I HAVE often thought that faith, hope, and love each had handmaids. Knowledge is the handmaid of love; obedience, I think we may say, of faith; and patience, of hope.
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The evidences of Christianity in a saint are ― to God, the heart; to man, the works; to myself, the Word. In the case of the Thessalonians, it was not the stony ground, truth received in joy, and laid down in sorrow; but received in sorrow, therefore held in joy.
If we really walk with Christ, the keenest suffering is in the present day; then it was open persecution, now it is the suffering of heart.
It is not only, “They that will live godly shall suffer persecution,” but “in Christ Jesus” ― in their Christian character.
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Romans 8:26, 27. ― As troubles press upon you, the Holy Ghost presses nearer to you, pouring in His consolations, not too quickly, as we enter into the universal sorrow around.
Mr. Wigram observed, in the Present Testimony, “You see the corn in its greenness in the field, and your eye rests on it with pleasure, but it is not so fit for the bosom of the reaper as when it is browned by the sun and battered by the breeze” ― a consolation to the battered veterans.
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Mr. Bellett said, “The Church will go to the Lord from dust and ashes, and the world will go to judgment from glory and beauty.”
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The word “Idol” has a special meaning in John’s epistle, “Keep yourselves from idols” don’t have a false Christ.
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Many serve who do not wait, but all who wait serve.
ROCHFORT HUNT.