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THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom

VOL. XX December, 1937 No. 12
Table of Contents

Life Through Death, or Lessons from the Flowers of the Field

The Christmas Message

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." - Luke 2:10.

AT THE birth of Christ the world was united under one scepter. Rome "ruled the world," with Augustus Caesar as sole monarch. It was in obedience to his decree "that all the world should be taxed" that Joseph and Mary journeyed the eighty miles from their humble home in Nazareth in the mountains of Zabulon to Bethlehem, the home of their great ancestor David while he was still a shepherd lad tending his flocks upon the lonely hills. Doubtless the journey, under the circumstances, was a weary one for Joseph and Mary; and because of the large concourse of people intent on the same purpose, when they reached their destination they found "there was no room for them in the inn."

The story as given by divine inspiration is beautifully simple: "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." In the rude limestone grotto attached to the inn as a stable, "among the hay and straw spread for the food and rest of the cattle, weary with their clay's journey, far from home, in the midst of strangers, in circumstances so devoid of all earthly comfort or splendor that it is impossible to imagine a humbler nativity-Christ was born. Distant but a few miles, on the plateau of the abrupt and singular hill .. . towered the palace-fortress of the Great Herod.

. . But the true King of the Jews-the rightful Lord of the Universe-was not to be found in palace or fortress. They who wear soft clothing are... in King's houses. The cattle-stables of the lowly caravanserai were a more fitting birth-place for Him who came to reveal that the soul of the greatest monarch was no clearer or greater in God's sight than the soul of his, meanest slave; for Him who had not where to lay His head; for Him who, from His cross of shame, was to rule the world."

Luke continues the story in language exquisitely beautiful: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon theta and the glory of the Lord shone around about them," and to their enraptured souls came the "good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born. this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto You; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Do we wonder that after such a heavenly vision the shepherds had but one thought and said one to another, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass." How their faith must have been tested as they came to the manger and there beheld a peasant from Galilee and a young mother with an infant child; for we read, nothing of any illumination there, no bright winged angels hovering over the babe, such as poets and painters have fancied. The glory the shepherds saw was by the eye of faith. Had the story come to us through some human agent instead of by inspiration we should have had the details in startling and ecstatic narrative. But here no details are given-nothing to heighten the picture. And it is not needed. It is better left in simplicity. "The inventions of man differ wholly from the dealings of God. In His designs there is no haste, no rest, no weariness, no discontinuity; all things are done by Him in the majesty of silence, and they are seen under a light that shineth quietly in the darkness, 'showing all things in the slow history of their ripening.' 'The unfathomable depths of the divine counsels,' it has been said, 'were moved; the fountains of the great deep were broken tip; the healing of the nations was issuing forth; but nothing was seen on the surface of human society but this slight rippling of the water; the course of human things went on as usual, while each was taken up with little projects of his own.'

At last, after four thousand years, the promise given to our first parents intimating that the great curse of sin and death would be rolled away, began to have fulfillment. In type and shadow the promise had come down through the ages; and since many Jews were scattered throughout the civilized world and thus the faith in the one God and the hope of Israel through a Messiah were more or less known at the time of our Savior's birth, it may be considered, generally speaking, as true that "All men were in expectation." This expectation was based doubtless upon Daniel's prophecy that "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks"-a prophecy which clearly marked the year of our Lord's baptism, His anointing.

In Matthew we have the account of the "wise men" who came to Jerusalem, seeking Jesus, "He that is born king of the Jews," and bringing gifts, "gold, frankincense, and myrrh." In this incident there are valuable lessons for us with respect to our obligations to the great Messiah and the appropriateness of our renewal of vows now as we begin another year. On arriving in Jerusalem the wise men made inquiry regarding the new-born King, saying they had seen His star in the East. As Brother Russell has observed:

"God chose as messengers of His good tidings not only wise men but reverential men, men of faith; and His choice of these messengers from the East to arouse the people of Judea and Jerusalem and to be heralds of the great King was not an exception to the rule. Although heathen men, in the sense of not being of the nation with which God had thus far dealt and to whom He had thus far confined His gracious promises, they were, nevertheless, good men, reverential men, who delighted to know of the coming blessing of peace on earth and good will amongst men through whatever channel or nationality the Lord should be pleased to find His representative and messenger.

"Present Your Bodies Living Sacrifices, Holy Acceptable unto God, Your Reasonable Service"

"In one respect many of Christendom could learn numerous important lessons from these wise Gentiles. No false patriotism stood in their way to hinder their appreciation of any manifestation of divine favor to the children of men. And when they found the Savior they were nothing daunted by the fact that His home surroundings were of the humbler sort. They worshiped Him in three senses of the word:. (1) They fell before Him, prostrated themselves, thus physically expressing their reverence. (2) They worshiped Him in their hearts and with the tongue gave expression to their rejoicing and confidence. (3) They opened their treasure box and presented to Him three gifts appropriate to royalty: the myrrh representing submission, frankincense representing praise, gold representing obedience.

"The reverent spirit of these noble heathen men who had so little light, so little knowledge respecting the great Messiah and His work, will bring to our cheeks the blush of shame as we reflect that, favored with still brighter light to guide us to the Lamb of God, having seen His star in a still better and truer sense, having been guided to Him by the prophecies, having found Him not only a babe, but one that in prospect would bear our sorrows and carry our griefs and make His soul an offering for sin, that we by His stripes might be healed, what manner of oblation should we pour at the feet of Him who loved us and bought us with His precious blood? 'With what deep reverence have we bowed the knee, prostrated ourselves, given outward evidence through our bodies of full submission to our great King, of whom we not only know but of whose gracious provisions for us and for the world .of mankind we have heard, not uncertainly, but with the voice of Him who speaketh from heaven? Have we offered our myrrh? Have we shown a willingness for service even to the extent of bitterness, a joy to honor the King to the extent of suffering with Him? Have we worshiped Him in heart, not with an outward form of godliness without the power-in other words, have we offered Him the frankincense of heart adoration, appreciation, and gratitude?

