that God had loved, God had given, and God had done all the work in Jesus on the cross that was needed for His own glory and my salvation, and that what I had to do to get everlasting life was not to love, give, or do, but simply to believe in Him whom God in love had given to do the work that His glory and my state required.

Do you see it, clear anxious soul? Do you believe that you are an object of God's love?

This simple verse has been used of God to the salvation of thousands of souls. Many are now with the Lord; many others are on earth ready and waiting for the Lord; and not a few are preaching the gospel in many parts of this world, who owe their own salvation to the truth contained in this verse.

Some people say, "Oh, if I only knew that I was one of the elect, then I would believe but our verse says nothing about God loving the elect; it says, "God so loved the world.”

Now if you cannot bring yourself to believe you are one of the elect, you surely will have no difficulty in believing that you are one of the world; therefore you are an object of God's love.

“But must I not love God first?”

No; you must rest in His love to you, and then you will love Him because He first loved you. “We love Him because He first loved us "(1 John 4:19). "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that. He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins " (1 John 4:10).

When I last crossed the Atlantic ocean, the fog was so thick that the captain of the steamer I was in signaled to the engineer to stop the engines, and had the lead thrown overboard to see if we were near any rocks. A piece of butter was put at the bottom of the sounding-lead so that when it touched rock it would bring up an impression of it, or if it touched sand or pebbles it would have some sticking to it when it was drawn up.

It was an awful moment of suspense as the vessel rolled from side to side in the trough of the sea, for none on board knew whether we were in danger or not. Presently the captain gave orders to the officer who was throwing the lead to stop and pull it in, and when it was hauled up it showed no impression, and brought nothing up from the bottom, for the simple reason that, though many fathoms of rope had been thrown overboard, it had not touched the bottom.

We were safe; we might breathe freely. The engines began to work again, and the vessel, plowed her way through the mighty waters.

I thought of the ocean of God's love, which has never yet been fathomed, for it is bottomless. “The circumference of our earth, the altitude of the sun, the distance of the planets, these have been determined; but the height, depth, and breadth of the love of God passeth knowledge.”

I know a dear child of God who was once most anxious about her soul's salvation. She asked kind friends what she was to do, and they set her a whole round of things to do, assuring her that if she persevered she would obtain what she longed for.

She did persevere, but was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when one night, as she was lying awake in her bed, unable to sleep from anxiety about her soul's salvation, God brought the verse I am writing about to her mind; and as she slowly repeated, " God so loved the world,” she said," Why, I have been trying to love God into loving me, and all the time God has been trying to love me into loving Him. God so loved the world.' I am a part of the world, therefore GOD LOVES It was enough; her soul was saved and satisfied, and she drank in the love of God, and began to love Him whom she now saw had first loved her.

And God not only loved, but He gave, not the archangel, or one of the angels, or a poor sinner like ourselves, but His only begotten Son; and that holy Son went to the cross, and bore all that God could possibly express against sin; and having satisfied the holy and righteous claims of God, He cried, " IT IS And now He is in the glory of God as a proof that it is finished, and that God is satisfied; and now we come in, not to love, give, or do, but simply to believe in Him whom God in love has given to do the work.

And God says we shall not perish (just what we deserved), but have everlasting life (just what we never deserved at all); and the moment we are satisfied that God should be first in loving, giving, and doing, He will put us in possession of everlasting life, and allow us to love Him because He first loved us, to give to Him because He has first given us everything in Christ, and to do for Him because He has first done everything for us in Christ.

Is it simple to you, clear soul? Do you understand it? Do you believe it?

You reply, “If I only saw my name written clown in the Lamb's book of life, then I would believe it.”

But, my friend, if you do not see your name first in John 3:16 you are never likely to see it in the Lamb's book of life.

“What!" you say, “my name in God's word?”

Yes; only God does not spell it as you do. If He did, there are so many people of your name in the world that nobody would know which of them it meant; but God's way of spelling your name is, WHOSOEVER," and if there are a thousand people of your name in the world "whosoever" takes them all in.

It includes all, and excludes none but those who exclude themselves by their own guilty unbelief.

A simple countryman once asked a boy what “whosoever" meant. The boy replied, “Why, you, me, and anybody." This definition made it quite clear to the countryman, who was anxious to be saved.

Have you got "everlasting life"? It is not something for a mere period; it lasts for ever and ever: " He that believeth, on the Son hath everlasting life." Mark, it is not he that believeth in himself, but "HE THAT”

BELIEVETH ON THE SON " (John 3:36).

I have done. Remember, God is first in loving, giving„ and doing, and that we come in as believers in this wondrous love that gave His only begotten Son to do all the work, when we immediately get everlasting life, and may love, give, and do for God in the power of the Holy Ghost, and may spread the blessed tidings far and wide that "God so loved the world.”

H. M. H.

Remember Lot's Wife

(LUKE 17:32).

SHE set out with her husband from Sodom to escape the awful judgment which God was bringing on that guilty city. But her heart was still there; her affections clung to Sodom, and that which it contained; and so, looking behind her, she was turned into a pillar of salt. She became thus an abiding memorial of the terrible consequences of relapsing from an awakened into a careless state. Oh! that God Himself may impress upon your heart the warning addressed to Lot, and to each one in his family, "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed" (Gen. 19:17).

A Great Man's Warning

WHEN Sir Francis Walsingham, a Secretary of State in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, arrived at old age, he withdrew to the country to spend his closing days in retirement. Some of his former gay companions came one day to pay him a visit, and rallied him on being melancholy.

His answer deserved serious consideration:

“No, I am not melancholy, hut I am serious; and it is very proper that we should be so.

Ah, my friends, while we laugh, everything is serious about us. God is serious, who exercises patience towards us. Christ is serious, who shed His atoning blood for us. The Holy Ghost is serious in striving against the obstinacy of our hearts. The Holy Scriptures are serious books; they present to our thoughts the most serious concerns in all the world....

The whole creation is serious. All in heaven are serious. All in hell are serious. How then can we be gay and trifling?”

On another occasion, when writing to his friend, Lord Burleigh, he remarked, “We have lived long enough to our country, to our fortunes, and to our sovereign; it is high time that we begin to live to ourselves and to God.”

“What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Mark 8:36; Prov. 27:1).

Tomorrow

"GO thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." So said Felix (Acts 24:25).

Perhaps, reader, you have trembled, as he did, and, like him, have banished your fears for "a convenient season.”

Let me tell you of a gentleman who resembled Felix. He had a devoted wife who was his evangelist, his Paul, so to speak; and often she besought him to “turn NOW to the Saviour, Jesus." But there was always something in his way, some business or pleasure; and his soul's salvation still continued a question for "to-morrow, to-morrow," while the years passed away, and the loving counselor was at length called home.

Upon her death-bed this lady besought her sister to plead with her husband to enter in at “the strait gate" while he might. And, faithful to her charge, many times did the sister of the departed wife beseech the procrastinator to come to Jesus, often reminding him of her who was now in glory, and of her words of exhortation.

But his constant reply was, " I will come to Jesus, but NOT TODAY; to-day there are certain things which must be attended to; these done, I will come.”

Hapless man! He was seized with a sudden illness, and the long-deferred morrow saw him upon a sick-bed. The doctor's grave countenance indicated the solemn fact of the hopelessness of the case. "Sir," said he to the sufferer, “I will not trifle with you; you have but a few hours to live.”

“What!” cried the dying man, in an agony, of soul; “I dare not die; I cannot die; I am not ready!”

“Sir," replied the Christian doctor," I pray you, do not spend the short period of your life that remains in useless remorse; to-day, while it is called TODAY, there is mercy. Turn NOW to Jesus; believe in Him NOW, come NOW, just as you are, with all your sins, with all your procrastination, and you shall be saved NOW.”

“No, no," said the wretched man, in horror, “not to-day; I cannot die; I am not 'ready to die to-day.”

