Young Christian: Volume 18, 1928

After the parenthesis of chapter 3, the Apostle takes up the subject of chapter 2 again. Christians out of both Jews and Gentiles, united into one body, one new man, and united to Christ their glorified Head, their whole position before God in Christ is their vocation or calling.

Verse 1. The Apostle is in prison, suffering with the gospel that he preached (2 Tim. 1:8). The union of Jew and Gentile in one was obnoxious to the Jews who refused the gospel, which sets aside the law and the ordinances that were given by Moses; it also condemned the idolatry of the Gentiles. It was new blessing, and gave a new hope to those who believed the gospel (2 Tim. 1:11, 12 and 2:9, 10). Believers were now one with Christ in glory, and the Holy Spirit was now on earth dwelling in them and with them. And by the Holy Spirit they both had access, as worshippers, before God their Father. They were the habitation of God and the body of Christ. He beseeches them to walk worthy, that is, in a way consistent with their calling.

Verse 2. It is to be done “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love,” for each of us has the flesh in us, and our varied dispositions require that we guard against our own wills, which seek to have our own way. We need to practice putting self aside, that we may be of one mind in the Lord. If we look at the pattern of our blessed Lord, it is, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart;” and what longsuffering He ever showed with His disciples, warning and exhorting and encouraging them, but never driving them from Him; and it is only thus that we could carry out the truth of the next verse,

Verse 8. “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” These three things are important.

First, we are to walk worthy of our calling.

Second, it is to be done in lowliness and meekness and long-suffering love.

Third, we are to use diligence to maintain with all the members of the one body, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It means the recognition of the truth that all Christians are members of the same body, united to the same blessed Head in glory, and to each other, by the Spirit who dwells in us each one. Consistent with this, we own that Christ is the only center of gathering. To gather Christians together without Christ as the center, is in reality only scattering them. His presence is given only to those gathered to His Name (Matt. 18:20). This truth sets all divisions, schisms, and societies of men, aside, and gives with the true center the only union that God’s Word recognizes.

In the Acts of the Apostles we see how this was carried out. In chapter 8, God did not give to any of the Samaritans the Holy Spirit, though they were saved and baptized until Peter and John came from Jerusalem, and prayed and laid their hands on them, thus witnessing that the old schism was gone, and that they were one with those at Jerusalem; the unity of the Spirit was maintained.

In Acts 10, Peter was called to receive the first Gentile believers into the assembly; this took place at Caesarea. The Lord overcame his natural prejudice by giving them the Holy Spirit, and Peter acknowledged the fact by commanding their reception by baptism; here also the unity was maintained, and when they of the circumcision blamed him for receiving them, he patiently went over how God led him to do it, and ended by saying, “Who was I, that I could withstand God?” This turned their opposition into rejoicing that God had granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life; thus the unity of the Spirit was maintained.

In Acts 15, the question arose as to circumcising believers from among the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul knew that this was contrary to Christianity, and would not allow it. The Lord did not allow divisions to come in between the assembly at Jerusalem and the assembly at Antioch, so he told Paul to go to Jerusalem to settle it there (Gal. 2:2). They had a conference with the assembly, the apostles and elders; and there again we see the unity of the Spirit is maintained.

In Galatians 2, we have an instance where Peter did not notice that he was failing in this point, and Paul withstood him to the face (verse 11).

And again in Acts 15, we find Barnabas letting natural ties interfere with the service of the gospel, for his nephew John Mark had forsaken the work at Pamphylia (Acts 13:13), and went to Jerusalem where, at that time, persecution was not so much. So Paul would not take him, and because of it, Barnabas went with him to their home in Cyprus. In these last instances we see that this truth needs to be maintained toward individuals, as well as by assemblies, toward each other.

From 1 Corinthians 9:6 we conclude that Barnabas still labored in the gospel, and we see in Colossians 4:10; and 2 Timothy 4:11 that Mark was still a profitable companion to Paul, but he made a breach at the time.

In 2 Timothy 1:15 we find that all in Asia had turned from the truth that Paul taught, and it has continued to get worse. Nearly all Christendom is in division. How few there are now that understand the necessity of it, or it may be that they are quite in ignorance of this truth of the unity of the body of Christ, to which the unity of the Spirit applies. And yet it is a truth that brings before the heart how dear we are to the Lord, even as members of His body, so that He feels all that we feel.

In verses 4 to 6 we have three circles of unity: Verse 4 takes in only those who are saved and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Verse 5 takes in all profession, both true and false.

Verse 6 takes in all creation.

Verse 4. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” There is only one body, and all who have received the Holy Spirit are its members. Christ is its Head. We have therefore the same hope of Glory with Christ above. This is our true, eternal, abiding unity.

Verse 5. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” This is connected with the Lord. It is the public recognition of the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so includes all who have been baptized to His name. We know that many have been baptized who are not yet saved. So that this circle is wider than verse 4.

Verse 6. “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all,” and coming back to Christians, he adds, “and in you all.” This is the omnipresent One, Who is above all, and through all, but by His Holy Spirit, He dwells in all Christians. We saw in Chapter 3:14, 15, that every family in heaven and earth is under Him. Only those who are Christ’s can by the Spirit call Him “Father,” and take their place as members of the one body.

We can see in all this that while it would not be right to accept what is not the truth, yet often we need to bear with each other, but our common portion in the privileges of our position, leads us into the mutual joy in the love and the happiness of all the members.

Verse 7. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” He is Head over all things to the assembly, and gives to each as His sovereign wisdom sees fit to bestow. In our position and joy in Christ, we are all one. In our service to Him and for Him and the saints, we all differ.

(To be continued)

My Meditation of Him Shall Be Sweet

An old Scotch lady, who was alone for the greater part of the day, was asked,

“What do you do during the day?” She answered,

“Well, I get my hymn book, and I sing a little hymn of praise to the Lord, then,” she added, “I get my Bible and let the Lord speak to me. When I am tired reading, and I get done singing, I just sit still, and let the Lord love me.”

Do you ever sit still in the presence of your Saviour and hear Him say, “I do love thee, I have loved thee, I shall love thee to the end!”

Mediatations on Scripture

Ephesians 6

How encouraging it is to find our God and Father interested in all that concerns His children, and to have directions given us to carry out all our relationships of life in obedience and subjection to Him; and to find in all, as with wife and husband, children and parents, servants and masters, His love and grace the power to carry out the obedience and subjection to, and with each other.

Verses 1-3. Here He claims the attention of the children of Christian parents, and speaks to them, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” He teaches them their duty to their parents, thus helping children to be subject and to obey, with a promise of His governmental care over them attached to their obedience.

Verse 4. “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Surely this is after the pattern of His government over us. A loving father seeks the best he can do for His children, and even his discipline over them is ever with a view to their good; and so we believe it is with our God and Father, though often our natural hearts are slow to give Him the credit. How much we need to think of Him as slow to anger and of great mercy.

How carefully we need to guard our tempers in chastening our children, or in speaking to them. Instruction and advice are to be given with patient grace and love. How much many of us can see how we have failed in this. We are slow learners in divine things.

How perfect, was our Saviour in all. “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.” He carried it out in thought and word and deed.

Verses 5-8. “Servants (slaves, bondmen) be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ: not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart: with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not unto men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.”

This is surely the obedience of Christ to which every believer is sanctified (1 Peter 1:2), and such behavior is truly adorning the doctrine of God in all things (Titus 2:10) – a true pattern for us all in our service to our Lord.

It is not fear and trembling in dread of punishment, it is holy reverence lest he should grieve his Master in heaven who is giving him these orders, and on whom he can count for the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. What dignity is here given to the Christian slave who thus carries himself through grace, serving his Master as if he was the Lord Himself. And it was to be the same, no matter if his master was a wicked man, he was still to be the servant of Christ. His reward is sure.

Verse 9. “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with Him.” Here we get the Christian master tested; forbearing threatening intimates that his slave might fail in his obedience and behavior, yet the master is to have grace in his dealings with his servants, even as our Master in heaven has to bear so much with us in our poor service, so often marked with slothfulness and cold neglect. What abundance of grace is in the Lord for us, to carry us through in our behavior to all others, to His glory.

We are now to see what enemies we have, and how to defeat them, and before he mentions them he says:

Verses 10-13. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” Israel under Joshua had to fight for the land that was given them (Deut. 32:8, and 7:16), but others had possession of it, and had to be exterminated or subdued.

Israel’s possessions were the land of Canaan. Our possessions are our blessings in heavenly places in Christ. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread on shall be yours,” was said to them (Deut. 11:24). Likewise, we need to claim our blessings before we can enjoy them.

The twelve spies sent by Moses to view the land, reported that it was a good land, flowing with milk and honey, but the cities were walled, and there were giants of great stature. Ten of the twelve discouraged the people, but the two, Joshua and Caleb said, It is “an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land flowing with milk and honey. Only ‘rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.” Numbers 14:7-9.

Unbelief cannot enter into the land. Now it is the same with our blessings in heavenly places. We have read in these former chapters what the purposes of God are concerning His Son, and what He has given us in Him.

We need to lay hold of it all by faith, and having taken possession, we need to keep ourselves in the enjoyment of it. So we have, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” We are weakness in ourselves. But now we are to “put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

It is good to begin with, to know that Christ our Lord has defeated this enemy. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” is the word, and in this we see that it is not against flesh and blood that we wrestle, but with the unseen powers of darkness, against wicked spirits in heavenly places. We know little about them, only Satan and his host are the inveterate enemies of God and truth. In dependence on God and confidence in Him, every enemy is overcome, and the armor of God is provided for us to have on. Seven parts of it are mentioned, but in their use, like the colors of the rainbow, they are all blended together and all used together. The last mentioned is prayer, and that underlies the use of all, for unless in dependence on God, we cannot profit by it.

Self-confidence is the armor of the flesh, and while we speak of these wicked principalities and powers, it is good to remember that there are others (Eph. 3:10) who are the willing messengers of God, ready to carry out the mind of God for His people. As the centurion said to the Lord Jesus “Only speak the word, and my servant shall be healed.” Wonderful to think that these heavenly beings can learn from us (Compare also 1 Cor. 11:10; 1 Peter 1:12; Heb. 1:14; Psa. 68:17 Margin). We are children of the light now, and do not walk in darkness; and in the light of God’s presence, for God is light, these creatures of darkness have no power. God is ever supreme (Psa. 103:19).

Verse 14. “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,” that is, truth controlling the conscience and heart, truth in the inward parts. The Lord when tempted by Satan said, “Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word of God.” It is the obedience of Christ in us, and is the fruit of walking with God.

“Having put on the breastplate of righteousness.” This is practical righteousness; without this on we cannot stand before the enemy. He will roar at us, and our guilty conscience makes us powerless to stand. We must maintain a good conscience in practical righteousness.

Verse 15. “Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” This is our character as children of God (Matt. 5:9; James 3:18). Our ways marked as a man of peace. We walk in a peaceful spirit with others, and we enjoy the peace of God. He is the God of peace (Phil. 4:9).

Verse 16. “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” This is a defensive part. Satan tries to throw into the soul some suggestion of doubt that will irritate and inflame, unless quenched, the shield of faith. “I believe God quenches at once all spiritual doubts. We have our confidence in God and His Word.”

Verse 17. “And take the helmet of salvation.” Yes, this is our helmet. We are saved (Eph. 2:8), we know it, we have it, we rejoice in it.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:8, where we are seen in the wilderness, and on our journey, we have as a helmet, “the hope of salvation,” that is the Lord’s coming to save us out of the world; that is all right there, but in Ephesians we are in our promised land in spirit already, and we have salvation already in blessed assurance.

“And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” This is active warfare, both offensive and defensive. If the soul is not in communion with God, it cannot use this sword. If the Word has not done its work in our soul, how can we use it for others. When the Lord met Satan in the wilderness, He quoted the word in its application to Himself – He lived in obedience to it. That completely defeated the enemy, whose effort was to get Him to do His own will, without the word from His Father. So we need the Word for our own path, and that defeats the enemy.

Verse 18. “Praying always,” this lies under the whole armor; this is our constant dependence on God. It is not “saying our prayers,” it is “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” It is the reality of having to do with God, and it goes out in all God’s interests, “watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” It takes in God’s message going forth in this world. We have not the ambassadors now, but we have heralds, messengers, who can echo out the message of reconciliation, “Be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20, 21. Watchful perseverance is needed here. The Apostle desired their prayerful interest in his service and suffering for Christ.

Verses 21, 22, show their affectionate interest in him. Tychicus conveyed it.

Verse 23. “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Verse 24. “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, Amen.”

Correspondence: 1 John 5:16; Heb. 13:13; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Rom. 8:9

Question: What does 1 John 5:16 mean? O.

Answer: It means that some Christians behave so badly, that God in chastening mercy takes them away in death. It is the death of the body (see 1 Cor. 11:30-32).

Question: Is this great house of profession and the camp, in Hebrews 13:13, the same? P. T.

Answer: No, we cannot leave the house where the Spirit of God dwells, but we are to “go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” The camp there is the Judaizing system of man’s religion. We learn in Scripture that we, that is, all true believers, are dead with Christ and risen with Christ, and knowing “the flesh profiteth nothing,” we see that the religious man put Christ to death, and that no good can come out of him, and Christ being rejected by him, we are now called to go forth therefore unto Him, outside of the camp, bearing His reproach.

Question: Is 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17 speaking of us individually or collectively? G. L. A.

Answer: In this chapter the gifts are looked at as ministers who are building the house of God. They are laborers together under God. Paul laid the foundation, and every man is to take heed how he builds thereupon – this shows man’s responsibility. The foundation is Jesus Christ, but even on this foundation, those who are not real Christians may be built into it. In the day of manifestation, all will be tried with fire; the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. Wood, hay and stubble will not stand the fire. Gold, silver, precious stones will remain (verse 12).

We get three samples of builders.

In verse 14 the builder builds according to the Architects plan, and so is rewarded.

In verse 15 the builder does not build according to the plan of the Great Architect, and though himself a saved man, he suffers loss, for the Lord cannot reward any of us for disobedience to His Word.

In verse 17 we find an unconverted servant who, along with his work is destroyed. We see in all this how men are responsible for their work in the professing church of God. Thus we see that verses 16, 17 speak of the church in its responsibility.

1 Corinthians 6:19 speaks of each individual child of God as a temple of the Holy Ghost.

Question: Please explain what the last part of Romans 8:9 means? A. H.

Answer: The Epistle to the Romans is a treatise on the salvation God has provided. It does not speak of the failures of Christians in laying hold of this truth, but speaks of it as God has given it. What their behavior ought to be, follows from chapter 12:1.

The question of our sins is dealt with up to chapter 5:11. After that, from verse 12 of chapter 5, the race of Adam, to which we belong, and the root of sin in us, is dealt with. In chapter 7:13-24 is seen the experience of a quickened soul trying to overcome the evil he finds in himself, and there we discover that two natures are in him; the one is evil, and the other is good. He cannot change the bad, but he learns that God has condemned it in the death of Christ. This is seen in chapters 6:6, and 8:3; and in chapter 6:11 he is taught to reckon himself dead to sin, and alive to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the death of Christ, he sees his death with Christ, and learns to look at himself just as the Word speaks of him.

Chapter 8 begins with the believer’s standing in God’s sight. He is in Christ Jesus, there no condemnation can ever reach him (John 5:24; 1 Cor. 1:30; Heb. 10:14).

Verse 2 is the believer’s new state. He has a new life, and the Spirit of God dwelling in him, is the power of that new life, and that is called, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” so that he is not a slave to sin and death, he is free from that (Notice again, our failures are not seen in Romans). So that through the death of Christ, sin is condemned, and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That is the Christian’s walk normally. This new state is contrasted with the old state in verses 5 to 7, and verse 8 tells that he in the old state could not please God.

Verse 9. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” John 7:39; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 1:13, and many other passages tell us the Spirit of God dwells in the believer.

“Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” The true rendering we are told (see JND Trans.) is “he is not of Him.” The difference is not that he does not belong to Christ, every quickened soul belongs to Christ, but that the character of Christ’s life cannot be produced by him. This explains the change of expression from “Spirit of God” who dwells in us, to “Spirit of Christ” to be seen in our ways. It is the character of Christ seen in the Christian. When we see grace coming out in a child of God, we say, “That is the Spirit of Christ.”

Verse 10 adds, “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” There we see Christ is in the believer, so that he is not guided by what pleases the flesh, but by what pleases the Lord.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU

The New Year lies spread out before thee,

A page all unwritten and white,

And Father Time is seated before it

His pen in hand, ready to write.

Are you anxiously scanning his countenance

To see whether pleasure or pain,

Is filling his mind while preparing

His task to resume once again?

Do you think of the years that are finished,

All written with sorrow and blood,

All blotted with tears and heart anguish,

Which have deluged the earth like a flood?

O tremble not, dear, but remember,

There’s One above, guiding Time’s pen,

Who possesses Omnipotent wisdom,

Over-ruling the kingdoms of men.

But though He the firmament buildeth,

And worlds circle round at His will,

Not a sparrow can fall but He knoweth,

Art thou not much more valuable still?

For the hairs of thy head He hath numbered

He knoweth all things that you need,

He loved thee, and gave Himself for thee,

He shall withhold nothing indeed.

Underneath are His arms everlasting,

Upholding and working thy good,

While enthroned and the universe ruling,

Daily thinks of thy clothing and food.

On the hand that Time’s pen gently guideth,

The print of the nail thou canst see,

And thy name on the palm is engraven,

Can it write aught but blessing for thee?

Then tremble not, dear, for the morrow;

Let peace fill thy heart and not fear;

Rest assured that whate’er His love planneth

Shall for thee, be a Happy New Year!

The Waste-Paper Basket

When preaching at C., a message came to me from a young woman staying at L. that she would be glad to see me, So I walked across to that town. Calling at the house indicated, I was welcomed by the young woman, who asked me to come in.

I sat down, and at once she began to explain why she had sent for me, saying,

“You will not know me, but I have often heard of you through your sister, Mrs. P., with whom I was tablemaid for several years. Every now and then you sent gospel books through the post addressed to her and her husband, the doctor. These books are generally thrown into the wastepaper basket. Part of my duties each morning was to empty this basket of its contents, and those books which they cast away as worthless, I valued, kept, and read, and through God’s mercy, they were the means of my conversion. Hearing you were preaching so near, I sent for you, as I felt sure you would be pleased to hear of me. I am housekeeper to a doctor here, and cannot easily get out to attend any meetings, or you may be sure I would have come to hear you.”

Hearing this testimony of God’s grace from her lips caused my heart to rejoice, and you may be sure I thanked God, and took fresh courage to go on with that service, which undoubtedly had His approval, although my relatives failed to appreciate or profit by my efforts.

God says “My Word... shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa. 55:11).

How true it is that if some refuse God’s invitation, He will call others, so that His house may be filled (Luke 14:23).

Unsaved man, woman or child, the fact that God’s servants are still on the earth proclaiming the glad tidings, proves that there is still room for you. God offers you salvation now. Will you accept it freely, freely? Take His offer, take it now and be happy.

Another relative of mine, whom I called upon at his office, after some conversation, pointed to the wastepaper basket, saying,

“Look here, Bob, there is where, all your tracts go.”

A good depot, thought I, there to lie under the eye of God, to be used by Him to some office cleaner, or scavenger or rubbish searcher to their salvation through reading them, whilst the wealthy merchant who despises God’s Word, seeks in vain for happiness in the things of this perishing world.

Let us go on sowing the good seed with fresh courage. God must have His harvest.

“Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9.

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

So Great Salvation

My soul, what a precious salvation,

Thy Saviour has purchased for thee!

O yield Him thy heart’s adoration,

For none is so worthy as He.

He sought thee, when thou wast pursuing

The road that leads downward to hell;

Arrested thee, saved thee from ruin,

That thou in His glory might dwell.

O! tell through the breadth of creation,

That Jesus the Saviour has come,

To secure an eternal salvation,

A rest, and a heavenly home.

Tell him that is aged and wrinkled,

Whose locks have grown hoary in sin,

There’s enough in the blood that was sprinkled,

To make full atonement for him.

Tell him that’s grown hard in rebellion,

That Jesus entreats him to come;

Tell also the thoughtless and gay one,

Tell all, that for all there is room.

Yea, tell them, without an exception,

“Whoever believeth shall live,”

Though guilt may have stained every action,

“The blood of the Lamb” cries “forgive.”

It speaks to the conscience that’s troubled,

And tells of forgiveness of sin,

Yea, tells of a pardon that’s doubled,

Of cleansing without and within.

It tells (my soul, hear it with wonder)

That He who could punish for sin,

That He who could crush with His thunder,

Laid down His own life to redeem.

It tells that God’s wrath and just vengeance

(Man’s only desert) fell on Him,

It tells of the sinner made righteous,

That for him was the Just One made sin.

It speaks to the sinner forgiven,

And quells all his deadliest foes,

’Tis seen by his Father in heaven,

And mercy unceasingly flows.

Receive this free mercy, receive it,

No money, no price He demands;

The God of all grace loves to give it,

Accept then the gift at His hands;

And taste of that precious salvation

Which Jesus has bought with His blood,

Yield Him thy heart’s full adoration,

Who only is Saviour and God.

Scripture Study: Ephesians 1:1-11

In this epistle, God is declaring Himself, unfolding His counsels and purposes regarding His own Beloved Son, as Head over all things, and Head of His body the assembly; and in what He in sovereign grace chose to do for those who are called to be companions for His Son in making them like Him, in grace that wrought through Him for them, suiting them for His high glory. The glory of God’s grace, and the beauty of Christ displayed in them.

Verse 1. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” Called and sent by Christ in glory, he writes to all the saints – all who believe on the Lord in sincerity, spoken of here as “the faithful in Christ Jesus.”

Verse 2. “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the desire of the Lord for their happiness and peace, the portion for all the saints of this present day of grace.

Verse 3 begins with worship which expresses our relationships, and our blessings. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ is our God. What He is to Christ as a man, such also He is to believers, as men. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our Father (compare John 20:17). What the Son, His Beloved Son, is to the Father, such also are we, through grace. We are through redemption thus associated with Him. Wondrous grace! We are now blessed with all spiritual blessings (not one lacking), in heavenly places in Christ.

First, we are quickened in new creation life, and are thus suited with this new life, to God’s character and nature.

Second, we are led by the Spirit into the intimacy and love of the Father to His children, after the pattern of the Son, who ever dwelt in the bosom of the Father. It is the privilege of believers now to share all the blessedness that flows from these relationships, and also from the blessed truth, that we are members of the body of Christ our glorified Head.

“Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,” is the Christian’s land of promise, of which we have now a view and a foretaste of its heavenly fruit, though still on our journey. Like Eschol’s grapes and figs and pomegranates, brought to us by the Holy Spirit, making us long for the time when we shall be with Him. The Holy Spirit takes care to remind us of where our path leads, not into temporal or earthly mercies, but spiritual and heavenly blessings; and in the glorified Christ is where our blessings are found. The best blessings, in the best place, and in the best Person.

Verse 4. “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” The name of God is connected with this verse; He chose us as individuals, and fitted us according to His own nature and character to be before Him holy and blameless and in love. For this He must therefore impart to us the new life, and it was before the foundation of the world that He chose us. It is a life different from what is in the world, and will exist after the fashion of the world has passed away.

God has done this altogether apart from any circumstances of our own, and therefore perfectly suited us to Himself with a life that hates darkness and evil, and loves light and good. This is His sovereign love to us, which cannot be explained by anything in or about us. We bow and worship Him whose wisdom and ways exceed all human thought!

Verses 5, 6 speak of Him as Father. “Having predestinated (marked out beforehand) us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.” Here all the privileges of sons are ours, and it is “According to the good pleasure of His will.” Since we possess this new life in Christ, and the relationship and intimacy of dear children, sons with the Son, these united in us have fitted us to delight in God our Father, and to see also that He delights in us, thus brought near to Himself. These are our precious relationships, marvelous to us! but according to His eternal counsels and thoughts, told out to us, and “to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted (brought us into favor) in the Beloved.” All its fullness reveals itself in His ways toward us, the purposes of God which have no other source than His own heart, in and by which He reveals Himself and glorifies Himself by their accomplishment.

It is in “the Beloved” the object above all of His affections, that we are brought into favor, thus bringing Him in a special way before us in this grace bestowed upon us in Him, connecting our blessing with what is dearest to His own heart, for it was “according to the good pleasure of His will, and to the praise of the glory of His grace.” The Son who satisfies and delights the Father’s heart, is the One in whom we are accepted. He has unfolded this to us that we too might be filled with this fullness.

It was when there was no world, outside of all that regards ourselves, that He chose us in His Son according to the good pleasure of His will. There is no mention yet of the condition in which this grace found us. It is all the purposes of heavenly blessing, of a heavenly people, who are to the praise of the glory of His grace (our condition previously is found from next verse).

Verse 7 “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.” Here it comes before us that we were slaves of sin, alienated from God, sinners against Him, and now thoughts of Jesus, the Lamb of God, crowd into our minds. “He gave Himself for our sins.” “We are reconciled to God through the death of His Son,” “washed in His blood,” perfected forever by that one offering, and it is all according to the riches of His grace! God had to be glorified about the sin question before we could be fitted for His presence.

All this and much more is assumed here, and now we are “in Christ,” and in “the Beloved;” “the righteousness of God,” and “the love of the Father” is our blessed and eternal portion. We see the glory of His grace in the wonderful heights to which we are brought in heavenly places “in Christ.” And we see the “riches of His grace” that stooped so low to lift us up out of “the hole of the pit,” from whence we were digged.

The woman at the well in John 4, and the woman as the bride, in Genesis 24, are through grace the same. It is “the riches of His grace,” that met our low estate; it is “the glory of His grace” that puts us with Christ in glory. We think of our blessing here, not according to our need, but according to the riches of His grace.

Verses 8 to 11. In this same grace and intimacy, God reveals to us His thoughts respecting the glory of Christ Himself. We are made to know, in wisdom and intelligence, the settled purpose of His counsels with regard to His Son as Head over all things in heaven and on earth.

It has pleased Him to make known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. This is an immense favor granted us, as interested in the glory of Christ, in whatever way it comes, and here we are seen in the intimacy of friends to whom He can confide what His glory is to be, a glory in which we shall share, not only the love known in the Father’s House, but also the glory of the Kingdom in its widest range. Christ Himself its Head and Center, and in Him also we have obtained an inheritance. This begins in the reign of Christ, and when He reigns, we shall reign with Him.

It is the good pleasure of God to unite all heaven and earth in one, with Christ as center, as the administrator, and He shall reign till every enemy is put under His feet, and we are to be with Him in it. What can we do but praise Him for all this grace!

We are also marked out for this beforehand, so that it does not depend on our greatness or otherwise, but all shall be disposed according to the will of the Father and the Lord Jesus, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” We are “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” It is all “according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself.”

(To be continued)

Extracts From a Letter

I do not know how long the Lord will hold the door open for this little service for Him at the bookstore. It is nearly nine years ago that I entered it, and I have not had even a hint of displeasure at my speaking to souls and giving out tracts in the store. This cost me my former position in the book department of a large department store here. I could then have gone in with a wealthy book, stationery and printing concern, with better hours and better salary than here. But as this store has a much more cosmopolitan and less exclusive trade, I felt this was where the Lord would give me the service He had entrusted me with.

My one thought in the store is souls. My prayer each morning on awakening, and I always give my first thoughts to Him, is that He will give me some soul to minister to through the day, and to give me the needed message for each.

It is a feeble service and I seldom see results. No doubt many recipients of the tracts do not profit by them, at least, not at once, but I delight to think of the hidden souls to whom they may find their way with divine blessing.

Once in a while I find some one trying to satisfy the needs of a hungry soul with the husks of philosophy, and to such a one I may give the gospel. Once I witnessed the passage of a soul from death to life through my exposing a “New Thought” book she was intending to buy. But encouragements of that kind are rare. Once a young wife, a believer I feel sure, thanked me for exposing “Science and Health” which she was about to buy. It had been recommended to her husband and herself. It may seem bad salesmanship, but God’s claims come first. It is really in result the best and most enlightened salesmanship, to give a customer that which he needs, not necessarily that which he calls for.

As to Dr. S. I fear his interest in J. N. D. is chiefly intellectual and literary. I could write you a whole letter about this remarkable young man, and I will if I find evidence of a work of God in his soul. A brilliant intellect in a trained scientist is a great snare, though he defends the Scriptures against materialistic evolution and infidelity. His ambition is to bring the scientific world back to God, but the cross seems to have no part in his plans. I have small hopes of him.

My joy in ministering to souls in the store is not with bright minds, but with the common people and the poor. Occasionally a seemingly bright Christian, after a nice conversation at first, turns out to be a Russelite, Christadelphian, or other.

I have grateful remembrance of the blessing to my own soul in my youth of these tracts, and also I love to leave a trail for faith to follow on. If exercised, to know the will of God as to worship and service, instead of connecting them up with half-way stations, or with schism.

I delight to give out ministry that was blessed to my soul in my youth. Like David’s sling and five stones, I have proved them.

I find Mr. Darby’s tracts the most serviceable of all. “Christ for my sins and Christ for my cares,” “The Father and the Prodigal,” “Man’s heart and Christ’s heart,” “How to know the will of the Father,” “How to get peace,” “There is nothing like the cross,” are among my favorites. “The Testimony of God, etc.,” is exceedingly fine. Many that I have given of this pamphlet have gone to foreign lands and to Alaska.

“Introduction to the Bible” is to my mind the finest thing in the English language.

“Either in Adam or in Christ” is a briefer survey of Scripture than, “The Testimony of God, etc.,” but as Mr. H. once remarked to me, “Every word is packed.” And yet there is a simplicity and tranquility about it that is charming.

“How to know the will of the Father” is an acceptable tract for general distribution among Christians. “The Man of Sorrows” attracts and holds the mind and heart of even children with its beauty, its sweet rhythm and cadence carrying the soul from the lowly glory of the Babe and the Child, along the lonely pathway of holy love rising to the ineffable majesty of the cross.

“How to get peace,” was used of God, I was told by an old Scotch Evangelist, to evangelize England.

“There is nothing like the cross” met me as I was emerging from the 7th to the 8th of Romans, the most expressive tract I know of.

“The Sufferings of Christ” has been my refuge in sorrow for near forty years. I treasure every word of it. There is no consolation like the contemplation of His sorrows to hold the heart in times of crushing sorrow of its own. “Presence and operation of the Spirit of God in the Church” is of great value. “Separation from Evil, God’s principle of unity” is most timely now, irresistible in its pure reasoning and stately dignity. One tract that I have not seen for some time is “On Sealing with the Spirit.” One passage reads, if I remember rightly,

“All that is in the Father’s glory, what He is as displayed and surrounds Himself with, according to what He is, was engaged in the resurrection of Christ. Righteousness, holiness, majesty, love of the Son, recognition of what He had done, supremacy above all evil in light and love, and Christ as Man rises by and into it, and that as having perfectly glorified God, where all was exactly contrary to it.”

In this day of declension and indifference and sorrowful ruin, I love to contemplate that divine and sovereign work of God manifesting itself in 1827 in that humble and unnoticed way as Mr. Bellet’s letter shows, the Holy Spirit attracting the hearts to Christ, separating them from human systems, and binding them together in divine unity. And though the work counted for little or nothing in the eyes of men, God had prepared vessels for it which gave us ministry embracing the whole circle of divine revelation of the Scriptures. Ministry which never will nor can be duplicated, priceless above all except the Word it unfolds.

Mr. P. remarked to me once, speaking of the character of the gift or the ministry of these early brethren: “With Wigram, – it was Christ and the church; with Denny, – prophecy; with Bellet, – the Son of God; with Kelly, – knowledge; with J. N. D. – divine righteousness.”

As the years have gone by, the wonderful balance and reach of Mr. Darby’s ministry has been much impressed upon my mind and heart. Still we could not do without the other gifts either. Mr. H. told me once that J. N. D. had said to him there was no one he so loved to sit and listen to as Bellet. Wm. Kelly’s solid, comprehensive and accurate ministry carries our judgment and conviction.

J. N. D.’s wins the conscience and heart. He was a “soul-winner,” hence I find his little tracts so useful.

Fragment: One Life

We have but this one short life to serve Christ in the place of His rejection, and how great the loss if we live for ourselves instead of living for Christ. Therefore let us go on trusting in Him, letting everything go that would lead us away from Him, that we may please and serve Him.

Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 1

The Christian’s portion, as a Christian, is beyond the reach of death because it is in resurrection. “Hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” What is in resurrection is beyond the reach of death. The resurrection of Christ is a wondrous truth and it is viewed from different standpoints. First of all, perhaps, it is the evidence of God’s acceptance of His work of atonement (5th of Romans).

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God” (Vs. 18-21).

There is nothing sparse or meager about the truth of Christianity – the truth of the gospel.

The Lord says, at the end of the first of Revelation, “I am the living one and become dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of death and hades.” What is that? You can’t get beyond the reach of His power. Suppose you die and go into death. He has the keys. All that are in their graves, one of these days, shall hear His voice. “The keys of death and hades.” They crucified their own Messiah and their own hopes. All centered in Christ.

Now God comes in, raises Christ from the dead, and now there is a living hope – a Christ that will never die again. “I am alive forevermore,” and in that life the believer is associated with Christ. Nothing meager about that, is there? Associated with Christ in resurrection life. They lost it once when they crucified Christ.

“Begotten us again to a living hope.” We have that word “living” in the next chapter, 5th verse. “Living stone” is Christ – “living stones” His people. A living temple, formed of living stones, founded on the Living Stone.

Now, you see, one thing the church of God (when I say “church of God” I mean all true Christians) one thing they have to contend for is the truth that Christ rose from the dead – that He is a living man – the Man that was dead, and is alive for evermore. The resurrection of Christ is the great foundation of Christianity. “If Christ be not raised ye are yet in your sins.” That is a strong statement. What did the resurrection of Christ have to do with our sins? Nothing at all, but it shows God accepted what He did in death. Suppose He still lay in the grave. Is it a proof that God accepted His work? He has been taken out of it. That line of things is brought before us in “hath begotten us again unto a living hope” – a hope that death can’t touch.

That comes out very beautifully, in the 11th of Hebrews. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” “By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

There you get the Christian’s position. Justification by faith in the work of Christ acceptance of God – God’s testimony to it in accepting Christ – “God testifying of His gifts.” Enoch’s testimony was, not that he was righteous, but that he pleased God. That is another thing. He walked in this world, knowing that he might be taken to heaven any minute without dying. Enoch knew he had a life that death had no claim upon. “By faith Enoch was translated.”

Just so with the believer – the believer as a believer. The life he has as a Christian, is a life upon which death has no claim. It is in resurrection, and he may never die. If we do, death comes in by the way, and is not an abiding state. If we die, we shall be raised like the Lord, and because He was raised. That is the argument in one way in 2 Corinthians 4:14. If God raised Jesus, He will raise you too. That is, God wouldn’t take the Shepherd out of death, and leave the sheep. He raised the Shepherd, and will raise the sheep. Association with Christ in life is a wonderful truth. “Begotten us again.”

Then He gives us “An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.”

Where is all the glory of Solomon’s kingdom? It was the wonder of the world at that time.

His fame was spread abroad. The Queen of the South came all that way, it says, “from the ends of the earth” when she heard of his fame. She came to see if it were true. She didn’t believe it. Now, she says, “I do believe. I thought they made too much of it.” Where is it all gone? All faded away.

Of course it was a type of the true Solomon reigning by and by, when the earth will be filled with His glory, and His name shall be great to the ends of the earth and so on. But Solomon’s kingdom has passed away. And that kingdom to come will pass away too in time, not like Solomon’s exactly, but it will pass away.

That inheritance incorruptible (can’t be corrupted), and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, Where is it? (That is what it is.) Where is it? In heaven.

Here the Apostle says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again.” Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3. The Christian’s blessings are spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. As to his present circumstances, he is like other people. He has not entered into his inheritance yet. That is in heaven.

In the meantime – “kept by the power of God.” The inheritance, nothing can corrupt or defile it and so on. It is up there, and we are here. God is taking care of the inheritance, and taking care of us.

We find the same thing, practically, in the first part of the 5th chapter of 2 Corinthians: “Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God.”

What he was speaking of was resurrection glory the Christian is heir to. So here. God has begotten us to this inheritance. We are heirs to it, and while away from it, He preserves us by His power by using moral means. “Kept by the power of God through faith.” God brings faith into exercise.

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.” That is God’s way of keeping us. He does not let us go on our own way and take us up to heaven at last. He disciplines us. He does not like us to go on like unbroken colts.

“Kept by the power of God through faith,” and the children of God are the objects of God’s care in this way. And if “need be” – in heaviness. We have many trials, and God sees it needful to give us seasons of heaviness. He sees a “need be” for it. We sometimes wonder why it is, but there is a “need be” for it, and it is well for us to consider and know there is a “need be.” It is that which humbles us, and breaks the will.

“If need be.” What is God trying? “That the trial of your faith.” If faith didn’t get trials, it would not grow. It grows by trials. Sometimes, in speaking of the muscle in the arm, we say it is pretty flabby muscle, because we don’t exercise it. That is the way with faith.

We don’t like this development – this “kept by the power of God through faith.”

It is “unto salvation, ready to be revealed.” All is prepared. The kingdom is all there. All He has to do is reveal it, and it is ready to be revealed. We just need to finish that little training! Just so. That will all be over when we are taken away.

It does not matter how long we have been here, and will be here yet, we will always be in school.

It is the school of the Father’s discipline God’s discipline. We get restless under it sometimes. It is no use. I often think of Mr. Darby in this connection. He once said, “You had better give up, God won’t.”