"Have we laid at His feet our earthly substance -our gold? Have we realized that all that we have and all that we are, are offerings far too small to be worthy of acceptance by the great King Immanuel? Is this our present attitude? and will it be our attitude through coming days even until the end of the present pilgrimage?

"The Apostle's words, 'Present your bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God, your reasonable service,' apply not only to the primary consecration of our hearts to the Lord, but are, as the Scriptures express it, a covenant of sacrifice, an agreement to die daily to self and to be alive daily more and more in the Lord's service, to glorify Him in our bodies and spirits which are His. If this has not been our attitude in the past, shall it not be our future course? Shall we not in any event continue to grow in. knowledge, to grow in love, in service, in worship, and in the privilege of laying our little all at the feet of Him who is our gracious heavenly King, whose Kingdom is so soon to be established and who has invited us to sit with Him in His throne, to share His glory, to be participants as spiritual. Israel in the great work of pouring out blessings upon the world of mankind, every kindred, people, nation, and tongue?"

The exact day of the year on which our Lord was born is not of great import to the child of God; but as he grows in grace and knowledge, the message of the shepherds grows more precious. The birth, death, and resurrection of One so great, whose life and death meant so much to the human race, may well be remembered and celebrated every day by all who appreciate what He has done for the world. When the Logos left the Father He began to give Himself. But while His birth was important, it was only incidental to the work He came to do-offering Himself a sacrifice. It was not till He had reached the age of thirty that the great Sacrifice for sin was offered and accepted, and the Holy Spirit was given, begetting to a new nature. There He laid His all upon the altar, and for three and a half years His flesh was being consumed, and the new creature was being developed as He "learned obedience [attentive hearkening -- Strong] through the things which He suffered."

Here the foundation for the world's salvation was laid through the sacrifice made "once for all." He died, "the just for the unjust." He "gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

"Truly the more we see of the divine plan for our salvation, which began to take shape in the birth of Jesus, the more we feel like shouting with the angelic choir praises to the God of heaven, thankfulness for His mercy to the children of men. It mattered not that the babe born in Bethlehem was the Savior only in prospect, that He could not even be anointed to do His work until He reached manhood's estate thirty years later; it mattered not that even then it would be necessary for Him to lay down His life gradually through three and a half years of His earthly ministry, to be finished at Calvary; it mattered not either that the resurrection was still three days after that, and His ascension forty days later, and that the blessing in general would be deferred for nearly nineteen centuries thereafter. As the angels could sing and rejoice at the first budding of the divine plan of salvation, so also can all who have faith in the ultimate outcome rejoice with joy unspeakable and give praise to God in the highest and to His Son our Lord.

"Saved by Hope"

"Although nearly nineteen centuries have rolled away since that angelic message was delivered, it has not yet been fulfilled except in a limited measure by faith to those who have the eye of faith and the ears of faith, in all a 'little flock.' But the tidings of great misery for nearly all people has been spread abroad in the name of Christ, much to the discredit of the divine plan and to the dishonor of the divine character. Instead of carrying joy the message has very generally carried grief and sorrow, especially to the kind-hearted and more generously disposed. Indeed we may say that no message of the Lord Jesus, either true or false, has ever reached all people. Even today, after nineteen centuries of propaganda, only a comparatively small portion of the human family have ever heard of the only Name given under heaven and amongst men whereby we must be saved-'nor is there salvation in any other.' - Acts 4:12.

"What, then, shall we say of the salvation which is come to those who have truly accepted Christ as their Savior, and who are today rejoicing in Him as such, and who by faith are seeing the salvation of God begun in their own hearts and yet to be fully accomplished under the whole heavens? This the Apostle calls the salvation by hope. His words are, 'We are saved by hope.' (Rom. 8:24.) We are not saved actually; we are still surrounded by sin, pain, sighing, crying, and dying; the curse is not yet rolled away. All that the best of the Lord's people have received is salvation by hope, by faith. Yet this anticipation of the future salvation, of the resurrection from the dead, of a. participation in the glory, honor, and immortality of the divine nature promised to the faithful, is so strong, so clear, that those who possess it are enabled to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, even in the midst of trials and difficulties and weaknesses and unfavorable conditions incident to the curse which still rests upon the race.

"A Prophecy of Good Things"

"Yes, the angelic message was a prophecy of good things to be accomplished for the Church and the world during the Millennial Age. The Church is to have the first blessing. The first resurrection is to be composed only of the blessed and holy who shall live and reign with Christ during the Millennium, the thousand years in which Satan shall be bound, and when the good influences of. truth and righteousness shall enlighten the whole earth. The declaration of the Scriptures is that the deliverance of the Church will come early in the morning of that Millennial day, as the Prophet declares, 'God will help her early in the morning.'-Psa. 46:5.

"But much as we rejoice in the glorious hopes of the Gospel set before us who now see, who now believe, who now rejoice with joy unspeakable, we are glad that the divine mercy and love are of such lengths and breadths and heights and depths as to encompass the whole world of mankind, and to provide a blessing for every member of. Adam's race through Him who loved us and bought us with His precious blood.

"It will be during the Millennial Age that this prophecy of the angel will have its fulfillment, and the great Savior who has already redeemed us by His sacrifice will stand forth as the King, the glorified Messiah, and establish His dominion of righteousness in the world for the blessing and uplifting of every member of the race. In harmony with the words of the Apostle, those will be times of refreshing, 'times of restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began.' - Acts 3:19-21."

"The Angels' Song"

"It was after the giving of the message of good tidings and great joy by the heavenly one that,a host of angels appeared to the shepherds, saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.' This, too, is a prophecy. It is not yet true, but will be fulfilled in every particular in God's due time, which we believe is now nigh, even at the door. Not yet does God receive glory in the highest, not yet is there peace amongst men."