“I beseech you," said the doctor," to look away from yourself, forget the past, turn to God now. You have but a little moment left to you. Oh! do not waste the last opportunity which God in His mercy gives you.”

Alas! all was in vain: every effort, every entreaty to lead this man to look to Jesus, and live, was fruitless. His voice grew fainter and feebler; the burning fever which had so suddenly laid him low overcame him; the trifler with God's love and with his immortal soul was dead.

He died with "Too late; not ready," upon his lips.

Thus perishes the neglecter of mercy; he who waits for "a convenient season." In the grasp of death, he says, "Too late now"; as in the arms of pleasure he said, "Too soon now. In that black future there are no more warnings, no more loving counsels, but only everlasting woe.

“In thy lifetime," the rich man was told he had had his good things. Here were his stores, his glories, here all that he had (Luke 16).

“In thy lifetime," sinner, God appeals to thee. Come to Jesus.

“In thy lifetime," the question must be settled. Then hearken to thy grateful words of mercy: "NOW Is THE ACCEPTED TIME NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION." Wait not for the time of adversity, lest at length you be too late.

In the face of eternity, which is so near at hand for you, in the presence of God's grace for the sinner, awake to the fact that NOW is the time. Remember, God gives no promises for TOMORROW. His unlimited mercy, His free, full salvation to the sinner is limited to TODAY.

The True Ground of Peace

“When I see the blood I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13).

THE blood on the lintel secured Israel's peace.

There was nothing more required in order to enjoy settled peace, in reference to the destroying angel, than the application of the blood of sprinkling. God did not add anything to the blood, because nothing more was necessary to obtain salvation from the sword of judgment. He did not say, “When I see the blood and the unleavened bread or bitter herbs, I will pass over.”

By no means. These things had their proper place and their proper value; but they never could be regarded as the ground of peace in the presence of God.

It is most needful to be simple and clear as to what it is which constitutes the groundwork of peace. So many things are mixed up with the work of Christ, that souls are plunged in darkness and uncertainty as to their acceptance. They know that there is no other way of being saved but by the blood of Christ; but the devils know this, and it avails them naught.

What is needed is to know that we are saved, absolutely, perfectly, eternally saved.

There is no such thing as being partly saved and partly lost; partly justified and partly guilty; partly alive and partly dead, partly born of God and partly not. There are but the two states, and we must be in the one or the other.

The Israelite was not partly sheltered by the blood, and partly exposed to the sword of the destroyer. He knew he was safe. He did not hope so. He was not praying to be so. He was perfectly safe.

And why?

Because God had said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

The Israelite simply rested upon God's testimony about the shed blood. He set to his seal that God was true (John 3:33). He believed that God meant what He said; and that gave him peace. He was able to take his place at the paschal feast, in confidence, quietness, and assurance, knowing that the destroyer could not touch him when a spotless victim had died in his stead.

If an Israelite had been asked as to his enjoyment of peace, what would he have said?

Would he have said, “I know there is no other way of escape but by the blood of the lamb; and I know that that is a divinely perfect way; and, moreover, I know that that blood has been sprinkled on my door-post; but, somehow, I do not feel quite comfortable.

I am not quite sure if I am safe. I fear I do not value the blood as I ought, nor love the God of my fathers as I ought “Would such have been his answer?

Assuredly not.

And yet hundreds of professing Christians speak thus, when asked if they have peace.

They put their thoughts about the blood, in place of the blood itself, and thus, in result, make salvation as much dependent upon themselves as if they were to be saved by works. Now, the Israelite was saved by THE BLOOD ALONE, and not by his thoughts about it. His thoughts might be deep, or they might be shallow; but deep or shallow, they had nothing to do with his safety; he was not saved by his thoughts or feelings, but by the blood. God did not say, “When you see the blood, I will pass over you." No; but," When I see.”

What gave an Israelite peace was the fact that Jehovah's eyes rested on the blood. This tranquillized his heart. The blood was outside, and the Israelite inside, so that he could not possibly see it; but God saw it, and that was quite enough.

The application of this to the question of a sinner's peace, is very plain. Christ having shed His blood, as a perfect atonement for sins, He has taken it into the presence of God, and sprinkled it there; and God's testimony assures the believer that everything is settled on his behalf.

All the claims of Justice have been fully answered; sin has been perfectly put away, so that the full tide of redeeming love may roll down from the heart of God along the channel which the sacrifice of Christ has opened for it “To this truth the Holy Ghost bears witness.

He ever sets forth the fact of God's estimate of the blood of Christ. He points the sinner's eye to the accomplished work of the cross.

He declares that all is done; that sin has been put far away, and righteousness brought nigh, so nigh that it is "upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22).

Believe what?

Believe what God says, because He SAYS it; not because you FEEL it.

Now, we are constantly prone to look at something in ourselves as necessary to form the ground of peace. We are apt to regard the work of the Spirit IN us, rather than the work of Christ FOR us, as the foundation of our peace.

This is a mistake.

We know that the operations of the Spirit of God have their proper place in Christianity; but His work is never set forth as that on which our peace depends. The Holy Ghost did not make peace; but Christ did. The Holy Ghost is not said to be our peace; but Christ is. God did not send "preaching peace" by the Holy Ghost; but "by Jesus Christ”

(Compare Acts 10:36; Eph. 2:14, 17; Col. 1:20).

The Holy Ghost reveals Christ. He makes us to know, enjoy, and feed upon Christ. He bears witness to Christ; takes of the things of Christ and shows them to us. He is the power of communion, the seal, the witness, the earnest, the unction (2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 10:15; Eph. 1:13, 14; 1 John 2:20).

In short, His operations are essential. Without Him, we can neither see, hear, know, feel, experience, enjoy, nor exhibit aught of Christ. This is plain; and is understood and admitted by every true and rightly instructed Christian.

Yet, notwithstanding all this, the work of the Spirit is not the ground of peace, though He enables us to enjoy the peace. He is not our title, though He reveals our title, and enables us to enjoy it. The Holy Ghost is still carrying on His work in the soul of the believer. He “maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). He labors to bring us into more entire conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ.

His aim is “to present every man perfect in Christ" (Col. 1:28). He is the author of every right desire, every holy aspiration, every pure and heavenly affection, every divine experience; but His work IN and WITH us will not be complete until we have left this present scene, and taken our place with Christ in the glory. Just as, in the case of Abraham's servant, his work was not complete until he presented Rebecca to Isaac (Gen. 24).

Not so the work of Christ FOR us. That is absolutely and eternally complete. He could say, " I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do "(John 17:4). And, again, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

The blessed Spirit cannot yet say He has finished the work. He has been patiently and faithfully working for the last eighteen hundred years as the true, the divine, Vicar of Christ on earth. He still works amid the -various hostile influences which surround the sphere of His operations. He still works in the hearts of the people of God, in order to bring them up, practically and experimentally, to the divinely appointed standard.

But He never teaches a soul to lean on His -work for peace in the presence of divine holiness. His office is to speak of Jesus; He does not speak of Himself. "He," says Christ, “shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." He can only present Christ's work as the solid basis on which the soul must rest forever. Yea, it is on the ground of Christ's perfect atonement that He takes up His abode, and carries on His operations in the believer.

“In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise”

13). No power or energy of the Holy Ghost could cancel sin. The blood has done that. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

It is of the utmost importance to distinguish between the Spirit's work IN us, and Christ's work FOR us. Where they are confounded, one rarely finds settled peace as to the question of sin.

The type of the Passover illustrates the distinction very simply. The Israelite's peace was not founded upon the unleavened bread or the bitter herbs, but upon the BLOOD. Nor was it, by any means, a question of what thought about the blood, but what GOD thought about it.