(To be continued)

Correspondence: Short Hair; Rom. 6:14; Christ's Body and Bride; James 2:17, 20

Question: It was said to me that you do not disapprove of women having their hair cut short. We would like to know what you think about it?

Answer: There are many things in all our ways as Christians that are not spiritual, that are carnal (1 Cor. 3:1). If children of God do not seek to walk with God in daily dependence and prayer for guidance, they find excuses to do many unscriptural things. If they earnestly ask the Lord for guidance, He will not fail to give it to them out of his word (John 7:17).

The fashions of this world keep changing. The Christian must seek to conduct himself in a decent, sober manner. It does not commend Christianity to be extreme. Romans 12:1, 2 is good direction for us.

1 Corinthians 11:2-16, is instruction, and shows that men are to uncover their heads, and women are to cover theirs when approaching to God – the man being the type of Christ, the woman the type of the church. It is a shame for a man to have long hair, and it is a glory to the woman to have her hair long (verses 14, 15).

When women display themselves in unseemly attire, paint their faces, cut their hair short – in each and all of these it is a shame to them (Verse 6; also 1 Cor. 7:31; 1 Peter 3:1.7; 1 John 2:17). Let the young Christian women prayerfully read these verses and mark specially 1 Peter 3:1.7 for their deportment, and ask the Lord’s help to carry them out.

Young Christian men will do well to avoid such women as are mentioned above. They are not suitable companions for Christian men, and will hinder the spiritual progress of their husbands.

The same applies also to young men – note 1 Peter 3:7. Neglect prayer and the Word of God, and you will assuredly go astray.

Question: Could you tell us about Romans 6:1.4? H.

Answer: The first part of the Roman Epistle up to 5:11, is about our sins – how redemption has been accomplished, and we are justified by faith. The second part, from 5:12 gives our new headship, once in Adam, but now in Christ by His obedience made righteous.

But the flesh, the old nature being in me, I need to learn what God has done with it, that is: He has condemned, and executed it in the death of Jesus Christ, and we, knowing that, are to remember that we have died with Christ, and now we are to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Verses 1-4 is part of the reasoning to show that we should not continue in sin. It is said in 5:20, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The flesh might say, then we can go on sinning, but verse 2 answers, “God, forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” Our baptism unto Jesus Christ was unto His death; “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” We are not looked at here as risen with Christ, but we have this new life to walk in as men still on earth. Our faith sees us planted in the likeness of His death, so we shall be also of His resurrection. And we know now that our old man has been crucified with Him, that the body of sin might have no longer power over us, so that we do not allow its claims. We put ourselves on this new ground on which Christ is, and reckon ourselves “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Question: Please tell me where to find in the Word where it is explained that only believers who lived after the death of Christ, are members of His body, and part of His bride? Was the thief on the cross part of it? M. J. S.

Answer: The truth of the church of God, the body and bride of Christ, was committed to Paul the Apostle to declare. Acts 9:4 was the first time it was said that we with Christ are one. It is seen in Romans 12:4, 5. It tells us in Romans 16:25, 26, it was kept secret till now. 1 Corinthians 1:2 tells it is composed of saints or believers. 1 Corinthians 12:12 to 27 tells how it was formed at Pentecost, when all the believers were baptized into one body. Ephesians 1:22, 23, it is in the future glory. Chapter 4:4, it is here now. Chapter 5:22, 33, we see it as both body and bride. The love that gave Himself, and the union between the Head and the body, is expressed by the wife and husband – we love Him because He first loved us, – a love well proved in what it has done (verse 25), in what it is doing (Verse 26), and what we know it will yet perform (Verse 27).

1 Thessalonians 1:1, and 2 Thessalonians 1:1, call it the assembly which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, telling us that every member of the body is also a child of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord and Master. Blessed be His name!

We have no authority to say that the converted thief on the cross was in the church of God on earth, for that did not begin till Christ went on high, and sent the Holy Spirit down (Acts 2:33). We know that like all the Old Testament saints, he died in faith, and so is now absent from the body and present with the Lord (Heb. 11:13, 40).

Question: Please explain “Faith if it hath not works is dead being alone.” James 2:17, 20. M. J. S.

Answer: If faith is real, God can see the desire in the believer’s heart to do His will. This comes from the new life he has in Christ, and produces good works. Perhaps in some, God only could see their desire, like Lot in 2 Peter 2:8, 9. He is called “just Lot,” and a “righteous man,” yet in reading his story it seems very bad to us. In Acts 8:15, Simon the sorcerer himself believed when he saw the miracles and he was baptized, yet was only a dead professor. In Ephesians 2:8, 9, we see that the sinner who truly comes to the Lord to find a Saviour, gets the faith from God, and his works come from God also. Notice that Paul stops the sinner from working for his salvation (Rom. 4:5). James starts the believer to work, because he is saved. Both are right. Good works accompany salvation (Heb. 6:9, 10), – the fruit of it.

“Just as I Am”

Mary M – was a young woman of eighteen, the eldest daughter in a well-to-do family in the town. There was the widowed grandmother, a genuine Christian, on her way to heaven. Then there were the two daughters and a niece, all professors of religion; but none of them really believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The evening gospel meeting had just finished, and some anxious ones were being spoken to, when Miss M– came up to me, and said she wished very much I would call and see her the following day, as she wished to speak to me further about what she had heard that night.

The following afternoon I called and found her waiting for me. She immediately opened the subject by saying,

“I have been thinking a great deal on these things for some time. A friend of mine presented me with a book, in which the gospel is very simply and clearly put, and it opened my eyes to see things in a new light altogether. I used to think that if I said my prayers night and morning, and went to church on Sunday, it would be all right at last; but I see now that I am a lost and ruined sinner, guilty before God, and that I must be saved by the Lord Jesus. My difficulty is chiefly this, that I do not feel as anxious about my soul as I ought. I do not feel the burden of my sins as heavily as some have told me they did; but I earnestly hope that the Lord will make me more anxious soon, and save me.”

“I am glad to hear you say that you have been awakened, Miss M– , to see that your church-going and prayer-saying will never take you to heaven; for I have no doubt that many religious people sincerely believe that if they do these things, they will get to heaven, and they only awake out of their delusive sleep when it is too late. I am glad that you see that salvation is in Christ alone; but I do not think you are much better off than before, when you think you have to make yourself ready for the reception of salvation by efforts of your own. You are just as helpless as ever, for you can no more make yourself feel the burden of your sins than you can take them away. Salvation is entirely of the Lord.

“Let me illustrate it thus: Suppose a rich man should provide a free supper for all the ragged children of this town. Supper being on the table, the servants are sent out to bring the children in. Of course, they are all glad to hear about the free supper, and their teeth are set on edge to get to it; but they have an idea in their minds that every one who goes to the supper ought to be dressed in black, as the servants are. When they look at their muddy feet and tattered coats, they shake their heads and say to themselves, ‘We cannot go to supper like this – we must be dressed first;’ and that being out of their power, the thing is settled – there is no supper for them. Now, there can be no dispute about black clothes being a suitable outfit for supper, but he who provided the supper knew that in this case they were not able to buy them, and he therefore imposed no such condition. The invitation was to ragged children, and they were expected to come just as it found them.

“The supper was for ragged children.

“The gospel is for lost sinners.

“The beauty of the gospel of God’s grace is that it meets the sinner just as he is. ‘Christ died for the ungodly’ (Rom. 5:8); and ‘this Man receiveth sinners’ (Luke 15:2).

“You are lost, whether you know it or not; and the burden of sin is there, whether you feel it or not; and God asks no further preparation from you than this, that you own yourself a sinner, and claim Christ as your Saviour.”

“Well, that certainly puts it in a new light altogether. I see now that He is willing to save me just as I am.”

“Yes, that’s it. He says, ‘Whosoever believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins’ (Acts 10:41). You are one of the ‘whosoevers.’ Are you willing, then, to receive God’s salvation on His own terms? Will you accept it as a free gift, just as you are? You cannot make yourself more welcome to it than you already are; you cannot make God more willing to save you than He already is.”

“How beautifully simple! I wonder why I did not see it before. I am a lost sinner; God says it. Jesus died for sinners – therefore for me. I see it all. He will take me as I am.”

Dear reader, God loves you as you are; He has provided salvation for sinners – therefore for you; and He invites you, with all His heart, to accept it in the very condition you are at this moment.

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Timothy 1:15.

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

To Him That Worketh Not

“To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans 4:5.

Salvation is proclaimed!

Forgiveness full and free,

By Him who shed His precious blood

In love to you and me.

He gave Himself to God,

An offering without spot;

Now pardon, peace and life He gives

“To him that worketh not.”

What could I dare to bring

To clear my sinful soul?

His work alone can make me clean,

His word pronounce me whole.

My doings I renounce;

Can they erase one blot?

I take the grace He loves to give

“To him that worketh not.”

I look to Christ in faith,

And, ransomed by His blood,

Upward I gaze and see Him now

Upon the throne of God.

And I am justified

In Him no stain or spot,

“His faith He counts for righteousness,”

“To him that worketh not.”

And now He sees me clad

In this all-glorious dress;

I stand complete in Him who is

Himself my righteousness.

O! strive and toil no more

But choose this blessed lot!

Believe His love; accept His gift;

“To him that worketh not.”

The Successful Farmer

A well-known farmer, who had held the record as a raiser of prize flocks of lambs and sheep for half a century, was visited one day by a deputation of farmers to discover, if possible, the secret of his success in gaining so many honors and prizes at the local fairs, for his much-admired flocks and herds.

The farmer, who was naturally proud of his reputation, and the coveted honors awarded him for his fine flocks of sheep and lambs browsing on the fields by the riverside, took his visitors round to view them, one of the company remarking that he “surely ought to be a happy and a satisfied man, having met with such a measure of success as he had enjoyed for almost fifty years, as a farmer and a flock-raiser in that romantic place.”

To these remarks the farmer made the following answer, which greatly astonished his visitors, who had formed the opinion that wealth and popularity are the chief causes of giving happiness and satisfaction to those who obtain them,

“My friends,” said the farmer, as he looked on his fine flock, grazing by the river side, “you are mistaken, if you reckon that success as most people count it, brings true happiness and contentment with it. I can assure you that I have known neither the one nor the other throughout my long life as a successful farmer here. I have had more anxiety and care in my life, for the past thirty years of it, than I had when I was a poor man on a small farm, working hard and living frugally, with a wife and a large family to provide for and bring up, but with a soul at peace with God, and a life lived in the daily enjoyment of His ‘great salvation’ (Heb. 2:3), which, as a young man I came to know under the gospel preaching of an evangelist. I knew real happiness then, and amid my hardworking years, I had the conscious presence of God with me, and His service was my joy by day; and His perfect peace’ (Isa. 26:3) the solace and enjoyment of my nights throughout the twelve years in which I possessed them in my soul. But when ‘success’ flowed in upon me, and I became engrossed in the things of the world, I gradually forgot God, and my mind became occupied with the things of this present world. My life became absorbed in my flocks, and the reputation I was making for myself as a successful farmer, and, as my heart became more occupied with my farm, I became less careful to please God and to live as a Christian should. By and by I lost assurance of my personal salvation, and this was the greatest of all losses to me. I would give all I now possess, to have ‘the joy of God’s salvation’ (Psa. 51:12) restored to my soul, as I knew it when a young man. But I have allowed the world and its wealth and successes to come in and rob me of my best treasure which money cannot buy, and I know that I must leave all that I have lived for throughout my life, of what men of the world call my successful years, but which I have now come to reckon to have been my years of deepest loss, which have lost to me the peace of God in my soul, and the loss of the ‘sunshine of His face on my path.’”

The aged farmer heaved a deep sigh, as he ended his story, and wiping the tear from his cheek, said slowly and sadly,

“You younger men, who have your lives yet to live, take warning from me, and do not allow the love of this world to rob you of the peace of God in your lives, or the quest for this world’s wealth or its honors, to shut out God and eternity from your view, as I have done. I can never get back the years I spent away from God, and in the darkness of departure from Him and His Word. I am leaving all I have gained, to those who lured me on in the world’s way. I see too late my folly, but spend my last strength to warn others who may yet escape the path I long have chosen, which I now see to have been all wrong, alike for time and eternity.”

He died, leaving a large fortune, with the reputation of being a successful farmer, but passed into the world beyond, saying he had lost “the one thing worth living for – Christ, and the joy of God’s salvation in his soul.”

Let the reader beware lest the love of the world and its reputation, cheat him in the same way. There are numberless such cases, even among those who, at one time, bade fair to become followers of Christ, but were “overcome” by the love of this world and its successes, which lured them on by its smile, to their undoing and loss.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2:15, 16, 17.

“Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Philippians 3:8.

Scripture Study: Ephesians 1:12-19

Ephesians 1

Verses 12-14. “That we (the Jews) should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted (pre-trusted) in Christ.” These had been Jews, and now were in Christ, trusted in Him before the nation.

“In whom ye (the Gentiles) also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed (or having believed), ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.”

In our relationships, we shall be to the praise of the glory of His grace, but seen in connection with the inheritance, we are seen in display to the praise of His glory. This refers to the fullness of times when the Lord Jesus shall be manifested in His Kingly glory, reigning over all things in heaven and on earth. In the eternal state, righteousness dwells. In the reign of Christ, we reign with Him. Gentiles were not, according to the flesh, heirs of any promises, but in the present time, Jews and Gentiles alike brought to God through grace, are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of the inheritance. Those who heard His word, and believed the gospel of their salvation, are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, and will share in all this glory of and with Christ, even as now it belongs to them to be in the glory of His grace.

The price has been paid (John 1:29), but as yet the inheritance is not delivered, the time for it has not yet come, the redemption of the sons must come first (Rom. 8:23), when the power of Christ will deliver them (Rom. 8:19). The earnest of the inheritance we have, and the love of God He sheds abroad already in our hearts. The kingdom and its glories wait for the completion of His body and bride. He will receive His assembly home first, before taking the inheritance.

Verses 15-18. “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.” He prays that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding (or heart) being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

If we were reading our title to an earthly inheritance, how carefully we would consider every word, to catch the true and full meaning of it; so here, we might well pray with the Apostle that we might have heart to consider well what concerns us so much, and which He desires us to know.

The prayer in chapter 3 is to “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” that we might realize in communion our portion. Here it is to “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,” that is, He is the source and author of it. It all flows from what He Himself is in His nature and character. He desires that we may gain the full knowledge of Him, and have our hearts wide open to receive what He would communicate.

There are two things here spoken of; the first is, “The hope of His calling.” This refers to verses 3 to 5, that is, the saint’s portion. They are called of God, it is His love that has given us this place.

The second is, the glory of His inheritance in the saints. The second is seen in verse 11, in this it is glory – man shown as enjoying in His Person the fruits of the power and of the counsels of God. In the former, God calls us to be before Him, holy and unblamable in love, and at the same time we are His sons, in the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It is not “our” but “His” calling, though we are the called ones. He characterizes this calling by connecting it with Him who calls, so that we may understand its true character as of God Himself. All the blessing and excellence of it declares the fullness of His grace, worthy of Himself – this is the hope of His calling.

It is also said, “His” inheritance. Canaan was His land, as He said in the law, which nevertheless He inherited in Israel. Even so, the inheritance of the whole universe, when it shall be filled with His glory, belongs to Him, but He inherits it in the saints. He will fill all things with His glory, and it is in the saints that He will inherit them. These are the two parts of what were to be open to the eyes of the saints. By the calling of God, we are to enjoy the blessedness of His presence, near to Himself, to enjoy that which is above us. The inheritance of God applies to that which is below us, to created things, which are all made subject to Christ, with whom, and in whom, we enjoy the light of the presence of God. It was the Apostle’s desire that they should know and enjoy these two things.

Verse 19. The other thing the Apostle prays for is, “What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body, the fullness (or complement) of Him that filleth all in all.”

He desires that they may know the power already manifested, which had already wrought to give them part in this blessed and glorious position, for even as they were introduced by the sovereign grace of God by faith into the position of being associated with Christ in glory before God His Father, so also the work which has been wrought in Christ, and the display of the power of God, which took place in raising Him from the dead to the right hand in the heavenly places, far above every name that is named, are the expression and pattern of the action of the same power which works in us who believe. We are raised up from our death in sins, to have part in the glory of this same Christ. He received all this as man from His God who raised Him from the dead, and gave Him, as man, a place above all, of which He was personally worthy, and which He had won by glorifying God in His atoning work. God has therefore given the One who conquered every enemy, the highest place, and put Him over all things to the assembly which is His body, who are raised up from their death in sins by the same power of resurrection, quickening and seating them in the heavenly places in Christ, and this assembly is His body, – the body is the complement of the Head. He fills the universe with His glory, but He is not alone (John 12:24), He has His body, composed of all believers with Him. He is head over all things, He fills all things (Eph. 4:9, 10), and the assembly is His fullness (or complement). When He accomplished redemption, and was exalted to God’s right hand, He took the position in which He could be the Head of His body. To Him be all the praise!

It is to the Man in the glory of God to whom we are united, by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us now (1 Cor. 12:12, 13).

(Continued from page 13)

The Sparrows and the Farthings

How often have our Lord’s words about the sparrows comforted the hearts of His people!

Yes, dear Christian, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6, 7.

There are certain things in God’s Word which scientific persons declare cannot be true, because they cannot understand them. Here are two difficulties – not one sparrow is forgotten before God; all the hairs of the heads of God’s children are numbered! Very charming “difficulties” are these.

Our Heavenly Father loves us perfectly, and according to the infinitude of His own Being. How can little creatures like men understand God? If we could understand Him with our natural powers, we should be as great as He! Our Heavenly Father is infinite in love and power, and most delightful it is to know from the lips of His blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, what His love is.

The little birds of Palestine are called sparrows in our English Bibles, and as sparrows are our most common bird, and the least thought of and valued in our land – it is a very happy translation. We need to feel that the insignificant and the common things, as men speak, are those as to which the care of our Heavenly Father is exercised.

Many of us are insignificant and commonplace! We should not be missed if we died; perhaps hardly more than a pebble we cast from the beach into the sea is missed from among the multitudes that form that shore. But the humblest and the poorest is the special object of our Heavenly Father’s care.

Our Lord bids us “Fear not” in the light of the gracious wisdom and care of our God. Perhaps, when all goes well, we do not sufficiently value His “Fear not,” but when trials arise, when illness is upon us, when, it may be, we lie powerless, then how comforting are His words! And how tenderly He assures our hearts! We are of value in our Heavenly Father’s eyes.

There is nothing in the world so precious to God as His people. From the earliest days His people have been the object of God’s care, and at times He has overturned kingdoms to accomplish His gracious ends for them. He who does the great things, does also the little. There is not a trial or a pain from which the least among His children suffer, that is unknown or unregarded by our Father in heaven.

It is a very great relief to the child of God to rest in the sense of his Heavenly Father’s care.

“Not one of them [the sparrows] is forgotten before God” – surely not one of God’s children is ever forgotten before Him! O! no, each one is personally and peculiarly the object of his Heavenly Father’s tender care and love. We each need the sense of being loved and eared for individually.

Let us then take up a fresh confidence as we watch the sparrows gathering their morsels. It is often a busy day with a little bird to obtain its food and to find enough for its brood, but the little bird is cared for by its Creator, and are not ye of more value than many sparrows in the eyes of your Father in heaven? Whether it be concerning the bread that perishes, or that which endures unto everlasting life, you are the object of your Heavenly Father’s care.

Thou Living One

“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1:8.

Lord Jesus Christ, to Thee we raise

With willing lips our heartfelt praise,

We’d sing Thy worth in heavenly lays,

Our Saviour, Lord.

Sent forth from God, Thou living One,

In life, in death, God’s will hast done;

And now on high God’s glorious Son

Art worthy owned.

O! Lord of life (in death alone),

Around Thee now Thou hast Thine own;

To whom Thou dost Thy love make known

As known above.

And soon will dawn that glorious day,

When all Thine own will wing their way

From this sad earth to be for aye

With Him they love.

With Him, like Him, we all shall see

Our Lord, long loved; and then shall we

With deepest joy, eternally

His name adore.

Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 2

“To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit.” This is one of the most remarkable verses in Scripture. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” What a contrast, the ‘high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, dwelling with that broken-willed saint. You know you are the clay in the potter’s hand, and the thing is to be pliable enough. “Thou art the potter, we the clay.” We are in the hands of a mighty Potter, but One who loves us, and is keeping us in this way for what we are heirs to. It is ready for us – “ready to be revealed.”

In the 5th verse of the 4th chapter, there is a “ready” there too. “Who is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” Not only the inheritance ready for the Christian, but there is that Judge ready for the world. “Ready to judge the living and dead.” That means everybody, but not at the same time.

What is “the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ?” (ver. 13). Here we are as much the children of God, sons of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, as we shall ever be. What is that grace that is to be brought at the coming of the Lord? (it is the same word as appearing). The grace is receiving us into all that we are heirs to. You see that old saint walking with God fifty or sixty years, is at school, and he knows it – knows his need of it too, and he thanks God for it. These moral means are important, bringing us into communion – make us have to say to God as to the state of our souls.

That passage is quoted sometimes in an absolute way (and I don’t like to hear it) – “kept by the power of God.” It is “Kept by the power of God through faith.”

There is another thing – “unto salvation.” Aren’t we saved? Yes, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling.” 2 Timothy 1:9. “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8. “To them that are saved.” That is a present thing.

Well, the salvation that is ready to be revealed, is a salvation which will take us up, and set us in our inheritance – redeem the body – salvation by power – not by cost. The cost is paid. So that is why it says salvation is a future thing in the epistles. “Saved” not “by” but “in” hope, but hope that is seen is not “hope,” (Rom. 8:24-25).

Then further on in the epistle, “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” 13-11. That is, every day brings us nearer, and so constantly the salvation of God applies to and takes in the whole person – body, soul, and spirit. The Christian never has salvation, as God has purposed for him, until his body is redeemed, and that is the salvation we are speaking of.

The Lord has a work to do for us in His character as Saviour. “Our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour” (in that character), “who shall change our bodies of humiliation” (Phil. 3:20-21 JND). In that way, you see, the Saviour has something to do for us yet. That is salvation by power – not by purchase. That is just a putting forth of power. That will all be accomplished when the time comes for it. As another Scripture tells us, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. . .”

In this salvation we “greatly rejoice.” “Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:2. “Though now for a season.” A season seems pretty long sometimes. You recognize God in these circumstances, and He is working in you both the willing and the doing of His good pleasure.

There is one great difference between the sons, and the Son. When I say the Son, I mean Christ. He was never under discipline. He never had a will to break. The object of God’s discipline is the breaking of our wills. The Lord never had any to break. So, in the 12th of Hebrews where you get the question of discipline, the Lord is left out. He was never under God’s chastening, disciplining, restraining hand. “Lo, I come to do Thy will.” “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” All can be summed up in that way. The object is the subduing of our wills.

It is being under the yoke that works submission. We are all there.

“The Captain of our salvation perfect through suffering.” He can sympathize with us in our suffering!

We never get any sympathy in an unbroken will. That is where advocacy come in.

Do we have sufferings that are not for the purpose of breaking the will?

There you get a “wheel within a wheel.” For instance; Here is a poor saint whose heart is wrung to the innermost through the loss of a loved object. Well, there are two things; He says, “I have known what it is; I have known and felt the sorrow of having a loved friend under the power of death.” On the other hand, God uses that also to mold the will. Sympathy comes in in that way.

Or, in another way: “If ye are reproached for Christ’s sake.” “O, yes,” the Lord says, “I have known something of that.” “The reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon Me.” “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up.” Suffering for righteousness’ sake. “O, yes, I know what that is.” That is the “wheel within a wheel.” God uses those very things to subdue us.

“Praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (Ver. 7). God has the end in view. It is just like a teacher with a pupil. “I know that problem is a hard one, but it will be better for you in the end. My credit is at stake too.” So, the teacher labors with the pupil, and the pupil comes out brightly at graduation, and that pupil is a credit, and the teacher is a credit. “At the appearing” – the end. Then will be seen all the results of God’s dealings. The faithfulness and wisdom of the love of God will be seen. Why He sent this – why that was needed. We shall see then.

(Continued from page 25)

(To be continued)

Yet a Little While: Hebrews 10:37

Only “a little while,”

A moment it may be,

Ere I shall see Him face to face,

Who died, who lives for me.

Only “a little while,”

The wilderness to roam,

And then the Father’s house above,

My dwelling-place, my home.

Only “a little while,”

To walk by faith alone,

And then without a veil to see,

And know as I am known.

Only “a little while,”

To tread the path He trod,

And then the home of rest and joy,

The dwelling-place of God.

Only “a little while,”

Then watching will be o’er,

And we shall see Him face to face,

And worship evermore.

Only “a little while,”

O, precious, cheering word!

It may be ere this day shall close

I shall behold my Lord.

Then not “a little while,”

But through eternal days,

To sing the never-ending song

Of tribute to His praise!

Correspondence: 2 Peter 3:13; Man in Heaven; Children Lost; Days; 2 Cor. 4:4,6: Rom. 9:6

Question: What saints will people the “new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”? (2 Peter 3:13).

Answer: All the saints who live upon the earth during the thousand years of Christ’s reign are earthly people, and are therefore those who are characteristically suited for the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Note also, that all the saints who have died from Adam to the end of the earth’s history, live and reign with Christ (1 Cor. 15:23; Rev. 20:4), as well as all who are saved during the church period, – that is, from Pentecost to, the coming of the Lord. All these are heavenly, and therefore will inhabit the new heavens where righteousness dwells.

Christ and the church will be the center of it all (Eph. 3:21; Rev. 21:2-4).

Question: Was Christ Jesus the first man that entered heaven? Did not Enoch and Elijah go there? Y. B.

Answer: God, in His grace, did take Enoch and Elijah to heaven – trophies of what He could do with sinful mortal men, but it was on account of what God was going to do in the work of atonement (Rom. 3:25), that they, or any of us, could be there. Jesus could speak of His being there as the rejected Son of Man (Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 22:68; John 1:51); and referring to the mystery of His person, said (John 3:13), “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.”

“When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high” Hebrews 1:3. He passed through all the heavens (Heb. 4:14) (N. T.); He sat down (having finished the work) on the right hand of God (Heb. 10:12, Psa. 68:18; Heb. 9:12). He has entered in as our forerunner (Heb. 6:20).

“In all things He must have the pre-eminence.” Colossians 1:15, 18.

Question: Are children of the heathen who die in infancy, lost? R.

Answer: Matthew 18:11 speaking of children who have not come to years of responsibility, says, “The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.” In that verse we see that, though lost as born of sinful parents, the death of Christ who died for all has purchased salvation for them, and for all irresponsible children of men. Luke 19:10 speaking of sinners who have sinned, says, “The Son of Man is come to seek, and to save that which was lost.” These had gone astray in sin.

Question: Why do we call Sunday, Lord’s Day? Does not Scripture tell us not to esteem one day above another? (Gal. 4:10; Col. 2:16). N. Y.

Answer: In Christianity we have no days to keep as they did under the law, is the answer to these scriptures.

In the Word of God the days have no names, – as Sunday, Monday, and so on. We have numbers instead. The seventh day was given to Israel as the Sabbath, the sign or seal of the covenant (Ex. 31:13-17).

It was never given to Gentiles to observe, except those who settled among the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

When Christianity began, it gave us the first day of the week, because the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on that day; the Holy Spirit came to dwell on that day; the first gospel sermon was preached that day, and as time went on, the Christians came together to break bread on that day (Acts 20:7), and the Apostle John, while alone in the Isle of Patmos, gave to it, by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, its name when he wrote, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.”

We have no rules or commandments from the Lord how to observe it. That is left to those who truly love Him, to give Him the first place. The statutes of the country in which we live have made it a holiday, and What better could Christians do than to use it for the One who has loved them and given Himself for them?

Romans14:1-8 leaves every one free to please the Lord as he knows best, and does not put us under law to observe days. It is a great thing for us to please the Lord, and devote our hearts and time to how best to glorify Him.

Question: What is the significance of 2 Corinthians 4:4, 6 which speaks in verse 4 of “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God;” and in verse 6 of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?” Are these different? What is the difference? J. G.

Answer: The ministry spoken of from third to sixth chapter is the ministry of the gospel of the glory of Christ. It is the ministry of God’s righteousness (chap. 3:9), in contrast with law, and excels in glory; but to the unbelieving Jews, this glory was hid, or veiled, the god of this world had blinded their eyes to the beauty of the glad tidings. Its radiance was lost on them. He was the image of God. God was seen in Him, but its light did not enter their hearts, it did not shine forth for them – that is what we see in verse 4.

But in verse 6, God hath shined in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of God seen in Christ is to shine forth in us. It is the same glory of God seen in Christ, not received by the unbelieving in verse 4; received into believing hearts, that it may shine forth again in verse 6.

Question: Are only the believing Jews looked at by God as Israel in this present time? (Rom. 9:6).

Answer: Yes. As a nation, now, God has written upon them, “not My people.” Those who own Jesus Christ as Lord, are called, “The Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). “An holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), the people of God who have obtained mercy (verse 10). They are the remnant that have first, or pre-trusted in Christ in the present time (Eph. 1:12). In the future all Israel, that is, Israel as a whole, will be saved (not every individual) (Rom. 11:26).

I Am Satisfied Too

Annie B. was the only child of her mother, a widow. She was a bright, intelligent girl, and one who was the subject of many prayers.

For several years I had known her mother and aunt, who were both decided Christians. Annie had been, through them, in contact with the truth of God from her very infancy, but it appeared to have made no real impression upon her.

She was a thoughtless girl, who when spoken to about her soul, was always ready with a light and careless answer,

“Time enough to grow good,” or some such expression.

She was not by any means constitutionally strong, and having taken a severe cold, she found it difficult to throw it off. Her mother, anxious about her, took her to one of the leading physicians, who prescribed, and said she would be better in a little while.

However, she did not improve, and after a considerable time was taken to another doctor, who declared her to be hopelessly ill, both lungs engaged.

About this time, I met her aunt, who told me with tears of the sorrow which had come upon them. I asked if I might go and see her. She thanked me, and said they would be glad.

I called on several occasions, but failed to gain admission to the poor girl, who I heard was rapidly sinking. She did not like to be spoken to, and consequently did not wish to see me, so I could only lift my heart to the Lord, and join with others in prayer for her.

One day a marked change for the worse came, and she feared she was dying, and without Christ. O, who can tell the awful solemnity of such a position, the very light and truth she had been so long in contact with, only enhancing her condemnation!

To pass into eternity from the midst of the gospel light which shines in this day, in which the truth as to salvation is so widely preached, without having accepted the message which it brings, is indeed awful to contemplate, and thoughts such as these arose within her. She was now most anxious to see me, and begged her uncle to send for me. Hearing of the change, and of her desire to see me, I arranged to call that afternoon at an hour which would be convenient to her.

On entering her room I found her propped up in a large chair, her mother seeking to place her in a position in which the poor weary body might find some ease. I sat down beside her, and after a few inquiries as to her state of health, I put the direct question,

“And now what about your soul?”

Her poor anxious face is now before me as she shook her head and said,

“I am not prepared to die.”

“Is that not a solemn condition to be in?” I said, “A solemn thing to have to do with a holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and who is now looking into the very secret chambers of your heart. He not only knows all that you have done, but He knows what your thoughts have been, and what He says of your heart is this,

“‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, Who can know it? I the Lord search the heart.’ Jeremiah 17:9. What a solemn thing that even now He is searching your heart!”

I could see by the play of her features that the Word of God was having its effect upon her, and felt sure that she was having to do with the One who was telling her all that ever she did (John 4:29). I then solemnly asked her, “Now, in the presence of God, who is here, and in the light of what He has said about your heart, What have you to say for yourself?”

She lifted herself in the chair, and with an energy that surprised me, said,

“I deserve to go to hell, sir,”

“Thank God,” I said, “that you have reached this point, and now I want to tell you of another thing. I want to tell you of what God’s heart is, and what His thoughts about you have been.”

I then pointed to the love of God who gave His Son to die, and quoted John 3:16,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” with several other passages. I then told her of the perfection of the work which the Son had accomplished, and which had so perfectly satisfied God’s holy and righteous claims about sin, that He can now be just, and the Justifier of the ungodly – of the one who believes in Jesus, and upon the ground of that work, He is sending out a message of peace to every poor sinner who will receive it, a message which comes to us where we are, finding us what we are, and tells us that “through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-39); also,

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15.

“Now,” I said “are you not a sinner, and does not that word ‘sinner’ describe you far better than if it were Annie B., for I know another with your name, and it might mean her, but that word ‘sinner’ takes you in? Now, if God is perfectly satisfied with what Christ has done, I ask you, What have you to say?”

All this time she was listening as one for whom life and death were hanging on what she heard. I repeated my question,

“God is perfectly satisfied with what Christ has done, and I now ask, What have you to say?” Again she lifted herself in the chair, and with clasped hands said,

“I am satisfied too.” Then falling back in the chair, she burst into a flood of tears. The joy which filled her heart could find no richer way of expressing itself, and the calm, restful expression on her face spoke volumes which words could not convey. Her mother, aunt, and myself could not refrain from tears of joy; we were a feeble expression of the “friends and neighbors,” who were called to rejoice with Him who found His sheep; or of those who were called to have part in the “music and dancing,” which told out the Father’s joy in having His lost one found, this precious one who was dead, alive again.

When visited by a friend, who was surprised to find her rejoicing, asked when it was that she had found peace, she replied,

“On Saturday evening.”

“And what gave you peace?” Her answer was,

“It was when I came to know that God was satisfied with what Christ had done.”

In speaking to another she said, “I always knew I was a sinner, but until that evening I never felt that God was looking into my heart.”

And now, dear reader, one word to you; As God is looking into your heart, and sees all that is there, and tells you what He thinks of it – What have you to say? Is it, “I deserve to go to hell”? And if so, as you hear the blessed tidings that God is perfectly satisfied with what Christ has done, is your answer,

“I am satisfied too”?

If not, you are yet in your sins, the judgment of God is impending over you, and the wrath of God may at any moment overtake you.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Hebrews 2:3.

Seven Grand Facts About the Blood

1. It makes atonement for the soul.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11.

Let us specially note that God, blessed be His holy name, has graciously given us the blood of His own beloved Son to make an atonement for our guilty souls, so that, instead of our sins being before Him, He has that precious blood which has put them all away forever. “Hallelujah!”

2. It forms the basis of the proclamation of the righteousness of God to the world, and of its application to the believer.

“Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. To declare at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26.

How precious is this for the poor guilty sin-burdened soul! God can righteously forgive us all our sins, and count us perfectly righteous, if we simply believe in Jesus. Such is the efficacy of the blood of Christ! Such the virtue of His peerless name! May we not again exclaim, “Hallelujah!”

3. It is the meritorious ground of our justification.

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Romans 5:8, 9.

4. Through it we have redemption.

“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:5-7; Colossians 1:14.

5. By it we have a perfectly purged conscience.

“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” Hebrews 9:13,14.

What a priceless treasure is here! The guilty, agonized conscience perfectly purged, divinely tranquillized!

6. By it we have access into the holiest of all.

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Hebrews 10:19.

We come into the presence of God in all the efficacy and value of the blood of His own Son; and He welcomes us as He welcomes the One in whose name we come.

7. By it we are cleansed to walk in the light as God is in the light.

“If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.

The light of the divine presence makes manifest that there is not a speck or a stain of sin upon the person of the believer. The blood of Jesus makes us as clean as the throne of God can demand.

Reader, what say you to these seven grand facts about the blood? Do you know them for the peace and blessing, rest and comfort, of your own soul? We are not going to preach you a long sermon; we have merely quoted for you the veritable words of the Holy Ghost; and we leave you with this solemn question – Are these things mixed with faith in your precious soul?

God Himself provides the Victim;

Jesus is the Lamb of God;

When on earth man did afflict Him,

And He bore the sinner’s load;

Tis His blood, His blood alone,

Can for human guilt atone.

Trust in the Lord: Psalms 9:10

How sweet the peace of a perfect trust

In God’s sure love to me!

I cannot harbor any doubt

Since Jesus died for me!

The love that “spared not His Son!”

Will with Him freely give

All that is needful for me here;

And bids me ask and have.

God must be true to His own Word,

Though I may failing be;

And so I know whate’er betide,

“He chooseth best for me.”

‘Tis by His grace I have believed,

On His Beloved Son!

The One who suffered on the tree,

Now seated on the throne!

My trust is in the living God,

His written Word is mine:

Begone! ungrateful doubts and fears,

My heart will here recline.

“All things are yours,” for “ye are Christ’s,”

What joy these words afford!

Not what I am, but, what He is,

Makes faith and hope so bold.

While faith obeys the gracious word,

“Cast all your care on Me.”

Hope brightens with expectancy,

Because “He cares for thee.”

Then will I trust and never fear,

Since love so great and free

Is unto me most surely given:

“He chooseth best for me.”

Scripture Study: Ephesians 2

In the prayer of Chapter 1 we had the distinct parts:

1st “That we may know what is the hope of His calling” (verses 3-5).

2nd “What is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (verse 11).

3rd “What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe” as seen in Christ’s resurrection and ascension. This last is more developed in Chapter 2.

In this epistle, the moral corruption in which man is living, is not described as in Romans. Here man is seen as dead to God in trespasses and sins. It was needful in Romans to bring in death on the sinner. It is needful in Ephesians to give the dead sinner life in new creation.

Verses 1, 2 address the Gentile, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” They were under Satan’s power.

Verse 3. We have the Jew, “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” They were no better than the Gentiles.

Both Jew and Gentile were therefore dead to God. God must work in resurrection power to give them life: such was our terrible condition!

Verses 4-7. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace are ye saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” It is not here the sinner coming to Christ. It is God working in mighty power and sovereign grace to bring the sinner in.

