The Gospel Messenger: Volume 22 (1907)

“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. — Eccles. 11:6.

THE instruction of the above-quoted verse it is well for every gospel laborer to always bear in mind. The great thing is to have good seed. “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11), we are told by the Lord Himself. Again, “The sower soweth the word” (Mark 4:14).

If we know what to sow, another great point is to know where to sow. Scripture again directs us. “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass” (Isa. 32:20). That passage directs us to look for soil in which the seed may fructify, but reminds us, too, that it is to be sown with patience and diligence.

Without doubt there is also a moral state connected with sowing the word of life, viz., how to sow, for we read, “They that sow in team shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psa. 126: 5-6).

Sowing and reaping, God says, shall go together, and if we sow His word, fruit, sooner or later, is certain, since God has said, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my month: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa. 55:10, 11).

There is yet another question—as to when to sow. Our quoted verse from Ecclesiastes speaks of morning and evening; but Paul goes a little further when he says to Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). That is, always at it.

I refer to these various scriptures in order to encourage my fellow-laborers in the gospel to go on diligently with the work of the Lord. We are beginning a new year, and fain would I encourage those who preach the gospel by word of mouth, or scatter the written gospel—whether in the pages of this magazine, or by any other similar effort to spread the truth—to go on diligently and persistently with their blessed work, in the full assurance that sooner or later they will hear that their service is fruitful. During the thirty-five yeah in which I have edited a gospel magazine, I have received from all parts of the globe, countless letters describing the blessing to their souls which the writers have received through the pages of the serial; and for the encouragement of my co-workers, in both writing for and distributing the Gospel Messenger, I cull a few extracts from these epistles, which, I am persuaded, will gladden and cheer them, as they have encouraged me.

How I Entered the Valley of Blessing.

“KANSAS, U.S.A., 25th October 1906.

“I am ‘far frae ma Name,’ as the Scotchmen in far-off lands often sing, but memory returns again and again to old scenes and associations. Today my memory reverts back to God’s first dealings with me years ago in dear old Scotland; and as you are one of the links in God’s chain of dealing with me, perhaps you will be glad to hear my story.

“I don’t tell my story with a view to publication, but simply to encourage you in your work of spreading the gospel.

“Eleven years ago, come February 1907, I was a young student, studying for a position in the British Civil Service. My father is a devoted man of God, whom God has used to the salvation of many souls. One day when he came home from a preaching tour, he gathered his three eldest boys together. Very affectionately he spoke to us about our need of the Lord Jesus, and urged us to trust in Him. In conclusion he said (speaking to us in turn), ‘R—, tell me where would you go if you died today?’ R—hung his head, and was silent. Then my father addressed my second eldest brother. ‘W—, tell me where would you go if you died today?’ W—also hung his head, and was silent. My father then addressed me, ‘A—, where would you go if you died today?’ I replied, ‘I must confess that if I died today I would be lost in hell.’ Then after my father speaking still further to me, the conversation ended. That was the beginning of my soul-trouble. What I passed through need not be recounted. I sought to be better, and live a Christian life; and the more I tried to do good the worse I saw myself before God. In this manner I was in soul-exercise for about a year. Sometimes I was more exercised than at other times; but there was more or less soul unrest all the time.

“Just after I had begun my studies I was sitting alone, studying for the Civil Service. At the close of the evening I put all my papers aside and began to meditate. I meditated in this manner: What if you should gain the height of your worldly ambition; what if you should be successful in your examinations, and gain the coveted position, and go on gradually rising in position and wealth? What if you should get all you are going in for, and at last die without Christ, and be lost forever in hell? The thought was startling—Shall I be lost in hell? Everything vanished out of my mind, and all that came before me was the solemn fact, If I die without knowing the Lord Jesus as my Saviour I shall be lost in hell. Then there was an inward conflict. I thought, What shall I do now? Shall I just go on as I am, and allow time to efface the deep impressions wrought upon me by God’s Spirit? Or, on the other hand, shall this matter be settled At last, after consideration, I said to myself, This matter must be settled, and settled immediately, for I do not want to be lost in hell forever. Then the next point that came before my mind was, And how can I get saved? At last I had to retire to rest and still unsaved. I did not sleep, however. My brother told me afterward I repeated Revelation 20:11,14.

“Next morning I returned to the question, How can I get saved Oh, it is easy, I thought. All you have to do is just believe. So I repeated John 3:16, John 5:24, and other portions I had often heard, and tried to believe; but all in vain—seemingly I could not believe. Then I thought, I’ll consult the library, and see if there are any books that can help me in my difficulty. God guided me to a small green-colored book, ‘The Valley of Blessing, and how you may enter it.’ It was a bound volume of gospel papers, edited by W. T. P. Wolston. My chief difficulty now was, Must I not feel something before I am saved? In ‘The Valley of Blessing’ there was a paper that dealt with the common difficulty—Must I not feel something? The author put the matter thus:

1. It is faith in Christ.

2. The feeling comes after faith.

“That satisfied me. I said, ‘It is faith in Christ first,’ that is what I need: the feeling comes after faith. Then I turned and read John 3:36, ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.’ I read it thus— ‘He (O God, that means me) that believeth’—then I was puzzled. Had I the right kind of faith? Well I just said— “that believeth”―O God, I don’t know what it is to believe, and I don’t know whether I have the right kind of faith, but I believe on Thy Son: He died for me. The tears fell thick and fast, and I read the next clause— ‘hath everlasting life’ I said, ‘I have believed on the Son, therefore I have everlasting life.’ Peace and joy filled my soul.

“That will be nearly eleven years ago. Since then I have left the Civil Service, and left my native land. I am in the States preaching the gospel. God has blessed me in preaching the gospel in this vast land. Today I thought I would write and encourage you by just simply telling how God saved me. It will encourage you to see how God used ‘The Valley of Blessing’ in my case. I know of a case where a young lady in this country, who was attending some meetings I had two years ago in St Clair Co., Missouri, was led to Christ by reading in ‘The Valley of Blessing’ that article by W. E., The Five go together.’

“Trusting God will bless you still further, Yours in the Lord Jesus, A. B. M—.

“P.S.— If this story will be of use, you can make use of it.”

The writer of this letter got the help of which he speaks through vol. 4. of God’s Glad Tidings—the title which the Gospel Messenger then had—issued in 1875 (afterward republished in another form under the title of “The Valley of Blessing”), and now, when more than thirty years have elapsed, the respective writers of the articles “Faith, not Feelings” and “The Five go together” are privileged to hear of their written ministry being blessed by God to the help of immortal souls. To Him be all the praise and glory.

Editors of gospel magazines, go on with your work steadily; and, distributers, cease not to scatter them, for your reward is sure in the end.

Over sixteen years ago I gave some Sunday evening lectures on the Lord’s Second Coming, and issued them in a little volume entitled, “Behold the Bridegroom.” In its preface occur these words, “Delivered as these lectures were, to large and mixed audiences, of believers and unbelievers, the felt and often expressed need of the latter, made the introduction of the simple gospel a necessity as well as a joy to the speaker. These statements and appeals have not been eliminated, for the book may fall into similar hands, and the Lord may be graciously pleased to use the printer’s mark, as He did the living voice, to thereby awaken the careless and bring rest to the troubled. May He do so for His name’s sake.” His gracious answer to that desire is blessedly told forth in the following letter: —

“Wimbledon, 29th September 1898

“Many thanks for the free grant of gospel books you have just sent me; I trust they may be used of the Lord in blessing to many souls.

“I was at S— a few weeks back (a village in Kent), and we put up with a Christian, and he told us that the book ‘Behold the Bridegroom’ by yourself, was used by God for his conversion some years ago. He passed it on to some friends of his, and God again used it to their conversion; and they passed it on to their friends, and it was likewise used of God in that family. I thought you would like to know this.

“Would it be too much to ask God that each of these books may be used at least to the conversion of one soul? “Again thanking you, yours in Christ, “O. D. H—.”

How this volume reached S—I know not, but the sender will have his or her reward in the day of the Lord, while the writer has deep joy in hearing such good tidings. Distributers of the printed ministry may well be encouraged to go on with their blessed service, and if preachers, who do not always immediately see conversions on the spot (which God in His grace does often allow) are in need of encouragement, may they be cheered by the following letters: —

“ARMLEY, 24th September 1898.

“A friend of mine has long had the desire to inform you of a conversion which took place under your ministration, but not being able to, he asked me if I would undertake to let you know.

“About three years ago you were to preach in Leeds. My friend, having read many of your works, had a desire to hear you, and he asked a workmate of his to accompany him, which he did. Now this workmate was not a Christian. His belief was that God would not convert any one until his time had come, whereas he was opposing God’s will concerning him all the time. You preached from the parable of the Ten Virgins, and it went home to his heart. When you announced the last hymn you said that only those who could sing it from the heart were to sing. Now his friend did not sing, because he could not sing from his heart.

“The meeting closed, and when he got outside he said, ‘He has smashed me all to pieces, and I haven’t a prop to stand on.’ Such were his remarks—he was completely broken up. They talked together all the way home (for they had half-an-hour’s walk), and when they were about to part my friend said, ‘Now, G—, what is it to be’ He said, ‘Here’s my hand, and from tonight I’m over the line.’ And, praise God, it was right, and he confessed Christ to others of his workmates.

“ ‘God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform.’

“A fortnight afterward he attended the doctor, as he felt out of sorts, and had done for a fortnight. The doctor told him he had had typhoid fever all the time. A week afterward God called him to be with Him in glory for evermore. He died in the infirmary (I’m not sure whether it was what is called the Leeds Infirmary, or whether it was the Fever Hospital) of typhoid fever, but he died the death of a Christian, happy and praising God.

“Three weeks after conversion the props truly were knocked away, but he was on the Rock, ‘and that Rock was Christ’ (1 Cor. 10:4). I knew the man referred to well, in fact all three of us worked at the same establishment. My friend told me some time since of the happy death of this brother, but only last week of the above details. — Yours in Christ, G. W—.

“P.S.― I can furnish names if necessary. Would like to read of this in the Gospel Messenger.”

“EDINBURGH, 21St June 1900.

“Excuse me taking the liberty of writing you, but I find it my duty, and also out of the gratefulness of my heart I write to say, and to thank you, that your most striking sermon preached in M― Hall on the evening of 20th June was the means of leading me to conversion. It was the first time I had been in that hall, and by the way it was brought about I’m sure that God just led me in. I should have so much liked to talk to you, but my time was very limited. I left the meeting while a young man was shaking hands at the door. He spoke to me, I did not hear him. He spoke again, and the words were, ‘Have you been brought to Christ?’ I started, I felt like one paralyzed, and could not speak. I would not say I was a child of Christ, and yet I knew I must have been one of the devil’s children. I entered that meeting without ever dreaming of conversion; before I left I was filled with fear and horror. God’s very eyes were on me, and Jesus, with outstretched arms, pleading for me to come, yet I would not. But now, thank God, I went that very night. I went home, went down on my knees, asked God’s forgiveness for my past many sins—like one of the two debtors in Luke 7, mine were the five hundred—and I ask you now, as a friend in Christ, most solemnly to pray for me, that I may lead a good and upright life, as I have pledged myself to Christ, and begun a new life.— I am, yours most gratefully,

“A. M—.”

In closing this paper let me ask you, my dear reader, How stands it with you before God? You may very likely be neither a contributor to, nor a distributer of the Gospel Messenger, but if you hold it in your hands you most certainly have the opportunity of being a reader of it. Shall it bring blessing to you? Have you received the gospel? Are you yet converted? Are you saved? Have you peace with God? Are your sins forgiven? Are you right for eternity? If you cannot answer these queries affirmatively, let me implore you to get right with God at once. His voice you may well hear through the pages of this little periodical. Let the foregoing true narratives of God’s saving grace encourage you to decision for Christ. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Begin this New Year with God; and then spend it in the enjoyment of His love, and the confession of the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.

W. T. P. W.

"I Want to Go Too."

THE blessed hope of the Lord’s coming is most heart-gladdening and cheering to the believer, and full of comfort to the sad, who look forward to that moment of supreme delight, when the eye at last shall see Him whom the heart has loved so long.

But the coming of the Lord which is so cheering to the Christian, is a fearful prospect to the unconverted. For, oh! how dreadful to be found one of those who are not “Christ’s at his coming.”

What a division then! Fathers, mothers, caught up to meet Him; but where are the children? Brother saved! sister lost! Workmen at the same bench, one changed in a moment, the other left in his sins. Too late then to cry, “Lord, Lord; open to us!”

I once heard of an old gentleman who was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and waiting for His coming. He often had a large company of Christian friends staying at his house, who were in the habit of reading the Word together of an evening, in the drawing-room, and at these times the servants were usually present. One evening the subject had been “The coming of the Lord,” the company being all converted persons excepting the page, a boy called John. When the reading was over, before retiring for the night, the old gentleman said, “John, the Lord is coming, and as we shall all be caught up to meet Him when He comes, you, John, will be the only one left; so you will have the horses, the carriages, &c.— all will be yours. In the presence of all here tonight, I give it to you, if the Lord comes; for, with the exception of yourself, we shall all be with Him. Good-night, John.”

John went to his room, but not to sleep. This legacy so troubled him, that he did not even take off his clothes for the night. The long hours seemed to move so slowly, for John’s anguish of mind was intense, and as morning at length came on, and the clock struck five, he could stand it no longer, and rushed to his master’s door. Rap. The old gentleman was sound asleep. Rap. Rap.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s John, sir.”

“What do you want, John?”

“Please, sir, I don’t want the horses; I don’t want the carriages or the other things.”

“Then what do you want?”

“Please, sir, I want to go too.”

Horses and carriages, a mansion with all it contains, and all the wealth belonging to its owner, would be poor compensation for the loss of a share in this blessed hope.

Reader, ponder! Are you Christ’s now? May the Lord make you truly anxious until you are. With this paper in your hands, look to Jesus. Seek Him. Hear His word, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Time is short. The coming of the Lord draws nigh. The world is waxing old. Men are throwing off all restraint, steeling their consciences, and hardening their hearts. Judgment comes on apace. The clouds are gathering; darkness is settling down on this scene. Mercy cries, Haste, flee for thy life. Jesus shows His wounded hands and side, and says, Come. Safety is found in Him alone. Don’t you “want to go too”? H. P.

Fragment.

LEAKY vessels hold no water. If in Christ, you will be full of water; a vessel with no bottom to it can be kept full of water if in a fountain. Out of Christ we are broken vessels holding none. There is nothing in the vessel apart from Christ.

G. V. W.

Charlie and His Wife.

“CHARLIE,” as he was called by all who knew him, was a young fireman employed on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Bright and merry, he was a favorite with everyone.

One thing, however, Charlie lacked, and that one thing was the most important of all. In spite of the prayers and pleadings of his dear old Christian mother, he was not saved.

Again and again his mother reasoned with him about his soul, and warned him of his danger. Often when he took his bucket to go out to his engine she would fondly kiss him and say: “Charlie, dear, I shall be so uneasy while you are gone, for you might get killed, and your soul be lost, and then your poor mother would go crazy.”

On the same railroad there was a Christian engine-driver, Billy M—by name. He was much attached to Charlie, and knowing his mother’s anxiety about him used often to speak to him about his need of salvation, and read the Scriptures to him. Sometimes the tears would start to Charlie’s eyes and trickle down his cheeks. He would say that he wanted to be a Christian and was going to be some day, but that there was plenty of time. Besides, he was keeping company with a young lady who was fond of parties, balls, and playing-cards. She had told him that if he became a Christian she would have no more to do with him, for she did not want an old “goody-goody” of a man.

“But,” said Charlie to his friend Billy, “if you can get her to consent, I will promise to be a better lad, if only to please mother.”

Charlie seems hardly to have realized that “being a better lad” would in no wise meet the need that he was in. What he needed was conversion. He was a poor unconverted sinner, going down to hell as quickly as time could carry him. Turning over a new leaf and trying to do better would not put him on the road to heaven. He needed to have his sins washed away through the blood of Christ. In a word, it was not reformation, not morality, but a Saviour he needed. And this he did not seem to understand.

But Billy M—determined to do his best for his friend. So he got him and his young lady together, and prayed with them, and talked the matter over. But she would not yield. She cried, but said she could not bring herself to give up the pleasures of the world just yet. They were to be married in a few weeks, and then, she said, they would both become Christians, and live happily.

In due time the wedding day arrived. Billy was one of the invited guests. He reminded the young couple of their promise, and begged them to commence their married life by coming to the Saviour and trusting in Him for salvation and pardon. But with one excuse and another they put it off, and as time passed on, seemed to grow more careless and hardened than ever.

One day, however, a terrible thing happened. As Billy was getting off his engine, a boy came running up to him and said, “Charlie was injured in a smash down the line this morning, and his wife wants you to go up to the house as soon as possible.”

Billy did not wait to wash, or get his tea, but went straight off to see his young friend.

Charlie was lying upon his bed quite unconscious. He had been seriously hurt, and had passed through fearful suffering. His wife was weeping as if her heart would break. The first thing she said as Billy came in was, “Oh, if Charlie is lost, it is my fault.”

Then she cried in her agony to God to forgive her and spare her husband.

For eleven long hours the faithful engine-driver watched by the bedside of the dying man. Awful hours they were, for the ravings of the poor sufferer, and the words that he uttered during his brief moments of consciousness were appalling. The last words that they heard him say were, “I put it off too long, and my last chance is gone. I am lost! lost! lost!”

The funeral took place, and Billy turned once again to the heart-broken young widow.

“Will you not now take Jesus to be your Saviour?” he pleaded.

“I must get things settled first,” she replied, “and then I will think about it.”

“Oh, said Billy, “don’t say that. Settle this great matter with God first, and let business come afterwards.”

But no, she would not be persuaded. She said she would not put it off as Charlie had done, but there was time enough yet.

At length a darling little baby boy came as a cheer and a solace to the poor sad heart of Charlie’s wife. When it was about three weeks old, an urgent message was sent to Billy M—that the young mother was dangerously ill: would he go and see her?

We will let Billy tell the story of that visit in his own words.

“I went up, but when I was taken into that room, what did I see? I saw the woman who had promised God, time after time, and promised her husband and me, that she would give her heart to Jesus, I saw her dying without hope. Oh, the agony of that woman! She said over and over again that she was the cause of Charlie’s losing his soul, and that she had sent for me to tell me that I had done all I could for her eternal happiness, but that through her own neglect she was damned forever.

“I prayed for her, read God’s Word, tried to get her to accept Jesus as her Saviour, telling her that though she had rejected Him so long and so often, yet Christ was willing to accept her at her last moment.

“She only replied that she could not think of anything except that she had been the means of her dear husband being lost. She begged me to keep a watch over her child, and when he was old enough, to tell him all the story of his parents’ lives, and see that he made sure of heaven. After a little more, she told me in her last words that she was dying like her husband, ‘lost! lost! lost forever.’ So she died.”

As I write the sad words, the tears, unbidden, fill my eyes. Can you, my reader, hear the inexpressibly sad story of the way these ‘two young lives ended without being moved to your very soul? If you can, I pity you.

The story illustrates with awful emphasis the hardness of heart that is the inevitable consequence of a long course of “putting it off.”

Thank God that His mercy is infinite. Both Charlie and his wife might have been saved, if only they had turned to the Saviour. But Satan took advantage of their weakness, and in the hour of their dire extremity pushed first one and then the other over the brink of eternal ruin.

He who treated them thus, is likewise bent upon your ruin. He will use the hardening effect of sin, if he can, to drive you to perdition. Beware!

The blessed God bends over you with deep compassion. He calls you, beseeches you, commands you to turn to Christ in repentance and faith, that you may be saved.

Jesus, by His dying upon the cross, has made it possible for a sinner like you to be saved. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

But remember this true saying: “He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Prov. 29:1).

H. P. B.

"The Unexpected Happens!"

OH! you mean death?

No, I cannot say that I do, because you expect to die some time; not perhaps this year, but some time; and doubtless, you intend to make timely preparation for that certain event.

Then what do you mean?

Well, “the unexpected happens” is a common phrase, and simply means that, spite of every possible attention being given to an undertaking, or every contingency being met, so far as the clever mind of man can anticipate anything, something may occur which never presented itself to his prevision, and which his keenest foresight had never conceived. An event entirely unexpected happens and utterly destroys all his plans.

“The unexpected happened” when the Spanish Armada, instead of landing its troops on English soil, was swept by the hurricane into the inky waves of the North Sea, or was broken to pieces on unknown shores, and the proud Spaniard was foiled of his prey. That tempest was unexpected by him.

What then do you think will happen unexpectedly?

Ah! there was a time when the busy world bought and sold, planted and builded, rising morning by morning in view of a day on the mart, or exchange, or field, or yard. Hands were full, and heads were busy. Men had to live. The world was young, and though life was long, its hours flew apace. Bargains were struck; articles were bought and sold; seller and purchaser were keen then as now. Hill-sides and waste-lauds were planted; houses and cities were built. And all looked well: Today should be as yesterday, and tomorrow as today.

True, one man was busy building—not a house nor a city—but an ark. What of that? He, but he was only one, said something about a flood of waters, which, having come, would put an end to all the busy enterprises of the day, but the idea seemed so improbable that the business went on— “Until the flood came and destroyed them all,” and the unexpected happened! Unexpected but not unforetold! Why unexpected? Because disbelieved and discredited!

Yes, yes, but we are told that the flood shall never cover the earth again, so that we need not live in dread of a watery overthrow.

Quite true, but what of the other catastrophe—that of fire?

Oh! that is at the end of the world, and is a long way off! We can go on with our buying and selling, planting and building, marrying and being given in marriage; nor need we fear, in our day, any such terrible event as that.

Now, granted that the destruction by fire is necessarily at the end of all things, we are most profoundly anxious that you should know and lay hold of this fact that, long before the end comes, a period, called “the day of the Lord”— a long period, and one that is introduced and continued in righteous government, and the unsparing judgment of evil, shall first run its course. It is ushered in by the coming of the Son of man; and notice most particularly that “as it was in the days of Noah (we have considered these), so shall it be in the days of the Son of man.” Mark the word “so,” and compare the days. The unexpected happened in Noah’s days; it may happen in ours!

“The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night!” and people will be taken at unawares. They will be saying “peace and safety,” and lulling each other to slumber in the cradles of business, of trade, and pleasure, when the Son of man shall come, and then, what they never expected shall happen.

Oh, that a thoughtless world might take warning! Shall it never be? Once the Master, having risen up, the door shall be shut and all hope gone for the unbeliever.

The Lord Jesus Christ shall come as Son of man in judgment upon the world. He shall come as Saviour first for His own. The dead shall be raised, the living changed to meet Him in the air, and to be, thank God, for “ever with the Lord.”

For such this glorious event is not unexpected. It is longed for. God’s people pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” But, reader, shall He come to you as a thief, or as Saviour?

J. W. S.

A Triumphant Death.

A CHRISTIAN lady during her last illness became so weak that when she spoke the nurse was obliged to bend down over her to catch the feeble utterance.

When the end was very near the nurse noticed that the lady was endeavoring to speak. Bending to listen, she heard the word “Bring, bring.”

The nurse thought she wished for water, and at once offered some, but the lady shook her head.

Someone suggested that it was grapes she desired, but when they were placed before her she again shook her head and still whispered the word “Bring.”

Then it was supposed that she wished her friends brought into the room that she might bid them a last farewell. So all the friends in the house were called, and stood around the bed. But it was evident that her meaning had not been grasped.

At last the dying lady, summoning all her strength for the effort, said―

“Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all.”

At this triumphant death-bed we recognize the same precious faith that filled the apostle Paul, who, in view of death and the grave, said, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?... Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57).

C. H.

God's Remedy.

I SHOULD like to write a few lines as to my conversion, now some seventeen years ago. I was then studying in London as a medical student, after four years’ college life at the University of Cambridge. At that time I was caress and indifferent as to my soul’s salvation, neither reading my Bible, nor going anywhere where I might receive good.

One Sunday evening will never be effaced from my memory. I was playing cards that night with other young men, but took a constitutional through the streets before playing. I had gone about two miles from my lodgings when suddenly, like a flash of light, I got the impression that I should not get back alive. I was so powerfully impressed and filled with horror at the thought of meeting God that I turned round and fled as for my life through the streets back home again.

On arriving I poured out half a glass of whiskey to steady my nerves. What filled me with horror was the thought of meeting God, for I knew I was not prepared, and my deserts would have been the eternal judgment of God. I played cards that night, but the shaft from God went home, and I was miserable.

This was merely the start of months of soul agony and distress. What terrible nights I had, waking up after having experienced the horrors of hell-fire. I knew full well that I was absolutely unfit for God’s holy presence, and if I were cut off in my sins I should be lost forever.

In a few weeks’ time I had to leave London, and I had a horror of the place. My father I knew to be a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if I could only get under the roof of my own home I thought I should be easier. I continued my studies at home, but it was no use, I could not apply myself sufficiently and it seemed a waste of time and money to go on, so I contemplated a farm life. Nine months from that eventful Sunday evening I found myself practically alone on a farm in Dorsetshire, and it was there the light from God broke in upon my soul. If I had seen in the past how utterly unfit I was as a guilty sinner for God’s presence, I was now led to see God’s provision, and I rested my soul’s salvation upon the Lord Jesus Christ, believing in Him as my own personal Saviour.

How happy I was. Those months of misery had passed away like a dream, and I now desired to testify of Him before others. It was impossible to keep the good news to myself, so I started by writing to all the men on the farm, enclosing some little books in each letter; after which I wrote to all I knew, saved and unsaved. I cannot describe the relief it was, this unburdening of my soul.

Previous to this I had tried to keep it all to myself, being too proud to let others know, but now the confession brought deep peace and joy to my heart, and although now seventeen years ago, I have never doubted my conversion to God.

Every soul saved is a triumph of God over Satan’s power, and is a miracle of divine grace, and I now take this opportunity of appealing to any reader of these lines who has not as yet decided for Christ, to make no delay. Life is uncertain, and the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Where will you spend eternity, with Christ or in the outer darkness? The gospel tidings have sounded forth for nineteen centuries. God presents to fallen man His remedy for sin. What is that? you say. The precious blood of Jesus. The question recently raised in the Daily Telegraph, “Do we believe?” has elicited thousands of replies, the majority of which show only too clearly their utter refusal of God’s way of salvation.

Unless your faith, my friend, is founded upon the precious blood of Christ, all I can say is you have none. May God produce (as in my case) a sense of need in your heart, and if an unbeliever, may you have no rest until you can truly say, “Jesus is mine, and I am His.” However much man may have drifted, God in His holiness and righteousness has not changed one whit. If you should pass out of this life without having repented and owned your guilt before God—as one vile and unfit for His presence—there can be nothing but judgment for you, whatever you may be considered in the eyes of men: titled or untitled, king or peasant, religious or irreligious, meet God you must. The gospel day will now soon close. Countless thousands of happy beings have availed themselves of God’s remedy—the precious blood of Christ—the only antidote for the poison of sin. If you rest your soul’s salvation thereon you are safe.

One views with increasing dread the darkness that is rapidly creeping over this highly privileged land of ours. By the majority the gospel is refused. As a result idolatry and superstition are to the front. Numbers of ministers in the professing Church are unbelievers, presenting a false light before the people. God and His Word are really set aside, in their place man introduces his thoughts in the pride and arrogancy of his heart.

God, however, still lingers in mercy and grace, His love being towards all, and “not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to repentance.” But there is a culminating point, and if man refuses point-blank what God presents in sovereign mercy and goodness, there will be nothing left but judgment. May you, my reader, accept God’s terms whilst it is yet today. “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb. 3:15).

F. G. B.

Our Title to Glory.

WHAT is our title to glory? This is an important question to every true believer, and one to which he should be able to give a right answer. We need not be careful about terms, nor seek to maintain what is wrong; but to be careful not to shock the spiritual sensibilities of our brethren is of the last moment. At times it may be necessary to traverse thoughts based upon what is unscriptural; this should be gently done, lest souls be harmed. Here, no such necessity exists. If in God’s sight all created things are of less importance than the growth of a human soul, this has to be seen to.

As to fact neither “title” or “basis” are scriptural terms, so that they must be taken for what they ordinarily mean. “Basis” or “ground” of truth is once used in 1 Timothy 3:16.

Of things immaterial, “basis” means the fundamental principle, groundwork, or support of anything.

In ordinary language, “title” means a claim, a right. In law it means right of ownership; or, the source of such right; or, the facts and events by which property is acquired; a party’s right to the enjoyment of land or goods; or the means by which such right has accrued, and by which it is evidenced.

In view of this, is it right to say, “Our title to glory we read in Thy blood”? Or, must the blood be limited to righteousness and the forgiveness of sins; while we seek another title to glory in the purpose of God? Is it not that while, by nature, we have title neither to forgiveness nor glory, the blood of Christ is the great fact or event by which both are made ours, according to God’s eternal purpose? Surely no son of Adam could ever enter the glory apart from the blood.

There is no necessity to throw this over against purpose, but “purpose” is not of itself “title.” A father’s purpose to give his son a house is not the title to the house. Now, while our place and calling are certainly primarily connected with God’s purpose, yet God carries out that purpose on the basis of Christ’s death and blood-shedding, and by that alone. Let us indeed enjoy the thought that God’s love and good pleasure have been so strikingly made known to us in Christ, but this, it must be remembered, is toward those who have redemption through His blood, and by no means as furnishing a different title to that supplied by the blood.

The righteousness of God, in its relation to sin and the sinner, is declared by the blood (Rom. 3). But this does not limit the efficacy of the blood of Christ, inasmuch as He is the Son of the living God. God shows His estimate of that efficacy by basing the accomplishment of all His purposes upon it.

It does not seem to be understood that “where sin abounded, grace has superabounded,” and that now grace reigns through righteousness. It is not righteousness reigns but grace, and that in nowise as in contrast to righteousness, but through it, that is, on the ground of it. The super abounding of grace, or, as it has been called, the “excess,” is based upon that which declares God’s righteousness with reference to forgiveness of sins, that is the blood, which at once vindicates God in justifying a sinner, and enables Him to place the justified one in the glory with Christ.

The following remark, by another, indicates the same thought: “As to the full value and efficacy of the blood, we should have to go beyond the scope of this scripture (Rom. 3.), it would take in the whole scene of glory.” Here the glory is not opposed to, but distinctly connected with, the blood, its value and efficacy.

In Scripture every reference to that which is rightly looked upon as our peculiar portion is in some way connected with the work of Christ.

Is it glory? “It became Him... in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10). If we are to be brought to glory He must die.

Is it the Father’s house? “I go to prepare a place for you.” This was accomplished at the cross without which there was no place in the Father’s house for man.

Is it relationship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and acceptance in the beloved? “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7).

Is it a sanctified company, together with Christ, for His praise? They are “all of one,” that is, from the same source, His death (Heb. 2:11).

May we more adoringly bow at the feet of Him who shed His blood that all God’s purposes might be established for His praise.

G. J. S.

"Without a Grudge."

“And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the there fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that eat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” ―Luke 7:36-50.

AT the close of a large and interesting gospel meeting one Lord’s Day evening in Glasgow, many years ago, I came in contact with two earnest inquirers after God’s way of salvation. They were young women, sisters, between twenty and twenty-five years of age. The passage quoted at the head of this paper had been before us, and I had endeavored to show how free and full is God’s salvation—that all is wrapped up in the person of Christ, and the blessing of the soul really lies in getting into contact with Him.

We had, in spirit, gone into the Pharisee’s house, and seen “a woman of the city, which was a sinner,” lowly bowed in tears at His blessed feet, conscious that she was a sinner, and nothing but a sinner. What the particular nature of her sins may have been, Scripture tells us nothing; she was a sinner. So is every other soul of man, you and I included, reader. And sin brings its consequences, death and judgment by-and-by, while misery, unrest, and ofttimes fear, oppress the heart and conscience now. With sin unforgiven this should always be the case. She had heard of Jesus, and what she had heard of His grace and tenderness, coupled with the need of her own heart, drew her to Him. Whatever prayer may have been in her heart, no words appear to have escaped her lips; she was silenced by her sin, her mouth was closed by her guilt. Tears of contrition, penitence, repentance, and self-judgment flowed fast and warm, till they sufficed to wash the Saviour’s feet.

Then, emboldened as faith ever is when the soul draws near to Jesus, she used her long tresses—a woman’s glory—as a napkin to wipe the feet of that blessed compassionate Saviour, and, while thus putting her very glory at His feet, the affection which His grace produced in her heart showed itself by the kisses with which she covered those feet, without refusal on His part. Doubtless she had heard and pondered well the counsel of ages gone by, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psa. 2:12). She trusted Him, she kissed His feet, and was blessed. She was wisdom’s child. The alabaster box of ointment which she brought with her attested the sincerity of her affection, as she anointed those well-washed, tenderly-wiped, and lovingly-kissed feet.

Need on the sinner’s part was met by grace on the Saviour’s part, but grace is a principle that self-righteousness does not apprehend. Simon the Pharisee reasons in his heart thus, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who or what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is a sinner.” Poor Simon, he neither knew his own heart nor the heart of God; full of self-righteousness he was blind alike to the evil of his cold and callous heart, and to the beauties of the grace of God manifested in Jesus. He must be taught what God is, revealed in grace, and then learn that man, debased by sin, and callous of that grace, by his own self-importance and fancied righteousness ever stands in the way of his own blessing.

The two debtors, one owing fifty pence, and the other five hundred, were himself and the woman; he profoundly unconscious of the depth of his indebtedness to God, she fully alive thereto; he, cold, callous, heartless, and careless, and hence had neither water for the feet, ointment for the head, nor the courteous kiss of welcome for Jesus which every host should give his guest. In plain language he had no heart for God. Reader, have you?

On the other hand the woman had just that for the Lord which suited the occasion; but whatever man may be, God is always the same; and however deep the debt of man may be, grace delights in forgiving, hence Jesus says, “And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.” This is God’s present attitude to man. On the ground of redemption accomplished, and atonement having been effected—Christ having borne sins on the cross and the judgment attached to them—God is now able to righteously pardon the vilest and the worst.

We saw that not only could He forgive, but frankly forgive, for there is a style about God’s forgiveness that is absolutely charming; but Simon, profoundly unaffected by grace, thought his sins were only fifty, if indeed they were as many as that, and receives the timeous rebuke which the state of his soul demanded. “Thou gavest me not” is a terrible word for God to say to the soul. “Thou gavest me no water, no kiss, no ointment,” was a terrible thing for Christ to say to him, yet indeed was it true. On the other hand the woman, deeply conscious of her need and her guilt, had shown the love that tilled her heart by the actions we have been describing.

To her the Lord turns, so that she saw in His face the blessed love that filled His heart, as, first of all, He says to Simon, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.” How thrilling must it have been to her to hear Jesus say of her, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.” Without one bit doubting His words, I am persuaded she deeply longed to hear Him say similar words to herself, nor had she long to wait, for grace delights to put the heart of its object at perfect rest in its presence, and within a moment the blessed words fell on her ears that removed the guilt of the past, lit up the future with joy, and sent her on her way home in rest and peace with God.

Mark the glorious words which the Saviour said to that sinner then, and in blessed grace says to any troubled sinner now, “Thy sins are forgiven, thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” These twelve words filled up her whole history. Pardoned as regards the past; saved as regards the future; and in peace for the present, she left the Pharisee’s house.

My two young friends had listened with the deepest interest to the address I had given as above related, but had not yet believed the gospel. Getting into conversation with them, I inquired were not they the two to which the words of the Lord about the debtors applied. They immediately replied in the affirmative, and then I asked them:

“Which of you is it that owes the fifty, and which the five hundred?”

The elder of the two taking the lead immediately said, “Mine is the live hundred,” to which in an instant the younger replied, “No, Maria, the five hundred are mine, I am sure, you are a much better girl than I, and I am a far greater sinner than you.”

“No, my sister, that is not so, the five hundred are mine,” and for a moment or two they altercated on the subject I had no objection, because it is always a good thing when a person sees how deep is their sin, and the truly convicted soul is always conscious of this, that there is not such another sinner in the world as it is. I was glad, therefore, that each claimed the five hundred.

I then said, “But which of them was it the creditor forgave? which of you two girls is it that God forgives?” The answer was beautiful, “He frankly forgave them both.”

“Well,” I said, “it is good to see that God forgives you both: do you both believe it?” I think, they did; but now I said, “If He forgives you, tell me how He does it? What does that mean, ‘He frankly forgave them both’?” There was a little pause, and then the younger sister said, “It seems to me that He forgave them without a grudge.”

“Yes, that is exactly the way God forgives a pair of poor, guilty, self-condemned sinners like you, without a grudge; He has His joy and delights in pardoning any poor sinner that takes his or her true place before Him. And have you nothing to pay?”

“Nothing, nothing,” was the answer that fell from each lip. “And when you have nothing, what does God do?” “Frankly forgave them both,” was the answer.

Now, my reader, do you believe this tale of the grace of God? You well may. If I were you I would take my place at once as a bankrupt sinner in the presence of the Lord, and, conscious that you can bring nothing, do nothing, and be nothing, I would listen to His voice. I believe if you take that attitude you will hear Him say, “Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.” And if asked whether you know that you are forgiven, and saved, and whether you have peace with God, you will be able to honestly answer “Yes,” and answer intelligently on this ground that, when you had nothing to pay, God frankly forgave you. You will be able to say with truth, “He has forgiven me without a grudge.”

To walk in the assurance of present pardon and future glory with Christ is the divinely given privilege of every believer in Him.

W. T. P. W.

Fragment.

ALL who desire to walk devotedly can always find a path to walk in; whereas, on the contrary, the man who draws a plea, from outward circumstances, for relaxing his energy would not be energetic, though most favourably situated. C. H. M.

Isaiah's Heavenly Vision.

ISAIAH tells us that, “in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke” (Isa. 6:1-4).

Let us consider this wondrous vision, and the effect it produced on him who beheld it. Isaiah saw the Lord in His exaltation, seated upon His throne, His skirts filling the temple of God, and seraphim celebrating His holiness continually. His glory filled the whole earth, and the house was filled with smoke, which sets forth His glory in judgment. And overwhelmed in his soul, as he realized the infinite holiness of the One with whom he had to do, Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (vs. 5).

Shall this be written on the page of Scripture in vain for your soul, dear reader? Or shall it turn to your blessing as did Isaiah’s vision to him? The King, the Lord of hosts, whom he beheld, is the same with whom you have to do. He is the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy (Isa. 57:15). He is the One of whom Moses and Israel sang: “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the mighty ones? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11). This is the One, infinite in holiness, who is the Judge appointed of God. To Him every sinner must render account. And where is there a single soul of man who could answer Him one in a thousand? Are you an exception? Hear what David said, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Psa. 143:2). Were you or I to receive our just desert, the glory of the Lord in judgment would overwhelm us, and His infinite holiness demand ow eternal expulsion from His presence.

What then is the effect upon your soul, in the light of the glory, and holiness, and judgment of the Lord, the Son of God? Surely if you realize your true state and are honest before Him, you will cry with Isaiah, “Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”

And what was the consequence of Isaiah’s confession? Did the woe of God fall upon him? Did judgment overtake him. He owned he deserved it. He confessed to naught but uncleanness in His most holy sight. But judgment is God’s strange work, And He has devised a plan, whereby for His own glory He can put the sinner’s sin away, clear him from judgment, and make him henceforth His willing servant.

Immediately Isaiah was brought to self-judgment he was met by mercy. “Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (vers. 6:7). There are cherubim and seraphim connected with the throne of the Lord. The former appear to be in relation with the exercise of judgment, and the latter with the exercise of mercy. A seraphim flew to Isaiah. He was an object of mercy. Mercy was waiting upon him through righteousness, and met him immediately in his need. The altar was before the throne. The sacrifice had been offered. The fire had consumed the sacrifice. The seraphim had taken the live coal with the tongs off the altar. He held it in his hand. He flew to Isaiah the moment he confessed his sin. He laid the coal on his mouth. And as the Lord’s messenger he pronounced in righteousness and mercy the putting away of his sin. The unclean and undone sinner stood henceforth clean every whit in the sight of the Lord.

How richly all this pictures forth the blessing of the glad tidings to us! The moment the sinner of today is led to true self-judgment, and the confession of his sinful and unclean state in the sight of the Lord, he finds the infinite mercy of God waiting on him through righteousness, and ready to put his sin away. Everything has been done on God’s part on our behalf. He has manifested His love in sending His Son. He has been to the cross and borne the judgment of sin. And in His case, instead of the fire consuming the sacrifice, the sacrifice consumed the fire. In mercy and in righteousness He waits to be gracious. And the moment the sinner repents, swifter than the swiftest seraphim ever flew through space on mercy’s errand, the Lord puts his sin away. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:6, 7).

The work of Christ on Calvary is a finished work. Nothing whatever is needed on the part of the sinner but self-judgment. It is the one who discovers his uncleanness in the sight of God, and his deep need of a Saviour that believes on Him. And on the ground of Christ’s finished work, God forgives and justifies him, clearing him from all sin by His precious blood, so that he henceforth stands clear and clean in His most holy sight, and that forever. Reader, is this your case?

And Isaiah’s sin having been purged, he heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And he replied instantly, “Here am I; send me.” The Lord had an object in putting Isaiah’s sin away. No doubt it fitted him to be with Himself in the eternal future. But He desired him for His servant now. And He wanted a willing servant. Isaiah was conscious of this the moment he heard the Lord’s words. The Lord is the sender of His own servants. But His servants must be ready and willing to go where He sends them. Hence the Lord uttered two things: “Whom shall I send?” and “Who will go for us?” Isaiah was ready and willing to go, and replied, “Here am I”; but conscious of his need of being also sent, he added, “Send me.” And the Lord sent him, and found him a willing, faithful, and devoted servant.

So also today. The Lord not only justifies him that believeth, and fits him for His own blessed presence in the eternal future, but He wants him to serve Him now. Have you heard His voice, not only assuring you of the putting away of your sin, but saying, “Whom shall I send?” and “Who will go?” And how have you replied? Have you said with Isaiah, “Here am I; send me.” It is a blessed service to be engaged in. No other master is like Him. His yoke is easy, and His burden light. May each who reads these lines know what it is to have his iniquity taken away, his sin purged, and then embark on tire Lord’s blessed service, as sent by Him, and serve Him faithfully till He come.

E. H. C.

Indifference.