This gives immense relief and comfort to the heart. God has found a ransom, and He reveals that ransom to us sinners, in order that we might rest therein, on the authority of His word, and by the grace of His Spirit. And albeit our thoughts and feelings must ever fall far short of the infinite preciousness of that ransom, yet inasmuch as God tells us that He is perfectly satisfied about our sins, we may be satisfied also. Our conscience may well find settled rest where God's holiness finds rest.

Beloved reader, if you have not as yet found peace in Jesus, we pray you to ponder this deeply. See the simplicity of the ground on which your peace is to rest. God is well pleased in the finished work of Christ, “welt pleased for His righteousness' sake" (Isa. 42:21). That righteousness is not founded upon your feelings or experience, but upon the shed blood of the Lamb of God; and hence your peace is not dependent upon your feelings or experience, but upon the same precious blood, which is of changeless efficacy and changeless value in the judgment of God.

What, then, remains for the believer? To what is he called?

To keep the feast of unleavened bread, by putting away everything contrary to the hallowed purity of his elevated position. It is his privilege to feed upon that precious Christ whose blood has canceled all his guilt (John 6:54, 55). Being assured that the sword of the destroyer cannot touch him, because it has fallen upon Christ instead, it is for him to feast in holy repose within the blood-stricken door, under the perfect shelter which God's own love has provided in the blood of the cross of Christ.

May God the Holy Ghost lead every doubting, wavering heart to find rest in the divine testimony contained in those words, "WHEN I WILL PASS OVER YOU.”

The foregoing is an extract, slightly altered, from "Notes on the Book of Exodus.”

What Is Grace?

I REMEMBER a person once saying he 1 did not like the word GRACE; he thought the word LOVE meant the same, and was much better.

This is a mistake. Grace goes a great deal further than love. Man loves that which he thinks is in some way worthy of love, and he thinks God is the same as himself, and therefore he says, " I must turn to God some day, and try to be worthy of His love; and then He will love me.”

Now, the grace of God is the very opposite of this human thought. I don't know anything like it in the whole world.

“What is grace?" said I, the other day.

“Mercy," was the reply.

Well, it is true the love of God and the mercy of God are both very wonderful. "God, who is rich in MERCY, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins” (Eph. 2:4, 5); and both the mercy and love of God are thus in grace; that is, in pure, unmerited favor. Yet this grace of God goes further, yea, far beyond the reach of all human thought.

Let us suppose a criminal, guilty of such crimes as to make him an object of the deepest abhorrence, standing condemned before the judge. Mercy would be a great thing shown to such a one, but if it were possible in the heart of a human judge to love such a one, so utterly worthless and undeserving, that would, indeed, be a wonder.

But what would be thought if the judge so loved the poor guilty one, as to put himself really in the place of the prisoner; bear the full penalty of all his crimes, and then take him into his own house, make him partner with himself, and say, "As long as I live, all that I have is yours "?

Ah! tell me where amongst the cold-hearted sons of men, where was ever grace shown like this? No! No! The glory of this grace belongeth alone to my God. Oh, how shall I tell of His wondrous grace!

My reader, you may have heard of it by the hearing of the ear, but has grace ever touched your heart by the power of the Spirit of God?

That God should thus love and pity, and show mercy to the guilty; yes, the ungodly! the guilty! the lost! as to send His own dear Son, in sweetest grace, to take the very place of the lost and guilty, in purest grace to bear all their sins in His own body on the tree!

Oh, look at the cross! God in grace meeting man's utmost need. Ah! Do you ever in your heart believe it? Then you may cast yourself before such a God, confessing all your sins, your wretchedness, your misery.

Spread it all before Him. Don't try to make yourself a bit better than you are before Him.

He will pardon the confessing sinner in faithfulness to the blood of Jesus.

Jesus died for the purpose; that God might be just, not only in pardoning, but in justifying every sinner that believeth. But, oh! this is not all; God in pure grace takes the utterly unworthy sinner, pardoned and justified, into perfect partnership or oneness with the ever-blessed Lord Jesus. In this grace He met the murderer Saul; from that moment Paul became partner or joint-heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17). What a change! From that day he could say, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

Right well did he know that nothing could ever separate him from such love as this. Yes, and God by this very little paper can, in the wonders of His grace, meet a murderer, a drunkard, a harlot, or, worse than all, a deceived Pharisee. Yes, and from this moment the days of thy partnership with Satan may be ended. Oh! God grant it. May this be thy happy portion; pardoned, justified, forever one with Christ.

This was grace, not only to take the sinner's place, but to give the guilty worm an everlasting place with Himself in resurrection glory. This salvation is wholly of God.

CHARLES STANLEY.

Reformation or Salvation; Which?

IT is a common occurrence to hear one say of another, " What a change has taken place in his life: he is quite reformed, and is now a good Christian!”

That a great change may have taken place one will not doubt; but the question is, has it been a moral or spiritual one?

If moral, the reformed one would show a better life in many respects, turning from drunkenness to sobriety, or from a multitude of evil ways; yet such would be only morality, and the individual no nearer heaven than when in the depths of sin and degradation.

Now, many such changes one hears of, good as far as this world is concerned, but alas! of no avail for the next. To count upon such a reformation as a means of attaining to everlasting life would make heaven reached by good works; and the Scripture says, " Not of works, lest any man should boast " (Eph. 9). To rest one's eternal concerns on such a change in conduct leaves one in jeopardy every moment. This is simply REFORMATION, not SALVATION. And is it not strange that the mass of men cling to the former, and neglect or reject the latter?

It is quite possible for a person to be one of the most moral of men, and yet an infidel.

The world would speak of him as being a very good Christian. The Word of God would say the opposite.

But one may ask, “And are all the people in which such a change has taken place not Christians?”

Thank God, some are.

But how are we to know who are Christians, and who are not?

The Scripture says, “The Lord knoweth them that are His” (2 Tim. 2:19). Human beings often make a mistake, but God knows all things, and never errs. His Word tells us, "By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:20).

Now, what are these fruits? Are they merely the change in life? Certainly more than this. There mist be a confession of Christ. This is what God says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved " (Rom. 10:9).

Here are three important things: CONFESS, BELIEVE, SAVED; and they all run together.

One cannot confess or own the Saviour, except he believe in his own heart that Jesus died for him. Then follows the fact that he is a saved creature.

Note carefully that it says SAVED, not REFORMED. This is SALVATION, a far deeper and more important matter. REFORMATION is a mere change in outward life, good in its way, turning from former evil practices; but SALVATION is the being saved from the consequences of sin, so that the saved one is free from the judgment to come, has eternal life, is a child of God, has his name written in the book of life, may be quite sure of heaven, and has a peace that the world knows nothing of. The reformed one who is not a child of God, never confesses Jesus Christ.

How often do we meet with such, and never hear one word from his lips of the Saviour, not even so much as an acknowledgment of His name! Can such heartily sing,

“There is a Name we love to hear,

We love to sing its worth;

It sounds like music in our ear,

The sweetest name on earth "?

The fact is this: the reformed have a change wrought in them outwardly, as natural beings by resolution, and may be likened to the worm eaten plank, patched up and painted over, so that to the human eye it is sound. But a testing brings something to light.

Try these reformed with, “What think ye of Christ?” Then we soon learn their true state. As the worm in the plank continues its ravages till destruction comes, so sin in the natural man does its work, and at last he is left hopeless on the brink of eternity.

Now, here is where SALVATION comes in, and saves one from the awful consequences of a sinful nature. The merely reformed man cannot enter heaven; he must be born again. It was by birth that man became a natural being, and it must be by NEW BIRTH that he shall become a spiritual being. As at the natural birth one gets a sinful nature, so at the spiritual birth he gets another, a spiritual one.

Thus a child of God has two natures, one of the flesh which never loves God, no matter how reformed, and a spiritual nature which always loves God and the things concerning Him, and never loves sin. It is in this nature that the child of God serves Him. It is not that the old nature is made better.