“God, who is rich in mercy” (if otherwise we could not have been saved), “for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins,” this passes all our understanding, how He could love us, yet He did, and saved us by His grace, and quickened us together with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ, that in the ages to come (that is forever) He might display the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. He found us dead in sins, and brought us out of death with Christ, as in His resurrection by the power of life, to set us in light, and in the favor of God as a new creation in Christ Jesus. Jew and Gentile are alike in this new position in Christ; distinctions are gone; all are one in Christ.

Verses 8-10. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” The precious faith and all, is of God (2 Peter 1:1). “Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

The fruit is of the same kind as the life. It is not works of the flesh, but what is produced by His Spirit in our new resurrection life, that is, life in the Risen Christ. All is the fruit of God’s grace in the new position and character of the life received. We are to walk worthy of Him as the Head of a new creation who has prepared us for this very thing, and given us His Spirit as our power to keep Christ as our pattern before us.

Verse 11. The Gentiles were to remember how deeply they had sunken. The Apostle does not recognize good in circumcision of the flesh in the Jew here, but it serves to intensify the place of distance the Gentiles were in. They “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” What a change to the present position that grace has given them!

Verse 13. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

“So nigh, so very nigh to God,

We cannot nearer be;

For in the person of His Son,

We are as near as He.”

Verses 14, 15. “For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of (enclosure) partition, having abolished (or annulled) the enmity, the law of commandments in ordinances; for to make in Himself of the twain, one new man, so making peace.” All that kept the two separate is gone, for the man in the flesh is gone, and both are in Christ risen from the dead, law or ordinances are done with in this new position.

Verses 16-18. “And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.” They are both one now, one body, members one of another, and both have privileges exceeding even the priests of Israel. “For through Him, we both have access by One Spirit unto the Father.” What blessedness is ours now to enjoy! What holy intimacy! We might well ponder this verse. There is no veil for us now. Through Christ Jesus we enter, the blessed Holy Spirit leading us into the presence of our God and Father, there to delight in all that He delights in.

Verse 19. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” We are of the household of God, the family. Heaven is our home, there is our citizenship, we are fellow citizens now, but we have become strangers on earth, and have lost our citizenship here. Our home is where He is, to whom we belong.

Verse 20. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.” These are the New Testament apostles and prophets. The Old Testament prophets did not know anything of the blessings of this present period of grace – the mystery that was hid from before the foundation of the world.

Verse 21. “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” This is progressive; it is going on, but is not complete yet. It answers in figure to Solomon’s Temple. All the stones cut out and prepared according to the Great Architect’s plan, all fitting their own peculiar place in that glorious scene, only to be seen in all its grandeur when it is completed in glory, when it will be to His glory “by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:21).

Verse 22. Here we have another aspect of the house: this is always complete for our use all the way home, like the Tabernacle on the journey, God dwelling in His house here on earth. We have the blessing of this blessed fact now.

In 1 Corinthians 3 we have it under man’s responsible hand in building, and so wood, hay and stubble, have come into it, but however great the ruin of it outwardly, to faith we can recognize God dwelling with us as it is spoken of here, “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Here it is looked at as a fact in the blessing of it without reference to human responsibility in building.

No one can be a true member of Christ, without being really united to Christ the Head; neither a true stone in the house of God; but the house can be the dwelling place of God, although that which is not a true stone may enter into its construction.

How wonderful are God’s ways in all these unfoldings. May we have the eyes of our hearts opened intelligently to them more and more!

Trophimus

2 Timothy 4:20

“Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.” What a very suggestive clause. The great Apostle of the Gentiles, endowed with the gift of healing, and who had healed so many, leaves his friend behind him sick. When in the Island of Melita he healed the father-in-law of Publius, the chief man of the island; but here we find he has to leave Trophimus at Miletum sick. There was a needs be for this. God in His governmental dealings sometimes lays His children by. The Father finds it needful, at times, to put forth His hand in wholesome discipline. It is often very good, very salutary, very necessary, to be left in the condition of Trophimus at Miletum. Nature does not like it; but we may be assured it is healthful. Trophimus had a lesson to learn on a sick bed at Miletum which he could not learn anywhere else, not even as Paul’s companion in travel. The solitude, the prostration, the helplessness of a sick bed are often most profitable to the soul. The Spirit of God makes use of such things to teach us some of our most sanctifying lessons. Very often it happens that a time of bodily illness is made the season of much solemn review and self-judgment in the presence of God. How needful are these things; but yet how much neglected amid the bustle of constant travel and intercourse with others!

It is instructive to contrast the position of Trophimus, in Acts 21:29, with his position in 2 Timothy 4:20. In the former we see him in the streets of Jerusalem in company with Paul; in the latter we see him in the retirement of a sickroom at Miletum. Now it was his presence with Paul that roused all the bitter prejudices of the Jews who imagined that Paul had brought him into the temple. A Jew and Ephesian in company was quite in harmony with Paul’s gospel, but not at all so with Jewish prejudice. At Ephesus, Paul and Trophimus might have walked in company without exciting any suspicion; not so in Jerusalem. For a Jew and a Gentile to be seen together in Jerusalem was regarded as an open insult to Jewish dignity; it was a throwing down of the middle wall of partition, and boldly walking across the ruins. For this the Jews were not prepared. They gazed upon the two companions with an eye of dark suspicion, and the strange companionship fanned the flame which so speedily burst forth with terrible vehemence around the beloved Apostle of the Gentiles. Alas! One is disposed to say that the two friends should not be found in the streets of Jerusalem. Those streets were evidently not Paul’s appointed sphere of labor. “Far hence unto the Gentiles” was the Master’s word. But Paul would go to Jerusalem, and when there he could never refuse to walk in company with an Ephesian. He was too honest for that. He could not, like poor Peter, stand aloof from his Gentile brother for fear of the Jews. But then, the ceremonies of the temple, and the company of Trophimus could never be harmonized. Here was the difficulty. If the institutions of the temple were to be honored and maintained, then why this companionship with an uncircumcised stranger? If Paul and Trophimus were both enrolled as fellow-citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, then why acknowledge, in any way, the old system of things?

These reflections throw a peculiar interest around the name of Trophimus. It is deeply interesting and instructive just to look at the three passages in which this name occurs.

First, we find Trophimus as one of a band of companions who accompanied Paul into Asia (Acts 20:4).

Then we find him in company with the Apostle in the city of Jerusalem (Acts 21:29).

And, lastly, we find him laid on a sick bed in Miletum. Here the curtain drops upon him. Here he might calmly review the past. Here, too, he might confidently look forward into the future. He could no longer travel through Asia, not tread the streets of Jerusalem in company with the most devoted and honored of men.

He was an invalid at Miletum, and Paul was a prisoner at Rome; but both could, with undimmed eye, look upward to that bright and blessed world above, to which they were both hastening onward, and where they are now safely housed, to go no more out forever.

Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 3

We speak sometimes of three kinds of discipline. Here is one, and he says, “O, what have I done that all this should come upon me?” “Perhaps you have not done anything, but it is to keep you from it.” That is another thing. More than half the discipline of God’s people is preventative – not corrective. Paul had a thorn in the flesh lest he should be – not because he was.

Corrective discipline: “For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. For when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord.”

Then there is a productive discipline, “Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

It is helpful to see the different kinds. Sometimes our circumstances are like poor Job, one thing on top of another, and we say, Why is it – what have I done? Perhaps it is just to keep you from doing something. Perhaps you will see later why, though you may not at the time.

All this is the faithfulness of the love and wisdom of God as Father. “As a father chasteneth His son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee” (Deut. 8:5).

We have had some say, “I have searched myself, and sought to be before God about it.” There should be the exercise. The blessing is to those “who are exercised thereby.”

Look at Lamentations, 3:22-26. Jeremiah was a good deal like Job. Here he gets back to confidence. He was under a cloud before. “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” This is deliverance from difficulties – salvation as to circumstances (Read verses 27 to 32). Notice in those last few words the spirit of submission. “He putteth his mouth in the dust.” Quiet – he takes his place in humiliation. “He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him” – submission. “But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.” How beautiful to see the reasoning of this subdued soul here (This is in connection with our manifold temptations). In verses 33-36, I think it is very beautiful to see the spiritual reasoning of that afflicted man. He complains a good deal in the book of Jeremiah (See the 12th chapter). Why is so and so? See his reasoning! (verse 1). That is getting it experimentally.

Yes; “I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.” Lamentations 3:1.

When he gets to the end, he recoils. He says, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.”

It is a happy thing when we have gone through it though. We may not be so happy in going through it.

I remember hearing M– remark, “It says, ‘We glory in tribulation.’ It does not say ‘we glory in them when they are past.’” “Glory in tribulation.” Of course that is the normal condition of the Christian. That is why we have it in the 5th of Romans.

Look at James, 1st chapter, 2nd verse, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;” also 3rd and 4th verses, I suppose we shall see by and by, our trials and temptations have been our greatest mercies.

“Whose mouths must be held in by bit and bridle.” That “bit and bridle” is circumstances. They miss the “counsel.” “Mine eye” is counsel.

Do we get His counsel in the Word?

Yes, yes, if it was not for that, we would be a good prey for Satan to make us think and feel. Everything has to be tested by Scripture.

“We glory in tribulation” when we see what God is doing.

You say, it is very easy to glory in them when they are past. When you say it is the normal condition to glory in them, that does not seem to agree very well with the natural effect?

Who is it that naturally glories? That is the standard. Faith takes hold of it. What we actually find is quite contrary the actual exercise. How patient and gracious God is! Here we are groaning and groaning about different circumstances, and we read this Scripture, and how rebuked we are. God gives His people credit for a good deal they do not deserve.

When it is a question of salvation (verses 5 and 6), it is “wherein ye greatly rejoice,” but when it is a question of seeing Him, “Whom having not seen ye love,” it is “Rejoice with joy unspeakable.” That is very striking and beautiful. “Joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

It is beyond all conception what it will be to meet the Lord.

While we are on this matter of tribulation, look at the last chapter of 1 Peter and 10th verse: “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” As we go through this epistle we get a great deal about sufferings. The sufferings of the Christian form no part of the counsels of God, but a very important part of His ways. “Who hath called us unto His Eternal Glory,” that is His purpose. “After ye have suffered awhile,” that is His ways – using these circumstances to stablish, strengthen and settle.

He does not take us to heaven right away, like He did the thief. It is comparatively few that He does. “After ye have suffered awhile,” and those who are taken at once are losers. They never learn anything of the sympathy of Christ – to have to do with God the Father in discipline – they are losers. A Brother once wrote me, “It is good for us to have a good long tramp through the wilderness.”

(Continued from page 52)

(Concluded)

Extract on the Judgment Seat of Christ

“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive... according to that he hath done.” 2 Corinthians 5:10.

Everything will come out there! There can be no disguise at all in the pure bright light before the throne of the discernment of Christ, where all the full intelligence of His mind will beam out on His people.

It is not the question of being saved, but of how we, as saved ones have been walking. Is it strange, since it cost Christ so much to accomplish that sacrifice, that when He gets His people home, He should say,

“Now let us look at their walk, no question as to personal acceptance, but let Me see whether they have walked according to My Father’s thoughts, Who would have His sons and daughters walking as those who are separated unto Him by the blood of His Son; as those bought with such a price, did they walk worthy of it?”

I ask you, who are sons and daughters of God, Can God look down on you, saying, “There are my sons and daughters passing through the world, showing forth the death of Christ, and walking in the power of what Christ is at My right hand, walking as a people blest in Him”?

An Arrow From the Quiver of God

A lady was once distributing tracts on board a steam packet and, amongst others she handed one to a gentleman. She passed along the deck, and as she returned she was deeply pained to see him tear the tract in fragments and fling it overboard. She simply said, as she walked past him, “You will have to account for that.”

The gentleman thought no more of the matter. The tract was flung upon the waters, as he imagined, and he forgot all about it. But not so the living God. He had not forgotten either the tract or the man who had torn it up. He caused a little scrap of that torn tract to be blown by the breeze into the gentleman’s bosom; and that very night, as he was undressing to go to bed, the fragment of the tract fell out of his bosom. He took it up. It was but a very small scrap; but it was just large enough to contain two words of immense weight and deep solemnity, namely, God and eternity; and along with these two words, the lady’s pointed utterance came back to his memory, “You will have to account for that.”

Thus, then, this gentleman had before his mind those three grand and solemn realities,

God – Eternity – Judgment. Tremendous words!

He lay down, but not to sleep. There was no sleep for his eyes, or slumber for his eyelids that night. He was full of tossing to and fro till the morning. The words, God, eternity, and “you will have to account for that” rang in his ears, and sounded deep down in his heart.

He arose from his couch and sought to drown his anxiety in the cursed intoxicating cup. But it would not do. He awoke from his wine only to feel with augmented force those solemn words, “God! – Eternity! – Judgment to come!” In short an arrow from the quiver of God had entered his soul. He had thought to get rid of that little tract – to drown that silent messenger. But no; God had His eye upon him. God sent the breeze and caused it to blow that identical scrap into which the tract had been torn, no other would do but that very one, because it contained the very words which the Eternal Spirit meant to use as an arrow to pierce his soul.

How marvelous are God’s ways! Who but an atheist could doubt that the hand of God was in that breeze which blew that little fragment into the gentleman’s bosom? Blessed be His name, He knows how to reach the soul; and when He begins to work, nothing and no one can hinder. He had His eye upon that precious soul, in spite of all his enmity and all his efforts to turn aside the arrow which sovereign grace had aimed at his heart.

The gentleman thought to get rid of the tract; hut God was determined that just so much of the tract should lodge in his bosom as contained the arrow that was to be lodged in his heart: In vain did the gentleman seek to get rid of his impressions, to stifle His convictions: His misery increased, his anxiety became more intense. There was but one thing which could heal his wound, and that was the precious balm of the gospel, the soothing virtues of the blood of Christ. He was brought under the sound of the gospel, and his troubled soul found rest in the finished work of Christ.

And now, reader, what sayest thou to these things? Hast thou ever felt aught of the awful solemnity of those words, “God – Eternity – and Judgment to come”? Remember, we earnestly pray thee, thou hast, sooner or later, to meet God – to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Do think of this! Think of what it will be to meet God out of Christ – to stand, in, all thy sins, before the great white throne, where every man will be judged according to his works – to spend a never-ending eternity in the dreadful flames of hell. We confess the thought perfectly appalling.

Eternity! What an overwhelming word! Say; beloved reader, art thou, prepared for it? If not, why not? Why delay another moment?

Why not flee now – just now, to the arms of a Saviour – God who stands ready to welcome thee to His bosom? O! Do come, we earnestly beseech thee! Come to Jesus, just as thou art. Trifle not with thy precious immortal soul. Suffer not the god of this world any longer to blind thine eyes, and deceive thine heart. Let not the pleasures of sin, and the fascinations of the world any longer detain thee. Flee from the Wrath to come. Time is short. The day of salvation will soon close, the acceptable year of the Lord will speedily pass away from thee. The door of mercy will soon be closed upon thee forever.

Do, O! Do, dear fellow sinner, listen to the warning note once more sounded in thine ear. God calls thee. Jesus calls thee. The Eternal Spirit calls thee. Turn not away thine ears. Say not, “Time enough.” Thou knowest not what the next hour may bring forth. It may be thou wilt never see another sun rise; and O! The thought of being cut off in thy sins and consigned to an everlasting hell is intolerable. We long for thy salvation. We would entreat thee by all that is grave, solemn, and momentous, to come this very hour to Jesus. Trust Him and thou shalt never perish. Believe in Him and thou shalt be saved. May this paper prove to thy precious soul an arrow from the quiver of God!

But ere the trumpet shakes

The mansions of the dead,

Hark, from the gospel’s cheering sound,

What joyful tidings spread!

Ye lost ones, seek His grace

Whose wrath ye cannot bear;

Fly to the shelter of His cross.

And find salvation there.

The Savior's Appeal

“Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” How direct, how pointed, how personal is the Lord’s appeal to the heart in these words. Not, do we, or they, but “dost thou?” The answer too, must be direct and personal. A Yes, or a No. Hesitation, indecision, silence, means no, so far, at least as man is concerned. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10). The righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ is for God; the confession of the mouth is for man. Christ is preached for the simplest to believe on Him with the heart, and to confess Him with the mouth. “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.” Here confession is put first; not because it is the more important, for without the heart it would be good for nothing, but because it leads both angels and me to celebrate the praise of Jesus. How often the evangelist turns away with a heavy heart from closed lips – from sullen silence, which alas, too often bespeak an inward fighting against the truth; but how bright His praise, when with a beaming countenance Jesus is confessed as Saviour and Lord.

Again, dear reader, we would press as a parting word, this deeply solemn question, “Dost thou,” for thyself, of thyself, “believe on the Son of God?” Thy eternal interest – the joys of heaven, or the miseries of hell, hang on your yes or no. You must answer for yourself, and answer to the Saviour. Surely there is wondrous love in this appeal. The blessed Saviour, as it were, looks straight in your face, stands before you, reveals Himself to you, and says, “Dost thou believe on Me? Wilt thou believe in thine heart on Me? Wilt thou take up thy cross and follow Me?”

What then, dear reader, will you say, or have you said? Can you adopt the language of the man to whom Christ had given sight? “Lord, I believe;” and so saying, fell at His feet, and worshipped Him?

The Lord in mercy, grant that this may be your happy place, your blessed portion, your eternal joy. How simple it all is! Only believe and praise the Lord; and still praise Him. But you know the direful consequences of unbelief – no Saviour, no salvation, no heaven, no happiness, but banishment from the presence of God and the Lamb, from the holy and the good; and doomed to dwell in the depths of despair, within the barred gates of hell forever and forever. May the Holy Spirit now lead you from the heart to say, “Lord I believe;” and worship Jesus as Saviour and Lord (John 9:38):

God Is Satisfied, So Am I

“A guilty rebel lone and sad,

I trod destruction’s road:

Earth’s follies failed to make me glad;

I groaned beneath sin’s load.

Salvation I’d neglected,

And mercy’s call rejected,

But now I stood detected,

Before a Holy God.

I longed for comfort, prayed for peace,

But longed and prayed in vain;

My struggles brought me no release,

No rest could I obtain.

My sin was all detected,

Salvation still neglected,

And mercy’s call rejected;

How deep the crimson stain.

At last I turned to Calvary’s tree,

And saw the Crucified;

Was it for guilty ones like me

That blessed Saviour died?

My sin seemed more detected,

Christ’s love I had suspected,

His finished work rejected,

His precious name denied.

My title’s undeniable,

‘Tis Jesus and His blood:

His word must be reliable,

For He’s the Son of God.

And though my sin’s detected,

My Substitute’s accepted,

And now my soul’s protected

From judgment’s righteous rod.

And now upon the throne on high

He sits, my risen Lord;

God’s satisfied, and so am I,

Who rest upon His word.

Redemption’s toil’s completed,

The powers of hell defeated,

My life’s in glory seated,

Jesus, the Christ, our Lord.”

“When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3.

That I May Win Christ

The brief sentence which forms the heading of this article presents to us the earnest aspiration of one who had found an absorbing and commanding object in Christ – the utterance of a soul whose one desire was to grow in the knowledge and appreciation of that blessed One who fills all heaven with His glory. The whole passage from which our motto is taken is full of power. We must quote it for the reader, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Philippians 3:8.

Let us specially mark the words, “what things were gain to me.” The Apostle is not speaking of his sins, of his guilt, of things of which, as a man, he might justly be ashamed. No; he is referring to his gains, his honors, his distinctions; his religious, his intellectual, his moral, his political advantages – of such things as were calculated to make him an object of envy to his fellows. All these things he counted but loss that he might win Christ.

Alas! How few of us understand anything of this! How few of us grasp the meaning of the words – the real force of the expression. “That I may win Christ!” Most of us rest satisfied with thinking of Christ as God’s gift to sinners. We do not aim at winning Him as our prize, by the surrender of all those things which nature loves and values. The two things, are quite distinct. As poor miserable, guilty, hell-deserving sinners, we are not asked to do, or to give, or to surrender anything. We are invited, yea commanded to take – take freely – take all. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” “The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “If thou knewest the free giving of God, thou wouldst have asked.”

All this is blessedly true, thanks be to God for it! But, then, there is another side of the question. What did Paul mean by winning Christ? He already possessed Christ as God’s free gift to him as a sinner. What more did he want? He wanted to win Christ as his prize, even at the cost of all beside. As Christ, the true merchant man, sold all that He had, in order to possess Himself of what He esteemed “a pearl of great price”-laid aside His glory, stripped and emptied Himself of all – gave up all His claims as man, as Messiah, in order to possess Himself of the church; so, in his measure, that devoted Christian, whose words form our thesis, gave up everything in order to possess himself of that peerless object who had been revealed to his heart on the day of his conversion. He saw such beauty, such moral glory, such transcendent excellency in the Son of God, that he deliberately surrendered all the honors, the distinctions, the pleasures, the riches of earth, in order that Christ might fill every chamber of his heart, and absorb all the energies of his moral being. He longed to know Him not merely as the One who had put away his sins, but as the One who could satisfy all the longings of his soul, and utterly displace all that earth could offer or nature grasp.

Reader, let us gaze on this picture. It is indeed a fine study for us. it stands out in bold contrast with the cold, selfish, world-loving, pleasure-hunting, money-seeking spirit of this our day. It administers a severe rebuke to the heartless indifference of which we must all alas! be conscious – an indifference expressing itself in numberless and nameless ways. Where do we see aught that answers to the words, “That I may win Christ.”

Ministry Other Than Preaching

The caring for souls – the binding up of those that are broken in spirit – the interesting ourselves in the troubles and trials and difficulties of the saints of God – is of great price with Him, and this kind of ministering is, I am afraid, very imperfectly performed amongst us. This is really the meaning of ministry – not so much speaking.

Scripture Study: Ephesians 3

Ephesians 3

Verse 1. “For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.” He was a prisoner because he preached the gospel to the Gentiles. Then he breaks off to tell them that this ministry had been specially committed to him (Ver. 5). He includes all the New Testament apostles and prophets, but they received it from him; he was the one to unfold that truth. And when it was unfolded, he could say that the subjects of the Word of God were now completed (see Col. 1:25. N. T.).

Verses 2-4. “If ye have heard of the administration of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward; how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words; whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).” In the first and second chapters he had alluded to the same subject.

Verses 5, 6. He goes on to say, “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and (joint) partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Here the Gentile and Jew alike are joint heirs with Christ, both alike members of Christ’s body, and both alike sharing all the promises given to Christ for the church.

Verses 7-9. “Whereof I was made a minister” (not of man nor by man, Gal. 1:1), “according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of His power,” but this did not exalt him in his own eyes, but rather enhances the grace of the Lord in choosing one so unworthy, by his former hatred and opposition to the name of the Lord, as he says, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery (or administration), which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”

Verses 10-11 tell us also that the heavenly hosts now are learning the all-various wisdom of God in this wondrous mystery of Christ and the assembly, that we with Him are one, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church (assembly) the manifold (all-various) wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Verse 12. What wonderful ways of grace, that thus God’s purposes are made known to us! What a place of intimacy ours is! Can we think of the heavenly hosts learning God’s ways with us, and learning through us His wisdom? Yes, for it is in Him we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul was in prison when writing this, but he, was the prisoner, in his mind, not of the Romans, but of the Lord. He knew he was there by the will of God, so he could write,

Verse 13. “Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory” (compare 2 Tim. 2:10). Sufferings in his case were needed to give true character to the truth he preached (Col. 1:24); and for us, see Philippians 1:29, 30. We are given suffering for Christ as our privilege.

Verse 14. “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In chapter 1 he prayed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we might understand and know these wonderful truths which we have in those chapters. This prayer is more that we might realize the benefits, and enjoy our precious portion as children of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. His God is our God as men. His Father is our Father as His children. Who of us could ever have thought for a moment that God our Father could have loved such sinners as we were, and blessed us in His own Beloved Son, and loved us with the same love, making us His real children, for this is what the adoption of children to Himself really means. As our Lord said to the Father in John 17:26, “That the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them.” So this prayer would deepen the reality in our heart’s enjoyment. It is then of great importance that we should meditate on it, so that it may be more understood by the teaching of His Holy Spirit who dwells in us, and delights to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts (see Rom. 5:5).

Verse 15. “Of whom the whole (or rather ‘every’) family in heaven and earth is named.” In chapter 1:10 we read that all things in heaven and on earth are to be gathered in one, under Christ; and Colossians 1:16, 17 shows that He is the Creator and Upholder of the universe (Heb. 1:2; John 1:3), so that all the hosts of heaven, Israel and the nations, as well as the assembly of God, are included in that verse.

Verse 16. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” We had the riches of His grace (chapter 1:7) in our redemption and forgiveness of our sins, and in the display of His kindness toward us in the ages to come (chapter 2:7). Here we think of our Lord in glory, and how He, amid all that riches of glory, is thinking about us, His needy, weak members here on earth, and the prayer is that He would according to the riches of His glory strengthen us in our inner man by His Spirit. May we yield ourselves gladly to Him to be our strength and guide, that we might not hinder the blessing, by grieving the Holy Spirit.

Verse 17 continues, “That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length and depth, and height.”

It is true that Christ is in every believer (Rom. 8:10; Col. 1:27; 3:3, 4), but here it is by faith, it is the soul-consciousness of it, the sense of His presence dwelling with us that the believer, in the deep intimacy of a well-known and deeply valued friendship, is rooted and grounded in love, not a quiver of fear or of uncertainty, so that in His company, we can look out, as in the center of it all with Him, on the breadth, and length, and depth, and height. Of what? It does not say, but we may well think of all the glories of Himself, and all that surrounds Him, and of which He is the center and fullness, and what words could better express its infinity, and lead us to feel in comparison how small we are, yet Christ and His assembly is, through His grace to us, and in the purposes of God, the center of it all.

Verse 19 gives us the additional thought, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with (or even unto) all the fullness of God.” Glories untold are ours with the Lord, but this touches the heart deeper. His well-known love is too deep to ever think we know it all. It passeth knowledge! and even in time now, how comforting and strengthening, it can never fail, can never grow less; well proved in what it has done, deepening as we go on more and more till we are filled unto all the fullness of God, and God is love. We dwell in Him, and He in us.

Verse 20. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” He works in us by His Spirit, and He is able to do all, above all, yea, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, for the glory of God.

Verse 21. “Unto Him be glory in the church (assembly) by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” The distinctive place and position, as the body and bride of Christ, is thus declared as for all eternity. The tabernacle of God with men (Rev. 21:1-3).

The Voice of My Beloved

Canticles 8:13, 14

Mine own Beloved’s voice!

‘Tis this I wait to hear!

No earthborn music half so choice,

No other tones so dear.

He soon will come again!

I shall His glory see!

He came long since, in grief and pain,

To seek and ransom me.

He left His royal throne

To free the captive slave;

He found me – marked me for His own;

O, what a price He gave!

The costly price of blood

Delivered me from hell;

And made my title clear and good

With Him on high to dwell –

His love as death is strong,

No floods can drown its tide;
And loving Him, I pant and long

To shelter at His side.

Far more His heart doth yearn

To call His exile home;

A few short hours, He will return,

And I no more shall roam.

Within His garden fair

The milk white lilies grow;

“A little while” He tarries where

You living waters flow.

Make haste, Beloved, make haste,

Desire my spirit thrills:

Apart from Thee, the world’s a waste;

Come quickly o’er the hills!

Fragment: Anxiety

Anxiety reflects upon God, weakens and discourages our souls, and gives Satan an occasion against us. If God is our Father, and if His promises are true, He will provide for us and supply our needs; Why then should we be anxious?

“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

“My God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6, 19.

Waiting for the Lord

John 14:2, 3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 22:16,17

There are three things that come before my mind, and I do not question for a moment that the Holy Ghost brought these three distinct scriptures vividly before me, in connection with the thought of being forever with the Lord.

What a wonderful thought it is for our hearts, that we are waiting for the One who has promised to come for us, to take us out of this scene of trial and temptation and rejection, and to take us home to Himself: to go in with Himself, and not to go out again.

It seems to me that these three scriptures bring before us three distinct things.

Firstly, the One who loves us, and has made us His own with the price of His own precious blood, says He is coming again to receive us to Himself.

Secondly, that we, as having heard His voice, anticipating His return, must be in a waiting position. We are waiting for God’s Son from heaven; and I am sure if it is really true of us, if we are really in a practically waiting position for God’s Son from heaven, everything that we do will be characterized by it. It will be manifest that our citizenship is not here, that it is somewhere else, just where the Word says it is – in heaven.

Though with regard to our sins, and ourselves, we are at rest, and there must of necessity be rest before we can be with Him. We must fully understand that everything has been cleared away, and that we are brought nigh to God by virtue of that work, which was accomplished on the cross, before we can be in a position for the waiting.

It is a thing between our own souls and God Himself; and the only way we get this is by being under the power of the precious Word of God, that we may hear what God says about His Son: that there is nothing at all of a barrier, because everything has been removed by that sacrifice when He by the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God. He made a way for us to get into the very presence of God, and we are left here only to wait for the coming of Him who has said, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.”

And that really leads us on to Revelation 22, there you see it is as we get under the sanctifying power of the Word of God, we get in unison with the Spirit of God. There we find the Holy Ghost brings before us the bright and morning Star. And it is not only the Spirit says, Come, but the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. How sweet and blessed to be in unison with the Spirit, who delights to make Christ precious to our hearts now, and who is waiting for Him to come.

Blessed to be in a position in unison with the Spirit: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.”

O Beloved, may we know what it is to be so occupied with Himself, where He is, that it may be the very joy of our hearts, in His personal absence, to minister joy to the heart that has endured so much for us! It is our privilege to do so now. How may we do so? By hearing His voice, and being obedient to what He says.

May it be ours, beloved, to know more of what it is to be hearing His voice, just as He says in John 10, “My sheep hear My voice,” and he adds, “they follow Me.”

Extract From a Letter On

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea: and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

I have found, Mark 11:22-26, of great benefit to myself and others in this connection. Here we have:

1. Faith. – The “faith of God,” that is, faith that takes its character and strength from God as its object – faith that brings God into the difficulty. There is a mountain to be removed. God only can lift a mountain up, and throw it into the sea. But He is greater than the mountain, and if you can bring Him into the matter, the mountain must go.

2. Prayer is our proper attitude – what expresses our dependence on God; but the prayer of faith only is effectual.

3. There is a condition, that is, this prayer of faith is conditional on a certain state in us, and that is the spirit of forgiveness. “When ye stand praying, forgive if ye have aught against any.” It is not here going to one who has wronged you, and telling him you forgive him. In such a case the word is: “If he repent, forgive him.” But here it is the state of our hearts toward our brethren when we are in the presence of God. Suppose I am praying to God, who has forgiven me ten thousand talents in absolute grace, and am holding something against one who may have wronged me, God will not hear me. I am not in communion, my state is wrong, I am not in the current of God’s thoughts, and will not be able to exercise faith.

A person says: “I cannot feel right towards

Mr. -.” That is, he has hard feelings toward

Mr. -. But can I think of God in this way?

Can I speak of Him as having “hard feelings” toward anyone? Never. When we were His enemies, He gave His Son.

Now my heart is to be in the same state as His that is, my feelings and desires are to be formed by what flows down in communion, through the Word, from His heart into mine. And if this is my state when I pray, I will forgive if I have anything against anyone, and my heart will be free in God’s presence; and, however my brother may have erred, I will be able to seek his blessing and restoration.

In ease of personal difficulties among saints, if this state is reached in God’s presence, it is wonderful how soon difficulties melt away, because it is God Himself coming in to act in grace.

“Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32.

Past, Present and Future

“Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” 1 Samuel 7:12.

This is the language of the believer as he looks back.

“A very present help in trouble” is his stay for today; and, as he thinks of the future, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” assures him that all will be provided for to the end of the journey.

Thus what God has been, is, and will be, become, the comfort and support of the heart.

Loved as Christ is loved; “The Eternal God” for his refuge; the “Everlasting arms” underneath; the shelter of “His wings” above; “covered all day long,” like Benjamin; pillowed on “His breast,” like John; “kept as the apple of His eye,” like Israel; surely each believer’s experience should be that of Naphtali, “Satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord.”

Correspondence: Ark a Type of; How do We Remember the Lord?

Question: Is the Ark built by Noah in Genesis a type of the Jews who pass through the tribulation, or is the Ark a type of Christ? P. T.

Answer: The Ark in Genesis is a type of Christ, and Noah and his house figure Christ and His companions saved by Him through the tribulation into the Millennial earth,

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to Paul, whose heart was in it; but strengthened and sustained by the prayers of the saints, and by the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, he is able to go through the difficulties according to his earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing he would be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, Christ would be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death. That was the salvation that was before his mind.

Question: In what way do we remember the Lord? Is it in His life, or in His death, or in both? (1 Cor. 11:24, 25, 26). T. R.

Answer: The word “remember” is in memory of the person. It is the Lord’s death that is celebrated. We think of Christ in His lifetime. We know Him now as the living, glorified Saviour, Head of His body the church, but it is in His death that we remember Him. The bread and the cup represent Christ in death. It is not His life on earth, nor His place in glory. What touches our hearts is the death of the Lord. He is not here now. We know Him as living, and we are in Him there, but our hearts go back to the cross to enter into what He went through there, and as we partake of the bread, it is His body given for us; and of the cup our hearts say, His blood was shed for us. Precious Saviour who has instituted this to claim our affections. How could we slight such a privilege? And our act of remembering Him in His death is showing, or announcing, His death till He come.

How a Troubled Soul Found Peace

I was greatly interested in the case of –. He had been for some weeks in deep soul trouble, and I longed for tidings of his salvation.

The wife had recently been brought to the Lord, and felt the immense responsibility of setting a Christian example before her husband and children.

But the husband remained undecided. True, he was awakened, convicted of sin, struggling vainly for peace, but only the more wretched as he discovered the utter fruitlessness of his struggles. Accordingly I took the opportunity of calling upon him. After a few preliminaries, we fell into a conversation on the most important personal question that can be raised.

“Where are you now looking?” I asked my friend.

He made no reply, but from his woeful expression I saw that he had not acted like those in Psalm 34:5, who “looked unto Him, and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed.”

No light beamed in his eyes, nor joy in his countenance, O! the darkening, clouding effect of self- examination. What can be seen within but an evil heart of unbelief – a seething mass of moral corruption, a soul-sickening sight that can only produce despair.

Nay, but one look at Christ, and all is bright. What a contrast!

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6.

O! what love, what grace! How the soul can adore Him!

In the hope that the moment had come when God would grant light to this troubled one, I turned to Romans 10:9,

“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.”

Here are two conditions, and on the fulfillment of them, I said, “God assures salvation.”

1st. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.” “Now, are you ashamed of the blessed Lord who died for us – afraid to confess that He is Lord?”

“No,” he said, “I am not.”

2nd. “‘If thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead.’ Do you believe this well-known truth of Christianity, that after Jesus died, and by His blood, laid the foundation of peace with God. He was raised again the third day?”

“I do,” said he.

“Truly?”

“Yes, truly.”

“Then you fulfill the two conditions of the verse, and let me read the blessed assurance,

“Thou shalt be saved.”

“Who says that?”

“God.”

“Thou mayest be saved?” I asked him.

“No; thou shalt be saved.”

“Thou shalt be damned, as though God would fail to keep His promise?”

“No; thou shalt be saved.”

“Certainly, certainly; and the promise of God is as sure as the fulfillment. They are part and parcel of the same thing.”

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” Hebrews 6:17, 18. All is divinely safe.

“Many a troubled soul has found peace through Romans 10:9, and you need not be afraid to plead humbly and reverently, but faithfully and confidently the terms that God has so graciously made. He binds Himself to the fulfillment of them, and allows you to do the same. He values the faith that takes Him at His word, and acts boldly upon it. His Word shall never pass away. Do you take Him at His word?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Now, I hope to see a friend of yours (one who, like myself, was interested in the case); may I tell him that you trust in the Lord?”

“Yes,” said he.

This was his first confession with his mouth, of the Lord Jesus. After the lapse of three weeks, I received from that friend the following cheering lines,

“I saw – last night. You will be thankful to hear that he told me, after all his struggling and trying, he saw the truth just in a moment, and that it was so simple.”

Thank God, so it is. May more see the simplicity, and know the power of the gospel!

Hence, you see, dear reader, he had now, like those in Psalm 34:5, “looked unto Him and was lightened, and his face was not ashamed!” He had confessed, he had believed, and he now rested happily on the Word of God,

“Thou shalt be saved.”

And if you, like him, are “struggling and trying” vainly, uselessly, O, turn to Romans 10:9, and see that God attaches salvation, not to these, but to confession and faith.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36.

The Foulest and the Purest

What is the foulest thing on earth?

Bethink thee now and tell-

It is a soul by sin defiled,

And only fit for hell:

It is the loathsome earthly den,

Where evil spirits dwell.

And what the purest thing on earth?

Come tell me if you know –

‘Tis that same soul, by Jesus cleansed,

Washed whiter far than snow:

There’s naught more pure above the sky,

And naught else pure below.

God’s eye of flame that searches all,

And finds e’en heaven unclean,

Rests on that soul with pure delight,

For not a spot is seen:

Cleansed every whit in Jesus’ blood,

Whate’er its guilt hath been.

He sees the blood, but sees no stain,

That covers all the sin,

‘Tis Christ upon the soul without,

‘Tis Christ He sees within:

To judge it foul, were just to judge

God’s Christ Himself unclean.

Thou Lamb of God, Thy precious blood

This great redemption wrought;

Not only snatched from yawning hell,

But to God’s bosom brought:

And raised the ruined wrecks of sin

Above created thought.