INDIFFERENCE is a sin of no ordinary kind; it is an offense of great magnitude; it is pure and simple wickedness. To rightly estimate this we must call to mind what it is that men treat with indifference. It is the claims of God that are set at naught, and the love of God that is despised. The gift of the Son of God, His work of infinite love at Calvary, the glory which that work has thrown open, and all the present blessings of the salvation of God, are so many trifles to the indifferent sinner; he can afford to treat them with contemptuous disregard, if not disdain. After all the resources of divine love have been taxed to the utmost, after the heart of God has told itself out in the most wonderful way, after all the treasures of heavenly grace have been presented, after the invitation has gone forth in its fullness— “Come, for all things are now ready”— the insulting answer which goes back to the Giver of the feast is, “I pray thee have me excused”; I have other and more important matters in hand; I cannot come. There is more wickedness in this than in all the crimes that stain the pages of Newgate Calendar.

Reader, forget not that

“Into the depths of endless woe

Rejecters of the Saviour go;

Forbid the thought that you, who read,

Should longer have no sense of need.”

C. A. C.

Life Out of Death.

HAS God allowed sorrow to come? Have you lost some one very dear to you? Have trials or losses fallen to your lot? Sickness and disappointments? If so, depend upon it, there is blessing waiting for you! “The end of the Lord... is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Take care you do not miss the end the Lord has in view. Turn to Him. Humble yourself before Him, like Manasseh. Ask Him why He has allowed, and permitted, the deep waters you are in?

“God nothing does, nor suffers to be done,

But what thou would’st thyself,

Could’st thou but see

Through all the events of time, as well as He.”

An old lady with whom I was conversing said to me, “The death of my husband was the life of my soul.” She had lived without God until death robbed her of the dearest on earth. She turned to God in her sorrow, she reaped the blessedness spoken of by David when he wrote, “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord,” and, in her old age, could rejoice that her darkest hour of sorrow became the harbinger of an eternal day of joy. She found the end of the Lord, she could sing,

“Thy mercy found me in my sins,

And gave me to believe;

Then, in believing, peace I found,

And in Thy Christ I live.”

What God desires and seeks is your soul’s welfare. He is not willing that any should perish. He will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, you among them. Let me tell you how He reached a bereaved and sorrowing husband. He had all this world could give, easy circumstances, a good home, health, friends. A wife who loved him tenderly, and whose love he reciprocated with the most ardent affection. She was everything to him. The hand of death came, and when his wife breathed her last breath he could not believe she had gone. He folded her in his arms, pressed her to his heart; alas, the only response was icy coldness, and the immobility of death! When at last it dawned upon him that she was really gone, the pent-up grief of his heart burst forth into sorrowful wailing and lamenting tears. Hard, bitter thoughts of God filled his soul. His wife had been a Christian. He was one in name only. He had never known the healing virtue of Christ’s precious blood. He did not know God as the Father of Mercies, as the God of all comfort. He had none to whom he could turn in his hour of sorrow. He could only weep as he dwelt upon the desolation which had come into his house and heart.

Not far away lived an old Scotchwoman named Jenny. She had very little of this world’s goods. Her cottage was a tumbled down affair, and, like herself, crumbling to decay. A straw bed, a broken chair, a board for a table, was about the sum and substance of her earthly possessions; but if she was poor in this world’s goods, she was rich in faith. She could look forward to a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The presence of her Saviour filled her heart, and amidst all her poverty she was the possessor of untold wealth. Through Christ’s poverty she had become rich.

The dead lady had been very kind to her, often giving her food, and speaking comforting words, so she felt she must make an effort and go to the funeral. As she stood round the grave Jenny’s heart bled for the sorrow-stricken husband. His face of blank despair was white and rigid. Jenny whispered to one of her friends, “The puir body, does he na ken God?” This thought haunted her so much that the next day the old woman might have been seen slowly toiling up the hill to the rich man’s house. The servant who opened the door refused her admittance, but she would not be denied. “Tell your master a poor mean body has come to gi’e him comfort”. The servant said he received no ‘visitors. “Dinna stand looking in my face, mon,” she continued; “go tell him I have brought him a message from the Lord of Life and Glory.”

The servant went, returned, and ushered Jenny into a darkened room. There, rocking himself backward and forward, with his forehead bowed in his hands, a white handkerchief thrown over his head, covering his dry tearless eyes, sat the bereaved husband. Jenny stood in the doorway and said, “The Lord comfort ye.”

He beckoned her to come in and be seated. She advanced, and standing directly opposite to him said, “My mon was drowned in the loch, my two children lay dead together in these arms, my mither was stone blind, and naebody but me to the fore. I ha’e seen affliction in every shape, I tide seen poverty and sickness, but God’s Word was true to this day. I hugged it to my bosom, and found it dearer than husband or bairns; and so will you, puir mon, if you will believe it.”

“It’s all dark, Jenny, all dark; I have buried all my happiness in my wife’s grave.”

“Dear mon, ye may be happy this moment if ye sorrow wi’ a godly sorrow. Do you believe such a man as Jesus Christ ever spoke on this earth?”

“I must believe it,” he replied.

“Well, now, fist; I want to tell you what He did speak. He spoke these words ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ Mind ye, these were the words of a God.”

Her listener started up exclaiming, “Find it for me, Jenny, for oh, I want comfort; I am almost overwhelmed in the deep waters!”

“Get your Bible, and find it for yourself,” exclaimed Jenny in her abrupt manner. “Stir yourself to know God’s counsel, ye ha’e been long enough without it, pair mon. I tell you, mon, God never lies; He has taken that bonny wife to Himself to save your soul, and you must mourn with a godly sorrow, and ye will get such comfort that ye’ll think the very Son of God Himself glorifies your room.”

“Jenny,” he replied, “I would give all the world to feel His comfort.”

“You’re a brave mon, to give what isn’t your own—a pretty gift the Lord would think it! I would na thank ye, if ye said, ‘Jenny, I will give you the house over yonder,’ when I know it belongs to Squire M—. Na, na, be not so boastful; gi’e what belongs to you, your own puir sinful heart, and He’ll show why He took the sweet lady. Oh, my dear mon, mourn before God, an’ you’ll bless the day poor old Jenny came to the great house to tell ye about Christ.”

Old Jenny departed. Her message remained. The words struck home. He got into the presence of God. He found he was all wrong. Sorrow for sin filled his heart as he reviewed the past; repentance toward God followed. Many a visit was paid to old Jenny’s hovel. At length he got comfort, but such comfort as he had never expected. He found life where death had been. God is the God of all comfort. He knows how to comfort the sin-stricken as well as the bereaved. The bereaved husband lived to testify to the all-sufficiency of God to bring the highest good out of the most seeming evil.

He is the same God today. Whatever your sorrow, only turn to God. The Lord often visits men in order that they might turn to Him. “Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them” (Isa. 26:16).

Manasseh is an illustration of this. His wickedness had been great, but when he was in affliction he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And He was intreated of him and heard his supplication. “Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God” (2 Chron. 33:12).

Elihu said, “If men be holden in cords of affliction, then he showeth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity” (Job 36:8-10). Solomon tells us the “house of mourning” is better than the “house of feasting” (Eccles. 8:23).

Death, losses, broken health, failing friendships, all have one end in view. God is weaning your heart from earth, and fixing it on heaven, turning you from sin and disappointment here, to find rest, peace, joy, and satisfaction in Jesus.

Beloved reader, whatever your sorrow, God has a voice to you in it. Harden not your heart, close not your ears, turn to God in your misery, and you shall be comforted with everlasting consolation.

H. N.

PEOPLE have often a much clearer view of the work of Christ than they have of what it is to walk with Christ as a living person ever occupied with them; and until they get this they will not walk with Him. We cannot walk with Christ in that vivacity of joy, and power of the Holy Ghost which the early Christians had, unless we know Christ as a living person with His eyes ever fixed upon us.

G. V. W.

God's Rest and the way to it.

IT is a blessed thing to have to do with God, terrible to the flesh; but there is nothing we so easily forget as that always, under every circumstance, every moment, it is God with whom we have to do. The natural heart is always getting out of His presence, and then, like a disobedient child, dreading the thought of His presence.

People who are always looking at second causes are led by it into practical infidelity. And there is the same tendency in Christians, by resting in circumstances, to lose practically the sense of having to do with God. Yet, if it is happiness we seek, where shall we find blessedness that nothing can touch, or hinder, or separate from? Where, but in having to do with God? For He is not only the source but the blessing itself. There are, indeed, outward blessings which He gives His children by the way, as well as those who are not His children. But it is the having to do with God which is the blessing, and the source of all our strength and joy, for when once we come to know God we know Him as Love, and then, knowing that, all things come from Him. No matter what the circumstances are, we interpret them all by His love. I may be called to pass through pain and sorrow, but everything comes to me as the expression of His love because it comes from Himself, and I look through the circumstances to Him. Where God is but little known, and there is not, therefore, confidence in His love, there will be repining at circumstances, and the feeling that we have to do with God will cause more fear than gladness.

Whenever we stop at the circumstances, and consider only our own feelings and judgment about them, it shows that our souls are not in communion with God as they should be. It is not the circumstances themselves, but what God intends by them, that we should be occupied about.

Our consciences should thus be exercised about them, for our consciences have to do with God, and it is to know that all in our hearts is “naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom they have to do.” He sees everything in us which would hinder or dim communion with Himself though we may be unconscious of it, and sends some circumstance to make it known to us that we may put it away. The circumstance does not create the evil, which perhaps it excites; it only acts upon the evil it finds in my heart, and so makes it manifest to me as something that comes in between me and God, and (though I might not have known it before) must hinder my full communion with God. But He discerns the thoughts and intents of our hearts, and because He loves us He could not be happy in leaving anything in our hearts that hinders our love and confidence in Him, and so must hinder the fullness of our blessing.

The heart of man naturally seeks for rest, and seeks it here, but there is no rest here. It is written, “There remaineth a rest to the people of God.” To know that there is no rest here is full of blessing, full of sorrow to the flesh, because, as it is always seeking rest here, it has to be always disappointed, but blessing to the spirit, because the spirit, being born of God, can only rest in God’s own rest. There can be no such thing as rest here for the child of God—no circumstance, no place—because sin is in all, and God will have us to rest only in His own rest.

God can rest only in Himself, in Jesus, in perfection, in holiness, and because He who thus rests is Love, and because He loves us He will have us enter into His own rest, His own delight. Let the soul once know what this rest of God is, let the heart once be set upon this rest, and you will not be able to find rest in anything else. There are, indeed, joys by the way, but the moment you rest in them they become as poison, like the quails. The moment the eye is off God’s rest the heart is seeking rest here, but every time it finds something on which it attempts to settle, it is but a new source of trouble and conflict, of exercises and weariness of heart, for God loves us too well to lei us rest here, because all is evil. When we attempt it He sends something or other to disturb, some circumstances to detect the state of our hearts, by touching something about which our wills are concerned. But these circumstances will not trouble us if they did not find something in us which was contrary to God, they would rustle by us like the wind. But God is dealing with that in us which hinders communion, which prevents our seeking rest in Him alone, so that all His discipline is but the exercise of His love. If He destroys our rest here it is only to bring us into His own rest.

The Holy Ghost cannot rest in anything here, not even in the Church as it now is. He must lose His love of holiness if He could. How, then, could He allow us to do it? Never, till all is perfect, will God find rest in anything on the earth.

“He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God from his” (Heb. 4:10). It is not the question here about justification, that is all settled; there is rest forever about that, both in God and in us. By Christ’s obedience many were made righteous, and “by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” The believer has already ceased from his own works altogether as to that. But the point here is concerning those who are already justified, whom God has brought into His own family, and whom He will train and bring (being His children) into the full enjoyment of His own blessedness and joy and rest. If I, being a parent, enjoy anything, it is impossible, if I love my child, not to wish him to enjoy it with me, and “if we, being evil,” &c., “how much more our Heavenly Father?” He delights to bring us into His own happiness, and He has given us to be partakers of His own divine nature that we may be able to enjoy it. And His love cannot rest while there is one thing in us to mar our enjoyment of Himself.

The apostle proves in Hebrews 4 that the Jews had not entered into the rest. And though believers are “entering into rest,” there was no need to tell the Hebrew Christians any more than ourselves that they had not entered into rest, for they were still in need of patience because of their afflictions and persecutions, as we are because of our trials and conflicts; and the two exhortations he gives are plainly inconsistent with a state of rest. “Let us fear, and let us Labor.” If justification were the question here, it would be, “Do not fear, do not Labor, for Christ has done it all for you”; but this fear and this Labor begin when that question is forever settled, when we are redeemed out of Egypt into the wilderness. Because we have full confidence in God’s love, therefore we fear everything, every working of the flesh, which would come in between Him and us. The blessing is secured to us, but God keeps us in the right way to it by means of such exhortations as these. He warns us that we may exercise the sense of responsibility towards Him while we are journeying on to the rest. It is through “faith” we are kept, and the apostle says, “If by any means I might attain”; not because he did not see the certainty of the end, but because he saw all the difficulties of the way, and greatly feared whatever would lead him for a moment in the downward path. The flesh whenever indulged does this, and we know what is the end of that path, though we know that grace will prevent such a result to us as saints. There is no such evidence of a true-hearted saint as this holy fear. The unconverted man has no dread truly of Satan, but (if not quite hardened) he has great dread of God.

Now the saint has no fear of that kind of God, but he has great fear of Satan.” Jesus says of His sheep that they will flee from a stranger, for they do not know his voice. The sheep fear all but their own Shepherd. Above all they fear the wolf. And if any were to say, “The end is sure, never mind the means,” the sheep would know that was no true shepherd’s voice. “No,” says the saint, “it is not enough to know that by and by I shall be with God. I know Him now, and wish to enjoy His presence now, and I exceedingly dread anything coming between us—anything that would prevent the eye being single to God.” When the eye is single the whole body is full of light, and therefore every evil is detected, and every hindrance to all our affections being fixed on God. It is not from any uncertainty about this love of God, but from the certainty of being in the desert, that we are to fear and Labor—not through fear of God’s presence, but through the certainty of Satan’s presence. The saint knows that this is a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; but bring him into God’s presence, and his soul is satisfied with the river of His pleasure. Redemption brings us into the desert, and there, if we have not God, we have nothing. If we lose sight of God’s eye and hand we have nothing but our own foolishness, and the desert sands around us. But while our eye is fixed on God and our souls are resting on Him, the ways as well as the end are in our hearts, and become channels of communication with Him; and blessed is the man in whose heart are the ways as well as the end.

Everything proves to us that there is no rest here; “fearing” because of the flesh and of Satan is not rest; “laboring is not rest.” There is the diligence and activity of the soul in its own portion. We ought to know what our proper portion is—our own sphere of Labor; “and there is much food in the tillage of the poor.” The men of this world have their own pursuits, and we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle. We have a sphere in which the divine life given us can exercise its own faculties, and find its own resources. The Church has its own joys, its own interests, its own treasures, its own sphere of life, its own field for affections, its own topics, its own world, in short, in which there is fruit to God. Have you this, portion? and is it the delight of your soul to search out therein the riches of Christ, the good that is in God?

All that I have yet got of Christ’s riches is but a means whereby to attain those riches which are unsearchable. It is the holy labor in searching out the riches that are in Christ which keeps us in the lively sense of what is ours in Him, and therefore makes all other things worthless. It is having the soul fixed, on Christ that enables us to resist temptation and sin. It is not by thinking of the object which tempts us that we shall get this strength; it is not by letting our minds dwell upon it, even with the object to resist it, but our privilege is to be occupied with Christ, and thus obtain the victory.

Our liberty is this, to be no longer subject to sin—liberty to serve God without hindrance of the flesh. I do not want liberty to the flesh, but liberty to the new man, and that is to do my Father’s will.

It may not sound like privilege to talk of fear and Labor, but it really is so; and because we fail so in these things, it is also a blessed privilege to know that God searches the heart and deals with our consciences, and that in all things we have to do with God. Is it not a comfort for anyone who loves holiness to know that God will come and sweep the house, lest there should be anything left in it to offend His eye, and hinder us from walking in the light, as He is in the light? He shows us the evil by His Word. This is the use which the Spirit makes of the Word in His presence. And when He detects something evil, does He speak to us about it in judgment? No. He says, Here is something not in accordance with My love, something that does not satisfy My love. He sees something in us which is an interruption to His love, and because we have neglected to judge ourselves by His Word, He must deal with us in discipline. Perhaps we have been seeking rest here; then God begins to work and uproots us again, unless He sees it needful to leave us a little while to ourselves in order that, by stumbling, our consciences may be awakened. Perhaps we may find circumstances very trying and perplexing, but the moment we recognize His presence dealing with us through them, all is peace, though not rest. It is not rest to be searched and tried. Blessed be God that our rest is not here; that His holiness will not let us rest where there is sin; that His love will not let us rest where there is sorrow. There remaineth a rest for us; and oh, what holiness and joy there will be in God’s rest. There will be neither sin, nor sorrow, nor trouble in His rest, but there will be Himself there, and we shall rest in Him, and the brightness of His presence will dispel every cloud.

If you only knew, beloved, a little more of His love, if you only entered a little more into His purpose of love towards you, you would say, Let Him deal with us, let Him chasten, let Him reprove us as He will, so that we may but have full fellowship with His love. Do not be satisfied, beloved, with low enjoyments, but press forward, look right onward; for He, He Himself, is all your joy, and all your rest.

J. N. D.

FAITH never looks at difficulties, except indeed it be to feed on them. It looks not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen. It endures as seeing Him who is invisible. It takes hold of the living God. It leans on His arm; it makes use of His strength; it draws on His exhaustless treasury; it walks in the light of His glory shining forth over the darkest scenes of human life.

C. H. M.

"Christ and His Merits."

R― G― was a fine, handsome fellow over six feet in height, and in his twenty-first year. No one would have thought to see him that he was the victim of a disease which was soon to end his days. During the summer he had gone on with his work as usual, although sometimes feeling out-of-sorts, when he would remark that there was surely something wrong with him.

At the same time God was working in his soul, causing him to think it was not well with him there. He attended several evangelistic meetings in the neighborhood, and stayed behind to have a personal talk with the preacher. But something was in the way, and R—did not decide for Christ then. But God did not give him up, and He has His own ways of working.

R—grew seriously ill, and after being laid up at home for a week, it was advised that he should go to the infirmary, which he did on a Monday afternoon, being conveyed in an ambulance a distance of twenty miles, his mother and the doctor accompanying him. On arrival, it was found necessary to perform an operation at once. This was only for temporary relief, and another of a more serious nature was intended to be performed in a few days’ time. In the meantime his mother returned home, assured that there was no immediate danger and every chance of her son doing well, her intention being to come back on Saturday.

How was it with R—? Only God knew how short his time here was, and how soon he would be in eternity.

Reader, do you know how long your time may be, or how near to eternity? What is the question of greatest importance regarding your soul? Is it not “What must I do to be saved”? Does not your soul’s eternal welfare depend on the settling of that great question? Let me warn you not to put it off. If God has been speaking to your conscience, making you feel there is something wanting, get down before Him about it, be in earnest, and God will show you what you need.

But be prepared to take the low place, and God will let the light shine in and reveal to you your lost, ruined condition. It will make nothing of you, as it did of Saul of Tarsus when light from heaven shone on him and Jesus’ voice spoke to him. Where was the proud, self-sufficient Saul then? He was on his face on the ground and trembling; he was brought down to nothingness; but the light revealed Jesus to him. When the scales fell from his eyes Saul (who was afterward called Paul) had a new outlook, he had henceforth a new object to live for, another Man before him, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear reader, does it not look to you as if it would be worthwhile to be brought down to nothing to get God’s Man before you, and to find everything in Him?

But to return to R—in the hospital. You will see how the grace and goodness of God comes out in his case, but it does not mean that you can put off this solemn matter till your last moments. You miss all the joy of living for Christ in doing so. You cannot settle the matter too soon.

At R—’s request a friend called to see him on the Tuesday, and she was told he was doing as well as could be expected. His father came on Wednesday, when he was still the same. Another friend called that same afternoon, and, having an interest in his soul and hardly knowing how it stood with him, asked him did he not think that God was speaking to him since He had laid him aside in this way?

He answered, “Yes, I think that is so. He has thought far more about me than ever I have done about Him.” Only a few more words were said to him about the preciousness of knowing the Lord near in time of trouble, and of how He could make His presence and His sympathy felt. His interest was thoroughly awakened, and he asked, “When is J—coming to see me? I should like to have a talk with him about these things.”

His friend J—, having learned by this time the seriousness of his case, saw there was no time to lose, and called on his first opportunity on Thursday afternoon. R— was suffering a good deal of pain then, and finding it hard to bear. He was not able to speak much, but the all-important matter was come to at once. He seemed very eager to hear about God’s salvation, and asked that it might be made very distinct and plain. He was still clinging a good deal to his own self-righteousness.

J—had only about ten minutes with him, but, by the help of God, put before him in a simple way how Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, and that He came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Isaiah 53:6 was read to him— “All we like sheep have gone astray,” J—telling him that, no matter what sort of a life we had lived, we had all taken our own way. “But the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” that is, God has laid all our sins on Jesus.

R—replied, “I don’t understand right,” and in this state his friend J—had to leave him, anxious, but hopeful about him, seeing in him a real seeker, and knowing that God was working in his soul to produce these desires after Himself.

That evening R—was very ill, and on one of his friends calling to see him, he said, “I am going to die, I can never go on like this. Send word to my mother to come, send a wire, it will be too late to write.” It was thought now that it would be as well to do so, although it was not expected that his end would come so soon as it did. His friend stayed for some time with him. She had brought a few simple gospel books with her, and he wanted to have some read to him. He seemed to be drinking it all in like a thirsty man, and when finished said, “Read it again.” He asked had she been praying for him, and when told that she had, said, “That’s good; I have been trying to pray for myself, but am not able.” This friend left him with a parting word that Jesus had done all and left nothing for him to do but to trust Him.

At ten o’clock he was a little easier, and not suffering so much. During the night he became worse, and at three in the morning his friends in town were sent for. His friend J—and another went. J—said, “What are you resting on, R—?” He at once replied, “On Jesus Christ and His merits.” He was very low about this time, but was anxious to have something read to him. A little was read from a small leaflet, then several scriptures such as John 3:14-16. It was explained to him how Christ had to be made sin for us, and that “whosoever” included him. Then 1 Timothy 2:3-6, his attention being called to the word “all,” which left none out and included him, and also to the word “mediator.”

On asking him what he understood by a mediator, he said, “A man that comes between, and that is Christ.” Several times he said, “Oh, it’s glorious!” Other scriptures were read, but the one he said helped him most was 1 Timothy 1:15— “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” He dozed off for a little, and then on looking up he said, “Read that one again.” After being quiet for some time he was asked what he was thinking about. He said, “I was just trying to sing,

‘Just as I am without one plea.’”

J—left him about six o’clock, and a little later another friend came. She at once saw how changed his expression was; there was a satisfied, restful look on his face now. He said he had no pain, but was as weak as water. Not much was said, as R― seemed tired. Sometimes he would look to his friends and smile pleasantly, as much as to say it was all well with him. There was not much to be done but to watch now. One time, on his seeming to be roused up a little, Psalms 17:15 was read to him— “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.” It being repeated to him, he took up the words himself and said them over, seeming to enjoy them to the full. Ah! R—was very soon to be with the One it spoke of. He got more inclined for talking again, and said, “I am glad I have got that business settled anyway.”

“A mind at perfect peace with God, is that what you have?” he was asked. “Yes,” he said, “and you have that too, haven’t you? Then there’s two of us.”

He was getting very anxious to see his mother now, and before she came was beginning to wander a bit; but he knew her at once, and almost his first words were, “Mother, I am a saved man, not a sinner.” That was about all he was able to say sensibly, as he became unconscious, and soon passed away.

Now, dear reader, just one word in closing. Does not this simple narrative speak to you of the uncertainty of life and the nearness of eternal realities?

The only way to get right for eternity is by coming to Jesus now.

“Life at best is very brief,

Like the falling of a leaf,

Like the binding of a sheaf,

Be in time.”

C. T.

"I Am the Way."

“No man,” said our Lord Jesus Christ, “cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Hence He said, “I am the way.” Thank God for these four words; they place a limit on all other ways; they deny all other ways; but they indicate one way which, though absolute, is available to all.

There may be many ways to a town or city; these may converge from north, south, east, or west, and all lead to the common center, but in this case the way is but one, and, though all may journey by it, yet there is none beside.

Many blessed mansions of rest and glory are found in the Father’s house on high, and to these sweet abodes of rest sinners of every clime are made heartily welcome. Grace flings the door wide open, but the way is one, and only one; other there is not, cannot be. “I am the way,” saith He who is also “the truth and the life.” This is fixed and peremptory. “The way” allows no other.

Let us analyse these words— “I!” Who is this I?

Everything depends on the answer. He who uttered the statement spoke with authority. He referred to approaching the Father, and that is certainly the highest approach that man can make. It is not merely reaching a mansion, or coming to God in the knowledge of redemption, but it is being placed in happy relationship with that God as Father, whose house becomes the eternal home of His children.

Coming to the Father signifies full Christian blessing, and to this blessing there is but one way. “I am the way,” said the Saviour, and He said it in view of all He was about to suffer on Calvary; so that the way might be laid in righteousness by virtue of the precious blood there shed for expiation. He had right and authority thus to speak. He stood alone both personally and atoningly; Himself the eternal Son of the Father; for as we read, “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). He was divinely qualified to make the Father known, whilst He was also qualified to be Saviour, because, as we also read, “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).

Connect these two words, “Son” and “propitiation.” How striking they are! And see, back of them, the love of God, and ahead of them the “Saviour of the world!” What a glorious possibility for all who feel their need! What a doom must await the despiser! On this ground Jesus declares that He is the way.

And mark, He says not, “I was the way,” nor does He say “I will be the way,” but “I am the way”— the subsisting, unchanging way—unobstructed, open, free, and certain. “I am!” Try to grasp the meaning of that. He knows no change. Hence we read in the first chapter of Hebrews, “Thou art the same!” and in the last, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever!” To Him is attributed both creation and its dissolution, and He shall “make all things new.”

He is omnipotent! Your feeble feet may safely tread that way! By it countless myriads have safely reached the heavenly goal. They can proclaim its inerrancy. Thousands in all climes can avouch today its security, its peace, its joy, and these thousands invite you, dear reader, to enter on the way. Regret it you never will. It leads—He leads—to the Father. All other ways lead to certain doom.

“There is none other name under heaven, given amongst men, whereby we must be saved.” Mark that “none other!”

You must divest yourself of every other plea under heaven but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone, unsupplemented by aught whatever, believed in, trusted, reckoned on by simple faith, leads us to the Father. That is a trust which repudiates every particle of personal merit, but which gives bright evidence subsequently, in life and by lip, to the glory of that way which alone leads to the Father.

J. W. S.

The Voice of Wisdom.

“WISDOM is the principal thing: therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding,” said Solomon, the wisest man of Adam’s fallen race (Prov. 4:7). Most men accredit themselves with having wisdom—at least a little. But human wisdom is one thing, divine wisdom quite another. Human wisdom dies with its owner, and as any one may die at any moment there’s an end of it. Divine wisdom gives the key to the other side of death. It is a far better possession than the philosopher’s stone. Human wisdom is useful for time, but divine wisdom puts things right for eternity.

Now the voice of divine wisdom has spoken. It spake of old from the heavens above, and then spake in the world in Him who was wisdom personified, our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God. In Proverbs 8:1 we read, “Doth not Wisdom cry, and Understanding put forth her voice?” It is an unmistakable cry, a plain, clear voice that all may hear. It is the height of folly to close our ears to it. Have you listened? Have you let its sayings sink down into your ears?

This voice speaks everywhere. “She standeth,” Or the original is more forcible still, “She taketh her stand on the top of high places by the way, at the places of the paths (or the cross paths). She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors” (vers. 2:3). That is, the voice of Wisdom speaks publicly to all, in every part of the city, and at the entrance gates, so that all are without excuse. This thing is not done in a corner. On the marketplace, at the cross paths, at the gates, and at the doors Wisdom speaks so that all may hear. “Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom, and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.” The voice calls to all sorts and conditions of men. It is a voice of authority, and all, from the prince to the peasant, are responsible to listen. It is the voice of the Lord, the voice of Him who called us into being, and to whom each must render an account of the deeds done in the body. In the natural fallen state we are all simple and fools (or foolish). We are away from God, and in our simplicity and folly we love our own wills and ways, which are wholly contrary to His. We can only get true wisdom (or prudence) and sense by hearing His voice.

“Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things” (vs. 6). In this verse we get a reference to that which the voice communicates. It speaks of excellent and right things, the things of Christ. Man’s world is full of things evil and wrong. A babel of voices communicate continually a thousand and one things that are anything but excellent and right. Of Wisdom it is further said, “For my mouth shall speak truth: and wickedness is an abomination to my lips” (vs. 7). But error has the upper hand, and wickedness abounds, and the love of many has long begun to wax cold (Matt. 24:12). How deeply important, then, now to give ear to the excellent things flowing from the lips of Wisdom. All these things circle around and center in Christ; He is the truth; and all who receive Him depart from wickedness.

Excellent things innumerable flowed from the voice of Wisdom of old, from Christ when on earth, and from Him by the Spirit when returned to glory. What can be more excellent than the glad tidings of the grace and love of God to man in his guilty and lost estate! They exactly suit the case, and meet the need of every one. There is nothing that our souls require that is not to be found in Him. Do you want the pardon of your sins? “Through this Man is preached unto you forgiveness.” Do you long to be just in God’s sight? “God is just and the Justifier of him which believeth in him.” Do you crave for peace? “Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Do you cry out for salvation? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Do you seek reconciliation? The words of the apostle reply, “Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath 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). And we might go on multiplying the excellent and right things which abound in the blessed Scriptures of truth.

Listen, then, to Wisdom’s voice whilst ‘tis still the day of salvation; understand prudence and sense. It may be the last opportunity you have. Life is but a very short span at most; thousands are daily being snatched away by the unsparing hand of death. Its sentence is on you, as upon all, and you never know from moment to moment when it may be executed. But the sting of death is sin. And as we have just seen, Christ has been made sin, and the sting is gone for the feeblest believer in Him. Happy, indeed, is that soul that can meet death with a smile, knowing it has been conquered by Christ, and that for him it is but the love of God, taking him home, a passport to everlasting bliss in the presence of our Lord.

“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness: there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge” (vers. 8:9), continues the voice of Wisdom. Words that are in righteousness are to be thoroughly depended on. Men’s thoughts and ways are often tortuous, wily, and twisty, which is the force of the word “froward” in the original. But there is nothing twisty or perverse in the precious righteous words of Wisdom; they are all plain, or “right on,” which is the actual force of it, to him that receives understanding from God and straight as a line to them that have the know ledge of Him, How precious for any one that has had any experience of the twisty character of the imaginings of his own heart, or of the words and ways of the men of this world, who have no fear of God, to be guided by reliable words which show him the way of God, which is right on in a straight path to glory, God’s narrow way, the blessed way of Christ!

“Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than rubies (or pearls); and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions” (or which come of reflection) (vers. 10-12). Alas! how many there are who pay no heed to Wisdom’s teaching. How few there are who take time to reflect seriously! And how many are set for the wealth of this world, pursuing the amassing of silver and gold in forgetfulness of God, and losing sight of the unsearchable riches of Christ. We brought nothing into the world, and it is certain that we can take nothing out. Silver and gold, rubies and pearls are valuable in their place. We all need means to live. They are given for our use, but not for our abuse. But the moment they get a place in the heart, the excellent things that Wisdom speaketh begin to be shut out; and it is manifest on all hands, that they have so taken possession of the hearts of thousands that there is no room for Christ. And yet not only the things that a man may possess, but all the things (mark all) that may be desired, are not to be compared to wisdom. What a priceless gift God offers us! Strange that man should be so utterly foolish as to despise or neglect it!

Moreover, not only is wisdom better than wealth, and all that our hearts can desire, but “riches and honor are with me: yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance: and I will fill their treasuries” (vers. 18-21). Wisdom not only delivers from the idolatry of the heart in the love of wealth, but introduces us to an inexhaustible mine of spiritual wealth. We receive the true riches and the knowledge of God in Christ. We inherit durable riches and righteousness, riches that we can take with us into the world to come. Earthly wealth must all be left behind, but heavenly wealth will endure for eternity. You might possess the richest mine of the choicest silver, but you are a poor man indeed in comparison with the weakest true believer on the Son of God. “My revenue is better than choice silver,” says Wisdom. That is a greater revenue than the revenue of the British Empire. It is truly a record one; and the possessor is led in the way of righteousness, and this is God’s way. It terminates in the light of His holy and blessed presence for evermore, whereas the way of even the greatest possessor of the mammon of unrighteousness, apart from Christ, who is true wisdom, leads to the domain of endless disappointment, misery, and despair (Matt. 22:13).

The Lord will cause them that love Him (do you?) to inherit substance. The natural heart grasps at shadows. In this poor world, the valley of the shadow of death, there is nothing else; it is all fleeting, and rapidly passing away. The world is an empty bubble, man’s life but as a vapor. Listen to the voice of Wisdom. Hear Him who speaks with power and authority. Listen to His blessed words of grace and truth, and the love that you will discover in Him—love that was faithful unto death, that you might escape the judgment of God and be saved by faith in His blessed name—will beget love in your heart in return: and He will cause you to inherit substance, and He will fill your treasuries with His own untraceable riches evermore.

“Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death” (vers. 32-36).

Now therefore hearken unto me. God’s time to be wise is now. The Lord may return at any moment, or death may overtake you at any moment; hence there is no tomorrow in the gospel of God. Hearken then now, that you may keep His ways and get among the ranks of those whom He calls blessed Hear instruction! Be wise! Refuse it not! How gracious are Wisdom’s pleadings! Whom could you blame but yourself for the folly of your unbelief, if you remain indifferent to the Lord’s appeals. See how rich the range of blessing is for every one that believeth on Him. You are pronounced blessed, you are privileged to watch daily at His gates, and to wait at the posts of His doors. You find life and obtain favor. You find yourself, in short, among true Christians, among those of whom the risen and victorious Saviour said, “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Life too is yours, eternal life, God’s precious free gift in His Son.

“But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul” (vs. 36). The force of this in the Hebrew is, He that misseth Me. Yes, if you miss Wisdom, you wrong your precious, never-dying soul eternally. If you miss Christ, you had better never have been born. If you miss Christ you miss everything worth having, for He is all. If you miss Christ, the blessed Saviour whom God presents to you once more in His long-suffering grace in this little paper, you miss His everlasting, full, and free salvation, and you will reap the fruit of your unutterable folly in eternal woe.

Our chapter closes with the solemn words, “All they that hate me love death.” If the one who misses Christ must die in his sins and perish eternally, how much more all they that hate Him! How can Christ-haters be saved? How indeed? All such love death. Mark the solemn contrast. Hatred of Christ is the love of death. It is the love of being separated from God. It is the love of darkness rather than light. It is the love of the fallen state, and the love of sin. All such must receive the wages that are their due. “The wages of sin is death,” and after death comes the judgment of the sinner who loves it, and the eternal consequence is the second death, the lake of fire. There is not the remotest possibility of escape. Hear then once more, we appeal to you, the voice of Wisdom! Unto you, O men, I call. Hear! hear instruction! Be wise! Refuse it not! Christ is the true wisdom of God, and this day from the highest glory He speaks to you. He is the living One who has the keys of Hades and death, and He says to you, “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” But “verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

“Happy,” again saith the scripture, “is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.... Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her” (Prov. 3:13-18).

“Not to condemn the world”

The “Man of Sorrows” came;

But that the world might have

Salvation through His name:

For “whosoever will believe

Shall everlasting life receive!”

E. H. C.

Three Months After Death.

A MAN lay dying in a hospital. He said to the nurse that attended him, “Do you know what I have been thinking about? I have been wondering what a fellow will be doing three months after he is dead.”

The remark was an unusual one. But is it not strange that men do not more seriously ponder what comes after death?

The Word of God alone can enlighten us as to the condition of departed spirits, while awaiting resurrection.

If we turn for information to its pages we read of a penitent thief that died whose spirit was, on the same day, in virtue of the blood of Christ, received into Paradise. But it tells also of a godless, rich man that died, and was buried, and in Hades lifted up his eyes, being in torment.

It is therefore evident that there are two classes of the dead. There are those that have fallen asleep in Christ, who, absent from the body, are present with the Lord. There are those that have died in their sins and have entered an eternity of woe.

It is appointed unto men once to die, and, in view of this undisputed fact, the strangely couched question of the dying man, “What will a fellow be doing three months after he is dead?” is of vast importance, and we would commend it to the earnest attention of every reader. C. H.

Samson's Riddle.

(Read Judges 14:1-18; John 6:27-51.)

YOU have a picture in the Old Testament, and the answer to it in the New. Samson’s riddle is very instructive, and I do not think there is much difficulty in finding out its meaning. The Philistines had to wait seven days before they discovered its meaning; you ought not to wait seven minutes.

You may reply, I never understood Samson’s riddle. Why not, are you not saved yet? I could not say that. If you had understood the riddle, you would have found out that there was meat and would have eaten it, and that there was sweetness and would have tasted it, for, now as then, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness” (vs. 14).

The story is very simple. Samson was on his way to find his bride, and is a figure of Christ when He was seeking His bride. On his way, what meets him? Death. The Lord Jesus came down into this world to bring life to the dead, and to bring eternal life, as the gift of God, to man. What met Him on the road? The lion crossed His path; death faced Him. Samson only risked his life; Jesus gave up His life. Do you believe it? You say, Of course, I have always believed it. Are you saved? Not yet. Then you do not believe it, except with your head.

All the difficulties that crop up in men’s minds as to sin, death, judgment, redemption, and salvation, are answered in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Samson typifies. Samson goes down to seek his bride, the lion breaks out upon him, and “he rent him, as he would have rent a kid.” What was meant for death for Samson became death for the lion. After a little while Samson, returning to take his bride, “turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion” (vs. 8). He ate and was refreshed, and gave to his father and mother. The fruit of his victory was not for himself alone, it was for others also.

Why did the Lord Jesus Christ come into this world? For others. Who are the others? You say, I believe Christ died for sinners. Can you say Christ died for me? Someone might have said to Samson’s father and mother, “You seem to enjoy that honey; how did you get it?” Samson gave it to us. If you have the knowledge of Christ, and what He has done, you will eat the meat, and understand the riddle— “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.”

When the Philistines understood it they said, “What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?” (vs. 18). I will tell you something stronger than a lion—death. You do not like death. My greatest friend is death. What have I got out of death? Life, eternal life, everlasting joy, divine righteousness, and peace with God.

How did I get these blessings? Christ gave then to me. Just as Samson slew the lion, took out the honey, ate, and was refreshed by it, so Scripture says, “Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). The Lord has joy in what He has accomplished. He wrought in death for God’s glory and man’s blessing, and both are secured.

What is stronger than a lion? Death. What is sweeter than honey? The love of Christ. Do you know that love? If not, I want you to look at this riddle for a little. There is no difficulty. You say a riddle is a puzzling thing. Not always; Samson’s conveys a wonderful truth, presented in a way that makes you think—if only you could be got to think. The reason you have never got into the light of the gospel yet is because Satan has blinded your eyes as to the simplicity of the gospel. He has hindered you from seeing that “out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.”

Do you know a greater eater than death? Have you not seen it stealthily creeping and putting its cold, clammy hand on the one you love best? Sometimes it comes suddenly and swiftly, without a moment’s warning. You may say, Did not you say just now that death was your friend? Yes, indeed, my friend. But you have not died. No, and I do not know that I shall; I know I need not. I do not say that I shall not. Why? Does not the sentence of death lie upon man? Yes, but I know a Man upon whom the sentence of death did not lie, in whom there was no seed of death, on whom death had no claim, and that death could not put his finger on as a matter of necessity; His name is Jesus, and He died for me. And not for you? Ponder this query. That eater—death—may take you away today, and if it took you away, without the knowledge of Christ, what an awful eternity will be yours. Think of it.

But listen again to Samson: — “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” I have been feeding for more than five and forty years on the meat that came forth out of the eater, i.e., the wonderful provision God has made for my soul in all the consequences of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know well if death touched you this night—since you are a sinner, and “the wages of sin is death”— that after death comes the judgment. Yes, you say, but God is merciful. Not to sinners that die in their sins. Is there no mercy for such? None, that I read of in Scripture.

But is not God love? Yes, His name is love, and His actions have been like Himself; He has demonstrated His love in the gift of His Son, who has gone into death to annul it by putting away sin and then rising out of it, and all for you and me if we believe in Him. This great eater—death—could claim you and me, but it could not claim Christ, for He was sinless. He died, but it could not claim Him or hold Him. He said, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). He was the Holy One of God.

You know what kind of a Man He was, a real Man, just like you or me, sin excepted; and the One that came down to give life to the world. He knew no sin, did no sin, and there was no sin in Him. As He passed along His pathway here, those sent to take Him had to say, “Never man spake like this man”; and when taken before Pilate, he thrice said, “I find no fault in him.” Pilate was right. Why then did he not trust Him, why did he not stand by Him, identify himself with Him, and espouse His cause? He feared the world. Coward that he was, he might, to save appearances, wash his hands in water, but his soul is imbrued in the blood of the murdered Son of God.

Do not spend eternity with Pilate in hell. “I find no fault in him,” he said, and then took his pen and wrote, “Let him die.” He got his opportunity of siding with Jesus, and you have got yours. Pilate knew Him to be a sinless Man, but condemned Him, and the Roman soldiers took Him away and crucified Him. At that moment a poor dying sinner, in the very jaws of death, and about to pass into eternity, had his eyes opened to see the glory of Jesus, and he turns to his neighbor and says, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” (Luke 23:40). We are dying, and deserve to; we are getting the fate we have earned, the punishment that is due to us, but here is a Man who is not getting what He ought to get; “This man hath done nothing amiss.”

He reversed the judgment of the world at that moment. “Let him die,” said the scribes, the people, and Pilate. The poor dying thief said, You are all wrong, He hath done nothing amiss, and He ought not to die; but if He die He is going to rise again, and get His kingdom yet, and I should like to be a subject in His kingdom. That is the meaning of his petition— “Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). That man took his stand for Christ, why do not you? Truly, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” as Jesus saved that dear man that day. That poor dying sinner tasted the sweetness as he heard Him say, “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Was not that meat for his hungry soul?

Jesus came here to die, and He died in voluntary grace for man, but we must not forget that in hatred man murdered Him. The world today is stained with the blood of the Son of God, whom it murdered, and if you are of the world you will have its judgment. Today there is a breach between God and the world because of the rejection of His Son. The man that takes Christ’s side now gets all the consequences and benefits of His atoning death; but the man on the world’s side must take the world’s woe and the world’s judgment in the day when the Lord comes back; and He is coming quickly.

“Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” to that dying thief, as he heard Jesus say, “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” Well might that pardoned sinner say, I have heard the sweetest words that ever fell on mortal ear, today I shall be with Him in Paradise.

Friend, you must eat that meat or starve forever in hell. You must taste that sweetness or languish for eternity in the lake of fire. I can press it on you, but I cannot make you take it, but you will repent through eternity if you do not understand this riddle.

Again would I ask, What is sweeter than honey? The love of Christ, and in a certain sense there is something stronger than death, and that is love, the love of that blessed Saviour, which led Him voluntarily to go into death that He might take me out of it.

W. T. P. W.

(To be continued.)

A Peat Seller's Conversion.

A SHORT time since as I was returning to my lodgings about mid-day, I passed by a number of working men. It was the dinner hour, and they were resting a little after dinner before resuming their afternoon work. I had a few suitable gospel tracts with me, and felt much constrained to give them one each to read in the quiet moment they were having.

They all received them very willingly, and in giving to the last one, I made the remark that the little tracts were all about ONE who had been my greatest Friend, and had done for me what none other could ever do, at the same time pointing my forefinger to heaven. The receiver’s face lit up, and he said, “And He has been that Friend to me too.” “Praise the Lord!” I rejoined, “now we can rejoice together as brothers in the Lord, children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; members of the family and household of God, born again, born of water and of the Spirit, born of God. What a blessed relationship!”

He then sought to encourage me in what I was doing by telling me how God had deigned to use him just recently in the manifest conversion of a fellow-sinner, and how wonderfully God had used just His own very Word to bring it about.

He said he was delivering something into a lady’s house in Clifton, and on coming away, the lady was settling with a man for a light cartload of peat. There was a little dispute, which ended in the man using very bad language. My informant waited a little, and felt very constrained to speak a word to the man about the awfulness of his language, of the day of judgment, and the wrath of God to come; quoting, at the same time, the scripture— “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36).

The peat-seller replied that he believed in nothing at all of that sort of thing—neither a hereafter, nor a judgment—but that at death there was an end of us, like all the other animals.

My informant only quoted one more scripture, “Then shall the dust, return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7), and left him.

A short time after, the peat-seller saw and overtook him, pulled up his horse and cart, and said, “Oh! I am so glad to see you, I have been longing to do so. I have such good news to tell you. God has used you and those two portions of His Word, He gave you to speak to me, to be the means of my conversion to Him. They went right home to my very soul and wakened me up to see what a vile sinner I had been. I can’t tell you the agony of soul I passed through, the remainder of the week, and on the next Lord’s Day I went to the little chapel in the village where I live, which I had never gone to before, and there, that very day, I sought and came to the Saviour, and had the assurance of His salvation, through His bearing and suffering Himself for all my guilt upon the cross.”

What a blessing the writer had in thus giving round those few gospel tracts. What a blessed work God is still doing in this sinful world. He is still calling out of it a people for His name, whom it pleases Him to make His people. He gives them first to know themselves, their ruin and their sin, and then to know Him and His dear Son whom He has sent, which is eternal life (John 17:3). He blots out their sins, and gives them the Holy Spirit, and thus seals them to be His forever.

Dear reader, do you know the Lord? Oh, seek Him while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.

W. F.

"Who is Your Master?"

WHO is your master? “My master! I do not own any man as master.” Perhaps not, but for all that you have a Master, every man has one. There are two beings more powerful than yourself. One is Satan, the other is God. You are controlled by one or other. Not that Satan’s power is equal to God’s. He, like yourself, is a being who owes his existence to God. He fell from his first estate, is doomed to endless misery, and his great business now is to drag you, and others, down to share his condemnation.

He gets the mastery over people in very subtle ways. He is a wily serpent. If you are fond of money he will lure you on to grasp it by any means in your power. If you are fond of self-gratification he will pander to your lusts. He does not present himself openly to you and say, “I am Satan,” he gilds the pill and conceals the poison. But of one thing you may be certain, he will not alleviate your misery when you come to die. He has no comfort for you in sickness, no consolation in a dying hour. You may serve him well in health and strength, and he will torment you in sickness and need.

Come with me to a cottage in the village of—. A servant of Christ is there, trying to speak of the Saviour to a poor wretched woman. “Don’t talk to me of pardon,” she fiercely interrupted. “What is His blood to me? Do you think I sinned without warning, and despised and disobeyed and hated God without knowing what would be the end of it all? No, no, I knew it well; I hardened my heart until now it’s like this stone I am sitting on. Do you think ‘twill soften after all these years, or that Satan will lose his grip until he has got me into hell? Look here, ‘tis begun already; I tell you there is a burning and a gnawing and a torment here that never cease. Did I not strive against the Spirit of God, and listen to the foul things Satan led me on to do? Do you think I had no father or mother or minister to instruct me that ‘whilst we were yet sinners Christ died for us’? Do you think the devil is such a fool as to be cheated of his prey now?”

Thus she raved on and would listen to no word of mercy. Not long afterward a messenger came running breathless up to Mr. H— ‘s home. “Oh, sir, L—is dying, such a dreadful scene. She says her master the devil has come to carry her to hell, and that her hour has come. She cries out she cannot die and she will not die. Oh, the agony and despair written on her face! She says she could never endure to burn forever and ever. Susan, the sick-nurse who has attended all the death-beds in the village these thirty years, says she can stand it no longer. Do, sir, come down and see what can be done.” Mr. H― went. In vain he spoke of pardon for crimes of the deepest dye, of the mercy of God for the vilest sinner. In a frenzy of agony as she thought of the past, and dread and despair for the future, her soul passed into eternity.

Reader, this is no fiction, the facts are on reliable authority. If you die in your sins your eternity will be spent with that woman and her master.

But now let me tell you of another Master. His name is Jesus—God over all, blessed forever. He is my Master. I long that He may be yours. He never leaves or forsakes those who confess Him as their Lord. He saves them to start with, keeps and cares for them until the end, and then conducts them through the portal of glory to a home of life, light, rest, joy and peace. In circumstances of deepest want He can so fill hearts with His love that they rise superior to all their surroundings.

Come with me to a hovel in the village of H―. We will push aside the sack hanging at the door. Inside is an old woman sitting on the only seat—a rude stump of wood, her long bony fingers stretched over a few embers in a grate made of rough stones and a piece of iron grating. She is deaf, and it was only when J. A. S.— lifted up his voice and said, “Mother, I am a child of God and have come to talk to you about good things,” that she discovered she had a visitor. She started to her feet, raised her tall bent form to its full height, and said: “May the Lord bless you, I want to know more about these things. I am always thinking of them when I am here all alone; now speak to me.”

Sitting down he opened his Bible and read, “Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” She rose again from her seat, pointed to the humble cot with its few contents and said, with deep emotion, while joy kindled her eye and lighted her withered checks, “Why, I have got more than He had, I have got all this and HIM TOO.”

Yes, her Master was with her, she had Him too. In her old age, weakness, and poverty He remained faithful. He loved and cared for her as much when she could not actively serve Him as in the days of health and strength.

He is such a blessed Master, I would fain plead with you to enter His service. He will welcome you even if your health has been ruined, and your life spent in the devil’s service. If you open your Bible and read the thirtieth chapter of first Samuel, you will read of a man whose master had left him, left him to die when he could serve him no longer. Now we are told four things which happened to that man. The first, he was found in a perishing condition and brought to David. Now that is just what we want to do with you. We would be like David’s servants, and set you before our Master. He is looking for such as you. You are ready to perish. He is ready to save—even you. They “found” him.

This gospel magazine is one way in which my Master finds His servants. We would fain find you, and bring you to Him now. There is nothing but blessing in His heart for you. The next thing we read is, they “gave” him bread, and he did eat; and they “made” him drink water. My Master is both the Bread of Life and the Water of Life. He waits to bestow both on you. Eating this Bread you shall never perish, drinking this Water you shall never thirst. It is for whosoever will, free for all, you among them. Most masters want a good character when they engage a servant, also strength and ability for work. My Master welcomes those who have bad characters, or no character at all. He takes those who are without strength.

“The chief of sinners He receives,

His saints He loves and never leaves.”

Whether young or old, rich or poor, in my Master’s name I claim you for Him. He created you, and purchased you at the cost of His life-blood. I challenge you. Will you dare to refuse the claims of Jesus who bought you at such infinite cost? May you say, “I yield, I yield.”

David’s servants made the perishing man drink water. We cannot make you, but there is One who can. The Holy Ghost can bow the stoutest heart.

Every one of us who have bowed to Jesus and owned Him as our Lord can say―

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,

To enter whilst there’s room,

While thousands make the wretched choice,

And rather starve than come?”

How gladly we respond―

“‘Twas the same love that spread the feast

Which sweetly forced me in;

Else I had still refused to taste,

And perished in my sin.”

That same love seeks you, would win you, draw you, compel you, even you.

H. N.

Satan's Two Great Lies.

TO one who has felt his need—who has groaned beneath the weight of sin—the tidings of a great salvation is a pleasant sound; to his troubled and anxious heart it comes like balm of Gilead to soothe and heal. For it is worthy to be called a great salvation, because there is no sinner whose need it is not able to meet.

Satan has two great lies which he uses—oftentimes, alas, with conspicuous success—to destroy the souls of men. First, he persuades them that they do not need salvation; that they are so good, their character so upright, their morality of such a high tone, and their religious profession of such a dree that they have no need to come as lost and guilty rebels to God to receive mercy like common sinners. But by the grace of God, in spite of this satanic lie, sinners do become anxious and alarmed. God speaks to their consciences by His word and Spirit, and they become exercised about their state before Him. Then Satan has another lie ready for them, exactly opposite to the former one. He turns round and says, “Consider what sins you have committed. Remember how you have treated God. How you have scoffed at His mercy and refused His love, and gone on taking pleasure in your sins in spite of all his warnings and entreaties. How can you expect to be saved? There may be mercy for others, but not for you.”

Thus he seeks to plunge the trembling sinner into despair. But how the “Great Salvation” confronts and confounds him. There is no sinner with crimes of so deep a dye, with guilt so aggravated, with need so great, that he is beyond the reach of this great salvation. Yea, the greater sinner, the more is God’s grace magnified in saving him. Let not your heart be discouraged, then, if you have felt your guiltiness before a holy God, and have even, perhaps, been caused to doubt whether His salvation could extend to one so vile as you. A Magdalene, a dying thief, a brutal Philippian jailer, and the arch-persecutor of the saints, Saul of Tarsus—chief of sinners—bear eloquent witness to the greatness of God’s salvation. If sin abounds, grace much more abounds, and those who have been brought up from the lowest depths of sin and shame will be the most bright and shining monuments of the exceeding riches of God’s abounding grace. C. A. C.

Fragment.

THE Lord that I have known as laying down His life for me, is the same Lord I have to do with every day of my life, and all His dealings with me are on the same principles of grace. The great secret of growth is the looking up to the Lord as gracious. How precious, how strengthening it is to know that Jesus is at this moment feeling and exercising the same love towards me as when He died on the cross for me.

J. N. D.

"I'm Not Fit to Die."

“I’M dying, I’m dying; I’m not fit to die!” exclaimed a young man, who was fatally injured in a railway accident in the north of Ireland. He was not irreligious. He was a Sunday-school scholar. He attended his place of worship. But, like hosts of others, he had not been so concerned as he ought to have been about the vast future that lay before him.

As a rule, death comes unexpectedly and also uninvited to most people. He is never a welcome guest at any board. He enters the hovel and the palace, the dwelling of the poorest artisan and the most stately mansion. He prides himself on the strength of the castle he can take and the iron frame he can shake.

No gates of brass or iron bars exist that his strong hand cannot snap asunder. No one can say to him, “Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther.” All ages, all sites, all classes, all conditions come under the grasp of his powerful but ever unwelcome hand.

Reader, what if YOUR turn came next?

When the excursion train left with its living freight of passengers that beautiful Saturday morning, when so many came to their fatal end, little did that young man think he would be amongst those who would be called to render account to God that day.

READER, ARE You READY? CONSIDER!

Another young fellow went off to sea against his godly mother’s wishes. It was a trial to her heart. On parting with him site presented him with a pocket Bible, which he promised to read every day. This was forgotten for a time. Ungodliness reigned to an awful extent on the vessel in which he made his first voyage. He had not the courage to be seen reading God’s Holy Word amongst his mates.

When he went away he was “without Christ.” After being from home for a time a terrible gale began, which ended in a hurricane. The vessel was almost lost, after doing battle with the fury of the winds and the foaming waves for some days.

When the captain despaired of saving his ship he gave orders for all hands to prepare for the worst. On this reaching the ears of the youth, in an instant all his past came up before him in the light of the future judgment, where nothing could escape inspection.

The fear of a twofold death terrified him—death temporal and death eternal. He quickly went to his bunk and got out his long-neglected Bible. The sweat broke over his body and stood upon his forehead like beads.

He clasped the Bible to his heart, and turned his eyes to heaven for mercy. “God have mercy on me a sinner, for Christ’s sake,” was all he could say. He felt himself like Peter when he was sinking in the water, and cried, “LORD, SAVE ME!”

In the name of Christ he pleaded for the forgiveness of his past. Did God refuse his prayer? As a needy sinner he had a claim on God’s mercy in Christ. “This man receiveth SINNERS.” As a rebellious sinner God might have allowed him to perish forever.

“To him gave all the prophets witness, that through his name WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL RECEIVE THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS” (Acts 10:43.) This was enough. His prayer of heartfelt need was answered. The peace of forgiveness was his. Happy man!

Being saved with a double salvation he never went back to sea, but lived to tell the sweet story of redeeming love. FORGIVENESS and SALVATION were sweet words to him under such circumstances.

To go to the bottom of the sea is bad enough to contemplate. To go down to the lake of fire is much worse. Lost, lost forever. How dreadful the thought! especially for one who had been the subject of so many prayers and favorable opportunities. God save You from such an end, my reader. Regret and remorse will be terrible to those who miss being saved, What a state of despair is depicted by the forceful language, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” NOT SAVED! Only think of what these words will mean in eternity.

Perhaps you are the child of some saintly mother or praying father. Perhaps a dying sister, whose sweet and pious life often spoke to your conscience, asked you, as a dying request, to meet her in heaven. Yet you are still unprepared. It may be, as she held you by the hand, the tears rolled down your cheeks as you vowed you would turn to Christ and serve Him.

Has that all been forgotten? If you were called away suddenly to meet God would that saintly mother’s life, or that godly father’s prayers, or that sister’s dying request rise up against you at the bar of God?

Come now and face the question.

“A father’s prayers, a mother’s tears,

A sister’s last request;

Are these forgot, and darest thou

Make piety thy jest?

A hell to shun, a heaven to gain,

A Saviour’s love to know;

NEGLECT, and thou hast lived in vain,

Though lord of all below.”

Death is truly the terrifier of the human race. Judgment following death makes it so. A poet has spoken of death thus: “The grisly conqueror of vanquished life.” Also, “The ghastly victor claims his passive prey.” Thus speaks man. Now listen to Scripture, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27. 28)

THIS IS GOD’S GREAT PROVISION

in view of both death and judgment. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.”

How great the grace! How perfect the sacrifice! How ample the provision!

Man brought death and judgment on himself by his disobedience to God. He rebelled against Him when He ought to have been held in the highest reverence and esteem. Righteous retribution could only follow such willfulness as man’s was, and still is. “God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Yet, wonder of wonders, Jesus the Creator and Sovereign Lord of the universe leaves the height of His eternal glory, and becomes a man to die: “HE BARE THE SINS OF MANY.” Did He die for me? Did He die for thee? “HE SUFFERED FOR SINS once, the just for the unjust.” The just took the place of the unjust. I am the unjust, so He died for me. Having done so I am free. My eternal discharge is written in His blood.

In myself I have no merit. I feel I am all sin. Shame covers my face in the presence of Divine holiness as I think of my past. My best works I cannot place reliance upon. No peace of mind ever flows from the contemplation of the best things I ever did in relation to God. What I have done that is wrong outweighs all that I ever did right. “All our righteousness are as filthy rags.”

MEET GOD I MUST.

Meet Him in my sins I cannot, without eternal condemnation as a responsible creature. I can only fall back on grace, pure; free, unlimited grace, shown in Christ bearing the sins of MANY.

I AM ONE OF THE MANY. ARE NOT YOU?

“I want no other argument,

I need no other plea,

It is enough that Jesus died,

And that He died for me.”

Had you a pair of wings by which to mount aloft, scale the heights of heaven, and go to Abel the first martyr and sinner saved by grace, and ask how he reached the golden shore, what would be his answer?

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.” He came in FAITH. In the power of faith he brought the offering that pleased God. In the power of faith he was justified. He was accepted in all the excellence of his accepted offering.

The blood of Abel’s firstling lamb was poured out, typical of the life of Christ given up to God in atonement for us, of that precious blood of God’s Son, which cleanseth us from all sin. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Woe be to the man who dare despise what God calls PRECIOUS―THE BLOOD.

In all the excellence of that typical offering Abel was accepted. So in all the excellence of Christ the weakest believer is accepted. Abel owned that death, as God’s holy judgment of sin, was upon him. He said in simple faith, “I must die or another must be found to die for me.”

His faith looked forward, pierced the gloom of four thousand years, and gladly saw Calvary’s bleeding victim. It was no uncertainty with him. It was not a hope but a surety. What word from God had he to rest upon? The seed of the woman (which was Christ in promise) should bruise the serpent’s head. God’s unerring word was the stay of Abel’s faith and the support of his life in the darkness of that day. So God’s Word is the strength of the believer’s faith now.

Christ was born of a woman, though the Son of God eternally, that He might redeem them who were ender the law. “He was made a curse FOR us.”

Fathomless mystery!

By His death and blood-shedding He made my peace. “Having MADE PEACE BY THE BLOOD of his cross,” Scripture says, my sins are forever canceled. On the score of guilt no charge can be laid to me by a righteous God. Justice is satisfied. Jesus is risen. He lives triumphant on the Father’s throne.

A MAN REIGNS IN HEAVEN NOW.

That place of supreme power and distinction was ever His by right, as the eternal Son. It is given Ulm now by God because, by becoming man, He glorified God about sin in death, and made eternal peace for those who believe in Him. In heaven “He is our peace”— God rests in Him with perfect delight. That “precious blood” has reached up to the throne of God. Jesus is crowned in heaven with highest honor. On earth also the crown shall be put on His brow yet. The kingdoms of this world shall yet become His. All shall be subjected to Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. A new heaven and a new earth will yet be brought in on the ground of His glorious finished work. God shall be all in all then. No more sorrow. No tears then. Gladness shall fill the breasts of all.

Sinner, look at that dying Saviour! Behold Him agonizing on that shameful cross for thee! For thee those heavens were darkened, and that sun was hidden! See thy deep-dyed scarlet silts nailing Him to that accursed tree! Behold that blessed face once marred more than any man’s! See that noble brow crowned with cruel thorns! Hear that bitter, bitter cry of transpiercing soul-agony— “My God, my God, WHY HAST THOU forsaken me?”

WAS ALL THAT FOR THEE? ANSWER!

See that cross now vacant! Behold His tomb now emptied! Look at that blessed Man alive in heaven, where the angels prostrate their crowns bore Him I Where are thy sins now? If He bore them, and all the judgment due to them, where are they? Answer! Look up to heaven again. Fix your eyes on that face once marred more than any man’s, now radiant in the glory of God.

God is satisfied. God is magnified. God rests forever in His beloved One. Cannot your mind and heart rest where God rests? God is not resting in you nor does He want you to rest in yourself. God is satisfied with Jesus. This all heaven proclaims. Can you not now say, “I am satisfied as well.” If so,

PEACE WITH GOD IS NOW YOURS.

Yes, we repeat, “Peace with God” is now yours if you can truly say “I am satisfied as well.” The foundation of it all is the finished work of Christ. The assurance of it flows from the knowledge of God’s perfect satisfaction with that work, and the One who did it, “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was RAISED AGAIN FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION.” God’s written Word makes me sure.

Christ’s resurrection is the abiding proof of God’s satisfaction, as it also proclaims that I am perfectly and eternally justified. God has in love to me done all this Himself to display what was in His heart towards me. He is my justifier. If so, why fear? If so, who can condemn. None!

IN HEAVEN JESUS NOW INTERCEDES

for those who are justified. He is our great High Priest, through whom we draw near to worship God. As our Priest He enters into our trials and sorrows and comforts us. He was in all points tempted (tried) like as we are, sin apart. If we only unburden our hearts to Him He draws near to us and relieves us of the pressure. Thus we learn His love in the circumstances of our wilderness pathway, where the thorns are many and the flowers are few.

He is our Advocate with the Father. If we fall into sin He takes up our cause in heaven, in the face of our accuser—the devil—as the righteous One—One against whom Satan can bring no charge. Instead of being cut off by death when we sin, mercy is shown us, and we are spared and restored. He said to Peter, “I have prayed for THEE that thy FAITH fail not.” Though Peter failed shamefully yet his faith was sustained, or else, like Judas, he might have committed suicide.

What a Saviour Jesus is!

Tried, perplexed, doubting one, cast all your doubts to the winds! Even should you have got low and allowed Satan, in a moment of weakness, to overcome you, do not allow him to keep your conscience under your sin, however sad it may be in your own eyes or that of others.

Your failure, however bad and however sad, does not alter His love to you. It is infinite in its source, eternal in its duration, and unchanging in its character. Read 1 Sam. 12:16-24, where is found the best type of Christ’s advocacy I know in all Scripture.

“‘Tis the eye that looked on Peter,

‘Tis the face that Stephen saw,

‘Tis the heart that wept with Mary,

Can alone from idols draw.”

Almost.

“YOUR maid confessed Christ just now,” said a well-known preacher to me one morning. He had marked her interest as night after night she had attended his meetings, and had sought an opportunity for a personal word. I knew of other influences struggling for the mastery with her, and rejoiced with trembling. It was as I feared; the mission came to an end, he went away, and, alas! her impressions vanished, the world pulled hard, especially the companionship of a sister about her own age. In vain we tried to win her, and pleaded with her to let Christ be first: she was almost persuaded, but—. Who shall say what her future may be? Even if she should be saved after all, think of the years she has lost, taken out of eternity, when she might have been sowing the seed that would have produced a golden harvest.

“Will you speak to A—? She has had a dream, and is anxious about her soul.” Soon the opportunity came. She had dreamed of the day of judgment, that she had been there, and unsaved. She wept as I pointed her to Jesus; we prayed, and I hoped she would decide. She seemed so near, almost persuaded, but—. In her case a lover stood in the way. He did not want her to be a Christian. What shall the end be? I know not. When I last heard of her she was more careless than ever. Oh, how dangerous a thing it is to be deaf to warning! How dangerous to stifle soul anxiety!

“Have you ever thought of giving yourself to Christ?” I asked a young man, and he told me he had thought much of it, especially since he had been at a special service some weeks previously. Once again I sought to tell out in his ear the simple yet lovely story of Jesus and His love, and besought him earnestly to yield himself to the Lord who had done so much for him. I need not recount all our conversation. In the end he said, “I have not heard it like this before, I must think it over.” He, too, seemed so near, almost persuaded, but—. Years are passing away, I cannot tell if he will ever yield. God grant he may!

Is it thus with you, my reader? If so, beware of being almost saved, for that is perilously near being altogether lost. What is it hinders you? — a sister? a lover? a friend? Bear with me while I tell you the solemn truth; they may keep you from Jesus, they may unwittingly compass your soul destruction, but they cannot save you. Today you may be saved, today the Saviour waits to bless you; but if once the barrier of time is passed over I can give you no hope. Delay not, then, but lend ear and heart to the words, “COME Now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; for though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).

L. R.

Samson's Riddle.

(Read Judges 14:12-18; John 6:26-58.)

IF you still have any doubt as to the meaning of Samson’s riddle turn to John 6, and you will get it explained there. What has Christ brought up out of death? Life, peace, and pardon. Who will have those divine blessings? Samson brought his gathered honey to his father and mother, and “they did eat.” Many a sinner today is saying to Jesus, “No, thank you.” Suppose they had said that, they would have missed sharing the spoils of Samson’s victory. If you decline to eat that which Christ in His love presents to you, what have you for eternity? Do you not see the gravity of your refusal?

Someone says, “I have read John 6, and been checked by verse 44, ‘No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.’” There is nothing to hinder you in these words if you really desire to come to Jesus. You must understand that this chapter presents what has been well called, “A FULL CHRIST FOR EMPTY SINNERS.” The Lord Jesus is there seen dealing with a lot of cavilers; He is talking to a company of Jews that do not want Him, and would not have Him; but at the same time He unfolds most precious truth for hungry souls.

“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (vs. 26). He says, as it were, I know what you are after, you would like to be relieved of your daily trouble and toil, you would like to be supported without working. Then He adds, “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (vs. 27). What you eat for the body here is good enough, it may sustain the life you have got, but that is forfeited; but Jesus speaks of everlasting life. He says “labor,” and yet the Son of man will give it to you. Observe that you have not to earn it, at the same time there is an earnestness that marks every soul when God works in a man’s heart.

He becomes in earnest then, and if you are set on getting God’s blessing you will understand His injunction: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1). You buy, yet it is without money and price; you go to the source of supply, where it is to be had. Have you ever gone to the Person who can give everlasting life? Have you ever come into contact with Jesus, the Son of God? You have gone to church—that is not Christ. You have gone to meetings—that is not Christ. You have read your Bible and prayed—that is not Christ. It is. Christ you must come to, if you would have pardon, peace, and life eternal.

“Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?” (vs. 28). You often find people in this state think they have yet something to do. I often get hold of people and ask if they are saved. The answer is, “Not yet; but I am doing my best.” Is that true? No. Could you not have done better? Of course you could, and then you will try to excuse yourself. “What shall we do?” said the Jews. “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (vs. 29). God has sent His Son, and what is He bidding you do? “Believe on him whom he has sent.” I wonder whether you do believe on Him? It is a real thing, not mere profession.

The Jews rejoin: “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven” (vers. 31, 32). Who will eat this bread is the point. Truly this chapter shows a full Christ, not for full sinners, but for empty sinners—sinners that know they need peace and forgiveness, that know they have got into the grip of the devil and will very soon be in the lake of fire; men and women that are anxious, that know they are all wrong. There is nothing deceives people today like religion without Christ. You must get the “true bread,” that which satisfies, which meets the dearth in the soul, and “the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world” (vs. 33).

One great charm of John’s gospel is the immensity and intensity of it. The manna in the wilderness was angels’ food for a little company in the desert. The gospel today is the bread of God for the whole world. Christ died for all. Look at the breadth of it. Are you in the world and of the world? Why do you not get it? “Out of the eater has come forth meat.” It is not enough that Christ came from heaven to live down here, but He died that we might get life by feeding on this bread.

“Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread” (vs. 34). They were not really in earnest, they were playing with divine things. Have you been playing with divine things? Give up this sad work. “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (vs. 35). All turns on coming to Him. Alas! they would not have Christ. You would like to go to heaven, and you do not mind being religious, but what about Jesus? Do you know Him? Do you love Him? Is He yours? Have you trusted Him? If you want that bread, says Christ, you must come to Me. Christ becomes the touch-stone of the soul. The soul that comes to Him will never hunger, and he that believeth on Him shall never thirst. Is there a need in your soul? Listen to His words: “And Jesus said unto them. I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” The hunger and the thirst will be divinely met by the knowledge of the blessed Son of God.

“But He is not here to come to,” you may say. True; but you can believe in Him. Do you want Him? I do not think you would believe on Him a bit more if you saw Him. Need will bring you to Christ, downright soul need, and if there is not the need you do not want Him, and will not come to Him. If there be need, and a sense of sin and judgment to come, what a wonderful thing to know that He has annulled death, and broken the power of Satan. Out of the eater comes forth meat, and you come to Him and get it. You draw near to the present Saviour, and you are made welcome. Your hunger is met, your thirst is quenched. You drop your works and rest on Him, and eternal life is yours.

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me: and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (vs. 37). If you were to come to Jesus I am positively sure of one thing, He would not cast you out. You say, “But you do not know what a sinner I have been.” True; but He knows. “You do not know my heart’s history.” No; but He knows, and says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” The devil will say to a careless sinner, “You are too bad.” He says to the young, “You are too young, and if you get converted you will be altogether changed and your life will be miserable. You ought to see the world and enjoy life.” He does not tell you that, before the year is out, you may be in your coffin. To the middle-aged he says, “You are too busy, you have not time to attend to these things;” and then, when your hair is gray, he says, “It is too late.” He was “a liar from the beginning,” why do you listen to him? Listen to Jesus. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

The Lord knows your life, and on the cross He died to blot out the sins of that dark and evil life. What love! “I have had such an evil heart of unbelief,” you may say. Come to Me, says Christ, and I will not cast you out. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (vers. 38-40). You say, “I believe He is the Son of God.” Thank God, you have everlasting life the moment the eye of your soul rests on Him.

The Jews might murmur, and they did. Jesus replies, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (vs. 47), and then He passes on to say: “I am that bread of life. This is the bread which corn eth down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (vers. 48, 50, 51).

How often the word “down” occurs in this chapter. His was the downward path. He came down that you and I might go up. I shall go up because He has come down. He came down to die my death and bear my judgment. He went down into death to annul it, and bring men to God. It is His work on the cross that secures all this.

“The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” (vers. 52, 53). Eating the flesh of the Son of man is appropriating the death of Christ. It is not the Lord’s Supper, You may take it every Sunday and spend eternity in hell, because that is not conversion, that is not salvation, and that is not eating His flesh and drinking His blood. If you are resting for salvation on the fact that you are a communicant, you are resting on a rotten foundation.

I beg your earnest heed to the Lord’s words:— “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me” (vers. 54-57). This is the enjoyment that the soul gets into by the knowledge of Christ—the possession of eternal life—for you are sustained by the Lord, and your heart feeds on Him. Truly, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” Jesus went into death, and life comes out of it for all who trust Him. Whoever comes to Him, He will not cast out, and if you have never yet made up your mind for Him do so now, and you will go all your days, saying with a joyful heart, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.”

Christ is the solution of Samson’s riddle. Get to know Him then without delay.

W. T. P. W.

Fragment.

God could never forget what is due to His holiness and glory. A ruined sinner could never have appeared in the light in His presence if that living Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, were not on the throne of God—that One who, before He took that place, went to the cross and bore the whole ruin which sin brought. And now a stream of life flows down from that risen Man to me; I am brought into fellowship with the Father, and can stand in the light in God’s presence, rejoicing with ever fresh delight at the blessedness of His having given that Son to bear all my ruin.

G. V. W.

"Happiness."

COUNTLESS hordes around us upon every hand are seeking for happiness, but alas, they seek it in the wrong direction.

Happiness is only to be found in the knowledge of divine persons. So that when a sinner takes his true place before God in the dust and ashes of repentance, and receives Jesus as his own personal Saviour then it is he knows what real and true happiness is.

A short time ago I asked a very noted footballer if he found his football life a happy one, and the answer he gave me was this— “Yes, while we’re winning.” Now, reader, what about yourself? Are you happy? No, I know you are not if still a stranger to Jesus. Happiness is not to be found in the world, neither in pleasure, nor riches, nor position in this world. It is to be found alone in Christ.

Reader, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace” (Job 22:21), and happiness shall be thy present and eternal portion.

“Hark! the voice of Jesus calling,

‘Come, ye laden, come to Me;

I have rest and-peace to offer,

Rest, thou laboring one, for thee.

Take salvation,

Take it now, and happy be.’”

F. T.

"He Made Room for Himself."

“HE made room for Himself in my heart to night.” The speaker’s face I could not see, for it was night, and we were driving rapidly in a cab to the railway station; but the intensity of the ejaculation assured me that the words were but the joyful expression of a newly-found spring of gladness in his heart.

More than thirty years have rolled away since those words fell on my ear, in the town of Chester, late one Saturday night. I was on my way from the West of England to Dublin, where I had meetings arranged for the Lord’s Day. Finding that I should have about four hours to wait at Chester for the night mail via Holyhead, the thought occurred to me that I might have a gospel meeting in the town during those hours of waiting. I communicated with a warm-hearted servant of Christ, a well-known grocer in the town, who immediately sent me a telegram saying, “Come along; we will arrange a meeting.”

Arriving about 6 P.M. my friend met me, took me to his house for tea, told me that twenty-four hours had sufficed them to intimate the meeting, and, Saturday night though it were, he was assured we should get the room—a good-sized one—full, and so indeed it was, crammed to the door.

My subject that night was the thrilling tale of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, as described in Luke 2, and the effect upon the shepherds of Bethlehem, when they heard the tidings of His birth. Our attention was particularly directed to the words, “And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (vs. 7). How strange and how sad that, when the Son of God visited the scene of His creation, there was in the haunts of man no room for Him.

Without doubt the decree of the Emperor Cæsar Augustus, as to the taking of the census at that moment, had filled the inn at Bethlehem: hence when Joseph and Mary arrived, humble and lowly in their circumstances, for them there was no room. Had they been rich and wealthy, I ventured to say I thought room would have been found; at least such is usually observable in hotels—place is found for men of wealth—for money can do most things, while the poor must stand aside.

Jesus, when He came into this world, was emphatically the “poor man.” This expression is frequently used of Him in the Psalms; and most touchingly do we read elsewhere, “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Blessed Saviour! what grace, what love, what lowliness of heart do we ever see in Him, even from the outset of His pathway here!

The words “no room,” in relation to Him and His birth, strikingly describe the moral attitude of man toward Christ. But, some might argue, the fact that there was no room for them in the inn was simply a coincidence connected with the emperor’s edict. Be it so, I replied; but can you explain to me the coincidence of the solemn fact that, up to this very hour, there has been “no room” in your heart for Jesus, my dear unconverted friends?

This query, I saw at once, greatly interested many of my auditors, as I pressed upon them what the awful state of the man’s heart must be that had “no room” for Jesus—i.e., in plain language, that man does not want God. I then showed, in contrast, how God seeks man’s company, by reference to another scripture, found also in Luke’s Gospel. We turned to the record of the ministry of the Lord Jesus, as narrated in Luke 14, “A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were hidden, Come; for all things are now ready” (vers. 16:17).

There we get God’s disposition and attitude toward man—He wants his company, and invites him. Now notice man’s response: “And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come” (vers. 18-20).

Without exception no one has a heart to go. Does this chill the one who spreads the feast? No; read on. “So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room” (vers. 21:22).

Divine love cannot be arrested by man’s cold-heartedness, nor thwarted in its purpose. If you, my reader, will not have a seat at God’s banquet, He will find another guest to fill that seat. How delightful are the words, however, “yet there is room,” words which might well gladden the heart of any anxious or inquiring soul that listened that night to the gospel, or reads it today. Yes, “yet there is room.” God’s feast, God’s invitation, God’s welcome yet remain, and “yet there is room” might well incline every gospel-hearer to say, “Lord, I respond to Thy call,” and immediately enter in.

If, my dear reader, you have never responded to God’s invitation up to this moment, let me urge you to do so now. If hitherto there has been “no room” in your heart for God’s blessed Son, understand this, that “yet there is room” in God’s house for you, and the like of you, where you may feast on the infinite love of God, which His blessed Son has come to earth to declare. Luke 2 shows us that there was “no room” in man’s world for God; Luke 14 shows us that “yet there is room,” in God’s world for man.

All this, in much fuller detail, passed before us that night, and then we glanced briefly at the effect upon Bethlehem’s shepherds, when they heard the angelic message, “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).

These shepherds of Bethlehem were the right kind of hearers of a plain gospel message. Without doubt there was a felt sense of need in their souls, and when they heard that God had been good enough to send them a Saviour, they were wise enough to avail themselves of and appropriate that Saviour without any delay. Whatever value they might set upon their sheep (and men are greatly influenced by their business engagements, even to the loss of their souls sometimes), these men appear not to have hesitated for a moment. The night was dark, and the wolves might have been about, and consequently their flock in danger of being seized and torn; but tidings of a Saviour to be seen eclipsed every other interest in their souls, and hence we read, “And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger” (vers. 15, 16).

How sensible they were: they hear the gospel, believe it, and act upon it, as they say, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see,” and furthermore, they lost no time—for “they came with haste and found... the babe lying in the manger.” They heard, they believed, they were moved, they sought, and found the Saviour. Happy shepherds!

Friend, have you done this yet? If not, imitate their action. Today you will find Jesus, not “lying in a manger,” but living at God’s right hand. If the earnestness that marked the shepherds be found in you, you will find the Saviour likewise, and, I expect, confess Him as they did, for we read, “they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child,” that is to say, their faith took the shape of practical confession of Christ, and then home they went, full of peace and joy, “glorying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (vs. 20).

The meeting closed; an after-meeting for anxious inquirers, however, went on, and many a soul that night, in deep anxiety to find the Saviour, found Him; light, peace, and joy filling many a heart that till then had been in darkness. It was quite a memorable scene, that meeting in Chester.

Busily engaged in dealing with anxious souls, I noticed not that the hands of the clock drew very near to ten, when my train was due out from the station. But my watchful friend, the grocer, came to the rescue, as he said, “Doctor, you must go immediately or you will miss your train.” Thanking him for his reminder I said, “Will you get me a cab?” and off he went in search thereof. In a few minutes the vehicle was at the door, and I jumped in, followed by my friend, who, at the same time said to another man, “Get in, and go to the station with the Doctor.”

I thanked the grocer for being so prompt in getting the cab, whereon he said, “Oh, this is a friend of mine who is a cab proprietor, and he went to his stables at once and got it.” Him I thanked likewise for his courtesy, and he replied, “I am very glad to be able to serve you in this way.”

“But were you at the meeting tonight?” I rejoined.

“Yes, indeed I was, and very much I have enjoyed it.”

“That is right, and have you made room in your heart for Jesus?” was my inquiry.

“Well, I could not quite say that.”

“What can you say then?” I replied.

“The fact is, sir, He made room for Himself in my heart tonight; I could not keep Him out any longer.”

He had been thoughtful about his soul previously, but had never come to any decision; but, thank God, that night Jesus got a place in his affections, his confidence, and his trust. Many a time I have heard since regarding him, that he began to follow the Lord that night.

Reader, I will not ask you to make room in your heart for Jesus, but I would, with all affection, urge on you to ponder the scriptures that we have been considering. If you do so I am persuaded you will get under what the great Dr. Chalmers used to call “the expulsive power of a new affection,” and, like the Chester cab proprietor, have to say regarding the blessed Lord, “He made room for Himself.”

W. T. P. W.

The Wrong Train.

I HAD taken my seat in the train, and just as it was about to move, a lady entered. Speaking to a passenger who sat opposite, she said it was now several hours beyond the time at which she hoped to have arrived at her destination; but she had got into a wrong train, and had only discovered her mistake after she had gone a considerable distance in a different direction from that which she desired. She had asked some one that she supposed ought to know, but evidently did not, for he had directed her to take a wrong train.

After hearing the lady’s story, my thoughts were led to the journey of life. How many persons there are who take the word of someone they suppose ought to know—the word of man—in reference to the way by which to reach heaven, without ever examining the Word of God, the true and only guide, from which they would know with certainty whether they were traveling in the right direction or not. The Scriptures are plain on the subject. All men are by nature on the wrong road. Reader, if you are unconverted, you are speeding on to eternal perdition. It matters not what man may tell you; if resting on the word of man, sooner or later you will find out your mistake. Would to God you might see it now, for it will be too late if you do not discover it before the end of the journey. It will be useless, then, to think of pleading that you had taken the word of one you looked upon as a person who ought to know, and that you had trusted his assurance that you were all right.

Solemn indeed will it be for those who point in a wrong direction those who come to them to learn the right one. It is vain to go by man’s thoughts when it is a question of the soul’s eternal destiny. If a passenger gets into a wrong train, and continues in it till the terminus is reached, he may be able to return; but it is not so in the case of life’s journey. If once you reach the terminus of that, there is no return; you will have to face the eternal consequences of having continued on the wrong line and in the wrong train.

How important, then, that you should see to the matter at once. God Himself, in the Scriptures of truth, warns you as to what the end will be of those who remain in nature, the respectable and religious, as well as those who are not, for we read, “There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22, 23), and the end is very solemn. “What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” “Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:9).

But God, in His Word, has given directions, so that none need fail to know the right way. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6). And in Acts 4 we read, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (ver. 12).

Let me press on you, dear unconverted reader, the necessity of your seeing to the matter at once. You know not how soon you may reach the end of the journey; you may be nearer the terminus than you think. Do not delay. Trifle not in a matter so momentous. Now there is opportunity to get right. As one who has been on the wrong line, turn to God and own it; acknowledge that only He can direct you aright. Be guided by His Word. “Salvation is of the Lord.” He will save you, if you simply trust Him.

“Receive this free mercy, receive it;

No money, no price He demands;

The God of all grace loves to give it;

Accept, then, the gift at His hands.”

R. K.

Death.

SEE yonder elegant vehicle polished and gilded, with sides and roof of beveled and beautifully figured glass, its interior filled with snow-white flowers! Surely ‘tis a splendid vase of new and rare design? Of new design it certainly is, but it has a use other than that of flower vase, it is a receptacle for the JUDGMENT OF GOD.

You do not understand me! Well, know that death is there, and death is the judgment of God. Lift aside the floral circlets, see! beneath is a coffin, and in the coffin is a corpse, from which death snatched a soul the other day, and sped it into eternity.

Yes, death is the judgment of God, the penalty of disobedience, “the wages of sin.” “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,” and so death passed upon all men, for that “all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

Yet poets and sceptics, religious and otherwise, write and talk most sweetly of death. They call it the discharge of nature’s debt, a mercy in disguise, a friend of man, a ministering angel who goes up and down the earth to put to sleep the sufferer and the aged, and thus end the agony of life.

And men beautify death. They dress the judgment of God in lovely attire, their hearses are things of beauty, their cemeteries among the fairest spots on earth.

But, ‘tis a slander on the Creator to imagine that death was part of His original design.

What! did God form this lovely earth, think you, and give it to man as a home, only to send a monster into it to deprive him of it?

For does not death do this? What else is it that cuts down the child, the youth, the man, taking him from a world that contains all he possesses and loves, into one where he owns nothing?

Just tell me, whither does man go, at death’s imperious call, and what has he there? What have you there?

Millions speak of a better world, and vainly imagine they will gain it as a matter of course when they leave this.

