Tidings of Life and Peace: 1914

A NOBLEMAN, surrounded by vast wealth and occupying a very distinguished position, recently expressed himself to a friend thus: “I fear I shall not be here long; my life is of little use to anyone; I have nothing to live for, but I am greatly afraid to die!”

He realizes that neither his great estate nor his high position can secure his present happiness or enable him to evade the “king of terrors”. He dwells in the land of the shadow of death; and must face death all alone.

A few miles from the residence of that nobleman, and about the time that the above utterance was made, there lay upon her death-bed an aged lady in extremely humble circumstances. Her faith, however, was in the Living God. Jesus, God’s beloved Son, was her personal Saviour, Friend and Comforter. So that instead of having to face death all alone, she had the comforting assurance of the presence of the Friend, who, having been into death for her, would go through death with her, making it only a ‘sleep’.

For years she had enjoyed the assurance that her “sins were forgiven, for His name’s sake”.

Her doctor, knowing of her faith in Christ, and seeing that the end was drawing near, had said, “You will not be here long now―it may soon be sudden death and sudden glory for you”.

“Doctor,” she replied, “I do not wish to die suddenly. I am not afraid to die, but I want before I go to leave a clear bright testimony to my Lord, and then just to fall asleep like a tired ‘child.’”

Her desire was granted. In the last spell of consciousness, she said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for THOU art with me.” Then turning to one at her bedside, she said, ―

“I am just longing to see Him, and rest there; but, oh! how I long too, that my dear ones may all seek the Lord while He may be found. I ask it in His precious name.”

Now reader, the question for you is simply this, ‘Which of these two outlooks is to be mine ― to depart supported by this unfailing FRIEND, or be left to face death absolutely alone?’ Oh, do not rest without a satisfactory answer.

It was the ‘chief of sinners’ ― after being brought to know the Son of God ― who spoke of “having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better”. He could say, “for me to live is Christ; to die is gain”. Death had no terror for him, for it had lost its sting.

But the greatest comfort for all that believe is the bright hope of the coming of the Lord; for then “we shall not all sleep”.

The believer in Jesus is cheered by that glorious prospect; for “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout..., and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up (i.e., without dying) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16,17).

The God of all grace desires that you may be saved, dear reader, and be found among those “that are Christ’s at His coming”. May this blessing be yours.

F. S. M

Peace, Would You Find It?

From a Gospel Address.

THAT which is commonly taught and believed is, that we have to make our peace with God. But how could an unjust sinner make peace with a holy, righteous God? You might as well expect an infant to leave its mother’s bosom, and stop the express train as it rushes down the main line! Be assured of this, poor sinner, that nothing you have done, are doing, or ever will be able to do, could make your peace with God.

Man’s heart by nature is at enmity with God; and Christ died, not to reconcile God to man, as it is commonly taught, but to reconcile man to God (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Col. 1:20-22); and until you know and believe this, you will never be at peace with God.

But I think I hear you say, “If I am unable to make my peace with God; and must be at peace with Him to be perfectly happy here and hereafter, how is it to be accomplished?” Christ has made peace through the blood of His cross (Col. 1:20); made it by His blood; made it with God, and made it for you; and having done so, He said, “It is finished”.

Then having silenced all our enemies on the cross, God raised Him from the dead, and sent Him to proclaim peace to us. The first three words He uttered to His assembled disciples after His resurrection were, “Peace unto you” (John 20:19, 21, 26).

But so many dear souls have not settled peace with God, because they stop at the cross, and do not go on to the resurrection. Christ is no longer a dead Christ hanging on the tree. Remember the angelic instruction “Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified; He is risen; He is not here; behold the place where they laid Him” (Mark 16:6).

It is “the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20).

Do not confound the work of Christ for you with the work of the Holy Ghost in you: God does not preach peace by the Holy Ghost, but by Christ: “Preaching peace by Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36; Eph. 2:17). But further: not only did He make peace on the cross, and announced it in resurrection, “HE IS OUR PEACE” (Eph. 2:14). It is not feelings, experiences, realizations, progress, or service, but HIMSELF IN HEAVEN, who is our peace, “the same yesterday, today, and forever”.

We have now seen that Christ crucified made peace with God for us; that Christ risen preaches peace to us; and that Christ glorified is our peace; and the moment we believe in God who gave, raised, and glorified Christ, we have present, perfect, and permanent peace with God. May it be yours.

H. M. H.

Foreseen and Foreshadowed.

MAN is only a visitor here. “There is none abiding.” But, short as his stay on earth really is, he cannot, of himself, make sure of the future. One thing he knows; he is under notice to quit, but when he has to leave, and what will transpire before leaving, he cannot say. No matter how clever he may be, or how experienced, he cannot look into the future. To strain his imagination, and make ‘a good guess’, as he calls it, is his limit. But if man cannot, God can; and this He claims as His divine prerogative. Mark what He says, “I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isa. 46:9,10).

There is no greater witness of this than that which is brought before us in Old Testament foreshadowings. The precious truths in connection with our eternal blessing recorded in the last books of Scripture, we find distinctly foreshadowed in the first. But all is simple when we remember that it is the word of Him who can declare “the end from the beginning”. And in a day, when the inspired authority of the Old Testament, especially the earlier part, is being daringly questioned, we would earnestly seek to draw the reader’s careful attention to this vital matter. Of course, in the very nature of things, shadow could never perfectly answer to substance; there must be marked contrasts as well as comparisons; and so it is with these inspired foreshadowing’s? But there is another important thing to notice. When any subject is illustrated by a human figure, the substance invariably precedes the figure. For example, the lion existed before you could speak of being ‘as strong as a lion’. Man can no more give you the shadow of that which has not yet come into substantial existence, than he could exhibit your photograph ten years before you were born! But it is not so with God. Let us look at Genesis 22 and 24. and notice how the foreshadowing is answered by the full-revealing, hundreds of years later.

In Genesis 22 we have the record of the journey of Abraham with Isaac to the spot where God had told him his beloved son was to be offered as a sacrifice. The first thing to note is their intercourse by the way as to their significant errand. A great contrast at once becomes manifest. Abraham’s beloved son was not in the secret of what was before him; God’s beloved Son was. From the very beginning of His ministry His forerunner proclaimed Him to be “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). Getting nearer to the cross, He had special intercourse with His Father about His death (see John 12:27, 28). “Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Now come to the foreshadowing. Isaac said to his father, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering”. Here was prefigured a fact which is the very foundation of our peace, and the guarantee of every other blessing. God’s beloved Son crucified was His Own gracious provision for satisfying His Own righteous requirements as to man’s sinful deserts. Even in the days of Job He could say of such a ruined creature, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a Ransom” (Job 33:24).

At last Abraham reached the appointed spot. The altar was built, and the wood laid in order. Then the beloved son was bound, and the knife taken to slay him! Here we get another lovely feature of the blessed One thus typified. There was neither resistance nor complaining in either case, nothing but absolute submission.

But here we get a touching contrast. At God’s request, Abraham’s beloved son had not been withheld. But when the test had proved his faithfulness, a voice from heaven arrested the uplifted hand. Abraham’s beloved son must be spared. But if sinners were to be saved by the death of the Sinless One, the holy Son of God could not be spared! So marvelously has God proved Himself to be set for our blessing, that “He spared not His Own Son but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:31, 32).

Then, at this point, God supplies the true ground of assurance for anxious souls. He said to Abraham, “Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me” (vs. 12). Who could count the myriads of troubled hearts that have been brought at last to say, “Now I know”? ―Now I know that Thou lovest me; for Thou hast not withheld Thy Son, Thine only Son from me― even Jesus.

Next we get another striking and comforting contrast. “Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram; and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.”

We are not told how that wandering sheep came there, to die for the beloved son; but we are told how the beloved Son of God came here. It was to die ‘in the stead of’ the wandering sheep. That well-known verse very definitely expresses it (John 3:16)― “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”

Abraham looked behind him to see the victim; and we do the same.

“My soul looks back to see

The burden Thou did’st bear,

When hanging on the accursed tree,

For all my guilt was there.”

Isaac, therefore, was released and returned home with his father; and this the Apostle refers to as a type of resurrection. He says that Abraham offered his only begotten son; accounting that God was “able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure” (Heb. 11:19). Ascension followed.

But the resurrection of Christ and His return to heaven is not the end of the precious story. A few days later, the Holy Ghost descended to take from among the Gentiles “a people for His Name” (Acts 15:7, 8, 14), and to form them into one as the bride for which He gave Himself.

When at last this gracious work is accomplished by the Spirit, and the present day of grace is ended, the Son will come forth to meet her in the air, and take her to the place prepared for her in His Father’s house (John 14:2, 3; 1 Thess. 4:17). This, also, was foreshadowed. When toward evening, Isaac went forth to meditate, he saw that the One sent to win and secure his bride was returning; and the eyes of bride and bridegroom met. After the first greeting, he brought her with love to his mother’s tent as his wife.

So that we have an undeniable foreshadowing of the death of Christ, His resurrection, His ascension (that is, His return to His Father’s house), and His coming again; together with the mission of the Holy Ghost to this world. Who, but One able to see “the end from the beginning” could bring about and record the foreshadowing of such things as these; and in the very order in which they came to pass? The daring skepticism, so deplorably increasing today, becomes absolutely excuseless in the light of such facts. May God open eyes to see the deadly error, and to rejoice in the truth.

GEO. C.

A Hard Heart Made Willing.

THE patient forbearance of God, towards those whom He approaches with the Gospel, and who yet exhibit opposition to it, is wonderful and gracious.

He works in a way altogether His own, to remove obstinacy and willfulness, and to bring the heart into such an attitude, as shall cause it not only to be subject to Him, but will also lead it to entreat His blessing and respond to His love―thus reversing the whole situation.

As an instance of this, it may be related that, in a district in New Zealand, there had been Gospel meetings, with much blessing as the result.

A special case was that of a school, where many were saved―believing on Jesus; moved by His dying on their behalf, His resurrection and ascension to glory, to prepare a place for them for all eternity.

Connected with this establishment, however, one young lady refused to be affected by the message of the God who gave His Son to die for our sins, and raised Him again for our justification. She said she should adhere to the world!

This led a few who were associated with her, but who had received the blessing, to earnestly pray that she might submit herself to the Lord.

One bright moonlight night they drew together in a room for this purpose.

While this was in progress, the young lady being asleep, dreamed that the Lord had come for His own, to take them to be with Him in glory; and in terror and despair began to think that she had been left behind, and that it was all true what her friends had so often read from the Scriptures and spoken about (1 Thess. 4:13-18, etc.).

Awaking, she arose, and finding all the adjoining beds of her friends vacant, she felt as if her dream was confirmed, and so her anxiety deepened.

She wandered along the corridor, scarcely knowing what she was doing, and presently heard voices praying.

As she listened, she heard them say― “Oh, Lord! Come in, and save her.”

She opened the door gently, and went in and knelt down beside them; praying― “Oh, Lord! Come, and save me.”

Suffice it to say, that God heard this united cry, and answered it by turning the heart of the young lady to absolute faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour: alike to her own joy and that of her Christian friends.

Now, it will be noted in the foregoing narrative, that the opposition of the young person was really due to hardness of heart; and with regard to that, God’s word says: ― “Today, if ye will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb. 4:7).

Thus the blessed Lord interceded with by her friends, and caused her to hear His Voice; He instantly removed the hardness and turned her heart towards Himself.

May this thought move any who are in distance and alienation from God, to listen to His appeal: “My son give me thine heart” (Prov. 23:26).

Let the above incident be an encouragement to those who wait upon God for those who are yet in their sins.

Prayer, without doubt, is an unfailing resource, for God delights to answer to.it; and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is always attended with His blessing (Luke 5:20).

T. K.

A Serious Retrospect.

(Said to Have Been Written by a Converted Infidel.)

“I’VE tried in vain a thousand ways,

My fears to quell, my hopes to raise;

But what I need, the Bible says,

Is ever only Jesus.

“My soul is night, my heart is steel―

I cannot see, I cannot feel;

For light, for life, I must appeal

In simple faith to Jesus.

“He died, He lives, He reigns, He pleads;

There’s love in all His words and deeds;

There’s all a guilty sinner needs

For evermore in Jesus.

“Though some should sneer, and some should blame,

I’ll go with all my guilt and shame;

I’ll go to Him because His Name,

Above all names, is Jesus.”

ANON.

Helpless Extremity; And the Way Out of It.

WITHIN a week of the date of writing, one of the U.S. Navy Submarines, the S-5, had submerged off the Delaware coast in 168 ft. of water. But when the commander gave orders for the boat to be raised, it refused to do so, and for 35 long hours the crew of thirty men and four officers passed through the terrible experience of facing the hour and article of death.

There was, however, one avenue of hope reserved to them. During the late world-war, an underwater signal apparatus was perfected, by which the attention of any passing ship could be called. This ‘distress buoy’ was at once released from its well on the deck; and promptly it rose to the surface of the sea. To this buoy was attached a bell; and also a light which could be ‘flashed’ on and off by the sailors below. These gave their unceasing signal for the men in distress, but without result.

It was at last, however, so ordered in the mercy of God, that after this long season of anxiety and fear, a most unlikely thing should come about. The look-out on a passing ship took word of this to his captain in the evening. He had seen the buoy in its strange position, with light and bell attached. Finding no such buoy indicated on the chart, he ordered a small boat to be lowered; and an officer and man were sent to examine it.

As they approached it, the officer heard the buzzer; and, reading the directions, got into the frame on the float. Putting the receiver to his ear, he immediately got the following message from below:

“This is submarine S-5. We have been submerged 35 hours. Our air is running short. We cannot rise by our own power. Send for help.”

The telephone message was quickly conveyed to the captain of the ship; who, with his men were able to raise the submarine to the surface. Air was then supplied to the sailors; and they passed out of their prison into liberty! We can but feebly imagine what they had passed through, as hour succeeded hour of suspense and mental suffering. The memory of it will remain with them all their days, and the way they were rescued from the jaws of death also.

But, serious as this dilemma was, the facing of the sin-question brings a man into a far more serious extremity. The pressure of death’s mighty hand upon you, a willfully guilty history behind you, a hopeless eternity before you, and no remedy of your own to deliver you from the distressing embarrassment, brings trouble indeed; yet the sin-question honestly faced before God always brings such conflict. But God has found a remedy for SOUL-TROUBLE, and publicly proclaimed it. His beloved Son has been under the waves of judgment in our stead. Jesus, the sinless One, took our place in suffering, that we might know the forgiving grace of God.

Is my reader in the depths of soul-trouble through the pressure of sin upon the conscience? Then, as with the distressed sailors, there is one avenue of hope, and only one. What they longed for during those 35 hours was for

SOME ONE TO HEAR THEIR VOICE.

And when it was heard, they confessed the unvarnished truth about themselves ―they owned who they were, where they were, condition, and their dire need of outside deliverance. In like manner God is ready to hear, and to attend to your cry. Take up, then, those words in Psalms 130, and go to Him with them.

“Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice: let Thine ear be attentive to the voice of my supplication” (vss. 1, 2). What could you say to Him, as having His ear, but that you have “sinned and come short of His glory, and deserve His judgment”. Notice particularly the third verse of that Psalm.

“If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”

None could stand. But this is the good news, He is not now marking them in judgment; He is forgiving them in grace.

“There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared” (vs. 4). Precious words! Cherish them in your soul and repeat them to God.

The sailors in their prison could do nothing but frankly admit their helpless position. You are just as helpless in a spiritual sense. But all has been done for you, thank God; and JESUS has done it. In virtue of His work, you may come from the bottom to the top. As risen from the dead, the Lord Jesus is the Object of faith for all men. He is perfectly trustworthy. Believe then in Him, and you will receive at His hand the full forgiveness of your sins, and justification from all things. Then, as with Jonah, your feet shall be firmly planted upon dry land, and with Him you will say―

“SALVATION IS OF THE LORD”.

May you, as with the writer, be brought into the enjoyment of these things now. Then an eternity of blessing will follow.

A. F. M.

The Reprieved Monarch's Testimony.

“SET thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live”, was the terrible message conveyed to King Hezekiah by the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 38:1). There could scarcely be a darker moment in a man’s history than when sentence of death is passed upon him. If that takes place a man’s case is hopeless; his fate is sealed.

When the King heard the dread sentence he turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly. He knew full well his case was hopeless; for not all the power of his realm could deliver him from “the king of terrors”. Only God could do that, and in his distress he cried to Him, “O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me”. God graciously answered his cry, and sent a reprieve, assuring him that He would deliver him, and add fifteen years to his life.

With his heart overflowing with the sense of God’s goodness, the reprieved monarch bore this striking testimony, “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but Thou in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back” (Isa. 38:17).

This was a fine answer to a poor sinner’s cry, as with death staring him in the face, and a lifetime of sins upon his guilty conscience, he turned to God as his only resource. The blessing he received linked his heart with the One from Whom it had come; and this should ever be so. He had learned, in his dire need, God’s love to his soul; and that He had cast all his sins behind His back. This made his heart overflow with thanksgiving, so that he goes on to say, “The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known Thy truth”.

It is an immense thing to be found among “the living”, and you, dear reader, are either among the living or the dead―among the “living” to praise God, or among the dead in trespasses and sins, and on your way to everlasting woe. In the happy consciousness of sins put away, and of standing in divine favor, the blessed subject of God’s mercy bore further testimony, saying, “The Lord was ready to save me: therefore, we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord” (vs. 20). This is grand. He does not stop at obtaining relief from his trouble, or resting satisfied in the knowledge that all his sins had been put away; but his heart finds its delight in God; and in His holy presence his songs are to be sung all the days of his life.

Dear reader, have you turned to God in conscious need, so that you, too, are among the living to praise Him?

E. E. N.

"Ho! Every One That Thirsteth, Come."

IT is an extremely interesting consideration that in the last chapter of the Bible, and nearly the last verse, the Gospel invitation is recorded (Rev. 22:16, 17).

All the wondrous account of God’s ways, the revelation of His mind, the declaration of Himself in the person of the Eternal Word, His beloved Son the Lord Jesus is, wondrously set forth; yea, the whole divine volume all but finished; yet the abounding grace of God is still saying, “COME”. What a heart of love it bespeaks!

Then again, nearly at the close of the inspired prophecy of Isaiah, involving so much that is dear to the heart of God, in the declaration of the coming of Christ into this world, we have a similar call. “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!” Thrice the word “Come” is repeated.

As though it said, “All being set forth in prophecy according to the divine mind, by which God can accomplish His will to His eternal satisfaction, Come ye thirsty ones. Come ‘now’”.

It contemplates a thirst, a need deeply felt in the soul. To those satisfied with the things of this world, who find their life in the things of time and sense, the call finds no response.

But through all time there have been those here who have felt the lack of God, and have thirsted for Him. Surely the sense of need is created by Himself, and He loves to meet that need. Not only was it necessary for you to be born again, but the Son of Man had to be lifted up, that the love of God might be known. And the call of God is now, “COME”.