Nepenthes: Also Scripture Study, Ephesians 4

Far away in the tropics there grow some remarkable plants, called Nepenthes. They are veritable death-traps to flies and small insects, from which they largely derive their growth.

Their method of catching these insects is one of the wonders of Nature, and affords a striking example of how Satan allures and traps unwary Christians.

At the end of a long stalk is held out a jug-shaped flower, having a narrow neck, but widening out below. In the neck are spikes, all pointing downwards, and these, along with the outer rim, are coated with honey.

The insects are attracted by the honey, and in their eagerness to drink it in, they gradually enter the neck of the flower, going lower and lower, till all at once the honey ceases, and they find themselves prisoners. Escape is well-nigh impossible, as the inside of the flower is slippery and affords no foothold, while the spikes pointing downwards form an effectual guard to the entrance, and thus the poor little insects are left to perish.

It is in exactly this way that Satan ensnares young believers. Enticing them with that which is sweet to the natural taste, but not according to God, he gradually encloses them in his grasp a little at a time, but each leading farther away from the heart that loves them.

The ways of Satan are always seductive; he knows our natural hearts, and will offer all kinds of things as sweet as honey to our taste, to lead us on a wrong path. The spikes are unnoticed as we go his way, but they will assuredly be felt on the way back, should we be restored in self judgment to the Lord.

It is worth remarking that only hungry insects are caught in these death-traps, and we may rest assured that as long as our hearts are filled with Christ and His love, Satan is powerless, and no matter how seductively he offers his “Nepenthes,” we shall, through grace, be able to turn away, conscious that we have that which is sweeter than honey, even the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7.

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

“If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.” John 12:26.

The Lord's Supper

The Holy Spirit in the Word places the Lord’s Supper as the moral center, the object of the assembly. Let us remark some of the thoughts of the Spirit in connection with this ordinance.

1st. He links the affections with it in the strongest way. It was the same night on which Jesus was betrayed that He left this memorial of His sufferings and of His love. As the paschal lamb brought to mind the deliverance which the sacrifice offered in Egypt had procured for Israel, thus the Lord’s supper called to mind the sacrifice of Christ. He is in the glory, the Spirit is given; but they were to remember Him. His offered body was the object before their hearts in this memorial. Take notice of this word Remember. It is not a Christ as He now exists; it is not the realization of what He is: that is not a remembrance – His body is now glorified. It is a remembrance of what He was on the cross. It is a body slain, and blood shed; not a glorified body. It is remembered, though, by those who are united to Him in the glory into which He is entered. As risen and associated with Him in glory, they look back to that blessed work of love, and His love in it, which gave them a place there. They drink also of the cup in remembrance of Him. In a word, it is Christ looked at as dead: there is not such a Christ now.

It is the remembrance of Christ Himself. It is that which attaches to Himself; it is not only the value of His sacrifice, but attachment to Himself, the remembrance of Himself. The Apostle then shows us, if it is a dead Christ, who it is that died. Impossible to find two words, the bringing together of which has so important a meaning, the death of the Lord! How many things are comprised in that He who is called the Lord had died! What love! What purposes! What efficacy! What results! The Lord Himself gave Himself up for us. We celebrate His death.

At the same time, it is the end of God’s relations with the world on the ground of man’s responsibility, except the judgment. This death has broken every link – has proved the impossibility of any. We show forth this death until the rejected Lord shall return, to establish new bonds of association by receiving us to Himself to have part in them. It is this which we proclaim in the ordinance when we keep it. Besides this, it is in itself a declaration that the blood on which the new covenant is founded has been already shed; it was established in this blood.

I do not go beyond that which the passage presents; the object of the Spirit of God here, is to set before us, not the efficacy of the death of Christ, but that which attaches the heart to Him in remembering His death, and the meaning of the ordinance itself. It is a dead, betrayed Christ whom we remember. The offered body was, as it were, before their eyes at this supper. The shed blood of the Saviour claimed the affections of their heart for Him. They were guilty of despising these precious things, if they took part in the supper unworthily. The Lord Himself fixed our thoughts there in this ordinance, and in the most affecting way, at the very moment of His betrayal.

In this broken bread we own Thee,

Bruised for us and put to shame;

And this cup, O Lord, we thank Thee,

Speaks our pardon through Thy name.

Reading on 2 Peter 1:2-11: Part 1

It is not my thought to comment on all this passage, but to consider how we may have an “abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” I suppose none of us here have any ambition to come dragging into heaven, satisfied with just squeezing in. That is not characteristic of Christianity. I believe there are cases like that – people who do not want to go to hell, but that is not indicative of divine love being there; it is rather a fear of judgment. That doesn’t speak of the operations of the divine nature spoken of here in our verse, which is rather the longings of the divine nature to have the association and companionship of the One who has bought us. He has equipped us with a nature which can only be satisfied with divine glory.

Being made “partakers of the divine nature” is not so much here the result of new birth, as it is rather the practical result. It is not necessarily what we get in being born again, but the practical results of it. How am I going to have the operations in a practical way? We get it in the first part of the 4th verse. That is, if the soul lays hold on these promises which belong to it, lives in the enjoyment of them, the result will be the manifestation of the divine nature.

Of course that couldn’t be unless we had the divine nature.

As we were saying, none of us here would be satisfied just to get to heaven, but there is the desire to have an “abundant entrance.” It is not a very good way for a ship to have to be dragged into port by a tug, but it is better than to go down at sea. How much more dignified for the old ship to come in under full colors. How proud the sailors are and the captain is, and with what joy they pull in, after a long toilsome voyage! If we are Christians, we are going to make port. We are going to get there all right. What kind of an entrance are we going to have?

The 11th verse says: “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” I am sure you would like to have that kind of an entrance. Here are the directions – the recipe – for it, right here. I apprehend the “abundant entrance” being ministered, is not the swinging open of the doors at the end, but it is ministered all along the way.

I rather think when one comes down to the time of facing the change from this world, that is, if he is permitted to face it consciously – if he is permitted to know he is just about to go into the presence of the Lord, – the kind of entrance he is going to have at the end, will largely depend upon the kind of entrance he has had the past year – the Christian life and experience he has been enjoying. You don’t expect a Christian who has been living at a distance from the Lord – sort of a half-hearted life – you don’t expect him to have an ecstasy, like one who has lived and walked with God. The way to look forward with confidence to that change, is to have these virtues spoken of in the intervening verses of our chapter, operative in the soul.

Verse 3. “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”

Young Christian, I wonder if you excuse yourself for your shallowness, on the ground that the circumstances in which you find yourself are not advantageous to the kind of life you would like to live? You have reasoned it out, and you think it would be different if you were living in a different position. If your circumstances were altered, you would be able to live the kind of a Christian life you would like to live. Our verse here says, “His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” There is not one thing lacking. We have a complete equipment. God is not going to put us in a position where we cannot live for Him, and ask us to live for Him. No – ; He has given us all things necessary; right in your present position;

God has given you the fullest possible equipment to live for Him. We don’t have to wait until we are older, or know our Bibles better, before we begin to live for the Lord.

How do these “exceeding great and precious promises” make us “partakers of the divine nature”? I believe in this way: It is the entering into, and enjoying these exceeding great and precious promises (what God has done, is doing, and is going to do), as realities. The result is, I am so attracted and under the power of them, that other things lose their attractiveness. We become more “imitators of God,” become occupied with the Object that gives concern to God, that is, what occupies the heart of God, and when we really lay hold on the promises that are ours, that hope works out in the life in a practical way, and we are seen “partakers of the divine nature.”

The latter part of that verse says, “Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” I often look over a company of our young people associated in the outside path, and think, what a fortunate group they are! What a wonderful place they are in! “Escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” We cannot value it too highly, dear young people. If that were true in the days of Peter, how doubly true today: “corruption in the world through lust.” What is lust? It is unsatisfied desires. This world is one constant succession of new desires—ever new desires.

How different with those who know the Lord Jesus Christ. How He satisfies! Divine realities give peace and quiet to the soul. What a blessed thing to be preserved from this ungodly scene. One grieves to see the pace of the young in this world – the shamelessness of the age – no regarding of restraint of any kind – turned loose to glut themselves with what this world has to offer; “wild and crazy age” some have said. Surely those words are not too strong. We have been graciously taken out of it. Such a worthy object, the Christ of God, we have found! That cannot help but have a tremendous effect on our lives. The most worthy Object of the universe – the Christ of God – to have Him brought before us again and again – His glory brought before us; to have His death before us Lord’s day morning; His worth repeated in our ears again and again; all that has its transforming power on our souls. What a blessed thing to “escape the corruption in the world through lust.” How we ought to prize and value the blessed place in which we find ourselves. Could we imagine in the whole earth a more blessed place, where we would rather be, than gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, having the association of those who love Him in sincerity and truth, where the Person, work and word of Christ are, by the grace of God, jealously guarded and enjoyed by His people? It is a wonderful place.

(To be continued)

Loss for Christ

Whatever we lose for Christ, we shall find again in Him.

“We have left all,” say the disciples, “and have followed Thee.” Mark 10:28. Alas! What had they left? A few sorry boats and tackling! They parted with movable goods for the unchangeable God. All losses are made up in Him: we may be losers for God; we shall not be losers by Him.

Christ, who had all riches, scorned earthly riches; He was born poor, the manger was His cradle; He lived poor, He had not where to lay His head: He died poor, He had no crown-lands, only His coat was left, and that the soldiers parted among them: and His funeral was suitable, for as He was born in another man’s house, so He was buried in another man’s tomb.

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor” (2 Cor. 8:9). He could have brought down a house from heaven with Him, or have challenged the high places of the earth; but He was contented to live poor that we might die rich: the manger was His cradle. He who has now prepared us a place in heaven, had none for Himself on earth; He had not where to lay His head.

The Glory of His Grace

I see a Man at God’s right hand,

Upon the throne of God,

And there in seven-fold light I see

The seven-fold sprinkled blood;

I look upon that glorious Man,

On that blood-sprinkled throne;

I know that He sits there for me,

That glory is my own.

The heart of God flows – forth in love,

A deep eternal stream;

Through that beloved Son it flows

To me as unto Him.

And, looking on His face, I know –

Weak, worthless, though I be –

How deep, how measureless, how sweet,

That love of God to me.

How deep, how full, the joy of Him

Who sits upon the throne!

The joy, the gladness of His heart,

In calling me His own.

And He has sent me forth to tell

Of all that joy above,

The glories where in Him I dwell,

The greatness of His love.

Not of the joy His ransomed know

Within that bright abode,

But, all His heart’s desire fulfilled,

The endless joy of God,

The joy with which the righteous One

Can call, with hands outspread,

And welcome to His heart of love,

The lost, the vile, the dead.

“Today with Me in paradise,”

He needs that wondrous span

To show the love that could not rest

Short of His heaven for man.

And when in glory of His own

He shows the spotless bride,

Aloud the songs of heaven declare

God’s heart is satisfied.

Correspondence: Eph. 2:12 - Past or Present; 1 Tim. 2:12; Mat. 20:1-16; Gal. 6:7

Question: Does Ephesians 2:12 show us the Christian’s past condition? Verse 13, our present condition? Verse 7, our future? L. M. W.

Answer: Yes, Ephesians 2:12 is the description of the Gentile unbeliever by nature, and is what we once were.

Verse 13 is our place now in Christ Jesus, made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Verse 7 is where we are displayed with Christ in heavenly places in glory in the future ages; and this will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us.

Wonderful indeed that sinners should be saved and fitted and brought into such blessedness! And to think of the love of the Father and of the Son already set upon us, and ours to enjoy for all eternity (Eph. 3:21).

Question: Is it contrary to the Word of God for me as a woman to teach a class now grown up to manhood? 1 Timothy 2:12 seems to condemn it? D. C.

Answer: Yet, it is unscriptural for a woman to take the place of a teacher of Scripture to teach men, but she can be a true servant of the Lord. “Help those women which labored with me in the gospel.” Philippians 4:3. The Lord used Mary of Magdala to carry a message to the brethren (John 20:17). Aquilla and his wife Priscilla helped Apollos, a Jew, mighty in the Scriptures, to understand Christianity, and “expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:24-28). Women can help in the gospel without leaving her womanly place and character. A meek and quiet spirit in the sight of God is of great price. In prayer with other women, and in private conversations with anyone, the influence of the truth is felt. See also Luke 8:2, 3 in material things, also Romans 16:1. Scripture does not say what her work is to be. She can find that out in communion with the Lord.

Question: Please explain Matthew 20:1-16. L. A. W.

Answer: From “Young Christian,” Vol. 4, year 1914, page 73, “In this parable is shown the sovereignty of the Lord in calling and rewarding the laborers in His vineyard.” It is not a question of obtaining salvation, for we do not labor for salvation. It is to teach us that the Lord is our Master. Peter had said “what shall we have therefore?” Here is the answer even to those who begin late in the day, “Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.” Laboring for Christ because we love Him, and trust Him, is better than laboring for reward. It is grace, not law. We love to do it because of His grace to us. He made us His.

Reward is encouragement to those who are serving Him with His approval. It is not the motive to lead us to serve. Those who bargained for the penny, received it. “What is right I will give you.” They trusted Him. The assurance of reward is given when the Lord is the motive for the labor. If we get the reward as the motive for laboring, it falsifies the character of true service for Him. Then Peter and the disciples must learn that it is His to do with as He pleases, and therefore, many that are last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. It is the sovereign grace of God that is the source of true blessing.

Peter was called, and a place given him by the Lord.

Paul came in later on, as last, but he was a chosen vessel to unfold the heavenly mystery of Christ and the church as a stronger testimony to grace, so the last was first, and the first last. Each has his place to fill as given by the Lord (Eph. 4:8). Again, notice, this is not salvation, but service after we are saved.

Question: Will the reaping of Galatians 6:7 be only for this life; or will it go into eternity? T. F.

Answer: Both saved and unsaved persons are included here. We need to discern between those who are born again; and those who are still in their sins, and are therefore on the road to eternal judgment.

The unsaved live for self; that is the only life they have. The carnal mind is enmity to God: it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. Deceived by the devil, they are trying to satisfy themselves without God, and in a measure they appear to enjoy the world. But how terrible the awakening when they meet God, and give an account to Him (Rom. 14:11).

“Because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience.” Ephesians 5:6. They also in many ways are reaping what they sow now. We see it every day in the ruin men and women bring upon themselves. “The way of transgressors is hard.” Proverbs 13:15.

Sin’s stamp is on everything, so that no one has lasting happiness. God has set eternity in man’s heart, so that Christ alone can satisfy the soul (Eccl. 3:11. “World” there means “infinite”), and death is before them also, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37.

Now, about the Christian! He also sows and reaps every day. The Christian is a man who has believed the gospel of his salvation. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 1:13; 2:8, 9). He is a child of God, and has eternal life (John 3:36; 1 John 3:1, 2). He can never come into judgment (John 5:24; Heb. 10:14; 2 Cor. 5:21). So that all who are in heaven, are sinners saved by grace, children of God, all alike members of the family of God, and members of the body of Christ (Eph. 5:30).

Yet though thus blessed, we have the old nature in us as well as the new, what is here called flesh and Spirit. If we live to please ourselves, we are sowing to the flesh. If we are seeking, through grace, to please the Lord, we are living to the Spirit, and as we sow we shall reap. If we allow self to be our object, we lose our communion with the Lord, unhappiness comes in, and we may make shipwreck of our lives, through not holding a good conscience (1 Tim. 1:19). We find many who are thus living; they marry unbelievers, join unions and societies, directly contrary to the Word of God (2 Cor. 6:14 to 18), and mingle with the world’s efforts to be happy in other ways, and they already reap corruption.

The Lord will express His appreciation in the glory, of all we have done, and how we have lived. Enoch had it before he was translated (Heb. 11:5) that he pleased God, and as far as He can give it, we every one will have praise of God (1 Cor. 4:5). So we find in Scripture, in the Father’s house as children, we shall all be loved alike, but in the kingdom display of glory, each one will have his separate place to fill. We see this in the Lord’s teachings; such as the talents (Matt. 25), “Have thou authority over ten cities,” “Be thou over five cities” (also Luke 22:29, 30). So that it means not only reward, but we are all sowing and reaping. If diligence gives us now the blessed abundant entrance “into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10, 11), it is surely an incentive to make us careful not to sow to the flesh, but to the Spirit, so that we might enjoy now this eternal life (1 Tim. 6:19). J. N. D. Translation calls it, “Laying hold of what is really life.”

The poor world, and sometimes Christians who want to see life, call it a good time; but the Christian has a good time already, for he has the privilege of feasting on the pleasures which are forever more (1 Tim. 4:8).

Peace at Last

“I want to speak to you about religion,” said a noble-looking soldier, as I stood by his bedside. “I have made up my mind,” he continued, “with an earnest resolution, to serve God and do my duty – not with the feeble resolution of a boy, but with man’s determined purpose, that henceforward I will do right.” At some length he told me what he was going to do; he spoke about his vows, his purposes, his plans. All was about himself, not one word about Christ the Saviour. Having listened to him quietly, I said at last,

“Then you are at peace, my friend?”

“O no,” he said, “my agony of mind only increases.”

“Why so? Have you not kept your vows?” “No, I cannot,” he answered despairingly.

“Had you not better then try again? Or can you think of no way of making up the account?” He shook his head hopelessly, and said,

“I know not what to do.”

“My friend,” I replied, “Stop your vowing. Satan has enticed you on to one of his quicksands, where you are fast sinking down to hell. Your house is on the sand. You cannot be your own Saviour. Listen to God’s way of saving sinners. Jesus Christ – God manifest in the flesh – came into the world to save sinners, not to help them to save themselves. His work was finished on the cross over eighteen hundred years ago, and He has left you nothing to do but to receive by faith the benefit of what He has done.”

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” John 3:36.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31.

“But must I not do something?” he asked. “Can I believe on Christ and become a child of God, and tomorrow go back to the world, and live like the other soldiers?”

“God forbid,” I cried. “‘How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?’ When you become a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus, God gives you the nature, the heart of a child, and the Holy Spirit to dwell in you, so that you no longer love the sins you once delighted in; and you have the power of the Spirit to resist the flesh, your old nature.”

“Must I not have happy feelings,” he said – as thousands say – “before I know that I am saved?”

“No,” said I, “on the contrary, you must believe before you can possibly feel happy. Peace comes from believing, and not believing from peace. You are to believe simply because God says so, and not because you feel happy. Were happy frames and feelings the foundation of your faith, you would drift about at their mercy. But God’s Word is a rock that cannot be moved. It is when we are dwelling, neither on our feelings, nor our faith, but on the object of faith, Christ Jesus, that we are brought into peace and joy.”

It was now evident that the Holy Spirit was leading him to the Saviour, and after some other questions and answers, the Lord gave him to see, not only that he was a lost sinner, but that Christ had borne the judgment of sin on the cross, and that all who believed in Him were saved. Still his mind was not clear, for, though he had lost confidence in vows and resolutions, the enemy had thrown him on his feelings. This led to the close of our conversation.

“Do you believe the testimony of God concerning Christ? This is the question, and not the evidence of happy feelings. These are changeable as the wind. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that God gave Him to be the Saviour of the world – the great propitiation for our sins? Take your thoughts completely off yourself, and look to Jesus. Do you believe in Him?”

Now he answered earnestly, “With all my heart I do.”

The Lord’s name be praised – to Him alone be all the glory. And now, “Can you believe what God says concerning them that have this faith?”

“What is it?” he asked eagerly.

“He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” “He that believeth hath everlasting life.” And observe, my friend, it is not can have, may have, or shall have, but hath everlasting life. When we believe in Jesus, and surrender the heart to Him, we have perfect peace, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. What a salvation! Full pardon, everlasting life, peace with God, and only waiting for glory. In parting I said to him,

“May I not leave you now with the happy assurance that you know, on God’s testimony, that you have eternal life as a present possession?”

After a pause, he raised his eyes and said, with deep feeling,

“Yes, you may. I have eternal life through faith in Jesus.”

May these scraps of such an important conversation, and with such important results, be made a great blessing to all our readers.

Verily, Verily!

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24.

“Verily, verily,” Jesus, Lord,

Were Thine own words when here;

The soul that hearkens to Thy word

Need never doubt nor fear.

All who believe, in simple faith,

From God that Thou were sent,

“Life everlasting” surely “hath,”

For which Thine own was spent –

To condemnation ne’er shall come,

For Thou hast borne it all;

The perfect work that Thou hast done

Can never change nor fail.

Passed they are from death to life,

Before the throne of God;

And all that can against them rise,

Atoned for by Thy blood.

Then make each seeking anxious heart

Bow low before Thy word;

And, by Thy Holy Spirit taught,

Own Thee as Saviour, Lord!

Yet There Is Room!

“And the servant said, Lord, it is done as Thou has commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled.” Luke 14:22-23.

“Yet there is room!” To an anxious seeker of salvation, what comfort is in these words! They tell that the door is yet open, that the voice of grace yet sounds, and that whoever comes shall be made welcome!

But where is it that “yet there is room”? In the Father’s house, the Saviour’s home, at the “great supper” which God has spread, and to which He has invited you, my reader.

God wants you to be His guest. He has spread His table with every bounty love could furnish, more than our poor needy hearts could desire, and sent out His servants with the word, “Come; for all things are now ready.”

And what is the result of this loving call? All invited have “made excuse.” Man does not want to be God’s guest. God wants man’s company, but man does not want God’s, in such close proximity as a feast suggests, so he politely says, “I pray thee have me excused.”

Alas! “a piece of ground,” “five yoke of oxen,” or, strangest of all, “a wife,” sufficed to prevent the acceptance of God’s call. There was no heart. Had there been, the one just married would have said, “Where I am wanted, my wife will be welcome too; I will take her with me.”

It is a sad picture, dear unsaved reader, of your heart, Is it not? But listen to me. God is in earnest. He will certainly have His house filled. If you will not fill a seat in His house, some one else will. Do not miss your chance, I beseech you.

To you I now say again, “Yet there is room.” O, heed the call of God. Where will you spend eternity? It must be with him whose “guests are in the depths of hell;” or with God, who now again invites you to be His guest in heavenly glory.

Again, He calls; Will you again refuse? You are a stranger to Jesus and His blessed salvation. Will you continue in the same dreadful state? God forbid! “Yet there is room.” Come now to Jesus. All you have to do is to east yourself simply on Him. He has died, and risen again. The work of atonement is accomplished. God’s claims are all met. The question of sin has been forever settled on the cross. There He “who knew no sin, was made sin for us;” and the sins of all who trust in Jesus have been borne forever away. Will you not trust Him?

If you had anything to do, you might delay; but when all is “finished,” and all “ready,” the only thing left for you to do is to come, and appropriate in faith what love provides for your present and eternal blessing.

I assure you God is waiting to bless and save you. Nay, more, He is most anxious about you being His guest. He says, “Compel to come in.” Are not these strange words? They show the reluctance on your side to come, and earnestness on God’s side to get you to come.

O, let me “compel” you to come ere you drop this paper. God loves you; Why do you refuse Him? Christ has died for sinners; Why do you not believe Him? You are going straight to hell; Why do not you turn to the Lord?

Have you no shrinking from the “wrath to come”? Do you not see the awful folly of your present path? Blinded by Satan, sin, and the delusions of this present world, you are hurrying on to a scene of endless despair. O, sinner, you must wake up to your state. You are unwashed, unpardoned, unclean, and unjustified, and you will soon stand a self-condemned criminal at the bar of God. Countless are your sins indeed; but the crowning, damning one of all will be this, that you refused grace, despised mercy, rejected Christ, and “excused” yourself from being saved; and, consequently, ensured your eternal damnation!

O, my fellow-sinner, I call on thee, awake, awake! arouse thee to thy danger; see thine impending doom. “Escape for thy life,” I beseech thee. “Compel to come in,” warrants me in calling on thee, with all the earnestness and affection I possess, to turn to the Lord. “Yet there is room,” may assure thee that, if thou dost but come, thy salvation is certain.

But thou must no longer delay. God’s house is nearly full, I am sure. “Some guest will be the last,” has been well said; and then the shut door will solemnly thunder to lazy, half-awakened sinners, – No room, no room, NO ROOM!

What crushing conviction will then possess the soul that finds itself too late! It will be willing, but too late; wishing, but too late; wanting, but too late; weeping, but too late; praying, but too late; pleading, but too late. O, how dreadful!

Reader, fancy yourself going down to hell with: “yet there is room” resting on your memory, and “too late” ringing in your ears, and stamped in living characters of fire before your guilty, godless soul forever. This must be the fate of a gospel-neglecting, Christ-rejecting soul. Shall it be your fate? With you now lies the opportunity, and the responsibility of accepting God’s call.

Once more, “Yet there is room.” O, my friend, be persuaded. Yield yourself just now to the Saviour. His words are sweet and true, “Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” Again, “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.”

Then just come to, believe on, and henceforth follow Him, till He comes to take all His own to be forever with Himself.

“Thy precious Name it is I bear;

In Thee I am to God brought near,

And all the Father ‘s love I share,

O Lamb of God, in Thee.”

Scripture Study: Ephesians 4:1-19

Ephesians 4

We saw in chapter 2:1-3 how man’s sin had put him under the power of Satan, so he was a slave in body and in mind, and under the power of death that Satan held over him, but only as far as God allowed Satan to go.

The Lord became man, and was led by the Spirit to meet the enemy, and overcame him. He had power to bind him, and to spoil his goods, but man turned from God. Yet the Lord went on and accomplished redemption. To do it He suffered death, and rose again, and broke Satan’s power, by glorifying God, and God has glorified Him, setting Him on high over all.

Verses 8-10. “Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” In ascending to heaven, He as man is victoriously placed over all things, and has led captive all the power that previously held man captive. His power is not yet seen in deliverances on earth, as when Satan will be bound, but is now seen in the sovereign grace that gives gifts to men for the assembly. But if He has ascended, what is it but that He first descended as a man into the lower parts of the earth, into the darkness of death and the grave, and now victorious over the enemy’s power, and having borne the judgment of His redeemed ones, and having glorified God in His obedience unto death, He has taken His place in the highest glory of the heavens, thus to fill all things. He that descended as man into the grave, is now as man ascended as the triumphant Redeemer, so that all power is in His hands in a sphere filled with blessing, – God and man in His blessed person. How blessed to belong to Him in that place won by His work of suffering on the Cross! He has gone to the lowest, that He might fill all things with the fruits of the redemption that He accomplished for His assembly, and now gives gifts unto men for the accomplishment of His work of blessing in the assembly. He received them from God the Father for our blessing (Psa. 68:18; Acts 2:33).

Verse 11. “He gave some apostles; and some prophets,” these are the foundation on which the rest are built; “and some evangelists,” whose business is in the gospel of the grace of God which may also be called “Paul’s gospel,” that we believers with Christ are one (Rom. 2:16; 16:25), and “The gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:1,3). Then we have, “and some pastors and teachers,” these are occupied with ministry to the saints; teachers unfolding to them the truth as it is in Jesus, and pastors seeking to shepherd and care for the sheep. It is worthy of notice that the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 are not said to continue, as some are sign gifts, – miracles, tongues, and others – which have passed away. What is spoken of here continues to the end, – that is till everyone is full grown, and that will be when the Lord comes and takes us home.

Verse 12. These gifts were for “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” and continue.

Verse 13. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

It is the work of our glorified Head to minister to His beloved members. All true ministry comes down from Christ in glory; and there is no mention, and therefore no need, of the ordination of man-made ministers, nor of the societies to which such belong.

Verse 14. This ministry was to feed and establish the members of the body so that they would not be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

Verses 15, 16. “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, Christ. From whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase unto the edifying of itself in love.”

May our measure of communion with our Head be deep and real, so that we may help to build up and strengthen those members of the body of Christ that we are in contact with from day to day. Here we may all feel humbled that we are so cold in our heart’s enjoyment, for this is what hinders ministry of this kind to others.

Verses 17-19. We now come to exhortations befitting the doctrine of the epistle, the behavior consistent with our new position and relationship, and it will be the fruit of our life, new creation life in Christ risen and glorified. We have here the dark picture of the state of man’s heart, and the Apostle testifies in the Lord, – that is, by His authority, – that the saints henceforth were not to walk as other Gentiles walk, “in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” This is one of the pictures God draws of the man in the flesh, the mind pursuing vanity, the understanding darkened, alienated from God in ignorance, the heart blinded, past feeling, given up to the pleasures of sin and uncleanness with greediness. How true it is that “in my flesh dwells no good thing.” It is worse than lost time to improve it, for it must always end in disappointment.

(Continued from page 126)

(To be continued)

The Unfinished Song: Revelation 1:5-6; Revelation 14:3

When the heavenly hosts shall gather,

And the heavenly courts shall ring

With the rapture of the ransomed

And the New Song they shall sing,

Though they come from every nation,

Every kindred, every race,

None can ever learn that music

Till he knows God’s pardoning grace.

All those vast eternities to come

Will never be too long

To tell the endless story

And to sing the endless song: –

“Unto Him Who loved us,”

And Who “loosed us from our sin” –

We shall finish it in heaven,

But ’tis here the words begin.

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

We shall sing it o’er and o’er.

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

We shall love it more and more:

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

Song of songs most sweet and dear;

But, if we would know it yonder,

We must learn the music here.

Here, where there was none to save us,

None to help us, none to care,

Here, where Jesus came to seek us,

Lost in darkness and despair,

Here, where on the cross of anguish

He redeemed us from our sins,

Here, where first we know the Saviour,

It is here the song begins;

Here, amid the toils and trials

Of this fleeting earthly life,

Here, amid the din and turmoil

Of this troubled earthly strife,

Here, in suffering and sorrow,

Here, in weariness and wrong,

We shall finish it in heaven,

But ‘tis here we start the song,

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

We must sing it every day,

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

Who is Light and Guide and Way;

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

And Who holds us very dear;

If we’d know it over yonder,

We must learn the music here.

There will be no silent voices

In that ever-blessed throng,

There will be no faltering accents

In that hallelujah song;

Like the sound of mighty waters

Shall the mighty paean be,

When the Lord’s redeemed shall praise Him

For the grace that set them free.

But ‘tis here the theme is written,

It is here we tune our tongue;

It is here the first glad notes of joy

With stammering lips are sung;

It is here the first faint echoes

Of that chorus reach our ear;

We shall finish it in heaven,

But our hearts begin it here.

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

To the Lamb for sinners slain,

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

Evermore the joyful strain,

“Unto Him Who loved us” –

Full and strong and sweet and clear,

But, if we would know it yonder,

We must learn to sing it here.

Reading on 2 Peter 1:2-11: Part 2

In the 5th verse we are told “Besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” None of us want to get the reputation of being lazy in material things. There is a lot in Scripture about being diligent in divine things. In the 11th verse of Romans 12 it should be, “As to diligent zealousness, not slothful.” It has nothing to do with business at all. If you see a young Christian especially devoted, especially godly, you can put it down he didn’t get to be that by going on in an indifferent way. He wasn’t indolent. So this verse says, “Giving all diligence.” There must be purpose of heart. That is true with anything in this world wherein people succeed. People do not stumble into success. It is a matter of hard work; of having a purpose and letting that purpose control and form the soul. Make it a serious business.

There is a word in the 27th Psalm along the same line. 4th verse: “One thing have I desired of the Lord.” So far so good. It is a good thing to have right desires, but that isn’t all of it. “That will I seek after.” That is a very needful part. You say “I would just love to be a real devoted child of God; I don’t want to live a shallow Christian life.” Well, there is the last part of the verse; “That will I seek after.” “Giving all diligence.”

Verse 8: “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I know the Lord doesn’t occupy us with the fruitfulness or unfruitfulness of our lives. But none of us want to be unfruitful. “If these things be in you and abound, ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.” Here is the way to bear fruit; to be a fruitful branch for the Lord Jesus. He loves to feed among the lilies. The Lord finds His delight there. He gets fruit for His own soul. How are we going to bear the fragrance for Him?

Suppose we lack these things? “He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” There is a kind of government of God operative amongst His people. One part of the government of God is this: If a Christian becomes indifferent and worldly-minded, and lets slip divine things, and becomes taken up with this poor world, just in a corresponding measure he loses the consciousness of the blessedness there is in Christ. He doesn’t lose the blessedness, but the consciousness of it. It is possible for a Christian to forget he was purged. He doesn’t even know whether or not he is a child of God. Things just become a blank to him, and he goes on either in utter indifference or in despair. He has forgotten he was purged. That is the government of God among His people. We want to escape that, don’t we? We want to have the constant assurance in the soul that we are headed for glory. Here is the way to get it. “If these things be in you and abound.”

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” God knows we are going to be there, but this is the way to have constantly fresh in our own souls the assurance of it – to make it sure to ourselves. Just as surely as we become careless and find ourselves involved in this world, we lose that assurance, and perhaps even get into a state where we forget we are purged from our old sins. We don’t have to fall. It doesn’t bring any glory to the Lord Jesus for us to fall. It brings dishonor on Him, on the truth, and on the church of God.

“For if ye do these things ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Isn’t that a glorious entrance? That is the privilege of every Christian. It is not a question of endowment, gift or ability, but it is a question of the heart being occupied with the Christ of God; living in the enjoyment of what we have as God’s people, bought with the precious blood of Christ.

I believe each one of us here is privileged to have an abundant entrance. It is put into our own hands. We all know that the ability must come from Him. We know it is a matter of grace from first to last, and none of us are going to take any credit in the matter, but may we not thrust ourselves unreservedly upon Him, and claim the grace He so gladly gives, that we may have the joy of an “abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”?

(Continued from page 134)

Surely I Come Quickly!

Dear Christian reader, how it cheers our pilgrim hearts, when we remember the last words of the Lord Jesus, “Surely, I come quickly.” Revelation 22:20. That One “whom, not having seen ye love” (1 Peter 1:8); He who so loved us as to leave all the glory which He had with the Father from all eternity, and came into this scene, and was here, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). For us! O, what wondrous and unbounded love! We must exclaim.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold....but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb, without blemish, and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19.

And now, having accomplished the work of redemption, in a way which has met both the claims of justice, and the holiness of God, He has taken His seat in glory, but is coming again to claim His purchased possession.

“This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11.

What a precious revelation this is to our hearts, that the same Jesus who had been crucified, was risen, and had been with them forty days, as a proof, to satisfy their hearts: and was then seen to go into heaven, a cloud receiving Him out of their sight; and they were witnesses that He was gone. But now we have the fulfillment of that promised supplication on our behalf: “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” John 14:16. We know the Father has heard His prayer, and answered it, and sent the Holy Spirit down here, to lead us in the light of the Word through this wild desert; but we cannot say it is a trackless one, for that blessed One has trod it, and has left us an example that we should follow in His footsteps. And now that He is on high, He is still occupied with us in our path down here, and looking after our interests for the future; so we can leave all in His hands, for he said,

“Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in Me; in My Father’s house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:1, 2. And thus He leads our hearts on, in anticipation of that moment when He will come again.

O, then, dear reader, let us remember that word, “Set your affection (or mind) on things above, not on things on the earth,” Colossians 3:2, and then we shall be so filled with the beauty and glories of that risen, exalted, and glorified Man, as to see all beauty in Him, and shall be able to say that He is to us the “chiefest among ten thousand.” Song of Solomon 5:10.

Now we have our responsibility-side to look at, whilst our Lord is away, though it must all flow from real love and unhindered communion with Himself; for, “as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” (John 15:4.)

Surely it is our desire to be found in Him, bearing fruit to His honor and glory; and “every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” God is the husbandman, and He is interested that the vine should be fruitful; He wants to get fruit from it, it is what He expects, and looks for. This is why we are left in this scene. The Son, we know, has been cast out of the world, and now we are left to shine as stars in the night for Him. Till that bright morning, when He, that One who addresses Himself to us as, “I, Jesus,” will fulfill that promise, “Surely, I come quickly” (Rev. 22:20), to take us to that place of which we have spoken. Then “there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 22:5), and we shall go no more out.

“The dead in Christ shall first arise

At the last trumpet’s sounding;

Caught up to meet Him in the skies,

With joy their Lord surrounding:

No gloomy fears their soul’s dismay;

His presence sheds eternal day

On those prepared to meet Him.”

Grace

“The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared.” Titus 2:11.

Grace in this distinctive way did not come till Christ came. The law was given (John 1:17), but grace, when it came in, was not given, but came subsisting in the Blessed Person who was there; not simply a message of grace from God, but all His words, all His actions were grace, so that the vilest could come to Him, if they had confidence to do so.

The poor woman who was a sinner came to Simon’s house. Simon scarcely thought the Lord a prophet, but she came and bathed His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

He came to win the confidence of these poor creatures; God Himself, and perfect grace manifested in Him.

Some people say, “I am not afraid of the Saviour, but I am afraid to meet God.”

The reason is that they have never beheld the Divine glory of that Blessed Person who was God, the image of the invisible God.

How do I know what God is like?

By looking at Jesus in all His actions, all His ways.

I was asked to visit a woman whose husband had lately been converted. She had seen the change in him, but was herself afraid of God. She said she was afraid of meeting God, she did not know what He was like. I read with her Luke 7. We went over every detail of that beautiful picture, and at last I said,

“That is God,” With tears running down her cheeks she said,

“If that is God I cannot help trusting Him.”

The Lord came to win the confidence of sinners. God is often presented as at an awful distance, and His Son as coming to reconcile Him to us; but it is an immense thing when we come to see that the invisible God is there! The One we shall know in eternity is the One we have known in time.

“He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” John 14:9.

Correspondence: 1,000 Year Reign Christians; 1 Cor. 6:2-3; Christmas

Question: Are all who live on earth during the thousand years of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, born again? T. H.

Answer: In reading the prophetical scriptures it seems a mistake to think that all are saved, for it is a reign of judgment, the last part of man’s trial.

