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THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom

VOL. XX March, 1937 No. 3
Table of Contents

Gone From Us

Meditations in 2 Timothy 1:1-12

Three Months' Trial Subscriptions

Holding the Profession of Our Faith

Mirrors

CONVENTIONS

The Memorial Supper

"My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." - John 6:55.

ONE OF the most notable events of the Jewish year, the Passover season, is near at hand; and Christians are more deeply interested in this festival than even the most devout Jews, for the Passover lamb which was slain and eaten at the beginning of this feast was a type of Christ Jesus "brought as a lamb to the slaughter" -- but as "a ransom for all." According to Jewish custom the Passover lamb was slain on the 14th of Nisan, to be eaten as their Passover Supper. Jesus Himself instructed us to substitute for that supper a service in memorial of Him. Nisan 14 this year falls on March 26th. As their day begins at 6 o'clock the previous evening, the appropriate time for the commemoration of the Lord's death, will therefore be after 6 o'clock on Thursday, March 25th.

"While to the Jew the Passover was a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt, to us it ,was looking forward to the antitypical Lamb that was to deliver an antitypical Israel -- all who, by the end of the Millennium, will have become the Lord's -- from the greater Pharaoh, Satan -- and the greater Egypt -- this world of which he is the prince. Within this general picture there is also the more particular one showing the Church of the Firstborn as preceding the world in their testings and the danger of the second death. "They became liable to death before the general exodus, and when the exodus did occur, these firstborn ones had a special place in it -- a special work to do in connection with the general deliverance, for they became a separated class, represented in the tribe of Levi. They were separated from their brethren, giving up entirely their inheritance in the land, that according to the divine arrangement, they might be the teachers of their brethren." In that deliverance, Satan and all who have associated themselves with him, men and angels, represented by Pharaoh and his hosts, will be destroyed. As with natural Israel, so in the deliverance of spiritual Israel, the passing over in the nighttime of the Firstborn is accomplished in safety because of the Lamb slain, because of the blood sprinkled on the door posts and lintels-"When I see the blood, I will pass over you." The bitter herbs and unleavened bread eaten with the flesh that night, with staff in hand and girded for the journey, represented the trials and afflictions of the antitypical Firstborn in their pilgrim journey.

These and many other beautiful and helpful lessons that have been discovered hidden in the Jewish celebration lose none of their force for those who find that their Master partook of His last supper with the disciples in order to leave with them a ceremony that would take the place of it. But while profiting by the experiences of natural Israel, we would not lose sight of the fact that the service was given us that as oft as we eat we should do it in remembrance of Him, and especially to shew forth His death till He come. We would therefore turn our thoughts particularly to the things which He said this feast memorialized.

"Let a Man Therefore Examine Himself"

It is always well that we bear in mind the importance of examining ourselves with close heart inspection, but especially so as we come to this feast and partake of the emblems, representing our Lord's shed blood and His body broken for us, as well as our covenant of sacrifice to suffer with Him. May God grant us grace to enter into the significance, the depth and power of the cross so that these things may not be mere theories only intellectually grasped, but divine realities. They must be known by experience, must be worked into our lives that they may mean life for the new creature, as they mean death for the old. "We should ever remember that the life to which we are called is pre-eminently a living reality-a personal, practical, powerful thing, telling itself out in all the scenes and circumstances of daily life, shedding its hallowed influence over the entire -character and course, imparting its heavenly tone to every relationship which one may be called of God to fill."

Below we give a list of questions suggested by our late Pastor which each may well ask himself that he may know whether there are steps yet to be taken that he may draw close enough to see these realities:

"(1) Do I believe the Scripture teaching that I, as a member of the human family was under that condemnation to death which passed upon all because of original sin?

"(2) Do I believe that my only hope of escape from that condemnation of sin and death was through the ransom sacrifice of the man Christ Jesus, my Lord?

"(3) Do I believe He gave Himself -- His flesh and blood, His humanity-as my ransom price, pouring out His soul unto death, making His soul a sin-offering (Isa. 53:10, 12) on our behalf?

"(4) Do I see that the consecration to death, made at Jordan when He was baptized, was fulfilled by His sacrifice of Himself for mankind, which, beginning there, was finished on the cross when He died?

"(5) Do I see that the rights under the law, which He secured by obedience to it (the right of lasting life and the dominion of earth), were what He through that same sacrifice bequeathed to the fallen, dying race -- to as many as shall ultimately accept the blessings under the conditions of the New Covenant?