"Not even with the inauguration of the Millennium will this prophecy be fulfilled: not until its close, when the human family shall have been lifted by the Kingdom regulations out of sin., sickness, pain, sorrow, and death, up, up to all that was lost in Adam-not until then. will there be glory to God in the highest, not until: then will there be peace amongst men. Nor are we to understand that the entire race will be appreciative of the divine love and favor even after they have fully seen the righteousness of God in Christ manifested. On the contrary, the Scriptures seem to clearly teach that there will be a class who will then prove unfit for life eternal, unappreciative of the divine favor, and it is with pleasure that we learn that all such shall be utterly destroyed from amongst the people in the Second Death. Thus eventually, by the close of the Millennium, Satan and all willful wrongdoers having been destroyed, the time will come as declared in the Scriptures when all voices in heaven and in earth and under the earth shall be heard praising God, Him that sitteth upon the throne, and the Lamb forever and ever. Hosanna! Glory to God in the highest! Peace and good will to men! will be the final shout of a redeemed race when the great plan of salvation shall have been fully outworked according to the divine plan set forth in the Scriptures."

"O Savior, precious Savior, come in all Thy power and grace,
nd take away the veil that hides the glory of Thy face!
Oh manifest the marvels of Thy tenderness and love,

And let Thy name be blessed and praised all other names above.
"Oh vindicate Thyself, and show how perfect are Thy ways,
Untraceable, because too bright for weak and mortal gaze;
Shine forth, O Sun, and bid the scales of darkening evil fall,
Thou altogether Lovely One, Thou glorious All-in-all!"

Life Through Death, or Lessons from the Flowers of the Field

IN Matthew 6:28 are recorded the words of our Lord, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." One of the best ways in which to impress a truth upon the mind is to illustrate it by some fact that is evident to the eye. And it is noteworthy that when our Lord Jesus wanted to impress some spiritual truth upon His disciples, He drew His illustrations from the common things of every-day life. Particularly (lid He turn to nature for illustrations of great spiritual truths. And so we find Him teaching by such simple facts of nature as the sparrows, leaven in meal, the fig tree, mustard seed, grains of wheat, tares, and the wild lilies. The written records which have cone clown to us as the Gospels, do not, John tells us, exhaust the list of His teachings. (John 21:25.) We have Jesus' example, therefore, for illustrating spiritual truths by the facts of nature. It will be our purpose herein to note some of the simpler facts concerning plant life, and to see how they illustrate certain truths.

The line of thought that is so forcibly presented by these facts of nature is that of life through death. The great spiritual truth in which these thoughts center is that presented by the Apostle in Col. 3:3: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." It is the same thought which Jesus taught, saying, "He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and lie that loseth his life for My sake, shall find it." (Matt. 10:39.) The Christian life, from its inception to its perfection, is a natter of growth, progress, through death. One who seeks- to be quickened into spiritual life must first begin to learn the lesson of 1 Cor. 15:36: "That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." Death to self is the door out of carnality into spirit begetting, and on from spirit begetting out into the life that is filled with all the fulness of God, and eventually on out into life eternal. The cross of Christ, on which His precious blood was shed to wash away our sins, is the symbol of that death to self. "I an crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, f live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Gal. 2:20.) "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." - Gal. 6:14.

The lessons we wish to consider, of life through death, may be thus grouped"

Death is the gate to life.

Death to the old nature is the way out into a life of sanctification.

Death to sin is the way out into a life of holiness Death to lawful things is the way out into a life of surrender.

Death to self is the way out into a life of sacrifice.

Death is the Gate to Life

It is in the stages of a plant's growth, its bud ding and blossoming and seed-bearing, that this lesson comes to us: the lesson of the delivering power of death. It comes as one of the many voice in which God speaks, bringing strength and gladness.

Can we not trace the sign of the Cross in the first hint of the new spring's dawning? In many cases, as in the chestnut, before a single old leaf has faded, next year's buds may be seen, at the summit of branch and twig, formed into the very shape of the cross; in others the leaf-buds seem to bear the mark of the cross by breaking through the stem blood-red. Back in the plant's first stages, the crimson touch is to be found in seed-leaves and fresh shoots, and even in the hidden sprouts. Look at the acorn, for instance, as it breaks its shell, and see how the baby tree bears its birth-mark as it breaks through blood-red.

Every being that would enter into the life of the spirit must bear at the outset this crimson seal; there must be the individual sprinkling with the blood of Jesus. Death is the only way out of the world of condemnation wherein we were born.

"There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."

And when the blood of the crucified Christ has been applied to our hearts, we go out into life not only pardoned, but justified -- declared righteous!

Death to the Old Nature is the Way into a Life of Sanctification

As we go out free, cleansed by the blood of the Crucified, we find if the consecration has been complete that on the other side of the Cross a new existence has really begun; that the love of the Crucified has touched the springs of our being -- we are in another world. But whereas before safety from wrath against sin was what we sought, now holiness, not safety, is the end of our calling.

And so it conies to pass that a fresh need for deliverance is soon pressed upon him who is true to God's voice in his heart. The two lives are there together, the one new-born and feeble, the other strong with an earlier growth. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and the will power is distracted between the two, like the sap that flows partly in the old condemned leaves, partly in the fresh buds. The two, then, struggle side by side. We feel the claims of the new life, and we experience the power of the old, and we cry out, "O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me?" Then a door of escape opens afresh; and that way is again the way of death.

A stage of dying must come over the plant before the new leaves can grow and thrive. There trust be a deliberate choice between the former growth and the new; one must give way to the other. The acorn must come to the point where it ceases to keep its bit of former existence and lets everything go to the fresh shoot; the twig must withdraw its sap from last year's leaf, and let it flow into this year's bud.

And before the soul can really enter upon a life of holiness, with all its blessed endless possibilities, a like choice must be made: all known sin must be deliberately given up, that the rising current may have its full play.

Look at our parable in nature. If we pick off one of the dead leaves and examine the leaf-stalk through a microscope, we find that the old channel of the sap is silted up by a barrier invisible to the naked eye. The plant has shut the door on the last year's leaf, condemning it to decay, and soon without further effort the stalk loosens, the winds of God play around it, and it falls away.