In Isaiah 11 the land is settled with the Jews who were saved out of the tribulation. The land is full of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; in Jehovah’s holy mountain nothing can hurt or destroy (Verses 1.9; Zech. 13:9).

In Verse 11, He sets His hand to gather the rest of the Jews, and (Verse 12) He sets up an ensign for the nations, and gathers the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of the Jews. When the twelve tribes are gathered in the Land, the new covenant is made (Jer. 31:31-34, and Heb. 8:8-12).

“And so all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26) that is, Israel as a whole (not a remnant, nor every individual).

In Psalm 101; Isaiah 32:1, we find a continual everyday session of judgment. In Isaiah 11:13, Israel is at peace with themselves, and in verse 14 they begin to subdue their enemies, – they go to war in the Lord’s battles, for it is earthly judgment (see Isa. 41:10-16; Jer. 51:20; Mic. 4:13; 5:7, 8; Psa. 149). King David subdues, and Solomon reigns, as types of this time, and Melchisedec greets them on their return with bread and wine (Gen. 14:18).

Though Satan is bound, man’s heart is the same, so judgment of sin and death comes in (Isa. 65:20; Zech. 14:12, 16-19); and when Satan is loosed, an immense multitude come up in rebellion against God (Rev. 20:1-3, 7-9).

The full answer to the finished work of Christ is seen in the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (John 1:29; Col. 1:20; Heb. 9:23; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1.4), but all through the reign of Christ we can trace sin, and judgment following it. Psalm 18:44 (margin) tells us the heathen, when Christ reigns as their Head, yield feigned obedience.

Question: Please explain 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3. L. A. W.

Answer: These verses are part of a rebuke against the worldly behavior of the Corinthian saints, who seem to have been going to law courts against some of themselves. This was shameful for Christians. Those who are destined to reign with Christ, and thus share in governing the world and angels in millennial days, should know now rather to suffer wrong than do such a thing. The following verses will show some instances that we will reign with Christ (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:29, 30; 2 Tim. 2:12; Eph. 1:18; Rev. 2:26, 27; 3:21; 21:12. Read 1 Cor. 6:1 to 8).

Question: What should the believer’s attitude be in regard to Christmas? Does Romans 13:7 apply to it as a custom? D. C.

Answer: Romans 13:1.7 and 1 Peter 2:13, 14 are secular ordinances and laws which we are to observe as citizens or inhabitants of the country.

Galatians 4:10, 11; Colossians 2:16, 20-22 are religious ordinances which have no claim on the Christian as being dead with Christ and risen with Christ, and so is free from the law and all religious ordinances. We have only the Lord’s supper which we observe in remembrance of our Lord in His death.

We do not find in Scripture the day or the month in which Christ our Lord was born. No registry was ever heard of that had His name in it. Even the year can only be calculated from a decree of the Roman Emperor (see Luke 2:1, 2). We cannot therefore keep His birthday.

December 25 has no real claim to be it. That is a heathen feast day to their Idols when the Emperor Constantine favored the Christians. He had part of his army baptized though still unconverted. Their feast days were called church days, and the great feast day was called Christmas. It is therefore a mixture of Romanism and Paganism. Some Christians reverence the day as Christ’s birthday, but with most, it seems a day of feasting and worldly pleasure. Merchants like it because of their increase of business, and the gifts increase their income. The poor too come in for a share at that time, but helping the poor should be whenever we find out their need. It is too bad to keep their gifts from them to celebrate a worldly feast. Christmas has therefore no claim on the obedient Christian (Rom. 12:2).

Saved or Lost?

Walter G – was an energetic young man with ability above the average, and by faithful attention to his work had advanced himself to the position as manager of the important office in which he worked. Thoughtful and well informed on nearly all subjects of the day, a chat with him was profitable and interesting.

Feeling a real interest in his welfare, I often sought to turn the conversation to the way of salvation, and to speak to him of the Saviour who was willing and ready to save him from the judgment of his sins. Pressed more than usual one day he exclaimed,

“O, I know plenty of fine fellows who never think about these things. Do you think they are going to hell?”

I assured him that if they never turned to the Saviour, confessing themselves sinners and trusting in the Saviour and the work He accomplished for the redemption of sinners upon Calvary’s cross, they would certainly be lost for eternity – be consigned to the hell created for Satan and his angels. He was unconvinced.

I am afraid pride in his own ability and integrity, measured by human standards, kept him from acknowledging the truth of God’s Word, which says, “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezek. 18:20), and if ye die in your sins, “Whither I go ye cannot come” (John 8:21-24).

No wonder God’s Word condemns pride (Prov. 6:17), and numbers it among the things that God hates; for how many souls has it not kept away from the Saviour, keeping them self-satisfied with their own goodness, and so not realizing their need of Him as their Saviour. Consequently they fail to avail themselves of the value of the work He accomplished upon Calvary’s cross.

When we reflect, too, on who the Saviour was, God’s own Son, none less than the Creator of the world, and that He became a man in order that He might by His death satisfy the righteous claims of a thrice holy God, who cannot have sin in His presence; and then learn that God was so well pleased with the work He accomplished that He raised Him from the dead and gave Him the highest place in heaven at His own right hand; surely to fail to acknowledge, yea, to slight such a Saviour, is to throw insult in the face of a gracious God, who so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him, should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Soon after this interview Walter G – was driving back to the city from his country home,

It had turned cold and rainy, and overheated by some work he had been doing, he took a chill. Pneumonia rapidly developed, and in a day or two, in spite of all that could be done, he was dead. Friends spoke of his good life, his funeral service was conducted from the grandest cathedral in the city, the choir sang some beautiful hymns, But where was his soul?

Did he ever turn to God as a sinner deserving judgment, and put his trust in the Saviour? If he did, even at the last moment, we know God saved his soul, but he left no evidence of it, and surely his case is a warning of the danger of putting off the settlement of this momentous question.

O reader, whoever you are, “What think you of Christ?” Can you say, “He is my Saviour?” If not, let me beg of you to turn to God now, to believe His word, confess your lost and ruined condition before Him, and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who is waiting and anxious to save you.

Like Sheep

“Like sheep,” saith the Scripture – “All we like sheep have gone astray.” “Like sheep they are laid in the grave; this their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings.” Sinners on their way to death are following their leaders like sheep. Sheep are timid creatures; but let the butcher drag one up his narrow passage, and the flock will follow. And it matters not where the devil is dragging poor sinners, “like sheep,” others will follow.

No one working for the salvation of souls fails to see and mourn over this “like-sheep,” this “follow-the-leader” character in men. Alas! how many, who once professed to seek salvation and peace, have gone down to eternal destruction because they would do what some friend did. “Like sheep” they have gone to the slaughter, although, unlike sheep, they knew, too faithfully, where their friend was going.

This Man Receiveth Sinners!

Luke 15

“Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him.” Reader, have you ever done so? You have heard what others said about Him, who, it may be, knew nothing about Him. You may listen to your own heart which totally misrepresents Him, but have you drawn near unto Him to hear Him? Remember that the hour now is when dead souls are hearing the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear live. It is He who speaks in this wonderful chapter. Draw near unto Him now, and hear Him.

“This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.” Did He deny the charge? No, He admitted it fully – it was His glory to receive them. In doing so the glory of His divine origin shone out. “He could not be hid.” He was in the midst of sinners, How would He treat them? Receive them, of course. How could the Son of such a Father do otherwise? – the Father whose portrait He draws in the third section of this parable. Will He refuse you? Have you ever gone to Him to ask? “I am too bad,” you say. What, too bad to be a sinner? Are you sure you are not too good, but you cannot be too bad. Thank God for that. That robe, that best robe, has covered the chief of sinners, a thief on the cross, a Mary Magdalene, a woman in the city who was a sinner. That Shepherd sought sinners, that “woman” (figure of the Holy Ghost) found them, that Father received them; And art thou too vile? You wrong the blessed Three.

“O, but He was on earth amongst sinners then, and He is in heaven separate from sinners now,” do you say?

But is He changed? Has He ceased to own a Saviour’s heart, or to do a Saviour’s part? Nay, nay, you wrong Him. The very last words He spoke to us from heaven in Revelation 22:16,17, He spoke in the character of “Jesus,” the name He received because “He shall save His people from their sins” – And what did He say? “Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” He wills – Will you?

And why is He in heaven? As the evidence of His finished work accepted. For whom? For sinners.

“The Saviour died, and by His blood

Brought rebel sinners home to God;

He died to set the captives free,

And why, dear soul – why not for thee?”

Scripture Study: Ephesians 4:20-32

Verses 20-24, give the contrast. “But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: (namely) your having put off according to the former conversation the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts; and being renewed in the spirit of your mind; and (your) having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness” (JND). What a change now in the believer! The flesh is still unimproved in him, but now he is set free from its slavery, and he can walk according to the new life, and in the work that God ordained for him to walk (chapter 2:8-10). We have learned Christ, and the truth is in Jesus. He is the Truth. We find it only in Him. So we are to walk in His steps (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6), and put on in our walk what is practically of Him (compare Col. 3:12, 13).

As we go on, we will find these contrasts between what is of the old man to be put off, and what is of the new to be put on practically, we having been quickened together with Christ.

Verse 25. “Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.” We might notice here that the works of the flesh are always false in themselves. It is not merely saying what is not true, but it is also occupation with evil. We might speak of things that took place without a doubt, and still be occupied with evil. Speaking truth is the contrast here, and the truth is in Jesus; it is holiness of truth, and this would be helpful to all, for we are members one of another (see verse 16).

Verses 26-27. To understand these verses we need to contrast 26 with verse 31, for evidently the one is of the new man, and the other is of the old. In the one we are told to be angry, and in the other we are to put anger away. It helps us to look at the Lord Jesus in Mark 3:5. He “looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” This was divine anger against man’s sin. So in verse 26 of our chapter we too are to “Be angry.” The sin in us would be, if we were not angry. So it reads “Be ye angry, and sin not.” It is not fleshly passion. We have heard of some in fleshly temper, when reproved for it, say, “It is righteous indignation.” What we have here is refusal to have fellowship with evil ways or evil doctrine. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,” is like Joshua who said, “Thou sun stand still, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon, till the people be avenged of their enemies.” So we must be always opposed to what is evil; we must not cease being angry, in that way, for if we cease to be angry at sin, we are giving place to Satan, and it says distinctly, “Neither give place to the devil.” The contrast is between what is of God in verse 26, and what is of the flesh in verse 31. It could not mean, as some have thought, that two who had quarreled should make it up before sundown. In quarreling they were allowing the flesh a place, and sinning against the Lord, and disobeying verse 31.

Verse 28. Again, we have the contrast between the selfishness of man as fallen, and of God’s free giving as seen in Christ Jesus. Selfishness seeks to appropriate everything to his own gain. The saints are therefore warned not to steal any more, as they did before conversion, and were still in danger of doing it again, for covetousness is idolatry: it is all for self.

How different with the Lord Jesus who became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich; and God who delights to give, gave for us His only begotten Son, and with Him freely gives us all things (Rom. 8:32). This is to be the principle of our giving. Working with our hands is needful for us, all that is good for our families and necessary things, and then our privilege besides is, that we may have to give to him that needeth, but this also needs to be done with guidance from the Lord who is all wise to know when to give and when to withhold from giving, but the principle frees our motives from selfishness.

Verses 29, 30 are also, important; we need to take care what we say. If it is corrupt, as all of the flesh in us is, it is damaging to those who hear it; it hurts our own communion, and it grieves the Holy Spirit. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” What carefulness we therefore should exercise in our talk, and in our walk, lest our fellowship be broken, though we know even as this verse reminds us, that He will never leave us. We are sealed unto the day of redemption, when our bodies will be changed or raised, and we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, so to be forever with Him.

Verses 31-32. What a contrast is here. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” Thank God, we are no longer slaves of sin. We have the new creation life, and the Holy Spirit, and a new object and pattern. We are now children of obedience, so we can set aside all the foregoing, and now practice the following, “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake (or God in Christ) hath forgiven you.”

How vast, how full, how free, His mercy has been in forgiving love! Let us follow His example in this also.

(Continued from page 155)

Knowing Him

“That I May Know Him.” Philippians. 3:10

Lord, let me talk to Thee of all I do,

All that I care for, all I wish for too;

Lord, let me prove Thy sympathy, Thy power,

Thy loving oversight from hour to hour.

When I need counsel, let me ask of Thee,

Whatever my perplexity may be;

It cannot be too small for me to bring

To One who marks the sparrow’s drooping wing.

Nor too terrestrial, since Thou hast said,

The very hairs are numbered on our head;

Tis through such loopholes that the foe takes aim

And sparks unheeded burst into a flame.

Do money troubles press? Thou canst resolve

The doubts and dangers such concerns involve;

Are those I love the cause of anxious care?

Thou canst unbind all burdens they may bear.

Before the mysteries of Thy Word and will,

Thy voice can gently bid my heart be still;

Since all that now is hard to understand,

Thou wilt unravel in your heavenly land.

Or do I mourn the sore besetting sin –

The tempter’s wiles, which mar the peace within?

Present Thyself, Lord, as our great High Priest,

By whom confessing, we go forth released.

Do weakness, weariness, disease invade

This earthly house which Thou, Thyself, hast made?

Thou only, Lord, can touch the hidden spring

Of mischief, and attune the jarring string.

Would I be taught what Thou wouldst have me give,

The needs of those less favored to relieve?

Thou canst so guide my hand that I shall be

A liberal, cheerful giver, Lord, like Thee.

Of my life’s mission do I stand in doubt?

Thou knowest! Thou canst clearly point it out,

Whither I go, do Thou Thyself decide,

And choose the friends and servants at my side.

The books I read would I submit to Thee:

Let them refresh, instruct and solace me,

I would converse with Thee from day to day,

With heart intent on what Thou hast to say.

Since Thou art willing thus to condescend

To be my intimate, familiar friend,

O! let me to the great occasion rise,

And count Thy friendship, life’s most glorious prize.

Helper or Hinderer

Every one of God’s people is a helper or a hinderer of the Lord’s work. A listless believer affects his fellows for indifference; an energetic man instills energy into others. Men are more like sheep than they think. If one of the flock runs, the whole will soon be in motion.

Faith Healing: Part 1

(A Reply to W. J. H.)

Most of the scriptures you quote are in the Old Testament, and refer to the dealings of God in that governmental dispensation. Exodus 15:26 was a promise to that people. They were to be blessed here in this world, if they did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Their blessing was conditional on obedience. This is more fully explained to them in Deuteronomy 33. The Lord is clearly the healer of the body, “For I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Exodus 15:26. Indeed all these blessings have reference to the body here on earth.

But to apply this to the Christian would be a great mistake. We are blest, not with earthly blessings, but “with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, in Christ” (Eph. 1:3-7). When Jesus left His little flock on earth, He gave no promise that they should, if obedient, be exempt from tribulation; but He said in the world they would have it. And the more obedient they have been to His word, the more has the world hated them and persecuted them. The most obedient and devoted servant of Christ could say, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble,” (2 Cor. 1:3-6).

May it not be said to some, “Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth,” (see Heb. 12:5-8). Is it not a great mistake to suppose that absence of chastening is a proof that we are right? It would rather prove we were deceived. This may be what Satan is aiming at in all this.

Exodus 23:25 is a similar promise to Israel, “And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.... and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come.”

How important to bear in mind the difference of dispensation in the dealings of God! One would think no one could apply such a scripture to Christians. And it is a serious thing to say we are Jews, when we are not, but do lie (Rev. 3:9). To the Jew, affliction was a mark of rebuke; to the Christian it may be a token of love to one whom He loves.

You will perceive the next scripture given is of the same character, and could not possibly be applied to us now. “And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee: thine eye shall have no pity upon them,” etc. Deuteronomy 7:15, 16. This was God’s governmental dealings in that dispensation. Can any one suppose it is in this period of infinite grace to man?

We will now look at your next; and a most solemn scripture it is: “And Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great; yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” 2 Chronicles 16:12. Now here was a man of God who had committed the very common sin of making alliance with the world. He made a league with Ben-hadad, king of Syria. He gave him silver and gold; he relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on Jehovah (see verse 7). He was then rebuked by the prophet Hanani, “Herein hast thou done foolishly.” Did he repent at the word of the Lord? Far from it! He, in his folly, persecuted the prophet. And now the Lord, in His love to him, afflicts him in his feat. Does he now repent, and turn to and rely on the Lord?

No, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.

And as Elihu says, “Lo, all these things worketh God often times with man. To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living” (Read Job 33, 34).

God’s gracious object in such cases, and they are common, when a believer has sinned, is to bring him to repentance and confession (See James 5:13-16, and 1 John 5:16). And how often may you see a Christian like Asa. He fails grievously, and refuses to bow to his Father’s afflicting hand. He gets chafed and angry. If it is in his circumstances, he will borrow money wherever he can get it, and thus struggle against the hand of God. And if it is affliction of the body, he may struggle against God in the same disobedient spirit. He refuses for a time to rely on God his Father, and to return to Him, in confession and humiliation.

It is not going to the physician that is so wrong, but the state of his soul in doing so, as to his sin, and the Lord’s claims. Nay, where there is brokenness of spirit, as in the case of Hezekiah, as he explains this matter when he had been sick, the Lord may use the physician – indeed he used Isaiah as a physician. No doubt there was faith, but there was also a plaster made of a lump of figs laid upon the boil (Isa. 38:21). And are there not many physicians who never go to see a patient but who first look to the Lord for guidance, as to what remedy they will prescribe?

Afflictions are not always because of some failure. This was not the case in Hezekiah (Isa. 38). His history up to this point is beautiful and refreshing to read. But the Lord saw a great temptation coming upon him, in the letters, and flatteries, and presents of the king of Babylon. His affliction and restoration should have prepared him against the seductions of the enemy. If we are not conscious of some sin, for which the Lord is afflicting us in His love, let us take it as a warning, and look to the Lord for increased watchfulness, lest we are entangled in the flatteries of Babylon. In every one of these Old Testament histories we see a picture of our own experience.

The writer looks back over more than half a century of the experience of his own failures and God’s goodness, and he can say, “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” Psalm 119:71. Deep humiliation, surely, becomes him that he needed those afflictions but he could not have done without them, and would not have been without them. The Lord doeth all things well. But we hope shortly to turn to the New Testament scriptures you refer to; in the meantime, let us remember that, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” Psalm 34:19.

(To be continued)

The Christian's Path in the World

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable (or intelligent) service; and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1-2

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

It was from the Scriptures that he was made wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). By the Scriptures he knew that his sins were all put away, and that he had received eternal life (Acts 10:43; 13:38, 39; John 5:24; 1 John 5:13); from being a lost, ruined, guilty sinner (Rom. 3:23, 9-19); having no hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12).

But now all such are children of God (Gal. 3:26; 1 John 3:1, 2); they are made members of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12, 13); and the Holy Spirit ever dwells in them as temples of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:19), shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts (Rom. 5:5); helping them to understand, and to enjoy their place and portion in Christ, and to have Christ as their object to live for day by day; His love their constraining power to do His will (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

How different believers in Christ, therefore, are from the world, and what they are to aim at is to follow Christ, and to be like Him. They can sing as their desire,

“Like Thee in faith, in meekness, love,

In every beauteous grace:

From glory into glory changed

Till we behold Thy face.”

How different in God’s sight is the believer from the unsaved world. The one is light, the other is darkness; the one is righteousness, the other is unrighteousness; the one is Christ (life), the other is Belial, or worthless to God (2 Cor. 6:14, 15); the one is reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10); the other is alienated in mind by wicked works (Col. 1:21).

Believers walk in the light, and are to follow the One who loved them and gave Himself for them, constrained by that love to live no longer to themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again (2 Cor. 5:14,15). If therefore, they are to follow Him, they must learn where He is,

“If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be; if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.” John 12:26. May we be learners at His feet like Mary (Luke 10:38-42), so that we may rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).

The kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev. 11:10), and He will reign from shore to shore, unto earth’s remotest bounds (Psa. 72).

Israel was God’s elect nation, and they expected their Messiah at the time Jesus was born (Isa. 9:6, 7), but they did not discern that He was first to suffer before these glories would come to Him. Psalm 22; Isaiah 53, tell of His atoning sufferings as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He therefore allowed men to manifest the wickedness of their hearts (true of all our hearts by nature) in rejecting, scourging, crowning Him with thorns, and crucifying Him.

At the same time, He was, through the eternal Spirit, offering Himself to God, making atonement for sin, and on the cross He cried, “It is finished,” then bowed His head and gave up His spirit to the Father. The world gave Him a cross and a grave! But God raised Him from the dead, thus declaring His satisfaction in all His blessed Son had accomplished in bearing the judgment and breaking the enemy’s power (Heb. 2:14, 15). He is now exalted, crowned with glory and honor at God’s right hand, waiting till His enemies be made His footstool (Psa. 110).

The rejection and crucifixion of Christ, and the malice and hatred of the Jews, were made the occasion by God to work out His purposes of Grace, purposes hidden in God before the foundation of the world (Eph. 3:3-10; Rom. 16:25, 26). Instead of setting up His millennial kingdom, the Holy Ghost was given (Acts 2:33) to those waiting believers in Jerusalem, and they were thus baptized into one body – this was the beginning of the church of God (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

This truth was first unfolded to Paul the Apostle. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament. In types and figures we can see it now, but never before Paul was converted, except that our Lord spoke of it in Matthew 16 as still future, “I will build My church.” This present period from Pentecost till Christ comes for His heavenly people, is the time when by the preaching of the gospel, God is calling out from the world, and adding to Christ as Head, all true believers who have believed the gospel to the salvation of their souls (Eph. 1:13).

The Christian is therefore called out from the world by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8; 2 Tim. 1:9). Our Lord’s words are, “They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.” He has sanctified (that is, set apart) Himself, that they also might be set apart through the truth. Holy and heavenly is their character and position now (John 17:9; Heb. 3:1),

Up to Noah’s day there were no laws or rulers and, the earth was filled with violence and corruption (Gen. 6:11). After the flood, Noah was appointed as chief ruler (Gen. 9).

Ever since then, in every country, the powers that be for the government of the peoples, were and are ordained of God. This we see in Romans 13:1-6; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-15. In these verses Christians are exhorted to be subject to these powers, and it is noticeable that Christianity in the Word of God does not interfere with the laws of the land to change them for what might seem better. They are like foreigners, subject to the laws, and not interfering with them.

Paul the Apostle sent Onesimus a runaway slave back to his Christian master Philemon. Paul owned the legal claim, but counted on grace to send him back to Paul again, not as a slave but as a brother beloved in the Lord. (Read that beautiful letter to Philemon.)

In Ephesians 6, and Colossians 4, the slave is exhorted to serve his master as if he was serving Christ (see also 1 Cor. 7:21-22). The master was not commanded to set them free, but was to treat them as having a Master himself.

All this shows the difference between the world and the Christian as subject to the laws of the land, but not taking part in the government. If Christians follow their Lord, they will share His rejection.

“To you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Philippians 1:29. But what blessedness their portion is in Him (Eph. 1:3).

What then has the Christian to do with the world? He has his place to fill in it for his Lord, in his business, in his household, and in the church of God (Col. 3:17), and he owes to the world a testimony of Christ as Saviour.

In Philippians 3:20, “Our conversation,” means, our citizenship, our associations of life are in heaven; we are distinctly a heavenly people. We have been taken out, and then sent back as the Father sent the Son (John 17:18; 20:21). We are strangers and pilgrims now (1 Peter 2:11). Our home is not yet reached, we are on the journey, and since this is the language of the Christian, how could he consistently join the forces of this world to accomplish their objects. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6) declares to them.

In Lot’s case, it was the downward track. He pitched his tent toward Sodom, then he lived in it, then ran for Judge, and sat in the gate, but in trying to improve the world besmeared himself, and his testimony was ruined, – he was saved as by fire. What a history was his! Let believers take warning.

God is still allowing this age to run on. Is it improving in any way? Inventions increase, but human life is of little value; evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. No, it does not improve morally, God is forgotten, and men are hurrying into eternity, deluded by the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:3,4). How is it? The world did not vote for Christ, they chose Barabbas instead of Jesus. They put in the wrong man, and are still doing so. Ezekiel 21:27 declares.

“I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.”

Why then should the Christian defile himself by dabbling in things that belong to the citizens of earth? Why not stand up for the Lord, and give out His gospel as the only means to put men right? They cannot put the world right, but God still waits in long suffering grace, and bears with it, and so must the Christian, but he cannot mix with the world without being defiled. It is surely their duty and privilege to keep their hearts for Christ, engaging their souls in what is for His glory, and the advancement of His heavenly kingdom.

The coming of the Lord draws nigh, and His coming will close this present age of grace, then God will begin to deal with this world, – with Israel and with the Nations. Christ the Lord will reign in righteousness till every knee shall bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal beings, and every tongue shall confess Him, – Jesus Christ the Lord – to the glory of God the Father. And wonderful to think of it, we shall be with Him in it all as His heavenly companions, His body and His bride (Rev. 21).

Let Christians awake out of the worldliness the whole church has sunk into. It is only the gospel that can help ruined, helpless sinners. Without Christ all are lost. Do not waste your time. Let the world mind its own things.

“Let the potsherds of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth.” Isaiah 45:9. Our Lord Jesus says still, “Follow thou Me, and I will make thee fishers of men.” Then we will share in the mind of heaven, and the Lord Jesus shall be glorified.

Men are seeking their own glory, drinking in the old lie of the serpent, “Ye shall be as gods.” When too late they will learn that they are “but men” (Psa. 9:20).

If you are trying to improve the world, your time will be wasted, your soul will be vexed, the righteous judgment of God will fall upon it. His wrath upon them for their sins, and above all for their treatment of His Son will surely come. All the world gave Him was a cross and a grave!

There is yet no compulsion for the child of God to vote, or to take part in the world’s management. If the law made it compulsory, then he could vote, unless it involved disobedience to the Word of God.

Then let the Christian keep himself in the love of God, and in happy separation to honor the name of the Lord Jesus. Our warfare is not with men, but with spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.

Our blessed Lord went through the rejection and the suffering, before He was crowned with glory and honor; and by His grace may we carry ourselves, choosing rather to share His sufferings, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are only for a short season.

May we seek grace to follow our worthy Lord and Master. All glory be to His Name!

Correspondence: Jude 21; 1 Cor. 11:27; Christ in the 1,000 Year Reign

Question: What does “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” mean? (Jude 21). N.

Answer: “Eternal life” is seen here at the end of our journey. “Mercy” is needed in such dark days as Jude pictures, to keep us true and faithful to the Lord, when so many who once seemed bright and happy, have turned aside. When we are with the Lord, there will be no danger then of going astray. We shall eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God, and shall be perpetually in the enjoyment of the eternal life.

Question: What is it to eat and drink unworthily (1 Cor. 11:27)? B.

Answer: Those Corinthian saints were treating the symbols of a dead Christ in an unworthy manner. So may we, if we lose the reality of thinking of Him in death for us, and it becomes to us only a form or religious ceremony. It may bring us as His children under the discipline of the Father’s hand. (See verses following.)

Question: Will Christ actually reign on the earth during the thousand years? Will He sit on the throne of David personally? P. R. J.

Answer: Zechariah 14:4 is the only scripture we know of that affirms positively that His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. In Revelation 5:10, where it reads,

“They shall reign on the earth”, we learn that the more exact translation is “over” the earth.

Christ as Son of Man with His heavenly company of redeemed ones, will reign over the earth. There are many scriptures that tell that the church and the heavenly saints will reign with Him, both in the Old Testament types, and in the New. Genesis 1:26, is the first, “Let them have dominion.” In Matthew 25:21, 23, “I will make thee ruler over many things”; Luke 19:17,19, “Be thou over five cities” (see Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30; 1 Cor. 6:2, 3; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21).

It is a great thing that God has purposed for us in making us companions for His Son (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:1, 3). In Ephesians 1:18, God wants us to understand, “what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” is. The saints are not His inheritance, but their inheritance is to hold the inheritance for Him (verse 11), and in Revelation 21:9 we see “the bride the Lamb’s wife” as a governing city. In verse 2 we see her as the object of His affections, but from 21:9 to 22:5, we see her as the display of His glory in government, “coming down from God out of heaven,” yet not on the earth. Christ is the center; the church is with Him in glory, yet recognized by those on earth (verses 24, 26). The Son of Man is Lord of heaven and earth (Psa. 8; John 1:51; Matt. 26:64).

We see a picture or sample of it in the transfiguration scene (Matt. 17, and Luke 9). Moses and Elijah, – the dead raised and the living changed – are with Him, the Lord in glory. Peter, James and John on earth, picture for us the earthly part of the kingdom. It is the kingdom in mystery now; it will be the kingdom in power then.

What Can Take Away Your Sins?

“I was taken suddenly ill, and lay unconscious for two days,” said a man to me, with whom I had a conversation a few days ago.

He had been at death’s door, as people say, but, through mercy, had recovered again. He freely admitted that it was a very serious thing to be called to meet God, that life was very uncertain, and that eternity was a solemn reality indeed.

“And can you tell me now how a man can have his sins forgiven – What can take away all our sins and make us fit for the presence of God?” I said.

After a moment or two he replied, “I believe it is by going to church.”

“Where do you find that in the Bible?” I asked.

To this question he made no reply. Taking out a Testament I read for him the words,

“The blood of Jesus Christ His (God’s) Son cleanseth us from all sin,” and sought to impress upon him the fact that the only thing which could cleanse from sin, and give peace with God, was the blood: not our doing or righteousness, but what Christ has done for us upon the cross. Yet this very man had been present at meetings held in a house not far from where he lives, at which the words of the well-known hymn were sung:

“What can wash away my stain?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

So little did he appear to have taken in the truth contained in those words, which I suppose he had sung himself, or at least heard others sing.

O, fellow-traveler to eternity, be in earnest! Your immortal soul’s destiny hangs in the balance. The sands of time are sinking; eternity with all its great realities is coming. How many of your friends and acquaintances can you not recount who have already passed the confines of time, and have entered eternity; and you too must pass also! Time is but like a dewdrop, a speck, compared to eternity, which is like a boundless ocean. Are you ready for it? If not, listen to the Word of God:

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18.

“It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11.

“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Ephesians 1:7,

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages! hid in Thee,

I am now from judgment free;

Thou hast borne the cross and shame;

Thine the judgment, mine the blame;

Rock of Ages; hid in Thee,

Judgment hath no fears for me.

Chosen in the Well-beloved,

Whose perfections God hath proved;

What although the tempests roar,

Sounding billows lash the shore;

All God’s billows, all His waves,

Surged against the Rock that saves.

Lo! the earthquake’s fearful shock,

Heaves the ground and rends the rock:

Rock-built towers and cities fall,

Death and ruin threaten all!

Though man’s hopes prove sinking sands,

Firm the Rock of Ages stands!

Persecution’s fires blaze high,

Saints must faithless be or die;

Men and Satan, in their wrath,

Seek to sweep them from their path:

But, when conies seek the rock,

Vain the wicked rage or mock.

Blest are they who, lost, undone,

Rest by faith on God’s dear Son;

Blest who take, through precious blood,

Refuge in the Eternal God;

They, by truth, are thus made free,

Rock of Ages! hid in Thee.

A Great Only

How often we use the word only! “It is only for a little,” “only once,” and so on; and how often the thought that only a little longer and we shall be with the Lord cheers on the believer. Again, looking ahead, and taking thought for the morrow, as we often do in spite of Matthew 6:34, how often we find what we dreaded most, was only meant for our blessing!

Many things too we dread are only blessings in disguise.

Standing a while ago by the deathbed of a young woman dying of consumption, I said to her, by way of comfort, “It is only to be with Christ,” alluding to her death, which took place that day. “Ah,” said she, “that is a great only.” I was struck with the words, and have thought since how true. It is indeed a great only.

Reader, have you ever thought of death like that? As only to be with Christ? Have you ever thought of what that only involves? “In Thy presence is fullness of joy,” we find in Psalm 16:11. To be with Christ, is to have every wish, every desire, satisfied.

Again, it is only the blood of Jesus can give you a title to heaven, or make you fit to go there (1 John 1:7). It is only through His name you can be saved (Acts 4:10-12). It is only sinners Jesus saves (Luke 5:32). It was God’s only begotten Son who died on the cross (John 3:16), that not only we might not perish, but have everlasting life. And, in conclusion, I would say to any poor doubting sinner, what the Lord said to Jairus in Mark 5:36, “Be not afraid, only believe.”

Scripture Study: Ephesians 5

Verses 1, 2. “Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice unto God for a sweet smelling savor.”

In the closing verse of chapter 4, we saw how God would lead us to act toward each other, as He had done to us in forgiving love, – kind and compassionate toward offenders. We can read the last sentence, “Even as God in Christ hath forgiven you.”

It turns our thoughts to how much it cost the Father to give up His Son to death, – for nothing less would atone for sins; and how much it cost our blessed Saviour to bear that judgment that we deserved, and now, in a minor way (for Christ is alone in the work of atonement), we can be for others an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. We are to be thus imitators of God, as dear children, walking in love.

How short we come in this. If we get our eye off Christ, we are sure to be overcome of evil, instead of overcoming evil with good (Rom. 12:21).

Still we must not get discouraged by past failures, but seeking grace to set the flesh aside, pursue our heavenly way, seeking to walk in the love we see in our blessed Lord and Head. When our souls are consciously in His company, how easy it is to look over what seems to the flesh to be hard knocks or affronts, and answer in love and forgiving grace, which adds to the saint the godly character of these verses.

Verses 3-4, teach us to avoid letting our minds dwell on evil and its doings. If we have to do with these, there must be self-judgment at the same time as we judge it in others (Num. 19:21). Then not only filthiness, but also foolish talking and jesting, are not convenient, and grieve the Holy Spirit, so it is added, “but rather giving of thanks.” With this we are reminded of the character and doom of all who are unsaved.

Verses 5-6. Those mentioned here have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” How fearful the doom of unrepentant sinners. God has made a clear line of demarcation between us and them.

Verses 7-8. “Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” They are darkness, and we were that at one time.

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”

The believer is a child of light. He has had to do with God about his sins; his whole life has been laid bare before Him, and like the woman in John 4, he can say to others about the Lord Jesus,

“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”

And now we walk in the light! this is our place now, and we are to take care to walk as children of light, that is, walking before God from day to day; keeping short accounts, letting nothing rest on our consciences unconfessed, thus maintaining a good conscience from day to day.

Verse 9. “(For the fruit of the Spirit [light is the word here] is in all goodness and righteousness and truth)”. These are what suits those who walk with God.

Verses 10-12. “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” This is the great thing in our walk, and then he adds, “and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” We cannot always reprove them openly, but we can keep aloof, and not allow ourselves to enjoy the filthy conversation of the wicked, and in thus preserving our souls, show our distaste for these things. “For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.”

Verse 13. “But all things that are reproved (having their true character exposed) are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.” Our blessed Lord in John 3:19, 20 said, “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil, for every one that doeth evil hateth the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (exposed in their true character).

Verses 14-17. “Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from (among) the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (or, shine upon thee). This verse calls on the believer to awake. He has gone to sleep in worldliness; he is not dead, but being asleep, he does not profit by the light. And the call of the Lord here is that He might Himself be the light to fill their soul, and reveal to them the full knowledge of that which is well-pleasing to God – that which He loves to see in His children. See therefore that “ye be not unwise,” walking carefully, and not as foolish ones, but laying hold of every good opportunity to use it for the Lord; this is what “redeeming the time” means.

“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

Verses 18-21. “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” Wine here takes in all that includes exhilaration or worldly excitement. Believers were to be filled with the Spirit. He dwells in each believer. He is the seal (chap. 4:30). To be filled with the Spirit, is that He should take possession of our affections, our thoughts, our understanding. He will engage our hearts with Christ, and we shall be speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord, and sustained by His grace, our hearts will render thanks to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, gladly submitting ourselves to each other in the fear of God.

Verses 22-24. This heavenly character of consistent Christian life is to be carried out in earthly relationships, and these relationships instituted by God at the beginning, we find for us also a picture of our heavenly relationships. So here we find in the wife’s submission to her husband, it is to be done as unto the Lord. “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the assembly. He is the Saviour (preserver) of the body. Therefore as the assembly is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” This place of submission of the wife, helps to the unfolding of the love of Christ as the Nourisher and Preserver; as Head over all things to her.

Verses 25-30. The husband’s love to his wife is to have the character of Christ’s love to His assembly; he can never reach the measure of Christ’s love.

We find His precious love told out here in three steps in its work; what it has done in the past; what it is doing now, and what it will yet accomplish in result. He gave Himself for the assembly; He now sanctifies and cleanses it. He will present it to Himself all glorious. It is all Himself; He loved, He gave Himself in the joy of possessing the bride which the Father gave Him before the world was, and for her very existence He had to go into the deep sleep of death on the cross (Gen. 2:21), “for except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone” (John 12:24), and now, in the same love, He is sanctifying and cleansing her by the washing of water by the Word.

There is no failure in this work of love, all must be, will be, completed according to His power in glory, and the Holy Spirit is here gathering up, and leading home to the Lamb of God His Bride. He must and will supply every grace needed for her welfare along the home journey.

His love is a deep fountain of inexhaustible rich blessing that not only meets our need as sinners, but will accomplish what He has in view, making us suited to be His companions in glory, and so we ought to take all His dealings with us now, as all working out our web of life with a view to our place with Him on high. So His Word is ministered to our souls, His love chastens us, and proves us that the trying of our faith, more precious to Him than the gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto His praise and honor and glory in the future day. All goes on with the blessed end in view that He will present it to Himself a glorious assembly.