But I ask, if death, as the judgment of God, deprives man of all that he has here, why should it take him to something better across the border? If he has lost this world through his sin, what right has he to heaven?

Death has reigned here for six thousand years, but God did not put him on the throne. Death is sin’s offspring, and was crowned king on that day when man ate of the tree concerning which God had said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

Yes, sin is the father of King Death, and the Devil supports his throne (see Heb. 11:14). Satan, Sin, and Death are a dreadful trinity, whose prey is man—man, once God’s glory, as made in His likeness and image, now ruled by the devil, ruined by sin, and claimed by death.

And so death is here today, the king of terrors, it is everywhere, and claims every one; it dominates the scene; it came as a blight into God’s world of beauty and casts a shadow evermore across His sunlit earth.

What an awful thing it is, this wrecker of homes, and breaker of hearts, this snapper of all earthly ties, this robber of mankind, this moth that feeds on beauty, this necromancer that transmutes youth into age, laughter to tears, joy to sorrow, and empties the world to fill the tomb.

And he visits all in turn; he knocks sooner ‘or later at every door, and will take no denial. When he comes in, a soul goes out. Out, into the light of heaven, or the darkness of hell.

Come with me to yonder chamber, and I will show you how a sinner dies.

The room is partially darkened by the half-drawn curtains, weeping people surround a dying man, the breath comes quick and short. Disease and pain have marred the pallid face, and the restlessness of death is on him. Outside are flowers and sunshine, but what are these now to him? He is leaving them forever; the shadows of an approaching eternity, mysterious and terrible, have blotted out the brightness and beauty of earthly life.

He is speaking now. Listen, what does he say? Two words, “MY SINS.”

His sins? Yes! he is dying, but memory is alive; from every crevice of her storehouse, from every secret chamber, she brings them forth and marshals them in line before the dying sinner. There they stand, and gibe and jabber at him; how horrible they look, seen now in eternity’s strong light; once these same sins seemed small and insignificant, yea, almost innocent and excusable; now, how changed is their appearance. They crowd around him, and shut out all else; the faces of his beloved ones are hidden, while these monsters, the awful offspring of a misspent life, shout into his ear, and tell him they belong to him, are his, and will never leave him; will cross the border with him, and accompany him to the very bar of God, where they will call for judgment upon the author of their being.

Slowly the hours pass, the darkness of the night gives place to the gray of dawn. Draw aside the curtains and let this passing soul see once more the first rays of the blessed sun; the light strikes the white face once more, and for the last time the lips move. Anxious ears bend to catch the whispered words, “My sins, my sins,” and then all is still.

Another life spent without regard to God is over, another page of human history closed, another soul has passed to the court of eternal justice, where the books shall be opened, and where every man is judged according to his works, and where the judged are cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.

Plain speaking is not popular today, but it is sometimes kindness to speak plainly, and madness to disregard it.

The volcano of Martinique spoke plainly of coming danger to St Pierre the other day, and Folly’s answer was to put a cordon of gendarmes around the city to keep the people in. But on 8th May 1902, death the terrible, with garments of fire and poisoned breath, sprang into the place; but when death entered, life went out, and today St. Pierre is a city of the dead, a synonym for graveyard; its inhabitants lie withered like cut grass in the fierce rays of the summer’s sun; their sarcophagus a mighty mound of volcanic dust.

Now though God was not the author of death, He has ever in His dealings with man forced upon him the fact that he is under the judgment of death, and nowhere does this come out more clearly than in the Jewish sacrifices. The Paschal lamb, the morning and evening oblations, the burnt offerings, the sin and trespass offerings, all taught the same stern fact, all pointed to the same terrible truth; death was here, was resting on man, and if deliverance was to be affected for him, one must die in his stead, and God thus prepared the way for the coming of the Prince of Life.

The Prince of Life? Yes! And He has been here to give life to man. What is His name? JESUS! Do you know Him? Has He given you life? When He came, He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” And again, “He that believeth on me path everlasting life.”

Today, Jesus is the Giver of life. Death rests on man as the judgment of God. The Son of God came from heaven to earth, lived here, died here, lay for three days in a grave, then rose again, that thus He might relieve man from death’s claims and domination, its terror, its presence, and its curse, and communicate to him a life whose blessed home and sphere is heaven itself.

In Revelation 1 The Living One, who in grace has died for dying men, presents Himself to His servant John, holding in His hand the symbols of His victory, the keys of hell and of death. These enemies are vanquished for those who trust in Him, their power is broken, their meaning changed. The gloom of the grave is dispelled by the light of Resurrection. The dread of death has vanished, because sin, its sting, has been extracted by Him who was made sin, that He might put it away forever.

From the land of life He bestows life on dying men here, and waits on that heavenly shore to receive them when they cross the flood, that mystic path, which lies between the two worlds.

Yes, heaven has come to the rescue of man. Jesus, the blessed Tree of Life, has come into this world, His branches laden with its precious fruit of everlasting life, that dying men may reach forth their hands, and pluck, and eat, and live forever—may live in paradise with God, in deathless light and love.

Wonderful news. God is for man! His mercy is flowing through this world, life-giving, soul-saving.

His name is Love, and He sits upon His Throne of Grace; Jesus is there, and God speaks of Him to man. He says, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”

Bread of Life! Tree of Life! Fountain of the Water of Life! Oh! lovely titles given to God’s Son, the sinner’s hope, and friend, and Saviour.

Freely! for nothing! These are Grace’s terms. Think of it—life, salvation, heaven, offered without money and without price to bankrupt man; the creature who has lost everything that God once gave him—soul, life, earth. Surely this is good news for you.

Do you thirst, my reader? or are you altogether satisfied with what you have and are? Does no sense of need oppress you? Or are you sensible that you need something which this world cannot supply; something which no effort of yours can obtain? Do you not know that you need life, because death is upon you; salvation, because judgment awaits you; heaven, because you are going to leave the earth? Then know that all these are God’s free gifts to him who receives Jesus, and He waits to bestow them upon you.

Will you keep Him waiting?

“When the day of salvation is drawing to a close,

When thy guilt shall weigh thee to the ground;

When thy heart throbs in terror before eternal woes,

Oh! then no Saviour can be found.

Now there’s One—resource for the guilty—

Jesus! Jesus saith, ‘Come unto Me’;

Still mercy’s bloodstained lintel thy door of hope may be!

O sinner! Jesus died for thee.”

W. H. S.

The Policeman and the Axe

THERE are few things possessing a greater power for gathering a crowd in a short time than the alarm bell of the New York Fire Department. There seems to be a peculiar fascination for the majority of people in seeing valuable property spread out as a dainty dish for the merciless flames.

On the afternoon of a warm Saturday in the summer of 1891, a fire broke out in a badly constructed building on one of New York’s busiest streets, which was the means of sending about one hundred precious lives into eternity. Eternity, eternity. Great thought, awful reality.

Here is a scene which I trust will serve to illustrate vividly the work that the Son of God and Son of man completed to the satisfaction of His God, over nineteen hundred years ago: I say to the satisfaction of His God, because He was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father.

“Pull that wagon out of the road,” shouted an excited fireman, as engine after engine rattled over the paving stones. “Keep back now,” exclaimed the policeman to the curious crowd, as the walls of the Taylor building came crumbling to the ground with a hoarse noise resembling thunder. The occupants were on their way to safety when the building fell, and a mist of dust rose mingled with smoke and murky flame, and the groans of the injured and dying could be heard in every direction.

Quick as thought rushes our hero to the rear of the wreck, where he heard through the brick wall the prayers of nineteen men for deliverance from the death that threatened them. Oh, my reader, have you ever prayed for deliverance from eternal death in the lake of fire, which unmistakably awaits every Christ rejecter, and all who refuse the testimony which God has given of His Son?

Back to the street ran the officer and snatched an ax from Hook and Ladder Company number seven. “Hold on there,” says a fireman, “that belongs to the Fire Department; you mind your business, we can do ours.” Something like what I heard from a professing Christian not long ago when I endeavored to point a hungry soul to Christ, and Him alone, as the only refuge from coming condemnation.

The ready wit of our hero served him well. He did not stand to argue the point, which he might have done, and yet be consistent with his office. No, he ran to the other side of the street to the ax-vendor and got the weapon he wanted without ceremony. Ah, my fellow Christian, if you are going to serve the Master, do not consult man’s theological organizations; go to God Himself, the store without limit, and apply the Word of God, the weapon of the Spirit.

In less time than I can tell it, our hero was wielding the axe with all his might, and making no small impression on the thin brick wall. Soon he made a hole large enough for a head, and then the nineteen prisoners began to breathe freely and take courage. Then it was large enough to crawl through—and out came one, then two, three, four, five, ten, fifteen, nineteen, all saved.

Now, my reader, have you ever thought of the hole made in the wall of sin, the wall of the devil’s building, the wall inside which all humanity outside Christ are imprisoned? Have you ever thought of the size of the hole made in that wall by the man Christ Jesus, when He hung between two thieves on the cross on the little hill called “the place of a skull” outside Jerusalem?

Oh, my friend, He has smashed that wall to pieces. “It is finished,” was His dying cry. What is finished? The work of redemption, the work by which “whosoever will” may have free access to God.

The veil of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom, showing to you and me that God is satisfied with Jesus’ blessed work. My reader, will you not be satisfied with that work too, will you not believe that Christ has put all your sins into the place where there is no remembrance? Will you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that God has raised Him from the dead?

Trust alone to Him, no work of yours will do. Perhaps you say, Am I, not to work? Yes, my brother, you shall work; not to get saved, but because you are saved. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Your works will be prompted by love, not by law.

P. H. T.

"It's all Over."

THE subject of thin narrative was engaged in country work as a farm servant, and happening one day to pass a fellow-servant at an unexpected time, was thus accosted, “Hallo! where are you going?” Being in a rather surly mood, only two words escaped his lips: “To hell.”

Two short words composed of only six letters, yet what a solemn truth was wrapped up in them, and had the Lord allowed that reckless young man to continue in the same course, he would sooner or later have realized the awful truth of the words he uttered. But that One who met the persecuting Saul of Tarsus, on his way to Damascus, had His eye on him too, although at the time there was the same bitter hatred in his heart toward His followers.

However, it was not long ere he began to reap the fruit of what he had sown, and find out to his bitter experience that he was serving a hard master. Loss of employment somewhat checked him in his downward course; and in the pleasures of sin he had so eagerly sought he found there was bitterness and a sting. But God had His eye on him, and in the ordering of His love brought him in contact with one of those people he so hated, who, though in humble life, witnessed for the One who loved him and gave Himself for him, and he, in a very simple way, was owned of God in awakening this young profligate.

It was the custom of this believer at breakfast-time in his little workshop, where he partook of his frugal fare, to read his New Testament and engage in prayer, although not in the most congenial circumstances, as may be imagined, being surrounded with roughs who were always ready to make sport of his devotions. Many a noisy conflict passed, in which this humble servant of Christ sought to bring before his ungodly workfellows the pardoning love and grace of a Saviour God, and they were often obliged to own that he stood his ground well. However, the subject of our narrative, in his conceit and hatred to all such, supposed it would be an easy matter to put him to silence, and soon found an opportunity of having his ability put to the test, only to find out, as many more have done, that the victory he thought so easily gained was to end in total defeat.

Giving full vent to his feelings on one occasion, he was surprised to find it all taken in patience by the one whom he persecuted; who meekly said that he could sympathize with him in his ignorance, as it was just what he was once like himself. A nail was fastened in a sure place, an arrow of conviction reached his conscience, and for the first time in his life he was convinced that he was face to face with one who possessed something to which he was an utter stranger.

Time passed on, but instead of giving up his old ways and receiving Christ into his heart, he was sometimes in the swine troughs, at other times passing sleepless nights, earnestly desiring that he might be the possessor of that which he now knew sonic were richly blest with. But if God had His eye on him, there was another who had his eye on him too, and would not let him slip out of his service so easily. One day, when engaged at work in a granite quarry with others, some of whom were splitting a large block of stone close behind where he was working, the man in charge, seeing his dangerous position, asked him to move away. Looking round to see if there was any danger, to his terror and alarm the stone gave way in a different direction from what was expected, and a large piece came rolling down upon him. It is impossible to describe the thoughts that flashed before his mind at that terrible moment, as owing to the position lie was in, he could see no alternative to his body being severed at the waist between two pieces of rock. His life of sin, the thought of meeting God in judgment and being forever consigned to his eternal doom, which he now well knew he justly deserved, flashed before him.

But the One who said to the sea, “Here shall thy proud waves be stayed,” also arrested that block of granite before it accomplished Satan’s purpose in hurling this young man into a Christless eternity. Did it strike him? It did; but instead of doing its deadly work, his body was spared, and although held tight as it were in the jaws of death, no internal injury was done. A thigh joint dislocated and bruised, and a bruised knee, was the extent of his injuries.

His fellow-workmen instantly gathered round him to extricate, as they thought, his mangled and lifeless body. “It’s all over,” passed his lips, and a swoon followed. After being extricated he was carried to his lodgings, where he was attended by a doctor as soon as he could be found. On examination, the doctor stated his injuries to be as above-mentioned. To the surprise of all, in three months he was able, although lame, to resume his work.

But what about his spiritual condition? Had the door of his heart now been opened to let the Saviour in? Alas, no. It is true he saw the hand of God coming in, almost by miracle, and saving his life, and exercises of soul were passed through and resolutions made to lead a different life, but once back among old companions, he was back to old ways, although with a conscience ill at ease.

Passing over twelve months from the time the accident occurred, we find him in a different situation, in another locality, but still serving the same master, viz., the god of this world. There tidings reached him of another accident that had occurred in the same neighborhood, and in which three men were buried alive. Their names were given; they were persons he well knew. One especially he had often sat side by side with in a small gospel meeting they sometimes attended, and listened with trembling, like Felix of old, as the preacher reasoned of temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come. But when they were made the subject of personal dealing, they laughed in the face of the one who sought their good.

But the moment was drawing near when Satan’s captive was to be set free. The tidings of his three old acquaintances being buried alive, his own narrow escape twelve months before, his present condition, without God and without hope, forced conviction upon him, and he judged himself a most ungrateful wretch. He determined, with one final effort, though every nerve should be strained, to quit the service of Satan, and come out on the Lord’s side.

But yet another lesson had to be learned; he was now quite willing to be Christ’s, but found out that he was without strength to do good, although many things were given up, and with all diligence he took to reading his Bible and religious books, although that had often to be done with a violin playing at each side. His companions saw there was a change, and told him he was turning revivalist, and a miserable one he was in every sense of the word, his face bearing witness to the truth of it; but, like Christian in the Slough of Despond, he determined he would hold on till he got to the other side.

Soon he began to question if this tension of mind and body could be kept up, and found himself guilty of things which he knew were wrong. Alas, it was still true of him, “One thing thou lackest.” The Saviour’s person and work had no part in his religion. What was to be done? The great enemy of souls was on his track and whispered in his ear, “Give it up.” Did he listen to him? He did, and thus he reasoned: — Would it not be the best thing to do? He had tried to be a Christian for the past two years and had utterly failed, and he could not be a hypocrite.

One evening, after work was over, and with conscience condemning him loudly, the resolve was made to give it all up. Then the consequences of that came before him, the lake of fire, which he justly deserved; so in despair he threw himself on his bed, in his mind consigning himself to “everlasting burnings.” It was not now merely saying this with the lips, but it became a terrible reality in his heart.

But blessed be God, the moment of deliverance had now come; he owned himself a guilty, helpless, hell-deserving sinner, and instead of meeting what he now judged himself worthy of, he fell into the arms of eternal love. Then and there the Lord revealed Himself to him, and the response came from his heart, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

A flood of joy now filled his soul; he had now got a Person. Up to this time it had been self, self, self, but now it was Christ. Although there was much to learn of the treasures that were in Him, he had got the Person. And now, after five-and-twenty years, the language of his heart is―

“Now none but Christ can satisfy,

None other name for me;

There’s life, and love, and lasting joy,

Lord Jesus, found in Thee.”

ANON.

Incarnation and Union.

A PUBLISHED paragraph lately arrested my attention. It reads thus: “No proxy-death permitted. Even so Christ was graciously obliged to become one of His people to take their place. He did not become one with them by taking their place—the union was before death as well as after.” I may misunderstand the writer, but an ordinary English reader would take that to mean that incarnation brought the Lord Jesus Christ into union with man in his sinful state, which most certainly Scripture does not teach.

Man’s union with Christ by His incarnation is a totally false idea. Many believe and teach if, but Scripture does not. The essence of the error lies in the assumption that the Lord Jesus in becoming man thereby assumed manhood in its fallen condition, and then, because of what He was in His own Person, raised it to His own status before God; and all this without death. This simply reduces Christ to man’s level before and moral distance from God, as the result of Adam’s sin.

Were such the case He could not by any possibility be man’s Saviour, as He Himself would be in the very condition out of which man needs to be extricated. His own words as to this are very simple and very plain— “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Thus, though incarnate, He was alone, nor could there be any fruit till He had died. There was and could be no union with Him till He had died and risen. Were I writing I should have said, Union with Him was not in His life, but in resurrection, after death, for He has not become “bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh,” but He has made us—all true believers in Him— “bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh,” after He rose from the dead.

It is important to see that Adam did not become the head of a family till he was himself fallen, and an exile from Paradise; whereas the Lord Jesus Christ did not become the Head of a family until He was risen from the dead, and then He could say, and did say to Mary, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”

If the writer merely means that Christ became a man in order to meet our case, it is what Hebrews 2:14 distinctly states, but even though He took flesh and blood, He did not take it in the condition in which man as such was, that is, fallen—but holy, sinless, and therefore He was not one with anybody at that moment. Having affected atonement, and really ended the history of the first man in death, He could and did become the Head of a totally new race in resurrection. Hence our union with Him is not by incarnation, but by the Holy Ghost, and must be consequent upon death and resurrection, and not prior to it. W. T. P. W.

H. C. 'S Conversion.

WHEN I was a child my dear mother, who was a Christian, took me to a place of worship a mile off, morning and evening on a Lord’s Day. I did not like this, as when I got home at dinner-time I was not allowed to go out and mix with worldly companions, but was kept in until the evening meeting, my father, who was not a Christian, objecting to my going so far to a Sunday school. When I got older, I began to have my own way, and gave over going altogether; and the bad habits I acquired, and sin and wickedness I got into, nearly overwhelmed me. This went on until I was eighteen years of age. My mother gave me tracts to read; evangelists visited her at times, and they spoke to me; and I began to make resolutions every new year until I was twenty-three years of age.

In the meantime I had three companions as bad as myself, and we spent our Sunday evenings in public-houses. How my mother’s heart must have ached when I went home the worse for drink on Sunday nights. My father found it out, but said nothing for six weeks, which ended the old year again; then he told me about it; so I made another resolution, and thank God He gave me strength to act accordingly this time. I gave up my companions, for a twelvemonth or more, and tried in my own power to give up my bad habits, and really meant to live a godly life. I was going away one day to the other side of London to some mission services on a well-known racecourse; my intentions were good, but I made a mistake; my old companions, who lived close by, said they would go with me. They saw the races, and I saw nothing, as I fell asleep in a tent on the racecourse under the influence of drink. How horrible the thought of it! This was through the companions.

When the races were over and my companions had lost their money, they came and waked me up, and we returned home. I began to reflect upon the money I had wasted and the mistake I had made. At that time I was convicted of being a sinner of the blackest dye; and I knew what I deserved at the hand of God, the farthest corner of hell, and I asked my mother what I must do to be saved. She told me there was salvation for me; and what a comfort it must have been to her, but she said nothing to me, but left the Lord to finish the work He had begun.

Conviction and fear made me ill for three weeks. I lost flesh, which every one noticed but myself. I had saved money, and was going to give it to the poor, that my good deeds might secure for me salvation, and everyone in the neighborhood thought I was a good young man; but “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” I loved my mother, and did my best to ease her in her work, and my father as well: we were in the grocery business. I got well again, and the fear and conviction passed away; I thought I had been a bit foolish, yielding to these impressions, and as my mother was alive and a Christian I should come out all right, and as long as she lived I need not trouble myself.

But the dear Lord was not going to allow me to fall asleep again; He took away my earthly stay, the only one I loved, after three days’ illness. I was then alone in the world, as my father and I disagreed about Sunday trading, which I had often assisted in before, but felt I could not continue in; I then made up my mind that I would count all things loss that I might win Christ; and I sought the Lord again, and found Him, and could not any longer walk hand in hand with the world. So I left my father and lost all, but won Christ, and the spiritual blessing and revelation of God’s present purposes in this world are worth more to me than all I lost financially.

The Lord often strips a man of all that his heart is set upon here, both wife, children, wealth and position, that his affections may be set on Christ, who gave up all to redeem us, and break our stony hearts. We think how hard it is to lose all, but we are so absorbed with things in this world that the Lord Jesus, in divine love, takes away the object of our attention, that we might look up at Him; and when we once see what He has in store for us, our hearts are ready to leave all here, to be occupied with things where He is. If the Lord did not take these steps with us we should be forever lost; if the unconverted could only see all this before their earthly loss is irreparable, how often would they regret having ridiculed many an evangelist and Christian, even in their own families.

Unconverted reader, allow me to warn you while it is yet the day of grace. This world is under judgment, waiting for the wrath and divine justice of God; honor, wealth, political excitement, and national honors are all vanity and vexation of spirit, as one of this world’s wisest monarchs said and experienced. This scene is but a wilderness through which we are passing; what else can it be to a Christian true to Christ? What would heaven be to a sinner used to earthly amusements? Would he be happy in the presence of a holy and righteous God? Will the good works of a poor sinner avail anything there? No! Salvation is not of works lest any man should boast, but of faith, as it says in Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Salvation is a free gift to all who believe that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to be an offering for sin, the Lamb without blemish, who shed His precious blood. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

H. C.

Shivered to Atoms.

PASSING along one of the busiest streets of Berlin, the writer noticed a large lorry standing opposite a new shop. The man in responsibility, with his assistants, was unloading a large crate without a covering, containing a large and handsome sheet of plate-glass, valuing several pounds. Through gross carelessness and unwatchfulness the crate was allowed to fall about two inches upon the hard side pavement. In a moment the glass, which had been manufactured and conveyed with so much care to its destination, was shivered to atoms! Complete dismay was at once pictured on the faces of the men who had done it, as a large crowd gathered and gazed upon their careless handiwork!

What was to be done? It was at once patent to all that to attempt to put the pieces of broken glass together again was worse than useless. Anyone who attempted it would only have exposed his utter folly, and have become the laughing-stock of all. The only possible way of remedying the matter was to cast away the broken glass and to fetch a new sheet altogether to fit the shop window, which no doubt was shortly done.

What a striking picture is this of the fall of man! God’s masterpiece on earth—innocent, without a flaw, but responsible, His creature man, through unwatchfulness and carelessness, fell. And great and complete indeed was his fall, it was utterly irremediable. God has abundantly shown the folly of all in attempting to put fallen man right again. He is morally shattered in the very depths of his being, and all the devices of human wisdom are expended in vain to make him fit again for God. It were ten thousand times easier to accomplish the impossible task of making a clean sheet of plate-glass, without flaw, out of a thousand fragments, than to make the, so to speak, morally-shivered fallen sinner meet for the holy presence of God.

Therefore we ask again, What was to be done? Thank God, He has forestalled us with the answer. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. What we could not do, He has done, and that in His own way, for His own glory. Man’s case was irremediable, so God has displaced him. He has introduced another Man, a Man after a new order—Christ. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son. Satan sought to wreck that Man also, but was powerless. He morally shattered the first man, but Christ was proof against his greatest efforts. No sin was found in Him; He was the holy, sinless One. On Calvary’s cross He met and bore the whole judgment of God against sin, and annulled the power of Satan, bringing infinite glory to God. And God raised Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory.

Adam fallen, to whose race each of us belongs, is completely and irretrievably shattered, and God has set him aside once and forever. The cross was the end forever of Adam and his system. God has begun over again. He had One in reserve, whom in due time He brought forth, who glorified Him, and whom He has glorified. And now He presents Him, Christ, His Son, as the Object of faith. Would you stand before God? Would you dwell in His blessed and glorious presence for eternity? There is but the one way. It is by and in Christ. Your sins and your works condemn you, you yourself are a wreck—complete, irretrievable. God has given you up, and displaced you by another. You can only stand before Him in Christ, and it is only through what He has done that you can dwell with God. Your sins and your sin preclude you absolutely from His presence, but “to him (Christ) give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43); and “God hath 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). “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

In a few words, man in Adam is fallen, shattered, utterly ruined, lost. God has sent His own Son, Jesus, who bore the whole judgment of sin, and died; and God has raised and highly exalted Him, a present and everlasting Saviour for every one that believeth. Are you one? If so, follow Him now till He return.

E. H. C.

Another Testimony to John 3:16.

I WAS born in England and spent the first part of my life there, being brought up religiously by my dear parents in the Church of England. I was, like my parents, unsaved, unsheltered from the coming wrath, not knowing Christ as my Saviour. In July 1875, I left the East India Docks, London, for Maryborough, Queensland. After landing in that place, I was engaged to go about eighteen miles out of Maryborough, on the Upper Mary River. Arriving there, one of the first people I saw was Mr. G. J. S—, a dear servant of the Lord, who was holding some cottage meetings there. Of course I was asked to attend those meetings, and I did so, not that I was, at that time, anxious about my soul, for I did not think anyone could know he was saved, but I went and listened to the Word of God; and one night, after the speaker had gone away, and we were reading the Word together, a person there, Mr. H—stated plainly that he was saved, and that should the Lord Jesus come, he should go to be with Him.

Those words went right home to my heart; I could not forget them, and I looked at him wondering how he dared to say he was saved, as it seemed to me presumption. Next morning I told my master what I had heard Mr. H—say the previous night, and he, too, told me the same thing. That increased my perplexity, but, thank God, He used that as the means of exercising my soul, and it led me to my knees to cry to God to show me His salvation, to open my eyes. He graciously answered my prayer, all praise be unto Him for it. As my employer and I were working together, day after day, he was ever putting the Word of God before me, and one morning before breakfast, in the month of March 1876, I accepted Christ as my personal Saviour. We were speaking together on that precious verse— “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,” and I saw for the first time that I was included in that word “whosoever,” and, thank God, I knew I was saved, and afterward was baptized, and took my place with those gathered around the Lord, according to Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Then I became very anxious about my dear parents, and wrote and told them what God had done for me, and, thank God, I have the joy of knowing that both my parents were saved through my letters. God blessed His Word to them, and they are both now with the Lord.

The next I sought to win for Christ was a younger sister; I wrote to her and asked if she was a Christian. She replied, “No, and I do not think I ever shall be, as I am too far away to ever come back to God.” I told her in my next letter that I was pleased to hear her say so. When I heard again, she told me that she was saved. I knew she was in for the blessing as soon as she owned she was lost.

Then I had it laid upon my heart to write to a cousin, one who used to go to school with me, and I put the truth plainly before him. His mother (my aunt) read the letter, and it was blessed to her soul; she was saved through believing in Jesus. The next one was a niece; God troubled her through my letters, and also saved her. Oh, well may I call upon all that is within me to bless and praise His holy and blessed name, for He has been very gracious to me in bringing in one after the other to know His beloved Son as their Saviour.

Now just a word to my unsaved reader. Perhaps you are like me, and do not believe any one can say they are saved. Let me tell you plainly, God loved, and God gave. Why did it please Jehovah to bruise His Son Jesus? We read, “It pleased the Lord to bruise him.” Again I ask, Why? That He might not bruise you, dear reader, that is why. He died, the Just One, for us, the unjust ones, that He might bring us to God. It is Jesus that I desire to bring before you. The angel said to Joseph, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” That is why He went to Calvary’s cross—He died to save. “He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.”

Oh, dear reader, let me ask you plainly, do you know Jesus? You may know much about Him, but do you know Him? He is such a loving Saviour, and such a mighty Saviour too. Yes, His love is as great as His power, and He wants to save you: do you want to be saved? Are you in earnest about it? God is in earnest, and death, too, is in earnest. You are the only one that is not in earnest. But God is speaking to you—will you give heed to His voice? Why put it off? Tomorrow may be too late: God offers you nothing for tomorrow, no, He says, “Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Do you believe Him? Oh, take God at His word now, and be saved for time and eternity.

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). You want rest, and it can only be found in Jesus. If you want to go to heaven, you must get there through Jesus, through what He has accomplished upon Calvary: there is no other way, nor is there any other name given among men whereby you must be saved. Will you not accept Jesus now, and go on your way rejoicing?

Remember when He comes it is only those that are ready that will go in; then the door will shut, and the same door that shuts the saved ones in, shuts the unsaved out. Oh, reader, are you ready should the Lord come today? If you have not got the oil, you are not ready: “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:10). The oil sets forth the Spirit of God, and if any have not the Spirit he is none of His. Oh, reader, where will you spend eternity? May you decide at once before it be too late. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”

W. G. P. S.

The Old Well;

Or, “If Thou Knewest the Gift of God.”

IN certain parts of Aberdeenshire there are to be found on the country roads old running wells, with quaint inscriptions, erected, I suppose, to refresh the thirsty traveler as he passes on his way. One can easily imagine how welcome these would be to man or beast, on a hot sultry day, after traveling any considerable distance under these conditions.

We had passed it often, the one we are about to speak of, situated now in the city of Aberdeen, close by the Royal Infirmary, although at the time of its erection it had been outside the city boundary. On going up to take a closer look than we had hitherto done, we found the date inscribed 1670, a newer portion explaining that it had been renovated in 1851.

It was not its long history that impressed us, the many times it had given out the refreshing draft, but the wonderful inscription that caught the eye, right on the face of it—

“As Heaven gives free,

So give I thee.”

Our thought at once reverted to the greatest girt that Heaven could bestow, even that Blessed One, our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me quote to you His own words while on earth— “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). Yes, dear reader, God has given many a gift, but as the poet has expressed it, “No gift like this could ever shine.”

Sitting by the well of Sychar, a wearied Man, thirsty too, the Lord of glory, tittered these remarkable words to a poor outcast woman, who had come at noontide for her supply, “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” (John 4:10). Perhaps, like her, you have drunk often of the cisterns of earth; well, listen again to that same voice, “Whoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again” (John 4:13). You may drink, and drink often, but it is impossible to slake the thirst of your soul with anything to be found in this poor world. Let me turn you then to the One who can meet your thirst, and the deepest need of your soul.

In Isaiah 55:1 we read, “He, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” You blame us for our importunity, sometimes presenting these matters before the soul when there is no occasion for it, in your estimation. Oh, beloved friend, if you only knew your condition, a thirsty soul whose state can only be met in time, you would change your mind entirely.

“Give me a drink of water,” said a dying man to his young wife. After he got it, he exclaimed, “That is the last drop of water I shall drink for all eternity,” and shortly after he passed away. Solemn thought.

The prophet Isaiah does not utter his invitation in a whisper, but gives it out with a strong vigorous ring, yet people are quite careless and unconcerned; they think more of the things of earth than of the deep need in their souls; they are like the man with the muck rake in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” who was so engrossed with his groveling in the dust that he could not find time to look up and see the one who offered him a crown. Just think of the language Isaiah uses, “He that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price.” God asks nothing from you; at the best you are only a poor bankrupt sinner.

Again, we have a touching invitation in John 7:37. The Jewish feast is nearly ended. They had failed to get what their souls longed after. Jesus at once takes note of the occasion, and puts Himself before the people as the One who can give them what they are in search of. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.” If ordinances could have met the thirsty soul of man, what a chance it would have been at this time; but no, my reader, the last day of the feast had been reached when this blessed invitation was given, and you, if you are to come in for God’s blessing, must get it from the same Person who stood there that day, though now no longer on earth, but exalted to the right hand of God in highest heavenly glory.

In the first eight verses of Revelation 21 we get the Eternal State, and it is remarkable what comes between the two conditions there described. Notice that wonderful verse, so full of meaning, “I will give to him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Rev. 21:6). Observe the order; God says, “I will give,” to whom? “Him that is athirst.” How does He give? “Freely.” Could anything be more blessed? Drink, beloved. The time for availing yourself of this opportunity will soon be past, and then, what then? The blackness of darkness for eternity. In Revelation 22:17 we have God’s final invitation given, “And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

Ere the inspired writer closes the sacred volume, he gives the last call, and oh, I pray you, at the peril of your soul, neglect it not.

J. R. S.

David's Fall and Restoration.

(Read 2 Samuel 11, 12:1-23; Psalms 51, and 32.)

THESE three scriptures present David to us in three totally different positions and conditions. In 2 Samuel 11-12 we see him as a callous backslider. In Psalms 51 we have a broken-hearted penitent, and there is something very exquisite about the language of that psalm. In Psalms 32 he is a happy, restored believer—a man that can witness to the grace of God. How blessed when you can shout for joy, and that is what the grace of God leads a man to do.

If you are a backslider you are a very unhappy person. If you have allowed what the sinner is allowing all along the line—the flesh—you are a miserable person, and you will never be happy till you get to God in confession, and have the whole matter out with Him. If you have never been converted—brought to God—you are in your sins, serving the devil, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and in distance from God. You may not have any very distinct sense of your sin, and the consequences of it, but that does not alter the fact. God wake you up—there is an awful eternity before you, if you die in the many sins that enwrap your soul, though you do not feel the weight and burden of them. I do not say you have sinned in the same way that David did, but his history shows where the flesh will carry even a saint of God if he is not watchful.

We read that “at the time when kings go forth to battle,” David “tarried still at Jerusalem” (2 Sam. 11:1). He tarried in laziness, and there is nothing that tends to lust like laziness. God did not mean you and me to be lazy. If David had been, as he should have been, occupied with the interests of the Lord in connection with the kingdom, he would not have been entrapped by the devil as he was. As a result he broke three commandments— “Thou shalt not covet,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt not kill.” You say, It is a very bad case—I admit it, I do not want to minimize it. You say, Why do you draw our attention to it? Because God has written it as a warning to you and me, that we may, on the one hand, learn what poor things we are, and, on the other, how deep and infinite is the grace of God when a man takes his right place before Him.

We next read in 2 Samuel 11:27, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” Do you think your life has pleased Him? Get into the light of a question like that. You say, Oh, my life has not been like David’s. But has your life pleased God? I should like to remind you that “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Heb. 11:6). Again, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8), and you may depend upon it if your life has not pleased the Lord, it has “displeased” Him.

Here is a man that for twelve long months has been guilty of the deep and terrible sins God records, and he thought nobody knew. Is that where you have taken shelter—nobody knows? God knew and said to David, “Thou didst it secretly” (12:12)— that is a tremendous charge. But notice how God reached his conscience. It was by a parable. The parabolic teaching of Scripture is very beautiful, and if you would wash a saint’s feet you will usually do it better by a parable than by plain speaking and exhortation. For twelve long months David had been in a callous, backsliding state. I do not think he would deny that; and if I say you are a callous sinner am I stating what is not true? Oh no, but mark—your whole history is known to God, you cannot hide it, and it will all come out. The Lord knew David’s history, and He knows yours. The day when you must face God about your bygone history and your bygone sins must come. When is it to be? is the question. Shall it be now in the day of grace, or tomorrow, in a day of judgment? Face God, meet God, have to do with God about your life, your ways, your sins, you must. I am not going to wait for a judgment-day to bring me to the Lord. Christ was once offered for sins, and “suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” I have not been brought to glory yet, but I have been brought to God, and He has filled my heart with peace and joy for seven and forty long years. Eternal praise to His name!

There is much encouragement in this story of David, because it so blessedly brings out the grace of God. Was he happy? The 51St Psalm lets out that he was the most miserable man in all Jerusalem. There is no one so miserable as a backslider, who knows there has been that in his life which was not right, and he fears exposure. If you don’t want a thing known—don’t do it; and if you don’t want a thing repeated—don’t say it. You say, Oh, but I have done it. Then own it to God at once, for it will come out, it is bound to come to the light someday. David was miserable, and the Lord saw his misery. It was not an angry God that told Nathan to go down and have a talk with David—no, it was a God of infinite compassion, who loved David then, and has loved us enough to give His own Son to die for us. He tells us what is in His heart in order that we may unburden ours. That is the kind of God we have to do with.

Nathan tells the story of the rich man that spared to take of his own flock and herd, but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the stranger that was come to him, and David is angry—his eye flashes, his tongue speaks freely, his judgment is emphatic— “The man that hath done this thing shall surely die” (12:5). It is very easy to judge your neighbor—we can all take the judgment-seat with the utmost nonchalance. David takes the judgment-seat, and when he has pronounced judgment the answer comes, “Thou art the man.” That shot went home. And that was not all, he is reminded of all that God had done for him— “I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul... and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things” (12:7, 8). God says, There is nothing I would not have given you, and see what you have done. “Wherefore halt thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?” (vs. 9).

My friend, are you sure that you have not despised Him? Have you never coveted? You may not have done what David did, but God says, “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). When God’s Spirit brings home to you, that though a sinner you are the one God in grace has His ‘eye upon, it is a great moment in the history of your soul. Have you not done evil in His sight? Careless, heedless sinner, what hast thou been doing? Evil in His sight. The devil would fain blind you as to this, for his great object is to keep the truth out of sight, he does not want you to see things as they are before God. Hence we read— “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 that believe not” (2 Cor. 4:4).

God always charges the truth home on the conscience, so says, “Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword” (12:9). You are the murderer, David—no matter whose hand was used to do the deed, you are at the bottom of it. You may say, How could David ever hold up his head again? He could not have done so had he not got down on his face before God. Mark—God does not cover up not cloak the sins of His people. All through Scripture we find that if God’s people fall into sin, and depart from God, He will not cover it, and yet He will take care of His, own name. How many people know today about David’s sin? The whole world must know it. Wherever the Bible goes, from end to end of the earth it is known. What do we learn from it? What sin a saint of God can be guilty of, and he’s the grace of God can restore such an one.

Note the effect of this plain dealing. David says “I have sinned against the Lord” (vs. 13); I believe that confession was what God was aiming to produce. It was the first turning of David’s soul God-ward then, and it is exactly the same with every sinner when he is brought into the presence of the Lord in an attitude of confession. You say, I have often said “I have sinned.” Do you know the end of some others who have said it? Pharaoh twice said it (Ex. 9:27, 10:16), yet he fought on against God, was drowned in the Red Sea, and I doubt not—vessel of wrath that he was—went to hell for eternity. So said Balaam (Num. 22:34), yet he continued his hypocrisy, and died fighting against God’s people.

Merely saying “I have sinned” will not do. So said Achan (Josh. 7:20) and Saul (1 Sam. 15:24), but I do not find in any of these cases the real, deep, genuine repentance that goes on in David’s history, and in the history of the poor prodigal (Luke 15:21), though he was not a backslider, but a sinner in his sins brought to God. He never had on the best robe till he came back. That parable shows that there is no case too bad for God: and if you be a careless shiner in your sins, a rebel against God, yet from your lip there comes honestly “I have sinned,” you are in for blessing. The prodigal adds, “I am no more worthy to be called thy son”— that is repentance—true self-judgment.

Immediately David says “I have sinned,” Nathan replies, “The Lord also hath put away thy sin” (12:13)— that is the way grace comes in. Yet I do not suppose he got peace directly—I think David was seven days before he got it, and he spent them on his face on the earth. There was deep exercise going on in that man’s soul, as he fasted, and cried to God for the life of the child.

Now pass on to Psalms 51 and see what David says there, because I do not doubt that God gives us there the record of what went on in his soul at that time. And if you have never yet got into God’s presence, it may encourage you to get down before the Lord, as David did. Listen to his cry— “Have mercy upon me, O God”— he had no pity on the rich man he adjudged to die; he says, as it were, I had no pity, but you have got pity— “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness.” He laid down the multitude of his sins by the side of the multitude of God’s tender mercies, and you can go into God’s presence, and by the side of His tender mercies you can lay down your sins. “Thy loving-kindness,” and “Thy tender mercies”— that is one side; and the other is “My transgressions,” and which are deeper? Thank God there is something deeper than your guilt, and that is the grace that can cover it; and higher than the mountain of your sins is the grace that can rise above them and wipe them out.

There is nothing superficial here, nothing slipshod— “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin,” is David’s cry. He wanted to be cleared of everything that had ruined his life, and spoiled his history. “I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me,” is his honest confession (vs. 3). The secret of the misery of those long, weary months, all dry, arid, and parched, with nothing fresh or green anywhere, lay in the fact that he had not confessed his sin to God. Outwardly he was a callous backslider, but inwardly— “My sin is ever before me,” was his experience. If that describes your condition, my friend, there is only one way out of it—make a clean breast of everything before God.

Now mark the intensity of David’s confession: ― “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (vs. 4). Had he not sinned against Uriah, and against Bathsheba, and against all Israel? He had, but mark, these are all eclipsed—he sees but One eye, he is in One presence, the light of the glory of the Lord wraps him round, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned”; he is alone with God. He might say to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord,” but here you get the exercises of his deeply repentant soul in the very presence of God. But, as he judges himself, see how he clears God, saying “That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest” (vs. 4). If God has eventually to judge you in your sins you may be perfectly certain you will justify Him for His judgment, as David did here, and as the Lord Jesus justified Him in the agonies of the cross.

In Psalms 22 The heart experiences of the blessed Lord, when He took the place of sinners, and bore their judgment, are revealed as He says, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (vs. 3). What does He say in the darkness and distance of the cross? This is not fair, righteous, and just. No! Listen, “Thou art holy.” He clears God. Unheard of God, and forsaken of God, He justifies Him in His very forsaking of Him, because He knew the awfulness of sin and what its judgment must entail—separation from God. And because God forsook Jesus on the cross, He can now forgive you and me and righteously justify us. You had better confess your sins and justify Him now, and not die in those sins, and then, damned for eternity, justify Him all too late.

I daresay David had a very good opinion of himself before his fall—now he is judging himself, for he has found out what is in him. God looks for reality and will have “truth in the inward parts.” Desiring this with all his heart he prays, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.” Hyssop is a little, insignificant, bitter plant, and, in Scripture, symbolizes what is connected with the good-for-nothingness of man, and also with a man judging himself, and owning his sin and guilt before God. It is not until sins are honestly confessed that cleansing and forgiveness can be known. But then how deep the blessing. “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow”— if you get a sense of what the blood of Christ is in its efficacy before God, you will know that your soul, washed in the Saviour’s precious blood, is whiter than snow before God. What follows? “Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones thou halt broken may rejoice” (vs. 8). There had been no real joy for David during the last twelve months, and there has been none in your life if you are not converted. He had been in God’s mill, and his bones were broken.