But where is the barrier that we can place between ourselves and the old nature? Where is the sentence of death that we can pass on it? Go back to the Cross again! It is there, within our reach: "Our old man is crucified ,with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin; for he that is (lead is freed from sin." (Rom. 6:6, 7.) Therefore --

Death to Sin is the Way out into a Life of Holiness

The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ shuts off the life of sin; like the silted up channel of the leafstalk it stands a blessed invisible barrier between its and sinning, as we "reckon" it there, that is, hold it there 'by faith and will. And His open tomb points the open way into a. life wherein our rising powers can develop into all their spring vigor.

The sap-the life-the will, is withdrawn front the former existence, its aims and desires, and is sent into the new. We hold to it that this is now our life, the only one that has a right to be. We reckon ourselves dead to the old; we reckon ourselves alive to the new; putting off the former, putting on the latter. This is both an act, and a gradual process; it is a resolve taken once for all, but carried out in detail, day by day. It is like the steady carrying out of the plant's purpose, that the old leaf shall die, the new leaf shall live.

On His part, God will come in with a breath of His resurrection power; for the cross and the empty tomb can not be far apart. The law of the spirit of life can work now, as we deliberately lose hold of all clinging to sin; the expulsive power of His working within, and the play of His winds around, will make us free indeed, like those young shoots when last year's leaves have fallen.

This brings us to the positive side; for when the sentence of death on. the old nature is realized, the new nature can be manifested. Separation from all known sin is the starting point for sanctification, not the goal.; it is only the negative side of holiness; it is only reaching the place where God can develop His ideal in us unhindered. It is When the death of winter has clone its work that the sun can draw out in each plant its own individuality, and make its existence full and fragrant. Holiness means something more than the sweeping away of the old leaves of sin; it means the life of. Jesus developed in us.

No matter if we feel utterly helpless before that lovely life of His. Given the conditions -- the hidden power within, and the outlets of growth shut off -- the sun will do the rest; out of the midst of apparent lifelessness, out of barrenness, of difficulty, the blossoms will be drawn forth. Do not let us limit the Holy One of Israel by putting off His power to work this miracle in us into a distant future. How hopeless the naked wood of a fruit tree would look to us in February if we had never seen the marvel of a springtime! Yet the heavenly bloom bursts straight out, with hardly an intermediate step of new growth.

Let us look at a, flowering rush which grows by the waterside. The crest breaks forth from nothingness -- out of the dry, lifeless-seeming pith come crowding tae golden-brown blossoms until there is hardly room to receive them. What more do we need than to have this God for our God, who can bring such life abundant out of seeming death and barrenness

Once admit the manifestation of His grace in these poor hearts of ours to 'be a miracle, and there is no need to defer it vaguely. How -many of the wonders wrought by Jesus on earth lay in concentrating the long, processes of nature into a sudden act of power! The sick, many of them., would have been healed by degrees in the ordinary course of time; the, lapse of years would have brought about the withering of the fig tree; the store: would have spent itself in a few hours. The miracle in each case consisted in the slow process being quickened by the divine power, and condensed into a moment. Can we not trust Him for like marvels in our lives? Hear His words "What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11:24.) The change from careless living to a holy walk with God can come in one day, if we earnestly enough desire it.

Let us take a lesson from the gorse bush, also called the furze. This is a low, much-branched, spiny shrub, bearing yellow flowers, common on waste lands in Europe. For a whole year its thorns have been hardening and sharpening. Spring comes: the thorn does not drop off, and it does not soften; there it is as uncompromising as ever; but half-way up appear two brown furry balls, mere specks at first, that break at last-straight out of last year's thorn-into a blaze of fragrant, golden glory. How beautifully this illustrates the truth declared by the Apostle: "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are [rightly] exercised thereby." - Heb. 12:11.

Never mind if your trouble shows no sign of giving way; it is just like this thorn upon which. when it seems most hopelessly unyielding, holding on through the spring clays alive and strong, the tiny buds appear which soon clothe it with glory. Take the very hardest thing in your life, the place of difficulty, outward or inward, and expect God to triumph gloriously in that very spot. Just there He can bring you into blossom, cause you to bring forth spiritual fruit to His glory.

And so the springtime expands, till it passes once more into the shadow of Calvary. For the blessedness of receiving is not all that God has for us; a new world lies beyond, a world of giving: a giving first to God in surrender, and then to man in sacrifice.

A flower that stops short at its flowering misses its purpose. We were created for more than our own spiritual development: reproduction, not mere development, is the goal of matured being-'reproduction in other lives. There is a tendency in some characters running parallel to the high cultivation that spends its whole energy on the production of bloom at the expense of seed. The famed Japanese cherry blossoms at Washington illustrate this: they bring forth a marvelous profusion of blossoms, but they produce no fruit. The flowers that are bent on perfecting themselves by becoming double, end in barrenness; and like barrenness comes to the soul whose interests are all concentrated upon its own spiritual well-being, heedless of the needs of those around. The ideal flower is the one that uses its gifts as means to an end; the brightness and sweetness are not for its own glory; they are but to attract the bees and butterflies that will fertilize it to make it fruitful. All else may go when that work is done: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." The problem then is, how are we to escape from the self-life that holds us, even after the sin-life has loosed its grasp??

Back to the Cross we must go. Not only from the world of condemnation, and from the world of sinning, does it free us as we accept it, but from the power of outward things, and from the thraldom of self. Not only does death open the door into the world of acquittal, and again into that of holiness, but also into the realm of surrender, and thence into that of sacrifice. For the essential idea of the Cross is a life lost, to be found again in those around. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it." - Matt. 16:25.