But one may ask, “How am Ito know when I am saved, am born again, and have a spiritual nature?”

Only the Word of God can answer.

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

“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).

Now, do you, anxious enquirer, believe that the wages of sin is eternal death, but that God loved you, and not willing that you should perish, gave His only Son, Jesus, to die for you, and in Himself to bear the judgment due to you, thus becoming the sacrifice for your sins, and the ransom for your soul?

You reply, Yes.

Well, then, you are saved, for God says so, and you cannot perish. You have now ever lasting life. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47).

Read those verses again, and see what He says. He is true to His word.

Before Jesus left this earth He told His disciples He would send them another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, and that He would dwell in them (John 14:17). This He has done, and Rom. 8:11 tells us that His Spirit dwells in us. The "US" are believers, for the epistle was written to believers (see chap. 1.). Again read 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:14; 1 John 3:24; and 4:15. Various other passages show that the Spirit of God dwells in the saved. Now that you are saved, and have the Spirit of God, you are born again. 1 John 5:1 Says, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." You acknowledge that Jesus died for you, and He is the Christ whom God promised to be the Saviour of the world, and the Scripture says, " I, I am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Saviour " (Isa. 43:11).

This same Lord has said, “Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye MUST be born again” and He also tells us of the two births, for “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6, 7).

Thus the saved have two natures, the one of the flesh, and the other of the Spirit; and these two are opposed one to the other; but though Satan would lure men through their evil nature into sin and iniquity, would carry them to hell, yet let the redeemed thank God, that, weak and stumbling creatures though they be, they cannot now (being saved, and having the Spirit within them) be dragged thither. They have the victory over death, over the devil himself (who has the power of death) through our Lord Jesus Christ. He got the victory, and has given it to those who are His (1 Cor. 15:57).

Again: to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Rom. 8:6). The carnal mind is our evil nature, and such a mind is enmity against God, and cannot be made subject to the law of God (see Rom. 8:6, 7). With these passages before us how can the merely reformed creature, with a mind at enmity against God, be a good Christian?

Reader, he is no Christian at all, and is on the same ground, in the eyes of God, as the vilest wretch on earth. He must have SALVATION, which can only be obtained through faith IN CHRIST, trusting what He has done, and nothing else.

But, says one, “Would you say that there is no reformation in the life of a person who is saved?”

None whatever. The life of a Christian is not the old made better; but a NEW LIFE.

Reformation has in view the making of the old better, which nature was condemned long ago in the death of Christ (see Rom. 8:3).

The believer has a new life, a new nature, and by its power he is to keep the old mortified -dead; for spiritually we see ourselves in the natural man crucified with Christ, and the Scripture says, "Ye are dead" (Col. 3:3).

But when we are born again, it is not this evil nature re-born. It was on its trial long ago, found guilty, and condemned. Christ died on account of it, and He has now given the believer a new life, a spiritual one, in Himself. It is in this life, as saved creatures, we should now live. We cannot please God in the other; in this we can, and thus led by the Spirit we are sons of God (Rom. 8:14).

The believer is a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17). He is a reformed one. How true it is, though, that a great change will be seen in the creature thus born again in his new life as born of the Spirit, he will not practice the evils of his wicked nature as formerly.

There is this to remember, that having the evil nature present with him as long as he is in this body, he may through infirmity fall into error, and find himself doing that which he would not, even the very things which he hates. He recognizes this, he falls, he groans in spirit. He looks to the Saviour with sad heart to know that he has grieved that loving One, and learns from Him that it was for the sinfulness of that wicked self that He died on the cross. He speaks the word to all believers.

“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

These failures, not willful, hut because of infirmity, humble the child of God, and he thus learns more and more of the truth of that passage, " For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing " (Rom. 7:18). He also realizes more fully what Christ has done for him, learns the worthlessness of self, and the preciousness of Jesus. When one gets, as it were, into the presence of God, and can truly say, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes " (Job 42:5, 6) then he can understand somewhat of the depths of love that God has for him, and from his own heart cry out, " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name " (Psa. 103:1).

How happy is he that can thus live in the Spirit, and praise God! How miserable is he who falls into sin and grieves that loving Father! And this is the experience of the child of God. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh" (Gal. 5:15). How often would he be found serving the flesh, if it were not for the Spirit of God dwelling in him! It is this Holy One that keeps the Christian from doing what otherwise he would.

Where, then, is boasting? Not in self, not in the natural man who receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14).

The boast of the saved should be in Christ who obtained eternal redemption for them, who dwells in them, gave them new life, His own, Eternal Life; gave them the victory over death and hell; hears their groans when through weakness they stumble; and when Satan accuses them unto the Father, Jesus, their Advocate, speaks for them. And though He cannot praise their goodness (for they have none), yet He can show the marks of the cruel nails of crucifixion in His hands and feet and the pierced side. These through all eternity tell of what He suffered for them.

When the days of stumbling are over, when the blessed One comes to take them home, He will change their vile bodies, and make them like unto His own; and then shall they sing without hindrance the praises of His name.

The Commercial's Way to Be Saved

THERE are few opportunities so favorable for candid conversation as railway traveling; and though a commercial traveler myself, I think I may be allowed to say there are few persons better qualified than commercial travelers for sustaining intelligent conversation.

A short time ago I was traveling with two who for intellectual ability might not be surpassed by any on the road. I felt an anxious desire to know what were their thoughts on that most important of all subjects, the salvation of the soul.

In course of conversation, I inquired of one of them. “How do you really think a man is to be saved?”

He replied, “No doubt the man who keeps the Ten Commandments is a happy man, and I believe that is the way to be saved.”

His fellow-traveler remarked, “I did think so, but I heard Dr. Someone, of Leeds, preach a sermon which convinced me that it was only necessary to keep the last six.”

This was said in all seriousness.

I replied, “I will not say ten, nor six; but, now, if one had to be kept FOR salvation, tell me who could be saved? If Adam, happy in innocence, did not keep ONE, but fell, would it not be a fearful thing for us, fallen in sin, and surrounded by innumerable temptations, as we are, to have our eternal salvation to depend on our perfect obedience even to one command?

“No! my friends, redemption through the blood of Christ is a very different thing from our trying to keep the Commandments. We must have redemption FIRST through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins; and obedience will come after. Not the obedience of law-keeping FOR salvation. That is impossible when you have got it FIRST. It would be utterly impossible to be in this carriage, and at the same time have something to do to get in. Just as impossible is it to receive Christ as my salvation, and yet have to keep the law to get saved.”

“I never saw it in that light," said my friend opposite.

Well, now, reader, of course, I do not know your religious sentiments, but, ten to one, you are on the same ground as the commercial.

If I were to ask ten persons in any carriage the same question, very probably nine of them would have some indistinct thought that it is something we have to do for God which will save us, and that if we do it worthily we shall be saved. And if one out of the ten were to say, “Oh! no, it is what Christ has done for me that has saved me," I should be glad to hear even one out of ten give the glory to Christ.

Is it not a miserable thing to be tormented with uncertainty year after year? and not only uncertainty, but often the person who tries most to keep the commands feels more keenly the gnawing of conscience and the burden of sin. Yes, no words can describe the anguish of heart that some feel who are thus trying to get saved by keeping the law. Oh, the weight of guilt! The law can give you no relief. It can only curse you. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed in every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10).

And you know well that you cannot continue in them. Again and again you have tried, but all in vain. You cannot even be what you wish to be, much less what the holy law of God requires.

But you hope to be better yet?

You hoped that long ago; but still you are rather worse than better. Some try to get saved this way, until, tired out, they give all up in despair, plunge headlong into sin, and perish in infidelity. There are few infidels but who were made so by false religion. Just as salvation by works is preached, infidelity increases until, as in popish countries, you can hardly tell which is which. Is it not a solemn thing that so few even in England know the difference between the SAVING GOSPEL and the CURSING LAW?