How terrible had been the consequences of indulged sin! Now see how he shrinks from it. “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities”— an exquisite prayer, the prayer of a penitent heart. Further, “Create in me a clean heart.” We read in Proverbs, “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). Do you know what a man is? Not what he looks, not as he says, not even as he does—but “as he thinketh in his heart so is he” (Prov. 23:7). If the heart be right with God all is well, and in His presence is its deepest joy. Hence comes the cry— “Cast me not away from thy presence,” for he had now a blessed longing after holiness and righteousness, which always marks a saint that is right with God.

David’s next petition— “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me” (vs. 11) was suited to the day in which he lived. He feared lest Saul’s fate (1 Sam. 16:14) should be his. A believer in Christ could not rightly or intelligently pray that prayer now, because, consequent on believing in Christ, dead, risen, and ascended, we have the forgiveness of sins, and the Spirit of God comes and dwells in us. Because the temple has been cleansed by the precious atoning blood of the blessed Saviour, the Spirit dwells in us, on the ground of redemption, and we are “sealed unto the day of redemption,” when we shall be taken out of this scene.

Quite properly might David say, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation”— he had lost it, and when through confession he had got restored, and was upheld by God’s free Spirit, we can understand his purpose— “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (vs. 13); i.e., I will make known to others the infinite mercy of God to a man that has sinned as I have sinned. I do not know how many got converted then, but God has used this tale of sovereign grace to multitudes since that day. “Sinners shall be converted unto thee” is always the effect of a testimony to God’s grace. Unsaved reader, will you not turn to the Lord now? The Spirit of God has used it, and will use it for the conversion of sinners, because it brings out the inimitable grace of God to poor sinners like David, and you and me.

Now comes the climax of this touching scene: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise”— he had had enough sighing for many long months, now he is going to sing. The servants saw David touched by the death of his child—God saw a man deeply affected by His grace, who had also learned “Thou desirest not sacrifice”— no, “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” and if you have a broken spirit God will bless you. “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” God had said to him, You despised My commandment, you despised My word, and Me; and after seven days David says, Thou halt not despised me. Thank God, that is the difference between God and man.

Now look at Psalms 32. There David says, I should like to tell you how I came out of all these exercises. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” When I did not confess these twelve months, “my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long”— a man that is not right with God is like a man with broken bones. You must get into God’s presence, and come under the healing power of His grace. “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (vs. 5.) All is out and now he is happy, he is in the joy of forgiveness. He had no sooner said, “I have sinned,” than in a moment came back the word, “The Lord hath put away thy sin,” but before he had the full sense and the joy of forgiveness, he went through the exercises of the 51St Psalm.

The man that turns to God is always blest, so he can add, “Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble”— God was his Saviour and his hiding-place. Observe the Lord’s response— “I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” God says, Not only have I been your deliverer and hiding-place, but I will be your guide; and if you have got God for your Saviour, your hiding-place, and your guide, you are right well off, and can surely sing. I like to meet singing saints, downright happy saints, and such we ought all to be.

God’s final word of counsel here should be noted— “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.” Some people are desperately impetuous, and have to be bridled; others are stubborn, like the mule, and have to be whipped.

The conclusion is splendid— “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (vs. 11). If you go back to the story you will find that after the child Was dead, David got up, and washed, and changed his apparel, and went into the house of the Lord, and worshipped. He was a happy worshipper—I think I hear him singing. He had got the sense of the unfathomable mercy and goodness of God, and that led out his heart in praise and worship. The curtain falls on David enjoying God in a way that is absolutely beautiful.

May you and I know God’s heart and His unfailing grace after this sort more fully.

“Oh, to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,

Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;

Prone to leave the God I love;

Yet Thou, Lord, hast deigned to seal it

With Thy Spirit from above.”

W. T. P. W.

The Dying Judge.

A LADY in feeble health, as to whom I had never been satisfied that she had received the Lord Jesus Christ as her own personal Saviour, much surprised me by the very great interest she evinced in the spiritual condition of one to whom she was related. Both one and the other had passed the ordinary limit of human life. He was by profession a judge, and had sat on the bench for many years. Naturally somewhat proud, yet withal kind of heart, he had lived an active, useful life, and was looked up to as one possessed of a fair, unbiassed mind, and whose judgment on most things was worth securing, and his advice was sought by many amongst his large circle of friends. He lived alone, never having married, and had enjoyed very good health, but at the time when the above-mentioned lady was so concerned about him his health had begun to break up. She pressed me very earnestly to go and see him, and speak to him about his eternal welfare.

From this I rather shrank, for I had always regarded him as somewhat formidable to approach; and being by many years his junior, and never having had any conversation with him upon such topics, I was much disinclined to face what, to me, appeared more or less of an ordeal. However, my friend was so importunate that, laying the matter before God, and pleading with Him to guide, I sallied forth one day to visit him. His sister received me kindly, and hearing what I had come about, told me, in a few moments’ anxious conversation, how serious his illness was, and how very unhappy she was about his state of soul and the opinions he expressed. She was a simple believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and knew Him as her Saviour. All her anxiety was about her brother, and as I left the room for another apartment where he was, she assured me of how earnestly she would pray that God would bless the conversation.

He was sitting in an arm-chair and greeted me in a friendly manner. As long as we talked on ordinary subjects he remained in a gracious mood. Presently, when, however, allusion was made to his state of health, and I remarked upon what a difference it made when one was ill, whether one was at peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning death, and sure that all one’s sins were forgiven, or whether one was in doubt as to these things, immediately his tone changed, and he rather petulantly said: “It is all a puzzle to me. Why I was ever brought into this world I do not know; and why I should have been left in it for so many years I cannot tell; nor why I am now to be taken out of it.”

“Perhaps it might be difficult to solve those questions,” I replied. “But, after all, is not the important thing to be quite sure when one has to leave the world, that all one’s sins are forgiven by God, and to be certain of being saved forever through Christ?”

“To me,” replied the judge, “the whole thing is utter nonsense. I had no voice as to the question of my entrance into the world, or as to how long I was to remain in it; and now I am told that I shall go to heaven if I believe in a man that lived off in the East, some eighteen hundred years ago, in a land that I have never seen, and that I have no interest in, and who died on a cross. What possible connection can there be between me, a man in the British Isles, and a person who is said to have lived thousands of miles away, hundreds of years ago? It seems to me positive folly, and no one who uses his senses could accept it.”

How forcibly the words came home to me at that moment: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:13). And how helpless one felt, knowing that only God Himself could open the blind heart, and make clear what is hidden from the wise of this world (1 Cor. 1:19)! As Nicodemus of old expressed his astonishment when the Lord insisted upon the necessity of being born again in these forcible words— “How can these things be?”

“But,” said I, replying to the judge, “suppose that the man that died in the East, as you say, were none less than the blessed Son of God, and suppose that it be true that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not pariah, but have everlasting life,’ would it not alter the case very much? And suppose that during this long life of yours, you have committed sins, and that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin,’ would it not be well that you knew this loving, giving God as your God, and knew His Son, whom He has given, as your substitute and Saviour, and knew the all-cleansing power of His precious blood to remove every stain of sin?”

Alas! my poor friend seemed to get angry as the simple, blessed truth was pressed upon him; and turning to me sharply he said with some vehemence, “I tell you what you say sounds as folly to me,” and he seemed to wish the interview was terminated.

I could only silently lift my heart to heaven, and with deep pity seek a word from God for his soul There was a moment of pause in the torrent of his invective, and seizing the opportunity I said to him solemnly: “Your remark reminds me of a striking passage of Scripture. It reads thus: ―

‘THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT PERISH FOOLISHNESS, BUT UNTO US WHICH ARE SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.’

Do you observe,” said I, “that the Scripture states that it is ‘THEM THAT PERISH’ who regard the cross as ‘FOOLISHNESS’, which appears to be your estimate of it; but that on the other hand urrro IIS WHICH ARE SAVED it is THE POWER OF GOD’?”

The judge seemed ill at ease, and rose to his feet. Taking the hint I did the same. He made a few further unhappy remarks, which led me to say to him, after bidding him farewell (for I felt sure I should never see him again on earth), “There is one more passage in the Bible I should like to leave with you. The words are these: He that believeth on the SON hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the SON shall not see life, but the WRATH OF GOD ABIDETH ON HIM’” and with these solemn words ringing in the ears of the dying skeptic, I retired from his presence.

His sister awaited me at the foot of the stairs, and with eyes swimming with tears, inquired anxiously as to the result of the interview, and disappointed indeed was she to hear what had taken place. I left the house feeling sure that God’s voice had been heard, whether to be heeded or not, only He could tell.

Some weeks passed, when one day I was accosted by the daughter of the lady who had induced me to make the call. “Oh,” exclaimed she, “did you hear how furious Cousin—was at the talk you had with him? And the report of it has spread through his family, and they are very angry.”

I replied that I had not heard anything more about it, but that what she reported mattered little, provided God would use the plain speaking to the blessing of his soul.

“And,” she continued, “you will be glad to hear God has blessed your words to him. What you said seemed to alarm him, and he could not rest about the matter.” She went on to tell me that our mutual friend, the judge, had for some time after my interview fought hard against the simple truth, of the gospel, but that at length there were signs of breaking down. He seemed to feel the gravity of the question of his sins, and then began to appreciate the love of God in providing His own Son as a Saviour, and His death on the cross as the only possible ground upon which God could righteously forgive sins. And further, she told me of how, in the spirit of a little child, realizing that he was a lost sinner before God, he, marvelous to say, embraced the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, and trusted only in His precious blood as an atonement for his sins. Glory be to God forever!

Soon after the judge passed away without fear of meeting the righteous JUDGE of all the earth, for he knew that that Judge had left the throne above, and, taking the culprit’s place, had Himself become the VICTIM, in order that He might be able, in all the love of His heart, as the risen and glorified One, to receive to Himself forever in the bright courts above all who truly repent and come to Him.

J. C. T.

"I Shall Pray and Get Pardoned."

“WHEN the doctor shakes his head and says, ‘I can do no more’; when I am asked to arrange my affairs, and give my final directions; when the door-knocker is muffled, and friends move softly about the sick-room, and speak in low tones—then it will be time enough for me to seek mercy, I shall pray and get pardoned.” So said a procrastinator.

Will you say likewise? Listen! The hour was late when a messenger arrived with a note. Its contents were urgent: “Come at once, a soul passing into eternity, without God and without hope.”

I reached the address given, and found a woman dying. Loving hearts and willing hands surrounded her couch, ready to minister to every need, and anticipate every desire. Only yesterday in health and strength, today face to face with eternity! ETERNITY!

Death’s powerful grasp had laid her low, and go she must. It was in vain to plead that she did not invite, expect, or prepare for him. Remorseless and relentless, he would not unloose his hold upon his victim. As I gazed upon the dying woman, I recognized her as one whom I had passed in the street, only a few short hours before. I bent at her side and repeated scripture after scripture, speaking of God’s grace and Christ’s precious blood. No sign or sound indicated that even with the outward ear she heard the word of life. Silently and sadly her immortal spirit passed into the unseen world without even a prayer. She had put off the salvation of her soul until a dying hour. That terrible hour had come.

Are you sure your end will not be like hers? The Christian friend, who urged me to come and see her, knew her well, and, alas, knew that she was the deluded victim of procrastination.

What of yourself? Can anything be more sadly solemn than to leave a happy home, a circle of loving friends, to pass through the valley of death, with no Saviour’s arm to lean on, no Saviour’s precious blood to trust in, no Saviour’s love to cheer the soul with light, and peace, and joy.

Then think of your destination. We will not speak of the undying worm, and the unquenchable fire, true though they are; but you are going where neither love nor friendship exists. Going where all are hateful and hate each other. Going into the abode of demons. Going to spend eternity with the whoremonger, the murderer, the thief, the liar. Going into the society of companions you would shrink from associating with in this world. Worst of all, going by your own deliberate choice, into blackness of darkness forever! No ray of light, or love, will ever penetrate that dread abode. You will pray, but prayer will not save you then any more than now. Prayer is not God’s way of salvation. Many a man has prayed earnestly and fervently, without repentance toward God or faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, when brought face to face with death.

Let me narrate to you an incident just before war was declared between Spain and the United States. Captain S—was commissioned to take a vessel to New York which had been purchased by the American Government. On board were several American officers. A more godless set it would be hard to meet. Their profanity was a constant sorrow to the Christian captain. After the vessel had been at sea a few days, one of the sailors came to the captain with an alarmed expression on his face. The captain followed him below deck, and discovered the hold was on fire. The powder magazine at any moment might explode, carrying certain destruction to the vessel and all aboard.

Captain S—returned, told the officers what had happened, warned and them that in a few moments they might be in eternity!

With blanched faces and terror-stricken voices they said “Captain, what shall we do?”

“Cry to God for mercy,” said Captain S—; “for myself I have nothing to fear, I shall go straight to my Saviour in heavenly glory.”

Sincere prayers fell from those godless men’s lips, as they were thus suddenly at death’s door.

At this solemn moment the captain thought of a way to avert the danger; so he said, “There is only one possible way the ship can be saved from being blown to pieces, that is by flooding the hold with water.” They caught at the suggestion, the water was turned on, and now apparently all was right. No sooner was imminent death removed than they began to laugh at their fears. Their language and conduct were as godless as ever. They were in the midst of their mirth when a new danger threatened the ship. During the needful repairs to the vessel before leaving dock, alterations had been made, and the engineer could not discover where to insert the key to turn of the water, which was now rapidly filling, the ship. A watery grave now confronted these godless men. They had escaped from one death only to encounter another. Again blank despair and terror seized them. Again they were bidden to turn to God for mercy, as their only hope lay in Him. Again they prayed. All indeed seemed lost, but at the most critical moment, when hope was almost extinguished, the captain heard a click, as he inserted the key, and he felt sure God had seen fit to deliver them from this death also.

After having satisfied himself that immediate danger from this quarter was over, he told them that there was after all a possibility that the ship might reach her destination, crippled though she was from the fire, which had affected one of her propellers.

Surely after this double deliverance these men will be altered characters? Alas, no! The immediate prospect of death over, they lapsed into profanity again: careless and unsaved they reached New York. Instead of acknowledging the hand of God in their deliverance, they laughed, and jested boastingly to their companions, but said nothing about their shaking knees, blanched faces, and terror-stricken hearts, at the prospect of death.

Whilst Captain S—was telling me of these men, I thought, Here is another instance of the deceitful nature of death-bed repentance.

How many confound the prayer of an affrighted man with repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to be safe for eternity, and ready for death at any moment, get saved now. The captain had committed his all to a living Saviour who has abolished death. He knew that a glorious home with that Saviour in the Father’s house awaited him. He could calmly look through death’s dark portal to life, light, and love beyond.

Tell me honestly, can you do so? Do not say, “I shall pray and get pardoned when death comes.” Perhaps like that poor dying woman, death may come to you in a form that deprives you of power to speak, or think, ere you breathe your last, or, if you can pray, your prayer may be like those affrighted American officers, without a spark of real repentance toward God.

CHRIST, not prayer, is the alone way of salvation.

Repent and believe. This is God’s way of appropriating that salvation, but it must be today to be sure of it. Delay, and one day God may say to you—I have called. Ye refused. You shall call. I will not answer (Prov. 1:24-31).

H. N.

Atonement by Blood.

SIN is a grievous thing, and the consequences to men who commit it, whether governmental or final, are terrible unless God provide a means whereby atonement can be made for the offense. The sinner is therefore entirely in the hands of Him against whom he has sinned.

If God appoints that which can make atonement, well and good. If He does not, the iniquity of the offender can never be purged. What a solemn thought this is! In what a position does the sinner stand with God! No thoughts of man, no suggestions of his own heart will here avail! God’s thoughts are the thoughts he really wants to be made acquainted with, to learn whether atonement can avail on his behalf. The remedy must be prescribed by God and submitted to by the offender.

“By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Man has therefore forfeited all claim to life on earth because he has sinned against God.

But the life here is not everything. As an immortal creature man exists, and must exist forever. Therefore, as a sinner by nature, another question arises, viz., the condition of his everlasting existence.

Can he have everlasting life, or must he forever have his part in the second death? Can he, though he has sinned, have a standing in God’s presence by means of atonement, or can he not?

These questions it is in the province of God’s Word to answer. It does answer them satisfactorily and exhaustively. God has provided the needed atonement, but it is atonement by Blood!

“Precious, precious blood of Jesus,

Shed on Calvary;

Shed for rebels; and for sinners, —

Shed for me.

Precious blood, whose full atonement

Makes us nigh to God!

Precious blood, our song and glory,

Praise and laud!”

Justified, Reconciled, and Saved.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But 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. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”— Romans 5:1-11.

FOUR effects of the gospel are presented in this scripture: first, the believer is justified before God—there never can be a charge laid against him; secondly, he has peace with God—his heart is perfectly at rest in the knowledge of God, and in the knowledge that every question that God could raise has been settled to God’s own glory; then, the man that believes the gospel is reconciled to God by the death of His Son; and lastly, “we also joy, in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now I think, my reader, that this fourfold fruit of faith in the Lord Jesus puts a charming aspect upon the gospel. If you have been afraid of it, you need not be—it will justify you, you will have peace with God, be reconciled to Him, and the next thing is instead of seeking for something to fill your heart with joy you will have reached the abiding spring of everlasting joy. If you bring the thought of God into man’s world, it upsets; if you spoke of Him in a ball-room you would be told that was not the place to speak of such a subject. Why? Because man does not know God. But the apostle ends his statement here with this, “We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He is the spring and source of abiding joy in our hearts—we know Him. I know I am loved of God.

The apostle introduces here, for the first time in this epistle, the native source of the gospel and its joys—God’s love. You and I thought He was righteous and vengeful, and make no mistake about it, He is not going to pass over sin. Sin and God never meet except for judgment. Well then, says a guilty sinner, what am I to do? You know what Augustine said— “Wouldst thou flee from God—flee to Him.” That is to say, if you want to get away from the righteous judgment which you know the holy hand of God must minister to you because you are a sinner, you must flee to His arms, and you will find that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but hive everlasting life.”

It is a wonderful thing for the apostle to say here, “We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation.” We have the reconciliation. God did not need reconciliation, for He was never opposed to man. Reconciliation is that two who have been sundered by hard thoughts, separated because of something coming in to estrange them, are brought together in the bonds of love. Who needed reconciliation? Man. God did not—He was never unreconciled. It is the sinner that needs reconciliation, it is the heart that has got estranged from God that needs reconciliation.

But what is it that effects this? The apostle says, “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” Reconciliation is effected by Christ’s death in which is seen the complete and absolute removal of that which was between us and God. Sin has produced distance, and the sense of want of confidence on our side. What was on God’s side? Love. What was on our side? Distrust.

Now, my unsaved friend, it is quite true that you are a sinner, but I rejoice to tell you that God is not looking for you to bring anything to Him, because He has found all He wants in the Man Christ Jesus. He has found all that He looks for in man—in Him. Hence the importance of looking away from yourself to Christ, clinging to Christ, and appropriating Christ. There is not a word about you and me in the gospel, it is all about Christ. You say, I thought it was for me. Yes, but not about you, it is all about Jesus—what He is to God, and what He was, as revealing God to this world— “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”

Did Christ come down here saying, You are a sinner? No. We read in John 3 of Nicodemus coming to Him in the darkness of night, and He said to him, in effect, God is love. He might and did tell him that he needed new birth, reconstruction (for man cannot be reformed, though the world is full of newfangled reformation societies), but His tale was that God loved the world. Now, notice that the gospel comes to a man that is past improvement, and what cannot be mended must be ended. There is an end before you that is awful unless you find out what is the end of man in the cross of Christ. Peter says, “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?” And “What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” There is no end, and yet there is an awful end—endless blackness, darkness, misery—that is the end of the man that has not obeyed the gospel.

God has come out in the person of Christ, who has done a work whereby you and I can be absolutely blessed. No one could reveal God but His own Son, and now something new is made known—the gospel is made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, that is, that you and I should believe that God is as good as He says He is. He is as holy and righteous as Scripture says He is, and sin is a great deal more terrible to God than to you and me. In the gospel, as proclaimed by Jesus, I hear God speaking, and telling me what He is. He is not telling me what I ought to be. Moses could bring me the claims of God, tell me what I ought to be, and show me also that I was bound to be condemned because I was not what I ought to be. The Eternal Son of the Father has stepped into this world to tell me what the love of God is, and He has accomplished a work whereby God is able to save the vilest sinner.

The man that gets hold of that truth will receive the reconciliation upon this ground, that God has received the atonement. The question of sin must be taken up according to the infinite holiness of God, and, thank God, it has been settled by the only One who could settle it. My hope is in the One who is exactly what God would have Him to be, and who, being what He was, could and did meet all the claims of God in His pathway and life down here, and then, in His death, could offer Himself without spot to God, and make atonement for the sin of others. God has deep interest in you and me, 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.”

Perhaps you have thought that it was the good world that God loved. There is no such world. The world is the scene that is made up of people like you and me, that have lived without the knowledge of God, and done their own will; and when we learn that God loved us, and gave His Son even to death for our sins, that touches our hearts, and we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

If you have never yet been brought to know the blessedness of the gospel, just listen to the Word of God. Peace with God is a wonderful thing—so also is “no condemnation,” no possibility of a charge being laid against you, for it is God that justifies. The gospel is for the lost—it is for anybody and everybody. Will anybody that believes the gospel ever be condemned? Impossible! It is God that justifies. God will either justify or judge you. When will He justify you? Now. When will He judge you? When, at the second resurrection, you come out of your grave in your sins, for the man who dies in his sins will rise in his sins, and go into eternity in his sins, and that is what makes the present moment of vital importance. Be in time!

Who will condemn in that day? “It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” What a wonderful thing! Who will justify me? God. Who will plead my case? Christ. This is too simple for many—they think they must be something, do something, bring something, or offer something, and they do not get peace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace with God is the first effect of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ— “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ stands in all the favor of God. The horizon of the Christian is divided into three segments—past, present, and future. As regards the past, there is peace about every question. Christ has made it, I have got it.

What is the canopy over my head? Grace—the very favor in which Jesus stands. Is not Christ in favor? So am I, because I am in Christ, stand in favor, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. I can express the horizon of my soul in three words, peace, grace, and glory. Happy man! Of course I am—why aren’t you? I have peace with regard to all the past, am in the favor of God just now, and am going right into the glory of God.

In the meantime you will meet with tribulation—that will do you no harm. It will wake you up, and brighten you up, and it works patience, and patience works experience, and experience hope. The journey may be shorter or longer, but the end is the glory of God. I am on the road to be with the Lord, I have the support of the Lord on the way, and I am experiencing His grace and goodness, and “hope maketh not ashamed.” The hope that has God for it support, and Christ for its object, can never be pill to shame. We “wait for the hope of righteousness,” which is glory, everlasting rest and blessing with the precious Son of God.

“Hope maketh not ashamed.” Christian, the world may laugh at you now, but it will not laugh long. The world’s laughing days are very short—the Christian’s laughing days will be very long. “As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool.” But if you joy in God will that spring ever dry up, will that river of pleasure ever be exhausted? Never. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” You may say, But I do not feel that I love God. This verse does not speak of our love to God—that is very feeble—it is the love of God to us. I believe Christ died for me, and met all the claims of God. He is now in heaven a glory-crowned man, and the Holy Ghost has come to tell us that He is there, and thus “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

The Holy Ghost sheds abroad in our hearts the wonderful truth, that we are the objects of God’s love. What a miss is yours if you do not know it. You say, I think I am a Christian. No one is a true Christian unless he has the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God in the heart. You may not buy it, do not earn it, could not deserve it, and cannot win it. Who gets it? The man that believes in Jesus.

Look at the description in Romans 5 of what was the state of the man in whose heart the Holy Ghost is now shedding abroad God’s love. Look at the fourfold description of us when in nature’s darkness. It is like a lamp with four sides— “without strength,” “sinners,” “ungodly,” “enemies.” Now we all like to have a little strength—and the cry is, I am so weak. Thus sinners struggle, strive, and try to be better, until they discover they are without strength. Do you know what a creature without strength has to do? Let someone else do for him. I think people do not get the gospel because they have too much strength. Give up all your efforts and be what you are, a downright hell-bound sinner in your sins, and let Christ grip you and save you.

What lovely tidings are these— “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” What was the due time? When God had tried and tested man for four thousand years, and found him utterly helpless and a law-breaker to boot. When man was hopelessly lost, then into this world came the Son of God, and died for the ungodly. Not for the godly but the ungodly. The gospel turns a sinner into a saint, by the discovery that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. There is a warmth, a gush, a divine heat about the love of God that is exquisite. He loves a man that is a sinner, and when he learns he is loved of God, he says, “I should like to please the One that loves me.”

How blessed is it to know that “we shall be saved from wrath through him,” i.e., Jesus. What is the coming wrath? Wrath you will never exhaust; you will never rise out of. It is the wrath of God, and if you are not saved, God grant you may not sleep on your bed tonight until you are. The wrath of God you will never exhaust if you come under it. The language of Scripture is awfully solemn: regarding it do not let the devil deceive you, and let no half-hearted Christian deceive you by telling you that when you die there is the end of you. The apostle says, “We shall be saved from wrath through him,” “being now justified by his blood.” That blood has met all the claims of God, and has forever quenched the flames of the lake of fire for the believer. Either the Saviour’s blood quenches that flame for you, or you will have to taste and endure it—which shall it be? Where will you spend eternity—in the glory, or in the everlasting misery that you have bought with your sin, and made certain by the awful unbelief that despises Christ?

Christian, ring this out through the world— “We shall be saved from wrath through him.” Such is God’s love to us. We are sinners saved by grace. We were once strengthless and ungodly, but now are saved by Him. What a Saviour is Jesus! Who would not trust Him and seek to serve Him?

W. T. P. W.

"Ah, so They tell us."

A SHORT time ago two worldly young fellows walked into the hot room at some Turkish baths, apparently for their first visit, for, after being in a few minutes, one of them exclaimed, “Whew, isn’t it hot? If it is much hotter than this down below we shall not last long.”

A dear Christian, who was lying unobserved at the far end of the somewhat dimly lighted room, said in a low voice, “Forever.”

Upon getting over their surprise at finding they were not alone, the young men laughed, and one said, “Ah, so they tell us.” Our friend again repeated those solemn words “Forever,” and reminded them that the same book which reveals the future of God’s people, and declares their existence is forever and ever, also makes known the eternity of the lost—in the lake of fire—and that forever and ever.

Yes, friends, the Word of God must ever abide. The world and its glory is but as the flower of the field which withereth away, “but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25). Life’s brief day will soon be over, the world and its changes left behind, but how tremendous are the issues of this our life.

Oh, dear reader, think of eternity and its unmeasured and unmeasurable ages, which we have all to spend. Sit down and face the fact, if you have never done so before. Close your ears to Satan’s lies, to men’s false reasoning, and ask yourself that solemn question— “Where shall I spend eternity?”

Oh, let me plead with you very solemnly and very affectionately. Do not let another night, another hour pass, but seek the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.

Now He sits as Saviour, and whosoever will may know Him as such; but He will shortly take His place as Judge. No mercy then, no salvation then—nothing but judgment, nothing but torment. No end to the wretchedness and sorrow of hell. But how different if you turn to Jesus now, and accept the great salvation which has been purchased at the cost of His own blood. Then there will be no end to your bliss, no termination to the songs of heaven, for “in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psa. 16:11).

E. S. B.

Who are Believers?

IN a professing Christian country most persons have been baptized, and taught in some measure to respect the Holy Scriptures and the outward forms of the Christian religion, and also to avoid openly ungodly ways. Thus it is a great mercy to have been brought up in the light of Christianity instead of the darkness of heathendom. However, persons are in danger of resting their souls on these outward proprieties for salvation, and may never have seriously considered whether these forms are sufficient to satisfy God.

Now, everything which is really good will stand proper testing. A good bank note will bear the closest examination, while a forged one will be detected by it. God has given the Holy Scriptures for man’s enlightenment, and they are His voice to everyone who is willing to listen to them. These divine records are full of encouragement for everyone who seeks the truth, while every false way is exposed by them.

Every person should prove his own case by bringing it to the test of the Holy Scriptures. Some persons have not the courage to do this, or they are too indifferent to the importance of it, and so they rely on outward observances, like Adam (of old), who, when he had sinned, made a covering for himself of fig leaves; but they only hid his true condition from his own eyes for a very short time, for when he was called to meet God, he confessed, “I was naked” (Gen. 3:10). That showed the covering was worthless. Now, persons may become what are called Church-members, may partake of the Lord’s Supper, may profess to sing the Lord’s praises, may be earnest workers in the cause of their religion, and yet may never have faced the question of whether they are right with God! They have clothed themselves with fig leaves, but they cannot be called believers.

A believer in the scriptural sense is one who has seen his sinfulness in the light of God, and has rested his soul on God’s provision. Thus, having believed in his soul what God has said about what Christ has done, he knows from the Holy Scriptures that he has forgiveness of sins (see Acts 13:38).

When Paul and Silas went to Berea and preached the gospel, those who listened “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so; therefore many of them believed” (Acts 17:10-12).

These were real believers, and there are such today; and it is well to be one of them. Why should we trust any man when we can trust God?

Men may have many pretensions to be heard, but if they are brought to the test of Holy Scripture they will be proved to be false. Then why should we trust any man about our souls?

God is pleased to send converted men to preach the glad tidings of a present salvation from a coming judgment, and the injunction was, “Preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2); and where this preaching took effect it changed the thoughts, the affections, the expectations, and the whole inward man of the hearers, so that such could indeed be called believers.

The Holy Scriptures state that “Christ... suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Now, it is certain that Christ would not bring persons to God unless they were suited for His holy presence, so He bore their sins in His own body on the tree, and so became the substitute for all those He brings (see 1 Peter 2:24), who are thus accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6).

This blessing is made known in the gospel, so it is for everyone who really believes. Wherever there is any real work of God in any one’s soul, he repents and casts off his fig leaves of false religion or self-satisfaction, or even carelessness and unbelief, in order that he may be clothed with “the righteousness of God which is by faith, of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22). Thus “peace with God” is known in the soul, and it is in this way believers know that they are brought to, God. This is the first great reality to know, and the Holy Spirit (who was sent at Pentecost) is God’s gift to every such believer (see John 4:10).

In this dispensation God has many spiritual blessings in store for His believers, and they are all available for faith; therefore we read, “We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2).

The glory of God is connected with the yet future day of display which becomes attractive to believers, and as its clearness increases so they are drawn in spirit more and more into the light of it, and thus away from all religious formalities which only suit those who are not real believers.

The believer, knowing his name is written in heaven, sees that he has become a fellow-citizen with the saints and of the household of God (see Luke 10:20; Ephesians 2:19; Hebrews 12:23). This further separates him from the world, and he seeks to walk as Christ walked (1 John 2:6).

One very striking feature of this present salvation is, that everyone who obtains it immediately becomes desirous that others should have it also.

This has been so ever since the day of Pentecost, and thus the testimony to God’s salvation has been passed on from one to another, and this has been the most effective way of spreading the gospel.

There has also been the preaching in a public way by persons who have not only had their souls saved, but have been enabled to intelligently use the Scriptures to show others God’s way of peace.

Incorrupted Christendom there are many preachers who are not believers themselves. They do not believe in the atoning death of Jesus; nor in the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth; nor in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. They merely have human ideas of divine things, they are indeed the blind leading the blind, and Jesus said of them, “Both shall fall into the ditch” (see Matt. 15:14).

There are many who follow these false teachers because their teaching suits a sleepy state of soul that does not wish to be disturbed. But all forms and ceremonies copied from either Judaism or idolatry are of Satan, and are used of him to frustrate the truth which was brought to light through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus real believers are obliged to separate from worldly religion (whatever name it may have) in order to be faithful to the claims of Christ, who has a right over the “whole spirit, and soul, and body” of every believer (see 1 Thess. 5:23).

Let everyone see to his own case, that according to Holy Scripture he is a real believer. This gives holy boldness in the things of the Lord, and enables such persons to speak with certainty, because what they say is what Holy Scripture teaches. Thus it is not the private opinion of the speaker, but the testimony of the Word of God. The speaker, too, encourages the hearer to search his own Bible, so that he may be assured of the truth of what he is told.

G. W. GY.

Ready, or Making Ready: Which?

“TELL them the difference—tell them the difference between “being white-washed and washed white. Tell them the difference—tell them the difference between making ready and being ready.”

Such was the very graphic language uttered in my ears one night, by one whose face I had never before seen. How forceful the language. How very descriptive. How true to life of a great deal that exists in the religious profession around us today.

Being white-washed and washed white are two very different things. The one supposes the covering over of a state: the other implies being cleansed from a state. Being covered over with a cloak of religion, in which there may be no heart-reality, is a very different thing from being washed white from every stain of sin, so that you are fitted to stand in the searching light of divine holiness. The contrast is as great as between darkness and light.

To the Church in Sardis the Lord said, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, but art dead.” Is not this very descriptive of not a few who, to all appearance, worship God today? Reader, be not deceived; nothing but inward reality will do for Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire—searching in judgment. May it never be said of you, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”

The five foolish virgins of Matthew 25 had all the appearance of reality. The human eye could not detect any real difference between them and the wise. The difference was inward not outward, hence it was most vital. Man looks appearance: God looks on the heart. The external may command the eyes of our fellows. The internal commands the eye of the great Searcher of hearts.

Being ready to welcome death or the coming of the Lord, at any moment, is a very different thing from going through a process of preparation for either event. To be able to say, like a dying saint, “WELCOME DEATH, WELCOME ETERNITY,” is greatly preferable to being horrified at their near approach. Being comfortably seated inside the railway carriage, ready for the train to start, is a different thing from going to the station to catch the train, and finding to your astonishment and chagrin that it has gone some sixty seconds. The disappointment would be the greater the nearer you were to catching the train—only a minute too late—how mortifying.

Reader, what of ETERNITY? Ponder, O man, Eternity. The train of gospel grace is still here. It is being filled, and may soon receive its last passenger. ARE YOU SEATED AND READY TO START? Are you born again? Are your sins forgiven? Have you peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you truly saved by the grace of God? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Are you in Christ, or in your sins? Are you out of condemnation, or under condemnation? Is your soul basking in the sunshine of God’s cloudless favor? If the Lord Jesus appeared after you read this paper, are you conscious of anything in your heart or life that makes you dislike the thought of His near approach?

I most earnestly beseech the reader not to be deceived on these points. A mistake will be eternally fatal. When the Lord calls His own to meet Him in the air, those whose sins are forgiven, and who are sealed with the Holy Ghost will go—they will leave this doomed world forever to enter the joy of the Father’s house, the many mansions of which the Lord so distinctly spoke in John 14:2. If you are not one of those who go, your doom will be eternally fixed. There will be no reversal on the other side of eternity’s great gulf. All will be FIXED, as our Lord said. Enter in while the door of grace is still wide open. It has been opened wide by the atoning, finished work of Jesus. He said, “IT is FINISHED.”

HASTE YE, HASTE YE.

There is no time to delay. Procrastination may damn your immortal soul forever. YES, forever. Think of your soul. How very precious it must be. Jesus, the Sovereign Lord of the Universe, gave His life to redeem it. He knew the value of it truly when He showed such infinite love to save it. He said, “What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

A person of considerable wealth went to a Continental oculist of great repute, to have an operation performed on his eye. The operation was successful, and in return he sent the oculist a check for £5,000. How valuable the eyes are we can never know until we lose the sight of them. The fee the oculist named was not so much, but out of a grateful heart for the successful operation the gentleman gave this sum.

What is an eye in comparison to a soul that must exist forever, in eternal bliss or eternal woe? “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matt. 25:46). “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). If there be no eternal punishment, there is no eternal life. As surely as there is eternal life, there is eternal punishment. “Eternal” in both cases signifies the same in the original. No Greek scholar can deny this. All support it.

If there be no eternal God there is no eternal judgment. The terms eternal God and eternal judgment are both found in Scripture, the word being the same that denotes the eternity of God’s being, and the endless character of the judgment.

WHO THAT BELIEVES IN GOD DARE SAY THAT GOD’S EXISTENCE IS NOT ETERNAL?

Let anyone take the a “Englishman’s Greek Concordance” and look at the passages where “eternal” is mentioned, and it will be found they all mean the same. For instance, “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). What we see with our natural eyes is only for a time, and will pass away. What we cannot see will abide forever.

Friend, wake up to the fact that you possess an immortal existence. Death may kill the body, but it cannot kill the soul or inner life. So the Saviour said. He knew, He was “God manifest in flesh,” and knew all things. Thrice over, in Mark, He speaks of the worm that dieth not, and the fire that never shall be quenched. The “worm” will be remorse of conscience—conscience shall lash its victim forever. Besides, there will be the governmental judgment of God, which will be as fire in the bosom. (See Mark 9)

Be warned in time. Be wise for yourself. Let not the devil befool you. Let not crafty, subtle men help to deceive you. God’s unerring word is plain, and conscience closes in with its verdict, if you allow its voice to be heard. “Things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth,” will yet be put under the authority of Jesus. Because He humbled Himself for God’s glory, God will give Him this place of power. It will be the highest point of power to which He can be raised.

Every created being is in one of these three circles, whether angel, man, or demon, fallen or unfallen, redeemed or not redeemed. All shall bend the knee, by God’s universal decree, in token of subjection to Him. When the Holy Spirit of God speaks about “things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,” in Philippians 2, He cannot mean inanimate creation—it would be the purest nonsense to even think so. Beings of intelligence are surely meant. Inanimate creation could not bend the knee, or make any confession of His Lordship.

Reader, stop and consider. Which of those circles will you be in? Heaven, earth, or hell—which? Scripture uses language that common people can understand. Heaven is always regarded as above—how far above we cannot say. Hell or Gehenna is always regarded as beneath—how far beneath we cannot say. The earth is between the two—it shall yet be the theater for the display of all the matchless glory of Christ. Earth shall yet be the scene of His universal triumph and adoration. The place that is now so silent as regards His praises shall be filled with them. The place where He received such contempt and scorn shall magnify His matchless worth and excellence.

WHAT A DAY FOR HIM! WILL YOUR HEART REJOICE TO SEE IT?

All heaven owns Him now. Do you? Has He got the citadel of your heart? Have you bowed to Him? Is He your all in all? Does His wondrous love command your heart? Stand at Calvary, and gaze upon Him, in the deepest soul-agony expressing His love for sinners such as you. See Him, who was Lord of all creation, infinite in power and majesty, descend from His glory to die for a sinner like me—like thee. Who would go through such agony, torture, and shame, to save and redeem such sinners as we?

NONE BUT GOD’S BELOVED SON.

Having gone one day to the Londonderry Workhouse to speak to some of the inmates in the infirmary about the love of God in sending His Son to die to save them, I repeated, in the ears of a Roman Catholic, those wonderful lines―

“Could I with ink the ocean fill,

Were the whole sky of parchment made;

Were every blade of grass a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky.”

There seemed no response, but a woman who was lying in the next bed, suffering from paralysis, opened her beautiful black eyes, and fastening them intently on me, exclaimed, “Ah, sir, no parent would give her child for her friend, but God gave His Son for His enemies.”

How very touching for such words to come from the infirmary bed of an Irish workhouse. Do they not sink down into the inmost soul? “No parent would give her child for her friend, but GOD GAVE HIS SON FOR HIS ENEMIES.” The very kernel of the gospel is wrapped up in this statement. Wouldst thou give thy son for thy nearest and dearest? No, no. Then let the love of the blessed God speak into your inmost heart until you exclaim with wonder and adoration, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”

Your sins He cannot love; your sins He abhors. But oh, His tender compassion for you, in spite of your indifference to it. When your eyes are opened to see that love in all its greatness, and your own unworthiness of it, then shall your heart melt and your eyes weep in contrition over those sins that brought the Holy Son of God so low as to suffer for sins, “THE JUST FOR THE UNJUST” (1 Peter 3:18). Then shall you abhor your own sins. Then shall you live to righteousness and die to sinning. Then shall you justify God and condemn yourself. Then shall you see that the very God the devil may have led you to believe was against you, was indeed your best Friend. Then shall you see God as your eternal justifier, and yourself cleared from every charge of sin. Then shall peace flow into your heart like a river. Then shall you understand what it is to have a purged conscience—a conscience on which no stain rests. Then shall joy in the Holy Ghost fill your soul. Then shall your tongue speak forth His praises. Then will you be able to say―

“The proudest heart that ever beat

Hath been subdued in me,

The wildest will that ever rose,

To scorn Thy Word or aid thy foes,

Is quelled, my God, by Thee.

Thy will, and not my will be done,

My heart be ever Thine;

I hail Thee, Christ, my God, my Lord,

And make Thy name my sign.”

Eloquent words! Thrilling words! Noble words to be found written on the fly-leaf of the Bible of one of the boldest and most learned infidels of the last century. What a triumph of grace He could have said with the able apostate Jew in the second century, “O Galilean, Thou hast conquered.”

Reader, Jesus conquered death, and completely broke its awful power. He died in weakness, but He is raised in power. He lives at God’s right hand to intercede for all who believe on Him. He is coming soon—how very soon we know not. He shall yet triumph gloriously. God shall put all enemies under His feet. His down-trodden saints shall share in all His victory. “When he reigns we shall reign with Him.” We shall be glorified together. The glory will be a full compensation for all the sufferings. Let us be more bold in the face of all opposition to witness for Him. Let us speak to others without fear or shame. Let us seek by all the means in our power to win them for Him, so that He may have other witnesses besides ourselves. He alone is worthy. Amen.

“Through that perfect Offering, never

Can our sins against us rise;

Perfected are we forever

By that wondrous sacrifice.

Jesus, Saviour! we are graven

Ever on Thy heart of love;

We shall reach the wished-for haven

In Thy Father’s house above.”

P. W.

The Cost of Salvation.

WE do well to remember that though salvation is offered to us without money and without price, in the largeness and liberality of the grace of God, it has been procured at an infinite cost. And this we must realize if we consider that before God could save a sinner He must be able to do it in accordance with His own righteousness and holiness, as well as in the activity of His mercy and love. If God issued a general pardon to all sinners, irrespective of all satisfaction rendered to Him on account of their sins, where would be His truth, His righteousness, His holiness?