Let us look again at God's picturing in nature. As the plant develops there comes a fresh stage of yielding. At first it was only the dead, disfiguring leaves that had to go; now it is the fair, new petals of its blossoms. They must fall, and for no visible reason; no one seems enriched by the stripping. And so long as our idea of surrender is limited to the renouncing of unlawful things, the have not grasped its true meaning; for no polluted thing can be offered to God. The life lost on the Cross was not a sinful one; the treasure poured forth there was a God-given, God-blessed treasure, lawful and right to be kept; only that there was the life of the world at stake! And so we come to our fourth postulate, that

Death to Lawful Things is the Way Out into a Life of Surrender

Let us look at a buttercup as it begins to exhibit this new lesson. The calyx of a blossom, yen know, is the external, usually green, envelope or covering, growing just beneath the petals. In the bud of the buttercup the little hands of the calyx clasp tightly around the beautiful petals; in the new bloom their grasp grows more elastic, loosening somewhat in the daytime, but keeping the power of contracting, able to close in again during a rainstorm, or when night comes on. But see the flower when it has reached its maturity. The calyx hands have unclasped utterly now; they have folded themselves back, past all power of closing again upon the petals, leaving the golden crown free to float away when God's time comes.

Have we learned the buttercup's lesson yet? Are our hands off the very blossom of our life? Are all things, even the treasures that He has sanctified, held loosely, ready to be parted with without a struggle, when He asks for them?

It is not in the partial relaxing of grasp, with power to take back again, that this fresh victory of death is won. It is won when that very power of taking back is yielded; when our hands, like the little calyx hands of God's buttercups, are not only taken off, but are folded behind our back in utter abandonment. Death means a loosened grasp loosened beyond all power of grasping again.

It is no strange thing that happens to us if God takes us at our word, and strips us for a while of all that made life beautiful. It may be outward things-bodily comfort, leisure, culture, reputation, friendships-that have to drift away as our hands refuse to clasp on anything but God's will for us. Or it may be on our inner life that the stripping falls, and we have to leave the sunny lands of spiritual enjoyment for one after another of temptation's battlefields, where every inch of our foothold has to be tested, where even it may seem to give way, till no experience, no resting-place remains to us in heaven or earth but God Himself -till we are "wrecked upon God."

Have faith, like the flowers, to let the old things go. Learn His beatitude, His "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me" (Matt. 11:6) -- the beatitude of the trusting, as it has been well called-even if you have to learn it like John the Baptist in an hour of desolation. You have told Him that you want Him only. Are you ready to ratify the words when His emptying begins to come? Is God enough?

Yes, practical death with Him to lawful things is just letting go, even as Jesus on the Cross let go all but God. It is not by struggling for it that this lesson of surrender is to be learned, but simply by yielding, as the body yields at last to the physical death that lays hold on it-as the dying calyx yields its flower. Some blessings are gained only by struggling for them; but the way to experience the blessing of full surrender is simply to surrender. Only to no iron law of nature with its merciless grasp do we let ourselves go, but into the hands of the Father; it is there that our spirit falls, as we are made conformable unto the death of Jesus.

Does all this seem hard? Does any one young in this life and in that to cone shrink back and say, "I would rather stay in the springtime; I do not want to reach unto the things that are before if it must mean all this of pain." To such comes the Master's voice, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." (Rev. 2:10.) The one important thing is to keep obedient in spirit; then we will be ready to let the flower-tine pass if He bids us, when the sun of His love has worked some more ripening. We will feel then that to try to keep the withering blossoms would be to cramp and ruin the new life within us. It is loss to keep, when God says to give.

For here again death is the gate to life: It is an entering in, not a going forth only; it means a liberating of new powers as the former treasures float away like the dying petals.

- Contributed.

(To be continued.)

The Parable of the Sower

"Behold, a sower went forth to sow." - Matt. 13:3; Mark 4:3; Luke 8:5.

OF ALL the parables of our Lord this one is doubtless best known and remembered, yet like all other portions of our Father's Word, it grows richer and more precious through study and reflection. That it is foremost amongst the parables in importance, and that a proper understanding of it is of assistance in understanding the others, is plainly indicated by our Lord, when, on finding the disciples unable to grasp its significance, He remarked: "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" or, to quote from the Weymouth translation: ".Do you all miss the meaning of this parable? I-Iow then will you understand the rest of My parables?" - Mark 4:13.

The Parables of the Kingdom

In St. Matthew's account which appears in Chapter 13 of the Gospel which bears his name, the parable of the sower is the first of seven parables which seem to bear a relation to one another similar to that which the seven messages of our Lord to the churches, given by St. John in the Revelation, bear to each other. Together these seven parables are known as the parables of the Kingdom, and their teaching seems to portray the successive eras of the Gospel Age from the beginning of this dispensation to its close. In them we have a vivid delineation of the trials and resistance which the Kingdom of Heaven was to encounter from the Adversary, from its first introduction into the world until the end of the Age. In these two articles,* however, we propose to consider the parable of the sower by itself, apart from the others with which it is associated, and seek to develop its own particular lessons.

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* This is the first of two articles, the second of which will appear in our next issue. In its preparation we desire to acknowledge our indebtedness, for many of both the thoughts and expressions, to a number of able writers, among them A. J. Gordon, R. C. Trench, and especially Samuel Cox.

First, let us refresh our minds by reading it, taking St. Matthew's account, reading the first nine verses of Chapter 13. In the first three verses we read that our Lord had left the house, probably at Capernaum, which was the city where He commonly dwelt after His open ministry began (Matt. 4:13), and was sitting on the shore of the lake (Gennesaret), the scene of so many incidents in His ministry. On the edge of this beautiful lake, the multitude were assembled; the place was convenient, for travelers tell us whilst the lake is almost completely surrounded by mountains, these mountains never come down to the water, but always leave a beach of greater or lesser extent along the water's edge. The people were so great in number that they crowded round our Lord, so that He found it convenient to enter a boat, and put off a little way from the shore. There He sat, while He taught them the wonderful lessons of the parables. The first one, the parable of the sower, rests like so many others on one of the common, familiar doings of daily life. Our Lord, lifting up His eyes, may have seen at no great distance a farmer scattering his seed in the furrows. "Behold," says He, verse 3 (reading from the Weymouth translation), "the sower goes out to sow. As he sows, some of the seed falls by the wayside, and the birds come and peck it up. Some falls on rocky ground, where it has but scanty soil.' .[t quickly shows itself above ground, because it has no depth of earth; but when the sun is risen, it is scorched by the heat, and through having no root it withers up. Some falls among the thorns; but the thorns spring up and stifle it. But a portion falls upon good ground, and gives a return, some a hundred for one, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, every one who has ears!"