Well is it for our reader if a thirst for God has been aroused while in this scene, which is described in Psalms 63 as a “dry and thirsty land, where no water is,” and the cry is raised for a draft from God that will cause the soul to taste His goodness.

The call “Ho”, is one well known in the East, as was proved on a certain occasion when a young Englishman was wounded in a jungle whilst on a shooting expedition.

It was noticed that his native attendants continued to cry “He” for help, while others went in search of assistance.

There was such a depth of appeal and of beseeching in the tone of the men that it was fastened upon the memory of the young Englishman.

So the Gospel of God goes forth, calling upon men to repent, not simply to recognize that we are evil, but to recognize that God is good. Then as the knowledge of God becomes more and more the desire of the soul, bringing with it a deeper sense of our iniquity and sin against Him, the soul repents towards Him, owns its guilt, and drinks of the water of life flowing freely towards all.

God’s great love had not been fully expressed until the death of Christ had set it forth; but His love and grace, as well as His mercy exerted in righteousness, are now fully, made known. The Holy Ghost is now on the earth for this purpose; that is, to bear witness to Christ Jesus as the Saviour of sinners, and the Giver of life for whosoever will.

L.O.L.

Faith's Sure Footing.

“O Saviour, I have naught to plead,

In earth below or heaven above,

But just my own exceeding need,

And Thy exceeding love.

The need will soon be past and gone,

Exceeding great, but quickly o’er;

The love untold is all Thine Own,

And lasts for evermore.”

ACCORDING to John 3. the goodness of a most religious man, Nicodemus, the Pharisee, could not (without Christ) take him into the heavenly blessing. But when Christ is found, then neither human badness (as with the woman at Sychar’s well, John 4), nor human weakness (as with the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda, afflicted for thirty-eight years), can keep any needy one out of the blessing (John 5).

Every true believer will be free to own with the writer― ‘What made me first seek Him as the sense of my badness; yet there could be no greater proof of His goodness than that He should seek a sinner like me. By the Spirit’s work in me I found that I was so bad I could not do without Him; and by the same Spirit I found that He was so good, He would not do without me! He left heaven to secure me, and this at a mighty cost to Himself.’

“Love moved Him to die,

On this I rely.

My Saviour has loved me,

Though I cannot tell why.

But this I can tell,

He loved me so well,

That He laid down His life,

To redeem me from hell.”

But since my first introduction to Him, I have found another reason for not doing without Him―a reason that deepens day by day as I go on. It is found in His Own personal perfections, and unchanging worth. His devoted love has formed a bond that nothing can sever. “Having loved His Own, which were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1).

“Lord, from such love I could not part,

Nor would’st Thou part with mine.”

GEO. C.

Love's Great Deed Accomplished.

From a Gospel Address.

HOW carefully we treasure up the last words of our beloved ones. We write them in our diaries; we quote them to our relatives and friends; and thus have them handed down from one generation to another.

“It is finished” (John 19:30) were the last words uttered by the blessed Lord on Calvary’s cross, amidst the scoffs and jeers of the religious and the godless ones, when He was suffering untold agonies, and when, in love to us, God made His soul an offering for sin. Oh! how God must prize these three last words of His beloved Son; uttered, as they were, just as He was accomplishing the wondrous work which was to bring everlasting glory to God, and everlasting blessing to poor sinners.

First think of Who it was that uttered these words―JESUS the Holy One of God. All the waves and billows of God’s wrath had rolled over His blessed head, causing that terrible cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34). It was Jesus, the beloved Son of God, Who said, “It is finished”. It was to God He said it, and for you and for me that that He did so.

Let us look at these three words separately for a moment.

“IT is finished.” What was finished? The work God gave Him to do to express His own love in our salvation. In what did this work consist? The wrath of God against sin must be endured, death tasted, judgment exhausted, sin forever put away, and Satan’s power broken. And, blessed be God, this has been done; so that Jesus could say, “I HAVE glorified Thee on the earth”, “I HAVE finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do”.

“It IS finished.” Mark you well; not it is being done; not it has to be done; but “it is” done: done as God required it should be done, as Christ alone could do it, and done as you and I needed it should be.

“It is FINISHED”; and nothing left for God, or the sinner to add. On the ground of this work, God gives FREELY to every believing, repentant sinner, a present and permanent pardon.

Think again Who it was that said “It is finished”; of the circumstances under which the words were uttered; of the blessed God into whose ears they were uttered; and of the poor, judgment-deserving sinners for whom they were uttered; and let us ask, Can you not trust your soul’s everlasting salvation to Jesus and His “finished” work? Perhaps you think, as thousands do, that you have to do something for pardon; and your agonizing question is, “What must I do to be saved?” We answer in the words of the Gospel hymn―

“Nothing either great or small,

Nothing, sinner, no;

Jesus did it, did it all,

Long, long ago.”

“‘Till to Jesu’s work you cling

By a simple faith,

Doing is a deadly thing,

Doing ends in death.”

The Spirit of God must pass your soul through deep exercises, like those the prodigal passed through on his way to the father’s house; but you have no more to do for salvation than the prodigal had to do for the best robe, the ring, the shoes, and the fatted calf. He confessed he had sinned, and was unworthy, and you can say nothing less. A father’s loving heart provided all the rest, and the prodigal son became the happy recipient of that father’s bounty. The father gave, the son received, and the house was filled with heavenly mirth.

God has received Christ up into glory as a proof that He is perfectly satisfied with the work that He did, once for all, on the cross; and now it remains for you to receive Him by simple faith, as a proof that you are satisfied with what He accomplished at such a cost.

H. M. H.

Your Last Day.

YOUR LAST DAY OF OPPORTUNITY must come. “The Lord is coming. If you are not prepared to meet Him, your believing day will close in a night of hopeless, endless misery. Are you prepared for that day? Can you brave it? If not, take sides with God against yourself at once. Accept His only terms of salvation now, and then your earthly day will close for a blissful day of endless glory.” But do not forget what the Saviour said while weeping over grace—despising Jerusalem, ― “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy place: but now they are hid from thine eyes”! And how was this? “Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:41-44).

GEO. C.

A Heart Rejoicing Post Card.

THE following is “A copy of a post card” found in the drawer of a sister in the Lord, who lately departed to be with Christ. It runs thus: ―

“Very sorry to hear of your suffering, though all the ills are wells in the valley of Baca (i.e., for faith) heavenly showers filling earth’s hollows. So strike up your song, and let the other prisoners hear it. ‘Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee.’ ‘Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house.’

“Prisoners who have secret communications with the King, whose cells are lighted with Palace light, who enjoy Palace fare, sing Palace songs in Royal company, are not to be pitied though prisoners they be.

“Such honor have all His saints. Alleluia.”

It will be seen that two passages of Scripture are referred to in the above post card―written many years ago. One is in Psa. 84:4-6, and the other in Acts 16:25. The valley of Baca signifies the valley of tears. Let us first notice the text quoted, “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house”. It speaks of a home ―a dwelling-place―known to faith by the speaker in the Psalm, the tabernacles of Jehovah of Hosts―his soul fainteth for the courts of Jehovah, but he was not yet there. Further, he speaks of the blessing of finding strength in Jehovah, in order to traverse the ways that led to His house, for they led through the valley of tears.

Let us pause for a moment. Can my reader say: I also know of a home above, and I know the way to it. Here let me say that there is a great difference between a pilgrim and a mere wanderer in this world who has no home. Such an one is like Cain, a vagabond in spite of his trying to hide his character by building a city to dwell in―a city which the Deluge swept away. A pilgrim has a home in view, though he is but a stranger in this world. Jesus said to His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.... I go to prepare a place for you”. Can it ever cease to be the home for those who, believing in Him, go on pilgrimage with His Father’s house in view? Is the heart sometimes faint and ready to say, How shall I, a poor fainting pilgrim get there? Listen, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee”. Listen again, “I will come again and receive you to Myself”. Again, “I am the way”. It may lead us through the valley of tears. Yes, believer, but you can say to yourself, I have a home, and I am on the way to it. The sorrow that makes one weep I will regard as a well―a pool in the valley of tears for heavenly showers to fill. Be patient in waiting upon Him, and He will put a new song into your mouth.

Turn we now to the other Scripture. Paul and Silas had been thrust into an inner prison with their feet made fast in the stocks, many stripes having been laid upon them. Were they not in the valley of tears? Was not their cell lighted up at midnight with Palace light? Were they not in secret communication with the King, as they prayed and sang praises? And the prisoners heard them. Truly heavenly showers were filling that well of a prison! Paul is he who can write to those very Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always”. And again, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ. Jesus”. Here is a heavenly shower for any in need. It does not say that there will not be tears; there will; there must be in the valley of tears; but let the believer account it a pool, and rain from heaven will fill it.

In sending out this “Copy of a post card”, her husband would say that she being dead yet speaketh. May reader and writer strike up our song and say “Alleluia”! to Him “who giveth songs in the night.”

T. H. R.

Man's Great Adversary Exposed and Defeated.

FROM the very beginning of this world’s history, two things have been very plainly manifested. One, the pleasure that God finds in man’s blessing; the other, Satan’s persistent endeavor to rob Him of that pleasure. No sooner had God established our first parents in Eden, then the enemy came forward to cast suspicion on God’s kindness and boldly deny His word as to the consequences of man’s sin. The result is well known. Man fell into the enemy’s trap, incurred the penalty which God had warned him of, and was sent forth from the garden. The “mother of all living” thus became the mother of all dying. Sin had entered into the world, and death by sin; “and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). It looked as though the deceiver’s design would be successful, and God’s desire defeated. The creature whom He had made could not remain on earth, and his sin had excluded him from paradise; so that if he could neither stay on earth nor go to God’s dwelling place, it seemed impossible for God to find the pleasure He desired in His creature’s company. But love was not thus to be defeated. God’s secret purpose was that One should be born who would perfectly express His good pleasure in man’s blessing, and endure to the uttermost His judgment on man’s sin.

In the fullness of time the promised One was born. That day the Bethlehem shepherds had a great surprise. The glory of the Lord shone round about them as they watched their flocks, and an angelic messenger made a special announcement. “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.” Then with the angel there was “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (or good pleasure in men)” (Luke 2:8-14).

Now there were two ways in which God’s good pleasure in man’s blessing was expressed by the Lord Jesus on earth: by what He was in Himself Personally; and by what He said and did. What He was in Person was the perfect expression of God Himself. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:18). So that the beloved Son could say, “He that ‘lath seen Me, hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).

At three distinct epochs in His Marvelous history, God’s voice was heard from heaven expressing His heart’s delight in Him; and blessedly worthy He was of this mark of honor. No need in this troubled world found Him either unable or unwilling to meet it. The devil-oppressed were delivered, lepers were cleansed, the blind received sight, the dumb were made to speak, hungry multitudes were filled, and even the dead brought to life. So that, when God opened heaven to express His pleasure in such compassionate service, it was because His heart was so deeply gratified that His needy creatures were being so freely benefited. In their blessing He found pleasure.

But now come to the Marvelous end of His gracious service on earth. In early days God had made known to the patriarch Abraham, that He had before Him the blessing of “all the nations of the earth” through Abraham’s promised seed. And let us remember, that, in course of time, Abraham was requested by God to offer his beloved son upon the altar on Mount Moriah; and that though his son’s attention had been drawn to the knife in his father’s hand, Isaac meekly submitted to being bound.

What a blessed foreshadowing was this of God’s beloved Son bound for death on Calvary’s cross, the perfect expression of God’s good pleasure in man’s blessing! Such a thing was never suggested by men or angels. It was the outcome of His Own Marvelous love; and this was expressed by the lips of Jesus Himself. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Then from His inspired apostle we have the same truth repeated, “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14).

The glad tidings of the blessing must now be universally proclaimed. Repentance and remission of sins must be preached in His name everywhere. “Go ye therefore”, said the risen One to His servants, “Go ye therefore into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15,16). Satan’s misrepresentation of God in Eden was thus exposed, and his daring lie as to sin’s consequences absolutely contradicted. But in due time the proof of the adversary’s defeat will be as clearly marked as his exposure. When He who suffered to express God’s heart to man, and secure blessing for man, shall appear in power and glory to reign; and the kingdoms of this world claimed as His, Satan’s position will be absolutely changed. We read in the book of Job that when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan was found among them; and when asked, “From whence comest thou?” he answered, “From going to and fro in the earth” (Job 2:2). But for the thousand years of the reign of Christ, that liberty will be his no longer. An angel from heaven Will bind him, and “cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled” (Rev. 20:1-3). When the thousand years are expired, and he is loosed out of his prison a little season, it is quickly made manifest that a thousand years in the dark abyss has not changed him. He deceives and opposes again. Then will follow the climax of his doom; for we read, “The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire; and will be followed there by” the dead, small and great”, after they have been brought to stand before God at the great white throne and been judged out of the open books according to their works (Rev. 20:7-15).

Now, dear reader, in the light of these solemn things, how do you stand? One of two things is certain. In the light of the declaration God has made of Himself in the life and death and risen glory of His beloved Son, your heart’s confidence has been won, and you confessed it to Him and to your fellow-men or the great deceiver still holds you by his subtle wiles. Oh, do consider which, before it is too late. Throughout eternity you will either be in the company of the blessed Saviour, and uniting with the myriads of His redeemed ones in singing His praises; or with the devil and his angels in unbearable remorse. And remember, your day for deciding will soon be gone!

GEO. C.

A Scoffer Won for Christ.

“THAT BIBLE WILL DRIVE YOU MAD,” were words uttered thoughtlessly by a young man, a fireman on the railway, to an older friend of his whom he often found reading that precious volume.

“Oh, no,” was the apt reply, “or it would have done that long ago.” Some time passed after the remark, the two men seeing one another frequently in the course of their work.

One day the young man was drenched by a heavy rain, and through not drying his clothes, the continued dampness gave him a severe cold.

Instead of improving in health, he grew worse, until that dread foe of the human race, consumption, claimed him as one of its victims.

His friend, Mr. E―, now proved his Christian love for one who had mocked him and ridiculed his simple faith, by visiting the invalid, often taking him some little proof of his care, some delicacy it may be, and improving the opportunity by speaking to him about the Lord Jesus Christ, reading the Bible and praying with him.

The poor man’s end drew near, and on a visit which the invalid felt would probably be the last, he said to his faithful companion, “Mr. E―, I want to ask your forgiveness for what I said to you, that the Bible would ‘drive you mad.’”

“Oh, do not mention it, I did not think any more of it”, replied Mr. E―.

“Ah,” the dying man said, “it has often crossed my mind since; and I have learned to love the Book you love, and to trust in your Saviour. You need not fear if you hear I have gone; I shall go to heaven, and I must thank you for all your kindness.”

The story is told from the lips of Mr. E― himself, who felt the deep joy God gives to those who, under His goodness and guidance, seek to commend that Saviour, whom God, in His compassion and love to man, has provided at such great cost.

His salvation is a “great” one (Heb. 2:3). It cost God, and it cost Christ very, very much. It is great because it is so perfect, so complete that whatever kind of sinner you may be, whether you are like Saul of Tarsus, professedly religious, moral, respectable, duped by the devil into thinking you will be accepted by God if you do the best you can, and act up to your conscience; or whether you are an openly wicked sinner, Jesus the Saviour can meet your case perfectly.

Christ is God’s salvation for man, and there is no other. If your hope is in anything, or anyone else, you will find it utterly vain. God’s ‘great salvation’ cost the Lord Jesus much agony, much shame, and the giving up of His precious life. Of this His precious blood bears witness. But though IT COST HIM SO MUCH, it is proclaimed to all FREE ― forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among the sanctified by faith in Him, Christ Jesus the Lord (Acts 26:18).

May you recognize, dear reader, the necessity of it, as the subject of our paper did. Without God’s salvation you are LOST. It was not faith in his friend or his Bible, though both were used; but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that saved him. L. O. L.

Why the Warrior Wept.

IT is related by Herodotus, in ancient Greek history, that the great King Xerxes having planned the invasion of Greece, started out with a vast army, and having reached the Dardanelles, managed to affect a crossing at a certain point, he mounted a high hill where he sat upon a throne of marble and surveyed the scene. It was a wonderful sight; the Dardanelles was covered with ships, and all its shores and the plain of Abydos were full of men. The king after having pronounced himself a happy man to have so far realized his hopes, afterward fell to weeping; his uncle, seeing this, and failing to understand the sudden change that had taken place, inquired the cause, to which Xerxes replied, “After I had reckoned up, it came into my mind to feel pity at the thought of how brief was the whole life of man, seeing that of all these multitudes not one will be alive when a hundred years have gone by”.

How true! in a hundred years both reader and writer will have passed away; but who can tell what may have happened before this present year has reached its end? Ere one hundred days have passed away death may have laid its icy hand upon you, dear reader. If it came upon you, how would it find you: in your sins or through God’s rich grace free from them? Would it find you ready to “depart and be with Christ”, or unprepared, with a lifetime of sins upon you, and nothing but the judgment of God after death?

Death is the great leveler; it brings all down to one common platform; king and subject, prince and people, high and low, rich and poor. It is no respecter of persons, all must obey its summons; thousands die daily; your turn must come at last; can you look it full in the face and say like Paul, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”

(1 Cor. 15:55-57). E. E. N.

Fairer Than the Fairest.

“Fairer than all the earth-born race,

Perfect in comeliness Thou art;

Replenished are Thy lips with grace,

And full of love Thy tender heart.

God ever blest! we bow the knee,

And own all fullness dwells in Thee.”

“THERE is a Man, a glorified Man, sitting on the throne of God in heaven. That Man is Jehovah’s Fellow. To Him God the Holy Ghost has borne testimony in the Scriptures. To Him He calls the sinner’s attention. To Him He guides the eye of faith of each believer, and there He will fix it. For He, the only begotten Son of the Father, is the Sole One on Whom, and on Whose life and works as Saviour, God the Father can rest with complacency.

“Through faith in Him ― His life, and death, and resurrection, and ascension ― the sinner can now find rest with God in glory, and receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit, with grace to be full thereof and to walk therein.”

G. V. W.

"Groanings Which Cannot Be Uttered."

“A TRUE groan to God ― however deep the misery, however prostrate the spirit, however unconscious that we are heard ― is always received above as the intercession of the Spirit; and answered according to the perfectness of God’s purpose concerning us in CHRIST. This is a blessed thought.”

“The charge in Hosea was, ‘They have not cried unto Me, when they howled upon their beds’” (Hos. 7:14).

“There is no consequence of sin which is beyond the reach of this groaning to God; nothing, indeed, but the self-will which will not groan to Him at all.”

“Such is our intercourse with God, in joy and in sorrow. And what will shine most when all things shine before God, are these groans to Him.” J. N. D.

In the Hand of God.

“Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,

Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;

Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,

Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Every joy or trial falleth from above,

Traced upon our dial by the Son of love;

We may trust Him solely, ALL for us to do,

They who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true.”

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee.”

Isa. 26:3.

The Vital Concern of all, God's Longsuffering will not always wait.