Well, you say, “If man cannot keep the law, why was it given?”

It was given because of transgression, that sin might be manifested, that every mouth might be stopped, and all the world proved guilty before God. (See Rom. 3 and Gal. 3)

But the gospel sets Christ before us sent down from heaven. God having concluded all under sin, He now brings Christ, and sets.

Him forth, the righteousness of God. This holy Jesus became the Substitute for sinners; and now it is not they who must do something to live; but He must die that they may live; and He has died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, God declaring His acceptance of that Sacrifice for our sins by raising Him from the dead. Mark, this is not a question of men's opinions, but the very righteousness of God is at stake; the Word of God puts it so: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins," etc.

(Rom. 3:21-28). Yes, the death of Christ is God's own remedy for my sins; to deny it or doubt it, is to make God a liar. Dare you say God is not just, and the justifier of him that believeth? How is it, with the record of God in our hands, as given by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the apostles and in all the epistles, that believers are saved entirely by grace through Christ Jesus, and not by works of their own: I say, is it not marvelous, that men will not believe God Himself?

Reader, was not this an instance of the truth of that statement of the Word of God: "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” Just think of two commercial travelers, bright, intelligent men, but as ignorant of God's way of saving sinners as any Jew or Mohammedan on the face of the earth. THE COMMERCIAL'S WAY TO BE SAVED, by keeping the law for salvation, is the thought of every unconverted person, however ignorant, or however learned. It is the professed doctrine of the millions of the Greek and Romish Churches. In principle it is the same with every shade of heathenism; something that man can do to satisfy the god or gods of his own choice. Some wonder that so many are going over to Romanism. The wonder is that all who are on the ground of works for salvation do not go over to it. No doubt this will be the case, or worse (see 2 Thess. 2:11, 12). But though hell and earth have so long and in every variety of way tried to extinguish the light of the gospel, it is still the power of God to salvation TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH.

Reader, if you, do not care for your poor soul's salvation, then throw my paper away; say plainly you will have sin and hell. Are you really concerned? Have you long desired to be saved? What has hindered you?

Two things. First, you have not believed God's testimony about yourself; and secondly, you have not believed God's testimony about Christ.' As to yourself, you do not really believe that you are utterly ruined by sin.

If you did, you would see at once the folly of trying, as you try, to mend yourself. That which is partly ruined may be mended. If your hat fell into the water, and were injured, it might be restored; but, if ruined, it is past mending. Sin has not merely injured man, but ruined him. But, now, as to the second, God's testimony of Christ. God Himself has accepted the mighty ransom; God Himself has raised Him from the dead; God Himself declares that all who believe on Him are justified from all things. Ponder these words “If righteousness come by the LAW, then Christ is dead in vain." Every attempt to keep the law for righteousness is an attempt to prove that Christ died in vain, that you are not so ruined, and do not need such a GIFT as Christ. Certain it is, without righteousness you cannot enter heaven. You have none of your own. If you do not receive God's righteousness as a free gift, even Christ, what on earth or in heaven can save you? Oh, fellow-believer, what wondrous love was that:

“Made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” I (2 Cor. 5:21).

The Blood of the Lamb

Ex. 12

ON the Paschal night, when Jehovah struck the firstborn of the Egyptians, and passed over those of Israel, a groundwork was laid for the deliverance of Israel from their bondage to Pharaoh: a lively image of Christ, the Passover sacrificed for us; for we were slaves of Satan, as Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was prince of this world, and the -people of God his bondmen. But God was taking notice of the state of His people, visiting them, and about to deliver them.

Jehovah said, " I will pass through the land As Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt ". (vv. 12, 13).

This was not the DELIVERANCE of Israel, like the passage of the Red Sea, but it was the ground of it; and of the two the Passover was really the more solemn morally, though then Red Sea displayed God's saving power more gloriously on behalf of His people and against their foes.

But on the Paschal night it was a question, how God could pass over the guilty, even if His people; and the blood of the lamb sprinkled on Israel's door-posts declared that.

God, though expressly judging, could not touch those screened thereby. His truth and justice were stayed and satisfied before that blood. The destroyer was kept from entering.

Not an Israelite perished within the blood-sprinkled lintels. It was a question of arresting God's judgment here, of destroying Satan's power in the type of the Red Sea; but the blood of Christ laid the foundation for the-victory displayed in His resurrection.

Once the Red Sea is crossed, Israel are pursued no more. They are redeemed, they can sing. It was not so when they supped on the lamb in Egypt, yet were they screened' from God's judgment of their evil. Their-deliverance from Pharaoh followed.

“But must not I see the blood?" says many a distressed soul.

It is well for me to estimate its value aright and growingly, but no person could have solid peace on this ground. Nor was it what God told His people. It was indeed a token to them; but their assurance was built on this, that “when I [Jehovah] see the blood, I will pass over you.”

The Israelite's business was not to look at it for his safety, but to keep within the shelter of the sprinkled blood to which God had thus pledged Himself. It is He who sees the blood, and passes over. God alone estimates perfectly the blood of the Lamb; and faith means not our estimate of it, BUT OUR CONFIDENCE IN HIM.

The blood is the token which recalls to us, the love of God, as well as His righteousness; but what is shed for sin looks to God, and is for God to look on.

Christ, then, presents God to us under three aspects:

(1) His righteousness, that strikes the Substitute for us;

(2) His love, that provides the Lamb for us;

(3) His glory, that has raised Him up from the dead when all was clear for us. There is thus ENTIRE DELIVERANCE. We are in Christ before God. The greatest expression of divine hatred of sin is found in His cross.

The stroke of judgment fell; the thunder and lightning are exhausted; the sky is pure and calm for those who BELIEVE. J. N. D.

Move Your Finger

I was at the close of a meeting in a townhall in the Midland counties that I saw a respectable woman dressed in deep mourning; she was the wife of a farmer in the neighbourhood of the town-hall.

I was standing at the door of the hall speaking to one and another as they passed out, when, as she was passing out, I spoke a few words to her about her soul's eternal welfare.

For some time she was too much overcome with emotion to reply, and when she did speak, it was to ask me if she could see me alone on the morrow.

The morrow arrived, and we met, when I soon discovered that she was a soul with whom the Spirit of God had long been dealing. I found that He whom God had exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance .and forgiveness of sins, had graciously given her repentance; but as yet she was a stranger to the gift of forgiveness.

She assured me that she was a lost and guilty sinner, deserving nothing less than death, judgment, and the lake of fire; but I found that she was waiting to know she was forgiven until she FELT it.

Opening my Bible at the seventh chapter of Luke's Gospel, I read that lovely story of grace, beginning at the thirty-sixth verse, and finishing at the fiftieth verse.

When it was read through, I drew the dear woman's attention to the forty-seventh verse:

“I SAY unto thee, Her sins, which are many, ARE FORGIVEN.”

I asked her to place her finger upon the two words "ARE MANY," and tell me if she could look up into the face of the blessed Jesus, who uttered those two words, and honestly say that they were true of her sins?

Placing her finger upon the two words “ARE MANY," she said they were too true of her sins.

I then asked her if she believed her sins were many because she FELT they were many, or because Jesus SAID that they were many.

She replied that she knew that they were many, that she felt that they were many; but that she believed that they were many because Jesus said so. I then asked her to move her finger to the next two words, "ARE FORGIVEN,” and to tell me that if she believed the first two words "are many," spoken by Jesus, were true about her sins, why should she not believe that the second two words, "ARE FORGIVEN,” spoken by the same precious lips about her forgiveness, were equally true and worthy of being believed?

She moved her finger on to the second two words, "are forgiven," and looking up by faith into the face of Jesus, told Him she believed Him, and thanked Him for the good news.