In explaining the parable as He did later on when alone with His disciples, our Lord showed that the seed sown is the Word of God, that is to say, the Word of God respecting the Kingdom (Matt. 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10), the Word which, when "understood" (Matt. 13:23), "received" (Mark 4:20), and "kept" (Luke 8:15), will produce "sons of the Kingdom" (Matt. 13:38), and that the four different conditions of soil on which the seed fell represent four kinds of hearers. We shall consider these in detail later on, but first we wish to notice the moral which Jesus draws from the parable. What is the lesson He intends us to learn from it? It is possible for us to understand clearly every detail of the parable, and be able to expound it to others, and yet fail ourselves to learn the lesson of it all. What is that lesson? It is stated by our Lord in St. Mark's account in these words: "Take heed what ye hear." (Mark 4:24.) In. St. Luke's account it reads: "Take heed how ye hear." (Luke 8:18.) Doubtless our Lord expressed both thoughts, each evangelist recording what especially impressed him.

Absurd Results Reached if Details of Parable Pressed too far

"Take heed what ye hear," and "take heed how ye hear." In these two sentences we have the moral, the lesson, which Christ Himself drew from the parable. And it is instructive to note that His moral, which is the natural lesson, and which was drawn by a divine wisdom, nevertheless indicates, not the force and beauty of the parable, but the weakness and insufficiency of even the most perfect parabolic forms of instruction; and the absurd results we will reach, if we attempt to press every little detail too far. Our Lord, summing up the lessons of the parable, declares that we are to be careful what we hear and how we hear it; but how can the ground exercise any care as to what seed it will receive, or as to the conditions into which it will receive it? The ground must take whatever seed the sower casts upon it; and if the good seed should be choked by thorns or fail for lack of soil, the ground is not to blame for that; its conditions depend not on its own care. but on the farmer's care. In actual farming, it is not the ground but the farmer who is responsible for the condition of the soil. It is he who should have burned off the thorns, or gathered out the stones, or added the necessary soil; it is he, not the ground, who is to blame if the wrong seed be sown, or the ground yield no fruit.

Thus, from the very first parable uttered by our Lord we learn that we must not push his analogies and comparisons too far; that natural phenomena and processes are inadequate expressions of spiritual truth; that we must bring an understanding and discriminating heart to even the most perfect words ever uttered. To give its full force to the moral of this parable we must supplement the parable. We must remember that different hearers of the Word are not only like different conditions of soil, but also like different farmers. We must remember that just as the farmer, by skill and application, may compel the ground to bring forth, despite the curse which has fallen upon it, so we, by a wise application, may constrain these otherwise barren hearts of ours, to bring forth fruit unto God. We can determine what seed we will receive into our hearts; and therefore we are to see to it that we receive only the good seed, which will produce sons of the Kingdom, not the tare-seed, which, as our Lord shows in the next parable, the enemy -,vill be only too happy to scatter on our hearts if we permit him. We can determine the conditions of the soil into which the seed is to fall; and therefore we are to see to it that there be a good soil for the good seed, a soil rich enough, and deep enough, to bring it to perfection. "Take heed what ye hear"-that is to say: "Take good care that what you hear is the very word of God." "Take heed how ye hear" that is to say: "Take good care that 'you hear not the Word of God in vain." The first lesson is: "Be sure you get God's truth." The second injunction is: "When you get God's truth be sure you obey it."

"Take Heed What Ye Hear"

First, then, we are to take heed what we hear to be very sure that we get the very truth of God.

Now it is hardly necessary to observe that we are being taught every day, and all the day long. The air is full of seeds, and they are forever falling on the ground. Every word we hear, every thought kindled in us by what we see our neighbor do (whether that neighbor be in Christ or not); every thought occasioned in us by the duties we discharge, or the books we read, the motion pictures we see, the radio broadcasts to which we listen, has a moral complexion and effect; it either strengthens us in our love of that which is good and right, or weakens us. And with all these seeds floating in the air, we need to be very careful where they fall; very careful that, if they be evil seeds, we do not suffer them to light on our field; very careful, because the seeds of the tare, or zizanium, which is a bastard corn, are often so like those of wheat, and some forms of evil so nearly resemble certain forms of good, that we can hardly distinguish the one from the other; very careful, for, if once we suffer these evil seeds to take root within us, we shall have to pluck them up by and by, and shall not only have wasted labor and strength upon them, but shall also have to endure the pain and the wrench, and to leave a bare, barren spot, which will not easily grow fertile again.

But though this watchful care over the day by clay influences of good and evil which visit us may fairly be included in our Savior's warning, there can be little doubt that its main allusion is to our choice of direct and definite instruction in spiritual things. He had been teaching a people who had many teachers besides Himself, teachers, who, for the most part, made void the commandment of God with their vain traditions. And, as yet, the people listened even to Him rather because He fed them than because He taught them; because He wrought miracles rather than because He revealed truth. The loaves and fishes were more agreeable to them than the parables and warnings, though no doubt they thought the parables very pretty, and the warnings very solemn and weighty. Hence, He admonishes them that their first question about any religious teacher, assuming that preliminary qualifications as to honesty, sincerity, and general integrity of character have been satisfactorily met, should be: "What does he teach? Is it the truth of God?"

Of course, if these preliminary qualifications of honesty, . sincerity, and general integrity of character cannot be met, the individual should not be permitted to occupy the position of a religious teacher at all, no matter how apt to teach he may be or may appear to be, , but assuming they are well attested, our question concerning the teaching presented should be: "Is it the truth of God?"

This does not mean that we should have no concern as to the manner in which the truth is presented. By no means. The truth is never to be spoken save in love. If it is spoken in any other spirit it ceases to be the truth. The words may be the same, but the character of the message is not. St. Paul has pressed this point, when, contrasting himself with the would-be apostles of his time, he reminded the Church at Corinth: "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me." (1 Cor. 4:15.) No! -- if the brother be wise he will press into the service of the Gospel all the powers of wisdom, argument, sympathy, and love at his command. He will consecrate all his faculties and energies to the service of his Master. But while striving always to speak kindly and tactfully, he will not permit his desire to avoid giving offense to be carried to the point where he would be found compromising the truth in favor of error; the defense and exposition of the truth being his supreme aim.