WE read, that as far back as the days of Noah the “longsuffering of God waited”. But Jehovah has said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” (Gen. 6:3). And even after that, before the bringing in of the flood upon the world of the ungodly, He said, “Yet seven days”― that is seven days of waiting (Gen. 7:4). Oh, how beautifully expressive this is of the character of God, from first to last ― so “slow to anger, and of great kindness” (Neh. 9:17).

Then when speaking to Abraham in connection with the promised seed and the land of Canaan, He said, “In the fourth generation they shall come hither again. “For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:16).

How He lingers in mercy over the careless and indifferent to give them space for repentance! This is how He acted toward Nineveh in the days of Jonah. Though their daring wickedness had come up before Him, He said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 1:2; 3:4). And when they turned to God from their wicked way, He repented of the evil He had said He would do unto them” (vs. 10). For He ever gives warning of coming judgment, and ample space for man’s repentance.

At the present-day God is again patiently waiting. Not only has He waited 120 years, with an additional seven days, or an additional forty days; He has been waiting in patient longsuffering for more than nineteen centuries. Ever since the murder of His Own beloved Son on the Cross of Calvary where He died for the worst of sinners, has God been waiting; not willing that any convicted sinner should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Perhaps a practical and vital question would not be out of place here. We refer to the question asked by the Spirit of God in Romans 2:4, “Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Think of His daily mercies. Think of His continued offers of salvation through faith in the precious blood of Christ, which was shed for the remission of sins.

“He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit” (Job 33:27-30).

In Psalms 136, it seems that the Psalmist can contemplate nothing but what is the outcome of Jehovah’s mercy; he breaks forth with, “His mercy endureth forever”. But remember, dear reader, this may be your last opportunity of accepting God’s gracious invitation! O think, then, of the consequences of missing such tender mercy, and willfully going on without it!

It is certain that judgment will soon overtake the world in which we live. Being heartily desirous of our salvation, God still lingers in grace; but He gives the world no guarantee for the future. “The accepted time”, He declares, “is Now” (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Cor. 6:2).’

E. A. H.

A Fatal Delay of Three Minutes.

A GREAT deal of mystery still hangs over the Wall Street, New York, bomb explosion, which took place in September last. Of the movers in this foul and murderous plot no complete trace has been made; and though their destructive work, which caused such sorrow, bereavement and death, remains unpunished, yet they shall give an account of all this to God ― even though they succeed in foiling the attempts of justice in their discovery. God will unfailingly bring all their sins to light, and justly mete the deserved punishment, unless they repent.

This instant hurling of so many innocent people into eternity should not be passed by unheeded by men, but serve as a warning to them, to the intent that they may be ready whenever the call comes, and in whatever form it may come.

One of the victims of this explosion was a young lady stenographer of rather exceptional ability; she had left her office and was on her way to lunch. A gentleman friend met her and conversed with her for about three minutes. He returned directly to his office, and immediately the terrible explosion took place. Subsequently he learned that this poor young lady had been killed, and stated that had he not detained her for those three minutes (which he greatly regretted), she would doubtless have passed the danger zone in safety. We do not know how this unfortunate young lady died, and can only hope that through the work of Christ she was ready. What momentous issues for her hung upon that short space of time!

Were you, dear reader, as near to death just now, as that young lady was when conversing with her friend, how would you face it? Could you say with one, whose last words on earth were: ―

“Christ ― is ―precious.

The Lord is my trust.”

Or would death come to you as an unwelcome visitor, indeed, as an enemy? Would it find you in your sins? If so, where Jesus is you could never come.

Oh, do not lay this paper down without coming to a decision in your soul that henceforth Christ who has died for you, and risen again, shall be your Saviour and Lord. You, too, may be in eternity in three minutes’ time; seize then the present opportunity, as it passes. Once passed, remember, it is gone forever! But once saved, whether it be three minutes more to live, or as many years, you will be able to say with Paul:— “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

There will then be only one regret about it ― that you didn’t know Jesus as your Saviour sooner.

A. F. M.

The Thoughts of God.

“FOR My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8, 9).

It is a great thing for any soul when it has learned to value and delight in the thoughts of God. All those thoughts came out in Christ, and in Him we learn them. The apostle Paul had deeply drunk into the Spirit of Christ, and gives us this exhortation, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God” ― what could be greater? ― “made Himself of no reputation.” Is this the thought of mankind? Do not men seek reputation? The Lord Jesus took the downward path of obedience that led to a death of degradation ― the death of the cross. His obedience was not the obedience of duty, but of LOVE. The mind in Him was ― “Lo I come to do Thy will”, and He did it out of the depths of love that eternally subsisted in His own blessed heart. The delight that was in the heart of God toward His Son, went out through that Son of His love towards the sons of men. He found them lost to God, and to the outgoings of His heart, but the compassion of love sought them in that condition. Such were the thoughts of God.

Now, listen to one who followed closely in the steps of his Master. Hear him detailing that which commended him as the servant of such a Saviour. He had to withstand false teachers; and speaking of them he said, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool)”. Why so? Because Paul felt it was folly to speak of himself. True wisdom would hide behind Christ, but the Corinthians had compelled him. Hence he continued: “I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in watching’s often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting’s often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:23-28).

And did Paul go through all those things that in the fervency of love to souls, he might carry to them hither and thither the ministry of Christ? To the lost and perishing he carried the message of the Saviour’s love, and of the work wrought by Him for sinners. The love of Christ in him surmounted all obstacles and difficulties. How urgent then was the message of the Gospel of the grace of God! Think, unsaved reader, of what love went through ― the love of Christ ― in order to reach you!

But further, my believing brother, see how Paul regarded these who had received the ministry of Christ through him. He had assembled them together as members of the body of Christ. He had no thought of their belonging to anyone but to Christ. Hear him speaking to them. “I am jealous over you with a jealousy which is of God, for I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Paul stood in the likeness of John, as the friend of the Bridegroom, and jealous for His sake as to the unspotted character of the Assembly for Christ. The love of Christ completely had hold of him. He lived only to commend Christ, and he was jealous that Christ should possess the love of those believers to whom he had ministered the fullness of Christ’s love, Paul had learned to think God’s thoughts revealed in Christ, and Paul’s joy was in the anticipation of those thoughts being realized in the saints. How deeply in the coming day of presentation will he enter into the joy of his Lord.

T. H. R.

A Disappointed Seeker, Satisfied at Last.

WHEN souls are awakened to their eternal danger, it seems to be the enemy’s endeavor to mislead and discourage them by giving false impressions about the way of peace, and so to hide the only true way. One very common snare is that a good resolution to change their course of conduct will be enough; and when they have made it he will, if possible, make them satisfied with it. But when there is a real awakening by the Spirit of God, this is not possible, and the seeking goes on. But if the seeking continues, the enemy’s distractions continue also ― anything to falsify God’s glad tidings, and keep the troubled seeker in the dark. God’s Word thus expresses it, “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4).

Years ago in the South of England a special victim of the enemy’s distraction came before the writer. A domestic servant in a large household noticed that one of her fellow servants appeared to be in deep distress about something; but the cause of the trouble she could not imagine, and the distressed one, seemed disposed to keep it a secret. At last, however, she said to her, “What is the matter with you? I can’t make you out!” Sorrowfully she replied, “I’m going to hell!” This gave the enquirer quite a start, and caused her to think seriously also. She said to herself, “I’m troubling myself about her; yet in the same danger myself, only I’ve been regardless about it.” This was really the beginning of a great stir in her own soul, and she felt she must pray, yea begin at once. In order to do this in secret, that the other servants could not see her, she would, in the day, when she had opportunity, get into a large cupboard for the purpose; and at night when they were asleep, she would get out of bed and pray. But if her fellow-servants could not see her, the enemy could, and was busy enough.

When she had got back into bed again, this disturbing suggestion came, ‘Do you think that God will hear a prayer like that from you?’ Upon which she would get out again and again, and try to pray more acceptably. But instead of this, horrible blasphemous thoughts would come into her mind, and though she could not express such revolting things, it almost seemed as though they hissed through her lips in spite of her.

After a while she thought she, would begin to read the Bible. The one she had was greatly treasured by her as a relic. It was really her brother’s, who was lost at sea. This Bible was brought home in his kit, and given to her. She now began to read it in a way she had never done before; but only got more wretched in doing so. One day the thought was suggested (no doubt by the enemy who feared the result of her reading it), ‘Put that book into the fire: burn it, and get out of your misery!’ And so unbearably miserable was she, that she was actually about to push it between the bars, when thoughts of her brother came into her mind, and she said to herself, what would my brother Tom think of me if I burned his Bible? Hastily she drew it back, but an almost unbearable weight of anguish seemed to be crushing her. Her fellow servant, seeing her state, tried to comfort her, but in vain.

Now souls in this disappointed state are usually turning to their own feelings to find the longed-for satisfaction. But the fact is, that when the question of sin against God is raised in the conscience, with all the solemn consequences connected with it, the first Person to be satisfied is God Himself.

Take a simple figure. Suppose that I have been living in a reckless way, and that I have not paid my rent for over a year. At last my landlord presses me for immediate payment of the whole. What use would it be to assure him that I now intended to do my best to pay my rent regularly every quarter; that I have made such a firm resolution about it that I am quite satisfied it will all be right. But he tells me that the past quarters must be fully paid, and that he shall not be satisfied until they are. This distresses me, for I am in daily fear of being sold up; but I can’t say it is not just and right.

Now suppose in the midst of my distress I get a message from the landlord to the effect that he wants to see me. When I get there, full of dread as to the consequences, I am surprised to see a smile on his face, and especially to hear him say he is glad to see me. I begin to tell him that I really am sincerely struggling to meet all his demands. But he answers by assuring me that all his demands have been met already, that a friend of mine living at a distance had heard of my deep trouble and sent a check that fully covered all my liabilities; that the check had been Honored at the bank, and that he is now perfectly satisfied with the settlement! On asking for the name of this kind-hearted friend, I am still more surprised to find that he is a near relative of the landlords!

Of course I should be thoroughly satisfied; but my satisfaction would rest on the assurance of his satisfaction; and I should go away with heartfelt gratitude to the friend who had done it all for me.

Now to come back to the harassed seeker we have been referring to. She was trying to satisfy herself by her own sincere and pious efforts, and needed to see that the “Friend above all others” had taken up the whole of her liabilities as a sinner, had satisfied God about them, and all that God required was to thank the Lord Jesus for what He had done, and confess His name to others in like need.

Well, she knew that a Christian living near was going to a little meeting in a private house, and asked if she might go with her. Gladly this believer responded to her request; but when they got to the lobby of the house they found that the kitchen where the meeting was held was full, and a hymn was being sung. So they stood in the lobby until it was finished. The verse they were singing at the time was: ―

“Jesus did it all, All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.”

This was the very news she needed; and as she stood there silently listening, the dark cloud upon her spirit was entirely cleared away, and left her satisfied and at peace with God. The truth of what Jesus had done settled the matter; and the Spirit gave her a taste of God’s Own joy in it. THE DISAPPOINTED SEEKER WAS SATISFIED AT LAST.

“Sweetest rest and peace have filled me,

Sweeter peace than tongue can tell;

God is satisfied with Jesus,

I am satisfied as well.”

GEO. C.

Fragments.

A young man, anxious about his soul, lay upon his bed at midnight thinking about it.

Speaking to the Lord, he said, “LORD I WILL LOVE THEE.” But this gave him no solid satisfaction, and after a little more consideration he said, “LORD, I DO LOVE THEE”. Even this, however, brought him no real comfort. There was a lurking suspicion about both statements. But finally he reached solid and certain ground. As he dwelt on what Christ had done and suffered for him as a guilty sinner, he said to Him, “LORD, THOU LOVEST ME!” and his doubts dispersed and his soul found joyful satisfaction.

God FOR us. ― “If you ask a proof of God’s being for us; the proof is He gave His Son.” If I say, ‘What will He do for such a wretched sinner as I am?’ Why. He has done more than the greatest sinner could ask; more than the greatest saint could think of. He has given His Son for me. Therefore, not only have I done with everything that was against me ― with Satan and every accuser; but the very sin that made me tremble, becomes a witness of the extent of the love of Him who is for me. There it is I have learned it; for He has shown Himself for me in justifying me.

Therefore if God be for us in connection with our sins, we may freely count upon Him for all the rest. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered up Him for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).

J. N. D.

Death; and Life.

IN reading over the following extract from “Tidings of Light and Peace”, we fell into a kind of reverie, during which we recalled to our mind one of the days of the terrible attacks made upon Verdun, when such reckless waste of human life was being made by the German Crown Prince.

EXTRACT: ―

“The recent four years’ war, with its millions of victims, has undoubtedly made itself keenly felt throughout the whole civilized world! Then, following close on this heart-saddening calamity, certain deadly epidemics have been rapidly carrying many to the silent grave.”

“In the light of Holy Scripture we may safely say that in permitting such disasters, God has had before Him the spiritual awakening of those who, until then, had settled themselves down in sleepy indifference to their soul’s appalling danger. ‘Lo, all these things God worketh oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living’ (Job 33:29, 30).

“And doubtless the coming day will declare that many have thus been brought, not only to see their true state as sinners under God’s holy eye, but to find sure refuge in the blessed Saviour Whom His love has provided.”

Though we were some way from the front, we were near enough to see long trains come in daily full of wounded; and twelve hospitals in ― were full of dying men. It must be said that during that awful time the population seemed subdued, and that the most strenuous and unselfish efforts were made, and especially by the women, to meet the urgent need, in attending the wounded, and keeping the night watches.

One day seemed to pass before us as a dream (alas! it was but too real). We were in a long room in the College, a dormitory that had been converted into a hospital. It was a day when all seemed bright and glorious in creation. No cloud, and a soft breeze along the rapid Rhone whose murmur could be distinctly heard. But all sounds and sights of joy and health seemed to cease or die out as we looked along the rows of sufferers.

We were trying to speak to a Kabyle (African soldier in the French service) who was lying in great pain ― his face having been destroyed by ‘liquid fire’ ― when a young man was carried in from the operating room, where he had just had both his legs amputated above the knee, and was laid upon a bed just opposite. He was deadly pale, perfectly calm, and said quietly, “I am glad to get off with so little”. He fell asleep, hoping soon to be sent home; but we do not believe he awoke in this world. His place was vacant when we went again to the hospital.

We cannot say why, but this made a deep impression upon us. There were cases of more terrible suffering, but the quiet assurance of the young man struck us.

The war is over, and the relief great. The long dormitory with the groans and sighs of the wounded is now filled again with school boys, who have not yet been under fire. The ripple of the Rhone is as musical as ever, and we fear that many impressions of the past woe are dying out. In recalling this short tragedy, we would say that our sole object is to arouse any reader who does not yet possess a part in “that other world” where sin and death can never come. Death is reigning on this earth, so beautiful even in its present ruinous state, and this is what is before you. You may be called at any moment to leave all that you have here, and forever!

Listen to the voice of Him who is still calling. He, our blessed Saviour, came into this world, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom. Seek the Lord Jesus Christ, and acquaint yourself with Him, as the One who came to seek and to save the lost; and you will find at once your place with Him as your Redeemer and your eternal joy. In the midst of a world subject to death, you will find, not some mere, vague hope of escaping, but “life and incorruptibility” will be yours, through the infinite value of the work of Christ. You will have the sure and certain hope, which He alone can give you, and which no one can take from you

E. L. B.

"Look Now Toward Heaven."

Genesis 15:5.

THIS was said by God to Abram ― the man that God promised to bless, as also to make him a blessing. All the families of the earth are to be blessed in him. Abram had been told by the Lord in chapter 13:14, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever”; and that seed, he was told, should be as the dust of the earth, numberless. Man is at home in the things of earth; they interest him, but to look up to heaven is to look away from earth. The heavens declare the glory of God, and Abram is bidden to look thitherward. What is feeble man, even in the presence of the glory of God in creation? “He telleth the number of the stars, he calleth them all by their names”, and He challenges Abram as to his ability to number them; but with this challenge came the promise “So shall thy seed be”. What an array of glory the heavens of God presented to childless Abram! It was all above and beyond human nature, and the earth in which that nature lived, but faith found its resting place in the word of Jehovah. Abram “believed in the Lord ant he counted it to him for righteousness”. We read in Romans 4:20, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but found strength in faith, giving glory to God”. My reader, do you give glory to God through looking toward heaven? In doing so you look away from self and earth to the place of God’s glory, and that is where Jesus now lives. Hence it is written, “Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham”. And again, “o they which be of faith are blessed with believing Abraham”. He who telleth the number of the stars knows well each one who trusts Him. Again, we read of childless Abraham that he was “fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able also to perform”. Down the ages of time this blessing of Abraham has come to the thousands of Gentiles who believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

“In Him they stand a heavenly band, Where He Himself is gone.”

Turn now with me to Isaiah 53 ― to that part which the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when Philip accosted him, and note these words: “Who shall declare His generation, for His life is taken from the earth”. This refers to Him who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. As living on the earth He had no generation. Those He had gathered round Himself in His ministry here forsook Him and fled when He was crucified. He regathered them when risen from the dead. He had said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”. So it was written in Isaiah, “When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed”. And again, “He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied”. Thus was a company secured to Him beyond death in the power of His resurrection life. As He breathed this into them on the evening of His victory over death, we are conscious indeed of their being His generation. The Holy Spirit was sent from heaven in order that this generation might be continued. He is for believers now, not only “the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus”, but also “the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead”, and this fact ensures the quickening of these mortal bodies because they have been indwelt by the Spirit. How blessedly a generation is assured to Christ. As belonging to Him who was the promised seed of Abraham, they are also “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29). But He who was the promised seed of Abraham was in the truth of His Own Person Son of God, and proved to be so by resurrection. Faith in Christ Jesus makes believers in Him far more than children of Abraham, they are sons of God; and because it is so, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into their hearts, crying Abba, Father.

If we now look toward heaven, we see Jesus, the heavenly Man, there crowned with glory and honor; and we know that as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Who shall speak of that resurrection morn when the hosts of the redeemed, all bearing the image of Christ, shall meet Him on the cloud ― “His own” ― to be forever with Him?

T. H. R.

Two Reigning Powers.

“WHERE sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).

This wonderful statement is in connection with a grand development of truth in regard to two empires or reigning powers; and we desire, for our readers, that each and all should think how they stand in connection with these two powers.

The evidence of the existence of one of these powers is not far to seek. Every village churchyard is an undeniable witness of the reign of sin. “Sin hath reigned unto death”; and this reign is connected with lawlessness and corruption. Nor is it only because Adam sinned that all die; for “all have sinned”.

But our Scripture speaks of another reign, the reign of grace. Now, we venture to say that this empire could not come fully into view until one great event had taken place.

Into this scene where all, at one time or another, have come under the power of sin, one holy, sinless Man has come. But over this Man sin had no power. It did not, could not, bring Him unto death, as it had done mankind as a race. He was here voluntarily to break the power of sin, to abolish death, and to bring “life and incorruptibility “to light through the gospel. How good it is, therefore, for poor, lost, ruined sinners to know that One sinless Man has been where sin was reigning unto death; that He lived a holy, righteous life, sin having no power over Him; and that, though He could have left the scene free from sin’s wages, He stooped even unto death; and, for all who believe on Him, and subject themselves to Him, He brought (through death) the dominion of sin to an end forever.