God presented Adam’s bride to Adam. Christ presents His bride to Himself. She has been the longed-for object of His love down through the ages, and then the moment will be reached when He will present it to Himself a glorious assembly without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

“So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ the assembly, for we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones,” and we are one Spirit with the Lord.

Verse 31. The mystery that we are one with Christ is here illustrated in the indissolubility of the marriage tie.

Verses 32, 33. We are united to Him in bonds that never can be severed, though our unfaithfulness now may bring a cloud over our minds regarding it. And so the husband is exhorted to love his wife even as himself – as Christ loves the assembly; and the wife is to see that she reverences her husband, as the assembly should be subject to Christ.

Fragment: He Careth for You

“The God which fed me all my life long unto this day.” Genesis 48:15.

Has not God provided liberally for you? You never eat, but mercy carves for you; you never go to bed, but mercy draws the curtains, and sets a guard of angels about you. “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7.

Faith Healing 2: Part 2

Reply to W. L.,

We will now look at the passages in the New Testament.

Matthew 8:17. Indeed this chapter is a blessed revelation of Jesus entering in sympathy into all the sufferings of humanity. His tender heart felt it all, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”

If we turn to the place in Isaiah 53, we find the distinct line drawn betwixt His life-suffering and sympathies, and His atoning death. He was despised and rejected by the Jewish nation in verses 1-3. Then in verse 4, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Then in the following verses His atonement, “But He was wounded for our transgressions. . .”

It is a subject that gives great comfort to our souls, to see thus that He not only bare our sins, but also our griefs and sorrows; He entered into them, bare them, made them His own. Every sorrow and affliction we feel, He in sympathy bore them first. Thus in His living ministry, as in Matthew 8:17, we see Him in tender sympathy casting out evil spirits and healing all that were sick. So in the other scripture you point out, Mark 9:23; only here it is the terrible case of a child possessed of an evil spirit: and this was a case which He alone could deal with, and the father’s faith must own this.

It is a very affecting case; surely no Christian doubts for a moment that the Lord Jesus both had, and manifested His power to heal the sick, to cast out devils, and to raise the dead. Life, death, and the elements of nature were all subject to Him, for He is God over all, blessed for evermore. He acted in divine sovereignty in the exercise of this healing power. Indeed, such had been the display of miraculous power even in the prophets, as He Himself shows in the case of Naaman, and the widow of Sarepta.

We find the same sovereignty in the action of the Holy Ghost since He has been sent down from heaven. “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will.” (Heb. 2:4). Then also the same divine sovereignty is seen in 1 Corinthians 12 “To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit.” Thus the Godhead of the Holy Ghost is seen in connection with this same question – “As He will.”

Thus so far we learn that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, He exercised the power of healing. And further, when He had finished the work of redemption, and, though rejected on earth, was received up to heaven, He then sent down the Holy Ghost, who, in His divine sovereignty, imparted the power, or rather, gift of healing to whom He would.

Now we must not ignore the Holy Spirit, as is often the case; and act and argue as if Jesus was still on earth in His body, as He was once, to heal the sick. We must not forget, that He, having accomplished redemption, and risen from the dead, an entire new order of things has been introduced by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. If you will look through the Acts you will find that the gift to heal the sick was limited to the apostles and a few others. James 5:14-16 is quite a different matter. It is the prayer of faith on the confession of our faults one to another. The church of God was then still in its unity; but now, Where is either the church in its unity, or the elders of the church?

Do we see then that the Holy Ghost is pleased, in these days of sad division and utter failure, to impart to any man or men the gift of healing? Surely we might suspect any man who made such pretensions. That the Lord is pleased to answer earnest believing prayer, is surely true, as every Christian holds.

The deduction from the above scriptures is “that Christ is the Saviour for the body as well as for the soul. And if the health of the body is defective, He also is the only one to restore it.” Yes, He is the giver of every grain of wheat also. But does that imply that there must be no farmers, millers, or bakers? He uses the means to supply our needs. And does He not bless the means used in infirmaries, hospitals, and so on; we do not find in the scriptures, the setting up of faith infirmaries to set broken bones, or cure sickness.

We do not doubt that every blessing to man flows through Christ’s atoning death, but that does not imply that all medicine and medical skill must be laid aside, and that we must expect to be healed by faith, any more than that we may dispense with food and expect to eat our dinner by faith.

Yet the Lord Jesus when here below, did both heal the sick, and feed the hungry; and the Holy Ghost, who is still on earth, “dividing to every man severally as He will,” did whilst the church remained in its unity impart the gift of healing. But in these last days you find the pretension of such power more in connection with some delusion of Satan, as in spiritualism.

Only very lately a book was sent us from a spiritualist, a converser with demons, who denied the atonement of the Lord Jesus; and yet was a wonderful medium of power to heal the sick; giving you abundant cases equal to any of Bethshan. There could be no doubt this was the direct work of Satan.

Of the other scriptures you name, 1 Corinthians 13:8 certainly shows that miraculous gifts would fail or cease. But love never faileth. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. What a blessed fact! We have not to love Him in order that He may love us. We have not to serve Him in order that the Holy Ghost may be given us. But we must ever remember we are not to judge of that love by things under the sun; for whom He loveth He chasteneth. Now in all ministry love is of immense importance. Thus between the sovereign distribution of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, and their exercise in chapter 14, we have this chapter of love (13) coming in between. The Lord grant that we may ever follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts. We need this all the more, as Satan is busy preparing the way for antichrist (See 2 Thess. 2:3-12). Yes, every movement of the present day is either preparing the way for antichrist, or leading the true saints of God to wait for His Son from heaven. “The Spirit and the bride, say, come!” as well as great, find what it is to “be still and know that He is God.”

(Continued from Page 186)

Copy the Fishes

“Can you tell me what becomes of the fishes during a storm?” asked an old Christian man of some children one day. It seemed they had never thought of them in that time, and though rather struck by the question, were unable to find an answer.

He then told them that however wild the storm at sea, there was always an under-current of peaceful water (as it was only the surface which got troubled), and the fishes went down into it, and hid in the rocks beneath.

He drew from this little story a beautiful picture of Christians, who, however great their trials and difficulties, could always be at peace, even amid the “storms,” while trusting in the Lord Jesus, the “Rock of Ages.”

How comparatively few, though, do rest in Him, but, on the contrary, go with the tide of their difficulties, and so get crushed beneath the storm. Would that everyone knew the sweetness of “casting all our care upon Him who cares for us,” and who would have His people without carefulness; and having committed their way unto the Lord in things small as well as great, find what it is to “be still and know that He is God.”

The World and Its Politics: He Brought Him to an Inn

Observe, He did not bring him home. This He would do later. But all things in their season. Presently the Father’s house, its light, its love, its song; but now for a season the inn.

And what is the inn? It is the character the world assumes to us who know the Lord. He is that “certain Samaritan” who by no chance, but of full purpose and design, came our way – came where we were – and, seeing us in all our misery and ruin, saved us.

He brings us to an inn. Tis but the stopping place for a night. Soon the morning breaks: soon the Lord will return and take us hence. We look for Him. Our expectation lies beyond the stopping place.

No traveler engages himself extensively or intimately in the affairs of the inn. That business he leaves to those who are vitally connected with it.

Dear young Christian, did you ever chance to spend the night at some such place? Did you spend any leisure moments that were yours in the adorning of the room assigned you?

Did you polish the doorknob, or clean the windows? Did you rearrange the furniture? You did not. Your heart was not there. Your interests lay beyond.

And if, in addition, you knew the place to be condemned – if it were soon to be pulled down – soon to be demolished – your interest in it would be still less. If its owners were to attempt to engage you in efforts for its improvement, and were to submit problems to you concerning it, you would think this most odd, and probably would not scruple to say so.

“No,” you would say, “I am only here for the night. I am really not interested. Anyhow I understand the whole building is soon to be pulled down!”

This world, then, is that stopping place. We are only in it for the night.

“A little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Hebrews 10:37.

The character of the world is bad. Scripture declares it an “evil world” (Eph. 1:4). It tells us “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (or “in the wicked one” 1 John 5:19). It tells us “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof,” Satan is its prince. The Lord acknowledged this (John 14:30).

Moreover, it is condemned. Sentence has been pronounced. God has done with it. He tested man four thousand years, but He tests him no longer. The cross of Christ brought all to a climax. Hear the verdict from His lips who cannot lie, “Now is the judgment of this world.” John 12:31.

We are straitly warned against it. “Love not the world,” thunders the aged Apostle John, “neither the things which are in the world. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him.” Again James declares “the friendship of the world is enmity against God.” James 4:4.

Shall we participate in the affairs of a scene like this? Do pilgrims cast vote in the countries through which they pass? Do strangers meddle with the governments of lands to which they do not belong? And does not 1 Peter 2:11 tell us that such we are – “pilgrims and strangers”? We are told repeatedly that we are “not of this world” (that is, no part of its system). (See John 15:19; 17:14, 16). We are in the world but not of it. (John 17:18).

Where is our home land? Of what country are we citizens? Let Philippians 3:20 give us the answer: “Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour.” The saints of God are our fellow-citizens (Eph. 2:19) and like the goodly company of Hebrews 11:13-16, we, confessing that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, seek “a better country.”

We observe also that the Lord Himself, when here in this scene, never interfered in its politics, nor attempted to regulate its government. He never cast a vote. Are we wiser than He?

In His days, Palestine was under the iron heel of Rome. He made no protest, He did not demur, though doubtless agitation against this tyrannical power would have made Him very popular with the masses.

He sanctioned the paying of tribute money to Caesar, though that ruler was both murderer and idolater.

When John the Baptist was slain, Jesus did not lift up His voice against Herod, though this was a crime of the first magnitude. The sorrow-stricken disciples of John come and acquaint Him with the outrage. Jesus makes no protest. He attempts no interference. Again, one asks, are we wiser than He?

What attitude, then, should we take towards the government of the land in which we find ourselves? An attitude of submission, of obedience. We are to submit “to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” 1 Timothy 2:2.

We are to pay our taxes (Rom. 13:6, 7). We are to be respectful to authorities (2 Peter 2:10), and, as far as it lies in us, we are to live peaceably with all men. (Rom. 12:18) We are to pray for all men, and particularly for those in authority (1 Tim. 2:2). We should so live that by our “good works” those about us may “glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12).

So, dear young Christian, our happiest place is one of aloofness from this world’s politics.

“Let the dead bury their dead” Luke 9:60.

The world has never yet found the right man, anyhow. Its candidates always prove disappointing. The one whose praises are sung aloud today, is the reviled office-holder of tomorrow. History repeats itself.

Thank God, we know the right Man. At present He is rejected here. Someday (and not very far hence) He will assume office. “A king shall reign in righteousness.” Then creation’s groan will cease, and earth shall enter upon a thousand years of such peace, prosperity, joy and gladness as He alone can give. Let us reserve our votes for Him.

Fragment

Why should we shed tears immoderately for those who have tears wiped from their eyes?

Why should we be swallowed up with grief for those who are swallowed up of joy?

They are not lost, but are safely at home with Him who loves them and has bought them with His precious blood; not perished, but “with Christ, which is far better,” – where there is “fullness of joy.” They have gone but a little while before us.

“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Hebrews 10:37.

Heathen at Home

A very considerable portion of the people of this land are utterly ignorant of the way of salvation. This statement applies both to towns and the country. In many country districts neither church nor chapel are visited, and the people live and die without thought of God. In the towns the “lapsed masses” are to be counted by thousands.

Christian reader, what are you doing in the work of carrying the living water to the perishing souls of your immediate neighborhood? Close by your doors are those who, practically speaking, have as vague an idea of divine pardon, and as little desire after the true God, as the heathen at the ends of the earth.

Correspondence: Fruit; Jews; Mark 11:25-26; Bishops etc.; Meetings, Headships

Question: Is it possible for one to be a believer in Christ, and not bear fruit? N.

Answer: “The Lord knoweth them that are His.” We are glad to see fruit, but fruit is for the Father, and He can see what we cannot see. Fruit makes no noise; it is the life of Christ seen in our behavior (Gal. 5:22, 23). Even Lot is called a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7, 8), but he was not a happy saint.

Question: What will become of the Jewish people who die without Christ in this present time? R.

Answer: “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.” John 3:36.

Question: What will become of the Jews after the church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air? O.

Answer: Both Jews and Gentiles may hear the gospel of the kingdom, and become true subjects of the King of kings, and live to people the earth during the reign of Christ.

But the Jews or Gentiles and the professing church which will be left behind – all these who neglected, refused, or despised the gospel when they heard it – will fall victims to the strong delusion, and will be eternally lost.

Question: Please explain what Mark 11:25, 26 means? N. Y.

Answer: We can easily see in these verses that an unforgiving spirit is a sad hindrance to prayer. It is a remarkable thing that when we get into the presence of God, our failures begin to come up before us. And in this scripture we are exhorted to deal with every unforgiving thought against any person, that our prayers be not hindered.

We also see that such forgiveness is of a governmental kind. It is not eternal forgiveness. This we have once for all (Heb. 10:14), but it is what is needed to keep us going on in happy communion with the Father. It is therefore of great importance for us to see that we are not harboring unforgiving thoughts toward any.

“Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32.

Question: What are bishops, deacons, and prophets in the New Testament? A. N.

Answer: Bishops, elders, overseers, are the same (Acts 20:17, called elders; ver. 28, called overseers). Their character was to be as in 1 Timothy 3:1.7, and Titus 1:6-9. They were to look after the spiritual state of the assembly. It does not say how many were appointed.

Deacon is a servant to minister to needy ones, and to serve tables, as in Acts 6. Their character was to be as in 1 Timothy 3:12, 13. They were chosen and appointed by the apostles or their delegates Timothy and Titus, but not by the assembly. The Scriptures were not completed and collated at that time.

We have no appointment of elders and deacons now. We have no authority to appoint them, and the assembly now is broken outwardly into sects, which the Word of God deplores (1 Cor. 1:12, 13; 3:3-5).

A prophet now is only one speaking the truth. Prophesying now is speaking unto men to edification, exhortation and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3, 29). We have no revelations now, for the Word of God is completed (Col. 1:25). There is no need therefore of tongues of interpretations. We are now living in the last day, and awaiting the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let our loins be girded and our lights burning.

Question: What meetings are assembly meetings where we can count on the Lord Jesus being in our midst? Please make it plain about any other meetings also. C. M. S.

Answer: All meetings arranged by the gathered saints where all, both sisters and brothers, are to be present, are assembly meetings with the Lord in the midst, as in Matthew 18:20.

The Lord’s day meeting to remember the Lord in His death, in worship and adoration, is the highest.

The prayer meeting ranks next; there we express our interest in all that are His, and desire mercies from Him.

The reading meeting is for instruction, yet we count on Him to teach us through whom He will. Sisters are to be silent.

Meetings for addresses where two or three only are allowed to speak (1 Cor. 14:29), there also we should wait on the Lord for His ministry.

Meetings for discipline, called specially by the assembly, are also to be carried out by the Lord’s presence as our authority, we waiting in prayer on Him for what is to be done in His name (Matt. 18:18-20; 1 Cor. 5:7, 12-13).

Brothers’ meetings are useful to conduct business matters, to consider questions that may arise, to gain information that needs to be brought before the assembly, but they have no authority to act. Their action, if any, is not the act of the assembly. We must therefore be careful not to set aside the authority of the Lord Jesus in the midst of His gathered saints. Brothers’ meetings are not assembly meetings.

Question: What does 1 Timothy 5:25 mean? C.

Answer: From verse 22 we see that carefulness was urged upon Timothy about those he might receive. If he laid hands on (that is identified himself with) people too quickly, he might find himself associated with evil workers. Verse 23 is remarkable as showing that God allows us to take what we think necessary for our health, and thus does not set aside the use of medicine for those who are afflicted. Then in verses 24 and 25 he returns to the subject of carefulness in receiving. Some men’s sins go beforehand, can easily be seen; others are not so easily seen, they follow after. And the same applies to the good works of some that are manifest; others who do not tell what kindnesses they do, but they cannot be hid. How wise the Scriptures are!

Question: Has the Lord Jesus Christ one Headship as the Creator, and another through resurrection? C. W.

Answer: Yes. In Colossians 1:15 to 17, His glory as Creator and Sustainer of the universe is unfolded, and there He is spoken of as “The firstborn of every creature”, or all creation. “Firstborn” means the highest or Head of it. He took part in it at His birth as Son of God (Psa. 2:7; Luke 1:35), that is, His holy humanity, God manifest in flesh. He was also the Son of God from all eternity with the Father (John 1:1.3; Heb. 1:10, 12).

Then in Colossians 1:18, He is the Head of the body, the assembly, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence (compare John 12:24). It is thus that He is the beginning of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14). As “the Faithful and true Witness” He is alone, but in resurrection we are raised with Him, and united to Him, – one Spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17).

These Three Men

“There will be a meeting for the gospel on.... evening, at..., and you will be welcome if you come,” said a messenger of the Lord to Mr. A., who had moved adroitly forward behind his counter, reckoning doubtless on a customer, as the former entered his shop; but at once his whole demeanor changed, as he replied,

“We have no time for such things in these parts,” and retired to his seat.

A Mr. B. was invited in a similar way, and his reply was,

“I am purposed not to go.”

A Mr. C. living quite close to both the former, was also invited, and he replied,

“I am quite prepared to leave all to my spiritual advisor.” A Christian remonstrance as to indifference in the solemn matter of his soul’s eternal interest, when certainty was possible and offered, only drew forth a reiteration of the above reply.

Now, all three men were moral to the last degree, and were not only generally honest, but strictly “righteous,” so far as this noble quality is usually regarded in dealings between man and man. Indeed, the first is known locally as “Honest J. A.” Nevertheless, there obviously was studied indifference to the invitation; and this solemn fact, as well as the character each bore, linked the three cases together.

One can admire the exceptionally honest expression of feeling manifested in the above replies; but such honesty however, goes for little, when it is the gospel of God which is slighted. The three eases are, with little doubt, representative of three classes who refuse Christ, namely, the prudent, who have no time for anything but laying by for their houses; the determined, who, perfectly satisfied with what they have already, will not have Christ; and those who, lacking faith in God’s Word, accept guidance from man.

God presents us with three men who meet His mind, linked together by what He is pleased to call their righteousness; also “three men” singled out of the whole human family, who might be acceptably presented as a forlorn hope for a place marked off for distinction – Noah, Daniel, and Job. They are referred to five times in Ezekiel 14, twice by name. In considering them, we shall see them distinguished from our three friends above referred to, not only by their zeal for God, which these sadly lacked, but by the character of their righteousness also – each of group one, contrasting with each of group two, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house” (Heb. 11:7). Mr. J. A.’s idea exactly! – preparing for his house in view of the future, with this immense difference, that his ark might stand through time, but would fail when judgments descend – when “the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up;” and Noah’s ark carried him safe through judgment to the new world. Such also was the ark the Philippian jailor was advised of, when he too was “moved with fear.”

Reader, have you found this ark? How are you situated in view of coming judgments? God is waiting, as He in long-suffering waited, until Noah had driven the last nail into the ark, before He allowed judgments to descend on a guilty world (1 Peter 3:20). His long-suffering leadeth thee, dear reader, to repentance. Have you “no time for such things”? O, little the unrepentant know of the patient, gracious, waiting God!

Then Daniel would not defile himself with the king’s meat – “purposed in his heart not to do so” (Dan. 1:10). Mr. B. likewise purposed not to eat of the king’s meat. But how different the kings! the meat! the result!

Reader, are you satisfied without Christ, with your dainties? Once awakened to see your need of Him, the king’s meat you have been feeding on would become husks which swine eat; and coming to Jesus, you would find in Him “the living bread,” of which “if any man eat he shall live forever,” and “never hunger.”

Referring to Job: Who ever learned at such a cost, and as did he? God shows us in him how He can deal with souls when He undertakes to do so. Throughout thirty-one chapters he proves his inability to find out God by his own energy and skill. During the next six, he patiently suffers rebuke from one come to him in God’s stead. God speaks to him directly in chapters 38 and 39, and leads him to confess he is “vile”; and still further, in chapter 42, he has learned to abhor himself in the presence of God.

Here, indeed, is the “Spiritual Advisor;” one who can teach, us what He is, and what we poor guilty worms are; until, through faith in Him, the guilt is canceled, and we become, like Noah, and Daniel, and Job, and every child of God, inheritors of the “righteousness which is” – (“not of works,” as in the cases of our three friends, “lest any man should boast,” but the righteousness which is) – “according to faith;” so suitable to poor, guilty, hell-deserving worms!

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Hebrews 11:6.

My Hiding Place

A loving word with you, my friend,

This Day of Grace with you must end,

If Christ be not your Hiding Place,

A Holy God you’ll have to face.

But if as Lord you own Him now –

Before His feet you humbly bow,

He’ll keep you in His wondrous grace,

For He will be your Hiding Place.

A time will come when you must meet,

A Holy God, a Judgment Seat,

For all have sinned, His laws defied,

And must you not His wrath abide?

But O! The cross doth make it clear,

That God is Love, you need not fear,

He gave His son to meet your case,

That you might have a Hiding Place.

My sins He bore when on the tree,

My debt He paid in full, for me.

The work is finished, all in grace,

My Saviour, Lord, My Hiding Place.

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

I Am a Debtor: Romans 1:14

Recently I had a sum of money sent me with instructions to pass it on to certain needy people. The individuals to receive it were not mentioned, nor was the exact method of distribution specified. The letter further stated that the money was only to be sent in case of real need, and gave permission to reserve part for my own use in case I was in need.

Now, I should like to ask what my reader’s thought is about this matter? Am I compelled to go to the trouble of ascertaining who are the proper persons to receive this money? They do not even live in the same country that I do, and considerable trouble and care must be expended to use this money wisely and well. Am I responsible to see to all this? My time is already fully occupied. Must I let other important things go to do this?

But further, am I compelled to bear the full responsibility of the sending, and the method of distribution? Or may I not deposit it in the bank, and tell the giver to see to it himself?

Now, not only are there the difficulties mentioned, but I could very easily use the money myself. It is true, I am in no desperate need, but there are many things I would like to do with it, and there is plenty of need all about me.

Would it not be easier, and perhaps wiser to keep it all, or at least a part for myself? or am I a debtor to the needy persons for whom it was sent? Their need is very great undoubtedly, but perhaps other people will send to them. May I keep the money, or must I send it?

I fear the universal verdict will be that the money must be sent. Certainly I am a debtor to these people, some of them unknown.

Along with that letter, and that money, came the responsibility to attend to the sending, to select the individuals to receive it, and the fact that I was a debtor until it was dispatched. Whether I liked it or not, did not change the situation. To use that money myself was practically robbery, and to put it in the bank, while those for whom it was intended were starving, did not help matters either. The fact of their need, and the funds in my hand unquestionably made me a debtor.

But another question, Friend, Are you a debtor? Have you been entrusted with unsearchable riches, and with instructions to pass on the good news to others? Have you done so?

One is reminded of the words of the four leprous men in 2 Kings 7:9. They say, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace.”

Every believer who knows himself saved through the cross and death of our Lord Jesus Christ should feel the obligation of gratitude to make his Saviour known to others.

There is no corner of this poor world but what needs that saving message of the love of God in Christ. Hospitals, poor farms, jails, penitentiaries, children’s homes, orphanages, sanitariums, reformatories, railway cars, ocean vessels, street cars, parks, sea side resorts, waiting rooms, from door to door, by way of the mail are some of the places that invite the seeker after souls to sow his precious seed. The silent ministry of tracts and gospel periodicals is a limitless and blessed avenue of service in the gospel.

Not all can go to the foreign field, but each should feel his indebtedness to grace, and seek to discharge it by a definite effort to reach the lost with the gospel. To recline at ease with the thought that the “gospel preachers” will take care of the spread of the gospel is a delusion. Scripture says,

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10. Also He gave “to every man his work.” (Mark 13:34.)

Have we found our sphere of service, and, if so, Are we faithful stewards in discharging our responsibility to our blessed Lord?

Are there any, perhaps in another country, who are starving while you keep this treasure, greater than gold or silver, “in the bank”? Or maybe buried in a napkin? Or maybe you are using it for yourself? How about it, friend? Have you ever come to the point of confessing, “I am a debtor.” If you have confessed it, what are you doing about paying the debt?

Do you realize that the reception of those unsearchable riches instantly involved you in the responsibility of imparting the news of them?

It is true, the exact individuals to whom you are to impart them, have not been specified, but this only means a further responsibility for you. The Word of God gives a strong hint to guide us as to whom these are to be given.

The one who confessed, “I am a debtor”, in the same letter could write, “Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named” (Rom. 15:20), or in another letter would express the hope “to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you” (2 Cor. 10:16). Do you strive to pay your debt to the persons so indicated?

Perhaps you say, “But I don’t know of any such place.” Then, friend, it is your responsibility to find out. It is from such a place I write, and for days and days you might journey in almost any direction, and still be where the gospel has not been preached.

Do you know that millions upon millions are starving for want of the Bread of Life, and you have it, and are a debtor to them as truly as I was until that money was paid?

The method of “paying” is also your responsibility. Possibly you can’t go yourself and take the message, but more likely you can. This surely must be settled between you and the Giver; but Dare you, friend, put this question aside another day?

The need is infinite. The need is urgent. The need is Now. The ones to whom you owe, are starving while you feast on fat things. What does the Giver think of it?

“But”, you say, “I haven’t the money.”

No, probably not, but, “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?” 1 Corinthians 9:7. God is faithful. If you have not found Him so, don’t think for a moment of “regions beyond.”

“But, I haven’t even the money for my passage.”

Well, are you ready to start? When God said to Israel, “Go forward,” if they had waited till the sea divided before they moved, they would still be on the other side of the Red Sea; and if you wait till the sea opens before you move, you may as well make up your mind to stay where you are.

I have a dear friend who had only 6 cents when the time came to start for the train on which he was to leave for the foreign field. It was enough to pay his street car fare to the station. Do you think he stuck at the station? Or that he had to walk home? No, God is faithful, and that man is on the foreign field today.

“Well” you say, “if God would make windows in heaven might such a thing be”, and God Himself answers you.

“Prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10.

Extract From J. N. D: Also Scripture Study, Ephesians 6

“Keep yourselves in the love of God.” This is state and shows that when the Christian profession had slipped and was slipping, more personal dependence comes in urgently. The moment I let this in, I let in all the light, and gradually my eyes get to see clearly. Christ is that light, and when we have to do with Him the subtlety of evil is seen; but, besides the light, grace and present dependence are needed.

Let us delight in dependence, and that a person above us should minister to us and care for us.

The Ashes of the Red Heifer

Numbers 19:1-9 15-18, 21-22.

An Address to Young People.

Numbers is the wilderness book; God’s people are passing through the wilderness, on their way to Canaan; and I suppose that there is where we are. Positionally, it is true we are seated in Christ in heavenly places. There is where God reckons us to be; and so we shall be, in His own time.

But, actually, as to the literal bodily condition in which we find ourselves today, we are not in heaven. Far from it! We would dislike to think that we were in heaven, surrounded by what we are now. We would hesitate to think that heaven is what we find ourselves in, as we go through this world day by day. No, we are in the wilderness, and we are on our way to that promised land – which we are sure we are going to reach. While on our way, we may have a hard time as did the children of Israel in the wilderness. The things that they experienced are recorded for our example, that we might profit by their disobedience – and by their obedience too, whatever measure of it there was.

This slaughter of the red heifer is one of the unique offerings, inasmuch as it does not seem to have been repeated. That great day, the Day of Atonement, was observed each year. The Passover came around each year likewise – it was repeated year after year; but not so with the red heifer. The red heifer seems to have been but a single offering that was made – not that the occasion on which it was offered meant anything, but that the ashes of that heifer, preserved throughout the coming generations, should be used as a purification for sin, not as commemorating any certain day; not as being offered on any certain day; but that the ashes themselves had a signification that is peculiar to this offering.

Now, we will look at it just a little in detail. It was to be “a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.” I suppose that if I were to ask the youngest person here, who is a Christian, he could tell me what is typified by that. None less than the blessed Lord Jesus, the only One of whom it could truly be said, He was “without spot,” and “wherein is no blemish.”

We live in a world of such defilement that we get accustomed to defilement. But here was One that never had spot, never a wrong that our Lord committed – “without spot” or “blemish” – One on whom never came the yoke of sin. Sin is one yoke He never bore. How different from us; we get the yoke of sin on us, and what a yoke sin is! There is freedom from its galling power through the redemption in Christ, and the deliverance that comes to us through bowing to His Word. And yet, how often, in spite of that, we still feel now and then that yoke of sin. Well here was One who never bore the yoke. He never knew what it was to be under either the curse of sin (I speak now, apart from Calvary), or under its power. He was One who went through this world perfectly, absolutely free from defilement – the Spotless One.

Such a heifer was to be taken, brought to the priest, taken outside the camp, and there slain. Now that shows us, inasmuch as the offering was made without the camp, that it was a sin offering, for it was only sin offerings that were to be burnt without the camp. So that the nature of this offering is that it is an offering for sin.

Eleazar took of her blood, and sprinkled it before the tabernacle of the congregation. This sin offering, though it is offered without the camp, and burnt without the camp, is yet identified with the place where God has His dwelling. By the blood being sprinkled before that tabernacle is shown the fact that there is a link there between that righteous God that is dwelling between those cherubim, and this strange offering that is going on outside the camp.

Then the heifer is burned – it is completely, wholly consumed. Nothing is left of it. And there is something else interesting, that is, in the burning of this heifer, the priest is taking cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and he is casting them into the fire. Well can we picture that: There is the heifer burning, the flames rising around that carcass; and while she is burning, the priest takes a piece of cedar wood. Now cedar was the noblest tree of which they knew anything in that day. It was a grand, towering overtopping tree.

Then he takes a plant, an insignificant one, quite useless, which grew out of walls, a plant called hyssop. Along with this he takes a piece of glowing scarlet – there is nothing brighter in the way of color than scarlet. This piece of brilliant scarlet, and the piece of the great, towering cedar tree, and the little bunch of humble hyssop, are all thrown into the midst of that burning fire where the heifer is being consumed.

Finally, the fire spends its force – there are a few glowing embers; and then these gradually die out, the smoke ceases to arise, and the ashes lie there in a heap, cold, dead.

Then another strange thing takes place: a suited person gathers up all these ashes, very carefully. None of them is wasted. They are all swept up, and gathered together, and put into some sort of a container, perhaps an urn. And then they are kept, and preserved, perhaps in a similar way to the present-day practice of preserving the ashes of one who has been cremated. And what is it all for? They are going to be used in special cases. When some one of the children of Israel comes in contact with that which defiles, that renders ceremonially unclean, unfit for association in the worship of Israel, these ashes – at least, a portion of them – are to be taken, placed in running water, and then this water is to be sprinkled on that person upon his tent and upon all his vessels. In view of this ceremony he is cleansed from his defilement and given access back into the privileges of the camp, as a worshipper again in good standing.

Now what is God trying to teach by all this? O, I believe there is a practical lesson – and I hope to make it simple – a most needful and wholesome lesson. As we said before, the offering of the red heifer occurred only once, and the ashes were gathered only once. That speaks to us of the fact that our blessed Lord Jesus died once; He will never die again. In Revelation 1:18, He says, “I am He that. . . was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” He lives to die no more. Death hath no more dominion over Him. No, your blessed Lord Jesus will never die for you again. Calvary’s cross will never be repeated. There will never again be the spectacle of the suffering Saviour hanging in shame on the cross – no, He died once. And now He is living, and He is living to make intercession for you.

But sometimes souls get distressed by the fact that after they are saved, have been brought to the Saviour; after they know Him, and after they have experienced conversion; after they know what it is to make their boast as a child of God; they find themselves still picking up defilement; that sin is finding a lodging in their lives and ways. They know that Christ will not again die for them; and What are they to do? The thing the children of Israel were to do when they found themselves defiled was, not to slay another red heifer, but to apply the ashes of the red heifer that had been slain.

Now, to put it simply, I believe we have in the ashes of the heifer, the memorial, or the remembrance of the death of Christ. The ashes of the red heifer are the memorial, or remembrance, of the fact that Christ has died for us. That is the great basic fact that we need to keep before our souls in connection with our way through a scene that is constantly defiling, that is: I have been redeemed; I have been bought; Christ has died for me; I am not my own, I belong to another.

Supposing, then, that a Christian finds himself getting defiled, going on with something that is dishonoring to the Lord, and he feels that he is defiled; What fact is going to bring him back, into communion with the Lord? His heart and his conscience are going to be touched with the truth of the death of Christ. Can I go on in this way, in this business, in this venture, in this practice, in this association, when I realize that the blessed Lord Jesus died for me to deliver me from this present evil world? Why, He has died for me! He has paid the price by His own precious life’s blood that He might deliver me and set me free from this. And shall I go on with it, or shall I continue to defile myself with it?

As the soul begins to meditate on Christ, and sees the end, for him, of this world; that by that cross he is crucified to the world, and the world to him, the soul brings in the death of Christ between himself and that defiling thing, and lets that thought speak to soul and conscience; he owns his departure, and he is graciously restored.

(To be continued.)

The Day of Glory

“The day of glory bearing

Its brightness far and near;

The day of Christ’s appearing

We now no longer fear.

“He once the spotless victim

For us on Calv’ry bled;

Jehovah did afflict Him,

And bruised Him in our stead.

“To Him by grace united,

We joy in Him alone;

And now by faith delighted,

Behold Him on the throne.

“Then let Him come in glory,

Who comes His saints to raise,

To perfect all the story

Of wonder, love, and praise.”

Correspondence: 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Thess. 2:12; Luke 22:19; Luke 16:9

Question: Please explain what appearing is referred to in 2 Timothy 4:8. O.

Answer: It is when the Lord comes with His saints (1 Thess. 3:13, 4:14; 2 Thess. 1:7, 10; Titus 2:13). The “blessed hope” is His coming for us. The “glorious appearing” is His coming with us.

Question: How can we walk worthy of God as in 1 Thessalonians 2:12? L.

Answer: Paul is writing that he charged the Thessalonians to do this, and chapter 1:3 and all the chapter tells, us how they did it, and how we also can do so, by walking in the same path in our “work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father.” They turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, Jesus, our Deliverer from the coming wrath.

Question: When the Lord said, “This do in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19), was it a command or a request? Y.

Answer: To those who truly love Him, it was more than either of them. It was love’s gift to express to us His love; and in our remembering Him, we express our love to Him. Precious privilege!

Question: What is meant by “Make to yourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness?” What does “fail,” and “everlasting habitations” mean? Luke 16:9. S. S.

Answer: Man is looked at as a steward here. We found ourselves unfaithful stewards that must give account. Now we are converted, we are still stewards. The wise steward makes use of the present stewardship for the future.

Verse 9 teaches us so to do. Naturally we would use all for ourselves, for the present, but we are reminded that our present will “fail”, and wisdom secures something for the future. Our future is glory with Christ, but our stewardship requires us to use our present so that we will be rewarded then as in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. For if we live selfishly; Luke 16:11,12 teach that our unfaithfulness will hinder our enjoyment of our own heavenly riches, as in Ephesians 1:3. We will not enjoy what is really life (see N. T. 1 Tim. 6:19).

Settled Peace

When a lady was respectfully asked by us if she had peace with God, she replied,

“I believe very few persons attain to that.”

This was a serious mistake, for “peace with God” is nowhere set forth in Scripture as dependent on our experience, or on our attainments in any sense, but wholly “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is not founded on what we are, or have done, or may do, but on what He has done, who “was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:23.

Others, when asked if they had peace with God, have replied, “Yes, for I feel so happy!” as if it were a question of feeling; so that, if afterward from any cause they feel unhappy, they would doubt their salvation, and have no sense of peace with God. Such, though perhaps unknown to themselves, are making feelings the ground of peace as to their eternal salvation, instead of the work of Christ and the Word of God.

It never says in Scripture that we are justified by feelings, but by faith. But it does say that we have “joy and peace in believing;” so that happy and joyful feelings accompany believing. Believing God’s testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ, and His finished work as set forth in His Word, we must have “peace with God.”

“Our souls through many changes go, His love no change can ever know.”

A religious life, and conscientiously fulfilling our duties, some say, must ensure a happy future. But it is not so; for while good works follow faith in the Son of God, yet to trust in works or duties, or religious ordinances, for eternal salvation, is a fatal delusion, a crafty snare of Satan’s, and a soul-destroying trap. We are plainly told,

“By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God:, not of works, lest any man should boast.” And again,

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law” (Eph. 2:8, 9; Rom. 3:28).

Nothing can possibly be clearer, or more decided; yet what a common thing it is when a man has the eternal importance of his soul’s salvation brought home to his conscience, to have the reply, “I’ll try;” or, “I will hope to be better;” or, “I’ll turn over a new leaf;” thus plainly showing he has entirely missed the salvation of God.

The true secret of settled peace with God, is founded on the precious fact that God, instead of justly banishing us from His presence forever, loved us even “while we were yet sinners;” yea so loved us, even when sinners, that Christ His Son died for us.

Peace, then, springs from God, – “the God of Peace.” Peace is founded entirely on the atoning work of Christ in His death and blood shedding on the cross. There is no other foundation of peace; for Scripture plainly says, we are justified by His blood, and that He has “made peace through the blood of His cross.”

This peace becomes deepened in the soul, as the new relationships into which we are brought, and the new standing given us in Christ Jesus, are apprehended. The fact of being a child of God now, through faith in Christ Jesus – an object of the Father’s constant care and love as such – is a relationship which is unchanging in its character, and going on to our perfect conformity to the image of the Son.

When we know that we are loved by the Father as He loved Jesus, and have received the Spirit of adoption to make it known to us, it causes settled peace to occupy our hearts. We enjoy the goodness and love of God; and, it may be, are lost in wonder, love, and praise:

“Hence through all the changing seasons –

Trouble, sorrow, sickness, woe,

Nothing changeth God’s affection,

Abba’s love shall bring us through.”

