Old John Dickson, captain of the historic Merrimac, was an inmate of the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ Home. He was a skeptic. Time after time the chaplain tried to induce him to read the Bible. He would not. At last the chaplain said: “Captain, read it, and mark in red anything that you don’t believe. Begin with the Gospel of John.” The Captain, with a glitter in his eye, took up the challenge. He was sick at the time, and confined to his bed. Every few hours the chaplain, passing his door, would come in and say, “Captain, have you marked anything yet?” The old captain would grin, but say nothing.
After a day or two, when the chaplain came in, there lay the old Captain dead, with his open Bible! The chaplain turned the pages of the Gospel of John. Nothing was marked in all the first chapter, nor in the second, nor in the third, until he came to John 3:1616For 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). Beside this verse was written in red: “I have cast my anchor in a safe harbor, thank God!”
There are 25 words in the verse. “Son” is the middle one. The previous twelve words all relate to God; the twelve that follow all relate to man.
“Would you pay twenty shillings in a shop for something worth only a shilling?” Of course not. If you paid twenty shillings for anything it will be because you want it very much. Then, if God gave His Son for you and me—He must have wanted us very much!
John 11.
When I stand by the grave and see four men lower the coffin into its resting place, the scene is not unlike that where four men from the roof of a house in Capernaum let their friend down out of their sight, but into the immediate presence of Jesus. They cover up the roof, assured that their friend is all right, and will walk out another way, liberated, and with new life. Gone will be the poor, palsied life. So we cover up the grave. Our dear one is in the presence of Christ, and by the word of His mighty power he will come out another way, liberated and glorified.
Judas—Tragic.
There is a tree called the Judas tree. Its blossoms are of a brilliant red, and their fatal beauty attracts insects. “Every bee wandering in search of honey that alights on its blossoms imbibes a fatal opiate and drops to the earth. Beneath this enticing tree the earth is strewn with the victims of its fatal fascination.”
DR. CUYLER
Judgment of Another.
A lecturer fastened up before the class a large sheet of white paper, on which he had put one fair-sized black spot. He asked each what he could see. All replied, “A black spot.” Not one said, “A large white sheet.”
Judgment Seat.
A college student, owing to a physical disability, never opened his mouth in the class. But he gained the first prize for his work when the examination day came.
Judgment—True.
We are told we must not judge people and say they are, or are not, Christians. What would they say if a person paying their garden a visit, were so very polite that he called the weeds beautiful flowers and the thorns apple trees? We must not call the twilight daylight.
H. F. WITHERBY