It is some years since the blessed Saviour God gave this dear woman the knowledge of the forgiveness of all her sins, since which time she has gone on her way rejoicing, having taken her place at the Lord's Table as a forgiven, saved, happy, and worshipping child of God, and member of Christ's body. And if you met her to-day, and were to ask her how she knew that her sins were forgiven, she would reply, “I knew they were many, not because I felt it, but because Jesus told me they were; and I know that they are all forgiven, not because I feel it, BUT BECAUSE JESUS SAYS so.”

And now, dear, anxious, troubled soul, you have had your finger long enough on the two words "ARE MANY," but look at the two following words "ARE FORGIVEN," and at once believingly and adoringly “move your finger."

H. M. H.

Without the root of faith there can be no flowers of love. This is God's order. “We love Him BECAUSE He first loved us." All goodness is in Him, and His grace it is which nourishes the life He gives us in His Son.

They are ever barren and unfruitful who only cultivate the worthless soil of their unconverted hearts.

An Interesting Question

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET YOUR SINS FORGIVEN”

I have very often put this question to my fellow-passengers, and I nearly always get in substance the same answer. I was traveling the other day with a farm-servant, on my way to London, when the following short conversation took place. "Well," I said, “I suppose you have some desire at times to be saved?

“Yes, sir, I have at times.”

“Then you would not like the thought of being lost forever, would you?”

“I should not," was the reply.

“No, however light a man may make of it in health, it is a sad sight to see a man die with the terror of hell upon him. Well, now WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET YOUR SINS FORGIVEN?

The young man replied, “To give them up.”

“That is a very common answer," said I; ”and at first sight seems a very true one; hut when you have tried to give them up, you have found you could not, and you have tried again, and again you could not give up sin.”

“When did I try?”

“Oh, often. When you were plowing, or driving your horse, have you not wished you could give up all sin, and be a saved man?

"Yes, it's true.”

Reader, is it not true that you, too, have wished and tried, and wished and tried in vain? How is it, think you? It is the most serious question that can occupy your thoughts. Are you quite sure that this trying to give up sin, this making resolutions and breaking them, until you almost despair of ever getting saved; are you quite sure that this is God's way of saving a sinner? You may have given up some sin or sins; but still the fountain, your very heart, is corrupt, and out of it still flows the most hateful sins; for if one channel has been stopped, it finds another; and you are hasting on to eternity, and still not saved.

I ask, Are your sins pardoned? Your conscience answers, No! Are you justified? No! Are you prepared to meet God? No! Are you certain to be with God in heaven? No!

You may have every earthly comfort, but to-morrow you die, without hope! Fearful, fearful state! What will it profit you to gain the whole world, and lose your own soul?

But I think I hear you saying, "What can you mean? Is not this the gospel of God, ' If the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby '?”

No, my friend, that is not the gospel at all.

It is the law, by the which if a man can be saved Christ died in vain.

Do you say, “What then must I do? Can I go to heaven in my sins?”

No, my friend, that you certainly cannot.

“There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev. 21.). How awful the fact that every one of us is described in this verse! Yes, born in this very condition, and held fast prisoners by the devil, the god of this world; so fast that, however you, my reader, may desire to deliver yourself from the power of sin, you cannot.

Every effort is utterly in vain. I believe that such is the awful dominion that sin has over man, that if all the men in the world and all the angels in heaven were to unite to deliver one soul from the power of sin and Satan, they could not do it.

I think I hear you saying, “If that's the case, I must have been dreaming. I thought a man could repent at any time, and give up his sins, and then God would forgive him; and so I have not been particularly troubled about it. I have thought there is time enough yet.”

My reader, if this is your thought, you could not be under a greater mistake. How awful if you should go on in this fatal delusion until the door is shut, and you are lost! Now, come, try your plan. Try to repent; try to give up all your sins; try to love God with all your heart; try to keep His holy law.

The effort, sincerely made, will soon convince you of your hopelessly sinful state; but even if you could succeed in such an effort, there would still be the fearful weight of past sins. No amount of bitter remorse could undo or wipe away one past sin. Judas is a solemn beacon as to this; he tried this way, but he found it the way to hell. Sorrow for sin is but a very small part of true repentance. Your mind must be entirely turned from sin to God.

There is but one way by which this can be done. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man he lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14, 15).

To repent before you believe would be as if the bitten Israelite had to be healed before he looked at the brazen serpent. No, no. Faith in the love of God, as seen in the death of Jesus, alone can produce true repentance. The moment I believe in Jesus my mind must be changed toward God. If you have been brought to look at Jesus lifted up on the cross, dying for your sins, and now lifted up to the highest glory, if He is your entire trust, you are and shall be certainly saved. “For through Him is preached the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:38, 39). But if you have not looked, and do not thus look, on Jesus lifted up, if you are trusting in anything else, you are as certain, should you die in this state, to perish as though you were just now in hell.

Do not deceive yourself any longer. If your sins are not pardoned, why should you put on a smiling face, as if you were happy?

You are not; you cannot be. Nothing in this world has yet made, nor ever can make, you happy. God so loved the world as to give His beloved Son to die the death of the cross; and what for? To make His very enemies happy forever! And the world is trying its utmost to be happy without Christ. Is this your case, my fellow-passenger? May God in mercy stop you, just now as you read. How little idea you have of the terrible wickedness of your life if you are thus despising and trampling under foot the Son of God.

Do you ask, “What must I do to get my sins pardoned”

Just what the insurgent troops in India would have to do if a general pardon were proclaimed: believe it. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

“Through Him is preached the forgiveness of sins." Believe it, believe it.

Dear reader, one word, in conclusion, as to the question, “What must I do to get my sins pardoned? "Until you give up those words, “What must I do?” they prove that you have not yet felt the real necessity for the death of Christ. It is not “What must I do?” but" What has Jesus done? “And what does God say? The believer hears God speak to him in His Word: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7). "Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification "(Rom. 4:25). "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). All, all has been done, done by the Son of God: "It is finished." Look at the cross.

Behold the dying Lamb of God! See what was clone by Him, and to Him. All this was done, that every poor sinner who believes in Him might have his sins forgiven. Blush, then, to ask, "What must I do?" Instead of vainly trying to do, may you, my reader, by the power of the Holy Ghost, be led to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

CHARLES STANLEY.

I Have Been Making a Saviour of My Good Works

IT was in a large iron room in the 'southwest of London that I first saw, in front of a crowded audience, an aged woman, between ninety and one hundred years of age.

She lived at a considerable distance from the iron room, and was seen one day sitting outside her little house, enjoying the warm sun and refreshing air of an early spring afternoon.

The young person who saw her sitting outside her cottage invited her to come to some special gospel meetings, which were then being held in the iron room. My aged friend told her that she was too old and too feeble to walk so far, when my young friend, though possessed but of very limited means, immediately offered to pay the expenses of a cab fare there and back again, which she did the next and two following Lord's-day evenings.

I did not speak to her myself until the third time of her coming to the meetings. I had been preaching that evening from the last words of Jesus on the cross before He died, which were, "IT IS FINISHED." She remained behind with some others after the preaching was over, to have personal conversation with me about her soul. I found her in deep distress about her many years of sin, though she bad led a very moral life. She told me that she had been a nurse; but that whenever she had an opportunity she went to "church” that she was kind to her neighbors, paid her debts, did not owe anybody anything, read her Bible, and said her prayers. "But," she added, " God has undeceived me, and shown me I have been all wrong all these years, and that instead of accepting JESUS for my Saviour, I have been making a Saviour of my good works. Oh, pray for me!”

Seeing that she was looking from herself and her doings to me and my prayers, I replied, " No; I shall not pray for you, nor ask you to pray for yourself. JESUS said, It is finished,' and His finished work is so perfect that it does not need the weight of either your prayers or mine. You must therefore trust His finished work for salvation, or neglect it, and be damned forever.”