And we who listen or read -- we are to care more for the good seed than for the manner in which it is sown. To acquire a complete knowledge of the truth-this should be our chief aim and desire. Am I growing into a further acquaintance with the Divine Word? Do I understand it better, read it more intelligently, find old difficulties disappear, find new beauties claiming my regard? Does it shed a fuller light of guidance on the perplexities of my daily path, and a fuller light of hope across the shadow of my sorrows? Am I learning to drink in more of its spirit, and to give out more of its spirit? This is the main question with all who take heed what they hear.

"Take Heed How Ye Hear"

In addition to taking heed what we hear, we are to take heed how we hear-to be sure that we obey the truth. Indeed, as we meditate on this parable, 'it is not difficult to see that this is its point of chief emphasis. The possibility that two kinds of seed might be sown, one good, one evil, is not dwelt on-indeed is not even mentioned. That is the lesson of the following parable, the parable of the tares. Here, in the parable of the sower, the only seed sown is good seed, the Master evidently intending to concentrate our attention on the frame of heart and mind which should be ours, and in which we should embrace it. In the parable we have a description of four kinds of hearers, three of them unprofitable, and one a good or profitable hearer. Let us consider these in the order they appear in the parable.

"This is He that was Sown by the Wayside"

Of the three sorts of unprofitable hearers, the first set before us is he to whom the Word is as seed sown by the wayside. As the sower goes over the field scattering the seed broadcast, some of it falls on the path, or close by the side of the path, which runs through the field-where the earth has not been broken up by the plough-and lies on its hard surface, until it is either trodden down and crushed beneath the feet of passers-by, or is caught up by the birds, which flock around the sower's heels. And the spiritual significance of this familiar, rural scene, is explained by our Lord in these words: "When any one heareth the Word, and understandeth it not, then cometh the Evil One, and snatcheth away that which was sown in his heart, lest he should believe and be saved."

Now, observe, the soil of the path and under the path, may be as deep and rich as the best of the field; its natural capacity for yielding fruit may be very large; but it has been trodden hard by many passing feet, so that the seed cannot penetrate the surface, but lies there, an easy prey to the birds, only rotting, not growing, even if it should escape their keen eyes, and the bruise of the passing heel.

The first unprofitable hearer, therefore, is not a man of a cold, hard, nature, nor of a nature all overrun with growths of evil; he is simply negligent, uninterested, indifferent. Unlike the good hearer, he does not understand the Word; that is, he does not perceive its bearing on himself, its true worth and importance to him. He has no objection to listening to it, but it does not penetrate to the depths of his being; it excites no personal interest, does not throw out slight root-filaments on every side, to twine around the thoughts and affections which lie closest to his heart. The Gospel message does not grip him, as when you tell him something that will be helpful in his business, or advise him along other lines of earthly interest.

How has he reached this condition? What has made him thus impervious to spiritual truth? Alas! he has made his heart a highway-has suffered all thoughts, evil, as well as good, to pass to and fro. For many a day his heart has lain open like a public thoroughfare; all base, and low, and sensual imaginations, have claimed their right of way over it, not less than those -which are pure and noble, till the soil, good enough in itself, has been trodden hard, and can no more take seed, or bear fruit, until the keen, grinding ploughshare of affliction has been driven through it.

He has felt the Word fall upon his heart, perhaps, hard though it be; he has dimly, and from afar, apprehended that there is a life, a reality, in the truth of God, which he has not hitherto recognized; and he has thought, from time to time, as the seed has fallen upon him, that it would be well for him to look into the matter for himself, some day; but about the time he should be reaching a decision for God, something else interferes and the impression of the good seed, which fell upon, but not in, his heart, disappears.

"Have Faith in God"

THE LESSON of faith, to those who have become the Lord's consecrated people, is not merely faith in doctrines and theories, nor, indeed, chiefly this faith. The chief feature of faith is confidence in God; that what He has promised He is able and willing to fulfill. This faith grasps not only the things to come, but also the things present; this faith rejoices not only in the glory that shall be revealed, but rejoices also in the sufferings and trials and difficulties and all the rich experiences which an all-wise Father sees best to permit. Let us therefore, as the Apostle exhorts, rejoice evermore, "in everything giving thanks." - 1 Thess. 5:18; Eph. 5:20.

The best illustrations of this true faith, this continuous confidence in God, is found, as Ave should expect, in our dear Redeemer's experiences and their narrative. Realizing that He was in the world for the purpose of serving the divine plan, He realized also continually the supervision of divine wisdom in respect to all His affairs: consequently He not only went to the Father frequently in prayer, and went to the Word of the Lord for guidance, but every experience through which He passed, and all the opposition with which He met, He recognized as being under the divine supervision. He knew that He was fully consecrated to the Father, and seeking not His own will but the will of Him that sent Him; He knew consequently that the Father's providential care was superintending all the affairs of His life.

This is forcibly illustrated in. His answer to Pilate; when the latter said to Him, Knowest thou not that I have power either to deliver Thee or to put Thee to death? Jesus answered, "Thou couldest have no power, except it were given thee of My Father." Again He said, with respect to the cup of suffering and ignominy, "The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" Indeed, it was sufficient for Him in any and every matter to realize that the Father was controlling: this thought gave Him courage to do, to suffer, and to bear.

And similar confidence in divine Providence is necessary to all who would come off conquerors through Him who loved us and died for us. If we can feel sure that we have fully surrendered ourselves to God according to His call, we may also feel sure that all things are working for our good: we may realize in every emergency of life that the Father has prepared the cup, and will sustain and bless us while we drink it: our Lord Jesus, the Father's; representative, oversees our trials and ignominy and suffering; He permits the cup to be prepared for us by blinded servants of Satan. This knowledge should not only enable us to take joyfully the spoiling of our goods (anything that we deemed precious, trade, influence, good name, etc.), but should enable us also to entreat with kindness and gentleness, and with a spirit of forgiveness those who prepare and administer the cup of our sufferings. But none can have this confidence of faith-none should have it-except one certain, particular class; and it is not a large class as compared to the world, but a "little flock"-those who have believed in the precious blood unto justification and who have, as members of the Body of Christ, consecrated themselves unreservedly to walk in their Redeemer's footsteps, to suffer with Him, and to be finally glorified together with Him.