How necessary, then, for all who hear the gospel of the grace of God to come under the rule of Him, who, in love to them, has in Himself ended the dominion of sin and death, and brought to light another empire ― that of grace ― which, through Jesus Christ our Lord, “reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.”

May our reader be brought into this God-given light in regard to His gracious reigning power, and, by submission to the One who administers all blessing in this empire, even Jesus Christ our Lord, come into the good of God’s day of salvation.

L. O. L.

A Heart Broken Burglar.

HEARING a noise outside his house, he went out and found a drunken man on the pavement. Being an earnest Christian and a preacher of the Gospel, instead of giving the poor man in charge, he brought him into his house and set him down in his study, where he fell into a deep sleep. On waking, after a time, he asked where he was, and was told, in a preacher’s study. He then demanded drink, but was told he could not give him that, but would give him a cup of tea, and take one himself also. The man became communicative, and told the preacher he was a burglar, and in evidence pulled a jemmy out of his pocket. His host asked him to give it him as a souvenir, told him he would pray for him, and bid him send for him if he was ever in trouble.

Some years after, when the remembrance of the incident had passed from his mind, after preaching one evening a piece of paper was put into his hand, bearing a request that he would go and see a dying man. On reaching the address given, he was directed to a miserable garret in one of the slums, and there upon some dirty sacks he found a dying man, who told him that he was the man he had befriended on the occasion above related, and reminded him that lie had asked to be sent for if the speaker was in trouble. The Christian found that God had been before him, and had wrought conviction in the conscience of the burglar, who was now broken before God. And what he desired was to know how he might be saved.

The preacher gladly put the gospel of the grace of God before him, which would show him how God had sent His Son into the world and that He had borne the sinner’s judgment on the cross, and, having died for our sins, God had raised Him from the dead, and given Him glory, in proof of His perfect satisfaction with the work He had wrought.

Before the preacher left him, the penitent thief had put faith in the Saviour of sinners, and found peace with God (Rom. 4:23-25; vss. 1, 2); like another repentant robber, who at “the eleventh hour” met and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 23:39-43). Both proofs of that Scripture― “a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psa. 51:17).

You, my reader, are not a burglar, nor probably a drunkard, but you are a sinner. You reply, perhaps, “How do you know?” I answer that, although I do not know you, GOD says, “All have sinned” (Rom. 3:23), and that takes in you, me and everyone else. You therefore need repentance, and you need the Saviour whom God has provided for all (1 Tim. 1:15). But you may not have an eleventh-hour chance of salvation. You may be cut off suddenly in your sins! You have the present moment. It is the day of grace, i.e., free unmerited favor, the day of salvation. Close with God’s offer of salvation, while you have the opportunity. “Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” And you will not only be safe for eternity, but you will have the joy of this great salvation, and the enjoyment of the love of God (Rom. 5:5) for the rest of your life here.

W. G. B.

Early Seeking, Divinely Honored.

THE writer became acquainted with the subject of this paper more than forty years ago; and the acquaintance has been kept up in Christian fellowship ever since. Recently she has reminded him of her soul-exercises at that time; and he now refers to them in the hope that others, in their youthful days, may be known both in heaven and on earth as early seekers and happy finders. God has, through His servant Solomon, expressed His Own desire to encourage such. “Those that seek Me early shall find Me” (Prov. 8:17).

S. B. was brought up in a small village in Rutland. At the age of six her father took her to a cottage meeting, where a certain local preacher was speaking to his hearers from the first three verses of the 14th chapter of John’s Gospel.

The first thing that struck our young friend was what the Lord said to His disciples after assuring them that there would be room for them in His Father’s house, “If it were not so, I would have told you”. She thought it so open and kind of Him to speak like that; and this decided her to listen to all that the preacher had to say about Him. In the course of his address he earnestly pressed his hearers to give their hearts to Him. This caused her to say within herself, “I should like to give Him mine, if He would have a little girl’s heart”; and then listened all the more attentively, hoping that the preacher would tell them how to do it. But this he did not do.

On reaching home, she asked her mother how to give her heart to the Lord; but before her mother had time to answer, she said, “Oh, I know”, and turned away to speak to the Lord for herself. In her own-simple way she told the Lord that she should like to give her heart to Him. “Please, Lord”, she said, “take it for Thyself, and make me love Thee.” She felt He had heard her little prayer and that He would take her for Himself. And no doubt the Lord does appreciate every such desire toward Himself.

But she had yet to find out the evil in herself ― evil connected with the heart she had been offering Him. Gradually, however, she did make the discovery, and a disappointing one it was. Indeed her mind became so disturbed and troubled, that she thought no one felt as bad as she did. Probably she did not then know that every divinely-awakened soul makes a like discovery, before settled peace is theirs. The truth is that, not understanding the glad tidings of God’s grace, she had been trying to meet the claims of God’s law. Many are doing the same, but there is a vast difference between the two. The law was given by God to Moses; and by it man’s love was tested. Grace was brought to light by Jesus Christ, and in Him God’s love was set forth. Tested by the law it was clearly proved that sinful men did not love God. In the glad tidings of His grace God plainly declares, and undeniably proves, that He does love sinful men; and in a letter written by one who regarded himself the “chief of sinners”, this precious truth has been put on record for us. (See Rom. 5:8). “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

(To be continued.)

GEO. C.

Early Seeking, Divinely Honored.

(Continued.)

WHAT God really desires is that man should get such a sense of the badness of his own heart that he will thoroughly distrust himself; and get such proof of the loving kindness of God’s heart that his confidence will be won by it. God’s word speaks plainly of both. “Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust” (Psa. 40:4). “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool” (Prov. 28:26). Take a simple figure. A man of abundant means, we will suppose, has come to reside on the outskirts of a certain town. A market gardener near the same town is, for personal reasons, very desirous of corning into favor with him. To affect this, he sends him a present of early dessert apples, very choice, from one of his best trees.

But on gathering some of the same for his own use, a day later, he is astonished to find that every apple is decayed at the core! On closer examination he detects the cause to be the inroads of a small, destructive insect. How disappointed and mortified he feels! And with a groan he cries, “This is not the kind of thing to win a gentleman’s favor! What will he think of me after this?”

But in the midst of his vexation he gets another surprise ― a surprise of a very different kind. It comes in a letter from the merchant himself. After thanking the giver for his gift, he expresses deep sympathy with him, in that which has come to his notice since receiving the present. Having had long experience in fruit growing himself, he tells the gardener that, before the year is out, he greatly fears he will have sad disappointment in his fruit crop; but that should it prove to be so, he will find pleasure in providing full compensation for his loss. What a welcome surprise for him! Such unexpected favor quite overcomes him. He knows well enough that it is not through the excellence of his own gift that the favor is shown. He owes it entirely to the compassionate kindness of this newly-found friend.

Now where the gardener was before receiving this welcome letter, Susie was before receiving the heaven-sent tidings. The gardener was sorely troubled when he came to see the actual condition of what he had given the merchant; and, in a spiritual sense, it was the same both with little S. B. and her father. But the latter was the first to get his heart rightly directed, and to come into happy liberty, both as to himself and his sins.

At this time Susie was seven years of age, and still troubled about herself. Hearing what her father had to say about his newly-found blessing only deepened her own heart-longings. It was decided, therefore, that she should accompany him to the next meeting. But there was a distance to walk, and when the day came, rain was falling. So after giving thanks for the evening meal, she quietly asked God, as she sat, to make it fine for them: and though He did not give her “the request of her lips”, He did grant her “the desire of her heart”; for what she wanted He sent to the house. No sooner was their meal over than a knock was heard at the door; and on opening it, they found the preacher standing there. He had not been long inside before he made inquiry of Susie as to her soul’s welfare. Her reply was, “I am trying to get to heaven, sir”. Whereon he sought to show her that many were trying to do the same thing; but it must be remembered that nothing sinful can enter heaven, so that unless they could entirely blot out their sinful past and live a blameless life for the future, all their “trying to get to heaven” would be utterly useless. But it was God’s great desire to have man with Himself eternally; and He alone could devise the way of accomplishing it. This He did. His beloved Son was sent here; and plainly He declared it. “I am the way”, He said. “No man cometh to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).

It was the delight of Jesus thus to carry out His Father’s will, by doing a work that would make man fit for God’s holy presence. He would make Himself answerable for man’s sin, and endure sin’s righteous penalty to the uttermost; so that neither a charge against the repentant offender, nor a spot upon him would be left. All this was perfectly accomplished by His precious death. The cup of condemnation for all such was drained to the uttermost.

The preacher then opened his Bible and showed the anxious little seeker the three words uttered by Jesus on the Cross, just before He bowed His head in death ― “IT IS FINISHED” (John 19:30). To draw her particular attention to this great fact, he took up her tea-cup, and after pouring what was left in it into the saucer, he quietly said, “How much is now left in the cup?” To make sure, she carefully looked into it, and then said, “Not one drop!” Exactly. And in the cup which Jesus had undertaken to drink for us, not one drop remained when He said. “It is finished”.

“Death and the curse were in our cup―

O Christ ‘twas full for Thee.”

The light of the gospel of peace, by the Spirit’s power, dawned upon her wondering soul at last. She could now see that all her struggling for self-satisfaction was a mistake. Through the finished work of Christ her conscience was satisfied, her load was lifted, her heart was happy; and that night found her upon her knees, gratefully thanking the Lord for what His love had done, by dying in her stead and finishing the great work which only He could do. Her words may have been few, but with true sincerity she could, no doubt, have said: ―

Satisfied with God’s glad tidings, I am blest;

In the finished work of Jesus I can rest;

May His precious Name be honored and confessed.

And why should not you, dear reader, be able to say the same? But do not forget that your day of opportunity may end suddenly, and at any moment.

GEO. C.

A Soldier's Account of His Conversion.

(This was taken down by a Christian friend, and appeared in a Gospel Magazine forty years ago).

RICHARD W ― was a private in one of our British regiments of the line. At the time he was first brought under my notice, he was happily resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and endeavoring to bear a testimony for Him in the trying position of a military life. He was then a lone man in the world, if we may so speak. A true Christian is never really alone; for “The Friend that sticketh closer than a brother” never leaves him.

Richard had a father and sister living, but, through the various changes of a soldier’s life, he had lost sight of them for more than a year. As he had no one to write to him, my letters, I found, were very welcome. He gave me the following account of how the Lord awakened him from a state of total indifference.

“I was reading a novel, and as I read I could see myself in the villain’s place. He died without fear of God or man; and I thought what a fearful thing it would be if God should call me into account as I stood. I had a little text-book, which I got when in Belfast. The fifty-first Psalm was in it, and I read those verses: ‘Hide Thy face from my sins; and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.’ I prayed to God to create in me a clean heart, and to hide His face from my sins; and His loving ear was open to my cry!

“About a fortnight after this, one Lord’s day evening, I went to a little meeting in a brother soldier’s hut; and there I found I could have eternal life by believing on the Son of God. He Himself said: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life’ (John 6:47). It seemed very simple how the dear Lord revealed HIMSELF ― to me; and I was able to believe on Him as my own personal Saviour. I could see that God had laid my sins on Jesus, and that if they were laid on Him, they could no longer be a burden to bow me down. I read in His word, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin’; so I knew my sins were hidden from God, because the blood of Jesus Christ had blotted them all out, and so the Father could look in love on me. Then I could cry, ‘Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on me,’ that I should be reckoned amongst the sons of God (1 John 3:1). May He keep me at His feet, emptied of self, that my joyful experience may be, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Richard was anxious to find his relatives, and to tell them of the Saviour he had found; and it pleased the Lord to allow him to do so very shortly before his regiment sailed for the seat of war in the distant East. He and a dear comrade in the same regiment are now bearing testimony for their Lord in that far-off field; and we trust that the God who sustained and delivered the soldier-king David in scenes of bloodshed, will protect them, and make them more than conquerors through Him who loveth us.

Now reader, what of your soul? Have you ever been under real conviction for sin? Has your heart ever been so bowed in sorrow before God, that like Israel’s convicted King, you have been made to cry, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”? If that is your state now, may you, like the humbled soldier referred to, be brought to believe that “the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin”, you will then be reckoned amongst the “sons of God”, and become “a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:8).

K. B. K.

The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength.

Nehemiah 8:10.

DO you ever think, dear reader, of the joys of Christ? He was indeed the “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”; and as such He endears Himself to those who come to Him, but He had His joys. We read in Luke 10:21, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee O Father... that thou hast revealed these things to babes” (that is, to little children). What things, we may ask? The things connected with the Person of Christ. Two things were before our Lord at that time, the overthrow of Satan’s power over men; and, on the other hand, that the names of His disciples (whom He regarded as the little children) were written in heaven. They were registered there and that was a joy to Christ. Is it so with you, dear reader?

If we now pass on to chapter 15, there is the record of another joy, the finding of a lost sheep which He, the Shepherd, lays on His shoulders rejoicing. It is an overflowing joy, for He calls on others to rejoice with Him. “There is joy in heaven”. In Exodus 15. there is a song of rejoicing. It is sung by Moses (whom we may there regard as a type of Christ, the Captain of salvation) and the children of Israel. Jehovah had triumphed gloriously; He had in mercy led forth the people He had redeemed, and guided them in His strength to His holy habitation. He had “led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm” (Isa. 63:12), and we may say that His people rejoiced in His joy.

Let us look now at the passage in Nehemiah. Jehovah had brought back a remnant of His people from Babylon, and in the face of enemies and opposition, the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. Nehemiah then gathered the people together, and their genealogy as Israelites was proved. They were God’s Israel. To this assembly Ezra, the priest, read the law of the Lord from the morning to the midday. It was a sorrowful time and the people wept. They must have been conscious that it was breaking the law of God, which had brought them into captivity and desolation. But that which marked the moment was the joy of the LORD, and if the Lord rejoices sorrow must be silent. It was His joy to bring back this remnant to Jerusalem and they must not rob Him of that joy. The people are exhorted to let that joy be their strength. How God delights in mercy! (Mic. 7:18). All was weakness with Israel, but the joy of the Lord was to be their strength.

This leads me to speak of another joy of Christ which we find in Psalms 122 It is a song of David the Beloved. “I was glad” (the Spirit of Christ speaks) “when they (the remnant of Israel) said unto Me, let us go into the House of Jehovah”. It is a joy of Christ to lead the heart of the feeblest believer into participation with His own joys ― His joy is to gather to Himself and to God out of this world of sin. It is said of Him when in the world, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself”. What a mystery of love! Do you, dear reader, understand this mystery? Christ went into death itself in all its horror to make a way out of it, and reconcile him who believes to God. Listen to the Father’s utterance of joy ― “This my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found, and they began to be merry”.

Come with me to one more scene in John 4. Jesus must needs go through Samaria, and this ‘needs be’ took Him to Sychar’s well. We know the story of His interview with the Samaritan woman there, and of its outcome. She got a taste of living water from the lips of Jesus, and went away to tell others of Him. At that moment His disciples Caine back from their visit to buy food, and “prayed Him, saying, Master, eat.” He said unto them, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of” ― the secret comes out, His heart had been satisfied by doing the will of Him that sent Him. It was His Father’s will that He should find that stranger at the well, and open to her the fountain of the Father’s love which flowed through His lips to her. Blessed Lord Jesus! What a joy was thine! Meat to eat that others knew not of, and the fields of this world were to yield a harvest of precious grain for the joy of the Son of the Father’s love.

Christian reader, cannot we who have been won by the grace of Jesus go in the strength of such meat, as we taste of the joy of the Lord Jesus in our own souls? Surely we can.

T. H. R.

Set Free, or Held Captive.

PERHAPS the last thing we are naturally prepared to admit is that we are not free; that we are under the bondage of sin. Yet how true it is! “Surely every man walketh in a vain show” (Psa. 39:6). Apparently free in his actions, carrying out his own thoughts; yet under the discerning eye of God, he is seen to be walking “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2) ―a captive held by his subtle deception, on the one hand, and by the pleasures of sin on the other.

There is only One who is able to meet the case of such a captive and set him free. It is the mighty Servant of Jehovah, His Holy One, who has already exposed the enemy’s deception, done God’s will, and will eventually establish that will in the universe. All authority is now placed in “the day of salvation” He can say to the prisoners, “Go forth”, and to them that are in darkness, “Show yourselves”. That day of salvation as foretold by Isaiah (chap. 49) is Now. And let it be noted, the word is to the “isles”, and the “nations from far”. So that any prisoner, anywhere, wanting liberty from the slavery of sin under Satan’s power may be set free Now. You and I, once poor benighted Gentiles, are now favored with light from above through the declaration of the gospel.

Most people are ready enough to admit that they are sinners. It seems to be accepted as a general term. But admit they are bond-slaves, Never! The Jews, with the Roman yoke heavy upon them, indignantly retorted to the Lord Jesus, that they were “never in bondage to any man”. But He, the Truth, had said to them, “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32). It is the aim of the enemy of souls to keep men in ignorance of the truth about God, and His thoughts of good toward them; and so succeeded with the Jews that, ‘through ignorance’, they actually crucified the gracious, loving Saviour.

We remember reading of some slaves on a slave ship, who were deluded by those who had captured them to believe that the English tortured all the slaves they captured; and when the English ship, employed in the suppression of the slave traffic, bore down upon the privateer, they actually helped the slave dealers to fire on their would-be rescuers!

Thus does “the god of this world blind the minds of them that believe not” (2 Cor. 4:4). But, blessed be God, the gospel of the glory of Christ, like a precious light, is still shining. “Now is the day of salvation.”

May its emancipating beams shine into your heart, reader, if it has not yet done so. The One who has revealed God ― His Own Son ― is still on the throne of God; and all the glorious results of His finished work are available to all.

You may have read that when Paul and Silas were thrown into the dungeon at Philippi, that they sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them. They were the praises of free liberated men, once prisoners themselves; and their songs of victory and joy were for the benefit of other prisoners.

May you hear in the gospel the voice of Him, the Lord Jesus, who has broken the power of Satan, and borne the judgment due to sin, that He might say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth’. How gladly He does so! But let it be remembered that the insidious bondage of sin is not a temporary term, such as prisoners of earth serve; it has an eternal consequence.

The gracious One, who alone had power to forgive sins, had to say to some, “Ye shall die in, your sins”; and in Revelation 20. we read that those who die in their sins are raised and judged according to their works.

How blessed, then, to be made free, in this day of salvation! But if we are not set free we are still held captive. L. O. L.

The Power of His Name.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” ― Romans 10:13.

A YOUNG Christian was returning from work in an Irish city a few weeks ago. There had been riots in the city a day or two previous to this, but things were now considered fairly safe and quiet. Without any apparent reason, our young friend felt, as he himself told me, “a sudden desire to call upon the Lord”. He breathed the words, “Lord Jesus!” The next moment a shot was fired at him from behind, and only just missed him. He ran away and, through God’s goodness, escaped.