"(6) Do I see that His flesh and blood, thus sacrificed, stood for, represented, those blessings and favors which they purchased?

"(7) Do I see that the partaking of the bread and wine, symbols of His flesh and blood, signifies my acceptance of those favors and blessings which the flesh and blood of my Lord bought for me and for all?

"(8) And if I do thus heartily accept the ransom thus memorialized, do I consecrate my entire being-my flesh and blood, justified through faith in that ransom-to the Lord, to be broken with Him, to suffer with Him, to be dead with Him?

"If we can answer these questions affirmatively, we clearly or fully discern the Lord's body, give credit to His meritorious sacrifice, and may eat -- should eat -- 'Eat ye all of it.'

Our Partnership in Suffering

As yearly the transcendent privilege of drinking anew with our Lord the fruit of the vine in the Kingdom draws nearer, the foreshadowing of that event in the memorializing of His death by the Lord's Supper becomes increasingly precious. As daily we learn more of cross-bearing, we approach nearer to a fulness of appreciation of the One whose cross was set on Calvary. On that cruel cross He was lifted, as was the serpent in the wilderness, that all who look upon Him might live.

In crushed grapes and bruised grains, as in the bitter herbs of the Passover Supper, we find pictured our partnership with Him in suffering that we may be made "partakers [partners] of the divine nature." But the union must be complete, the participation real. It must be "one loaf" and "one cup." The herbs, the cup, and the bread, all speak to us not merely of suffering and of glory to follow, but of our sinful, undone condition, and the necessity of true heart contrition. For those who would partake worthily, not only must there be repentance, but there must be transformation, by the renewing of the mind -- a life according well with that repentance.

The cup then which we bless tells us not only a tale of sacrifice and death that justice might be satisfied and love revealed, it not only reminds us of our own undone condition and need of that sacrifice, not only encourages us to hope for a participation in His sufferings, but points to a Wisdom beyond man's power to appreciate. He who came as its personification was to the "Jews a stumblingblock and unto the Greeks foolishness." To these His was a life that ended in utter ruin. To these the words, "It is finished," marked the end of a life that was a failure; to God and, by His grace, to us, they mean the end of sin. All need this yearly reminder that comes to them as they see the red of the blood in the cup, telling that it is sin that is being washed away in the blood of the Lamb that was slain. But before that blood is shed, He who is to be crucified with thieves must experience the loneliness of Gethsemane.

"Behold your King! Though the moonlight steals
'Through the silvery sprays of the olive tree,
No star-gemmed sceptre or crown it reveals,
In the solemn shade of Gethsemane.
Only a form of prostrate grief,
Fallen, crushed, like a broken leaf!
Oh, think of His sorrow! that we may know
The depth of love in the depth of woe."

Some few may sympathetically follow our Lord in the night watches of Gethsemane; may sense the mystery of the approaching torches flashing in the darkness; know something of the loathsomeness of the traitor's kiss; faintly realize how the innocent One would recoil from arrest; may even in a measure know what it meant to His pure heart to be accused by sinful men before heartless judges; we may journey with Him from Pilate's house to stand before the corrupt Herod and suffer the brutality of his soldiers; and go unafraid into the presence of Pilate, who, though a heathen king, ,we find striving to save Him from the scribes and priests-the ones who boasted their knowledge of the law and their faithful obedience to it; perhaps, some may know something of the pain of His scourging, something of the weakness that caused Him to faint under the weight of that cross; there are those who have felt even the pain of the nails, the sudden tearing of the flesh as the cross dropped into place-but all this is outward, physical, human; all this is but the symbol of the inward anguish of One who could suffer as none other, for He loved as no other man has ever loved. Further He must go; and go alone.

"Behold your King, with His sorrow crowned,
Alone, alone in the valley is He!
The shadows of death are gathering round,
And the Cross must follow Gethsemane.
Darker and darker the gloom must fall,
Filled is the Cup, He must drink it all!
Oh, think of His sorrow! that we may know
His wondrous love in His wondrous woe."

There was none with Him, when He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The supreme hour in the history of our race had been reached. Jesus in these words reveals the "exceeding sinfulness of sin," and the boundlessness of love divine. The sin of mankind in hiding themselves from God had hidden God from the One who took their place. Since no one has known God as Jesus knew Him, or has communed with His Father as the only begotten Son communed with Him, there is none to share with Him the awfulness of that moment of separation.