God cannot pass over sin in the free and easy way so common among men. He must punish sin; and the great problem which had to be solved before there could be salvation for guilty sinners was how the sin might be judged, and at the same time the sinner be saved; for God loves the sinner, though He hates the sin. How could this be done? In no other way than by the Son of God going to the cross, and there bearing the judgment of God upon sin. I am bold to say, with most profound reverence, that the salvation of a sinner, consistently with divine righteousness, was a work which taxed the utmost resources of God. To accomplish this, the eternal Son must become a man in this world of sin, and He must be lifted up upon the cross. That blessed One must suffer, or He could not save. The throne of grace from which she extends her golden scepter of salvation to repentant sinners does not stand upon the ruins of justice. Grace reigns, indeed, but she reigns through righteousness, and God is just in justifying the ungodly sinner who believes in Jesus.

The holiness of God has found that which met all its claims in the death of Christ, and divine righteousness has been fully vindicated by that one offering whereby the sins of believers were forever put away. But think of the darkness of that midnight noon, which for three hours enwrapped the Saviour in its gloomy shades. Think of the depth of anguish which wrung from His heart that bitter wail of grief, “My God, my God, why halt thou forsaken me?” What untold travail of soul did He pass through before He could proclaim that His great redemption work was “FINISHED.”

As we contemplate that scene—and may we stand in figure, with unshod feet, as we do so; for the ground is thrice holy—we learn something of what sin is in the sight of God. No sacrifice of meaner rank could satisfy the lofty requirements of divine righteousness; the blood of no other victim possessed the needed efficacy to cleanse the sinner from his scarlet stains of guilt.

“Here we have a firm foundation,

Here the refuge of the lost!

Christ’s the rock of our salvation;

His the name of which we boast!”

C. A. C.

"That Which was Lost."

WHEN I first knew H. F—, his short hair marked him as a prison bird. He was about nineteen years of age, and had linked himself with a party of youths who were notorious thieves. A tradesman who had lost goods repeatedly, determined to prosecute the first lad caught stealing. Poor H. F—was the one.

To avoid the constable in pursuit, he waded through a pond, but was apprehended, and locked up in his wet clothes to await his trial, which resulted in conviction and a period in jail. Consumption was the result of this treatment, which terminated his life in about two years’ time.

After his term of imprisonment, he felt ashamed to show himself in the streets; but hearing one of his brothers went to a class of boys my sister had in the neighborhood, H. F—determined to go (though much older than those who attended), in order to get out of the way at home, where he was not wanted by his parents, whom he had disgraced. Sitting quietly one Tuesday with the boys, God’s blessed message of salvation simply told, was listened to by H. F—with wonder. It was just what he needed. He had now no friends, no character—all about him was proved to be only evil. What good news to hear that the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost—just like him. He received the words spoken, and was saved then and there.

Oh, what a change came over his life from that hour! All things were new, and all was of God. Work was obtained as a costermonger, and he began to preach. It was most touching to hear him tell of how God had met and stopped him on the way to everlasting destruction. Doubtless some were brought to Christ through him. He never seemed to tire of telling out the great things God had done for his soul.

Consumption showed itself, however, only too plainly; the hectic cheek and fearful cough told their own tale, but nothing was allowed to dim the joy of his spirit. Once when calling to take some little delicacy to tempt his failing appetite, his sister met me with the words, “Brother Harry is laughing.” His face was lit up with joy, which she had mistaken for a laugh.

I learned by his bedside much of what God’s grace can do. When the end of his journey came, he begged his mother to get on her knees and pray the Lord to come and release him. “He is so long in coming,” he added, after inquiring what the time was. A little later he cried out with energy, “Mother, He has come; Jesus is here,” and quietly ceased to breathe.

Dear reader, only think what that deathbed would have meant if H. F—had not received God’s salvation. Where are you as to your soul? Perhaps you have lived a very different life from this lad, but there is only one Saviour for the moral or the immoral. Let me entreat you to follow his example in accepting the salvation which God offers now, without money and without price. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

S. R. R.

Seven Eternal Realities.

(Notes of an Address on Luke 16:19-31; 2 Corinthians 5:10-15.)

I CANNOT bring before you here all the eternal realities of Scripture, but I want to show you what lies before a man that dies in his sins. If I had died forty-seven years ago, I should have died in my sins, but if I died tonight, I should die in Christ, and that is very blessed.

I turn to 2 Corinthians 5, to draw your attention to the attitude and spirit which moved Paul as he wrote the solemn words, “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.” We must all go there, but when I get there I shall be like the One who is going to be the Judge. You say, Will you have any fear? No, because He will find nothing in me to judge—it has all been judged at the cross. There will be a reward for everything in your life and mine that suits Christ.

And what about judgment? Ah, that is the dark background of the gospel. If I see what I have escaped, my heart will be thankful to God, and if you have not escaped yet, you will be a wise person to do so at once. Paul says, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” He knew what an awful thing it will be for a man to be at Christ’s judgment-seat in his sins, with the guilt of his life upon him. Paul knew he would not be there in his sins, and every believer is entitled to know it, because Christ has cleared away the sins for which He died, and saved the sinner for whom He gave His life.

“If one died for all, then were all dead,” gives us the most comprehensive view of man’s condition as fallen man. You cannot be before God without the possession of life—you must have what suits God. You cannot win, and you do not deserve life, but it is what God presents. “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” Someone may say, I thought He died for the elect. So He did, but He died for all, and that takes in those who are not the elect.

There were two things that moved Paul, the love of Christ—that was what made an evangelist of him, it impelled him—and the terror of the Lord. Not only do I know that Christ has loved me, but I know what is to be your end if you do not love Christ. It is a very serious outlook. Is the Lord hard in thus judging? God forbid! He gave His own blessed Son that you might live through Him. How He has pled with you many a time, and you have hardened your heart against Christ. “Knowing the terror of the Lord,” I want to persuade you now.

Eternity is an awful reality—the Lord Jesus Christ has described it to us. You say, I do not like to face it. Of course, you do not, but, my friends, I believe it too seriously to let you go on in your careless, sinful state without warning you of it. What does Paul put in the forefront I Christ and His love. What is the gospel? That Christ has died for sinners, and the Holy Ghost has come down, and has been telling men for nearly two thousand years that “God is love.” Noah was one hundred and twenty years building the ark. Men thought him very foolish to build that vessel hundreds of miles from water, but what did he do? He went on driving his treenails, and each one said, “Wrath is coming,” and one day “the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 18:27). Do you not believe that? I do—I believe God. Paul says, I know very well that every living soul of man has yet to do with God, so meantime “I persuade men.” Did Noah persuade men? He tried to. Not one believed, but on he went, and at length the judgment fell.

The last chapter of Acts relates how Paul was from morning to evening persuading men. Did they all get persuaded? No. Some people never are persuaded, and they pass into eternity. The moment is coming when you will pass into eternity. You cannot tell how near it is, but you know very well what a shallow thing human life is, therefore the unspeakable importance of being right for eternity. “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” You are very busy trying to get on in this-scene—you take care of the body, but you have never thought about your soul. The most precious, the most important, the only immortal part of you, you pay no heed to whatever.

To meet God in your sins will be unspeakably awful—for you to pass into eternity where you must meet Christ, the One who died on the tree, but whom you do not know, will be something indescribably awful; and that is why the apostle uses this language, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” There is no terror in my heart as I think of God, oh no; Jesus died for me and, believing in Him, God now justifies me. A believer has peace with God, is reconciled to God, and joys in God. If I could only persuade you to consider what lies before you, and to turn to Christ, you would be eternally blessed. He would heal and save you, and put you into possession of eternal life, and all the everlasting joys that belong to the Christian.

Now I want you to see the end of the man that is not a Christian. Turn back again to Luke 16:19-31. You may say, It is only a figure. Quite true, I do not deny it—it is one of the Lord’s parabolic unfoldings of the truth. In Luke 14 you get the parable of a man who made a great feast, and bade many. That is earth; it is the call of God going out, but men are too busy and too preoccupied to heed it. In Luke 15 the Lord says, I will show you the man that responded to the call, and got the blessing. Who was he—a good man? No, a man so bad that he had nothing to commend him except his misery, and what a welcome he got. It is God rejoicing in man’s salvation. If Luke 14 present earth with all its hindrances, Luke 15 is heaven with all its deep, divine happiness, and I am going there, by grace. The Lord in Luke 16 describes the horrors of hell. How awful to find yourself for eternity in the dark and terrible dungeons of hell! I will not meet you there.

The Lord tells the story of the rich man, faring sumptuously every day, and clothed in purple and fine linen; and of Lazarus, the beggar, lying at his gate, full of sores. The rich man died, was buried, “and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” Abraham’s bosom to a Jew was the spot of perfect blessedness. Look at the contrast in the case of the rich man―ease, luxury, and enjoyment followed instantly by death, burial, and torment. This is the language of the Lord Jesus, it is not mine, but is penned by the Holy Ghost, in the deepest mercy of God, and is like a beacon light on a dangerous coast, to warn you and me.

See a vessel going up a narrow rock-strewn channel on a dark, misty night. The captain knows there are rocks there. Presently the beacon flash of the lighthouse appears, and he knows how to steer. Luke 16 is God’s beacon light, put up in the pathway of sinners traveling to eternity. If you take my advice you will bear away from the woes the warning light of Luke 16 discloses, and glide into the warm, heavenly light of Luke 15—the love of God.

Notice that lost man’s agony. “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.” He never prayed on earth, but he cries now. He had no sense of his need while he lived. It was after life was over, and he was done with time, that he got a sense of his deep need of mercy. You are a sinner, about to pass into eternity, and you will then get a sense of your need of mercy which you never had in your life. Though you may never have been a praying man, you will come to it yet. You do not believe in prayer—God is at a discount—Christ unwanted—the Holy Ghost despised and done despite to, but hell is the spot whence prayers arise, and—forget it not—they are never answered.

I could tell you of answers to prayer—do you know how I was converted? Some Christians in the South of England had put a network of prayer over the utterly godless man I then was. I found it out after. You will never thank God for your damnation, unsaved friend, but mark, it draws nearer and nearer. Awake, ere it be too late. “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Dives wakes up now to pray. Mark his prayer: “Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.” Look at the insensate folly of that prayer. How could one drop of water cool his tongue? Do not forget this, the one drop he asked for he never got. There is thirst in hell—there is no water. “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men,” be persuaded now to see the road you are on.

He has to own, “I am tormented in this flame.” I know you do not believe it, but we will hear the Son of God—the voice of incarnate truth—the language of the One who loved you and me enough to go into death to take us out of it. The speaker says, “I am tormented in this flame,” but he does not ask to get out of it, and all the answer he gets is this, “Son, remember.” Whatever you may leave behind you—and whatever now governs and controls you, must all be left behind—there are three things you will carry with you into eternity. One is your sins, because they have not been washed away; another is your eyes—you will see, you will be conscious, you will have perception; and the third is your memory. “Son, remember.”

Fancy memory let loose in eternity, what a scourge Tell me not of scorpions, of the poison of asps, of vipers—what will the sting of memory be to a lost man, as he remembers privileges despised, opportunities neglected—the calls, and claims, and beseeching’s of the gospel, that touched his heart, but, influenced by things present, he put from him? You will remember by and by that you got a blessed chance of being saved and missed it. God save you now. Make it impossible that the terrors of this scene shall ever be re-enacted in your case. Turn to God, like the prodigal, or memory will by-and-by bring up to your soul the recollection of the privileges you have had and slighted.

Christian, shall I tell you of your eternity? Thank God we have begun it down here—the Comforter has come down and given us the knowledge of the love of God in our souls, and we are passing on to spend our eternity with the Lord Jesus, who describes in our chapter what is the end of the pathway of those who know Him— “comforted.” God grant you may never know the real meaning of “tormented.”

Look again at Dives. Abraham said to him, “Beside all this, between its and you there is a great gulf fixed.” The past, the present, and the future of the lost is here depicted. The past “remember,” the present “tormented,” the future “fixed”— no alteration can then be—this is eternity. Have you ever pondered it—eternity? Observe how this man accepts his fate. The man whose own sin has landed him in this terrible condition accepts the state, for he says, “I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” He is praying for somebody else—he says, My state I accept, but I want no company. You may talk about company now—there is no company there. There is company, and fellowship, and delight, and joy in heaven, but none in hell. Observe, too, how the dead pray for the living. What a lesson to those who today, in absolute blindness, would teach the living to pray for the dead.

Dives says, “Send Lazarus to testify to my brethren.” But Abraham says, “They have Moses and the prophets (that is, the Scriptures), let them hear them.” This is very important, because we live in a day when the Word of God is belittled and scouted. The Lord Jesus Christ here says, “They have the Scriptures”— that is the very thing the devil will not let you believe today, because he knows the value of Scripture, and that it is the sword of the Spirit, and how God uses it, and therefore he gets you to doubt Scripture. You say, I do not believe that scene in Luke 16—and the devil will take care that you shall not believe it, if he can effect it, because it would rouse you absolutely, and you would say, “My case is serious, I must face it.”

I will now give you two or three other scriptures which show what is before the man that has not got Christ. Turn to Isaiah 33:14, “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Take what you like out of it, but observe it is something everlasting, and the Spirit of God says, Who will dwell there? Thank God, I shall not. That is what lies before the man that is not Christ’s.

Now turn to Matthew 18:8, “It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” If there is a hindrance, cut it off—better go into life maimed than go into everlasting fire. Christ the Lord uttered these words.

Again, look at Matthew 25:46, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment”— very solemn, very serious, you do not like these words, nor do I, but there they are—I am not going to minimize them. Nor will you be wise to shut your ears to the following verse: — “He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” (Mark 3:29).

Isaiah says “everlasting burnings,” the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of “everlasting fire,” “everlasting punishment,” and “eternal damnation.” What serious words are these.

Further, we read from the pen of St Paul of “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:9). This is not annihilation, for no man ceases to exist when he dies. The same apostle also speaks of “eternal judgment” (Heb. 6:2). Let me most earnestly beseech you not to set your mind against the testimony of Scripture, of God’s Word. There is one other witness I will call, the apostle Jude. He writes of angels being “reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day,” and that Sodom and Gomorrha are “set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (vers. 6,7).

Take the language of Scripture as it stands, and no serious man but must be impressed with this—there lies before a man who passes out of this scene into eternity unsaved, an awful future, as described in these seven scriptures. The gospel is preached to save you from it, and if you are keen to get blessing for your soul you will get it. What I want you to do now is to ask yourself this question—Where, in the light of God’s Word, shall I spend eternity? There be some who are “never persuaded”; others, like Agrippa, who are “almost persuaded”: may you, like Abraham, be “fully persuaded” to trust the living, loving Lord Jesus. You will then receive the present pardon of your sins, and eternal glory will be your home.

W. T. P. W.

A Speaking Stone.

(Epitaph found on the Tombstone of Three Sleeping Infants.)

“BOLD infidelity, turn pale and die;

Beneath this stone, Three Sleeping Infants lie;

Say—are they saved or lost?

If death’s by sin, they sinned, for they are here;

If heaven’s by works, in heaven they can’t appear;

Ah! reason how depraved!

Revere the sacred page, the knot’s untied,

They died for Adam sinned, they live for Christ has died.”

ANON.

"Life, Life, Eternal Life."

WHEN Christian started on his journey to the Celestial City he was assailed, we are told by Bunyan, by two foes; one was called Obstinate and the other Pliable, and exceedingly troublesome foes they are!

Christian had attributed his start from the City of Destruction to something he had read in a book, and this fact he states to Obstinate. Handing the book to him he says, “Read it so, if you will, in my book.”

“Tush,” said Obstinate, “away with your book!”

Obstinate declined to handle or read the book. He evidently disliked its contents, and had a wholesome dread of them, lest they should show him his obstinacy.

Christian, on the other hand, would not, at the imperious command of Obstinate, “away with his book.” Nay, nay, for that book, though it had pierced asunder his very joints and marrow, and had discerned the intents of his heart, had also held out to him, and to all such refugees from destruction, a fair city and a heavenly welcome! He could not afford thus light-heartedly to fling away such a traveling guide from the place of coming judgment to that of future glory. It was to him “the joy and the rejoicing of his heart.”

Very well, then, Obstinate having been discom-fited, Pliable tries his hand, and a desperately subtle hand it is.

“Do you think,” says he, “that the words of your book are certainly true?”

Surely Pliable must have learned his art in the school of the first “higher critic,” whose words to our mother were, “Yea, hath God said?” He seems to have known exactly what God had said; he could not state a plain falsehood and deny to her words which she also knew; but he questioned their meaning. Alas, Eve listened to his criticism; the serpent beguiled her through his subtilty; she was deceived and was in the transgression!

And so, said Pliable, “Do you think (sic) that the words (sic) of your book are certainly (sic) true?” Oh! how clever, how subtle!

Do not start, dear reader, at my italicizing some of the words of Pliable. I am only quoting from Bunyan’s marvelous allegory, and not, of course, from Scripture. I am free to do this, free to point out the chief avenues by which the foe would storm the citadel. There is a remarkable pliability about the higher criticism of our day, and great uncertainty too!

Beware of higher criticism. If you have a good old roadster who has carried you safely over 50,000 miles, and a professional horse-dealer takes in hand to criticize him adversely, you know exactly how to weigh his words. You know your well-proved horse too well. “Do you think the words of your book are certainly true?”

I do! I don’t think, for I know them to be true, and certainly true!

How so?

Just because I have proved them—proved their absolute accuracy in disclosing my guilty and lost condition; proved their delivering power as they pointed out the sin-cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ, and then gave me peace with God through Him; proved their support in weakness, their comfort in sorrow, their light in darkness, their victory in defeat, and infinitely more, during days, and weeks, and months, and years of pilgrim life below.

“Do you think,” said Pliable.

“Yea, surely,” said Christian, “for He that made it” (the wonderful book in question) “cannot lie!”

And a finer answer to Pliable and his friends could not be given.

Get into your soul that God made that book, and there can be no more room for pliability or weak knees. Yes, “God made it!”

Just think—would man make such a book, one which portrays his degeneracy now, and his damnation, if unrepentant, by-and-by?

Would the devil make such a book—one which presents him as a fallen angel, the enemy of God and man, and the tenant of the lake of fire forever? No, never! Then, who made the book? “God made it.”

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall never pass away.” Thank God for that.

Happy, though sorely tried Christian! He was on the right road, and he reached its glorious end. He had just to thrust his fingers into his ears in order to shut out the voices of all such tempters, and to cry out, “Life, life, eternal life!” and a fine shout truly! He went alone, but he was followed by numbers afterward.

J. W. S.

The Name of Jesus.

AN aged man lay in much weakness, and waking up from sleep, said to his son, who was watching over him, “I don’t know where I am going.” The son, as often before, talked simply to him about Jesus, and rest came back to him.

An aged woman who was converted many years ago at Sunday school, and who in her measure served the Lord through her long life, was taken for death one morning from heart failure. She lay in perfect peace, but those with her saw she wanted to speak, and in a sort of whisper heard her say “Jesus,” and she departed to be with Him.

Beloved reader, it is well to have such a stay on the pillow of death. Religious notions will not be much to you then, but in that name is salvation.

“Many other signs therefore also Jesus did before his disciples, which are nor written in this book; but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life in his name” (John 20:30, 31).

M. A. D.

In a Crowd Alone with God.

IT is a great comfort to know that if a distressed cry goes up to God from any sin-burdened conscience, even if uttered in the most unlikely place, the ear of a Saviour God listens, and He stoops down to deliver.

London Bridge, with its crowds passing and re-passing, is scarcely the place in which we should have expected God to meet an anxious soul, but He has met and blessed more than one, even there.

A poor woman toiled wearily along. Her lot was not a highly favored one. Very few rays from the sun of worldly prosperity brightened her path. She was one of a numerous class known as “London poor.” Their condition seems inseparable from want and suffering. Their labors ill-paid, their homes in crowded alley or common lodging-house minister scant comfort to the inmates.

It was not the pinch of poverty or the struggle for daily bread which caused her steps to drag so wearily. A far deeper sorrow pressed on her spirit. She had become conscious of her need as a poor lost sinner, but as yet knew not the Saviour of sinners. Did you ever feel a load like hers?

Heedlessly the hurrying crowd passed to and fro, careless of want or woe, intent on business or pleasure. Not so the Lord of life and glory. From His seat, at the Father’s right hand, He gazed upon that moving throng and knew who it was in it that really wanted to “touch him.” Coming from the opposite direction to that in which the poor woman was going, were two godly women, whose hearts, like the disciples on their journey to Emmaus, were full of their blessed Lord and Master, and they “spoke of him by the way.” Just at the very moment they passed the poor woman, one of them quoted a verse of Scripture. They were soon lost amidst the bustling throng; not so their words. Unconsciously and unknown to them, that verse from God’s Word fell like healing balm on the troubled heart of the poor woman. It was the voice of the Lord Jesus from that bright glory imparting peace, life, light, and joy. The entrance of God’s Word had indeed given light. Her heart was filled with thanksgiving and praise. Her burden was gone. Her fears had vanished. With a joyful heart and elastic step she went on her way rejoicing.

It was several years after this I first met her. She was then seeking to serve the Lord, who had thus so graciously spoken to her, by looking after a little tract depot in one of the lowest quarters of London. Her face would light up, as she spoke of the words which fell from that Christian’s lips, and which proved a message of salvation to her. I cannot recall them now, but I often think it will be one of the joys in the day of the kingdom for those women to know, that whilst they were speaking together of the things concerning their Lord, the incorruptible seed of the Word was wafted by the Holy Ghost into the heart of that perishing woman. She passed out of death into life, from the power of Satan to God, lost the burden of her sins, and got light and blessing for her soul by a word from God through an unconscious instrument.

God who blessed her in this way is ready, waiting, and willing to bless you. Do you see yourself a poor, guilty, hell-deserving sinner? Are you seeking mercy? Do you really desire salvation? If so, let me tell you of another who got blessing on London Bridge. In many respects he was a striking contrast to the poor woman. He was young, intelligent, well connected, and knew not the sorrows of poverty or the struggle for bare existence. In the pursuit of his studies he daily crossed the Thames. He also war burdened, guilt pressed heavily on his conscience. It was a load he longed to get rid of but knew not how. His studies occupied his mind, but conscience made its voice heard, and he could truly say, “The burden of my sins is intolerable.” In this unhappy state he was crossing the bridge one day. All at once he looked straight up to Jesus in glory. His faith rested on a living Saviour. He heard no audible voice quoting a Scripture, but the moment he looked away from self to Jesus, and cast himself in all his sins and misery upon Him, the Holy Spirit filled him with a sweet sense of sins forgiven, and shed God’s love abroad in his heart.

From that moment his life was given to his Saviour. He became an earnest and devoted preacher of the gospel, and wrote many beautiful hymns of praise.

In some of them he expresses his feelings of the deepest gratitude and praise to a Saviour God for this great salvation.

You see by these instances that it is not needful to be abstracted from your fellow-creatures to get your soul saved. Look right away to the blessed Son of God, seated in heavenly glory. His precious blood has made an atonement for guilt. That same precious blood can purge your conscience and relieve it of its load.

He who was dead is alive again. He waits to be gracious. If you are conscious of demerit, the goodness of God is leading you to repentance. The highway to blessing is repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Soul-misery and soul-blessing are twin sisters. Christ is exalted a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31). The deeper the repentance, the greater the relief when the burden is gone.

God may be pleased to bless you through reading this magazine. He can equally well bless you without any human instrument.

Trust His word. Look to a loving Saviour. “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” You need not carry your load any longer. Repentance will not save you. It makes you feel the need of a Saviour. Jesus saves! Jesus only! Trust Him wholly, trust Him now!

H. N.

Eleven Eternal Realities.

“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.”— Deut. 33:27-29.

I WANT to raise the question seriously, Where will you spend Eternity? In the last number of this magazine we saw the eternal realities that lie before a man that is not saved, that is not really a Christian. There are seven, and that is the number of absolute completeness, and I should think to have these for eternity is complete enough for any man. I will recapitulate them.

We read in the book of Isaiah of “everlasting burnings” (33:14); in Matthew, of “everlasting fire” (18:8) and “everlasting punishment” (25:46); in Mark, of “eternal damnation” (3:29); Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, speaks of those who know not God being punished with “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:9); and writing to the Hebrews the same apostle describes something that the Jew knew well— “eternal judgment” (Heb. 6:2). Then another apostle Jude says that those who pass godless into eternity sustain “everlasting chains” and “eternal fire” (vers. 6:7).

All that is very serious, and I do not want to minimize the seriousness, for mark this—that is what lies before every soul that is not Christ’s, for I believe God, and the Word of God. Now I will tell you of something you will surely be very glad to believe, as we look at the other side of the subject—at the eleven “everlasting” things that belong to the real, genuine Christian, and I prefer the eleven to the seven. There are eleven wonderful blessings that a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should know well are his, and they are “everlasting.” But are you a Christian? is the question. You may be the child of Christian parents, and yet not be one yourself. You may be surrounded by Christian privileges, but as yet have never tasted these blessings, since you care only for the things of time and sense, and have not faced eternity. I like to gaze into it, because I am so happy in God’s love, and know what I possess now, and what I shall have forever.

Moses says, “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord.” There are two companies—those who have been “saved by the Lord,” and those who have not. Which company are you in? If “saved by the Lord”— not saved by your own efforts, by aught that came from you—but “saved by the Lord” and knowing you are saved— “happy art thou.” You say, I have seen some Christians and they do not look happy. I fear they are the electro-plate kind, they do not know Christ. They have an external veneer of religion without reality.

What made Moses so happy? He spent forty days with the Lord. And what made Stephen so peaceful? He was looking steadfastly up to Jesus. A real Christian is a wonderful person. Are you trying to be one? Now do not try—I want you to trust in the Lord, in His grace, His love, and then you will be one, and escape these seven everlasting realities that assuredly await a man that dies in his sins. I think if you knew the joy of Christianity you would want to be a Christian. Moses was quite right when he said, “Happy art thou, O people saved by the Lord.” It was the Lord whom they had got to know, whom I also know, and whom I want you to know, for that is what the gospel is preached for, that you might be brought to know God. There is none like Him. I know the eternal God—He is my Father. The gospel brings to you the revelation of God, and though you have been the guiltiest sinner that ever trod the earth, you may learn how to become one of “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Do not get away from this truth—that you have to meet the eternal God, and if you take my advice you will meet Him now. Let me urge you to get the knowledge of Him now— “This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Remember that God is eternal—so are you. I know I live in a day when the devil is poisoning the minds of men, and telling them that when they die that is the end of them. Stop and think of this, that, as a creature, you are the offspring of God. Do you know how long you will last? As long as God lasts, and how long is that? He is “the eternal God.”

I wanted a refuge, and where did I find it? In God. Do not be afraid of Him. Be afraid of yourself, of your sin, of His wrath, but not of Him. Note these words, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” If you have the eternal God for your refuge, and are reposing on the everlasting arms, you are blessed indeed. I can imagine the prophet saying immediately, “Happy art thou, O Israel.” Is it not a wonderful place of refuge, of “corn and wine”— food and joy, and more than that, there is a “fountain”— there is living water, and the “heavens shall drop down dew”—i.e., there is always refreshment.

If we took the place God gives us in Christ, I believe we should make the mouths of sinners water with desire to have what we have. What was it led that gloomy, frowning elder brother to ask, “What these things meant” (Luke 15:26)? He heard the music, and saw the dancing. That if Jesus’ way of depicting God’s joy in the salvation of the sinner, and it will be a wonderful day for you when you get saved. When you see the eleven blessings God gives us Christians, you will want to be a Christian too.

Now turn to John 3:16— “For God so loved dm world, that he gave his only begotten Son, the; whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The believer in Christ possesses eternal life. What becomes of a man that dies in his sins? He perishes, and passes into the regions of darkness. That does not mean that he ceases to exist, but that he passes out of things here into eternity. You have got to exist forever; eternity is before you, and that is a very serious thing. As regards earth, your life is forfeited. You have not paid forfeit yet, but if unsaved you will have to. I rejoice to know that Another has paid it for me, and not only has He paid it for me, but now, in the power of an endless life, He is risen, and having Him I have, therefore, everlasting life. Jesus alone could be my Saviour, who being God was also a man. If He were not God He could not meet God’s claims, and if He were not man He could not meet my need. Man is under sentence of death. Look at Romans 6:22, “The wages of sin is death.” What is the end of man’s pathway here? Death. You may depend upon it those wages will be paid. How came death into the world? By man’s sin, and death lies before you. You may tell me you do not believe in eternity. Do you believe in death?

You may talk lightly about death, and you might die, and there be no bands in your death (Psa. 73:4), but what then? I have seen men die like dogs, and I have seen them die in misery and wretchedness. Tell me, if I were called to your death-bed tonight, how would you die? That is a serious question. If you die in your sins you get sins’ wages—death, and “after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). What should I and every Christian get? Thank God, everlasting life. You say, how did you get it? God gave it to me. And what did you do? I took it. If you do not take the gift of God, you must have the wages of your own sin. The wages belong to me as a sinner—I deserve them, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “God so loved the world” made up of people like you and me, who were living for sin, and self, and pleasure. God loved the world, and so loved it that He gave His Son, not merely in life; but to death, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” You own Christ, you bow to Him, you believe in Him, and you will get it. It is not then that you hope to have, but that you have ever lasting life. Look at God’s side—loving and giving, the eternal God loving and giving. What is your side and mine? Believing and having. That is the gospel.

Eternal life, in Scripture, is presented in two ways: as a present possession, “He that hath the Son hath life” (1 John 5:12), and as the end of the pathway, “Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life”. (Rom. 6:22). I begin with the gift of Christ, and then, when Christ is received, I here on earth commence’ a new path, a new life, a new history. What is the preliminary step? I receive Him. “To 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). How do you receive Christ? It is very simple—you believe on His name. I never saw Him, but I know Him. You will never see Him till He comes, but faith sees Him. We know Him, His love, His grace, His interest in us—He is a great, wonderful reality to our souls. You say, What must I do to get Him? Do you buy gifts, do you go and ask for gifts? No. Receive Him—God’s gift.

You say, Must I not pray for it? No. The gospel is God coming out to you and me in all the blessedness of His heart of love, and then through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has paid the forfeit for the sinner, Who has tasted death for every man, God gives eternal life, and it is in Christ. “We know that the Son of God is come... and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). Christianity is the revelation of the Father through the Son. That Son who was ever in the bosom of the Father has come to earth, become incarnate, and wrought a work whereby the sinner’s sins are blotted out, and the wages due to me have been paid to Him, while my history as a guilty lost child of Adam is closed in His death, and now “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Who has it? The one that believes in Jesus. Turn to John 5:24; what could be more simple? This is a moment when Christ is speaking to men dead in their sins—we are all dead in sins until we hear His voice. The eternal God has sent His Son into this world that He might bring to me what I needed—life, and take away what oppressed me—my sins.

On the cross all my sins that came between me and God were taken up by the Lord Jesus Christ, and, propitiation having been affected, were blotted out from God’s sight. The barrier was removed. But more than that, God proposes life, and Christ says, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” He that heareth and believeth hath, for God has joined together two things that you must not separate, life—life eternal. It is a wonderfully blessed reality that the one who for the first time hears the voice of the Son of God “hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.” “They that hear shall live,” we are told, not they that work, nor they that pray. No, it is “they that hear,” for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

We have life only in Christ: “In this was manifested the love [of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). When do you begin to live? The moment you touch Christ.

The knowledge of (1) the eternal God, and the possession of (2) eternal life head the list of eternal blessed realities the believer in Jesus can call his own and enjoy. We will glance at them briefly. Christ risen from the dead has become “the author of (3) eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:9). Further “He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained (4) eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12). That redemption embraces every believer, who as a consequence has a purged conscience, for we read: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through (5) the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). The blood purges the conscience, and the eternal Spirit dwells in the body of every believer (Rom. 8:11).

Another direct consequence of this is that they which are called “receive the promise of (6) eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15), to which they will be safely and certainly guided, since “the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of (7) the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20). That covenant secures the eternal blessing of the feeblest sheep or lamb of Christ’s flock, and while on the road each child learns that “God, even our Father, hath loved us, and hath given us (8) everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace” (2 Thess. 2:16).

Thus are we strengthened till we are “received into (9) everlasting habitations” (Luke 16:9).

But may I not fall on the road? says a timid soul. Peter would say, No. Hear his words: “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his (10) eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a little while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10). He gives us also the sure receipt against falling.

If you will turn to the first chapter of his second epistle you will find the Christian’s arithmetic book. His multiplication table (vs. 2) well learned ensures a deeper knowledge of God. His subtraction table (vs. 4), if understood, takes him out of the world with its corruption. Finally, his attention to his addition table (vers. 5-7), which he can never safely neglect for a moment, ensures a happy, holy pathway in life, without falling; and more, having “these things” in remembrance, “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into (11) the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11).

Who would not be a Christian and have the eleven rather than the seven?

W. T. P. W.

"He'll See Me Righted."

“HE’LL see me righted” were the words which concluded a short conversation which I had with an old man in my office one afternoon, He had turned up later than usual, and explained that he had been stopping to see the Yeomanry Cavalry, which were up for their ten days’ training.

“I suppose you do not approve of that, sir,” he said. I made no reply. “Ah, well, it takes something of everything to make up a world,” he added.

“Yes, and do you know the world is fast going to judgment?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, “I do believe that. Things cannot keep on as they are now. Something is sum to happen.”

“Suppose,” I said, “you were in a house that was on fire, what would you do?”

“I should get out of it as quick as I could,” he answered. I paused to let the old man make the application in his own way; and then quoted John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” He replied, “Ah, well, we must all do the best we can.”

“That would be all useless,” said I; “if you were able to do the best that the best man ever could do, you would be no further forward. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.’”

“Well, according to that I have got to wait a bit longer yet until it comes to me.” It is remarkable how a man will twist and wriggle when driven into a corner by the Word of God. “It seems to me that I can do nothing, and therefore how can it be my fault if I have not got it?”

“Look here,” I answered, “is not this the real secret, you are not willing to take it? Life is offered you as a gift, and you will not accept it.” He paused for a moment, and then owned that it was, and immediately added, “Of course, I do not say that I am what I ought to be, but still I do not know that I have done anybody any harm. I have always tried to be honest and just.”

“Do you know,” I asked, “what the Lord said to the young man who could say that he had kept all the commandments? One thing thou lackest.”

Oh, yes, he remembered that, but still he had never been an outwardly wicked person.

“My dear Mr.—,” said I, “I will suppose you have lived all your life in a respectable manner, have worked hard, paid your way honestly, have never, as far as you know, done any one harm: you will have to stand on the same platform as if you had been the biggest blackguard that ever walked the town.”

“Oh, indeed,” he retorted, “I do not see that.”

“There is no difference, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

“Ah, well,” was his rejoinder, “I shall stand a good chance, I daresay. He will not wrong me (meaning God). He’ll see me righted. Good-day.” So saying he left.

My dear reader, those words are quite true, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?”

He will see you righted. Never forget that God is a God of inflexible justice. He can never deviate one hair-breadth from the path of righteousness: and at the same time remember that He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. If you are not saved, if you are not cleansed from your sin by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, “He will see you righted.” He has declared, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Have you ever sinned? Oh, yes, you say, of course we are all sinners. Never mind about anybody else just now, have you sinned? Listen again, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die”— will God keep His word? “Is God a man that he should lie, or the Son of man that he should repent?” The infinite holiness of God could never make light sin; if God deals with sin, it must be in unsparing judgment.

What happened, my friend, when Christ was made sin upon the cross, when God’s own beloved Son was taking the sinner’s place? There were three awful hours of darkness, towards the close of which He had to cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” God spared not His own Son. There was no mercy for Him, therefore there cannot be any possible hope for you, my friend, if you remain in your sins until you die, or the Lord Jesus comes to fetch His own. There is only one possible and righteous thing for God to do, and that is to shut you out to “outer darkness, where there is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” But God has also said, “As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” What blessed glad tidings for the poor sinner who is ready to really justify God, and condemn himself.

Oh, poor helpless soul, lost and undone, turn to Him, come to Him, He will see thee righted. Remember His inflexible justice by all means, but receive the assurance of His word, which declares that “He is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” He cannot swerve from the path of righteousness, but blessed be His name, that righteousness is not now against the sinner, but for him, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all that believe.”

Yes, the poor sinner who believes in Jesus is made the righteousness of God in Him. Not only the righteousness of God is unto (for) him—on his behalf—but, believing in Jesus, he is made the righteousness of God in Him.

It is the same if we think of His holiness. The work of Jesus, the Son of God, upon the cross, has not only put away the sins of the sinner, but removed the sinner who sinned: so that he not only finds himself forgiven, because the punishment due to sin has been borne, but the holy God can challenge every adversary. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” And further, he finds himself brought into the favor of God in the beloved One.

Yes, dear, anxious, seeking soul, God owes it to every attribute of His nature, and to His own blessed Son to see you righted, and He will. When God wanted to bring the sinner back to Himself; there was only one way in which it could be done; God did it by giving up His only beloved Son to death. He must bear the wrath and judgment due to man on account of his rebellion against Him. He has suffered and entered into His glory. Having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, “God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name.” And now God will see Jesus righted, for Hid “name every knee shall bow of heavenly, and earthly, and infernal beings, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father,” in spite of His present rejection. God will see the believer righted, “for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” (2 Tim. 2:11, 12). God will also see unrepentant sinners righted, “Because I have called (a call of love) and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand (a hand of mercy) and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek.me early, but they shall not find Me; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my-counsel; they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But-whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (Prov. 1:24-33).

A. G. T.

Three Terrible Famines.

“AND the famine was sore in the land.” The land of Egypt was smitten by God with famine. Yes, it was a terrible famine. It lasted for seven years, and took place in the country of all countries which is the least subject to such calamities, on account of its extreme fruitfulness. Yet God brought it on this land, and at the same time He raised up a deliverer. When they cried out to Pharaoh in their distress, he was helpless, and could point them to only one person who could relieve them, “Go to Joseph,” was his answer.

What a picture of this world, its pleasures, its vanities, and its idols! Today the famine is “over all the face of the earth,” and nothing can satisfy but going to Christ.

But let us pass on to another famine even more terrible than this one. What is it? you ask. The sacred pages of Scripture shall supply the answer, “And there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want.” The younger son had spurned his father’s love, turned his back on him, left the warmth and happiness of his home, and had plunged into the cold, dreary world, with all its false glitter and glamour. He “took his journey into a far country,” and then made the most of the world. Lured on by Satan, he indulged in every pleasure and every excess that this poor world can give, until “he had spent all.” And we read, “there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want.” “No man gave unto him.” What a famine! How desperate his need! He was perishing!

My unsaved reader, you have spurned the love of God; you have turned your back on Him; you have chosen the hard, cold world, and a life without Christ, instead of the joys and the happiness of the life with Christ. You may not have gone to the same depths of sin that the prodigal did, but you are living without Christ, and are surrounded on every hand by famine. What a famine! How desperate your need! My reader, you are perishing!

Why not turn to God as the poor prodigal did? You will get the same welcome. How He longs for you, how His heart yearns for you! He is looking out at this moment for your return as a repentant sinner. Why not join that happy band of whom it says, “in the days of famine they shall be satisfied”?

Before your eyes pass from this paper, just pause and consider one more famine. Yea, a terrible famine, more terrible than the seven years’ famine in Egypt, or the famine in the heart of the Christless prodigal in the far country, “Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” Oh! my reader, beware lest you neglect God’s offer of mercy and pardon, despise the Saviour’s love, and resist the strivings of the Holy Ghost once too often. “They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” Yes, you may have to live the rest of your life without Christ, die without Him, and spend eternity without Him. “Beware lest He take thee away with His stroke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.”

P. C.

Punon.

Part 1. — The Testing of the Soul.

“They departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon.”— Numbers 33:42.

“And the soul of the people was much discouraged [distressed] because of the way.”— Num. 21:4-9.

FAR as the eye could see the encampment of Israel’s thousands covered the vast plain. In their midst Jehovah’s sentinel of cloud stood over His tabernacle, and the sweet savor of the lamb of the “continual burnt-offering” ascended from the smoking brazen altar.

As the beams of the rising sun bathe the earth in brightness, all the people stand without the doors of their tents, with covered heads, looking towards Jehovah’s dwelling-place, and unite in the morning prayers of the congregation. That being over each turns to the work and business of the day. The manna gatherers deposit their snowy piles in the appointed places, to be meted by the omer; and soon the sound of the mortars and the grindstones help to swell the hum of life. Yet the people seem depressed.

The men look sullen and gloomy, the women are captious and fault finding, and even the children, imitating all too readily the spirit of their parents, give way to fret and peevishness in the midst of their play.

Why is this so? Has the LORD failed them? Far be the thought. No, but recently things have not been as heretofore. The waters of the rock that followed them have been absorbed in the desert sand. The people are parched and languishing. Lowing herds and bleating flocks tell the dumb creatures’ distress. The soul of the people is greatly discouraged because of the way. It is “the way of the spies.” Might not their memory—like to a resurrection of the forgotten dead—recall the stirring scene of thirty-nine long years gone by, when the report of the searchers of the promised land provoked a tumult of fury, that ended in the hand of the LORD falling heavily upon them?

Where now were most of those who had despised the pleasant land? Dead; their carcasses had fallen in the wilderness. No wonder, then, that the scalding tears would flow, and the heart grow sad to think that the bleached bones of many a loved one bestrewed the desert sand. The reaping of sins sowing is ever a harvest of misery and death. This life is a probation, and a pilgrimage. The human soul must be tested and disciplined by “the God of the spirits of all flesh.” It is only by submitting our souls to the Father of spirits that we can live.

It is a downward step when the soul faints under DISCOURAGEMENT, for it must be disciplined. There are convulsions in nature and convulsions in the lives of men. As in nature so likewise in grace, a wise “needs be” guides the unerring arm of Omnipotence. In working to a definite end day is followed by night, rest by conflict, elation by depression, victory by defeat, strength by weakness, and the shady palms and refreshing wells of Elim are succeeded by the pinching famine of the wilderness of Sin.

Only a short while since had Israel vowed unto the LORD at Hor (the mountain), and He had given them a signal victory in the utter destruction of the Canaanites in Hormah. Then He removed them to Zalmonah (shade) and now they encamped in Punon (darkness). The light and joy of Hor is succeeded by the moral depression and darkness of Punon. All have their Punons of bitter experience. Abram’s giving glory to God for the good word of promise was quickly followed by “an horror of great darkness.” The great weaning-feast of Isaac by the bitterness of Moriah, and David’s “rest round about from all his enemies” and psalm of joy are succeeded by the sin and trials which culminate in the rebellion of Absalom, the tidings of whose untimely death wrung from David the bitter wail of his soul’s agony.