But if we become worldly, careless in our walk, and neglect prayer and reading of the Word of God, the Spirit dwelling in us will be grieved, and our spiritual senses will be blunted; so that our hearts, before we are aware of it, glide into that which the Lord has forbidden, and we shall not enjoy the presence of God, but become unhappy. This neglect may call too for the Father’s discipline, and though the work in which our peace is founded never changes, such will not be abiding in the Saviour’s love. Nothing changes His love to us, but our enjoyment of it is another thing. How can we be happy, if we are walking in a path of disobedience? Did He not say, “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you”? But did He not add to this, “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love” (John 15:9-10)?

“I hear the words of love;

I gaze upon the blood;

I see the mighty Sacrifice,

And I have peace with God’”

Extract From a Letter From China

After seeing the awful black hopelessness of these poor blinded people, I often wonder how I have been so indifferent to their needs in the past. It is surely through not having valued sufficiently the wondrous grace that has been shown to me by the Blessed One who said,

“Freely ye have received, freely give.”

May we all value more His grace, and seek more earnestly to bring others to the knowledge of it, that they may swell the number of those who shall stand in His presence in the day of His manifested glory.

In our readings we have had continually brought before us what a place the Lord’s coming and glory had in the heart of the Apostle Paul, and what an incentive it was to him in seeking the salvation and building up of souls.

Such Is Life

May I ask you, dear reader, to look at one short verse of Scripture winch depicts, most graphically, a very common state of things around us.

It contains a deplorable account of the last moments, as she deemed them, of the widow of Zarephath. “And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 1 Kings 17:12.

Notice, first, the woman was a widow, and that she had but one child – an only son. This alone is sad; but, further, observe that she was under the pressure of three dire but common calamities, by which her soul was haunted, as by a specter. The first was destitution – “|iI| have not a cake,” said she; the second was drudgery – “I am gathering two sticks;” and the third was death – “that we may eat, and die.”

Now, tell me honestly, does not this terse little statement describe the life of the majority of the vast community around us? It calls to mind the book of Ecclesiastes, which, you may remember, presents to us “life under the sun;” a doleful book perhaps, but, as we know, very correct and true. “All,” says the preacher, “is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

1. Destitution. Poverty, need, want! Is this not the case with the greater part of our neighbors? Affluence is the exception – pecuniary trial is the common rule. Few are born to ease and wealth; the most, by far, have to face the battle.

But whence this trial? It results from sin. I do not speak of the effects of any particular course of evil, but of the general and undeniable fact. Sin is the parent of destitution. Had there been no sin, there would, certainly, have been no want.

Eden was a right wealthy place! Its furnishing was worthy of that generous Creator who had arranged it, as the palace of His intelligent creatures; but sin deranged everything – and Cain became a fugitive and a vagabond – and so we find abundant witness, in each day’s life, of the impoverishing effects of sin.

2. Drudgery. Yes, downright slavery! Mammon is the hardest taskmaster, though willingly served. But from morning to night, from Monday to Saturday, the wheel must revolve. Toil, labor, drudgery, all the time; and that just to obtain the bread that perisheth.

Yes, thorns and thistles and weeds abundant; and thus man, once noble, now reduced indeed, has perforce to keep at his treadmill, little better than a mere beast of burden!

Distinguish, my reader, between slavery of this kind, and the healthy bracing work for which we were made. The opposite of drudgery is not idleness, nor sloth. God never meant inactivity, neither did He mean a state of slavedom. This is the outcome of sin; nor can things be mended. All I say is, that, in this lamentably abnormal existence of ours, work has degenerated into drudgery, and man into a slave.

3. Death. On this head it is really unnecessary to dwell. Yet, fact though it be, we are prone to view death more as a misfortune than as a judgment.

A clever medical man once said to me, “Life is just a perpetual struggle against death.” And so it is. That struggle may be maintained vigorously for long; yet the gradual encroachment of the enemy is evident – the wrinkle, the furrow, the turning hair, all tell of the ultimate success of the foe. That “we may eat it, and die,” said the widow. She said not that “we may eat, and live!” Nay, the food we eat is just the price we pay to keep death off. Yet the intruder will not thus be always bribed.

O! melancholy picture, dreary tale! What a dark history is that of sin! Destitution, drudgery, and death, ring their weary change on the ear that pauses to listen to the solemn voices that break around us.

What a wonder it is, that such a cadence should not drive the poor weary heart away in quest of another region than the present. Thank God that region exists! The ear of faith may hearken to its call. How appropriate the sweet invitation of Him who, while He was uttering it, felt in His soul all the sorrow of the present,

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.

Rest! rest! rest! for conscience, heart, and mind. His blood can purge the conscience, His love can satisfy the heart, and His word can occupy the mind. While, if He calls us to serve, that service is one of liberty, and of present and eternal reward.

Weary one, come to Jesus.

Scripture Study: Philippians 1

Philippians 1.

This epistle is the normal experience of Christian life under the power of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to see in it a beautiful sample of the truths that enlighten us with rules and motives for our walk. Paul was in prison and the Philippians, who had great affection for him, had sent him help again by Epaphroditus; they had done so before at the beginning of his labors. This time it came to him when in need. Epaphroditus was sick, nigh unto death, in bringing the money to him. Then he felt that the assembly of God was deprived of his watchful care over it. This, judging from the letter, was the occasion the Lord used for the Apostle to write it.

In this epistle, the saints are looked at as on the journey through the wilderness. It was the accomplished work of Christ, known in their souls, that made them strangers and pilgrims, and they are pressing on to be with Him in glory, where full salvation will be theirs with Him.

Verses 1, 2. “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In this address and salutation with his fellow laborer’s name attached, we may see that it is not an epistle of authority, but of loving fellowship with dear saints in whom he had much confidence, and including the bishops and deacons as caretakers over the assembly, shows that the truth was needed for all.

Verses 3-6. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” We may notice here that this prayer of the Apostle is not merely a word of assurance of eternal salvation, but expresses his confidence that the good work in them which is evidently likeness to Christ, will be continued by God in them till they are with and like the Lord in glory, for that is the day of Jesus Christ, when He sees with exceeding joy that they are all fully like Him in His glory (Jude 24).

Verses 7-8. He goes on reminding them of their mutual love with him, and how they had shared through grace with him in his sufferings and work in the gospel. “Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because you have me in your heart (margin), inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers (‘with-me’ margin) of my grace, for God is my witness, how greatly I long after you all in the affections of Jesus Christ.” Here the Apostle has them in his heart.

Verses 9-11 tells us what he prayed for: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in (full) knowledge and (all intelligence N. T.): that ye may approve (or try) things that are (more) excellent: that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ: being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”

Paul remembered with loving tenderness the way in which they had always acted toward him.

It drew out his desires for them that God who had wrought in them would produce for their own blessing, the perfect, plentiful fruits of that love. He could not be with them, but he wants them to know that they have an inexhaustible source of strength in God Himself.

Verses 12-13. “But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places.” They could see that it was for Christ that he was suffering, and not as a criminal.

Verses 14-21. “And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” “Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of goodwill. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds; but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”

Happy servant of the Lord, upheld by divine grace, his spirit rejoices that Christ is preached in whatever way it is done, and those whose selfish jealousy and envy tried to add affliction to his bonds, find nothing in him to answer to their efforts, for in Paul was found the pure desire that Christ should be made known.

The assembly had not then departed so far from its true condition as it has now done, but evils were already springing up. “All seek their own,” says the Apostle, “not the things of Jesus Christ,” and God allowed it to be so during the Apostle’s life, that we might know His thoughts about it, and be guided to the true resources of His grace in such circumstances.

It is when things are going wrong that men of God come into prominence. It must have been trying to Paul to be shut up in prison when he knew the assemblies needed care and shepherding, but he knew that if Satan had put him in prison, God had a purpose in Satan being allowed to do it, and this purpose included the advancement of the truth of the gospel, thus gaining fresh victories over the enemy, and by it the servants of Ceaser knew the truth. Paul counted on the prayers of the saints, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He had the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, and so has each believer, but there is something we also should pray for, and count on God for, “the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ.” What was it for? Hear His words, “According to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” What faith this is! if Christ is glorified, he is content, even if the Lord has laid him aside, he gloried more and more in the sure victory of Christ in which he shared; and in suffering for Him, he did not know when he might be called to lay down his life, it would only be gain for him; if he lived, it was Christ. The work was precious to him, but the Lord Himself was more precious, and now after four years in prison, he knew that the Lord was working out His own purposes in the work of the gospel also. In the sense of this, Paul decides as to his own fate; without thinking what Caesar might do, he was looking at what the Lord would do. Paul knew that Christ loved the assembly, therefore, if he was needed for the assembly he would be spared to minister to it. So he reasons and writes.

“Verses 22-26. But if I live in the flesh (is my lot), this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not, for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ: which is far better. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you, and having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.” But he does not forget to remind them that they too should be careful about their behavior.

Verses 27-28. “Only let your conversation (or conduct) be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries; which to them is a token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.” They were to be of one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and they were to remember that however loud the lion might roar against them, God Himself was for them above it all. They could expect rejection:

Verses 29-30. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake: having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” This proclaimed a terrible judgment on the persecutors; but to those persecuted for Christ’s sake, it was a token of salvation and that of God. It was given to them, where accepted it always brings joy. It was a further and a precious portion in suffering with Christ and for Christ, and communion with His faithful servant in suffering for His sake, united them more closely in spirit in Him.

A Stone of Memorial

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years.” Deuteronomy 8:2.

O Lord, I remember the day that I came,

All wearied and wounded to Thee;

My heart was bowed down with its sin and shame;

But Thou spakest so kindly to me:

O, I ne’er shall forget Thy sweet accents of love,

Nor the mercy that beamed in Thy face,

When Thy pitiful-kindness my load did remove,

And assured me of welcome and grace.

O Lord, I remember the peace that I felt

When my pardon I read in Thy blood;

How my heart with the sweetest contrition did melt

In the arms of Thy Father, my God.

All the darkness was gone, all my terrors were o’er

As I saw all His glory in Thee;

And He promised my sins He’d remember no more,

But my God and my Father would be.

O Lord, I’d remember, each day that I live,

The grace that has made me Thine own:

To Thee, with myself, all I have would I give,

And live for Thy glory alone:

I’d remember, each step of my journey below,

Thou didst die for my sins on the tree;

But how can I ever express all I owe,

My Lord and my Saviour, to Thee?

The Ashes of the Red Heifer: Numbers 19

Then, too, as natural men and women, we desire a part of the grandeur and show of this world. Now, scarlet, in Scripture speaks of what is grand and showy in this world. Scarlet is the outward display of that which is gorgeous in this world. Purple, as we know, speaks of earthly royalty, but scarlet, rather of earthly grandeur and display. Now, all of which man boasts, all that he covets and desires, the whole range – from the towering cedar to the humble hyssop that springs out of the wall, and the scarlet between, is thrown into the death of Christ. All form a part of the ashes. The ashes that were used to cleanse one that was defiled, were composed of the remnants of the cedar, the hyssop and the scarlet as well as of the red heifer.

Now, dear young Christian, in the death of Christ, there was not only death to sin, but there was death to all that this world counts worthwhile. Its power, its boastings, its vauntings, all came to an end in the death of Christ. Satan came to offer those things to Christ when a man here below. Thrice he approached our Lord, with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He spread all the grandeur of this world before our Lord; and let it flash before His mind for a moment – all the might, and the kingdoms, and the grandeur of the world. Satan wanted Him to depart from His pathway. The blessed Lord said, “No,” and turned His back on it all.

That refusal of our Lord to receive those things from the hand of Satan, led Him to the alternative of the cross; and there He hung, the ruler of the kings of the world, as a criminal, suffering a criminal’s death. He was classed with the very lowest, a thief on each side; and died there amidst the jeers of the multitude. All of this world’s grandeur came to its end at the cross of Christ.

When our blessed Lord takes the kingdom, as He eventually will, when He is proclaimed the King of kings, and Lord of lords, He will not take it from the hand of Satan, nor from the hand of man, but from the hand of His God and Father. He will receive it as the One who was always subject to the will of God, the One that sent Him.

Now I wonder if we are willing to bow to the fact that all this world counts worthwhile – its ambitions, its fame and glory – for us as the children of God, those things had their end in that cross of Christ.

But if we find ourselves in the position where these things are beginning to lure us, and we are beginning to dream about and try to gain them, What do we need? We need cleansing by the red heifer, that is, we need the memorial of the death of Christ, with the cedar, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, to bring our souls to see things in their true value. The whole thing, from the highest range to the lowest, has been in the midst of that burning. It is reduced to ashes in the death of Christ. Would to God that we might have grace to reckon it so! How willingly, then, would we let this world pass by!

I have thought of it as of one traveling across country on a railway train. One looks out of the window, and there sees a constantly changing panorama flitting by. Various objects take the interest as the train moves along. But there is no effort to grasp any of these objects: One sees, perhaps, a beautiful residence on top of a hillside, and perhaps admires it, in passing; but there is no effort to obtain it. All sorts of things of interest pass by, but there is nothing permanent in their attraction. I believe that is the way the child of God, in the power of the Spirit, is to pass through this world. We have something infinitely better. The death of Christ has given the fatal blow to these other things; they are all dead to us. We pass them by – we are through with them. What a blessed state that is!

And if we find ourselves involved with something that we feel is inconsistent with our position as pilgrims and strangers passing through this world on our way to glory, what we need is this precious truth: Christ died for me, and made me free from that very thing.

So in our portion of Scripture we find that when one is defiled, he takes the ashes of the heifer of purification for sin, and running water. A clean person sprinkles the water upon the tent, the vessels and the person; and they are cleansed, and again on the third day, and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he that was unclean washes his clothes.

You know clothing, in Scripture, typically speaks of our habits and surroundings.

Leprosy of the person speaks of that that is wrong inside; leprosy of the clothing, of that that is wrong in our surroundings and in our habits; leprosy in the building, of that that is wrong in the assembly.

How often we find ourselves in surroundings that will not stand the test of the truth of God. Sprinkle on them the water of separation – the truth of the death of Christ.

O, we need to draw the sword, and have no more to do with these things. And then God will bless us.

Is it business surroundings? Is it an unequal yoke of some kind? Wrong associations? Wrong business methods that are a defilement? Is it clubs, society, lodges? What is it? What is the character of defilement? For any of them, we need the water of separation; and if we will just place ourselves into the hands of our blessed High Priest, how gladly He will sprinkle that water of cleansing upon us! and we shall find ourselves back again happily in communion with God and His people.

What a wholesome thing it is, what a happy thing it is, to pass through this world in the power of that truth, that the cross of Christ has now come in between me and this world, and I am now set free – that cross whereby the world is crucified to me. That is practical deliverance to the soul. And it is victory too.

But, dear young Christian, just as sure as you try to live a life of compromise, and you neglect the water of separation and purification, you are going to be unhappy, you are going to be miserable – and if you are not so miserable now as you might be, remember that you haven’t reached the end. O, the end! To come dragging in at the end of life with the bitter sense, in your soul,

“O, what I might have been! How I might have lived! But the precious time has past and gone; I can’t re-live it, and I am at the end!”

Listen, dear young Christian, nothing satisfies but Christ, either now or in eternity. The lost will have the sense that they have never satisfied their souls, and never can. But Christ satisfies. And shall we not be satisfied with Him? We need to let the truth of His death have its place in our daily lives, delivering us from the power of this world.

This world is a sham. It is a painted, hollow thing. It is not what it represents itself to be. Millions of persons have tested this world through all ages, and the testimony of all is that the world is a vain, empty thing.

Bismarck of Germany received a letter once from a young man, who said he had ability and ambitions, and wanted advice from this wonderful old Chancellor. Bismarck wrote back, saying, “I have been fortunate enough to have experienced all the successes of public life; I know what it is from one end to the other; and my advice to you is that the thing is not worth going after.” He further said, “Were it not for the consolations that I have in Christ Jesus, I would not esteem that my life had been worthwhile; for, apart from the hope that I have in Christ, this life is not worth the dressing and undressing!”

That is the testimony of one who rose to the heights of this world, and that is the advice he gave to a young man who was starting out and attempting to follow his footsteps.

But Christ satisfies. But the only way He satisfies is that we shall let the truth of His death have its place in our lives, practically.

Confessing Christ

As a mutinous crew would hate to hear the praises of the captain they had murdered, so the world hates to hear the very name of Jesus in the lips of those who love Him. But shall we, His friends, be silent because of this? Can we? Will not the love He bears us compel us to open our lips in the confession of His saving name?

A Question

The natural man says to God, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways” (Job 21:14).

The believer says, “Teach me Thy way, O Lord” (Psa. 27:11).

Which, reader, do you say?

Correspondence: Rev. 15; Acts 2:3; Rom. 10:6-7; Matt. 16:16-18, 12:16, & 3 more

Question: When does the execution of the seven last plagues take place? (Rev. 15). B.

Answer: At the last part of the tribulation period. It is the great tribulation when men are deceived by the Satanic trinity (verses 13, 14).

Question: What do we learn from the cloven tongues of fire that sat upon each of the disciples when the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost? (Acts 2:3). Is that the baptism of fire spoken of in Matthew 3:11? V.

Answer: The baptism of the Holy Ghost was at Pentecost; the baptism of fire is when the Lord returns with His saints to judge the world, beginning with the unbelieving Jews: then He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

In Matthew 3:16, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove lighting on Him, and the Father’s voice says, “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” “Him hath God the Father sealed.” John 6:27. The Holy Spirit came upon Him in this form, because of the lowly character He took, “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed, shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench.” Matthew 12:19, 20. Here all is different. He has finished the work given Him to do, and rejected and crucified on earth, risen and glorified in heaven, and received of the Father the Holy Spirit to send down to earth as His witness (John 15:26, 27).

The tongues of fire, divided into more than two (the word means “several”), gives us the thought of the power of God in testimony in the Word which was like consuming fire, judging all that comes before it – brings blessing to the believers, and judgment to the unbelievers.

The Lord at Babel (Gen. 11:6.9) confounded the language to scatter the people. He was not their center. When the gospel began, He sent it so that every one could hear in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. This message, if received, gathers those who receive it into one with Christ as their Head and Center. Babel was to shut God out. The gospel brings God in, and brings us to God.

Question: What does Romans 10:6, 7 mean? W. W. H.

Answer: This chapter begins by showing the foolishness of those who labor to produce a righteousness of their own, who do not therefore submit themselves to the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Then it shows how the gospel has come right to us, to our hearts; no laboring, no efforts, only resting on God’s precious Word. This is the way Deuteronomy 30:12, 13, 14 is used here. The Word was nigh them, in their mouth, and in their hearts. How blessed and precious the good news of God is!

Question: Please explain Matthew 16:16-18. C.

Answer: It was on Peter confessing that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, that the Lord expresses His intention to build His church (assembly) on that foundation (see 1 Cor. 3:11).

“Peter” means “a stone”, and it was upon Christ (this rock) that the assembly was to be built. Peter as a stone, was built upon it with the rest of the living stones (1 Peter 2:5). “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it”, means that the power of death cannot destroy the assembly. Individuals die, and are “absent from the body and present with the Lord”; the assembly never dies. The Lord will come and take it up to meet Him in the air to be forever with Him.

“I will build” shows His intention. It was still future. At Pentecost it began. The Lord in glory received the Holy Spirit to send Him down to dwell in all believers (Acts 2:33; 1 Cor. 6:19; 12:12, 13). This is the first time the assembly is mentioned in Scripture.

Question: What is meant by blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Matthew 12:16? Is this the unpardonable sin?

Answer: Read carefully Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30, and you will see the diabolical perversity of those who said that “Christ had an unclean spirit.” This was saying that the Lord was possessed by the prince of devils, and that it was by his power that Jesus was working those gracious miracles. This could not be passed over by God, so that those who spoke thus were in danger of eternal judgment. “Neither in this world” (Matt. 12:32), was the age of law. “Neither in the world to come”, is the Millennial age.

In the church period we preach the gospel to every creature, and we know that Jesus has said, “Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” We do not know those who are beyond the pardoning grace of God. God knows each soul.

“If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them, which believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.

Question: Is not the treasure in Matthew 13:44 Israel? Is the church hid in the field, or was it hid in God? Does Psalm 135:4 point on the treasure in Matthew 13:44? A. S.

Answers: “The kingdom of heaven” in its mysterious form, (that is, when the King is absent, only called so in Matthew’s Gospel), applies to this present time. It does not apply to Israel in the past, nor in the future – that is, after the church is caught up.

Israel was to be a peculiar treasure, if they had obeyed Jehovah (Ex. 19:5); and they will be it in the reign of Christ, the center for His earthly glory (Psa. 135:4). It will be the Kingdom in power then. Israel was never hid in the field. They were well known, not hidden.

In Matthew 13:44 the Man found it, and hid it, then sold all that He had, and bought the field for the treasure that was in it. The field is the purchased thing there. In verses 45, 46 we find the great object of His delight, the pearl of great price (Eph. 5:25-27). This is what was hid in God, and was only revealed (Eph. 3:9) after Paul was converted.

It is important to notice that all the parables of the kingdom of heaven apply to the church period.

Question: Please explain Romans 6:3-5; and Colossians 2:12. P. R. T.

Answer: The question, “Shall we go on in sin that grace may abound?” is answered, “God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein.”

The teaching is, that we are now brought into a new place through the death of Christ, where He suffered for sin, and we by faith in Him, have part with Him in that death. Can we go on with what we have died to? Then our baptism is unto the death of Christ. His death is now an end to our old place as men in the flesh. Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. His is the pattern of the life we now are to live before God. Our faith lays hold of this blessed truth that we are now before God in Him. We are planted together in the likeness of His death, of which baptism is the symbol, and we shall be also of His resurrection. The believer is always viewed in Romans as being on earth, alive in Christ and justified, but not said to be risen with Christ. Our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, and we are to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Colossians 2:12. In verse 11, the circumcision made without hands is the death of Christ in which the body of the flesh is put off. In verse 12, we are buried with Him: baptism as a symbol, expresses this. We see also that we are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead, thus we have now put off the old man, and have put on the new, which new life is the life of Christ in us, though we are still on the earth. As dead, buried and risen with Christ, we are freed from ordinances, and are now to hold the Head from which all our springs flow.

All that Thou hast, Thou hast for me.

All my fresh springs are hid in Thee.

In Thee I live; while I confess

I nothing am, yet all possess.

I Came to Jesus

In a lone room a sad and weary woman sat lamenting the death of her only child, a bright girl of twelve years. Emma had gone to be with Christ. She had been converted in early years, and her simple, earnest testimony to the gospel’s saving power, had received but little sympathy from her worldly mother. Now Emma had gone, and she had time to think. Many of her departed daughter’s words were coming back to memory, and she sat that evening at the open window, looking across to the little cemetery on the hillside where Emma’s body lay awaiting the resurrection morning. Her weary, unsatisfied heart yearned for rest: she had not found it in the world and the pleasures of sin.

Sitting there brooding over the past, and wondering what the future would bring, sounds of singing fell upon her ear. She rose, and looking out, saw a circle of young men standing on the village street only a few yards from the door, under the open window, singing a hymn. The first sounds that fell upon her ear were

“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,”

The tears fell thick and fast. She was “weary and sad,” but no such resting place was hers. When the hymn was finished, one spoke, then another, telling the story of Jesus and His love. The well known words of Jesus –

“Come unto Me all ye that labor and arc heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” were specially dwelt upon, and the way of life and peace through Christ alone made plain. God owned the Word, and she received the message by faith. That night the first evidence of the new life was manifested by her going down and taking her place in the circle, and when the meeting was over, she invited the speakers to the house, and to their joy, told them what the Lord had done for her soul.

What a resting place is Christ for the weary sinner? Reader, is He yours?

The Wise and Foolish Virgins

The midnight cry is heard! –

O! Slumbering saints arise,

Awake from sleep, your vigil keep,

And prove yourselves “the wise”;

Arise! Arise! Go forth,

The Bridegroom is at hand; –

The Morning Star, He comes from far,

To claim His waiting band.

The midnight cry is heard!

Go forth, your Lord to meet, –

His voice we hear – His step is near,

Your blessing to complete;

Your lamps are all but out,

O! put them all in trim,

Let every light for Him shine bright,

Let naught their luster dim.

The midnight cry is heard! –

O! foolish virgins, haste,

While yet there’s room, escape your doom,

Of boundless mercy taste;

The Bridegroom tarries yet,

Your empty vessels fill;

To God on high, go there and buy,

Without a price – who will.

The midnight cry is heard!

He comes! He comes at last! –

Ye virgins wise, to meet Him rise,

Your midnight watch is past;

The new eternal song

Now flows from hearts at rest, –

With Him in light, where all is bright, –

With Him forever blest.

The midnight cry has ceased! –

No foolish enter in –

Too late! Too late! ‘Tis sealed your fate,

And now your woes begin; –

Too late! Too late! Too late! –

The door, forever shut,

You knock in vain – no entrance gain –

“Depart, I know you not.”

A Contrast

While preaching the gospel the following illustration occurred to me as helpful to a soul to see the blessed position now of the believer in Jesus, as regards his or her sins, in contrast to that of an Old Testament saint:

Suppose I were deeply in debt, to the extent say of $50,000, and had not a fraction towards paying it, neither were able to earn or get anything towards it. Imagine my distress, especially when I remembered that my creditor might cast me into prison till I paid (Matt. 5:26). Such, my reader, is a feeble picture of your condition and mine by nature before God. I am met by an acquaintance, looking the picture of misery and despair. A little after, the same person again meets me, now I am apparently much relieved – in a measure at rest and happy.

“Why,” says he, “what has taken place? Is that debt paid?”

I answer, “No; but one of immense wealth, whose word I can and do rely on, has promised to pay it. I rest in his promise – indeed, I have it in writing; I rest in this.”

“But he may draw back,” says my friend.

“O, no,” I answer, “he never will.”

After a while I am again seen by the same acquaintance; but now peaceful, restful, happy, and bright.

“Why, what a changed man,” he remarks; “what has happened now?”

“He has paid the debt,” I answer.

“Have you the receipt?” he inquires.

“Yes, I have.”

Now, my reader, which of those three conditions describe your present state? If a stranger to Jesus as your Saviour, if unpardoned at this moment, the first undoubtedly does. If you are a believer, but regarding the gospel as a promise, doubtful of the pardon of your sins, you are practically where an Old Testament believer was. Alas! Many dear souls are just in this state today. But God’s desire for you is to “know” (Acts 13:38) that your sins are forgiven, not are going to be; that the debt has been paid by the atoning death of Jesus for each and every believer, and the risen Saviour is the receipt.

“God will not payment twice demand –

Once at my bleeding Surety’s hand,

And then again at mine.”

Moreover, the Saviour, the risen Jesus, is in the glory, now at the right hand of God – the pledge – and assurance, that all who believe in Him shall be there presently with Him, and like Him, to praise Him forever.

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Romans 11:33.

My beloved reader, a plain personal question to you as I close, Is your debt paid? If not, O! come to Jesus; come now.

“Now is the accepted time.”

Scripture Study: Philippians 2

Philippians 2.

Verses 1-2. “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

This want of one-mindedness in these saints was evidently pressing on the Apostle’s spirit. He exhorted them to be of one mind in Philippians 1:27, and now again in such a way of loving appeal as ought to win their hearts. Their gift sent to him carried consolation of Christ, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, bowels and mercies (tender affection and care), giving him great joy.

One more quality was needed to fulfill his joy in them, and that was that they be of one mind in the Lord, allowing no rivalship in their souls with each other. Something had come in during his absence; his true yoke fellow (Phil. 4:3) had made him aware of it, and now by all these blessings in Christ, and His love, he beseeches them. Their love to him gives him room to speak to them about it. He goes on:

Verses 3-4. “Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things (or advantages), but every man also on the things of others.” He wished their complete happiness, and wished them to love each other as they had loved him, and as he loved them. In such a tender reproof, he added divine love to brotherly love (2 Peter 1:7 JND).

Verses 5-8. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Here we have the perfect pattern in the One, who humbled Himself to do the will of God, and we are thus taught to lay self aside even as the Lord did.

Such a contrast with the first Adam, who sought equality with God by robbery, when he was in the form of a man, and strove to exalt himself (being at the same time disobedient unto death).

Christ Jesus our Lord, when He was in the form of God, emptied Himself (love led Him to do it) of all His outward glory – of the form of God – and took the form of a man; and, then still humbled Himself. As God He emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross, and God has highly exalted Him. In this we are reminded of the word, “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

And what a story of love that cannot be measured this is. A Man has won, by His lowly obedience to God, the highest place above all heavens, the right hand of the throne of the divine majesty.

What a wonderful person that could descend into death, and ascend to the highest, where He fills all things as Redeemer and Lord of Glory! Worthy from all eternity to be at God’s right hand, He is now there as the victorious man. God’s righteousness has set Him there after He was made sin for us, and we are made God’s righteousness in Him, rejoicing in His glory, and by grace we have part in it.

Verses 9-11. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name, which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly, earthly and infernal beings (N. T.); and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” His humiliation declares His Godhead. He who was rich became poor.

Rich in glory, Thou didst stoop,

Thence is all Thy people’s hope;

Thou wast poor, that we might be

Rich in glory, Lord, with Thee.

Only a divine person could do this work; only as a man could He die. He is exalted as a man in the highest place. He is Lord over all as a man, Jesus Christ. It is of Him that the apostle speaks, Who was ever equal with God the Father, emptied Himself, humbled Himself, became obedient unto death, and is now exalted as man, and is now crowned with glory and honor, and to Him every knee – all creation – must bow and confess Him Lord, to the glory of God the Father. What a story of love and grace without measure! “Let this lowly mind be in you.”

Verses 12, 13. “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

While he was among them, he had labored and shepherded them. Now he could not be with them, but they had still God working in them, and they could look to Him Who could defeat the enemy that they had to meet. He would show them His will, and also supply the strength and wisdom to carry it out. Their carefulness, their fear and trembling were lest they should do their own will, not His.

Salvation, including the body, is at the end, in this epistle. Our place in Christ is always perfect. Our relationships are all eternally secure. We are, as believers, always children of God the Father, always members of the body of Christ, always sealed with the Holy Spirit. Working out our salvation is learning in our walk and service to do the will of God. “Your own” is in contrast with when Paul was with them. Now they had to look to God, each for himself, as to his making progress in his pilgrim path. There is no uncertainty about our being saved, or of losing our life. God dwells in us forever by His Spirit (see 1 Cor. 1:8).

Verses 14-18. Here we get some exhortations. “Do all things without murmurings and reasonings; that ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life.”

How fully all this was carried out by our blessed Lord as a man. And we need diligence and earnestness to follow in the right way, and though we have a desperate enemy, yet greater is He that is for us, than all that can be against us. There is grace in Christ to meet all our need.

The Apostle thus exhorts them to faithfulness, that he might rejoice over them in the day of Christ, that his work with them had not been in vain. He was willing to die for them upon the sacrifice and service of their faith. He rejoices with them in it, and looked for them also to rejoice with him. He thus united his work and reward in the day of Christ with the assembly, and with the joy of the Lord in them.

Verses 19-21. Though confident that the Lord will continue the good work in their souls, He trusts to send Timotheus shortly unto them, that he might be of good comfort when he knew their state. About that servant the Apostle says: “I have no man like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on (N. T.). For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” This also gives us a glimpse of the state of the assembly everywhere. Men of God were exceptions. He had none else but Timotheus who were filled with love, and sought Christ’s glory in the saints, but of him he continues:

Verses 22-24. “But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with a father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send immediately, as soon as I shall see how it will go with me.” And he trusted in the Lord that he himself would come shortly. How solicitous he was for their spiritual well-being.

Verses 25-30. Epaphroditus must also return. He is described as “my brother and fellow-soldier, and companion in labor, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.” He also longed after the Philippians, and was troubled because they heard that he had been sick, for indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him, “and,” as Paul says, “not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him, therefore, in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in honor (N. T.), because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to complete your service toward me.” What mutual regard for each other is seen here, brotherly love and divine love intermingled.

This is a chapter of examples: First it is the perfect one. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”: then Paul, Timotheus, and Epaphroditus, men walking in their path serving the Lord, to whom “to live was Christ, and to die was gain.” May it stir our hearts through Christ’s grace to do likewise. It is the obedient One we have here as our pattern for our living before men. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

Inasmuch

How easily we, as saints, are inclined to miss some of our choicest privileges! And this is the result of our overlooking the simple statements of the Word.

The clean animal in the Old Testament Scripture was one which, besides being cloven-footed, chewed the cud. It not only gathered its food, it chewed it over again afterward. Do we have our quiet times over portions we have gathered? If not, we never get the full benefit of them. And this is a great loss, for we forget much we have gathered, and consequently miss many a choice privilege.

Take for instance the words of our Lord in Matthew 25:40: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Have you ever quietly meditated upon this, letting it have its full weight upon your heart and mind? Think of it; the Lord here definitely states that whatever good thing is done to one of His brethren, He reckons it as done to Himself; and it is so put down to the account of the one who does the good deed.

Now let us challenge our hearts. Do we in all our dealings with our fellow-Christians remember this? I do not ask if we understand it, for the words are too simple to admit of mistake or question; but, beloved friends, Do we remember that He is counting our actions towards His own, as done to Himself?

Perhaps a further test will help us. Suppose Jesus were visibly upon earth today, as He was nineteen centuries back, walking up and down among us and visiting His people as then, what would our attitude be towards Him? Should we not count it the greatest honor that could be bestowed upon us to have Him as a guest beneath our roof? Would anything be too good for Him? Should we not gladly give Him of our very best? Well, beloved, He Himself tells us we have the privilege at our very doors; for, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”

Can we take it in, beloved? May we have grace so to do? By-and-by when we see what now we know by faith, how welcome will it be to those who have acted according to the simple Word, to have it acknowledged openly, that, during their sojourn upon earth, they were ministering to Him?

And if we need this as an incentive, the converse is equally true as a corrective. “I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not... Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it not unto Me.”

Extract: Peace

“The peace of God” means peace above circumstances.

“The peace of Christ” (“My peace I give unto you”) means peace unmovable amidst circumstances.

“I shall not be moved,” and why? Because He has set His God before His face, and God was at His right hand.

“Yesterday” He loved me;

“Today” He’s just the “same.”

How long will it continue?

“Forever.” Praise His Name!

Until the Day Break

I wonder if anyone ever saw anything much lovelier than a beautiful sunset, or sunrise.

I remember one time the fence had been left down in our pasture and the horses got out.

We had been told late at night that they had been seen some miles distant from our home. So early the next morning before sunrise we started out in the car to find them.

I was keeping a look out to see the sun rise, and as we went along I kept glancing back toward the northeast. In that part of the sky there were dark clouds, and as I watched for these to go I could not help thinking of that verse,

“Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.” Song of Solomon 2:17.

But what happens as they gradually do break? As we came out on the hilltop where the horses were, the sky was tinted with lovely colors. As time went on they became brighter and more lovely. The sky was shot with gold and red.

When we turned in at our road, coming home, and came up the hill, what a golden scene met our gaze there.

What was the cause of this great transformation of the dull sky? The sun – the sun coming forth in all his glory and majesty.

How much more beautiful will it be when “the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.” Malachi 4:2.

Even before the glorious change had really taken place, the birds were awake awaiting the coming of day.

O may we too be found watching for that day when “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16.

May our hearts be filled with joy and peace as we see this time approaching.

“The night is far spent and the day is at hand.” Romans 13:12.

The night is far spent, and the day is at hand:

No sign to be looked for; the star’s in the sky;

Rejoice then ye saints, ‘tis your Lord’s own command;

Rejoice for the coming of Jesus draws nigh.

What a day will that be when the Saviour appears:

How welcome to those who have shared in His cross!

A crown incorruptible then will be theirs,

A rich compensation for suffering and loss.

What is loss in this world, when compared to that day,

To the glory that then will from heaven be revealed?

“The Saviour is coming”, His people may say;

“The Lord whom we look for, our Sun and our Shield.”

O, as we think of that approaching day, and of what He has prepared above for us, as He has said,

“In My Father’s house are many mansions .... I go to prepare a place for you, and 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,” how our hearts ought to go out in love and praise to Him. “That where I am there ye may be also.” Think of it. Is it not wonderful? Well may we sing –

O pardon us, Lord! that our love to Thy name

Is so faint, with so much our affections to move!

Our coldness might fill us with grief and with shame,

So much to be loved, and so little to love.

O kindle within us a holy desire,

Like that which was found in Thy people of old,

Who tasted Thy love, and whose hearts were on fire,

While they waited in patience, Thy face to behold

May He ever be the only object before us, and O, that whatever we do or say, may be done for His praise and glory.

“Be Thou the object bright and fair

To fill and satisfy the heart;

My hope to meet Thee in the air,

And nevermore from Thee to part,

That I may undistracted be

To follow, serve and wait for Thee.”

The Hidden Manna

Revelation. 2:17.

First of all, look at the words separately. “Hidden,” and “manna.” The manna was rained down from heaven to earth to meet the need of the hosts of Israel. It was bread from heaven (Ex. 16).

Christ Jesus, the son of God, in love and grace to us, came down from heaven to earth to give life to our souls, and to become, as God manifest in the flesh, the food of our souls forever (John 6). To feed upon Christ now, as the manna, is to have fellowship with Him in His path of humiliation, suffering, and rejection down here – as the “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Fellowship with Him as the once lowly Jesus, will be to us as our manna from heaven, our living stream from the smitten rock, and our cloudy and fiery pillar during our journey through this wilderness world.