Only once in His life is it recorded of Jesus that He asked of His Father the question, "Why? He could be a prophet without honor, despised and spat upon, He could be mocked, and scourged, and could have a crown of thorns crushed upon His brow, nails driven into His quivering flesh; but in it all there was no questioning of God's providence. Love had planned it all, and that He knew. But what of that moment that took from Him the vision' of His' Father's face, the moment when the "still, small voice" was no longer heard the loving union, understanding, sympathy He no more felt; no promise, no hope, no explanation -- just silence. And from His lips escapes the word, "Why?"

The Depths of Sorrow Fathomed

Only a little while before, He had prayed, "Father, glorify Thyself," and the Father replied, "I have glorified My name and I will glorify it again." The fulfillment had come with that dark moment when He became sin for us. Crushed, He questioned, "Why?" Oh, can we ever know how horrible is sin that at last after a life of suffering and misunderstanding meekly borne, the taking of the sinner's place by the righteous One should wring from His lips this cry of a broken heart? The vision of the Father's face was closed to Him in that moment that it might be opened to us. May the lightning flashes of Calvary still reveal to us in all its blackness the, sin that brought our Savior there. There Jesus reached the depths of sin and sealed its doom; there He fathomed the depths of sorrow, and experienced the overwhelming agony of the closed and silent heaven.

"Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21.) Thus the cross, that is the symbol of the One who gave Himself an offering for sin on our behalf, becomes the inspiration of our "righteousness of God in Him." If "He bore my sin in His body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24), why should I live in sin any longer, or even make provision for this sinful flesh, to live after the flesh? What a humiliating picture is man in his fallen condition! Oh, that our poor proud hearts could enter more fully into the scene, and realize the depths He must suffer who was "wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." "With His stripes we are healed."

"Standing overwhelmed in the presence of these sufferings, feeling increasingly man's inability to understand or explain, with a great sense of might and majesty overwhelming us, we hear the next words that pass His lips: 'It is finished.' " Will our fellowship, our partnership with Christ be less precious because we cannot share that one black moment of the Cross? It is in the spirit we have fellowship, and the spirit that made Him victor in that moment, maybe ours.

Hindrances to Fellowship with Him

It is not to be supposed that by the words, "It is finished," Jesus meant that He was at last delivered from the uncomfortable and unsanitary conditions in which He had lived for thirty-three years, or that He was now escaping the lack of appreciation, the misunderstandings and misrepresentations of those for whom He came to lay down His life; or that He even referred to the finishing of the pains of death that had got hold upon Him. No, the breaking of His communion with His God had not only finished all these things, but finished the one great thing-the atoning sacrifice, that by His being made sin for us, by His communion with God being broken, the way might be prepared for a re-establishment of communion between mankind and God. We too may have fellowship with the One for whom the love of Jesus was so strong that the shutting out of the vision of His face for even one moment meant the breaking of Jesus' heart. Now for us the veil is rent, the way is open. Through the beloved disciple He has sent us word as to how we may know whether that communion, that partnership is ours: "If we say we have fellowship with Him [partnership with Him -- the same Greek word that tells of our participation with Him in the cup], and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but 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 1:6, 7.

Meditating upon the cross where that precious blood was shed, and looking to the emblems of that broken body and shed blood, remembering our invitation to partnership there, and realizing what the Scriptures give as evidence of our fellowship with Him, sends us again to our knees to examine ourselves as to whether we can claim to be walking in the light "as He is in the light"; whether we can find the evidence of such a walk in that, as our dear Brother John says, "we have fellowship one with another." We tremble at the thought that any carelessness on our part might thus prove us unworthy of a share in the cup.

If there is anything in our life that is hindering "fellowship one with another," the beloved disciple warns it is also hindering our communion with Him. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother bath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." (Matt. 5:23, 24; 1 Cor. 11:29.) The drinking of the cup, which represents the blood that love poured out for the life of the world, can be worse than an empty mockery for one who would bring gifts to an altar while there is a wronged brother standing without. First love must have sought reconciliation with our brother, before our God can admit us into the communion represented there.

