By The Editor January, 1923
WHAT will happen to us in 1923? We gaze solemnly towards the untrodden road, and we know one of these things may happen for the Christian. The Lord may come and take him home in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Then the “morning without clouds” will shine upon us, and the dawning of the day of glory will be ours. Are we waiting for His coming? Are we working in view of it?
We may pass through the gateways of the grave to our eternal rest. Two Christians were walking together in the fields. Suddenly one stops, and stands with upturned face to the heavens listening intently. After a while he says to his companion, “I have heard the music of heaven, and I am going home to die.” They went to his home together, and he passed away to join forever in the music of the everlasting song.
The music may not come to us as a sign of our departure to be with Christ, but I trust the music of our living down here is in harmony with the music of the saints above. The poet says, and we can enter into the joy and wonder of it all: ―
“Thus do the morning stars together sing,
Our shout of joy replies;
For lo! He cometh as the solemn dawn
Awakes the silent skies.
The joy of God’s high city peals afar,
Through portals open wide;
All heaven awaits the shining marriage train,
The Bridegroom and the Bride.”
C. P. C.
If this is to be our last year, what shall we do with it? Shall it be the crown of all our other years in service to our Lord? Shall we gather up all the sunshine of His love that has been ours in the past, and make a rainbow of glory that shall shine from our hearts on earth to the throne of God in heaven? Shall His delivering power, and the Ebenezer’s he has helped us to raise in all our past, stand before us as a mighty monument to the glory of His Name? Shall we love as we have never loved before, and hope as we have never hoped yet? Shall our faith be strong enough to enable us to trample Satan under our feet, and real enough to enable us to pluck the fruits of heaven from off the trees of God? Oh! to be true to His Word and to His Name, so that if He comes He may find us waiting for Him, and if we have to die may He be with us as we go to be with Him, and if He leaves us here a little longer may we be found working in His harvest fields.
It was Dr. Morison, of Chelsea, who said to one who warned him he was overworking himself, “Depend upon it, the lazy worker dies first.” May we be found occupied when He comes, and remember always that whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
I have written an article on “The Ways of God,” which I trust may be acceptable to God. It deals principally with the home-going of my father and mother, and what their influence was upon the life. I should like to continue the series, if it is the Lord’s will.
I have received so much encouragement from letters sent by loving friends, some of which are printed on the last page, that my heart is overflowing with the joy of it all. One word in closing. Our shelves are emptying fast, and the stores of God are full. May we have the key of faith to unlock the riches of heaven! We want fifty thousand Testaments. We want booklets and tracts. We pray you to give us the New Year’s joy of seeing our shelves filled once more for 1923.
Yours for Christ’s sake,
Heyman Wreford.