Again, Elijah’s Carmel triumph is succeeded by his fear and flight for life, and the shadow of Jonah’s gourd gives place to the burning sun upon his head, so that he desires to die. And even in the experience of the Son of man who “was in all points tempted like as we, sin excepted,” for Him the blessedness of the Father’s approval and the Holy Ghost’s anointing was followed by the forty days of Satan’s temptation with the wild beasts in the wilderness. The light and holy experience of the upper room gave place to the agony of Gethsemane, whilst the bright cloud of Tabor was eclipsed by the awful gloom of Calvary.

Ah, dear reader, all have their Punons of testing, none are exempt. But Israel’s soul discouragement was followed by DOUBT, and doubt bred disloyalty, in questioning the just law of their theocracy. “The people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread.” Wherever doubt works the tempter is sure of a footing. “Light bread?” “Man did eat angels’ food.” God gave them “the corn of heaven.” “He had rained down manna,” “the food of the mighty.” And that bread typified Christ, “He was despised.” “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.”

The Son of man is God’s best provision for the creature, and thus He becomes the soul’s test. “I am the bread of life.” “This is the bread that came down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.” The soul must by faith appropriate the Son of man as life and nourishment or else abide in death. To the flesh the words of Christ are hard sayings, but there is no other way, no middle course. It is either death in unbelief, or life everlasting by faith in Him whom God hath sent. Unbelief, doubt in the soul, unless it be judged, is quickly followed by DECLINE, and the degeneration of decline by death.

These are the four strides in the soul’s downgrade—discouragement, doubt, decline, and death. By yielding to the temptation of discouragement the soul has lost its moral equilibrium, and if it be not quickly recovered it will surely end in disaster. The soul that trusts, resting in simple confidence in God, is in accord with Him, and is thus in the enjoyment of the love of God and eternal life. But where distrust rules, the soul is out of touch with the Eternal, and being under the influence of the temporal, soon enters upon a rapid moral decline. Like a train escaped from the control of its driver, it soon leaves the metals and rushes on to destruction. “If ye live after the flesh ye shall die.” “God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth DEATH.”

“The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died.” What an appalling scene the camp must have presented! Shrieks from the bitten, groans from the dying, wails from the bereaved, along with the bitter reproaches and curses of the impenitent against the LORD and His prophet. All the bitter fruit of unjudged sin.

The whole world today is full of sin, ruin, and death. But, thank God, in some of the people conscience is awakened—they begin to realize the justice of the visitation, and their own impotence to avert it. They send a deputation to Moses saying, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against thee: pray unto the LORD that he take away the serpents from us.”

T. R. D.

(To be continued.)

Seven Years Ago.

I WAS brought up under the influence of godly parents, and from the earliest times which I could remember, my father always got the family together on Sunday nights round the Word of God. What other effects this reading may have had on my life I don’t know, but it had the effect of teaching me very early that I was a sinner. The fear of being in hell caused me to have a continual dread, and I shuddered many times when I thought of what it must be like. Even yet when I think of a soul going there it causes me to recoil in horror, and I pray God that He will give me a greater desire to win souls.

At the time of my conversion I was fourteen years of age, and was in a situation which I found too hard for me, being of a slender build, so the thought struck me that if I became a Christian I could then ask God to put me in another situation. This may seem a very selfish motive to you, as it has to me many times since, but it had the effect of causing me to think that seeing I intended to trust Christ at some time or other, I might as well do so then as later. We were living at No. 5 E—H—Street, which is about a stone’s throw from C—L—, at that time, and I can remember going home, after finishing my work, and getting my tea, then going into the room (it was a room-and-kitchen house), getting down on my knees, confessing that I was a sinner, and asking God to save me, which I am sure He did. I was born first of all in the kitchen of that house, and I was born again in that room, which I think is not a common experience. That was seven years ago on the ninth of last August, and I can truly say that I “joy in God” more now than I did then. This was shortly after 7 P. M., and I came downstairs and met a companion, to whom I made the proposal that if he would come with me to a meeting of the Salvation Army and get converted, I would do likewise. I thought at the time that by so doing my conversion would be more real. However, he went with me and made a profession, but I think he was not in earnest at that time, though I am glad to say I believe he fully trusted Christ later on, and is now in heaven.

Needless to say, not long after that I obtained a situation, which I found to be as pleasant as the other was irksome.

J. B.

How a Religious Man got Salvation.

WILLIAM—was a very steady, pious young fellow. He attended church, read his Bible, and said his prayers, and there was not a person in the village that could point a finger at him, in fact he was looked up to as a religious young man. With these outward forms he went on some considerable time, and, like a good many more similarly deluded by Satan, thought he was all right.

But one day the Lord spoke to his conscience, and showed him that in all his doings there was nothing that could save him—they were all as “filthy rags.” He had left out the one thing needful to his soul’s salvation, and he suddenly awoke to the fact that there was distance between him and God. What a moment for the sinner when he becomes conscious of this! Adam and Eve found it out in the garden of Eden, and began to clothe themselves with garments of their own providing; but that would not do for the eye of God. We read in Genesis 3:21, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” There had to be a victim slain, and blood shed, as “it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.”

Thank God, He has provided a ransom to meet the sinner’s need, as well as His own holy eye, and He says, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.’ You must be sheltered by the blood of Jesus, the Lunt of God’s own providing. It is not till the sinner comes to the end of himself, and sees that all his past life has been one great blank as far as God is concerned, and that he is hurrying on to judgment, that he turns to God, and seeks His salvation.

Such was the case of the young man referred to; he went on, as I have said before, with the outward garb of religion, though far away from God, and in his sins. He had never trusted that precious Saviour who hung on Calvary’s tree, therefore had never known the joy and happiness of having his sins forgiven he retired to rest one night, after having been to a gospel preaching, a little exercised about his soul. That same night he had a dream; he thought he had died, and was buried, and the time had come for him to stand before the great white throne to be judged for his sins by Him from whose face the earth and heavens fled away. (See Revelation 20:11.) As he stood there, the Lord told him, though he had lived a moral, religious life, nevertheless he had to rank with the vilest sinner, as he had never trusted that precious blood that alone can wash away the blackest sin; therefore nothing remained for him but to be cast into the lake of fire, prepared only for the devil and his angels. It seemed in his dream, that as he had not been so outwardly wicked as some, he was allowed to stand on the edge of that vast abyss, as all those that passed from the great white throne were cast into it. As he stood there, he realized they were, receiving the righteous judgment of God, and stepped forward to see how they fared. Oh, the horror of the scene that met his eyes, and the awfulness of the wail that met his ear! It was such as no human creature could describe. At this point he awoke, and found it was a dream, and that the day of God’s grace was still going on, and that he, a sinner, could be saved; so falling on his knees, he thanked the Lord He had spared him from the awful torment he had just witnessed, and cried to Him for salvation. It was not long after this that he found peace for his troubled soul.

Now, my reader, though this was a dream in the young man’s case, it may be a deep, deep reality in yours. No matter how religious you are; you may attend church or chapel regularly, or go to meetings, where the Lord Jesus is held up as a Saviour; you may be a preacher, a Sacrament taker, a Sunday-school teacher, and a teetotaler: yet if you have never been exercised about your soul’s need, and have never trusted the Lord Jesus as your own personal Saviour, you will have to rank with the vilest sinner in hell. “It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.” That blessed wondrous Man, who is now at God’s right hand, waiting until His enemies be made His footstool, has been down here, where sin and death reigned, in order that He might go to the cross and shed His precious blood, so that sinners might be cleansed from their sins, delivered from Satan’s power, and be brought into the highest place of blessing, where He Himself is. Is not this good news, that Jesus has died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God? He is worthy of your heart’s deepest affection. Never was love like unto His. He came from those heights of glory, down to where sin was reigning, that He might pick up poor sinners out of the gutter of this world and save them for His eternal glory, that they might be with Him forever where He is.

Oh, my reader, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is a wondrous theme. Has His love never affected your sin-stained heart, or spoken to your conscience? I entreat you to flee to Jesus. This poor world is fast hurrying on to judgment, and that blessed One, who was cast out of this scene, will be the One who will soon come forth to execute judgment upon it. Again I say, flee to Him now while it is the day of God’s grace. Tomorrow may be too late. Do not think that your good doings and your religious observances will save you; they cannot cleanse one spot, and a single sin will land you forever in that awful lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. I beseech you do not put off the question of your soul’s salvation any longer. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Tomorrow the Lord Jesus may have come and taken away His people, and you will then be left behind for judgment.

I pray God that this may not be your portion, but that you may wake up to the fact that you are a sinner, and away from God, and may come to Him now. The Lord Jesus said when He was down here, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out,” and blessed be His name, He has never refused the vilest sinner that has ever come to Him; He has saved the chief of sinners, for He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Take your true place as a lost, ruined sinner at His feet, and He will save you.

“Thousands have fled to His spear-pierced side,

Welcome they all have been, none are denied.”

C. B.

For or Against.

IT is not a very difficult thing to be against Christ, indeed, one might go further and assert, without fear of contradiction, that it is terribly and fatally easy. It is only, not to be for Him; when He is despised and rejected of men, to linger comfortably on the outskirts of the crowd; when cruel words wound Him in the house of His friends, to turn to them an ear which is conveniently deaf—in many people’s eyes not a heinous fault by any means. Conscience, perhaps, hardly accuses; love—but that is another matter, we will not mention love just now.

Is this what you are doing, my reader? You, who would be very much offended if any one presumed to doubt the reality of your Christian profession. Have you ever thought how all this will look in the day of Christ’s glory? Then myriads of angels will do His bidding gladly; they do it now unseen; then it will be in full view of assembled worlds. The noble army of martyrs who were for Him, even unto death, will be there rejoicing in His glory. Multitudes of happy saints, in garments of spotless purity, will hasten likewise to fulfill His smallest word. Sorrow will flee before Him, sickness will be healed, tears wiped away, as He rejoices over a redeemed creation, and will you then be against Him? Think not, I pray you, that if you are not for Him now, that by some mysterious process you will then be changed.

Nay, you will be against Him still. Against Him—how can I write it? —forever. Where will you hide your trembling, shivering soul? Nowhere: there will be no hiding-place. It will be manifested that you have always been against Him who died—against Him who sorrowed as none other could sorrow, Him who wept. Oh, let not this be your soul’s history; but rather receive His love, let it fill your heart until you gladly own Him Lord, until you are His and His only, until others shall see that, whatever they may do, you by His grace are His and His forever. May it be thus for His glory, and in that coming day writer and reader will rejoice together before Him.

"I Would, Ye Would Not."

(Read Luke 13:22-35.)

I CONFESS I know not how to rightly touch a subject so tender, and withal so thrilling in results as this Scripture presents. Nevertheless, I trust that each unsaved reader hereof will hear the voice of Jesus, and be warned. You do not believe Scripture, perhaps. Jerusalem believes in Scripture. What did the Lord say should happen to it? Luke 19:43, 44, tells us. It is fulfilled.

You know that everything Jesus predicted has come true. Do you think the Lord of life and glory now addresses immortal souls, like you and me, in a light manner? God forbid the thought. You may have had very little interest in your own soul’s salvation up to this hour, but it is not so with Him. He is in deep earnest regarding you. You are yet in your sins, and may never hear the voice of the Saviour again. Who knows if the very last gospel message you will ever receive is in your hands at this moment? I tell you today of a seeking Christ, but if He rise from His seat this day and shut to the door, what then? “Too late, just too late,” will burst from awakened souls all round in Christendom, and possibly, too, in the house where you are living. There will then be the awful discovery that the day of the gospel has gone by.

Very likely you say, “I do not believe that.” I do. Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had enough interest in the salvation of your soul to leave His Father’s home on high, come down into this world, become a man of sorrows in His life, and, bearing men’s sins, become their Saviour by His death, do you believe that? I do. If you believed it, you would have been converted ere now, and alas! you are not. You have not believed it. You have heard about it, thought about it, may have even revolved it in your mind as a notable statement that you have read and heard and would not deny; but if you had believed these wondrous tidings, they would have changed the whole tenor of your life.

Mere curiosity will not do; it was curiosity put the question recorded in Luke 13:23, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” The blessed Lord, we read, “went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem,” where He knew He would die. Blessed Master, His tireless feet, that men afterward nailed to the tree, took Him wherever there was a soul of man in all Palestine, that to such He might preach, and show the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, that is, that if God’s grace got into men’s souls, if they got under the sway of God, they would be saved. The reason you have not been saved is, you have not got into God’s kingdom.

A wonderful place is the kingdom of God. It is a spot where the heart dances with joy, for the soul is in liberty. When the conscience and mind are free, the heart is perfectly happy. It is a sphere where I know I am loved and wanted, and where my sins are all washed away by the blood of Jesus. Yes, I am a child of God, an heir of glory, and I am going home to be with the Lord very soon, and till then I have the abiding enjoyment of His love down here. The pleasures of the world do not satisfy—there may be the laughter of the fool, but it is “like the crackling of thorns under a pot,” it will not last. Forget not, dear unsaved reader, that though you have the pleasures of sin, they are only for a season; you have yet to meet the pangs, pains, penalties, and judgment of sin. The deepest sin of all is that you have not really believed God’s testimony about His blessed Son.

In our chapter we read plainly that Jerusalem was Jesus’ goal. He knew what was connected with Jerusalem—it was there He would be condemned, and just outside that city He would die, and would make atonement for sin, that all the eternal love of God might come gushing out through the riven side of a Saviour. “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?” Why didn’t he say, Are there many? I think he was a sort of scoffer—he thought there would be some difficulty. But for you it is not whether few or many are saved; this is the point, are you saved? Profession is of no value whatever, there must be possession of Him who is the only Saviour.

Note the Lord’s answer to the query, “Are there few that be saved?” “And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” Be in earnest. Why is it a strait gate? I judge it is a gate that does not let in two at a time. Salvation is individual. Conversion is an individual matter; being born again is individual. You are solitary in that. You say, I have a Christian husband; that does not help you a bit, you cannot go in two together. Does “the strait gate” mean that there is any difficulty? No, but there must be earnestness. You have to individualize yourself from everyone else.

You say, I am a member of a church; that does not bring you to Christ, or save you, or wash your sins away. No, there is a gate that you must pass through individually. You will have to stand before God alone by-and-by, and therefore “strive to enter in at the strait gate.” It is not like a flock of sheep, that can be driven in a dozen at a time. Men must go in one by one. Have you gone in? Strive, wake up. Some dear young people will take it easy till at length the last opportunity is lost, and the door is shut. Then “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Note what Christ says, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” When the fatal die is, cast, and you have missed salvation, missed Christ, missed pardon and peace, missed heaven and its joy, and you pass—not into God’s kingdom, but—into the impenetrable darkness in which an unshriven sinner must, sooner or later, eternally land, there is weeping indeed.

Say not, “Are there few that be saved?” Take care that you get saved, says Christ. “Strive to enter in”— why? “For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Why, is the gate too narrow? No. Is there an insuperable obstacle in the road? No. Then why do they not get in? They are all TOO LATE—that is all. Oh, unsaved friend, what an awful crowd to be among, the procrastinators of whom Jesus says, “Many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” It is when the opportunity is gone by they become in earnest. Were they too great sinners? No. Was the burden of sin so huge that they could not press through? No, the way was clear. “I am the Way.” “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” There is now no difficulty; you may be saved where you read this today.

Listen, ye loiterers, ye procrastinators, who are trifling with grace on the brink of an eternal hell: “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are” (13:25). When Christ ascended He sat down at God’s right hand, and He is still sitting, but when once He has risen up and shut to the door, what then? Then you will begin to knock at the door. You have never tried to enter in yet. Why? You have never been in earnest. These began too late. There must be earnestness now to enter in. Don’t be one of these refused knockers. No one has ever given this kind of knock yet, because the door has not been shut. Today it is still true— “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9).

I have never yet found the man that is too bad for Christ. Many are too good. How blessed to live in a day when there is an open door and a rent veil. The work of Christ is accomplished, He is set down at God’s right hand, and the Holy Ghost has come down to tell you there is a way into God’s presence and kingdom, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the precious blood He has shed. But while you are halting, hesitating, and wondering whether you will make up your mind, and what would be the result of confessing Christ, and what people would think (that is the way the devil delights to get people to put off their souls’ salvation), the door may close, and you will be too late.

Remember, if you are not saved in time, you will be lost in eternity. Salvation is the contrast to perdition; it is the very opposite. I do not forget the first time I spoke on this scripture. I was very young, and had not been converted more than three months. A lady who had a school asked me if I would go and say a few words to some little boys. I read this scripture (Luke 13:23-30). God wrought in the hearts of those children, and nine confessed the Lord that night. Some have gone to be with the Lord, and others are living today, and are preachers of the gospel. I have good cause to remember this scripture. I wonder if you will be converted through it. Don’t delay coming to Christ.

How loudly procrastinators will knock by-and-by, “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door.” When will that take place? One of these moments when the world is buried in slumber. It maybe He is now gathering up the very folds of His garments to arise and shut that door. And what is the next thing? He will descend into the air. And what then? He will shout (see 1 Thess. 4:16, 17). Who will hear Him? Thank God, fellow-Christian, you will hear Him; and some in the graves will hear— “The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” What will happen when the Lord comes for His own? The door will be shut against the world. When the Lord comes for the possessors of life and salvation, the door will be shut against all lifeless professors. Thank God, the door is not shut yet—get in at once.

There will be an awful awakening by-and-by, when you have to face a lost eternity in your sins, and discover the truth of the gospel you neglected, or perhaps I should say rejected, viz., that the Lord Jesus came from glory to the gloom of Golgotha, that He might wash your sins away, and that you might be forever with Him in the joy of the Father’s house. You will begin to be in earnest then, and you will begin to pray too— “Lord, Lord, open to us.” Then it is “He shall answer and say, I know you not.” It is not that you have been a scandalous sinner; nor is it that you have lived in deep, moral iniquity. Do you think Jesus will ever say to a heart that trusts Him, “I know you not?” Never. It is to those who have never known Him, never believed Him, He will say, “I know you not.”

Then mark what they will say, “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.” You have sat at the Communion Table very likely. Light, privilege, opportunity beyond all description have been yours, but all have been lost, missed, not apprehended. The more light, the deeper the guilt; the more privilege and opportunity, the deeper the judgment. You have had to do with Him outwardly, and He spoke in your streets. “But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” Did you ever notice what the iniquity is? He has not been believed in, received, bowed to. “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” You say, This has an application to the Jew. Be it so; but don’t you see how it applies to anyone who makes a profession of, without the real knowledge of Christ? You think little today of those who have been converted to the Lord, and are seeking to serve Him. You will see them blessed by-and-by. You will see others blessed—why have you not been blessed? If you have set your heart against Christ up to now, let me implore you to turn to Him on the spot.

How gracious is Christ. The Pharisees come up and say, Herod will kill you. Said He, “Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” He goes on with His ministry of love, and then makes His touching address to Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not” (vs. 34). But you say, I have never done that—I have never killed anybody. No, but you have put the gospel from you; you have said, I don’t like to be button-holed. You don’t want it. What does Jesus say? — “How often would I.” And what is the response? “Ye would not.” How often would Jesus have blessed you, but ye would not. How often would He have given you peace, light, and pardon—I would; ye would not.

You say, That refers to Jerusalem. Is it not your case? Can you deny it? Don’t you recollect the night when you were touched, and almost converted, but you would not, you put it from you? “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate,” is the dreadful fate of Jerusalem. “Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” He indicates what would be the judgment that would fall on the guilty city. You know it has fallen. Take care lest He deal similarly with you.

W. T. P. W.

Judgment Averted, the Believer Made Nigh.

“HE is sinking,” observed the nurse as she watched the death-bed of an aged pilgrim. She spoke almost in a whisper. “No, not sinking, RISING HIGHER,” ejaculated this aged saint of God. Soon he passed to the realms of light and joy.

“It is all dark. It is all dark,” exclaimed a dying infidel as he was about to pass away to the region that he was already in the gloom of. His darkness was like Egypt’s. It was a darkness that could be felt.

“Oh for something to rest upon,” cried another as he lay in the sweat of a great agony. “The word is nigh thee.” “What word?” “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”

The precious blood of Christ is the only resting place for faith, both for time and eternity. Nothing else could meet the just claims of God, or purge my guilty conscience, and set my soul at peace.

I cannot rest on what I feel. My feelings change like the weather-glass. I cannot rest on what I have done. The best I ever did never pleased myself, much less can it please a holy God. Sin and selfishness stain the best actions of human life. I cannot rest in what I am, because I feel I am the vilest of the vile, yea, the chief of sinners. But I can rest in the simple fact that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief. “He gave himself for our sins.”

His blood avails for me. The eternal discharge of the blessed God for all my sins is written deep in the blood of His own Son. His blood secures me from judgment. God’s Word assures me I shall never come into judgment. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

I rest in the fact that Jehovah’s eye ever sees the blood. In all its unchanging value it abides before Him. It has met all His claims on me, a sinner. It is knowing what God thinks of Jesus’ blood that gives me peace. I may and do think it very precious, but it is far more precious to God. It is He who calls it “the precious blood.”

JUDGMENT AVERTED.

Reader, allow the plain question, Have you got the blood between your soul and the judgment of God? God’s demands must be met. You are unable to meet them. His justice must be vindicated. He made ample provision for every Israelite, that he might be secured from the destroying angel. If he were disobedient he could not blame God. He had to pay the penalty if he thought himself wiser than God, and neglected to sprinkle the blood of the slain lamb (see Ex. 12).

The sprinkled blood on the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites, when death was broadcast throughout the land of Egypt, was the unmistakable witness that a substitute had been found for the first-born son. It was God’s gracious provision, not their own. They were responsible to avail themselves of it. Faith must be exercised in God’s provision.

Judgment was doing its terrible work on the proud, unyielding Egyptians, while the sprinkled blood on the doors of the Israelites showed that judgment had already been executed in type for them. The blood was the evidence of the death of a victim. That victim’s death was accepted for Israel’s first-born. So the death of Christ, the Lamb of God, is accepted for us. I take my stand unhesitatingly on the simple fact that He died for me. “He was wounded for our (my) transgressions, he was bruised for our (my) iniquities, the chastisement of our (my) peace was upon him, AND WITH HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED.”

It was not the blood and prayers. It was not the blood and reformation. It was not the blood and the most costly ritual, or the grandest ceremonial. It was not the blood and philanthropic effort, or the strictest devotion to duty. It was not the blood and good works of any kind whatever. It was THE BLOOD ALONE by which the death of the first-born was averted.

That the blood of the Passover lamb was a type of the substitutionary work of Christ, Scripture puts beyond a doubt. “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). “FOR us”— how simple! In plain English “FOR US” means the death of the one for the other. He suffered for sins, “THE JUST FOR THE UNJUST.” In love He took my guilty place, and bore the awful consequences of my sins. He consumed all the fire of God’s holy judgment. I stand firmly where the fire has been. That is faith.

When the blood of Jesus flowed from His side, that was the evidence that His holy, spotless life was given up to God for me. Besides, it was the fullest declaration of His love for me. “He loved me and gave himself for me.” What love that cross reveals on God’s part to sinful man! cannot but exclaim, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” Reader, do you? If never before, thank Him now.

FEASTING.

Israel’s slain lamb was to be roasted with fire. Those who were safely sheltered inside the blood-sprinkled houses were to feast upon it. In perfect peace they did so, because they knew they were perfectly safe. The roasting with fire was typical of Christ’s passing through the holy fire of God’s awful judgment for sin. He was “made sin” for us. Mystery of mysteries, unfathomable love.

On no account was the lamb to be eaten raw or sodden with water. That would not have been a fulfillment of the great Antitype. In this we learn the impossibility of feeding on Christ in a human way—a unitarian way; we can have no connection with Him except as the corn of wheat that has died. Had He not died we must have been lost forever. Besides, He must have abode alone forever. He Himself said, “Except ye shall eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, YE HAVE NO LIFE IN YOU.” “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.” “Eating” is the appropriating in faith of that death, with all its results, to ourselves. Unless we realize His death as the judgment of God on all that we are, as men in the flesh, as well as a sacrifice for our sins, we cannot feed upon Him. In His death we see our sins borne and judged, and thus put away forever. In the same death we see our old man crucified with Him. Through His death we enter into life, and thus part company with our sinful selves forever. This is the only way to enter into the true enjoyment of life, even His own risen life before the Father.

Bitter herbs and unleavened bread were to be eaten with the roast lamb. The bitter herbs typify the acceptance of the judgment of what we are in the flesh, while the unleavened bread clearly indicates the judgment of all that is unholy in our ways on earth.

It is the happy privilege of every believer now to thus feed on Christ who was dead, but who is now alive again. He lives for us to feed upon. He thus becomes the power of life in us. The saints at Corinth were exhorted to keep the feast, “not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” If there is the feeding on Christ there must be truth in the inward parts. All that is inconsistent with Him must go. We then love what He loves, and hate what He hates.

In the believer’s life down here holiness and happiness go hand-in-hand together. Holiness is the highway to real happiness. If holiness is not constantly maintained we cannot be constantly happy. But nothing can be known of peace with God until we know that all God’s righteous claims are met. If we strive after holiness without knowing peace as the result of the work of Christ done once for all, it will be all in vain. Misery is the sure result. How could any Israelite possibly be at peace to quietly feast upon the roast lamb if he did not know his first-born was perfectly sheltered by God’s gracious provision for him?

THE BLOOD MAKES US NIGH.

In Egypt the blood kept God out as a judge. In virtue of the blood of Christ believers now draw near to Him with liberty and confidence: “For in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off ARE MADE NIGH BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.”

When Jesus died the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom. God’s hand rent it. That curtain kept man out from God, while it shut God in from man. Under the law there was no approach, except for the high priest once a year. Under grace we draw near in Christ, in whom we are ever and always accepted.

NO VEIL EXISTS NOW.

The way unto the very holiest of all is now open. Wondrous privilege! “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.” There we worship God in the light and blessedness of His own presence. We enter adoringly into His perfections, as we see Him revealed to us in Christ. In the holiest Christ alone fills the gaze of the worshipper. Thus we worship God in the Spirit.

What a happy contrast our position is as Christians to that of even the high priest in Israel, who could only enter once a year!

Fitness to dwell in the holy light of God’s presence is not an attainment, it is an accomplished fact. We are already fitted by the work of God in us and the work of Christ done for us. The one gives us the nature to enjoy God, the other cleanses us from every stain, else we could not be happy with Him. So the weakest believer can now give thanks to the Father who HATH MADE US MEET—FIT—to be sharers of the portion of the saints in light.

P. W.

Punon.

Part 2. — The Soul’s Recovery.

“They departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon.”— Numbers 33:42.

“And the soul of the people was much discouraged [distressed] because of the way.”— Numbers 21:4-9.

THE history of the soul’s declension is very sad, but the history of its recovery is full of gladness. The four stages of the soul’s moral down-grade are discouragement, doubt, decline, and death. The four grand steps in its upgrade are repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom is received the reconciliation, and growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This great salvation was unknown in past ages, so that we need not expect to see it typified to the full; but some of the elements of the soul’s recovery shine out beautifully amid the darkness of Punon. The moment the people show repentance in turning toward the LORD, the moral darkness is passing, and for them

DAWN

is at hand. Full of compassion, Moses intercedes with the LORD for His people. But He does not take the serpents away, He has a higher salvation in store. It is dawn for the soul that calls upon the name of the Lord. The day of salvation is near. Thus it was with David when he said, “I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD.” So likewise for the crucifiers of Jesus, when pricked in their hearts they cried, “Men—brethren, what shall we do?” And the darkness was passing for the would-be suicide when he uttered, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The soul is about to recover its true balance and start upon the up-grade because its faith and hope is in God.

As Moses prayed to the LORD, swift as the seraphim with the live coal from off the altar came the divine answer, “Make thee a seraph [the literal word which means a burning fiery one] and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” Blessed be God for His definite.

DECLARATION.

The gospel of God is concise, plain, and vital. It stands in crisp contrast to every human substitute which is verbose, complex, and dead, because the fact that the creature is under the dominion of sin and Satan, and thus corrupt and lifeless, is ignored. From such turn away. Yet God uses redeemed humanity to communicate His word. “We announce unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled unto us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus.” Yes, JESUS is the sum and substance of God’s declarations, whether He be pleased to speak by an object-lesson, by type, in parable, by metaphor, or by the incisive “words of truth.” The Word of God is living and operative; being also Spirit-applied it appeals to the awakened conscience and understanding of the creature. So it is written, “Hear, and your soul shall live.” “If any man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” As soon as Moses received his instructions from Jehovah he was not slow to give effect to them. Let us therefore suppose that we see him walking eastward amongst the camp of Judah, and pausing at the tent of the grandson of Hur. Reclining before it he might see a bronzed artisan, his intelligent face overcast with a scowl of displeasure.

“Arise, Bezaleel! the LORD has commanded me, and I have come to thee to make a serpent of brass. Fashion it speedily, for there is no time to be lost, it is a matter of life and death.” Moses, his tender heart ever ready to sympathize, asks, “Bezaleel, what aileth thee, for thou lookest troubled?”

“Trouble enough, my lord, the camp is full of groans, wailing, and death; everything is wrong. Alas! even now the wife of my bosom lieth lifeless within, bitten by a fiery serpent.”

“Hast thou that fatal serpent?”

“Yea, for I crushed its head in anger.”

“Bring it hither.”

Bezaleel, accustomed to obey the lawgiver, hastened into the tent and quickly appeared holding the slimy reptile by the tail, and with a look of disgust threw it on the ground.

“Bezaleel, let this snake serve thee for a model. Cast a seraph in brass and fix it on a pole, for so hath the Loup commanded. Have it ready for me against the time of the evening oblation when I will return here for it.” Soon as the prophet departed. Bezaleel muttered to himself, “Better far is work than inaction, for I feel miserable.” Then he seized a mattock, dug a pit in the ground, and kindling a fervent fire therein went in search of his crucible. In it he found some of the bronze from which he had cast the rings for the great altar, the tent pins, and the sockets for the pillars of the court of the tabernacle. Placing the crucible in the furnace he set to work diligently, and before the ninth hour had fashioned such a striking model of a burnished serpent that it looked like a wriggling thing of life. As he was fastening it upon a staff of acacia wood, Moses arrived.

“Is the serpent ready?”

“Here it is, my lord. In making it I have felt greatly helped.”

“Thou hast fashioned it skillfully, the LORD reward thee, O Bezaleel.”

“But, my lord, to what use is this nehushtan [see 2 Kings 18:4] to be put?”

“It is for any who are bitten of serpents and dying to look upon and live.”

“How? Impossible! Thou hast misunderstood. Do not deceive thy servant.”

“Jehovah hath spoken. These are His very words, ‘And it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.’”

A sneer settles upon the face of Bezaleel, and the same instant he uttered a deep groan, for, swift as lightning, a serpent had glided through the tent and struck its envenomed fang into his heel. The strong man was paralyzed.

In accents of tenderest pity and urgent entreaty Moses cries, “Look, Bezaleel! Look at this seraph and thou shalt live. Oh, look now! Look! There is life at this moment for thee, for the LORD path said, and He cannot lie, Every one that is bitten, when he looketh on it, shall live.’”

But the cool reasoner, the self-confident agnostic, turning away his head with an incredulous smile, expires in his last spasm, and his spirit returns to give its account to God who gave it. He too had “despised the pleasant land,” and so his carcass fell in the wilderness. “True and righteous are his judgments.” But Moses, shouldering the divine ensign of healing and life, goes upon his way of mercy, and as he goes he cries, “Look and live! Lo! every one that is bitten! look at the brazen serpent! Look and live!” And all through the camp, from tent to tent, he proclaims the divine

DELIVERANCE.

Moses in his day was a model evangelist. He made the message plain. He preached in the spirit of certainty, and the simple belief of his message brought assurance and life to the soul. The dead lived, the rebel was pardoned, and the praise of Jehovah filled the heart.

Thanks be to God that in these lukewarm times, when many are like dumb dogs that cannot bark, there are still many warm-hearted Philips who are ready to “preach Christ,” those who are full of matter when they open the Book at Isaiah 53 to preach therefrom JESUS. All the more need, while myriads perish, to heed the command to the latter-day servant, “Do the work of an evangelist... preach the Word.” As Moses preached many Israelites believed, and as they looked—men, women, and children, nobles and slaves—at the uplifted serpent, their healing took place upon the spot.

They lived, and praised the God of their salvation. As each felt within themselves that they were healed they took up the prophet’s evangel, beseeching, coaxing, and entreating every one that was bitten to look at the serpent of brass and live. Then, side by side with those who refused in their unbelief to look and live, choosing rather to die, arose the joyful song, “Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things; and blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; amen! and amen!”

“The serpent ‘lifted up’

Could life and healing give,

So JESUS on the cross

Once died that we might live;

For ‘whosoever will believe

Shall everlasting life receive.’

‘Not to condemn the world’

The ‘Man of Sorrows’ came;

But that the world might have

Salvation through His name:

For ‘whosoever will believe

Shall everlasting life receive!’”

T. R. D.

An Unrehearsed Incident.

THE Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, was a scene of unsurpassed splendor on 11TH June 1907. Filled with the elite of society, fifty guineas was not considered too much to pay for the distinction of being numbered amongst the select audience. Their Majesties King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra were present, accompanied by their illustrious guests, the King and Queen of Denmark.

Just before the Royal Party arrived, and the curtain was raised, an unrehearsed incident was enacted. Another king—more powerful than any monarch that sits on earthly throne—the King of Terrors, and the terror of kings, unbidden and unwanted, without form or ceremony, entered, and conveyed the soul of an honored military veteran from that center of gaiety to the great beyond.

Often had the noble warrior faced death upon the field of battle; but just when least expected, not amid warring cannon and flashing sword, in defense of king and country, but in repose and pleasure the summons came, which no man can disregard or disobey.

“But why remind us of this?” inquires the reader of these lines. “We read it in our newspaper with a shudder, felt thankful that we were still alive, and were only too glad to dismiss the subject from our mind.” We recall the incident to remind you that You, strong man of thirty-five, are as liable to be called away as the man of threescore years and ten; and you, young lady of one-and-twenty, are not exempt from his inexorable claims; and you, dear child, who may read these pages, may also die. We are told now that

DEATH IS A MISTAKE.

To argue thus is like sitting down before a burning house and contending that fire is a mistake, while all the time the building is being reduced to ashes, and its occupants are perishing.

We have to face the fact that death is here, and who that scans these lines has not had the fact brought home in a painful way at one time or another? The words uttered to King David by the wise woman of Tekoah, and recorded in 2 Samuel 14:14, are, regarding the unsaved, as true today as ever: —

“WE MUST ALL NEEDS DIE.”

These words are confirmed by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 9:27, where we read, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Reader, hast thou thought of this? “This night thy soul may be required of thee.”

ART THOU READY TO DIE?

Now let us examine this momentous matter a little more closely. In Romans 5:12 we read, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

This throws light upon the all-important subject. As certainly as night succeeds day, as surely as effect follows cause, so death is “the wages of sin” (Rom. 6:23). Adam sinned (modern criticism notwithstanding), and Adam died. Genesis 5 supplies a weird list of men who, early in the world’s history, lived and died. The holy Scriptures record the history of all sorts and conditions of people, and, with two exceptions—Enoch and Elijah—they all died. Today, in every corner of the land, old and young die. Medical science makes rapid strides; fresh discoveries are of frequent occurrence, and the skill with which physicians combat disease, and contest every inch of ground as their patient’s life hangs in the balance, excites our profound admiration; but still death pursues his course, undaunted and undeterred. Nor is it only death, for we read just now,

“AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT.”

“Whence then are we to derive hope, and how may we prepare for the great change?” is the query, uttered or unexpressed, of many hearts. If such a question is on your lips, dear friend, will you kindly open your Bible at Hebrews 9, and in verse 27 and 28 read, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Observe, please, the three words in italics, “as,” “so,” “and.” We have already noticed that death is the result of sin; therefore to get rid of death we must get rid of sin. Herein lies the riddle of the universe, the problem of the ages, the question that God alone could settle; and only in Christ could He find the solution.

“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Faith says, “He bore my sins.” “How may I be sure,” asks some person, “that I am one of the many?” You may be quite sure you are a sinner, therefore claim your place amongst the “many”; and we have the authority of the Word of God, confirmed by our own memorable experience, for stating that your sins will be forgiven. How much this opens up. The love of God that led Him to give His only Son to die; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that caused Him to taste death for everything; the efficacy of the finished work accomplished at Calvary; the message of full and free forgiveness which the Holy Spirit now proclaims to every child of Adam’s race.

Now consider; Christ bore my sins—so says faith—therefore they are gone, from the sight of God, from me, and from the ken of the enemy of God and man. Christ died—I live. Christ is risen—I am justified. Christ is at the right hand of God—I am in Him before God in all His acceptance, and in all the value of what He has accomplished. Look again at our text. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die.” I was under sentence of death; “but after this the judgment.” I deserved nothing but judgment, and was hastening on thereto. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Hallelujah!

The question of sin is settled, and a risen and glorified Christ at God’s right hand is the witness that death is annulled and judgment exhausted; therefore I am free. My sins are gone, cleansed by the precious blood of Christ; God has said He will remember them no more; death I shall never taste in its bitterness, and may not even undergo physically; judgment I shall never have to face.

“There is no condemnation,

There is no hell for me,

The judgment and the fire

Mine eyes shall never see.”

“And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” If, ere Christ returns, the believer is summoned away, perhaps, like the subject of our narrative, suddenly, he or she is put to sleep by Jesus and taken home. “Absent from the body, present with the Lord,” observes the beloved apostle Paul in one epistle: “Far better,” he remarks in another. We look not even for this, however, we “look for Him”; we are on the tip-toe of expectation, just waiting for the return of our precious Lord. He has saved us for eternity; He is saving us all along the road; He will then save us, spirit, soul, and body, and having changed us into His own likeness, will present us “before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”

Do you wonder that we are happy? Heaven, for us, has commenced, because we know the One who makes heaven what it is. And now in closing, permit us, dear friend, to ask you once again, should your exit from this world be as speedy and as unexpected as was his to whom we have referred, ARE YOU READY? To die in your sins is to spend eternity in your sins, away from God, where no ray of hope can ever enter. Hell is as great a reality as death, and thither you are hastening with appalling rapidity if still out of Christ. It is with the object of telling you not of death but of life that we pen these lines. Like one of old our cry would be―

“LIFE, LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE.”

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). We beseech you, while God’s mercy lingers, accept His grand and glorious gift.

“We are healed by His stripes! Wouldst thou

add to the word?

And He is our righteousness made;

The best robe of heaven He bids thee put on:

Oh couldst thou be better arrayed?

Oh take with rejoicing from Jesus at once,

The life everlasting He gives,

And know, with assurance, thou never cant die,

Since Jesus thy Righteousness lives.”

W. B. D.

"Jesus is Precious."

SUCH were the words of one who was about to pass from this world into that region where all is unclouded sunshine. She had been suffering for many days from congestion of the lungs, but truly her heart was in heaven, and the ground of her peace was that work done on the cross to the satisfaction of God the Father’s heart. Her confidence in Him was bright to the end, and she would burst forth at times with, “Jesus is precious; I soon shall see His face, and be like Him.”

The doctor called to see her just a day or so before she departed, and she said to him, “Doctor, you always told me I would get better, but I’ am going home to glory. Are you bound for glory?”

“Well,” said the doctor, “I hope so.” She said, “There is no hoping about it, doctor; you must be either bound for glory or for that place where the worm dieth not, and where the fire is never quenched.” This dear woman found her home in the Lord’s presence, and seemed to care for nothing else. What glimpses she got of Him! She said once, “I have had a nice time this afternoon; I saw His hands and His feet as they were nailed to the tree; and oh, the crown, the beautiful crown that was on His head!”

Her last words on earth were, “Let me go; I long to see His face, and dwell forever with Him.” So she departed, and tasted the joy of being “absent from the body, present with the Lord.”

Reader, you are on the road to one of two places. I have little doubt but you would like to die the death of the righteous, and your last end to be like his, but perhaps do not care about living the life of the righteous. I daresay you have heard the story of the cross over and over again, but what does it avail you? Let me entreat you to decide for Christ now, or what you have heard may only go to augment your torment in that place where the great gulf is fixed.

This dear soul could say, “I am going home to glory.” She had done nothing to gain it; it was hers because of what Another had done. He charged Himself with all her guilt, and now payment God will not twice demand, first at His hand and then at the poor sinner’s. He has given the best thing in heaven for the worst thing on earth. Christ receives sinners: “He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Oh, then, may you take sides with God against yourself. You have nothing to do; all is done. Christ’s is a finished work; you cannot add anything to a thing that is finished. Soon you will be in eternity, and where do you intend to spend it? Time is short. Oh, heed then the voice of Jesus. Bow to Him now. You have only to neglect the great salvation and you will be lost. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and salvation will be yours.

M. D.

"Almost Persuaded."

(Read Acts 26:22-32.)

IT is a very strange thing that the life of a man who wanted to bring the light of the nature and heart of God to men should stand in jeopardy. You may depend upon it, if the devil wants to get rid of a testimony like that, it is worth hearing and heeding. Paul’s message was, to Jews and Gentiles, “That they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.” He nearly lost his life because he pressed upon men what was of paramount interest—repentance towards God.

If you have never been brought to repentance yet your case is a serious one. You may be young or old, rich or poor, religious or careless—if you have never passed through what is spoken of here, let me urge you to seize the golden opportunity given you today, and settle the question of your soul’s salvation. Paul felt the importance of his testimony, and therefore he says, “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day” (vs. 22). Nothing stopped him. You may say you do not see why we make such a fuss about salvation. No, but there is such a thing as the truth of God being hidden from your eyes.

The Lord wept over Jerusalem because He saw the unbelief that was there, and knew the judgment that was coming. And He knows the unbelief of your heart and the judgment hanging over you, and He said, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace. But now they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke 19:42). What day was that? The day of grace, of mercy, of opportunity, of salvation, and of “the things which belong unto thy peace.” What you are busy about are the things that belong to your body, your house, your family, your business—things of time. Eternity is not in your thoughts; and what is hidden from your eyes in time you will never see in eternity. Miss it now, and you miss it forever. “Now they are hid from thine eyes” is an awful word. Some words we often sing, “Be in time,” I should like burned into your soul. If you are going to be saved, do not put off.

How earnest and busy was Paul, “witnessing both to small and great.” Who are they? Well, I see that “small and great” stand before the great white throne (see Rev. 20). What did he tell them? “None other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come” (vs. 22). What Paul preached Old Testament Scripture had predicted. “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the, midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken,” said Moses (Deut. 18:15). The Old Testament is full of types, shadows, and figures of Christ. Isaiah says, “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (53:7). And again, “He was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (vs. 12).