“The NAME of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” The above instance shows that this Name is a tower of strength even in connection with temporal deliverance; how much more, then, in connection with the soul’s eternal welfare!

The name sets forth the Person. Christ is Lord. He is Lord to bless us, just as Joseph was Lord over all the land of Egypt. The obligation of the people in regard to Joseph was to bow the knee to him (Gen. 41:43). Then when the years of famine came, they could look to Joseph for sustenance.

Christ has been into death, has met every demand of God’s holy throne and accomplished our redemption. God has highly exalted Him, and has conferred untold glories upon Him as Man. In His name is preached the forgiveness of sins, and in Him all that believe are justified from all things. The power of His name is such that all the powers of darkness flee before it, as the following true narrative will show.

In the course of his business a Christian man had occasion to call at the shop of a young woman in Lancashire, whom he knew to be a believer. On this particular morning he found her in great grief. Desiring to help and comfort her, he urged her to tell him the cause of her trouble. For a while she demurred, but after some persuasion related the following.

She had a young woman lodging with her who, it transpired, was a spiritualist. They shared the same bedroom. Her lodger was so under the influence of evil spirits that she got no rest at night. She would suddenly sit up in bed, shriek, tear her hair, and conduct herself like one distracted. Her landlady had repeatedly given her notice to leave, but she would not go; and the young Christian was now on the verge of despair.

Her visitor began by asking her if she had overlooked the fact that the Lord Jesus, Whom she trusted as her Saviour, was also Satan’s Master, whose servant the spiritualist was. What was happening only proved, said he, the kind of master Satan is. He then advised her to read God’s word, some chapter that speaks about the Lord Jesus, and to address the Lord in prayer aloud before going to rest.

He did not see her again for some days. When next he called, the look of distress had given place to one of calm peace. The young woman informed him that she had acted on his advice, and had confessed the name of the Lord in the presence of the spiritualist, with the result that she left her the next day.

Thus, as another has beautifully put it: ―

Disease, and death, and demon

All fled before His word,

As darkness the dominion

Of day’s returning lord.”

Has my reader ever experienced the power of this wonderful Name? There is no name like it. It is unique; for “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Are you burdened with a load of sin? The name of Jesus (Saviour) tells you that He died for you, and bore the penalty of your guilt. Is it a restless, weary, joyless heart that troubles you? You will find in the glory-crowned Saviour the solution of all your “hard questions”. Turn to Him now. He can fully meet your case, for He never failed anyone who trusted Him.

If you belong to the class of indifferent souls, then let us remind you that this great Name will one day claim your attention and compel submission; for “at the NAME OF JESUS every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10, 11). W. L―B.

Delivered and Made Meet.

THE salvation of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is deliverance from the power of Satan and sin; and no man can deliver himself. It brings a soul to God in a state of satisfaction and rest. “Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” The saved soul is delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col. 1:13).

This is strikingly illustrated in the case of the poor man whom the Lord met in the country of the Gadarenes. See Mark 5:1-20. The actual condition in which the Lord met him illustrates the state of every unsaved person. He had no home, but was dwelling in the mountains and in the tombs; that is, a place of desolation and death. Such is this world, a place where man wanders about without rest or an abiding home. It is indeed a place of desolation and death. This man was possessed by an unclean spirit; he was controlled by this evil power, a legion of demons. If he spoke, it was the demon in him which spoke, his actions were governed by this unclean spirit. His mind was perverted; he was insane and seeking to destroy himself; he was totally uncontrollable; no one could subdue him, for he broke all the fetters that men put upon him. Such is the spiritual state of every unsaved person.

This poor man was utterly helpless to deliver himself; and men’s efforts to deliver him were equally unavailing. There is a great deal of human effort put forth today in the endeavor to subdue men, such as legal restrictions, religious observances, or certain human rules of morality (teetotalism, and the like). But in his unsubdued passions man breaks through them all, and is left as he was, the helpless slave of Satan and of sin.

There is, however, another unseen controlling power on earth, a power which can deliver. It is the power of the Lord, exercised by the Spirit of God. That power is actively working in grace today, for the salvation of men. It might have been exercised in judgment for the destruction of God’s enemies; but this is a day of grace, a day of salvation. Man’s weakness has become the opportunity for the display of God’s saving power. Man’s sinful condition has become the occasion for the display of God’s saving grace. In the Lord Jesus, God has raised up One who is able to save men from the power of Satan and sin. He has already entered into the domain of Satan, that is, into death; and by so doing has vanquished Satan’s power, annulled death, and gained a great victory. This He has proved in His resurrection from among the dead.

“By weakness and by death

He won the mead and crown,

Trod all our foes beneath His feet

By being trodden down.”

He has thus proved Himself to be great enough to deliver men from Satan’s power. He is God’s salvation to the ends of the earth for everyone. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” But there is no salvation in any other.

Now let us consider the state of the saved one (Mark 5:15). He is found with Jesus, “sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind”. It is the picture of man brought to God, in a state of satisfaction and rest. How blessed to be at rest in the presence of God, and the heart satisfied in the enjoyment of His love. But for this we must be clothed, and brought into a right state of mind; that is, we must have right thoughts of God. We have all this in Christ Jesus; He is God, and has personally declared the truth as to God. He has manifested God. In all His life here amongst men, in all His manners, words, and works, He has declared the true character of God. In Jesus, as He is depicted in the gospels, we see God in a man, God manifest in flesh. He is the Truth. “Grace and truth subsist by Jesus Christ.” The only way in which we can come to know God is by believing in the One in Whom He has been revealed. “God was in Christ.” Jesus means Jehovah a Saviour; God in a Man. In receiving the truth as set forth in Him, we come to know God, and thus we are delivered from Satan’s lies and deceptive influence. We come to trust God, and to love Him.

Then to be happily with God, we must be clothed in that which suits the presence of God. We could not be with God in our nakedness. If men appear before God naked, or in a garment which He has not provided, they will be cast out, cast into outer darkness forever. But we need not be naked, God has provided a covering for us; and if He has provided one, it must of necessity be a garment that suits Him. This, too, we find in Christ Jesus. “Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” That righteousness is for all; but it is only upon all that believe. Yet though God has provided righteousness for all, in Christ, there will be found in the day of judgment those who will stand naked before the throne. They have despised that which God has provided for them, and they will be cast into the lake of fire.

Now when clothed in divine righteousness, and having got right thoughts about God, we clearly see that all the grace which has come to us in Jesus is the fruit of His love; and in the enjoyment of the love of God we find satisfaction and rest, and get the comfort of sitting in the presence of God.

What a contrast to the state of the unsaved! Those found in this happy condition are, like that man, ready to be sent forth as witnesses for Christ in the place where He has been rejected; witnesses to the grace and power they have found in Him, and which saves them; and the same grace will preserve and support them in their testimony.

And now, my dear reader, will you not embrace this ‘great salvation’, presented to you in this blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ? Today is your opportunity, tomorrow may be too late. F.H.B.

Deadly Misrepresentation.

IT has been the aim of the adversary from the beginning to deny God’s righteousness and ignore His kindness, but by the coming of Jesus into manhood, both were perfectly set forth; and, ever since, his device has been to falsify God’s Gospel concerning Him, and to induce men to ignore Him. Take an example. The writer was recently speaking to a man of intelligence on the subject of the soul’s security. A recent illness had made him think of it. He said his idea had previously been that when a man comes to the end of his history in this world, God would take account of all that he had done, good and bad; that all the good deeds would be put on one side of the account, and all the bad on the other. If a balance could be proved on the side of the good, he would be taken to heaven, and the bad not reckoned against him.

But if this were true, reader, and only one sinful creature taken to heaven on that ground, there would, at least, be one witness in heaven for all eternity who could say that, as far as he was concerned, the gift of God the Father and the atoning sufferings of the Son were totally unnecessary! What marvelous audacity so to treat God’s marvelous kindness! Every angel in heaven would so regard it; for what could better suit the ends of the great adversary?

As it is to be feared, alas, that like thoughts are becoming sadly common, let us look at it a little more closely. By way of illustration, let us suppose that you are a man of business, and have a customer who has got heavily into your debt. In response to urgent demands for payment, he comes one day to see you. Looking very pleasant, he says he has come to tell you that he is now fully resolved to pay ready money for all he gets; for that he has been given to understand that when his future cash payments amount to more than his past debts, you will clear him of all he owes! Would you not count such a thing as absolute madness, and plainly tell him so? Especially would it be so if you knew that he had been told, more than once, of one who would be willing to take the whole responsibility of his debt, if he wished it; but that he had harbored a very bitter feeling against this man for years, and when the offer was made he had angrily refused it, and said he would certainly never be beholden to him for anything whatsoever! Now do you think he would go away from you looking as self-satisfied as he came? We leave you, reader, to apply the simple figure; earnestly beseeching you, as you value your precious soul, to beware of such deceptions. The reality of a guilty history, be assured, must be faced one day by every one of us. “It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty” (Isa. 29:8). “Bread of deceit is sweet, to a man (said Solomon), but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Prov. 20:17). And what satisfaction can a hungry man, waking up, find in a mouthful of gravel stones? Remember, this striking figure is God’s; and such will surely be the waking up of every soul who allows himself to treat God’s Gospel with indifference; and to accept any deception that would make the exercise of God’s Marvelous kindness unnecessary, solemn beyond words to express! GEO. C.

A Gospel for Tomorrow and a Gospel for Today.

(2 Kings 7:1; Heb. 3:15.)

‘TWAS a Gospel for tomorrow,

Proclaimed by one of old,

To people who were perishing

In misery untold.

‘Twas a gospel for tomorrow,

They heard the welcome sound,

Those sufferers of grim famine

Who thronged the streets around.

’Twas a gospel for tomorrow,

One night they still must wait,

Then would deliverance reach them

E’en in Samaria’s gate.

’Twas a gospel for tomorrow,

The morn should bring relief,

But one received the tidings

With scorn and unbelief.

’Twas a gospel for tomorrow,

“Then plenty there shall be,

But thou shalt never eat thereof

Though food thine eyes shall see.”

Came abundance on the morrow,

But sad that scorner’s fate,

He died in sight of plenty

E’en in Samaria’s gate.

’Tis a gospel for the present,

A gospel for today,

Is there only one who scorns it

Just one who turns away?

’Tis a gospel for the present,

’Tis preached to all around,

There are thousands who refuse it,

Are you among them found?

’Tis a gospel for the present,

With joy we may proclaim

Salvation now through Jesus Christ,

But in “none other name” (Acts 4:10-12).

‘Tis a gospel for the present,

Tomorrow it may be

The Lord will come and call

His own His glorious face to see.

’Tis a gospel for the present,

Receive it ere too late,

For unbelief that scorner fell

E’en in Samaria’s gate.

Perfect Pattern.

BEING pardoned, and having peace with God, I now need a pattern to walk by as I go through this world on my way to glory; and the same blessed person through whom I have pardon and peace, becomes my pattern. “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21); he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked (1 John 2:6); We become more and more like what we are occupied with. If we are occupied with the world, we become worldly; if with ourselves, selfish; but being occupied with Christ, we become Christ―like when I went to school I had a copy set me to write; being desirous of pleasing, I endeavored to copy the headline exactly: on looking at it my schoolmaster praised me for the first line, but found fault with the lines which followed, as being each one more unlike the headline. I assured him that I had done my best, when he kindly pointed out the secret of my failure: my first line was well written, because I had kept my eye steadfastly on the headline, which I failed to do in writing the second and following lines, and thus my copy grew worse and worse; since I have been converted I have profited by my school lesson, and have endeavored to keep my eye on the headline ― Christ.

“Oh, fix our earnest gaze,

So wholly, Lord, on Thee,

That with Thy beauty occupied

We elsewhere none may see.”

H. M. H.

Is It Safe?

THE “SAFETY FIRST” Society has done much to diminish all kinds of dangerous accidents in our crowded streets. Great publicity has been given to the subject on buses, trams, etc., and rightly so. Greater efforts to preserve life have been made of late, and no doubt a great measure of success has attended these efforts, for which we are devoutly thankful. And when we think of the awful loss of life through the great war, “Safety first” may well be our motto, and “Is it safe?” our Inquiry. Only the other week, in spite of such warnings, a woman stepped off the curb to cross the road, close to my house, and, alas, a motor-lorry crushed her to death in a moment. In spite of all warnings such things happen.

Dear reader, if this had been your case, what about another kind of safety ― soul safety? Even if we escape all such outward dangers, sickness comes to us all, and death may knock at our own door any day. Is it safe to go on as we are? Can we dare to leave the question of eternity unsettled? Are not our souls of infinite value? “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). God has spoken to us in the gospel; and has unfolded all His love and grace in Christ.

Jesus, in infinite love and mercy, took upon Himself the whole question of our sins, and our sinful nature, and has finished the mighty work of redemption. He has died for the ungodly, for sinners, for enemies (Rom. 5:6,8,10). God has raised Him from the dead, and crowned Him with glory and honor. On the ground of His death and resurrection, God is now proclaiming a free salvation to all; and the Lord Jesus Christ is found to be a perfect Saviour by all who, having seen their danger and said “Safety first”, have put their trust in Him.

How safe, how eternally secure, are all who, as lost sinners, have put in their claim for the lost sinner’s Saviour! Noah and his family were safe in the ark, but judgment overtook all who were outside. Those ‘in Christ’ now are safe and safe forever; but only such. “I’m in Christ, and that’s everything,” said a beloved parent to me, ere he passed off this scene to be with Christ.

But, dear reader, it is not safe to put off this question of your soul’s salvation. If you are not yet saved, let me warn you of your danger. Let me beseech you to wake up from any false security. How true are those lines:―

“Time was is past; thou canst not it recall.

Time is thou last; then use the moments small.

Time future is not; and may never be.

The present is the only time for thee.”

Make sure first; make sure of your soul’s salvation now. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Commit yourself to Him as God’s perfect provision for your soul’s deepest need, and He will become your own personal Saviour. The value of His finished work, His death and resurrection, will all be yours. It will then not only be “safety first”, but eternal salvation, eternal life, eternal inheritance will all be yours. What folly it is, therefore, to go on without Christ; to allow the things of time to rob you of eternal bliss! Oh, delay no longer. “Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

T. E. P.

"Him With Whom We Have to Do."

HOW often has it been said that each one, sooner or later, must have to do with God. Happy it is for the one who has to do with Him in this world, now that it is the day of His grace. I would point out three instances of this set before us in Scripture.

My readers are doubtless all familiar with the history of Joseph, the dearly loved son of his father Jacob. Sent by his father to inquire for the welfare of his brethren, but hated by them because God had been pleased to speak to him in dreams ― they “sold him into Egypt, but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt.” In all this God was moving the wheels of His government. “Moreover”, we read, “He called for a famine upon the land; He brake the whole staff of bread.” He it was that had sent Joseph before them. How little did his brethren know of the seven years of drought, nor had they a thought of relief through the one they had sold, and “whose feet had been hurt with fetters.”

Driven by the famine down into Egypt, they met Joseph but did not know him. He was perhaps the last person whom they would wish to meet, and Joseph used his knowledge of them with divine wisdom and skill, and thus brought their sin against him to their remembrance, though his behavior was a mystery to them. It was when the Lord had filled Peter’s boat with fish that Peter felt what a sinner he was in the Lord’s presence. So there came the moment when Joseph made Himself known to his brethren. How will he do it? Everyone must withdraw so that he might be alone with them ― Alone were they with the one they had hated and sold! and completely in his power! He wept aloud as he said to his brethren: ―

“I AM JOSEPH.”

Who was the reconciler here? Not only had Joseph delivered them from famine, but as he kissed them all and wept upon them, they were set at ease in his presence. Happy reconciliation!

Does your heart, my reader, respond to this early witness of the grace of God to sinners; witnessed again with redoubled force when we read our Lord’s account of the father falling on the neck of his prodigal son and kissing him. In this case it was also a famine that brought him back.

I pass on to another scene. A young man, Saul, stood by and kept the clothes of those who murdered Christ’s martyr, Stephen. So far from being touched by the martyr’s prayer for those who stoned him, he resolved if possible to blot out the Name of Jesus from the earth, for he hated it. Not content with making havoc of the assembly in Jerusalem, and breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, he persecuted them even to strange cities. On the road to Damascus for this purpose, suddenly he was arrested by a light from heaven which shone round about him, and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” It was no voice of angry demand, but a voice that reached Saul’s inner man as he said, “Who art thou, Lord?” And the Lord said,

“ I AM JESUS

whom thou persecutest.” He was in the presence of the One whom he had hated. What a discovery he made! What more will Jesus say to him? He could have commanded him into the abyss of darkness and misery. Ah! no, the Jesus who spoke to him, the Jesus whom he had persecuted, quietly but with authority, for He was Lord, bade him “Arise” ― wondrous word of grace― “and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” He had become Christ’s captive, henceforth to be led in triumph by Him.

My reader, ‘Have you ever found yourself in the presence of Jesus?’ Have those words “I am Jesus” sounded in the secret of your soul? If it has, what discoveries you have made! First, as to yourself and your own sinfulness; and secondly, as to the salvation wrought out for you at Calvary. You must in spirit be near him in order to know what a Saviour He is.

Now let me conduct my reader to a period in the history of those who knew Jesus and were His disciples when He was here upon earth. They were crossing a stormy sea, and Jesus was not with them in bodily presence (Matt. 14:22-27). He had gone up into a mountain to pray. The wind was contrary to them, and the ship was tossed with the waves; but the eye of Jesus was upon them, and He saw them toiling in rowing (Mark 6:48), and in the fourth watch of the night He went to them walking on the sea. He could have stilled the contrary wind and calmed the sea, but He did not; and instead gave them His presence. They thought it was an apparition, and this increased their fear. Then came to them the words, “Be of good cheer,

IT IS I;

be not afraid.” Are things contrary, dear Christian reader, and your heart troubled? Hearken ― do you hear His voice, “It is I” Be then of good cheer. If Christ’s presence is with you, the wind and waves are moving you on to the shore whither you are going.

“Safe to the land, safe to the land,

The end is this ―

And then with Him go hand in hand,

Far into bliss.”

Till that moment may the words “It is I” be our cheer through all the difficulties of the way. He surely sees our toil, and His words are our cheer. T. H. R

"God's Marvelous Kindness."

WHAT David experienced of God’s loving kindness evidently filled his own heart with admiring wonder. But what has since come to light shows that it is marvelous beyond anything that David experienced of it. Indeed it has been set forth in all its absolute perfection by God’s beloved Son. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:18). Jesus came from heaven and took human form for that very purpose. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth,” and from His own blessed lips we hear it. “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). That which marked His holy life was kindness to all who came near Him ― ‘marvelous kindness’; kindness expressed both in deeds and words. But the crowning wonder was revealed at the end. Jesus had told them that God is “kind to the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). But if man’s sin is hateful to His holy nature, and righteousness demands that it shall not escape His just judgment, how can He consistently gratify His desire to have man at rest in His presence eternally? How can He express kindness to such beings, and at the same time effectually stop the mouth of the great accuser? The answer is found in the death and resurrection of His beloved Son; and public proclamation is made of the same by the Holy Ghost sent from heaven after the holy Sufferer had been glorified. And the result will be eternally abiding to His praise; for “in the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). Blessed be God, “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” The Holy One of God became a voluntary Surety for the guilty; and “suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust that He might bring us to God.” Thus, at an unutterable cost to Himself, Jesus expressed the kindness of God to sinful men. Even while hanging on the cross of shame, words were heard from His dying lips which are enough to convince the hardest heart that His marvelous kindness remained unchanged, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

This gracious request was simply another lovely witness of His Father’s kindness; and in the repentant robber’s blessing we find a heaven rejoicing answer on the spot. All this was in accord with what had been written of Him in earlier days (see Neh. 9:17): “Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.”