"What is Faith's Foundation Strong?"

In our text, after the Apostle has urged us to be "content with such things as ye have," he adds the reason or ground upon which this advice is given, saying, "For He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Yes, this is the true ground of contentment, the realization of the Lord's care, and that the Lord's wisdom and grace are being exercised towards us,-and that such things as He grants are the things which are best for us, and which we would choose for ourselves, if we had sufficient wisdom and insight into all. the circumstances of the case.

The Apostle adds, "So then we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me." The whole world has wondered at the intelligent courage of the humble ones of the Lord's people. The secret of their courage and of their strength- is in their confidence that the Lord is their helper, that He, with wisdom and love which are infinite, is both able and willing to make all things work together for their good.

Possibly some may be inclined to wonder why so much attention has been. given in these columns of late to themes similar to the one here discussed, and kindred topics calculated to develop more and more the spirit of love and the various fruits of that spirit, and to counteract the spirit of selfishness, and the evil fruits of that spirit. We answer, it is because we believe these lessons to be specially opportune at the present time. The Lord, by His grace, has removed many blinding errors from our minds, and given us clearer insight of His glorious plans, and revealed to us His glorious character in connection with His Plan; and there has perhaps been more or less danger, that in such a study of theology the real object of all this knowledge, the object of the Gospel, may be lost sight of. It is not God's object to merely find an intellectual people, nor to instruct a people with reference to His plans, but to sanctify a people with the truth, and thus to make them "meet [fit] for the inheritance of the saints in light." We are of the opinion that the testings which the Lord designs for His people are not merely doctrinal tests, and consequently we expect, more and more, that the harvest siftings and separations amongst those who come to a knowledge of the truth, will be considerably along the lines of character, and of the fruits of the spirit.

The Lord's final decision is not, If you be ignorant of certain things you are none of mine; nor, If you have certain knowledge you are mine; but, "If any man have not the Spirit [disposition, mind] of Christ, he is none of His." And if we are right in this, dear readers, it is of paramount importance that we, as soldiers of the cross, put on not only the intellectual covering, the helmet of salvation, but also the heart covering, love of righteousness and truth and goodness and purity, with the shield of faith. The breastplate of righteousness will be found to be one of the most important pieces of armor in the battle which is upon us, and respecting which tine are told that thousands shall fall at our side. - Psa. 91:7; Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:11.

Not only so, but we believe that the lesson foregoing is of great importance, because the time is short; and those of the Lord's people who do not soon start to cultivate a spirit of contentment and thankfulness will not only not be fit for the Kingdom, but will as sharers of the world's spirit of discontent be in sore distress with the -world very shortly, in the great time of trouble. Contentment and the faith which it implies, are necessary to godliness: and whoever is attempting godliness without striving for cultivation of contentment will surely make a failure of it. Godliness and the fruits of the spirit, meekness, patience, gentleness, longsuffering, brotherly-kindness, love, will not grow in the garden of the soul, where the weeds of discontent are permitted to sap the strength and vitiate the air with their noxious presence and influence.

The sentiment of one of our precious hymns is quite to the point, and we desire, for ourselves and for all of the Lord's people, that condition of faith and consecration and contentment which will permit us to sing from the heart, with the spirit and with the understanding also, the words: --

"Content with beholding His face,
My all to His pleasure resigned,
No changes of season or place
Can make any change in my mind.
While blest with the sense of His love
A palace a toy would appear,
And prisons would palaces prove,
If Jesus still dwelt with me there."

Who can tell that the Lord may not ultimately put some such tests to us, as these mentioned by the poet which were applied to himself and to others of the faithful in the past? Let us remember that we will not be faithful in large things unless we have learned to be faithful in little things. Let each, therefore, begin, and faithfully continue, a transformation of his life along these lines of godliness with contentment in the most trifling affairs of life. He will thus not only be making himself and others the happier in the present time, but he will be preparing himself for greater trials and tests that the Lord may be pleased to impose later, to prove to what extent we are overcomers of the world and of its spirit.

"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith;" because faith lies at the foundation of all loyalty to God and His cause. Faith in the divine supervision of all our affairs not only gives peace and content, but it saps the root of all selfish ambitions and vain gloryings and boastings; because of our faith in the Lord's Word, that "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted and he that exalteth himself shall be abased." Faith in the Lord's supervision prefers the Lord's arrangement to any other as respects the sufferings of this present time and the glory that is to follow; and hence it doth not puff up but builds up in the character likeness of our Redeemer.-The Watch Tower.

"The Everlasting Arms"

"Far below the deepest anguish,
Far below the bitter woe,
Reach the arms of the Almighty;
Human arms ne'er reach so low;
The eternal God's thy refuge;
Fear not then earth's wild alarms.
Underneath and round about thee
'Are the Everlasting Arms.'

"Every other arm may fail thee
Every other prop give way,
But these arms so strong and tender
Through all time will be thy stay;
Far more gentle than a mother's,
Which to children have such charm,
In their soothing touch to comfort,
'Are the Everlasting Arms.'

"Underneath! Oh, sink into them,
And in this sure refuge hide;
'Tis a covert from the tempest
Where you safely may abide;
In this secret place He'll keep thee,
Sheltered safe from all that harms,
By the tender mighty power
Of 'the Everlasting Arms.'

"God of Jacob, still thy refuge
'Mid the deepening clouds of woe;
Everlasting Arms protecting
In the conflict with the foe.
And when time's last sands are sinking,
He will hush e'en death's alarms
With His tender, 'Still beneath thee
Are the Everlasting Arms."'

1937 Index