Paul says, I have not preached something new. There was something new in the fact that the Church would be the body of Christ, that there was a risen Man in glory, and that saints on earth were united to Him. But that Christ should die and rise again was not new—there was abundant testimony in the Old Testament Scripture to that, also, “That Christ should suffer for sins.”

Sin always brings suffering. You say, I have had plenty of it in my life here. The question is, Will you suffer in eternity for it? You say, I hope not; it would not be righteous. You have your own thoughts about your sin. I would like to ask you this, Had Christ any sin? Scripture says He “knew no sin”; He “did no sin”; and “in him was no sin”; and yet He was “made sin.” Did He suffer? Beyond any other, to effect atonement. That consisted, not in the sufferings man gave Him, nor His physical sufferings, deep and many though they were, but in God’s forsaking Him. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Who are the unjust? I am; that word takes me in. And who was the just? Who but Himself was the just One? He was the only righteous One.

When He rose from the dead He told His disciples in the upper room, when He got them all round Himself, “Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day” (24:46). There was no way out of the difficulty for either God or man, because God’s side was that He must judge sin, and you and I have sins to be judged. God is holy: you and I are guilty. You may say, God is merciful. Yes, but when? In a day of judgment? Never. A judge must act in righteousness. God is the judge of all, and you are guilty. If a man plead “guilty” in man’s court he is condemned immediately; if he plead “guilty” in God’s court he is forgiven immediately, because “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). And is He risen from the dead? Yes, thank God. Look back at His cross—there see the spotless Son of God dying and crowned with thorns, the emblem of the curse, dying for sins and sinners.

“My soul looks back to see

The burden Thou didst bear,

When hanging on th’ accursed tree,

For all my guilt was there.”

I want you to get hold of the immense fact that Christ is risen. We live in a day when we are told that there is no resurrection—that men die, and there is the end of them. That is a nice doctrine for careless sinners, because they can go on with their sins, and, when dead are extinct, because there is no resurrection. That will suit you sinners, and you can go on in your sins, saying softly, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32).

The devil has many a servant who will preach that, and each one preaches to a thousand fools that will believe it. They will find out by-and-by that they have believed a lie.

But you say, We have all to die. I reply, as regards believers, We have not all to die. Why not? Because Christ has died for us. True, “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”; but read on, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:27, 28). That means that Christ in His atoning death once stood between God and man, bore sins and their judgment, and now He is alive from the dead. When He comes again He will take out of the grave those that belong to Him, and those that are alive He will take up to Himself without death. I rejoice to know that I need not (though I do not say I shall not) die, because the Man that glorified God about sin has died in my room and stead, and delivered me from the consequences of sin, viz., death and judgment, as a necessity. Hear His words, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment” (John 5:24). Well sang another: ―

“God will not payment twice demand,

Once at my bleeding Surety’s hand

And then again at mine.”

The gospel is very simple, and very sweet. Get rid of resurrection, however, and you get rid of Christ. The Word of God is perfectly plain— “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20). He could not be holden of death. Lazarus was taken out of death, but went back to it. Every other man saw corruption. Death is the end of man’s pathway of sin and disobedience, but Jesus reached it as the end of a pathway of blessed, perfect obedience and holy love. He went into death for God’s glory, that He might restore that which He took not away, and deliver sinners; and when He reached the grave God stooped down and raised Him from the dead, and His resurrection is the proof of the perfect satisfaction of God with the work He has done. I know that my sins are gone from God’s sight, because the One who bore them is now in the glory at God’s right hand. He was forsaken that I might be accepted. As the Victim He died, but risen He is the Victor, hence Satan’s power is broken, and death annulled, for sin is put away. Every attribute of God’s nature has been glorified in the cross of Calvary. There I see the divine combination of absolute holiness and perfect love—the holiness that judges sin, and the love that gave an only-begotten Son to bear the judgment, that the man who had sinned might be righteously delivered and brought to God. I have not been brought to heaven yet, but I have been brought to God, and my heart perfectly at rest in His love. That is the gospel— have you received and been saved by it?

If there be no resurrection Christ is not risen, but “since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:21). Hence He is going to raise every man that has died. If he has died without his sins, because Christ has blotted them out, he will rise without them; if he died in his sins, he will rise in them. But he is going to rise. How we are raised is another question. I know how I and every true believer will rise. Of the believer’s body we read that “it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1 Cor. 15:43). The Lord is going to fashion the bodies of His people like His own. A Christian is one who knows a risen, triumphant, victorious Saviour.

All God’s claims on man have been met by His blessed Son, and the disposition of God towards man now is mercy, grace, and goodness to the vilest, and to the whole earth. But you must avail yourself of it. The Jew could not bear that the Gentiles should be blessed. Thank God the gospel has come to the Gentiles. Simeon said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou halt prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32). That is what Jesus is. “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 it is a great thing to have light, and to see; and if you do not see, and do not know, it is not that there is no light. You have not yet got your eyes opened. They are going to be opened by-and-by, when too late.

Very striking and solemn are the apostle’s words, “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). You say, I hope I shall not be lost. You are lost already, and if God snapped the link of life you would drop into an eternal hell just as you are. Worldling, no one takes you for a believer. The devil does not think you are a believer. Do your friends think so? You say, I profess to be a Christian. All the worse, for it is not true. Truth always comes out. When there is repentance there are “works meet for repentance” always in evidence.

Why does the god of this world, Satan, blind people, and what with? He has very large shutter manufactories, and he makes various kinds of shutters. He has got “novel” shutters. You are so engrossed with novels that you sit up reading them till two or three in the morning. He has also “whiskey” shutters. You love a drop of strong drink. He invents and disposes of “scientific” shutters, “pleasure” shutters, “reason” shutters, “race-course” shutters, as well as “religious” shutters. He does not care what they are so long.as they shut Christ out. His fear is— “Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4). You may be decent, respectable, and religious, and yet be unsaved. The devil has a large department of varied religious shutters, and fine shutters are these to shut out Christ. Christ has died, but Satan’s servants inform you that there is a great deal for you to do besides, and he will help you to put up these religious “working” shutters. The gospel discovers and declares man to be absolutely ruined and helpless, and Christ comes in and saves him out and out, as he is, and where he is. No reformation, no amendment, no improvement is admitted or possible, but a self-judged, self-confessed sinner, without one single thing in him to commend him to God, that is the man Jesus saves, like the poor dying thief on the cross.

The gospel is for everybody. Paul says, “This thing was not done in a corner” (Acts 26:26). Was the death of Christ in a corner? No, and the wonderful news follows, that God’s Son died for a world of sinners. It was not done in a corner, thank God. He meant it to be known, and although the devil has done his best to stifle the gospel, there never was a moment like the present, for the gospel is going out world-wide—there never were so many preachers of Christ as now. Why? We are just at the close—the Lord is coming. What a pity if the blessing has missed you. Take my advice, believe on the Lord, and get saved today.

In the scene before us Paul puts a searching query: “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest” (vs. 27). The meaning of that is, Do you believe Scripture? Agrippa was not an infidel. He was a worldly man who wanted to go on with things here. He was a man of the world, and did not want to break with the world. He did not think what was involved.

Have you noticed in the Acts of the Apostles how often the importance of the Scriptures comes out? “Believing all things that are written in the law and in the prophets” (24:14). Where is your faith, Paul? In Scripture, every line of it, from Moses to Malachi. You say, I cannot swallow all that is in the Old Testament. Very likely not. When you are damned your doubts will all disappear. You had better get alongside of Paul: he could say, “I am persuaded.” Abraham was “fully persuaded.” Where was Abraham’s faith? In the Word of God. Paul could say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). Paul was all out-and-out persuaded man. If you have never been fully persuaded, be so today. Persuaded of what? The truth of Scripture.

“Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (vs. 28). Agrippa has a large family. Many people are like him—almost persuaded. Here you are, almost persuaded, but not quite. Do you know why? You have some doubts about Scripture, and so you are only “almost persuaded.” You are like Agrippa, hopeful, perhaps interested, but not decided. Evidently he was not, for we read: “And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them,” and we never see or hear of him again.

That man had the loveliest gospel preached to him that ever was heard, and at the end of it he says, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,” and if I voiced the feeling of your heart just now, would it be, “Almost persuaded”— not quite? How Paul’s heart went out as he said, “I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds” (vs. 29). What was he? A fully persuaded man. I do not want you to be a prisoner for Christ’s sake, he says, but I want you to be a believer in the gospel, a fully persuaded man. The person that is only “almost persuaded” and not “fully persuaded” will very soon be in the class of the “never persuaded.” The day of being “almost persuaded” will very soon run out, and then appear the “never persuaded” of Luke 16. When Dives finds that there is no possibility of his emerging from hell’s flame, he does not want company. He says, “I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him (Lazarus) to my father’s house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment” (vers. 27, 28). Abraham says, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” What is that? The Scriptures. And then he says, “If one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.” Resurrection testimony will put them right, he thinks. No; refuse the Scriptures, fritter away the Scriptures, fling them to the winds, and what then? One risen from the dead will not touch you a bit.

If you do not bow to God’s written Word, you will not bow to a risen Saviour. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” That is very solemn— “never persuaded.” You say, How comes that about? The heart gets hardened, procrastination gets such a grip of the soul that no matter what is preached it is not received. From being “almost persuaded” they are very soon drawn into being “never persuaded.”

What class are you in today? You say, God forbid that I should be among the “never persuaded.” And are you only “almost persuaded”? That is no good—there is no safety in that. What shall it be? Let “fully persuaded” be the language of your soul henceforth.

W. T. P. W.

"I Am Not Decided."

IT was at the close of a hot summer day, on the outskirts of an inland town in Victoria, Australia, that my friend and I wended our way to the house of a Christian, where we were to hold a gospel meeting.

On account of the heat it was decided to have the meeting out-of-doors, beneath a wide-spreading pine tree. It was a novel scene. From the branches of the tree a lantern was suspended, which shed its light upon the preacher, and the few immediately in front of him, for whom chairs had been brought out. Behind them, in the gathering darkness, stood about twenty others, young and old, gathered to hear the blessed story of the cross; and still further back were a few who stood as though ashamed to come boldly forward, and yet desirous of hearing the message.

Very simply that night the preacher told again of God’s wondrous love in preparing a way of escape from coming judgment for the sinner; and very earnestly he reminded his hearers of their need, urging them to come now to Him who said, “I will abundantly pardon.” “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).

The service closed, and one and another were spoken to as they departed to their homes. The little company had almost dispersed when out of the darkness I heard someone say, “I am not decided.” Looking round I saw a woman, just past what is called the prime of life. She had been pointed out to us before the meeting began as one who had been under the power of the Divine Word, and had also passed through deep affliction, her husband having died quite suddenly a short time before.

Perhaps the knowledge of these facts added to the pathos and earnestness of the preacher, as he told out the story of God’s measureless love, and pressed the immediate acceptance of His eternally completed salvation. Grasping her hand at the close of the meeting he had asked, “And now about yourself, have you accepted Christ as your Saviour? Will you make a full surrender of yourself to Him, the blessed One who died for you?”

Turning from him she replied, “I am not decided.” What a marvelous reply—not decided! She had been a witness of and a sufferer from the uncertainty of life; God had brought death very close home to her. She had heard that night of One who, loving her perfectly, would care for her all through this sin-stricken scene, and receive her into eternal rest (Matt. 11:28-30). She believed all this too; she was no doubter; she had even, like Felix, trembled at the Word. But now when pressed she was not decided.

Alas, it is a common reply, so common that we little notice its appalling indifference to God’s love, and utter insensibility to the sinner’s condition and need.

If you, dear reader, are one of this class, “almost persuaded,” yet not decided, just for one moment look at the position, and may God give you to realize its solemnity.

God’s Word declares “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). “After death the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Judgment here does not mean trial as to guilt or innocence, but the awful and eternal condemnation of the finally impenitent. This is the sinner’s position, and hence his deep need of this, God’s remedy.

Listen: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Do you not see the solemnity of your position, under sentence of death, awaiting only the final execution of God’s sentence? To you, yes, to you, guilty and condemned, comes the word of sovereign mercy, and, in the name of His Son, God offers you a pardon full and free (read Acts 13:38, 39).

No work to do, no merit required. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). Will you turn coldly away from such a glorious message, saying, I have not decided yet?

“Oh, turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die,

When God in His mercy is coming so nigh?”

This hour may be your last; angels may well weep at your folly, and Satan laugh at your most mad indifference.

Some years ago we spoke to a young man, well known to us, about his need of salvation. He admitted his need, acknowledged the importance of salvation, and even owned he desired it. But to all persuasion he replied, “I cannot now decide.” Years passed. Going home late one night along a railroad track he was overtaken by a train, and, without a word of warning, or time for a single thought, was caught by the engine and hurled off the line. All who saw the accident expected he was gone into eternity, but God most wonderfully preserved him, and although severely injured he recovered, and regained his health and strength.

While on the hospital bed prayers went up from many hearts that now God having so signally spared and arrested him he would heed His Word and rest in His love. Some weeks after leaving the hospital we were together at a gospel meeting, and he seemed moved under the Word. On our way home we again pressed him to make a full and unconditional surrender of himself to Christ, alas, alas, only to hear again that chilling reply, “I cannot decide.” Oh the sadness of it!

Jesus died to save you. God waits to be gracious to you. We, then, as ambassadors for Christ, beech you. You mean to be saved at some more convenient time, but you put it off again and again. God has said, “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.”

J. B.

Are You Ready?

A CERTAIN may once said, “Were it possible to know the day I had to die, I would spend a fortune on that day.” Judging from his determination, this person was evidently ignorant of what death would mean to him. People do not think of spending at such a time. Rather is it a very solemn event, and rightly so, being the sentence of God upon fallen man. Doubly serious is such a moment to one uncertain of the future; who is a stranger to God; with a life-time of sin pressing heavily on the soul.

We would just refer to the memorable words said to have been uttered by Queen Elizabeth in the hour of death, “A handful of gold for a moment of time,” as showing how dreadful it is when the soul wakes up to responsibility, alas! too late. “I won’t die,” said another, with the energy of despair, as chill death was creeping on with resistless step; but the natural will is powerless in such an extremity.

What about the hour of your departure, my reader? Can you contemplate with calmness that moment when you will close your eyes on this scene, to open them in eternity? The rich man of Luke 16 lifted up his eyes in hell. Hopeless for evermore; filled with unutterable anguish and regret; with memory still alive and active—what a plight was his! God grant, dear friend, it may never be yours There is a bright eternity in front of those who now accept God’s offer of salvation, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“In time and to eternal day—

‘Tis with believers well!”

You may get rid of your burden of sin and guilt, for this is still “salvation’s day.” “God is not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).

Have you seen the picture of the man, who, with bent head, is earnestly engaged sweeping away at his self-imposed task, utterly oblivious of the one hovering overhead, ready to place a golden crown on his brow, if he would only look up? Man neglects the crown of life in a vain endeavor to make a respectable appearance in a world which is all opposed to the ways of God. Give up self-improvement, my reader; you will never be able to satisfy God in that way. The flesh is incurable, and must be set aside. Nothing short of perfection will do for God, and you can never produce it in yourself. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). The only safe place for you is in Jesus, as Paul could say, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness” (Phil. 3:9).

Cain brought the best that he had to God, but it would not do. Abel, recognizing the true state of affairs, put the life-blood of another between himself and God, and was accepted. “When I see the blood I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13). All pointed to the spotless victim upon Calvary. Man tries every possible way before acknowledging that he has nothing for God. But to that conclusion he must come. God only could judge the depths to which man had sunk; and He alone could provide the remedy. He has done so. “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:21). The first man is gone in the death of Christ. In Christ risen we have the binning of a new creation. All who would stand in favor with God must be found in Christ—the Man in the glory. Needless to say, this can only be a work of God. To one who in simple faith can accept the Word of God, the way is easy. The claims of God have been righteously met in the death of Christ, “who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Do you believe it? God would not have raised Christ if He had not been fully satisfied. The work of the cross has given such perfect satisfaction that salvation full and free is being pressed upon your acceptance.

Sinner 1 would you escape from coming judgment? There is only one way! You must come to God, pleading the merits of Jesus. God will have every one bow the knee to that blessed Man, either now or in a future day. Far better own Him now and be saved than wait till you are forced to bow, when pardon is unobtainable. “He that believeth is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). By rejecting the grace of God you put yourself under condemnation now. Each fresh refusal of salvation is making it more difficult for you to believe. Oh, do not go down to an eternity of unavailing regret! Each moment is bringing you nearer the end. Time is speeding on with relentless haste. Soon your little day will be over. Which is it to be, dear friend? Will you meet the Lord in the air, with a radiant smile on your face and gladness in your heart, or shrink in terror from His face in judgment, when no shelter will be found?

The return of Jesus draws nigh. “I will come again and receive you unto myself,” were His words to His own (John 14:3). The last intimation in the Word of God is, “Surely I come quickly” (Rev. 22:20). It may be tonight. Are you ready to meet Him? Only “they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:10). What if you are left outside after all your opportunities? Think of an eternity spent in bemoaning your lost estate! To be fixed in that awful place, where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” If you come to Jesus now, with what joy will you meet Him on that happy resurrection morning! A few moments in His company will compensate for all the toils of the journey here; and if a few moments, what will an hour be, yea, an eternity, with the One “who loved us and gave Himself for us”!

Reader, if you do not know Jesus yet, we beseech you to get acquainted with Him without delay; for you must know Him in time if you would dwell with Him in eternity. The result of unconditional surrender to God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, will be your name written in the Lamb’s book of life, and everlasting glory ahead.

“Return, O wanderer, to thy home,

‘Tis madness to delay;

There are no pardons in the tomb,

And brief is mercy’s day. Return! return!”

P. D.

I'm Feared to Dee."

IT is now well-nigh twenty years since the mother of Annie G—asked me if I would come and speak a word of comfort to her daughter. I was only too glad to respond to her request, and knowing Annie had been an invalid for sonic months, and was now almost entirely confined to bed, I concluded she was worse, and so it proved.

Oh, how much she needed someone to comfort her, for, alas, she was in the valley of the shadow of death, and, as she told me, was “feared to dee.” It was a great comfort to my own soul to be able to point her to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, to the One now living at God’s right hand; and the Holy Ghost was pleased to use the message to lighten her dark path, which became so bright that in a few hours she passed away in an ecstasy of joy.

Instead of being afraid to die, she, looking, like Stephen, steadfastly up into heaven, besought that blessed One that Stephen saw to take her to be with Himself, which He did. It was not given me to see her pass away, but her mother told me afterward that she had often heard of such death-beds, but had never seen the like of it before.

What, reader, think you, wrought this wonderful change in Annie? Simple faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners.

A. G. was a sweet girl of seventeen summers, of spotless character, and yet afraid to die, afraid to go into the presence of a thrice holy God. “If the righteous be scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:18). Certainly not in the presence of God. No, but cast from His presence into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.

I have met with many who think that God does not mean what He says when He declares in His Word that “the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” The brother of Annie G—, a few months after, told me that he did not believe in the eternity of the punishment of the wicked, and many other things in God’s Word. But his not believing them does not make them untrue, but simply makes him and others unbelievers—which is one of the classes mentioned in Revelation 21 That shall be cast into the place which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Oh, dear reader, let me beseech you, by the terror of the Lord, to fly to the arms of love while this day of grace lasts, and find mercy in Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. His loving invitation to you and all is, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” Come and receive at His hand all you need—forgiveness of sins, redemption through His blood, a place in heaven with Himself, yea, all things shall be yours if you will only take Christ, for all things are His and He is God’s.

A. H. F.

Two Deathbed's a Contrast.

IN the bedroom of a country tavern lay a young person, suffering from a disease which at last proved fatal. On the day of her death she called her mother into her room, and how solemn were the words that fell upon the ear of that mother. I do pray that the Spirit of God may solemnize the heart of every careless one that reads this paper, that you may be awakened to a sense of what you are before God, and where you are going; for God says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell,” but it is not the will of God that you should go there, for He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

She said, “Mother, I am going to hell,” and died. Going to hell—sinner, ponder the words of one just going into eternity. How would you meet death if you were called to pass through it tonight? Would it be like this young woman, going to hell, or would it be with the blessed assurance of eternal glory?

I was told one Thursday morning that a fellow-Christian, with whom I had preached the gospel on Sunday, was suffering from brain fever and not expected to live. In the course of conversation on Sunday he had said, “We see many happy, pleasant faces, but none like the face of our Lord Jesus. Oh, what a glorious face His is, and what a thought that we shall see it soon!”

On hearing of his illness I hurried off, the moment I had finished work, to see him. He was only conscious at times, but when he saw me his face brightened up with a smile that I never can forget, as he said, “Ah, W—, is that you? I am going home, but you will not be long after me.”

What consolation— “going home.” And then he said, “Victory through the blood of the Lamb, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Hallelujah! God is good and doeth good.” Speaking to his wife about an hour before he passed away, he said, “Eliza, I am going to wear a crown, and there is one for you if you will wear it. I have spoken to you all my life, but I cannot put grace in your heart.” That night he passed triumphantly into the presence of his much loved Lord.

What a contrast between the two death-beds―between “Mother, I am going to hell” and the words of the believer in the Lord Jesus, “I am going home... washed in the blood of the Lamb.”

Answer for yourself now, which of these would be yours if called on now to meet death? Oh, dear reader, it may be the mind of the Lord concerning you as it was concerning the prophet of old, “This year thou shalt die... and he died” (Jer. 28:16, 17); or, as the Lord Jesus said to the man, “Thou fool, this night thy soul is required of thee” (Luke 12:20). How would you meet death if it came to you? Jesus says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Satan says, “Time enough”; but, listen, “This night thy soul is required of thee.” Do not delay. Come now.

W. W.

Justification.

THERE is a good deal of mystery as to what Justification really is in the minds of many who are, doubtless, Christians. Perhaps the following simple illustration may bring light from God on this great and important truth to some inquiring one. The writer was once reading over some old municipal accounts of an ancient Scottish town, and found therein a statement like this: ―

“Hugh Brown, sentenced to be hung for highway robbery, was justified on Saturday morning.” The meaning of this was somewhat puzzling, and it was only by inquiring of one well versed in Scottish law that I found the statement simply meant that Hugh Brown had paid the penalty of his crime, and was consequently clear of the power of the law. So that justification for Hugh Brown meant clearance, a clearance purchased with his own life.

Now, my reader, man stands in the same case as regards God, the “Judge of all the earth,” as Hugh Brown stood in relation to his fellow-men and judge. For as this man had broken the law of the land in which he lived, so every son of guilty Adam’s race has broken the law of God, and trampled it under foot, and ever since the entry of sin into the world God has had a great controversy with man.

“How shall man be just with God?” (Job 9:2) was the question of supreme importance asked by Job, and still asked by countless living men. Sin produces in the heart a sense of guilt, fear, and estrangement from God, and if man is ever to be brought into the very presence of God, and to feel perfectly at home there, he must needs first be cleared from his sin. The great point for us is, how is this clearance to be accomplished?

Job and David both knew experimentally, no doubt, that man in himself is helpless and powerless under the dominion of sin, and if man is to be delivered the power must come from another. What mind could have conceived that God Himself would take up man’s case and come in as “Justifier of the ungodly”? (Rom. 4:5). This is the position God has been enabled to take through the death and resurrection of His own Son.

In the Epistle to the Romans the whole question of justification is gone into by the apostle Paul. In chapter 3 both Jews and Gentiles are seen as alike guilty and subject to the judgment of God, and the conclusion arrived at is that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified. Oh, how this simple scripture cuts every inch of standing room from under the feet of the multitudes who are trying by their own doings to justify themselves. “Ye are they which justify yourselves” (Luke 16:15), were the words of the Lord Himself to a company of hypocritical Pharisees.

But in Luke 7:29 we find a company who justify God. The man who seeks to work out a righteousness of his own is simply seeking his own glory, and will never be justified. But the one who justifies God owns his state by bowing to the judgment of God, and in so doing finds that God will justify him. In Romans 3 it is only when man is absolutely shut up, with his guilt fully proved, that God can come out as the One who justifies.

Oh, mystery of mysteries, that has set all heaven in rapturous amazement; God, the Judge of all the earth, has taken the place of Justifier. Instead of sending forth the armed hosts of heaven to take summary vengeance on the murderers of His Son, God sends by His Spirit a message of forgiveness and clearance for all who will have it.

But if God be the righteous One, as He most surely is, on what ground can He clear the guilty? “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 5:9). Justified by blood, cleared by blood, the blood, too, of God’s own Son. This is the only ground upon which God can justify man. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). “It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” was, and is, and ever shall be true. For God must be just ere He can take the place of Justifier. It is not only that the Lord Jesus bore the punishment of our sins, but He actually passed into our position, as being under the condemnation of God; and in His death finished our history as after the flesh, so that now we have in Him a complete clearance: there is nothing chargeable to us.

Small wonder, then, that the apostle, in the eighth chapter, sends forth the challenge before all the universe, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” God Himself has given the clearance, and who can question His work? “Who is he that condemneth?”— again the challenge rings out, and the death and resurrection of Christ are the full and fitting answer to this. What a blessed thing it is to have a clearance such as this, wrought out by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and now administered by God the Father in perfect grace. Instead of seeking to clear myself, and going about to establish my own righteousness, I find that God clears me, and accounts me righteous in Christ.

But the question may arise, “For whom is this clearance, and on what principle does God act in giving it?” In Romans 3:22 we read, “Unto all and upon all.” It is what God desires for everyone, so no one can say, “It was not for me.” “All have sinned.” Yes, but the justification is for all. You may say, Must there be nothing in me to merit it? My dear friend, there is nothing in you to merit it, and the man who waits till he merits it will wait in vain. “Justified freely by His grace”— there lies the principle on which God acts. Grace means unmerited favor, and surely it is only on this footing that man can get blessing. One’s heart would sink after reading the solemn indictment in the first three chapters of Romans if one had to be anything or to do anything to merit justification. What, let me ask, can man do? Nothing but sin, Scripture says, so that if he comes into blessing at all it must be by the free grace of God.

What have we then? A clearance purchased by blood; given freely or unconditionally by God to all who seek it. Perhaps the reader may say, “In what way can I get into the good of it?” In the fifth of Romans you have the answer, “Being justified by faith” (vs. 1). Faith is like the hand that reaches out to God, and takes His precious gift. There is a good deal of mystification in many minds as to faith, but the Word of God is most simple on the subject. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). You have heard something of Him who came to be delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification. Do you believe it so that in the strength of that belief you can stretch out your hand, so to speak, and accept what God freely offers? Then, and only then, will you have the deep, sweet assurance in your soul that you have been cleared by God. Cleared from what—the most wicked acts of my life, the great sins I have committed against God or man, or even my whole past history? Listen, friend, listen to the simple yet comprehensive statement of God’s blessed Word, “justified from all things” (Acts 13:39) “All things” great or small, forgotten or remembered. “All things,” yea, even my old self.

“What must I do to be saved?” came from the depths of a thoroughly awakened heart once. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” was the answer. Reader, let me ask the question once put by the Saviour Himself— “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” (John 9:35). If so, you will know the blessedness of being―

1St “Justified by grace” (Rom. 3:24)— The Source of Justification.

2nd “Justified by faith” (Rom. 5:1)— The Principle of Justification.

3rd “Justified by blood” (Rom. 5:9)— The Means of Justification.

4th “Justified from all things” (Acts 13:39)— The Effect of Justification.

J. K.

A Grave Query.

THERE is an important question asked in Luke 13:23— “Lord, are there few that be saved?” Now, whether it was mere curiosity which led to the asking of this question or not, I do not now seek to prove; but it is quite certain that the Lord’s answer was not given to gratify natural curiosity. It should arouse the conscience of all those who are still traveling on “the broad way which leadeth to destruction.” And I would here point out that all are “by nature the children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3) and therefore on the broad way which leadeth to destruction.

It is declared in Isaiah 53:6 that “we have turned everyone to his own way,” and a man’s own way is certainly the wrong way. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16:25). The way you are traveling may—in your own eyes, and according to your own thoughts—appear to be the right way, but remember that if it is not God’s “way of salvation” you are in, it is the wrong way. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isa. 55:8). In answer to the question referred to, we see that there are many who find out when too late, to their own loss, that they had been in the wrong way. They sought to be admitted on the ground of what they had done. They say, “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets” (vs. 26). I have no doubt that this would apply now to those who eat the Lord’s Supper and listen to the preaching of the Word of God, and think that by doing these things they are sure to get to heaven.

But that will not do, for it is “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” (Titus 3:5,6). “Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9). Christ has accomplished a work —the work which His Father gave Him to do, on the ground of which all who believe in Him shall be justified— “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God: to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:24-26).

Do not be carried away with the delusion that you must do some good works in order to be saved from the wrath to come. All the people “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,” who will be in the glory, will give the Lord all the credit for their being there. Yes, we shall sing heartily “unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us a kingdom and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:5,6).

We read in Romans 4:2, “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” Was it because of some works that Abraham did that God justified him? The Scriptures plainly testify that it was not. Abraham was justified by faith, as verse 3 says, “For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” And neither can you be justified in the sight of God by your own works. So that if you are attempting this impossibility, it will be your wisdom to give it up at once, and take the way which the Scriptures show to be the right way. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (vs. 5).

Instead of having your sins charged against you by the Lord, you shall be cleared from the guilt of your sins; and is not that a wonderful blessing? Abraham was “fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform.” It was not a question of what Abraham was able to do, but of what God was able to do. Therefore “he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” Now the promise of God to all those who “believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification,” is, that righteousness shall be imputed to them (Rom. 4:20-25).

Be thankful that you are still living in the day when you can be made ready to enter in, before “the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door.” But do not be deceived into thinking that you have plenty of time, for the door may be shut at any moment now. And as that day finds you, so you shall remain; for the scripture says, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev. 22:11).

The Lord has promised to return, and will soon fulfill it, although scoffers say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (see 2 Peter 3:3-10).

And now, dear reader, in view of these things, be persuaded to come to Christ, who “hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). And when the door is shut, you will find yourself inside, in the presence of the Lord, where there is “fullness of joy” (Psa. 16:11). But if “you will not come to him that you might have life,” you will find yourself outside the door, and the Lord’s solemn word to you then will be, “I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

B. W.

Gone, Squandered, Vanished.

SUCH were the expressions heard on every hand after “The City of Glasgow Bank” suspended payment, and shut its doors on 2nd October 1878. Widows, teachers, tradesmen, farmers, people of no profession, held the majority of the shares, and many depended on the interest they received for their livelihood. The City of Glasgow was benumbed; business was interrupted and paralyzed, families were made destitute, whilst numbers were panic-stricken, as house after house stopped payment, until the liabilities amounted to nearly twenty-five millions sterling.

This financial crisis chiefly affected Scotland. But it reminds me of the great general panic which must shortly come to pass—the precursor of other awful events predicted in the Bible. If you are unsaved, reader, when they come, you will be cut off as a Christ rejecter under the judgment of God. The Lord may come in a moment, and take His people to heaven. God’s judgments upon the ungodly, on the earth, will immediately begin. Signs of the coming crisis are seen in the appalling armaments of Europe. The wise understand that when the Church is taken from earth to heaven, kings and nations will lose entire confidence in one another, treaties made for the prosperity of the people will be broken through, and the power that God had given them to preserve the equilibrium of empires, will be lost; the strong desire for conquest, long hindered from being satisfied, will burst forth and take peace from the earth; confusion and bloodshed must be the result.

The rider on the pale home, “Death and Hell,” will go forth to kill and destroy with hunger and death; wars and famines, pestilences and earthquakes will prevail; anarchy, revolution, and desolation will roll on like a mighty flood, and great consternation will seize on the inhabitants of the earth. Philanthropic measures will collapse, peaceful societies will be broken up, kings and rulers will lose their power and form part of the awful confusion. “God’s judgments will be abroad upon the earth.” Neither Noah nor Job’s righteousness could stem these judgments, nor will the Lord Himself at that time say, “Peace, be still.” Kings, princes, rich men, chief captains, mighty men, bond and free, will say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:8-16).

Grace has run its course; God has called in love during its day, now it is over. The strong delusions are about to come, that all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. Opportunities for you to hear God’s glad tidings are over, it is too late, the door of salvation is shut. God’s gracious favor is “gone.” His goodness and mercy to you are “squandered.” His long-suffering for your salvation is “vanished.” What a discovery! Every ray of hope lost forever, and the judgments on the earth so terrible that you will seek death and shall not find it, but God’s judgments and death shall find you in your sins—your sins will stick to you—and you will be finally cast into the lake of fire to suffer the consequences of them forever and ever (Rev. 20:13-15).

Bank failures are trivial things, all the calamities put together are small, compared to things shortly coming to pass. The Lord’s words are: “There shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).

Thank God, the day of grace lingers. His loving call is still, “Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” “Today, today”— that is, believe the Lord Now. “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Do you say you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but cannot feel saved? You are looking at yourself instead of looking to Christ. Feelings at best are only the effects of a fact believed.

“I never thought of it in that way before,” said a man the other night after a gospel meeting. “I have been trying to feel saved before believing on Christ, and always failed to feel saved; my thoughts are completely changed.” He was really converted.

God is a rich giver. He wants nothing from you, neither your feelings, strivings, nor even your prayers. He thinks so much of His Son and His work that He directs you to distrust yourself and trust Him. The Lord Jesus is worthy. Believe on Him and thou shalt be saved—saved from sin, death, judgment, and the lake of fire. Saved to be with Christ in glory forever. May it be so.

D. D.

IT is only as the heart is in fresh communion with the Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ that there is real love to the brethren. The children of a family are not found together because born of one father and mother. If the tender mother, the beloved father be gone, the power that kept them together is gone from among them. So with regard to fellowship with the Father and the Son, if that be not maintained with all freshness, love to the brethren fails.

G. V. W.

"A Man of the Pharisees."

SUCH was Nicodemus, “a man of the Pharisees.” In plain and unmistakable language his religious associations are told us. Unlike many today who hide their religion, showing it only as occasion requires, he stands out boldly among his fellows, “a man of the Pharisees” and a “ruler of the Jews.”

There were none like the Pharisees in the day in which he lived—a man was estimated according to his religious zeal and devotion. Standing at the corners of the streets, to be seen by all, they made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their garments; when they fasted they disfigured their faces that they might appear unto men to fast; and when they prayed their prayers were long, intended more for the ears of men than the ear of the living God.

We do not intend to convey to our readers that we believe such was the character of Nicodemus. Doubtless he was an honest man, looked up to and revered by all, but this “master of Israel,” of the most religious sect of his day, standing high above his fellows, like the young man in the gospel, had one thing lacking. It mattered not who he was, or to what religious party he belonged—it might be the most orthodox and correct—yet he was outside the kingdom of God, and needed to be born again ere he could see or enter into it.

How many thousands there are today who, like Nicodemus, pride themselves on a fair profession, and boast in an orthodox creed; baptized, confirmed, and admitted to church membership, with all their outward attainments and advantages, they are going religiously down to hell, professors but not possessors, alas.

Is the reader of the sect of the Pharisees? for that body has a large membership today. In other words, are you preferring religion to Christ, an orthodox creed to the blessed Son of God? Are you priding yourself, dear friend, on not being as other men are, thanking God perhaps you are no thief, drunkard, or profane person? You may well be thankful you are not, but let me tell you, dear friend, “Ye must be born again.” Turn not in anger from this plain truth, but think of it soberly and calmly, for “unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

Many there are who are seeking for salvation by human merit. Vain indeed is their effort to gain it thus, since salvation is God’s free gift to sinners, through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9). How overwhelming is this statement by the apostle Paul, who once, like Nicodemus, was “a man of the Pharisees,” and who learned that all his Phariseeism would not do for God, but counted all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord, that he might be found in Him, not having human righteousness which was by the law, but the righteousness of God by faith (see Phil. 3:8, 9).

Nicodemus had to learn that human goodness would not do for God, for man is away from God, a sinner by practice, lost and guilty. But blessed be God, along with the declaration of man’s terrible condition and deep, deep need, comes the revelation of God’s love. That is, man must be born again, and receive a new nature before he can have to say to God or receive from Him, so the blessed Son of man must be lifted up “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Eternal life—God’s free gift to man—is now offered to all who believe on His Son. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

Remember, dear reader, if you are but a professor and not a possessor of Christ, religious but never having been brought to God, that, like Nicodemus, the man of the Pharisees, “ye must be born again.”

E. E. N.

"Was He God?"

BUT was He God, doctor?” This startling and deeply important question came from the lips of an elderly lady, whom some years ago I was attending in Edinburgh. She was professedly an Unitarian, but was not too sure of the solidity of her creed, which, alas, denies the deity of the Lord Jesus. She usually resided in one of the best streets in the center of Edinburgh, but desiring change of air to the south side of the town, had taken a furnished house which belonged to some warm and hearty Christians.

The large and sunny bedroom which she occupied had its walls hung with twelve very prettily illuminated texts, which compose Isaiah 53. Called to attend to her in her new domicile, my eye was attracted and my heart touched by these silent witnesses to the Saviour’s suffering and love. As she lay in her bed she could not but see and read some of the twelve.

The medical part of my visit concluded, I was about to leave, when the fifth verse arrested me, and I was fain to read aloud, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” This brought from her lips at once the query, “But was He God, doctor?” Turning to look her full in the face—a face which bespoke unrest and uncertainty—I rejoined, “Oh, yes, Mrs. B—, from the bottom of my soul I believe that He was God. That He was a holy, good, blessed Man is equally certain, but had He not been God He could not have revealed God’s nature to man, and had He not been a perfect Man He could not have met the claims of God on man. That fifth verse which I have just read gives us the very kernel of the gospel, and the essence of the atonement. None but a sinless man, who was also divine in His person, could have been ‘wounded for our transgressions,’ or ‘bruised for our iniquities.’ How blessed to know that ‘the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.’”

“But I have never believed that He was God; I have always regarded Him as a very good Man,” was her reply.

“On the other hand,” I rejoined, “I have never doubted that He was God, and rejoice to confess Him as such, while owning with delight His spotless humanity.”

A lengthened conversation ensued, and I have great hope that the result was the entrance of divine light into her soul as regards the Person of the Lord Jesus, and the recognition of His divinity; for not long afterward she passed away, confessing that she believed in Jesus, and rested only on His merit, and the value of His precious blood shed in atonement for sins.

Do you, my dear reader, believe that He is God? Yes, Jesus is God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). As the Word He is the intelligent and intelligible expression of God. That Word became flesh, that is to say, was incarnate, assumed manhood. In manhood He revealed to man all the blessedness of God’s being—love light, grace, tenderness, mercy, kindness, compassion, purity, holiness, righteousness, yea, every attribute of God; while at the same time He presented to the eye and heart of God, in His life as a man, everything God looked for or could desire to see in man here on earth.

What a perfect Being! What a revelation was in Him of the Father’s heart. What an expression was in Him of dependence, lowliness, and obedience on the part of man. He was infinitely precious to God, and could truthfully say, “He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things which please him” (John 8:29). There we have the secret of His preciousness to God—He did always the things that pleased Him. It was all this preciousness that gave infinite value and efficacy to the offering of Himself as a sacrifice for sins. “Christ appeared once... to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” and we have peace and healing through His suffering.

In all His life, as in His death likewise, He pleased God. The fruit to those who believe in Him is pardon, peace, healing, and the knowledge of what it is to be accepted by God in all the value of His infinitely precious sacrifice. What a Saviour is Jesus, and what a joy to confess Him as the great I AM.

Friend, have you yet really believed on Him, and confessed His name? If not, let me urge you, ere the year of grace 1907 passes away, so to do. You have begun and continued the year in your unbelief, and consequently in your sins. Beware lest you die in them. Let not its closing days leave you still in them. I have already quoted to you some words of the Lord Jesus from John 8, let me draw your attention to some other words of His in that chapter. “I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go ye cannot come... ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:21, 23, 24).

The question is, Do you see who He is—the I AM, the everlasting God—and believe in Him? To fail of that is to ensure this awful sentence—” Ye shall die in your sins,” with all the eternal consequences of such a calamity. On the other hand, observe the blessedness of believing in Him. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:47, 51).

Jesus is God: more, He is a Saviour God. Let me beseech you to believe in Him, and boldly confess His worth and chant His name.

“Precious name! the name of Jesus,

Son of God most high,

Who in love to guilty sinners,

Came to die.”

W. T. P. W.

The Gospel Messenger: Volume 22 (1907)

Table of Contents

"Withhold Not Thy Hand."

How I Entered the Valley of Blessing.

"I Want to Go Too."

Fragment.

Charlie and His Wife.

"The Unexpected Happens!"

A Triumphant Death.

God's Remedy.

Our Title to Glory.

"Without a Grudge."

Fragment.

Isaiah's Heavenly Vision.

Indifference.

Life Out of Death.

God's Rest and the way to it.

"Christ and His Merits."

"I Am the Way."

The Voice of Wisdom.

Three Months After Death.

Samson's Riddle.

A Peat Seller's Conversion.

"Who is Your Master?"

Satan's Two Great Lies.

Fragment.

"I'm Not Fit to Die."

Almost.

Samson's Riddle.

Fragment.

"Happiness."

"He Made Room for Himself."

The Wrong Train.

Death.

The Policeman and the Axe

"It's all Over."

Incarnation and Union.

H. C. 'S Conversion.

Shivered to Atoms.

Another Testimony to John 3:16.

The Old Well;

David's Fall and Restoration.

The Dying Judge.

"I Shall Pray and Get Pardoned."

Atonement by Blood.

Justified, Reconciled, and Saved.

"Ah, so They tell us."

Who are Believers?

Ready, or Making Ready: Which?

The Cost of Salvation.

"That Which was Lost."

Seven Eternal Realities.

A Speaking Stone.

"Life, Life, Eternal Life."

The Name of Jesus.

In a Crowd Alone with God.

Eleven Eternal Realities.

"He'll See Me Righted."

Three Terrible Famines.

Punon.

Seven Years Ago.

How a Religious Man got Salvation.

For or Against.

"I Would, Ye Would Not."

Judgment Averted, the Believer Made Nigh.

Punon.

An Unrehearsed Incident.

"Jesus is Precious."

"Almost Persuaded."

"I Am Not Decided."

Are You Ready?

I'm Feared to Dee."

Two Deathbed's a Contrast.

Justification.

A Grave Query.

Gone, Squandered, Vanished.

"A Man of the Pharisees."

"Was He God?"