The Supreme Expression of Love Divine

Reflected in the cup, we behold the cross, and the wonders God worked by it. The same cross that revealed the love of God and of Jesus manifested also the cruelty and stupidity of hate. Nothing could be more evident than the blindness of the sin which erected that cross. Those who raised it closed their eyes both to their immediate and their eternal interests. What greater folly could there have been than to send to the prison house of death the great Liberator, to murder the Life-giver, to envelop in darkness the only Light of life! 'Oh the folly, the madness, the hatred, the rebellion, the sin that is revealed in the cross! In the murder of the King, in the destruction of the Priest, and in the silencing of the Prophet, sin reached its lowest depths; but in that same moment the love of God ascended to its greatest heights. It is not well that we forget sin's ignominy as we turn with subdued and grateful hearts to the grace of God manifested in that same cross. In it we find the grace of God meeting and triumphing over everything opposed to God. By that one sacrifice the way was opened for clearing from the universe every trace of sin and its work. Divine wisdom, justice, and love had paved the way for the exercise of His unlimited power to the eternal praise of His glory. Sin was permitted to erect that cross, that sin might die. It was the King of earth man sought to destroy on that cross, but they only lifted Him up that He might reign on a higher plane. Man there was abandoning God, and there God was reaching down to draw man to Him giving His only begotten Son in death that man might live. Man by his cross said, We will not be governed by God, but by that sacrifice Love manifested its reign; and "God is love." God's love by His determinate counsel and foreknowledge permits man to express his sin in the cross-in that very crucifix in which He gives the supreme expression of His love, of grace divine. In no other way could love and sin ever have been placed in such startling contrast as in the scene on Calvary. "In that very cross God plants the kiss of forgiveness upon the face of the murderers. It is the magnificent and, majestic authority of love. He will love. We cannot prevent Him loving, and. let us add reverently to that statement, He cannot help loving because He is love. Love is stronger than death, mightier than the grave. That is the anthem of the cross."

If in the crushed grape and the broken bread we view His sufferings on our behalf; " if in the cup and the loaf we find an invitation to fellowship in His sufferings, in His cross, let us remember too that "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." Is He not still saying: "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not"? "The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." He is still saying to each one off us "My grace is sufficient for thee."

Gone From Us

Our readers will learn with regret that the kindly, fatherly face of Brother John G. Kuehn will be seen by them on earth no more, he having died on February 2, 1937 after a brief illness. While rejoicing for our brother that his labors here have ended, we know our readers will be glad to join with us in prayer to "our Father" that "the God of all comfort" will sustain the members of the bereaved family in their affliction. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

Another, well known to friends in the East through attendance at conventions, has been called from our midst-Brother Charles F. Hopkins of the Cincinnati Class. Brother Hopkins spent his entire life under Christian influences, but came into the light of present truth only about twelve years ago, symbolizing his consecration at the Pittsburgh Convention last year. His passing was after a brief illness, on Sunday, February 7th, just one day before his eighty-eighth birthday.

Meditations in 2 Timothy 1:1-12
**In four parts* - Part 2**

A FEW OTHER words and phrases of the opening address call for our reverent notice. Paul has announced himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God-that will which had marked him out and called him to the ministry of the Gospel. And this apostleship of his, he goes on to say, is "according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 1:1.) What was this promise, and what does he mean by saying that his apostleship was according to it?

The Gospel Promised Beforehand

The promise, we would understand, was that which had long been foretold and reiterated by the Prophets in the Holy Scriptures, that God purposed a wonderful reversal of the state of death into which our race had fallen through Adam's transgression. Then arrived the promised Prince of Life. And having lived, and died, and risen, He must needs be preached. So, eminently among others, this man, Saul of Tarsus, was transformed from a blasphemer into a proclaimer of the good tidings in order that the promise of life might take effect.

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*In the preparation of these Meditations we have not hesitated to consult available helps, and we desire to acknowledge our special indebtedness to H. C. G. Moule, from whose devotional commentary we have drawn liberally.

In saying that this life in Christ Jesus was something that had been promised, and that his apostleship was given in order that that promise might take effect, through his preaching of the Gospel, St. Paul 'was speaking in harmony with the lines on which the whole of his ministry had been laid. Far from evincing a desire to advance something new, the Apostle was at pains to show that his Gospel is in entire accord with the Old Testament writings. It was a constant position with him that he advanced nothing but what was maintained by the best and holiest men of Israel, "Saying: none other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come," declared he to King Agrippa and to Festus the Roman Governor. (Acts 26:22, 23.) Though his doctrines might appear to be new, yet he regarded them as entirely consistent with all that had been declared in the Jewish dispensation, and not only consistent, but as actually promised there. It is worthy of special note that the Apostle had a great regard for the Old Testament. Manifestly he studied it. Nor is he alone in this. Hear the Apostle Peter, in Acts 10:43: "To Him [Jesus] give all the Prophets witness." Jesus Himself said: "Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me." (John 5:39.) And again, in verse 46 of the same chapter He says: "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me."