God at once caused her to see the force and truth of what I had just spoken, and removed' her last false prop from under her, when, with all the simplicity of a little, helpless child, she trusted the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and cried out with a loud voice, "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

She lived some four or five years after this, and was frequently visited by aged and experienced, and by young, earnest Christians, and by myself, and we none of us ever doubted, but had many proofs of the genuineness and reality of the work of God in her soul. What hath God wrought! To Him be all the praise.

And now, should this little narrative meet the eyes of any who are making a Saviour of their good works, be warned by it to look away at once to Him who did all the work of the sinner's salvation on the cross. Are you, like some of old, saying, “What shall we do that we might work the works of God?

Then listen, and bow to the answer, “Jesus answered and said unto them, THIS is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent "(John 6:28, 29). "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:4, 5).

If ever you are saved at all, it must be without works, so that God may be able to say of you, " By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast " (Eph. 2:8, 9). Works will flow fast enough after we are really saved by grace, and know it; but all the way home to glory we shall be led adoringly and gladly to say, " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life " (Titus 3:5-7).

The Finished Work

JOHN BLANK, the saddler, was known in his village as a trustworthy workman, who took an honest pride in doing what he had to do well. But John was in trouble about his soul; he was not satisfied with himself he feared death, and, for the unsaved, that awful after death the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). Yet John was a religious man, and one who outwardly stood better than many of his neighbors.

One Saturday evening, a friend of the saddler, who knew his anxiety of soul, called upon him. The week's work was just over, the last stroke had been given to the piece in hand, and John was putting down his tools, exclaiming, "That job's done," and as he set the harness upon the table, his friend observed that he eyed it with the satisfaction of one whose hard week's labor was ended.

Looking at the work, and then at the workman, his friend exclaimed, “Why, John, how is this? What! You fold your hands, and sit down! Do you mean to call this harness finished?”

“Sir," cried the saddler, with some little indignation, “when I say a job is done, it is done. It means done, and well, and properly.”

“How so, John? What, you call it finished, do you?”

“To be sure I do; I am not one of the scamping sort; and IT IS FINISHED," John warmly replied, viewing his work with greater satisfaction.

“Then I am to believe you, am I?”

John would never allow any one to question his word, and was not at all pleased at the insinuation cast upon himself and his work.

He considered his word true and honest; and his work, was it not the very best he could give his customers? "Ah 1 John," continued his friend, “so I am to believe you, am I?

And yet you won't believe the Lord Jesus.”

Here John was perplexed. "Believe Him,” replied his friend,” and yet doubt His work?

No, that will not do. He said upon the cross, It is finished; and I believe what Jesus said.

He came from heaven to finish the work which His Father gave Him to do. He came to work our salvation; neither did He rest till all was done. By faith I see Jesus seated upon the right hand of God's throne on high, in token that all is done. The scripture tells us, When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3). I did not really doubt you when you said your work was done: your folded hands proved to me at once that your week's labor was over. And a pleasant thing it is, on a Saturday night, to sit clown and say, ' It is all done; to-morrow I can rest.' But strange it is that you, who speak so confidently upon your work being clone, cannot trust the Son of God.”

John would not allow that he did not trust the Lord; yet, when his friend added, "If you do then trust Him, how is it that you have not the peace of which God speaks? He was silenced.

Jesus said, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God "; and He came from heaven to earth, and died for us upon the cross; " by which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once"; and Jesus, after He had accomplished God's will, " after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God " (Heb. 10.) All is finished, and now it is peace for all who believe.

The simple illustration was used by God to John's deliverance of soul: may it be to yours, dear reader. And instead of toiling, striving, laboring, day by clay, may you rest in. THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST.

Redemption

"WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD" (Ex. 12:13).

I KNEW a person who had, for some years, been deeply anxious about her soul. She longed to know, for certain, that she had redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of her sins. She felt that if she died without redemption, she was lost forever. She went from place to place, to hear the preaching of the word. Her anxiety became very great; yet nothing that she heard gave her peace. She was constantly thinking that she had something to do, before she could have redemption.

She tried to lay hold of the promises; hut they gave her no relief. She tried to serve God, and keep His commandments; she found she failed at every step. She tried forms and ceremonies; but all in vain.

She then thought she must have stronger faith, and tried to understand, more clearly, the value of the blood of Jesus; still all was darkness. God would not even have her faith, as the price of her redemption. Her heart sank in despair; she could do no more. It was when she was in that state of self-despair, she heard those words, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you." The Holy Ghost spoke in her soul, in that moment, and said to her, “It was God who spoke these words.”

In a moment she felt the vast difference between herself seeing the blood of Jesus, and God seeing it. She thought, Yes, God sees such value in the blood of Jesus, that He will pass over me; and, the destroyer shall not touch me.

From that moment, she believed what God hath said about the blood of Jesus. From that moment, she had peace through the blood of Jesus. Now she knows, with certainty, that she has redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of her sins.

Surely, this one case, out of many thousands that might be told, shows the importance of the subject before us.

Before speaking of these wonderful words, “When I see the blood," let me remind you of the condition of this people, Israel, as described in the previous chapters. They were slaves under Pharaoh, in bitter bondage.

“They sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God” (Ex. 2:2, 3). God heard and pitied them; He said, "For I know their sorrows." Yes, such also in the plain fact, man has sold himself, a bond-slave, to Satan. There is no denying it. Oh! what a cry of misery ascends from this world of sin. How bitter is the slavery of sin, if there were no lake of fire hereafter; even now, what bitterness and anguish has sin brought! Every heart knows its own bitterness. God heard their sighs; and has He not heard yours?

“God is love." He heard their sighs, He knew their sorrows, and He came to save.

The people heard that God had looked upon their affliction (Ex. 4:31), and they desired to go forth and worship Him. Just like the person I have spoken of above, they anxiously desired to go forth and serve God; but, as it was with her, this only made their burdens the heavier. Their affliction and sorrow were now very great. How often is this the case, when the soul is awakened to thirst after God!

Then Satan brings all his force to crush the sin-burdened soul. The next thing, we find the promises of God, in chapter 6. entirely fail to give the least comfort. “They hearkened not for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage." In the following chapters, to chapter 7., we see, by the conduct of Pharaoh, how loth Satan is to give up his victims.

How many who read these lines will say, “How like me all this is! The more I have desired to serve God, the heavier has been my burden. I have tried to get comfort from the promises; but all in vain. Still anguish of spirit; still the burden of sin; still uncertain as to my interest in Christ.”

Poor soul if this is your condition, let us now look at this redemption chapter. God grant that this may be the beginning of months to you. Do you see, the Lamb was slain, and the blood was sprinkled on the doorposts? And do not you see, that every soul, young or old, that took refuge in the blood sprinkled house, had an interest in that blood.

God had said, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and -when I see the blood, I will pass over you." He did not say, When I see how good you are; or, When I see that you deserve My favor; or, When you have repented enough or believed enough. No; the blood is first and uppermost in God's thoughts. It was His token of love to them, just as and where they were. He did not even say, When you see the blood; but, “When I see the blood.'

Now, I repeat, did any person within that blood-sprinkled house need to ask, How may I know that I have an interest in the blood?

It was most certain he had, on the authority of the word of God. And every soul that simply trusted in what God said about that blood was saved that night.

Now, we all know that redemption from Egypt was a type of redemption through "the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19) And, in the very same way, is not the blood of Christ God's token of love to lost, burdened sinners? Jesus did not die that God might love us; but because He loved us. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us." God did" so "love" the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins " (1 John 4:9, 10).

Mark, it is not what you see, but what God sees, in the blood of Christ. He knows all your sins and yet He sees the blood of Christ.

He sees that the sufferings and atoning death of His beloved Son justify Him, in passing over all your sins, however deep their crimson dye. He says so, plainly; and is righteous in justifying freely every sinner who believes in Him, “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

Do you say, How am I to know that I have an interest in that atoning blood?