Then the witness of this kindness did not end with the Saviour’s departure to heaven. Notwithstanding the treatment He had received from the city He wept over, His disciples were “endued with power from on high” to preach remission of sins in His name, and told to “begin at Jerusalem”! Though in the martyrdom of Stephen the same deadly hatred to His name was manifested; through the opened heavens this faithful disciple was given to see his rejected Lord standing at God’s right hand; and kneeling down he cried, in the hearing of his murderers, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,” and then, we are told, in the midst of a shower of stones, “he fell asleep” (Acts 7:60). What was this but a continued witness of the marvelous kindness which shone in His gracious Master when He was here. A little later Stephen’s prayer was answered, for one of those prominently identified with this outrage ― Saul of Tarsus ― was arrested on his way to Damascus, where he intended to make further havoc of the saved of the Lord. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” was heard from heaven, and tender pity was in it. “It is hard for thee!” We know the result. He trembled and was astonished. “Trembled” to think of what he was found doing, and astonished to find such gracious kindness in the One he hated. Then, years after, when it came to his lot along with Silas to suffer like treatment at Philippi, the kindness of God was again witnessed. With backs torn by the many stripes laid upon them, they were thrust into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks; but all this did not make them question God’s kindness: their confidence was still in Him. “They prayed and sang praises to God” at midnight, we are told, and the other prisoners heard them. Then by an earthquake God shook the prison to its foundations; doors were thrown open and bonds were loosed; and when the trembling keeper approached he heard Paul saying with a loud voice, “Do thyself no harm, we are all here.” His heart and conscience were reached, and falling down before them he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The happy result is well known. The repentant jailor welcomed the news with rejoicing. Angels in heaven were witnesses of God’s joy in it, and His servants on earth were permitted to share it. Well may our hearts agree with David when he said, “Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord” (Psa. 107:43).

GEO. C.

A Searching Inquiry.

A party of five young men set out together cycling to Cornwall, saying they would have “the time of their life, and go the whole hogg”! With this determination they entered into every kind of amusement and dissipation.

One of their number related to a servant of the Lord how it turned out for him. At the end of the week, as they got to their destination, his companions were so far gone with drink that he had to see them all to bed at night, and then retired to his own room. After closing the door the voice of conscience was heard; and one serious question challenged him. It was this: “What will be the end of all this?”

Deeply impressed that God was speaking to him, he felt greatly disturbed in heart and mind regarding the sinfulness of the course they were taking, and there can be no doubt that the Spirit of God was at work in his soul. His sins rose up before him like a black mountain; and with this an earnest desire for God’s forgiveness. He knelt at his bedside, and poured forth his heart to God, confessing with shame what he had been guilty of. The thought of the Lord Jesus came before him, and he earnestly sought Him as his Saviour. He could not sleep all the night, but it was not because of depression, for after a time he got the sense of God’s forgiveness; and the joy of God’s salvation filled his being to overflowing. What was wrought that night in his heart (and this without any human instrument) changed his after-life completely. It was as God’s Word expresses it, “He woundeth, and His hands make whole” (Job 5:18).

On meeting together with his associates next morning, he related to them his experience of the past night. But they only mocked him, and said, “You are no longer one of us” The result was that he left them, and pursued his way alone; but being conscious he was under the Lord’s eye, he was quite happy.

How well the Lord knows everyone who has a desire after Himself. It was so in the case of Zacchæus the publican. Because of the crowd which was moving on with the Saviour, he climbed into the sycamore tree to see Him as He passed by. But he soon discovered that Jesus not only knew his name, but what he wanted; and that He would not pass by without speaking to him. Looking up, He said, “Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.” Promptly and ‘joyfully Zacchæus did so, and had the satisfaction of hearing from the lips of Jesus those comforting words, “This day is salvation come to this house... for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:5-10).

Here was one singled out and honored of the Lord, and so was the young cyclist referred to. May this thought encourage other exercised souls to approach with confidence the same blessed Saviour. Having died for our sins, He is now risen and glorified; and is at any moment ready, through infinite grace, to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him. Happy then is every one who can say,

“I came to Jesus as I was,

Weary and worn and sad,

I found in Him a resting place,

And He has made me glad.”

T. K.

God Known and Trusted.

“ABSOLUTELY tender! absolutely true! Understanding all things; understanding you.

Infinitely loving! exquisitely near!

This is God our Father; what have we to fear?”

Heaven and Earth.

WHAT would this earth be if it were without a heaven? Only a scene of darkness and chaos. So is the heart of man unless light from heaven illumines it. Moral darkness like a pall hangs over this world. And light from heaven can alone show us a way through a pathless desert earth. Heavenly rule and order can alone put straight that which is crooked and perverted in the heart.

In Psalms 19 we read, “The heavens declare the glory of God... in them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun.” From thence also is the light of the “Sun of righteousness.” We read further in this Psalm that “the law of the Lord is perfect.” In its varied character, it converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, and endures forever; and this law was spoken by the living God Himself. It is not the question here as to the ability of man to keep it, but of its own intrinsic character. Moreover, it was from heaven that God talked with Israel (Ex. 20:22); and again, Moses said ‘to them, “Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice that He might instruct thee” (Deut. 4:36). So whether it be light or instruction, both come from heaven.

We may now ask the question, ‘How could man on earth be put into association with heaven?’ Yet what a necessity that it should be so. The answer is found in Jesus the Son of God, “the second Man out of heaven.” In His converse with Nicodemus (John 3) the Lord said, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.” His speech and testimony were not that of a Jewish Rabbi, as Nicodemus thought Him to be, but of One who came down from heaven, and indeed as He spoke to the teacher in Israel He was “the Son of man who is in heaven.” He alone could speak of heavenly things. He could tell the full truth of heaven as to Himself. He spoke, therefore, what He knew, and testified what He had seen. He alone could; as He said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven.” And what did this One say as to Himself: “the Son of Man who is (not was) in heaven”? “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He could also speak the thoughts of God, thoughts of eternal love which subsisted in heaven, and which He well knew and came down from heaven to testify: “For God so loved the world” (not merely the Jews, as Nicodemus might think) “that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Who could possibly tell out such a secret of heavenly love, but One who in His spirit was always there? My reader, as I write this my heart o’er flows with thanksgiving and praise. Does yours so overflow as you read it? Do you say, I could not do without heaven? The ruling power there is God’s love ― grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I have adverted to the giving of the law. I do not enter into the question of man’s ability to keep it, but into its intrinsic perfection. I have pointed out what David said of it in Psalms 19. Psalms 119 speaks of its perfection in detail ― that perfection could be seen in Jesus, and in Him Israel will yet learn to say, “O, how I love Thy law.” Besides the law. God would bring “heaven, His dwelling-place” near to His people upon earth. Hence He said, “Make Me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them,” and the Tabernacle was made ― a pattern of things in the heavens (Heb. 9:23). In dwelling therein God surrounded Himself with the patterns of heavenly things. Every whit of it spoke of Christ, the One who came from heaven to manifest God upon earth. These things were patterns; but when Christ came His holy body was the temple of God upon earth (John 2:21).

My object is not to enter into the details of this typical manifestation, but rather to point out the way in which God gave a very blessed testimony of the link thus formed between heaven and men upon earth. I pause to refer again to the sentence in Psalms 19 “The heavens declare the glory of God.” That is God’s side; while in Psalms 8:3, we read, “When I consider Thy heavens,” and then we come to glory set above the heavens, and strength ordained in the weakest, “Out of the mouth of babes and suckling’s hast Thou ordained strength”―strength that stills the enemy. Now, think of a godly Israelite after a toilsome march through the wilderness, wending his way to the Tabernacle. It did not belong to the wilderness; its foundations of silver were simply laid on the floor of the desert, but every whit of it spoke of the heavenly arrangement which belonged to the dwelling-place of God amongst His pilgrim people. That Israelite would find himself in another scene altogether, and as he entered the door he would have his back to the circumstances of the outside daily life ― and his face? Heavenward. We sing sometimes: ―

“Jesus, Lord, we come together

In the bonds of Thine own love,

Thou hast drawn our footsteps hither,

Its deep meaning now to prove.”

Oh, Christian! would you realize that of which Paul spoke, “Forgetting the things which are behind” ― if only for the few minutes spent in the company of the Lord― “and reaching forward to the things which are before”? Betake you again and again to the sanctuary of the Lord’s presence and at once you will find yourself in the light of heavenly things.

The first thing that would greet an Israelite would be the ever-ascending fragrance of the sacrifice on the Altar ― the fragrance of the work of Christ for us is ever before God. He, too, is there, our great High Priest and Forerunner within the vail. The Israelite could not enter there; still, heavenly things, indeed, met his eye, if in anywise he realized the desire of God to dwell among His people.

But I would take my reader to another tabernacle spoken of in John 1:14, “The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us,” for that is the force of the word “dwelt”; His own dwelling-place being in the bosom of the Father. Blessed was it for John and others in that day who could behold beneath the vail of His humanity the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father. Now that He has ascended up where He was before, He fills heaven, and the light of that tabernacle of His glory shines down upon us by the power of the Holy Ghost. As Jesus said, “He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you.” Thus heaven is brought very near to us.

“Sing without ceasing, Sing

The Saviour’s present grace,

How all things shine in light divine,

For those who’ve seen His face.”

T. H. R.

A Welcome in Heaven Made Sure.

A SHORT time since an afflicted young Christian was brought to one of the beds in the workhouse infirmary at S ―, in Lincolnshire. This was, no doubt, a trial to him; but nothing seemed to touch his joy in the Lord. In course of time, his brother, similarly afflicted, was brought there also and placed in the next bed; but he had not yet found the Lord. He was, however, in time to witness his Christian brother’s departure. This made a great impression on him, and led, eventually, to his finding the Saviour also. Speaking, one day, to a Christian visiting the infirmary, of his departed brother’s happy end, he said, “I have often wondered at the bright smile on his face when dying; but now I think I know how it was. It must have been the welcome he was getting that caused it!” And who can prove that it was not so; for to be made sure of getting a welcome in heaven is enough to gladden the heart and brighten the face of any one, whether on a workhouse bed, or in royal palace. Neither is it necessary to wait until a dying hour to get such assurance; for it may be known now, and known by any believer. But some exercised soul may perhaps be saying, “I only wish that I could feel sure of such a welcome, but it seems to be utterly impossible.” Let us, then, consider the interesting matter a little more closely.

To do this profitably, it will be necessary to bear in mind that there are two sides to the subject, God’s side and ours. God has gracious desires to be suitably gratified; the sinner has serious needs to be righteously met; but both find absolute satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s well-beloved Son. The sinner, awakened to his need, is brought to welcome the blessed Saviour; and (on God’s behalf) the Saviour gladly welcomes the repentant sinner. Indeed, we may well say that God’s marvelous gospel story is just a tale of touching welcomes all through.

It is helpful to see that there are two words that stand in very close relation to each other; namely, ‘wanted’ and ‘welcomed.’ Take a simple example: A fall of rain is most welcome where it is most wanted. If, in going to some place, you would make sure of being heartily welcomed, you have only to make sure of being really wanted.

But it may be asked, ‘How can we possibly make sure of being wanted in heaven?’ The answer is as wonderful as it is simple. A worthy Witness has been sent from heaven to let us into the secret. And His evidence has been recorded for our benefit.

We rightly judge of how much a thing was wanted by the price given to get it. And this heavenly Witness plainly tells us the price God has given to secure us. One tremendous necessity stood in the way of our being welcomed in heaven. We had sins; and they could not enter there. The only way of justly meeting the case was by a Sinless One making Himself answerable for them. And this has been done. God’s beloved Son was willing to come into manhood and do it, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and He went down to death in the sinner’s stead. “He suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” And why bring us to God? Because God wanted us.

Then to prove to us that God’s welcoming us goes with His wanting us, we have from the lips of His blessed Sent-One three parables (see Luke 15). Lost ones wanted marks the first two; a lost one welcomed marks the third. It is God’s side of the story of welcomes. The wandering sheep is not the seeker, it is the Shepherd, God’s sent One. In each case the rejoicing is on the divine side, and their joy too great to be kept to themselves. They call together their friends and neighbors to rejoice with them. The gracious comment upon it is this, “There is joy in heaven― joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth.” God does not hide His joy even from the angels that never sinned. How cheering it is; for it draws our attention to God’s deep interest in the sinner’s expression of his need of the Saviour Whom His love has provided.

Take another simple figure. Not every crew, even in the gravest peril, will give up hope in their own ship, and accept being taken to shore in a lifeboat. They cling to the hope of getting safely to harbor without such help; which is naturally discouraging to the lifeboat crew. But when a signal of distress is hoisted they have a definite guarantee that the lifeboat will be thankfully welcomed. And when a sinner is brought to repentance, that is, brought to condemn himself for his sinful course, and to give up all hope of a safe landing on the heavenly shore through his own merits, it is like the hoisting of the signal of distress; and when it is so, the heart of God rejoices that there is one more that feels the need of Jesus as his Saviour. In like manner, when the Lord found Zacchæus in the sycamore tree, and knew what brought him there, it was a gratifying proof that there was another sinner that had desires after Him. And when, calling him by name, He said, “Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house”; it must have been very welcome to this publican’s heart; for “he made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully”; and then heard from the Saviour’s own lips that such was the object of His mission here. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1-10).

But this was not the end of the happy story. If Zacchæus was found upon the tree, and came down to give the Saviour a joyful welcome to his own house, Jesus was on His way to another tree to do such a work, that there would be nothing to prevent Zacchæus or any other repentant sinner getting a joyful welcome to His Father’s house. There this publican will find the ‘same Jesus,’ but in the midst of honors heaped upon Him by the God who sent Him here to die for sinners.

To the same blessed destination lie is conducting every believer.

“There shall we see His face

With all the saints above,

And sing Forever of His grace,

Forever of His love.”

May our reader be one of the happy number.

GEO. C.

The Hidden Hook.

SATAN is “the god of this world”; and the world’s best offers are the enemy’s most tempting baits. But under the bait is the fatal hook; and when this is realized, you cannot really enjoy the bait, though you have it to enjoy.

A Youth in Despair Finding God's Tender Care.

IT was in 1912, while staying in the city of Seattle, one of the most western cities in the United States, that I met with the subject of this paper ― a young man, deaf and dumb. It was from himself that I got an account of his conversion; and a touching witness it is of God’s wondrous love and grace to a sinful creature in hopeless extremity.

This young man had been brought up by a godly, praying mother. When, in the wisdom and kindness of God, she was taken away from the trials and hardships of this world, her son, left alone to battle with things as they came up, went to this city to seek work; but had only a time of fruitless effort and weary waiting. Feeling very sad and hungry, one day, he said to himself, “There is no one in this city to love me, or care for me; I will make an end of it all, and go and drown myself!” But even if there had been no one in that busy city to care for him, the God who had taken to heaven his dear devoted mother, cared for him. And there can be no doubt that, before parting with him, she had trustfully committed her afflicted boy to God’s keeping; and we may be sure that God’s all-seeing eye was ever upon him in his bereavement and consequent trials. At the very crisis I refer to, good proof of this came into evidence. When the poor, homeless lad had reached the chosen spot for carrying out his sad purpose, a thought suddenly came to him, and as definitely as if it had been an actual voice, “Don’t drown yourself; go to the police station!” Nor was he long in acting on it; and when he had got to the place, it was soon made plain why such a strange suggestion had been made to him. For the one he had an interview with was a man whose heart God inclined to bring CHRIST before him, and the concerns of eternity.

The, eventual result was that he was brought to see that though every responsible creature had been defiled by sin, and therefore made totally unfit for God’s holy presence, God had found a way of meeting man’s desperate condition; that He had sent His beloved Son to put away man’s sin, by bearing its full judgment in his place; so that now, all who accept and believe on Him are fully entitled to say what is expressed in the 6th verse of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

The result of what he heard was that a great change was wrought by the Spirit in his soul, and he was made a “new creature in Christ”; and we know that of all such it is written: “Old things have passed away; and behold all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Then not only did He believe on the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, he confessed Him also, though deaf and dumb. This confession I read myself, typed out on paper. God had plainly shown him that, as a believer, he had been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, poured out for him on Calvary’s cross.

How his happiness reminded me of my own joy in the same blessed Saviour, when brought by the Spirit to trust Him.

But this was not all he had the joy of confessing. For he was given to see that the One who, by His precious blood, accomplished redemption for us, and who is now glorified at God’s right hand, is awaiting the time when He will return to claim His Own for the heavenly glory for which He has fitted them. This He has definitely promised. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). For that blessed day I found my young friend waiting.

This is my own position, reader. What of yours? Have you yet tasted that the Lord is gracious? Have you confessed His saving Name? Hear His word: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9). But remember your stay here is very short. At any moment, without further warning, it may end.

“Why wilt thou longer wait?

Haste to the open gate,

Come ere it be too late,

To JESUS come.”

S. D.

A Serious Oversight, but Discovered in Time.

THE subject of the soul’s welfare has, for every responsible being, a depth of importance very far beyond any other. Jesus said: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? “It is a subject of such magnitude that you might as well expect a man to measure the ocean in an egg-cup as to duly set forth its eternal importance. God alone is equal to it. But the comfort is, that in His holy Word, He has plainly opened to us His mind about it; and it is in the light of this record that we desire to draw the reader’s attention to one who was brought, not only to realize his soul’s deep necessity, but to rejoice in the truth that God has shown His Own way of meeting it.

This young man was born in London. Under the influence of a Christian mother he was taught the Scriptures; and as he grew up, he passed among his friends as a Christian.

At the age of twenty-two he left home for the far west of America. In coming in contact with the world, he found tastes within himself which gladly responded to the temptations without, and from which he had no desire to refrain. Indeed, in the midst of worldly amusements he was, to use a common expression, in his native element. Like a fish sporting in water, he positively reveled in sin. The fact of the matter was this: he had never been brought to see himself in his true state before God; had never been born again; and without this, as Jesus said to the Pharisee, a man “cannot see the kingdom of God”; he is in the dominion of the wicked one in whom “the whole world lieth” (1 John 5:19). Again and again, he had, years before, tried to break off bad habits, and turn over new leaves. Again and again he had listened to the advice of good men. Again and again had he felt the threatenings of that old ‘preacher’ death, as with solemn voice he bade him prepare! But neither good home training, solemn preaching, wise advice, nor turning over ‘new leaves’ had taken away his taste for sin; nor had all put together proved sufficient to make him “a new creature in Christ Jesus.”