Yes, the first advent of our Lord had long been heralded. And when He came, He sent His messengers out into the world, carrying as their text, the theme which fills the Old Testament from end to end. Salvation, life, joy and peace, through the promised Seed of Abraham, David's greater Son. The Apostles always put their preaching in proper relationship with that prediction. Who else in all history was thus heralded beforehand?

That Word "Mercy"

"Grace, mercy, and peace from God, the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." - 2 Timothy 1:2.

How sweet the benediction with which the Apostle closes his address! To Timothy, acquainted as he was with the Old Testament history, it must have sounded as an echo of those comforting words with which Aaron had been instructed to bless Israel: "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon thee, and-give thee peace. (Num. 6:24-26.) Only now the music of those oldtime words has mellowed; the awful Majesty on high has been revealed by Jesus to be none other than our Father, from whose bosom the only-begotten One came forth, and He has revealed that grace and peace will be multiplied towards us, yea, eternal life itself, as by faith we become ever better acquainted with the Father and Himself. - John-17:3; 2 Pet. 1:2.

Besides these two words, "grace's and "peace," there is a third word, the word "mercy," embedded between them. Often in his writings St. Paul uses the words "grace" and "peace," but only in his two letters to Timothy does this word "mercy" appear in connection with them. How significant is this! The great life of the Apostle is drawing to its close. The noble saint looks forward and sees without one misgiving the promised crown. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day." (2 Timothy 4:7, 8, A. R. V.) But while looking forward with joyful anticipation, he also looks back and sees the infinite forbearance which has' dealt with him. And he looks upward, and then inward, with the solemn insight of one who knows he is about to die, and sees, more than ever, his own unworthiness to enter into the joy of his Lord.

Ah! the introduction of this word "mercy," between the customary "grace" and "peace," is a touching indication of the Apostle's own humility, and reveals his deepening sense of the need of mercy as he drew nearer to the end of the way. It records the fact that if in Ephesus, where Timothy was, or in Rome, where he himself was imprisoned, there were any children of God who fancied they could rise above an utterance of the cry, "God, be merciful to me," a chosen Apostle of Christ, even in full view of the martyr's crown, cannot forget his profound need of Divine mercy. The nearer he draws to the promised reward, the more he knows, both for himself, and for his beloved Timothy, and the more he needs must say, that grace and peace, as the gift of God to sinners on earth, exist only because of an immeasurable mercy. Evidently his sentiment must have been similar to that of the poet, who, when thinking of the time when he should meet the Savior face to face, penned the following lines:

"How shall I meet those eyes?
Mine on Himself I cast,
And own myself the Savior's prize,
Mercy from first to last."
"In Everything give Thanks"

"I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy." - 2 Timothy 1:3, 4.

The initial address of the letter is over, and the substance of the message now begins. The manner in which it commences is very characteristic of the Apostle. Again and again, in other days, writing to the churches, he had opened his epistles in this same way, weaving together his thanksgiving and prayer. Now, for the last time, to this greatly loved individual, Timothy, he will open once again.

It is a beautiful and pathetic thanksgiving. What occasions it, is the fact that he has Timothy always in his heart, always in his prayers. It is as if he had felt that in these sorrowful, closing days of his life he might have found himself faltering in the exercise and tender joy of this sacred friendship, might have had his heart's sight of Timothy confused, and almost lost in the valley of the shadow of death. So, he gives thanks to God that it is otherwise; he is grateful to the grace which keeps his life-worn heart young enough still to embrace his dear "son" in the faith in the tenacious arms of prayer. By night and by day Timothy is present to him before the throne of grace. As the cheerless days in the deep prison close and open upon him; as he lies waking in the night as he sits thinking, alone or with Luke; when the pale light shines again, he is constantly telling the Lord about Timothy, and asking for him grace and strength, and the drying of his tears, and the renewing of his hope, and, if it be possible, if it be the Lord's will, that Paul may see him once again, to the great, the perfect joy of his aging and yearning heart.