Why, do not you see, every Israelite who believed God had an interest in the sprinkled blood? And if you search the New Testament through, you will find that every sinner who trusted God about that precious blood shed on the cross, knew, with the utmost certainty, that he had redemption through the blood of Christ. You have not to trust in a promise.

Redemption is no longer a promise, but an accomplished fact, a finished work. If you were dying with thirst, and a person promised to bring you water, you might trust his promise; but when he has brought the water to you, you have not then to trust in his promise, but to drink the water. God has fulfilled His promise: He has sent His Son.

The blood has flowed through His pierced wounds. It is all finished. Peace through that blood is come to you.

May God open your heart to receive that peace on the testimony of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead. Oh! how strange that men should forget this, and go back to the promises, as though God had still to do something to save sinners. It is done. The blood has been freely shed. God sees that blood. I only ask, Have you been brought to take your last refuge in that blood? Can you say that the blood of Jesus is your only trust? Then it is most certain that you have an everlasting interest in that atoning blood. You have redemption through that blood, according to the infinite value that God sees in the death of Christ.

Up, then, arise, and away from Egypt!

With girded loins, and staff in hand, as the redeemed of the Lord, away, away! Adieu, adieu, to Satan's bonds and Satan's world!

You are no longer your own, but bought with a price, and such a price. Christ died, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, and to such a God (1 Cor. 6:19, 20; 1 Peter 3:18).

CHARLES STANLEY.

State and Actions

MY DEAR READER,-Will you allow me to say an earnest word to you about your state and your actions? The Psalmist, 'speaking by the Spirit, says, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa. 2:5); and Paul, speaking by the same Holy Spirit, says, “And were by nature children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).

These verses prove beyond doubt that we are all born lost: from the Queen upon her throne to the meanest peasant in his hut; from the philosopher to the clown; from the millionaire to the penniless pauper; from the .upper ten thousand of Belgravia to the dregs of society at Blackwall. Yes, whether it be the monarch in his palace, the monk in his cloister, or the mendicant in the streets, "there is no difference" (Rom. 3:22); all are lost.

We have not to go to hell to be lost; WE ARE BORN LOST. God in His mercy give you to see it, own it, and to accept His remedy!

'" For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was LOST "(Luke 19:10). "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 "(Isa. 53:6).

“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was LOST, and is found. And they began to be merry "(Luke 15:24).

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are LOST in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor. 4:3, 4). These verses show our state.

And now a word about your sinful acts.

Perhaps you think that only great sinners go to hell. Will you allow me to ask how many sins Adam committed before God drove him out of Paradise? One! only one! If God' was so holy that He could not have Adam in the earthly Paradise with one sin, do you think He will let you into the heavenly Paradise if you have committed one sin? I do not charge you with being a great sinner, but I know you have been guilty of one sin at least; for God says, " All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God " (Rom. 3:23).

Now, as sure as God is holy, one sin, not washed away in the blood of Jesus, will keep you out of heaven just as, much as one million of sins. It required the death and blood shedding of the Lord Jesus to put away one sin, just as much as to put away one million of sins, and "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin " (1 John 1:7).

Tears, prayers, and good works will not put away sins; there is no blood in these things.

Nothing you have done, or are doing, or ever will be able to do, will avail before God to put away your sins. "Faith in His blood”

(Rom. 3:25) will alone put you in immediate and everlasting possession of the forgiveness of all your sins. Now what will you do? will you trust Him who came " to seek and to save that which was lost, "and have" faith in His blood " for the full remission of your sins? or will you go on refusing the love, of God, rejecting the Christ of God, resisting the Spirit of God, and spurning the precious blood of Jesus the Son of God? Remember, if you die in your sins you will be put into your coffin in them, you will be buried and raised, in them, you will stand before the great white throne in them, you will then have them fastened upon you, and have them as your everlasting companions in the lake of fire.

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

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

May the salvation of God be yours, dear reader, prays yours affectionately in the Lord, “ALL HAVE SINNED." There is one great sin which leads men to the commission of all others: the desire to please themselves. If this has once been acted on, it constitutes that man a sinner; just as the breach of one law of the land stamps a man a criminal.

You

ONE autumn afternoon a number of persons had collected together to hear the gospel preached in a suburban part of New York.

After distinctly and with solemn emphasis uttering these words of Scripture: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), the speaker caused a commotion in the crowd by adding the words,

"IT MEANS YOU.”

One of the company called out in reply, “Do you mean to say those words are addressed to us all here personally?”

Yes, these words apply personally to every one of us, and to everybody. It distinctly states, “For ALL have SINNED, and come short of the glory of God." That little word, "ALL" certainly means everybody, and YOU are included in it. You need to have YOUR sins forgiven. Your good deeds, though excellent in their proper place, can never clear you of your sins before God.

Your works can never save your soul. " By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin "(Rom. 3:20). "Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:9).

I well remember one night, while gospel meetings were being held under a tent, in a large town in New Jersey, a man stopped to listen, then sadly turned to go away, saying, “It is not for a sinner like rye. It is not for poor Jim.”

“Yes, Jim," someone replied," the gospel is for you. Hearken while I read to you a verse from the Bible, which is the Word of God: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ' (1 Tim. 1:15. Jim, you have sinned, for all have sinned ' against God; but, oh! thank God, Christ Jesus came into the world to save SINNERS.' It means YOU.

Hearken again: Through this Man (Christ Jesus crucified, risen and in heaven) ' is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him ALL THAT BELIEVE ARE justified from all things' (Acts 13:38, 39).”

“ALL THAT BELIEVE "? Yes," ALL that believe," takes in every class of sinner, ALL who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ ARE justified from all things. Not, All that do; not, All that feel; but, mark it well, “All that BELIEVE ARE JUSTIFIED from all things.”

Dear reader, do you believe in Jesus as your only Saviour? Then you are justified from all things before God.

“All have sinned." That means YOU.

“God so loved the world." That means YOU.

“That He gave His only begotten Son.”

That is God's gift of love and grace; all His own work. “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16);

You may be among those who have eternal life by being one of the whosoever’s of John 3:16. the word of this salvation is sent to YOU.

W. E. S.

Peace Made and Preached

THOUGH God could not let our sins go unpunished, and we could do nothing to get rid of them, what He did was to send His only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). God is thus at liberty, if I may so speak, to satisfy His own love in receiving us to His bosom. He sought a just and holy ground on which to pardon and save us, and receive us to heaven, notwithstanding our sins, and this He has found in the death of Christ, in the shedding of His blood for sin. He has “made peace through the blood of His cross." This is not something yet to be done; IT IS DONE ALREADY; and God, in His holy Word, tells us it is done. “As God is the Lord Jesus Christ has” made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col. 1:20); and now God preaches “peace by Jesus Christ " (Acts 10:36). Christ preaches it also.

He " came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh” (Eph. 2:17).

Gospel Light: Volume 1 (1911)

Table of Contents

Gospel Light

The Live Bird Let Loose

He Paid

The Friar's Confession

Worship: or, One in Ten

Belated Soul Concern

Lost!

If Thou Knewest the Gift of God!

Feeling Versus Faith

The Serpent of Brass

That Sad, Sad Face! or, a Sister of Mercy.

How Can a Sinner Be Justified?

The Wreck and the Rescue

Does the Bible Say so?

Looking up

I Will Fear No Evil

I've Nothing to Fear

The Sword of the Spirit

God so Loved the World

Remember Lot's Wife

A Great Man's Warning

Tomorrow

The True Ground of Peace

What Is Grace?

Reformation or Salvation; Which?

The Commercial's Way to Be Saved

The Blood of the Lamb

Move Your Finger

An Interesting Question

I Have Been Making a Saviour of My Good Works

The Finished Work

Redemption

State and Actions

You

Peace Made and Preached