But the awakening time came at last. Worldly circumstances, which for some months had been smiling upon him, suddenly began to frown. Prosperity was displaced by adversity; and a long purse dwindled to no purse at all. Friendless and penniless he found himself not only a sinner in his sins, but hopeless. In this state he was counselled to turn to the Lord, and this he felt constrained to do. From a broken heart he poured out his deep need to God; and proved, as all such have done, that “like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him” (Psa. 103:13). He learned that, instead of God being Nero-like for cruel hardness, as Satan would picture Him, He is “rich in mercy” toward men, yea, the giver of every good and perfect gift; that He had even given His beloved Son to secure eternal salvation for sinful creatures. He learned that God who created the world; who gave the sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night; who called the stars by their names, and arranged the seasons for man’s benefit, had also made provision for man’s soul in the blood-shedding of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; and that He had placed this redemption within the reach of every sinner. Man cannot by any means redeem his brother, or “give to God a ransom for him” (Psa. 49:7). But in Christ there is the needed Ransom, the Ransom that meets God’s requirements, and suits the poorest sinner also, seeing it can be obtained “without money and without price.” Hence it is written: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

When this troubled seeker was brought to see his soul’s deep necessity in the light of this gracious Redeemer’s work, his distress was at an end; and in the words of the hymn he could say: ―

“I came to Jesus as I was,

Weary, and worn, and sad.

I found in Him a resting place,

And He has made me glad.”

Since making a personal discovery of his real state as a guilty sinner, and the way Christ has answered to God for it, he has compared his former perilous position to that of a man who really thinks he can swim because he is able to float by the help of so-called ‘water-wings.’ His religious observances, such as going to church on Sunday, giving to home and foreign missions, and all the rest, had been the ‘water-wings’ which he had mistakenly trusted, taking it for granted that they would be sufficient to rely upon for the safety of his soul. True it is that such so-called good things trusted may keep a man floating on the surface of religious profession before death, but they leave a serious matter for God to deal with after death. What our sins justly deserve at the hands of God must be faced, either before death or after. Mark it well, reader, this must be faced sooner or later, and no goodness of ours can answer for our sins. Suppose a man, well accustomed to the use of ‘water-wings,’ finds that on a certain day he will have to cross a deep river. This at first does not disturb his peace of mind; for he has his ‘water-wings’ to depend on. A little later, however, he finds that he will not only have to cross the river, but to bear a heavy weight to the other side; and this discovery shatters his peace of mind instantly. To apply the figure, we may have peaceful satisfaction as to what our good deeds will do for us, until we wake up to the fact that God claims just satisfaction for our evil deeds. And after that, there can be no peace for a guilty conscience, except in Him “Who bore our sins in His own body on the tree”; Who “suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). When these precious truths are really brought home to us, we can, with adoring hearts, thankfully sing: ―

“O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head!

Our load was laid on Thee;

Thou stoodest in the sinner’s stead―

To bear all ill for me.

A Victim led, Thy blood was shed;

Now there’s no load for me.”

But let every reader who has not yet fled to the Saviour remember that every moment brings him nearer to the day of reckoning. “Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee” (Job 36:18). O “FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME”; and do it at once. God is waiting to be gracious.

S. D.

Perilous Slumber.

IT has been the aim of the adversary from the beginning to deny God’s righteousness and ignore His kindness. By the coming of Jesus into manhood, both were perfectly set forth; and his device, ever since, has been to falsify God’s Gospel concerning Him, and to induce men to ignore Him. Take an example. The writer was recently speaking to a man of intelligence on the subject of the soul’s security: a recent illness had made him think of it. He said that his idea had previously been that when a man comes to the end of his history in this world, God would take account of all that he had done, good and bad; that all the good deeds would be put on one side of the account, and all the bad on the other. If a balance could be proved on the side of the good, he would be taken to heaven, and the bad not reckoned against him.

But if this were true, reader; and only one sinful creature taken to heaven on that ground, there would, at least, be one witness in heaven for all eternity who could say that ― as far as he was concerned ― the gift of God the Father, and the atoning sufferings of the Son, were totally unnecessary! What marvelous audacity, so to treat God’s provision for man! Every angel in heaven would surely so regard it; for what could better suit the ends of the great adversary?

But it is to be feared that like thoughts are becoming sadly common. Let us look at it a little more closely. By way of illustration, let us suppose that you are a man of business, and have a customer who has got heavily into your debt. In response to urgent demands for payment, he comes one day to see you. Looking very pleasant, he says he has come to tell you that he is now fully resolved to pay ready money for all he gets; for that he has been given to understand that when his future cash payments amount to more than his past debts, you will clear him of all he owes! Would you not count such a thing as absolute madness, and plainly tell him so? Especially would it be so if you knew that he had been told, more than once, of one who would be willing to take the whole responsibility of his debt, if he wished it; but that he had for years harbored a very bitter feeling against this man, and when the offer was made he had angrily refused it, and said he would certainly never be beholden to him for anything whatsoever! We leave you, reader, to apply the simple figure; earnestly beseeching you, as you value your precious soul, to beware of such deceptions. The reality of a guilty history, be assured, must be faced by every one of us; and satisfaction with such a delusion is faithfully spoken of in Scripture. “It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty” (Isa. 29:8). “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man (said Solomon), but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Prov. 20:17). And what satisfaction can a hungry man, waking up, find in a mouthful of gravel stones? Remember, this striking figure is God’s; and such will surely be the waking up of every soul who allows himself to treat God’s Gospel with indifference, and accept any deception that would make the gift of God and the sufferings of Christ unnecessary. May it never be the reader’s sad lot. GEO. C.

"The Disappearing Island."

IN the year 1693 “Torca,” a large and beautiful island in the Indian Ocean, gave warning to its inhabitants that something serious would happen by beginning to smoke; some time after, the center of the island caved in, leaving a large and steaming body of water in its stead.

Those who heeded the warning were saved, while those who disregarded it perished, only a few escaping in boats.

In like manner, all who disregard God’s offer of salvation by Jesus Christ will suffer the penalty of God’s judgment which is soon to fall.

The island referred to is believed to be several hundred feet below the surface of the ocean at the present time.

This shows clearly, my reader, that by this and similar occurrences God is speaking loudly to men.

He is sovereign; His sway is felt in heaven and on earth. “For the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein, for He hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods” (Psa. 24:1 and 2). Great and powerful King as Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was, he had to learn that “the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men” (Dan. 4:17). God always warns in mercy before He acts in judgment.

He raised up godly men and prophets of old, and is warning today by His servants, as Lot was warned of coming judgment.

Sodom, in which he dwelt, was a picture of this sinful world.

You, too, arc warned, and remember that “Jesus” is your only refuge; He has come near to us in sinless manhood, full of grace, truth and love. Yea, He has died for us ― “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). Having gone into death and fully paid the penalty of judgment due to man, He has risen and ascended to God’s right hand in heaven, and will soon return for “His own.”

His coming draweth nigh (James 5:8).

As the rising smoke on the island warned its inhabitants of approaching danger, so God is warning you, “Flee from the wrath to come” (Matt. 3:7). Turn now to Christ He will be gracious to you. But there is salvation in no other (Acts 4:12).

Let not conscience make you linger,

Nor of fitness fondly dream;

All the fitness He requireth,

Is to feel your need of Him.

This He gives you.

‘Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.

F. H. L. C.

A Modern Miracle.

I WAS an infidel and belonged to the Ethical Society. We occupied our Sunday evenings in reading such books as a translation of Marcus Aurelius, to prove that Christianity was taught in the world before Jesus Christ came (a lifeless thing, like a watch without a mainspring, or an electric bell without a battery). A certain “minister” came to our Society meeting, and wished to instruct us in the truth of Christianity! But he told us he did not believe in the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses, nor in miracles. One of us said, after getting outside the house, “I believe in nothing; but that man believes in less.”

Soon after this I was brought under deep conviction of sin, and converted to God. About a fortnight later I was in a large open-air meeting, and saw the minister of whom I have spoken coming along with two others. I went up to him and asked him if he knew me. He said, “Yes, you were a member of the class.” I then asked him if he remembered saying he did not believe in miracles. He replied, he did not believe in them. “Well,” I said, “here’s a miracle for you. A fortnight ago I did not believe in anything, and now I am preaching the Gospel! “Then he caught hold of me, and wanted me to go to a chapel in the village, to a revival meeting. But I said “No;” that I believed the Lord wanted me to go to another Gospel meeting. So we parted. He went his way, and I mine.

And now, my reader, what about you? Have you believed in the same blessed Saviour in whom I have believed? Have you bowed to the same Lord? (He is rich unto all who call upon Him.) Have you bowed to the One who can perform such a miracle of grace as He did with me, and who is doing the same with numbers of others every day? He brought me, after deep exercise and soul-trouble, to Himself; though once a wretched infidel and blasphemer (see 1 Tim. 1:12-17). And not only can He convert, He can keep through His grace. For the past sixteen or seventeen years He has kept me (Jude 24, 25).

“Oh, believe in Him today;

Come to Him while yet you may;

Trust in Him whom God has given,

God’s accepted Man in heaven.”

E. L.

My Sin and My Saviour.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

―Romans 6:23.

I HAVE sinned and death’s my wages,

Banishment ― eternal woe,

Everlasting outer darkness,

Righteousness demands it so.

In God’s Word this doom is written

Plainly for my soul to read,

Sinner ― and by nature sinful,

Evil, both in thought and deed.

Though my sins so dreadful―hateful

To the holy eye of God,

What is this I read of pardon,

“For His sake “ and “ Through His blood.”

Who is this my soul would succor?

Who can overcome the grave?

Hark! a still small Voice doth answer,

“JESUS CAME THE LOST TO SAVE.”

“ SON OF GOD AND GREAT CREATOR,

FOUND ON EARTH IN LOWLY GUISE,

TENDER, GRACIOUS MEDIATOR,

UNTO HIM LIFT UP THINE EYES.

“SEE HIM UNTO DEATH OBEDIENT,

ON THE CROSS HE BEARS THY SIN,

THERE THE CUP OF WRATH, GOD’S JUDGMENT,”

THERE TO DEATH HE ENTERS IN.

“BOWED IN DEATH HIS BLOOD IS FLOWING,

ALL REQUIRED TO MEET THY NEED,

FOR THY SINS ATONEMENT MAKING,

PERFECT SACRIFICE INDEED.

“PRINCE OF LIFE―OF WORLDS THE MAKER,

WILLINGLY HE DIED FOR THEE,

LOVED THEE ― MADE HIMSELF THY SAVIOUR,

PAID THY DEBT UPON TILE TREE.

“AT THE CROSS GOD’S CLAIMS WERE SETTLED,

CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS BLED FOR THEE,

RAISED BY GOD, HIS WORK ACCEPTED;

THOU ART JUSTIFIED ― SET FREE.”

Jesus Son of God, my Saviour,

Oh what grace, what love I see!

Life the GIFT, and God the Giver,

Mine forever, sure in Thee.

C. E.

Alone; but Not Lonely.

(Extract From Letter.)

“THE Saviour is always mindful of His own.

I passed into my 87th year last Lord’s day. Am now feeling the weight of years. But He put the weight on, and He knows when to remove it. I am still confident; looking up. Though all the field should wither, and no flocks or herds be there, God abides. May His praise tune our hearts; for He is love.

“I spent the day (her birthday) alone; after the woman went away in the morning I spoke to no one. A very happy day; and my meditations profitable.

“I lost all my loved ones more than 20 years since; but HE REMAINS.”

C. W.

Under the Eye of God.

THAT which is a joy and comfort to the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (i.e., the fact that God sees him) is a terror to the unbeliever. One knows the love of God ― the love of God his Father; the other dreads the very thought of God. The former knows that the eye of God is upon him for good; the latter fears it, for his conscience convicts him that he is a sinner. The first invites God’s scrutiny. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me.” This is his language (see Psa. 139:23, 24). The second, on the contrary, seeks to hide away from God, as did our first parents in the garden when they had sinned (Gen. 3:8). “Conscience makes cowards of us all,” as a great author truly said.

A well-known preacher of the gospel, personally known to the writer, in his last gospel address, told how his mother, when he was a little boy, had pointed to a large eye painted on a wall, and had said to him, “That is like the eye of God, which is ever upon you.” This had such a great influence upon him, that all through his life he had had the sense of living under the eye of God. He spoke of this on the Sunday evening. On the following Wednesday he came out of a shop; and after walking a few steps he was seen by a boy to suddenly look up, and then fall down dead! Well for him that the question of all that the eye of God detected in him as a sinner had been settled by God’s own Son, who bore the full penalty of his sins upon the cross. “For Christ hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). [See also Isaiah 53:5,6.] Many years before falling as he did, he had the joy of knowing that God’s eye was upon him for good, as Hagar the runaway slave discovered when she said, “Thou God seest me” (Gen. 16:13).

When I had just written this paper a solemn story was told me; and a serious contrast it is to the preacher’s case. A collier, in trying to get coal from the outcrop of a seam, during the strike, was buried beneath a fall from the roof, and suffocated. The very night before, an open-air gospel meeting was held outside his house; and a converted relative, in urging him to decide for Christ, said, “This may be your last chance!” But alas, as far as we know, he did not take it!

And now, my reader, how is it with you? With the knowledge that “God is light,” do you welcome the thought of the eye of God resting upon you? Or do you shrink from meeting His holy search, and seek to cover your guilty, lost condition under some fancied goodness or religiousness of your own? Remember what He has said, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). “If we confess our sills; He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10). W. G. B.

"For Whom Christ Died."

Romans 14:15.

THE words at the head of this paper do not ask a question: they are a beautiful statement of the Holy Spirit by the apostle Paul as to a weak believer, whose conscience might be grieved or stumbled by the question of “meats.” The apostle led by the Spirit of God regards him as one “for whom Christ died.” He must then belong to Christ. It may be asked, Did not Christ die for all? Yes, so Scripture speaks, but with what intent is this said? If Christ went down into death for all, it was because all were in death ― dead to God, though alive in the world. The same passage of Scripture speaks of some who have been made alive to God; the proof of it is, that they have faith in Him Who died for them and rose again. Such can sing:

“Thou least washed us in Thy blood,

Made us live, and live to God.”

They are those “for whom Christ died.” As we sec from Romans 14, some may be weak in the faith, but the Holy Spirit teaches the apostle to look at the weakest believer as one “for whom Christ died.” What a sweetness that gives for our regard for one another.

Can my reader put his name before those words, saying, Yes, I am one of those “for whom Christ died”? They are four simple words, but how much they mean! The oldest and most established believer can use them with deep and true affection, out of a heart moved by the love of the precious Saviour who died for him; and the youngest believer with newly kindled affection for that Saviour will delight to speak of himself as one “for whom Christ died.”

In a previous portion of this chapter we read, “For none of us liveth to himself and none dieth to himself; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died and lived again, that He might rule both over dead and living” (vss. 7-9). How sweet it is to think that He who has the title as Lord of dead and living is OUR Saviour Jesus Christ who died for us. When we are able thus in faith to claim Him as ours, we can say also that He lives out of death for us, and the sense of belonging to Him makes us happy. We may think of the trouble we have given Him, the watchful care which He has taken to hold us to Himself, and wonder and adore His love, for He does not reproach us. Not a word did the Shepherd say of the load upon His shoulders as He brings the wandering sheep home, but He rejoices; not a word of reproach from the father to the prodigal son, as he falls on his neck and kisses him. The tale of Calvary’s woe tells of how deeply sin has been felt by the Holy One of God. Whether it be the Father or the Son, the past has been felt as it ought to be felt, but that is not to come in and dim the greatness of the grace that gives the kiss of love and forgiveness, for if forgiveness is assured by the kiss, we may be assured that sins and iniquities are no more in remembrance. Oh, how we shall delight in that heaven above in nearness to Him who died for us! What happiness it will be, and so it is now, when the love that died for us possesses our souls. Sweet also it is to think, while we are down here, of every saint as one “for whom Christ died.” And sweet also it is to think of these who have departed to be with Him, because we can say of them, they are those “FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED.”

T. H. R.

Love's Great Triumphs, And Its Willing Witnesses.

SINCE the coming of Jesus into this world, God’s love has had great and wondrous triumphs; and of this there have been countless witnesses. The writer’s present desire, however, is only to draw the reader’s attention to two of them.

In the course of the Lord’s gracious service among men as recorded in the Gospels, He came near to one in whom the enemy seemed to be reigning supreme. When a man is entirely under the power of the wicked one, no matter how galling the bondage, he never seeks for deliverance; so it was with the case we refer to.

He had evidently been a great dread to his neighbors. They had tried to tame him, and tried to bind him, but had failed in both. He was a sad spectacle ― naked and dwelling among the tombs.

When Jesus drew near, instead of seeking deliverance he bade the Deliverer depart. In His sovereign right of mercy, however, the Lord cast the devils out, and the man was afterward found “at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35). He had not been helplessly struck down as a prisoner at the feet of some mighty conqueror; he was sitting; that is, in the posture of rest. A mighty Conqueror was there; but He was more than Conqueror. He was a gracious Deliverer, and had found His own peculiar delight in freeing this poor slave from the cruel bondage of the wicked one.

All was now set right with him, and he had taken a lowly place before the Lord. Resting “at the feet of Jesus” was a right posture. He was in a right condition ― a condition befitting the company he was in ― he was “clothed.” He was in his “right mind,” both about the evil power that had held him, and the gracious power that had delivered him. And it is very certain that he was not of the same mind with the multitudes around him (picture of this present evil world); they wanted to get rid of the One to whom he owed so much; they preferred their filthy swine to Him, and “besought Him to depart from them;” and it is very serious to find that Jesus fell in with their wish. But it was the very opposite with the man himself.

He had earnest longings for more of the company of his gracious Benefactor; and “besought Him that he might be with Him.” We can well understand him looking pleadingly into the face of Jesus as He was departing, and saying, “Do take me with Thee!” But Jesus had a very special honor to confer upon him. He was going to entrust him with a special mission for Himself, and give him instruction as to the way of carrying it out. “Return to thine own house,” He said, “and show how great things God hath done unto thee.” What a longing look he must have taken at the departing boat! What straining of his eyes until it was entirely out of sight!

To be full of admiring, grateful thoughts of the Saviour is the best state for any of His servants; and no doubt it was in this state that this delivered one entered upon His service. “If He has left me here, instead of taking me with Him, he could say, it is not without telling me why; and surely I have enough to show them. Weak though my speech may be, those who have so long known me, cannot fail to see in me the great things He has done for me.” That is, he was a happy, willing witness of his Deliverer in His absence.

Now look at Paul’s second epistle to the disciples at Corinth (ch. 2), and notice the two words, “by us,” in verse 14. “Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are to God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.”