"Faith of Our Fathers"

In passing, .he drops one notable word about his relationship to God. "Him I worship, as my fathers did before me, with a pure conscience."

In these words the Apostle sets us a noble example. He makes-it very plain that he had no disposition to break rudely with the past or to speak lightly or slightingly of those who, because of living in an earlier age had not been blessed with the light he was privileged to enjoy. The one living and true God was revealed alike to Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles. Paul was not conscious of worshiping another God than the One in whom they trusted. Nor did he accuse them of insincerity in their worship. According to the light which had been vouchsafed to them his fathers had worshiped God with a pure conscience. He was glad and thankful that the same was true of himself there was no insincerity in his worship either, even though it was in the way that some called heresy that he worshiped the God of his fathers. (Acts 24:14, Weymouth.) Compared with the light in which he now walked their day was cloudy. But they, too, had been sincere, had been in real earnest in their worship. And so, far from disparaging thoughts concerning them he glances back at their record with a deep sense of thankfulness-thankfulness that there had been such faithful ones who had witnessed according to the light they had enjoyed; and thankfulness additionally, and perhaps especially, that his own worship and service, rendered in a greater light than they had known, was characterized by the same sincerity as theirs had been.

Something of the same emotion with which he looked at their noble history fills our hearts today as we take upon our lips those inspiring words

"Faith of our Fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword.
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene'er we hear that glorious word.
Faith of our Fathers, glorious faith,
We will be true to thee till death. -

"O for that flame of living fire,
Which shone so bright in saints of old;
Which bade their souls to heaven aspire
Calm in distress, in danger bold.
Faith of our Fathers, glorious faith,
We will be true to thee till death."

His desire to see Timothy, he continues, is "that I might be filled with joy."

Sure though St. Paul was that his eternal welfare was secure, he was still human, and he longed to see Timothy once more-on earth. And we gather that his wish had in it not only the thought of simply seeing his dear face again, but of seeing in his face the light of the Lord, the look of faith. That is what we take to be the connection here as in the next verse he goes on to say: "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice; and I am persuaded, in thee also." - 2 Timothy 1:5.

"With Mind and Heart"

Faith was a very old watchword with Paul. Indeed, we can scarcely think of Paul without the word coming back to our mind. We know, too, that faith, in the Apostle's usage of that term, is not credulity, nor superstition, nor yet the blind acceptation of something contrary to reason, but intelligent belief. Faith is produced by testimony, and as far as testimony goes, faith may go; but where the testimony stops, faith must and will stop. The testimony concerning Jesus tells us that He was born of Mary in Bethlehem-was baptized of John in Jordan-and commenced His ministry in the hill country of Galilee-was crucified on Calvary, and was buried in Joseph's new tomb. Now suppose the testimony had stopped at this point, how much faith would any person have had today in His resurrection, ascension, and glorification? Just none at all. As far as testimony goes, faith may go, but no farther; all beyond is merely speculative opinion. Our faith may be strengthened or weakened by increasing or decreasing the testimony. We have faith in the testimony of men, and we have faith in the testimony of God, and our faith in the testimony of God is as much stronger than our faith in the testimony of men as we regard God superior to man and His testimony more reliable than that of man. This difference, no more, no less. "If we receive the witness of men the- witness of God is greater." - 1 John 5:9.

We have said that faith is belief, and indeed faith and belief represent the same Greek and the same Hebrew word. Their meaning in the Bible is therefore absolutely the same. Yet none should suppose that an intellectual appreciation of doctrine merely, without a heart reliance thereon represents faith in St. Paul's view of that word. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 'word of God." Our faith, therefore, must come to us through the brain. But it cannot stop there. To be of value it must affect our' heart and life. We all know the difference between an opinion and a conviction. The one is what we think, the other is what we are. Our opinions may sit lightly on us, but our convictions are the iron in our blood which make the very strength and stalwartness of our manhood. And faith, as an active grace, is simply Christian conviction. It is what we believe and feel and are, in relation to divine questions and promises. The mere intellectual appreciation which is divorced from all will and love profits nothing. No one will deny that the devils have a right belief in the existence of God. They, however, believe, but wish the facts were otherwise. Their belief causes them to tremble. Faith on the contrary is the substance of things hoped for. If we believe that God is what His name implies, the self-existing One, the all-powerful, all-wise, all just, and all-loving Creator, and if we believe that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, the effect will be that we will seek Him, seek to know and understand His Word; and that, knowing and understanding it, we will have confidence in it; and that having confidence in it, we will direct our course in life accordingly.