But why is it called “hidden manna”? When it came down from heaven it was spread around the camp, open to all, and the people gathered it early in the morning. But the Lord commanded Moses to “take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations!’

“The golden pot that had manna” was kept in “the Holiest of all,” as a memorial for the children, when in the land, of their fathers’ wilderness fare. But it had a deeper meaning to the heart of Israel’s God. It shadowed forth the lowly Jesus ministering to the need of the people, in and around Jerusalem, and openly before all, yet despised and rejected of men; but owned of God, and honored of Him with the highest place in heaven.

To eat of the hidden manna is to find our joy, our delight, our strength, in communion with the once, lowly, suffering Jesus, but now exalted glorified Christ, at God’s right hand in heaven. If we walk in faithfulness to Him, in the midst of such scenes of unfaithfulness as we have to pass through, in these days of worldliness, and open, unblushing infidelity, we shall need the sustaining power of the hidden manna, the true and living bread. He is the only true wilderness fare for God’s strangers and pilgrims in this desert world. The remembrance of what Jesus was as the obedient, patient, subject man on earth, is well fitted to nourish our hearts, amidst the many trials and difficulties of the way.

“He that saith he abideth in Him, ought Himself so to walk, even as Christ walked.” 1 John 2:6.

Closely connected with “the hidden manna” we have the “white stone.” This is the secret, but real, expression of the Lord’s good pleasure, in our path of service for Him amidst general unfaithfulness. And so expressed as that none, save those to whom it is expressed, can ever understand it. He assures the heart of the overcomer, now, of the divine approval.

But O! what will the “white stone” be in heaven? To have the full, intimate, personal, expression of the Master’s approbation! To have it now, in the secret of communion, is peace to the conscience, joy to the heart, and strength in service. Communion with Himself must always be the first thing, if we would go on happily and steadily. When you know the Master’s mind as to your line of service, you can be calm and tranquil, even amidst the conflicting opinions of others. A servant out of communion, and not knowing the Master’s mind, must fall under the power of circumstances, and be unstable in all His ways.

The “white stone,” I believe, is the only remedy for such a state of things. It is the secret link of communion between the heart and Christ Himself. In the light of His presence, the path is cleared, and the heart is assured.

“In Thy presence we are happy; in Thy presence we’re secure;

In Thy presence all afflictions we can easily endure;

In Thy presence we can conquer, we can suffer, we can die;

Wander ‘ring from Thee we are feeble; let thy love, Lord, keep us nigh.”

O! what need there is for such communion in such times! The professing church, long ago, having left her first love, is now far away indeed from Christ. To follow her would be to go back to the depths of the world, “even where Satan’s seat is,” and where the doctrine of Balaam (type of ecclesiastical covetousness, and of seducing the people of God (Num. chapters 22-24), and of the Nicolaitanes (type of the abuse of grace in the most hateful form), are taught.

There is, then, but the one thing left for us, namely, to follow Christ according to His word. To keep the eye of faith fixed on that “hidden” One, and the heart filled and occupied with Him. So shall we have, even now, in the midst of a general apostasy, the “white stone” – the secret pledge of His presence and approbation as to our path, and of His delight in ourselves.

“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” Revelation 2:12-17.

Thou hidden Source of calm repose!

Thou all-sufficient Love divine!

My help and refuge from my foes,

Secure I am, for I am Thine;

And, lo! from guilt, and grief, and shame,

I’m hidden, Saviour, by Thy name.

Jesus, my All in all Thou art,

My rest in toil, my ease in pain;

The medicine of my broken heart

’Mid storms, my peace; in loss, my gain:

My smile beneath the tyrant’s frown;

In shame, my glory and my crown.

In want, my plentiful supply;

In weakness, my almighty power;

In bonds, my perfect liberty;

My refuge, in temptation’s hour;

My comfort ’midst all grief and thrall.

My life in death, my All in all.

Perseverance

“The Word of the Lord endureth forever.” 1 Peter 1:25.

Rejoice, believer, in the Lord,

Who makes your cause His own;

The hope that’s built upon His word

Can ne ‘er be overthrown.

Though many foes beset your road,

And feeble is your arm,

Your life is hid with Christ in God,

Beyond the reach of harm.

Weak as you are, you shall not faint,

Or fainting, shall not die;

Jesus, the strength of every saint,

Will aid you from on high.

Though sometimes unperceived by sense,

Faith sees Him always near,

A Guide, a Glory, a Defense;

Then what have you to fear?

As surely as He overcame,

And triumphed once for you;

So surely you who love His Name

Shall triumph in Him too.

Correspondence: 2 Tim. 2:5; 1 Cor. 15:50;James 2:14-20; Luke 15:8; Multiple Ques.

Question: What does “strive lawfully” mean? 2 Timothy 2:5. R. I.

Answer: Timothy is exhorted in this epistle where so much failure and unfaithfulness had come in to “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” In order to carry out this exhortation, he was to endure hardness, or take his share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ; also not to entangle himself with the affairs of this life, that he might please the One who had chosen him to be a soldier.

Next, he is to be like a man striving in the games; to strive according to the rules of the game, or he will lose the prize. That is obedience.

Next, he is to be like a husbandman going through all the toil and endurance before he gets any crops. That is toiling perseveringly in hope of the reward.

So we get in the soldier singleness of eye and purpose of heart to please the Lord. In the athlete, we have strict obedience to the Word of God; and in the husbandman, toiling and waiting for the promised reward.

Question: Please explain 1 Corinthians 15:50. Does this mean that flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God? Does verse 37 mean that we shall have a different body? W. C.

Answer: 1 Corinthians 15 is about the resurrection of the saints. It is true that they will all be raised; the same bodies will be glorified bodies. The dead will put on incorruptibility. Those who will be living when the Lord comes for His saints will put on immortality, and will be perfectly suited to the new conditions, glorified like Christ’s body of glory (Phil. 3:1). Jesus said, “A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have” (Luke 24:39, 40).

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 would tell us the foolishness of speculation. Wait and see.

Question: What does James 2:14-20 mean? J. H. K.

Answer: The Apostle tells us “faith without works is dead.” If it were a living faith, that is, if one is truly born of God, that life produces works, as in Abraham and Rahab (compare Eph. 2:8, 10). A sinner only produces “dead works” (Heb. 9:14). A believer produces good works. Paul stops the sinner from working (Rom. 4:5 and 3:26, 28). James starts the believer to bring forth good works, proving the reality of his faith.

Question: Is the woman in Luke 15:8 a type of the church? P. T.

Answer: Luke 15 is the parable of the love of God to the repentant sinner. God in His three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Shepherd pictures the work of Christ, leaving His home to search and find His lost sheep, and we think of His atoning work on the cross as God’s righteous foundation on which He can receive the guilty sinner, so the Shepherd is first in this parable.

Then the woman seeks the piece of silver, the valuable but dead sinner, pictured as dead, as the sheep was pictured as living, in sins. So here the woman, out of sight, in the house with the lamp and broom, seeks her lost piece of silver, the dead sinner. This is the Holy Spirit’s picture, shining the light and brushing away the dust that has hid the valued one out of sight.

Then the Father receives the returning sinner, and this is the fruit of the Spirit shining on him, and making him feel his wretched and filthy condition, and then reminds him of the plenty of the Father’s house, while he is starving. The Father covered him with kisses, this is full forgiveness of all his sins, that answers to full cleansing, so that on the ground of the work of Christ he, the sinner, is seen, cleansed, forgiven, clothed and seated at the table, feasting on God’s delight in His Son. These three go together.

Our salvation springs from the heart of God. It is the Father’s will that sent the Son. It is the Son’s work that glorified God, so that in the righteousness of God the sinner is saved. And the Holy Spirit is the power and witness in our souls. These three are ever seen together, both in creation and in redemption.

Question: By F. A. B.

Answer: (a). 1 John 5:16 is in connection with God’s discipline on His children. (For fuller explanation see “Young Christian,” September number, 1927, page 248; also November number, 1927, pages 305, 306).

(b). In Mark 3:30; Matthew 9:34, we have the sin of blasphemers against the Holy Ghost. These were wicked men. This is not at all the same as in 1 John 5:16,

(c). Matthew 10:22 and 24:13, apply primarily to believers in the tribulation period, but it is true of believers now, for having eternal life, they have eternal security, though for this life they may make shipwreck. (See 1 Tim. 1:15). For fuller explanation see November number, pages 306, 307.

(d). Every true believer is eternally saved (John 3:15, 16; 5:24; 10:28-30; Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:8, 9; Phil. 1:6; Heb. 10:14; 1 Peter 5:10, and others).

(e). 1 Timothy 4:12-16 is instruction to Timothy as to how to obey the Word; and in so doing, save himself and those that hear him from being led astray by false doctrine.

(f). Hebrews 3:6, 14, and the whole epistle, addresses all profession, and shows that the true believer continues to hold fast their confidence and full assurance of hope firm unto the end. Hebrews 6:4-11 shows those who apostatize, and those who continue.

(g). James 1:12; 5:19, 20, exhort us to seek those who have gone astray. He writes to both saved and unsaved (1:1; 2:1; 5:1-6).

(h). Revelation 2:20 encourages the martyrs to be faithful unto death, to receive the crown of life.

(i). One truly born of God is always a child of God (John 1:12, 13; 1 John 3:1, 2, 3).

(j). One sealed with the Holy Spirit never loses that gift (John 14; 16; 17).

(k). Christ is our object to live or die for (Phil. 1:21); He is our pattern (Phil. 2:5); our goal (Phil. 3:13, 14); our resource at all times (Phil. 4:13).

(l). Christ the Lord calls all believers His brethren. His God is their God. His Father is their Father (John 20:17).

(m). What He calls us is true forever. What He says abides forever. God has magnified His Word above all His name (Psa. 138:2. Read Psa. 119). Jesus defeated Satan with it (Matt. 3:2, 2 Tim. 3:16, 17). The Word of God is the only true guidance. The Holy Spirit wrote by different penmen, yet it is all God breathed, out of His mouth.

(n). “Let your women keep silence in the assemblies” is the Word of God. (1 Cor. 14:34, 37). They could not therefore pray or prophesy in the assembly. What they received from God they must have communicated privately, like Mary in John 20:18 when she told the brethren what the Lord had spoken to her.

(o). Musical instruments are not mentioned in Christianity. Christian worship is by the Spirit of God (Phil. 3:3; see revised and New Trans. John 4:24).

(p). There is no name in Scripture but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for saints to gather to, and if it is only two or three, He says, “There am I in the midst of them.” What a blessing that is, and we can go on with it till we see His blessed face in glory.

(q). All ministry, if it is real, comes from Christ in glory. We can thank the Lord for every one whom He sends to minister to us. No man has any authority to appoint ministers (Eph. 4:11-13).

“Let God be true, but every man a liar” who would dare to take from, or add to, the Word of God.

Faith Cometh by Hearing

A young Christian frequently visited the wards of a hospital, being deeply interested in those who are afflicted. On one occasion she was trying to comfort a poor woman, who declared that there was no hope whatever for her, she knew she was utterly lost and forgotten of God. The lady replied immediately,

“You are then the very one that Christ Jesus came to save; for has He not Himself affirmed, ‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost’?” But alas, the precious words seemed to make no impression on the poor despairing mind.

Several months after this incident, the lady was astonished at receiving a letter from a person who stated that she had been an inmate of the same hospital mentioned above, and was only just discharged there from; but as she felt she had much cause to thank God for having been present at the time of the incident recorded, she thought it only right to tell the lady what the Lord had done for her soul, by means of the words spoken to the poor woman in her hearing, though not meant for her; and that her mind was in such a rebellious frame at that time, that she would most probably have struck any one who had dared to speak to her about her soul, but that ever since, her heart seemed melted to think of the love of Jesus in thus coming to seek out and save her lost soul.

The above facts are recorded as testimony to the truth of God’s own gracious promise, given in His Word,

“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow, from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10, 11.

May many Christians be encouraged thereby to be always ready to speak a word in season, and to leave results with God.

A Certain Man, and What Man of You

Luke 15:4, 11

“A certain man had two sons.” The Lord did not say, “What man of you having two sons?” as He had done in the former parts of this parable: “What man of you having an hundred sheep?” “Either what woman having ten pieces of silver?” He could not speak thus now, for no “man of them” would have dealt thus. Only grace deals after such a manner, and there was not a trace of it in their hearts. But the heart of this Father is full thereof to overflowing. It is a picture of the Father God – “The God of all grace” – drawn by His Son, who had come from His home to make Him known.

Self-interest would lead an owner of a hundred sheep, if he lost one, to leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which was lost until he found it. Self-interest would lead a woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lost one piece, to light a candle, and sweep the house, and search diligently till she found it. But only grace, sovereign, unmixed grace – undemanding, all-supplying grace – receives to its heart and to its home such a profligate son, and after such a manner.

The Lord showed that God sought on the same principle as they themselves, but He receives on His own unique principle, totally different to anything they acted on, and which only drew forth a murmur, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them,” from the hard, self-righteous hearts of Pharisees and scribes to whom He spake this parable; though why should God be denied the joy of receiving back a son if He chooses – Would they not do so?

And notice, it is “this parable” – not three, but one. It gives the action of three Persons – three Persons but one God – seeking and receiving, but this diverse action of diverse Persons all concentrated on one object – the SINNER.

Dear, dear friend, did you ever contemplate the interest that God takes in you, who “would have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth”? (1 Tim. 2:4.)

I Looked to Jesus

I looked to Jesus in my sin,

My woe and want confessing;

Undone, and lost, I came to Him,

I sought, and found a blessing.

I looked to Jesus on the cross;

For me I saw Him dying;

God’s Word believed – that all my sins

Were there upon Him lying.

I looked to Jesus there on high,

From death up-raised to glory;

I trusted in His power to save,

Believed the old, old story.

He looked on me – O, look of love!

My heart by it was broken;

And with that look of love He gave

The Holy Spirit’s token.

Now one with Christ, I find my peace

In Him to be abiding;

And in His love for all my need,

In child-like faith confiding.

Scripture Study: Philippians 3

Verses 1-2. “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”

As a shepherd under the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:2-4), the Apostle, in his love for them, warns them of the danger from false teachers who would bring them into bondage. It was the admixture of Judaizing principles (that are now so common) with the truth of a glorified Christ, under the guise of religious zeal for the God given law. They destroyed the grace of Christianity as the Galatian Epistle unfolds; they reinstated the flesh as able to be improved. And Paul considering the falseness of them, in his love for the Christians, speaks in unmistakable earnestness,

“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.” He treats this doctrine with contempt, and uses words, the strength of which is justified by his loving care for the assembly.

Dogs have no conscience; they were wicked workers; they were the concision trimming and improving the flesh, which in God’s sight profits nothing, in which dwells no good thing (John 6:63; Rom. 7:18).

He knew it was only a bait of the enemy, seeking to destroy the assurance of believers, and that their sins are washed away in the blood of Christ, so here he teaches them the necessity of taking a firm stand against what contradicts the gospel of the grace of God. Having done this, he leaves it, to occupy their minds with the truth.

Verse 3. “For we are the circumcision,” that is, put to death with Christ, “which worship God by the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Compare Col. 2:11). It means that in the death of Christ, we died; and in His resurrection, we are risen. It is the putting off the body of the flesh in, the death of Christ. The law cannot apply to one who is dead, and alive in a new position in Christ Jesus. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. He is our all and in us all, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Verses 4-6. If anyone might have confidence in the flesh, it was Saul of Tarsus, duly circumcised the eighth day, of the pure stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin who followed David. An Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; and he was one of the straitest of the religious leaders of that day. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness of the law, blameless.

Saul of Tarsus was no hypocrite; he was sincere, religious, walked in all good conscience, and had shown great zeal in persecuting the church of God, yet he was on the downward way, living in a mistake, till Christ in glory called him, stopped him on his downward way, as a child of wrath going on to eternal destruction (Eph. 2:3). His eyes were opened, and all his own righteousnesses he now sees, are but filthy rags (Psa. 143:2; Isa. 64:6). One look at Christ in the glory of God, declared the holiness of God, the worthiness of Christ, and his own ruined condition, and reduced him to know himself a lost, ruined, guilty sinner, a child of wrath, on the downward road to destruction. What a happy thing for him that the Lord stopped him before it was too late.

It was not the sins of the flesh that came before him, but it was the religiousness of the flesh that shocked him, henceforth, as he says,

Verse 7. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” In Christ he saw divine righteousness for man, and a divine glory in a Man; and as when the sun rises, the darkness is dispelled, and in its brightness the stars disappear, so in the excellency of the glory of Christ Jesus the Lord, who acknowledged the poor feeble believers as His members, as part of Himself, changed all his boasted goodness into filth and dross. All disappeared before the righteousness of God, and the glory of Christ. His whole moral being was changed now, as he afterward wrote, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15. He called himself “less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8); and “not meet to be called an apostle.” And not only that, but this glory of Christ shining in his soul, makes him now write,

Verse 8. “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ; and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead.”

Here he speaks as in the wilderness path, and he is reaching forward, desiring to win Christ, and to know Him fully, and the righteousness of God. He desired to follow the Lord in His sufferings, and be made conformable unto His death; and he had to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, that he might follow Him in His sufferings.

His circumstances in prison helped to keep this before him. From his heart he desired to follow Christ. If death came in by the way, he was all the more like Christ, and whatever it cost, he desired to attain to the resurrection from among the dead; and with spiritual energy he presses on to win Him as He is.

Verse 12. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfected: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” He is keeping before himself the fact that the Lord arrested him to make him like Himself in glory.

Verses 13-14. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (or got possession): but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.” The glory with Christ before him, dimmed all else; he forgot himself in the blessed prospect. Every earthly advantage lost its value in this light. He was a happy Christian. He had an undivided heart for Christ.

Verses 15-16. “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.” He expects us all to be full grown; that is, to know ourselves as belonging to Christ in glory, and those who are full grown are to go on thus minded – that is, with one thing before us, to be with and like Christ in glory. “And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” How precious that is! It is not a question of our knowledge, but of having Christ in glory as our object, then God will reveal the rest to us. And what we have attained to, let us walk according to it, thus going on together in the Lord.

Verse 17. “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so that ye have us for an ensample.” In this epistle specially, and in Paul’s teachings generally, we have the glorified Christ in view more than from the other apostles; he has just unfolded Him as the object in glory to whom we are pressing on, so he takes this place as pointing us all to press on to that object, – the glorified One that we are to be with and like. This is why he says; “Be ye followers of me.” This does not turn our eyes from Christ, but rather to Him. His gaze was fixed on the heavenly One who ever shone before him.

Verses 18-19, is a sad parenthesis that tells us of the departure of many in the assembly from their first love, and from their right condition. “For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” They had been a disappointment to the Apostle, even to tears.

This he is not applying to the assembly at Phillipi only, but to the condition of the assemblies generally. Many had already professed the name of Christ whose lives had only earth and earthly things in view. The Apostle did not own them; spirituality was lowered, and many who had no life at all, could walk among them in such an unspiritual condition, and their presence only made the state worse. But the Apostle could see it, and warns the faithful that these are the enemies of the cross of Christ; their end was destruction; their god was their belly: and in their own desires, they were earthly minded.

Verses 20-21. “For our conversation (or citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body (rather, body of humiliation), that it may be fashioned according to His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

This is what we wait for – the coming of our Lord, as Saviour, to save us out of this world by His power, and to have us like Himself in glory. This is the salvation set before us in this epistle, the result due to the almighty power of our Lord and Saviour. Then when He shall take His assembly to Himself in heavenly glory, we shall be what we have desired to be all along (1 John 3:2), then we shall have the resurrection from among the dead.

We are not led to occupy ourselves with our attainment here below, but occupied with Christ in glory; and that we are to be with Him and like Him there, leads us to seek to be like Him here also.

On Success and Failure, An Explanation

In order to have a satisfactory result when one person has to explain anything to another, it is chiefly necessary that the person to whom the explanation is offered, should really and sincerely try to understand what the other would express.

It is very desirable that the explainer should use such words and such manner as shall best express his mind; but, though he spake never so clearly, if the other is listening without that real interest to understand, language will always afford to a disputer opportunities of raising questions and of misrepresenting assertions, and of so confounding (as the disputer thinks) the other, but really he himself is the confounded one; for the other still knows what his own meaning is, though he may be grieved at his failure to lead his friend to understand it, and profit by it, while the disputer has missed what perhaps might have been a real increase of wisdom or knowledge to him, and certainly what would have been an opportunity of manly, friendly, and wise intercourse, and exchange of ideas.

There surely is wisdom in these observations. And we, Christians, would do well to lay them to heart. Is it saying too much to assert, that there is amongst us a lack of that patient waiting, both on God and each other, that would result in mutual edification and happy communion?

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name” (Mal. 3:16).

What a contrast this scripture presents to the case described in the above observations.

Be Much in Prayer

Ephesians 6:18-20

Be much in prayer, in this dark hour,

For great are Satan’s wiles;

Far worse than persecuting power

Are his seductive smiles.

And error comes in such disguise –

Smooth-tongued and circumspect –

That none but truth-enlightened eyes

The monster can detect!

And fair profession, hand in hand

With evil, stalks abroad

But to deceive. O! who can stand,

Save those who trust in God?

Be much in prayer, ‘mid all thy joys,

So shall their depths increase;

For lack of watchfulness alloys

The very sweetest peace.

What power to stand is gained by saints

Who love to “watch and pray,”

And who escape the desert taints

In this defiling day?

Be much in prayer for laboring ones,

Who in the Master’s name,

And with the Master’s message run,

His mercy to proclaim.

To ruined man, so sunk in sin –

So far from God by works;

O! pray that love may enter in

Where naught but hatred lurks!

The harvest’s great, the workmen few,

And naught of time to spare;

Iniquity increases, too –

Remember this in prayer.

What conscious power, ’mid conscious need

Where God’s blest Spirit sways;

The Sovereign One to rule and lead

In service, prayer and praise.

Evangelization

Some there are who speak disparagingly of the blessed and holy work of evangelization. We tremble for them. We feel persuaded they are not in the current of the Master’s mind, and hence we utterly reject their thoughts.

It is to be feared that their hearts are cold in reference to an object that engages the heart of God. If so, they would need to humble themselves in His presence, and seek to get their souls restored to a true sense of the magnitude, importance, and interest of the grand question before us. At least let them beware of how they seek to discourage and hinder others whose hearts the Lord has moved to care for precious immortal souls.

The present is most assuredly not the time for raising difficulties, and starting questions which can only prove stumbling blocks in the path of earnest workers.

It becomes us to seek in every right way to strengthen the hands of all who are endeavoring, according to their measure, to publish the glad tidings, and make known the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Let us see that we do so, as far as in us lies; and above all things let us never utter a sentence calculated to hinder anyone in the blessed work of winning souls to Christ.

What Is Faith?

Lack of faith in the promises of God is one of the first steps leading to the backsliding of the Christian.

“We are not of them that draw back, but of them that believe,” exclaims the writer of the Hebrews.

Faith is the great dynamic force in the life that is pleasing to God. “For without faith it is impossible to please Him.” There must be always in the Christian that disposition to believe in God, and a committal of oneself to act upon the conviction which is the result of the evidence of faith which God presents to men in His Word, and dealings with them. And it must be a real faith that is being exercised in the life, if it is to prevent our backsliding.

There is a great difference between belief and faith.

Belief is the acceptance of a thing or fact being true; faith is acting upon that truth.

Belief lives in books, in the intellect, in the study; faith lives in the streets, in the heart, in practical life.

Faith takes belief as a basis, and works upon it. It is one thing to say, “I believe the promises of God to be absolutely true and genuine;” and an altogether different thing to step out upon these promises, thereby giving substance to things unseen and seemingly intangible, and manifesting conviction in things which are above, and sometimes apparently contradictory to, mere human reason. Faith is putting God to the test.

The elders tested God, and God attested them; that is, He bore witness to their faith by honoring it. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is full of illustrations of what faith is and does, and how the children of God lived by it.

God sometimes allows His people to be tested up to the hilt. We are to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” – that means food sufficient for today. For tomorrow and its needs we are not to pray.

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Lord, for tomorrow and its needs

I do not pray;

Keep me, my God, from stain of sin,

Just for today.

Let me no wrong or idle word

Unthinking say;

Set Thou a seal upon my lips,

Just for today.

Let me both diligently work,

And duly pray;

Let me be kind in word and deed,

Just for today.

Let me be swift to do Thy will,

Prompt to obey;

Help me to sacrifice myself,

Just for today.

Fragment: The Secret of HIs Presence

What joy and blessing for the child of God who is found in the “secret of His presence” (Psa. 31:20; 91:1).

Shut in with the Lord, away from the world with its cares and temptations, what depths of His love and wisdom will be revealed to us! (Rom. 11:33; Eph. 3:18, 19).

“Art thou weaned from Egypt’s pleasures,

God in secret thee shall keep,

There unfold His hidden treasures,

There His love’s exhaustless deep.”

Exhortation

There are few things less understood than the real nature of exhortation. We are apt to attach an idea of legal effort to that word which is quite foreign to it. Divine exhortation, always assumes that a certain relationship exists, that a certain standing is enjoyed, that certain privileges are apprehended. The Spirit never exhorts, save on a divine basis. For example: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.” Romans 12:1. Here we have a fine instance of divine exhortation. “The mercies of God” are first put before us, in all their fullness, brightness, and preciousness, ere we are called to hear the voice of exhortation.

Again: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30. Here we are exhorted on the settled ground of our being “sealed.” He does not say, “Grieve not the Spirit, lest ye be eternally lost.” Such would not be in keeping with the true character of divine exhortation. We “are sealed,” not as long as we behave ourselves, but “until the day of redemption.” It is absolutely done, and this is the powerful reason why we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. If that which is the eternal seal of God, set upon us until the day of redemption, be the Holy Spirit, how careful should we be not to grieve Him.

Again, “Since ye then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.” Colossians 3:1. As those who are risen, what should we seek but “things above”? We do not seek these things in order to be risen, but because we are. In other words, the solid basis of our standing is laid down, by the Spirit of grace, before ever the voice of exhortation falls on the ear. This is divine. Aught else would be mere legality.

To call upon a man to set his affections upon things above, before he knows, upon divine authority, that he is “risen with Christ,” is to begin at the wrong end, and to lose your labor. It is only when I believe that precious emancipating truth that when Christ died, I died; when He was buried, I was buried; when He rose, I rose; it is only when this grand reality takes possession of my soul that I can lend an open ear, and an understanding heart to exhortation’s heavenly voice.

It is well for my reader to understand this thoroughly. There is no need whatever for a multitude of words. Let him simply take his New Testament, and beginning with the Epistle to the Romans, trace, throughout, the exhortations of the Spirit of God; and he will find, without a single exception, that they are as completely divested of the legal element, as are the promises which glitter like gems on the page of inspiration. This subject is not fully understood.

Exhortation in the hands of man is widely different from what it is in the hands of the Holy Spirit. How often do we hear men exhorting us to a certain line of action in order that we may reach certain privileges. The way of the Spirit is the reverse of this. He set before us our standing in Christ, in the first place, and then he unfolds the walk. He first speaks of privilege – free, unconditional, inalienable privilege, and then He sets forth the holy responsibility connected therewith. He first presents the settled and unalterable relationship in which free grace has set us, and then dwells upon the affections belonging thereto.

There is nothing so hateful to the Spirit of God as legality, that hateful system which casts us as doers back upon self, instead of casting us as lost sinners over upon Christ. Man would fain do something; but he must be brought to the end of himself, and to the end of all beside, and then as a lost sinner, find his rest in Christ – a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. In this way alone can he ever expect solid peace and true happiness; and only then will he ever able to yield an intelligent response to the Spirit’s “word of exhortation.”

Extract: Difficulties

“Difficulties there must be in a world in which sin has made deadly confusion. But there comes in the noble, active principle of Christianity:

‘To him that overcometh’; ‘Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’

Christianity gives motives, objects, energies, which deliver man when under their influence, from slavery to the scene through which he is passing. He has a right to be a stranger and pilgrim in it. His ear has heard the solemn warning (which elevates, yet sinks, with a sanctifying sorrow as to all around, in the depths of the heart):

‘Arise, ye, and depart; for this is not your rest; because it is polluted.’

And he takes up his cross, and sets out solemnized, broken in spirit perhaps (it is good in such a world), but cheerfully, because he sees that Christ has gone before, and that the victory which overcomes the world is his faith.

For ‘who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?’ Christ being his life, in a world of evil and confusion, He can be himself, not conformed or belonging to it; not formed by it in motive or principle of life (though naturally as to mere outward circumstances not uninfluenced by it), but acting in it according to his own; happy to have companions in the excellent of the earth, but a Leader and a Lord in Christ.

By this he judges of everything. He has seen perfection in Christ, and he is led by it. The assimilating power in one only – Christ – God manifested in flesh; folly to the world, of course. But he knows whom he has believed; he has no doubt as to the excellency of the object and the model, nor of its absoluteness and completeness.

The Christian believes that Christ gave Himself for our sins to redeem us ‘from this present evil world’” (Gal. 1:4).

Christ Our Object

A Christian who has heaven before him, and a Saviour in glory as the object of his affections, will walk well upon the earth. He who has only the earthly path for his rule, will fail in the intelligence and motives needed to walk in it; he will become a prey to worldliness, and his Christian walk in the world will be more or less on a level with the world in which he walks.

The eyes upward on Jesus will keep the heart and the steps in a path conformable to Jesus, and which consequently will glorify Him, and make Him known to the world.

Seeing what we are, we must have a motive above our path to be able to walk in it. This does not prevent our needing also for our path the fear of the Lord to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, knowing that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.

Extract From a Letter

It is beautifully written as to the blessed Lord:

“It should be the common delight of all His saints to trace Him in all His doings. For where are we to have our eternal joys but in Him and with Him? What, beloved, is suited to our delights, if Jesus and His ways, be not? What is there in any object to awaken joy, that we do not find in Him? What are these affections, sympathies, which either command or soothe our hearts? Is love needed to make us happy? If so, was ever love like His? If beauty can engage the sense, is it not to perfection in Him? If the treasures of the mind delight us in another, if richness and variousness fill and refresh, have we not all these in the communicated mind of Christ? Indeed, beloved, we should challenge our hearts to find their delight in Him. For we are to know Him so forever.”

But O! the more we learn of Thee

And Thy rich mercy prove,

The more we long Thy face to see,

And fully prove Thy love.

“The chiefest among ten thousand” – and “altogether lovely.” Song of Solomon 5:10, 16.

“Tarry ye here and watch with Me.”

Wondrous the love of Him who spake these words,

Wondrous the grace to stoop so low to ask

Of men, to tarry and to watch with Him

One hour! With Him whose goings forth of old

From everlasting were. Whose word did form,

Whose power upheld creation’s utmost bound.

Yes – He did stoop to crave their tarrying

E’en for one hour, to watch with Him – and yet

He asked in vain. Alone He prayed; alone

He watched. For comforters, He looked, and none

Did find. Wondrous the love of Christ!

Matchless the grace; Perfect the sympathy that flows

To lonely ones. Tell out thy grief to Him.

He felt the same. No human breast had He

To lean upon, no voice to soothe, or speak

Of comfort to His wounded heart. Not one

To watch with Him in that drear, darksome hour.

He knows it all. It was for thee, for, thee

Thou purchased one, He passed through all, and now

With open arms can welcome thee to come,

And pour out every grief, the keenest pang,

Or that too small for any ear save His.

Yes, pour out all, He can uphold, sustain,

Can comfort thee, can whisper peace,

His peace, e’en in the wildest storm.

Nay more, can make all things work thy good,

and yield to Him eternal praise.

One of Satan's Ways With Saints

“How heavenly their souls act

Who act from enjoyment of Christ.”

The temptation with which Satan disturbs the people of God is to hinder them from living on Christ as poor, needy, helpless sinners, and from finding all they want in His fullness. This exalts the Saviour too much, and makes them too safe and happy; therefore Satan would persuade them to get riches, and strength, and a clean heart, quite without sin, in themselves, so that they may look inwards with compliancy – outwards with, “Stand by thyself, I am holier than thou” – and upwards with, “God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are.” Thus pride enters, and Christ is thrust out.

Correspondence: Tit. 3:5; Rev. 4:7-9 and 5:8, 11; Flesh vs. Old Man; 2 Tim. 2:4

Question: What is meant in Titus 3:5 by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost? B. N. Y.

Answer: The word “regeneration” is used in Matthew 19:28 for a new order of things in the Millennial day. And here it is used for a new order of things in the believer.

It is not improving the old Adam nature. It is a new life, the life of Christ in us, and thus has the moral nature of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is used as its power, and has given the believer a new position and a new object to live for. Also he is no longer a Jew or a Gentile, he is now a child of God with a heavenly calling.

Question: Please tell me what the four beasts represent in Revelation 4:7, 8, 9, and 5:8, 11? W. W. H.

Answer: As the word “beast” is used in a bad sense generally, we call these “living creatures.” They symbolize or represent the attributes of the throne of God.

Full of eyes before and behind and within: perfect perception.

The courage of the lion.

The intelligence of a man.

The patient strength of the calf or ox.

The swift discernment of the flying eagle is seen in them.

God’s mind is carried out by them, though they may use other instruments to carry it out. (See for this 1 Cor. 6:2, 3). God speaks, and it is done.

Question: What is the distinction or difference between the “flesh” and the “old man.” S. G.

Answer: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Romans 6:6.

“Having put off the old man,” “and having put on the new man” Ephesians 4:22, 24 (see N. T.).

“Having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man.” Colossians 3:9, 10.

In these verses we see that our old man is judged and crucified in the death of Christ. Believers stand now in Christ before God. We are not now seen in the old man. Like the stones put in the Jordan, our old man is gone forever.

The flesh is the body with its will; it is sin in us. “Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, though Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11. Sin is in us, but we are not to let it have dominion over us. We are to put off all that which is the outcome of the flesh in us (Col. 3:8). It is good to remember that we are, as to the old man, crucified with Christ, and now Christ is in us (Col. 3:11).

Question: What do you think entanglements are in 2 Timothy 2.4? F. E. H.

Answer: The man of God, of whom Timothy was one, is represented in a threefold way here: as a soldier (verses 3, 4); as one striving for the masteries in the games (ver. 5), and as a husbandman (ver. 6).

In the soldier, purpose of heart to please the one he serves, teaches him to take his share in suffering, and in singleness of eye, refuses everything that would hinder his service to his master. The earnest soul will find out what are the things that will entangle or hinder his service.

The runner, contending with others, must obey the rules of the game, or he will lose the prize (Ver. 5).

The husbandman must labor – plowing, harrowing, sowing the seed, cultivating, and then wait with patience before he gets any results out of his field.

May we each, who are children of God, seek also to be men of God – in singleness of eye, and purpose of heart; in obedience to the blessed Word of God, and in enduring labor, go on till we see our blessed Lord, that we may hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21), and it will all be done by the love of Christ constraining us (2 Cor. 5:14).

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

Young Christian: Volume 18, 1928

Table of Contents

Meditations on Scripture

My Meditation of Him Shall Be Sweet

Mediatations on Scripture

Correspondence: 1 John 5:16; Heb. 13:13; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Rom. 8:9

Contents

The Waste-Paper Basket

So Great Salvation

Scripture Study: Ephesians 1:1-11

Extracts From a Letter

Fragment: One Life

Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 1

Correspondence: Short Hair; Rom. 6:14; Christ's Body and Bride; James 2:17, 20

To Him That Worketh Not

The Successful Farmer

Scripture Study: Ephesians 1:12-19

The Sparrows and the Farthings

Thou Living One

Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 2

Yet a Little While: Hebrews 10:37

Correspondence: 2 Peter 3:13; Man in Heaven; Children Lost; Days; 2 Cor. 4:4,6: Rom. 9:6

I Am Satisfied Too

Seven Grand Facts About the Blood

Trust in the Lord: Psalms 9:10

Scripture Study: Ephesians 2

Trophimus

Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 3

Extract on the Judgment Seat of Christ

An Arrow From the Quiver of God

The Savior's Appeal

God Is Satisfied, So Am I

That I May Win Christ

Ministry Other Than Preaching

Scripture Study: Ephesians 3

The Voice of My Beloved

Fragment: Anxiety

Waiting for the Lord

Extract From a Letter On

Past, Present and Future

Correspondence: Ark a Type of; How do We Remember the Lord?

How a Troubled Soul Found Peace

The Foulest and the Purest

Nepenthes: Also Scripture Study, Ephesians 4

The Lord's Supper

Reading on 2 Peter 1:2-11: Part 1

Loss for Christ

The Glory of His Grace

Correspondence: Eph. 2:12 - Past or Present; 1 Tim. 2:12; Mat. 20:1-16; Gal. 6:7

Peace at Last

Verily, Verily!

Yet There Is Room!

Scripture Study: Ephesians 4:1-19

The Unfinished Song: Revelation 1:5-6; Revelation 14:3

Reading on 2 Peter 1:2-11: Part 2

Surely I Come Quickly!

Grace

Correspondence: 1,000 Year Reign Christians; 1 Cor. 6:2-3; Christmas

Saved or Lost?

Like Sheep

This Man Receiveth Sinners!

Scripture Study: Ephesians 4:20-32

Knowing Him

Helper or Hinderer

Faith Healing: Part 1

The Christian's Path in the World

Correspondence: Jude 21; 1 Cor. 11:27; Christ in the 1,000 Year Reign

What Can Take Away Your Sins?

Rock of Ages

A Great Only

Scripture Study: Ephesians 5

Fragment: He Careth for You

Faith Healing 2: Part 2

Copy the Fishes

The World and Its Politics: He Brought Him to an Inn

Fragment

Heathen at Home

Correspondence: Fruit; Jews; Mark 11:25-26; Bishops etc.; Meetings, Headships

These Three Men

My Hiding Place