Of this “triumph of love” what a striking witness was the apostle! Blinded by the god of this world, he was once making sad havoc of the Church of God, dragging men and women to prison (and even worse than that — to death). But the Lord interfered for his deliverance; and after that, everything for him was changed. Take one example. He was thrust, with Silas, into the prison at Philippi; yet their joy was such that even with bleeding backs they could not refrain from singing praises to God at midnight; and the result was that the jailor and his house were converted. Now when such an exceeding mad persecutor as Saul of Tarsus is not only delivered by Christ, but made a willing sufferer in His happy service, we can surely recognize in that servant another willing witness of LOVE’S GREAT TRIUMPH. Can those who know the reader recognize the same in him? Has the same marvelous lovingkindness moved his heart toward the Saviour? If not, do not forget that your day of opportunity for coming to Him, and bearing a grateful witness of Him, is drawing to its sunset! Once gone, you will never have another.

“Come now to His feet, and lay open thy story, ―

Thy story of sorrow, of guilt, and of shame;

The pardon of sin is the crown of His glory:

‘Tis joy to His heart to be true to His Name.”

But if you have already trusted His love,

“Let everybody see it, that Christ has set you free;

And when it sets them longing, say, JESUS DIED FOR THEE.”

GEO. C.

"There Is No Hope."

“THERE is no hope” were the terrible words which greeted the ears of anxious relatives and friends, who had gathered at the pit’s mouth after a colliery disaster had taken place, hoping to hear from the rescue-party that some, at least, of the scores of men who were entombed in the mine below, were safe and well. But it was not so. What the explosion had not done the awful firedamp had completed; so that not one among the many who entered the pit that morning never saw daylight again. Little did they think, when they left their homes that morning, that they would never return there again. Some, we trust, were fully prepared for such a sudden call, knowing that for them “to be absent from the body” would be to be “present with the Lord.” But what of those that were unsaved? Is there any hope for such beyond the grave?

There is no hope!

“If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins,” said the Saviour to the unbelieving Jews (John 8:24). To die in unbelief is to die in our sins; and there is no hope of forgiveness on the other side of death. When the jailor at Philippi asked the important question, “What must I do to be saved?” the unmistakable answer was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30,31). There is no other way. For unbelievers, “the gospel of hope” has no place in Holy Scripture. There is not a single sentence in the whole of the Bible that gives support to the teaching that there is hope for the sinner after death. God’s blessed gospel is not preached to men after they have died: it is only while they live; and there must be faith in exercise; that is, the message must be believed if blessing is to be obtained. The Lord Jesus, after He had risen from the dead, sent forth His disciples, saying, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15, 16). Nothing could be plainer than this. The blessed result to the believer is salvation; the awful result to the unbeliever is damnation.

Which, dear reader, is before YOU?

E. E. A.

Sunshine in the Heart.

THERE is sunlight on the hill-top,

There is sunlight on the sea;

And the golden beams are sleeping

On the soft and verdant lea.

But a richer light is filling

All the chambers of my heart,

For Thou art there, my Saviour,

And ‘tis sunshine where Thou art.

Thou hast whisper’d Thy forgiveness

In the secret of my soul:

“Be of good comfort, daughter,

For I have made thee whole.”

The “fowler’s snare is broken,”

And loosed my captive wing;

And shall the bird be silent

Which Thou hast taught to sing?

Lord Jesus! Thou past bought me,

And my life, my all is Thine;

Let the lamp Thy love hath lighted

To Thy praise and glory shine —

A beacon, ‘mid the darkness,

Pointing upward where Thou art;

The smile of whose forgiveness

Is the SUNSHINE of my heart!

Oh! ye who sit in darkness,

Ever mourning for your sin,

Open the windows of your soul,

Let the warm sunshine in;

Every ray was purchased for you,

By the matchless love of One

Who has suffered in the shadow,

That you might see the sun!

A Wish for the Remainder of the Voyage.

Nothing to deflect my compass,

Nothing to divert my aim,

Nothing to disturb the comfort

Of a heart that loves Thy Name.

(Eph. 4:30; vs. 18; Phil. 3:13, 14.)

Happy is he of whom it can be truly said, “The Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him” (Deut. 32:12)

Cheer for the Aged and Lonely.

THE lines of care are on thy brow,

And few there be who want thee now.

Thou sittest in thine old arm-chair,

Not greatly wanted anywhere.

Then let me tell thee words of cheer,

For love and warmth are very near.

There is a home for thee above,

There is a God whose Name is Love.

He gave His Son, He gave His best,

To heal thy wounds and give thee rest.

Christ came from Heav’n, He lived, He died,

With malefactors crucified.

He rose ― His blessed work was done;

He rose ― the ever living ONE.

Let me recall this talc so true,

So sweet and yet received by few;

Thou know’st it well, and yet thy mind

Perhaps, like others, has been blind!

But canst thou still unmindful be

Of One Who died to set thee free?

Who, waiting, knocketh at thy door

With love’s persistence, more and more.

Thy faintest welcome He will hear,

His love will banish every fear,

Will fill thy mind with things above,

And satisfy thee with His Love;

Will give thy heart His home to share,

And make thee feel thou’rt wanted there.

S. C. M. A.

Heavenly Visitors on Important Business.

THERE have been three distinct orders of heavenly visitors sent on special missions to this world, in connection with God’s salvation. We would draw the reader’s attention to one great fact, namely, that One of these visitors was Himself the subject that engaged the other two; and no wonder, for there is none in heaven or on earth like Him. It was Jesus who was sent to dwell with sinful men, that in Him they might learn the heart and mind of God about themselves. Hence when He came it could be said, “God hath visited His people” (Luke 7:16). After His return to heaven another Divine Person― the Holy Spirit ― was sent, that men, through Him, might learn God’s full appreciation of the Saviour’s work for them. This Visitor was not One that men and Satan could get rid of, as they got rid of Jesus. Their deadly shower of stones could neither drive Him out of the world, nor out of the heart of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). He is still here; and dwelling in the heart of every true believer on earth.

But angels, as well as Divine Persons, have had important errands committed to them. Though having only the place of servants in God’s dwelling place, their missions to this world were none the less important. Take a simple figure.

Suppose that one day you receive a telegraphic message from the King. The question of who brought it would be of very small importance in comparison with the message brought, and who sent it. And so you would think; especially if it was to let you know that the King’s Son was intending to visit the town, and wanted to call upon you in your own home! Angels’ visits were simply to call man’s attention to matters of the deepest interest to the heart of God; so that not many words were used by these visitors. There were four special angelic visitors; and in each case the tidings brought had their own simple and distinct significance: (1) Jesus is coming; (2) Jesus has come; (3) Jesus is risen; (4) Jesus is coming again. Let us briefly consider these angelic errands.

Errand No. 1. ― From the very beginning God has had before Him a provision for man’s guilty necessity. Not only has He had it set forth in striking types and fore-shadowings, but in definite statements by His inspired prophets. Take, for example, the 53rd chapter of Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (vs. 6). When the fullness of the waiting time had nearly come, the first of the angels’ visits we refer to took place. This heavenly messenger was sent by God to announce to Joseph, Mary’s espoused husband, the promised One’s Name, and the object of His mission: “Thou shalt call His name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). To deny sin’s penalty had been the serpent’s daring device: to bear sin’s penalty was the Saviour’s gracious purpose. And since the only way of saving His people from their sins was by fully enduring God’s righteous judgment for their sins, it was on this that His devoted heart was so firmly set.

Errand No. 2 was to announce that the promised One had actually come. Shepherds watching their flocks by night were the privileged receivers of the message: “Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to you and all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-11). On this followed a burst of praise from a multitude of the heavenly host: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men.” What a blessed forecast of the Saviour’s great work! And what a complete exposure of the serpent’s double deception in Eden, which in effect was this: ―

Take of the fruit, and you will find

That God is neither true nor kind.

But the wily deceiver was really deceiving himself. For, notwithstanding the fall, God’s interest in man’s blessing has never ceased, and never will. This second visitor plainly announced the fact, and the death of the beloved Son undeniably proved it. In Him God has found for US A FRIEND INDEED, ―

Sent to declare His kindness to us!

Willing to bear sin’s judgment for us!

Rejoiced to share heaven’s pleasures with us!

How well worthy He is of every sinner’s confidence! If you consider Him worthy of yours, reader, and have not yet told Him so; do it now.

Errand No. 3.―Not only had this visitor something very important to say, but had something very definite to do also. At a very early hour Mary Magdalene and the other Mary found this visitor at the sepulcher. He had been sent to roll away the scaled stone from the door; and they found him sitting upon it, as though waiting to give the tidings to the first that came. Thus he addressed them. “Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead” (Matt. 28:1-6). Those who had sealed His sepulcher, and done their utmost to keep Jesus there, might now see for themselves that He had left it. Then the same day at evening, the blessed risen One came into the midst of His trembling disciples, to hush their fears and gladden their hearts.

The importance of the fact that God had raised Him from the dead cannot be overestimated. When a surety for debt has satisfied the creditor, the surety is free. And that which gives full satisfaction to a creditor, gives full and peaceful assurance to the debtor. On the cross, the question of the judgment due to our sins was gone into between our spotless Surety and the God we had sinned against. Sin’s penalty is death. But the death of the sinless One gave God the fullest satisfaction; and this satisfaction was declared by taking the sinner’s Substitute out of death. He who was “delivered for our offenses” was “raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Hence the significance of the angel’s visit to the sepulcher.

Errand No. 4. ― For forty days the adorable Lord had been giving to His disciples many infallible proofs of the reality of His resurrection; and at last came the hour of His departure. He led them out as far as to Bethany, and in the act of blessing them, with uplifted hands, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. While looking steadfastly upward, two men in white apparel came and stood by them, and thus addressed them. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11). The disciples then “returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”

ANOTHER VISITOR had been promised, and they had been told to tarry in Jerusalem until He came. Another Divine Person was coming. It was the Holy Spirit of God, the COMFORTER. Jesus had said, “If I depart I will send Him unto you” (John 16:7). He was coming as God’s witness on earth of the place of glory and honor given to His beloved Son at His own right hand in heaven. Well may this Holy Visitor have been regarded as “COMFORTER!” By His testimony was brought the fullest assurance that every believer’s sins are gone from before God. For if nothing that defileth can enter heaven, and the One who once bore our sins is now in heavenly glory, He must be there without them ― “put away by the sacrifice of Himself” ― is our sins put away?

Then what a comfort it must have been to the timid disciples to be endued with the Spirit’s power for their happy mission of preaching the gospel of God’s grace to “every creature” in a hostile world! And the servants of Christ have the same comfort today.

Now if God’s interest in man’s blessing has thus been expressed, what excuse will any man find if, after all, he should die in his sins? What of your soul, reader? You will do well to take to heart one solemn fact. Every man will either spend eternity with the great deceiver, or with the GREAT DELIVERER! Consider it carefully. Which for you? GEO. C.

The Defiant Made Willing.

NOTHING less than the power of God can affect such a change in the heart of a rebellious sinner; and every such triumph is a fresh witness of what His grace can really accomplish. Our present desire is to draw the reader’s attention to one of them.

A soldier on duty in a military prison was accused by the warder of violating the prison rules, which he solemnly denied; with an oath he called upon God to strike him dumb if he were guilty!

To this God answered immediately. He was struck dumb on the spot and rendered unable to articulate a single syllable!

What a reminder of that solemn Scripture regarding Ananias: “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost” (Acts 5:1-5).

In the above occurrence, however, though the soldier had lied both to man and to God, his life was preserved, though bitterly weeping, day and night, in his speechless condition.

Waited upon, the army surgeon, evidently a sincere Christian, informed him that all he could recommend was, that he should pray to God to restore his speech.

Realizing his totally helpless condition, and how he had defied God, he was completely broken down, confessed his sinfulness and wickedness, and besought His forgiveness, through the Lord Jesus Christ.

God thus appealed to, graciously manifested His power a second time, in restoring the speech of the penitent soldier, who had been dumb for over a week.

Alas! how much the world, today, is in the denial of God. Man is so occupied with the passing scenes of time and sense, that (because unseen) God’s greatness and goodness are overlooked.

Nevertheless, while speeding on to judgment, the mercy of God is being constantly shown towards those under Satan’s sway, and bringing many to see their lost condition and peril, in one way or another, as in the above case, so that they may turn to Him ― seeking Jesus as their Saviour. How little even the believer in Jesus realizes the wondrous position he is in, before God! Yet how tellingly that is set forth in the Scriptures. Take the following for example: “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love; in whom we have redemption through His blood even the forgiveness of sins:... all things were created by Him and for Him... that in all things He might have the pre-eminence” (Col. 1:13-18).

Since He created us for Himself, well may we be completely subject to Him, and with gratitude own what He has done for us; giving Him the chief place in our affections while here below; for He will most certainly hold that place throughout eternity, amid the host which will surround Him in glory. Have you, friend, truly owned Jesus as your Lord? T. K.

Himself! The Man Who Died for Me.

SOME OF THE LAST WORDS OF A SERVANT OF CHRIST. ― J. G. B.

SADLY altered was the poor worn-out body “pillowed in an easy chair, but his spirit rejoicing in his much-loved Lord. He said, “Two months ago when I felt this sickness was unto death, I asked Him to reveal Himself to me in increased loveliness and nearness. He did. He filled me with Himself. I know the blood has done its blessed, blessed work for my soul; it is His love, His beauty, His perfection, that fill my heart and vision.” He then spoke of feeling a little better that day. “But ah! that is no pleasure to me.” Then, clasping his dear thin hands together, he said, while tears flowed down his face, “My precious Lord Jesus, Thou knowest how fully I can say with Paul, to depart and be with Thee is far better! I do long for it! They come and talk to me of a crown of glory ― I bid them cease; of the glory of the heaven ― I bid them stop. I am not wanting crowns ― I have HIMSELF! HIMSELF! I am going to be with HIMSELF! Ah! with the Man of Sychar; with Him Who stayed to call Zacchaeus; with the Man of the 8th of John; with the Man who hung upon the cross; with the Man who died! Oh, to be with Him before the glories, the crowns, or the kingdom appear! It’s wonderful ― wonderful with the Man of Sychar alone; the Man of the gate of the city of Nain! and I am going to be with Him forever! to exchange this sad, sad scene which cast Him out, for His presence. Oh, the Man of Sychar!”

Another has expressed the happy utterances of this departing saint in the following lines: ―

“My pilgrim days are waning; the voice of Him I love

Has called me to His presence in my Father’s house above,

Long, long by faith I’ve known Him, but now I’m going to see

The Man who sits in heaven, the Man who died for me.

“But ere I left the desert I longed that I might know

What joy His blessed presence could give me here below,

These few short fleeting moments, oh, I would nearer be

To Thee, my precious Saviour, the Man who

died for me.

“He gave me all I asked for, yea, more than I can tell,

He filled my soul with rapture, with joy unspeakable,

The hand of Jesus on my soul seemed laid so tenderly,

I had for my companion the Man who died for me.

“To fall asleep in Jesus, ’tis that I think of now,

To be forever with the Lord, before Himself to bow,

Ah, yes, with Him who stayed to call Zacchaeus from the tree,

With Him who hung upon the cross, the Man who died for me.

“To be alone with Jesus, Himself to gaze upon,

To see the Man I’ve read about oft in the eighth of John,

To leave this scene of sadness, oh wondrous Lord to see

The glory of Thy presence ― the Man who died for me.

“It is the Man Christ Jesus with Whom I’m going to dwell,

The weary Man of Sychar who sat upon the well,

Whose matchless love filled that poor heart, and gave her eyes to see

That He was God’s anointed One, the Man who died for me.

“I’m going to be with Jesus, who in this world of pain

Gave back the widow’s only son outside the gate of Nain,

His heart was moved with pity, His word caused death to flee,

I’m going to see Him as He is, the Man who died for me.

“To leave the world that cast Him out, and to be with Him there

Before the kingdom glories or the ‘many crowns’appear,

O blessed Man of Sychar it is Himself to see

He calls me to His presence ― the Man who died for me.”

Encouragement for Gospel Workers.

(Extracts From Letters.)

“FOR from you sounded out the word of the Lord” (1 Thess. 1:8).

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.... For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil. 1:3, 5).

“I believe that in all times, blessing within is in the measure of evangelization. The reason is very simple. It is the presence of God which blesses, and God is love; and it is love which makes one seek souls. But GOD LOVES SOULS, and if we do not seek them, He will set His testimony elsewhere. He loves us I believe, but He has no need of us. May He give us only to be faithful to Him, and He will certainly bless us.”

“He is above all adverse circumstances and undesirable influences. Trust Him; He has power to work where we least expect it.” J. N. D.

God Our Father.

“Absolutely tender!

Absolutely true!

Understanding all things,

Understanding you!

Infinitely loving!

Exquisitely near!

This is God our Father,

What have we to fear?”

E. H. T.

Sins Remembered No More.

“FORGIVEN, forgotten, and cleansed and gone;

Atoned for, and covered by God’s dear Son;

My sins are remembered no more.

“Let men remember, and foes accuse,

If God forgets, they may say what they choose,

My sins are remembered no more.”

Tidings of Life and Peace: 1914

Table of Contents

Two Outlooks.

Peace, Would You Find It?

Foreseen and Foreshadowed.

A Hard Heart Made Willing.

A Serious Retrospect.

Helpless Extremity; And the Way Out of It.

The Reprieved Monarch's Testimony.

"Ho! Every One That Thirsteth, Come."

Faith's Sure Footing.

Love's Great Deed Accomplished.

Your Last Day.

A Heart Rejoicing Post Card.

Man's Great Adversary Exposed and Defeated.

A Scoffer Won for Christ.

Why the Warrior Wept.

Fairer Than the Fairest.

"Groanings Which Cannot Be Uttered."

In the Hand of God.

The Vital Concern of all, God's Longsuffering will not always wait.

A Fatal Delay of Three Minutes.

The Thoughts of God.

A Disappointed Seeker, Satisfied at Last.

Fragments.

Death; and Life.

"Look Now Toward Heaven."

Two Reigning Powers.

A Heart Broken Burglar.

Early Seeking, Divinely Honored.

Early Seeking, Divinely Honored.

A Soldier's Account of His Conversion.

The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength.

Set Free, or Held Captive.

The Power of His Name.

Delivered and Made Meet.

Deadly Misrepresentation.

A Gospel for Tomorrow and a Gospel for Today.

Perfect Pattern.

Is It Safe?

"Him With Whom We Have to Do."

"God's Marvelous Kindness."

A Searching Inquiry.

God Known and Trusted.

Heaven and Earth.

A Welcome in Heaven Made Sure.

The Hidden Hook.

A Youth in Despair Finding God's Tender Care.

A Serious Oversight, but Discovered in Time.

Perilous Slumber.

"The Disappearing Island."

A Modern Miracle.

My Sin and My Saviour.

Alone; but Not Lonely.

Under the Eye of God.

"For Whom Christ Died."

Love's Great Triumphs, And Its Willing Witnesses.

"There Is No Hope."

Sunshine in the Heart.

A Wish for the Remainder of the Voyage.

Cheer for the Aged and Lonely.

Heavenly Visitors on Important Business.

The Defiant Made Willing.

Himself! The Man Who Died for Me.

Encouragement for Gospel Workers.

God Our Father.

Sins Remembered No More.