St. Paul, then, in thinking of his "son" Timothy, thinks of him as a man of faith, and therefore as a man of Christ. It is because of this that it will be a heartening joy if he may see his face again.

Faith Unfeigned

Then, thinking thus, his mind travels back into the past. Years ago, in a strange and unlikely place, in superstitious and violent Lystra, he had found not only Timothy, but his mother, Eunice, who were already disciples of the Lord. Not only so, but his grandmother, Lois, was a disciple, too. They must have been in the Lord for some years already at that date, for Timothy, when Paul called him out to be his companion on his pilgrim journeys, was, of course, an adult man. But these pious women, the mother and grandmother, had been teaching him the Word of God from early childhood. (2 Timothy 3:14, 15.) They were probably amongst the early disciples, fruits, more or less directly, of the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost itself; later, in the providence of God they, had been drawn to Paul, and he to them, so that their names were now among the treasures of his heart.

With what pleasure they come to his mind now. No doubt he recalls their moral beauty, their fine capacity for the friendship and fellowship of the Gospel. All he mentions, however, is their unfeigned faith. And he does not need to say more. For, as we have seen, since an undissembled faith dwelt in their hearts, love dwelt there, Christ had been received. Thus it was that they had become a part of the Apostle's life, blended into it by the common possession of the one dear Lord. And their faith, the Apostle is persuaded, resided likewise in their son and grandson, Timothy. When he sees Timothy, it will be like seeing them too, as he sees in him the faith they share.

(To be continued)

Three Months' Trial Subscriptions

As previously announced, we are glad to send sample copies or three months' trial subscriptions free to any address, or list of addresses you may send us. Perhaps a second copy or subscription might be effective. If you are being blessed by the ministry of the "Herald," do you not know of others who need this same blessing? Let us not be indifferent to our privileges of service, and to the needs of our brethren, but watchful for opportunities to be of assistance "in season and out of season."

Holding the Profession of Our Faith
(Continued from last issue)

"Having an High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering." - Heb. 10:19-39.

THE EXPRESSION by the writer to the Hebrews, "our bodies washed with pure water," has occasioned much discussion among expositors. It will be remembered that in the court was placed a laver filled with water at which the priest washed, and also at which the sacrifice was washed, in each case symbolizing the purity of the individual. The bullock, which represented our great Head, was not so washed because it represented One already perfect, clean, free from any defect and so not needing this ablution. This custom commonly prevailed among the heathen also, for -historians tell us that at the entrance of their temples was a vessel of consecrated water in which was placed in some cases a branch of laurel with which the priest sprinkled the worshipers. This water even with them must be clean and pure and was therefore drawn from springs and wells and not taken from ponds or other open places. Sea water, because of the salt contained in it, was regarded as especially appropriate.

Ezekiel too says, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and all your idols will I cleanse you." This is in connection with the promised restoration of the Jewish people in the next Age, for he further says, "A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. . . . And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek. 36:26, 27.) It was from the pagan religion that the custom passed into the Roman Catholic Church, where is placed at the entrance to their churches a basin of water that the worshiper may cross himself.

Laying Aside Every Weight

The same Apostle in writing to the Ephesians (Eph. 5:25, 26) says that "Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself-for it that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." The thought would seem thus to emphasize the previous one -- that of "having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience," rendered pure. We must be in God's sight free from the filth and pollution of the world, for in drawing near unto Him we must divest ourselves of all impediments, one by one as we, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, travel this new and living way. The road grows more narrow and straight, more rugged as though traveling a mountain path; the things of the world hamper us more and more, and as our character develops we recognize as a hindrance today the thing which did not seem so in the days that are past. Thus we cast them aside until we appear in the presence of God with only the robe of Christ's righteousness for a covering. Many friends filled the way in the early days, abundance of fellowship, great rejoicing, but as the tests have come, one by one, there has also come a falling away, fewer and fewer we find able and willing to climb where "sometimes the shadows are deep, and rough seems the path to the goal," where "sometimes so long seems the day and sometimes so heavy our feet; but, toiling in life's dusty way, the Rock's blessed shadow, how sweet!"

In this narrow way we find, as in the grand gallery of the pyramid, room enough for "My Lord and me." And as we travel on with our minds set upon the goal, may we recall His promise, "Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." May we sing with the poet,

"Love did for my sin atone;
I shall live through Christ alone.
I need fear no evil thing,
While by simple faith I cling."

"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering." To secure this was the object of this whole epistle -- to convince them that their old system was transitory, designed to pass away, and that every good thing attained through it was more abundantly contained in the new system established by the antitypical High Priest -- a system which was designed to be permanent, and if they would only hold fast the profession of their faith a little longer, if they would turn a deaf ear to their seducers, they would attain unto the promised blessings and escape the inevitable fate to be meted out to those who should turn back unto perdition.

The same argument holds today the same rewards for the faithful, the same rewards for the unfaithful, the same Savior, the same taking out from among the nations a people for His name-a bride, a body, a priesthood, a little flock. What visions of the future blessings are in these names! To the overcomer He will give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.' "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." With these assurances "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith, for He is faithful that promised. Let us give diligence "to make our calling and election sure: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." - 2 Pet. 1:10, 11.

Building One Another Up

The Apostle's next injunction, "Let us consider one another" is one which the Church' of today might well take to heart. Consideration one for another seems to be but little manifested; but instead of considering one another to provoke unto love we find much which bespeaks the opposite, and the injunction is surely timely. Criticism of others of like faith may create a rancor which may possibly eat into the heart, and like the little foxes destroy the vine. Evil surmising and gossip may quench the smoking flax or destroy the broken reed. Our mission is to build one another up in the holy faith rather than to tear down; to comfort and help rather than to distress and destroy. All are not of the stature of a man, some are still in the class of babes and need the help of the more advanced in the walk of the Christian life. Rancor in the soul of man prevents his growth and development. We are our brother's keeper and answerable to God so far as we fail in our privilege of lifting one another up, helping on toward that love which is the bond of perfectness.

For this reason we find it profitable to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. While each is responsible to God for his own conduct, fellowship and exchange of experience assist in our progress in the higher life. The word assemble in the original means to gather together for the purpose of worshiping God. Herein we know from experience the benefits of such assembling. They are like water and sunshine and air to the physical organism. And he who neglects these means of grace is like the plant transferred from the open sunlight to the dark of the cellar. Spiritual growth soon ceases and our vital forces decline. The most virile of God's people are found among those, who assemble whenever it is possible. Our attendance, to a -certain extent, is the measure of our growth in spiritual things. We find some exceptions to this in those who are prevented by insurmountable difficulties. These seem to be especially blessed if their desires in this direction are strong. God is able to provide for His own. Let us remember such in our petitions to the throne of grace.

In this assembling ourselves we have greater opportunities for exhorting one another, as the Apostle bids us. This also is a profitable means toward the end, that is, the development of character, and this seems "the more so as we see the day approaching." This expression has given rise to a diversity of opinion, some claiming that the writer had in mind the coming day of trouble upon the Jewish people, and others that it refers to the second coming of our Lord. The construction of the sentence permits of either interpretation. Some remarkable occurrence was anticipated, and since these Christians had been Jews, and since their danger was that of falling back again into the old errors, the expiring system of their old faith, it may be argued that the writer was holding up to their vision this great calamity, and pointing out to them the foolishness of going over to a system which had been cast off from favor by our Lord and upon which He had pronounced a curse. It may not be unlikely that this was the prime meaning so far as these were concerned to whom this epistle was addressed.

"What Manner of Persons"

But does it not seem also that there was a prophetic note in the warning which should apply to those of the Lord's people who should be living in an age when there should be signs of His presence, His second presence. These signs of His presence seem very definite, and we are bidden to lift up our heads and rejoice when we see them for then our deliverance draweth near. This second presence is surely an important matter to the Lord's consecrated. Is the thought not enough to make us heedful of our conduct? What manner of persons ought we to be? Ought we to -be backbiting, and accusing one another? Can the Lord's people strive and still be the Lord's people? Does it not make us fear as we look about us? Do we not fear as we endeavor to work out our salvation with the Lord's help?

For many years we have heard that the time is short. Can we not see the gradual unfolding of God's Plan, His stately steppings along the corridors of time? Do we not hear the rumbling of the coming storm, louder and louder; until we can see the swaying and bending of the present order of things in all its avenues, like the trees of the forest in the line of the advancing tornado! The Lord is not slack concerning His -promises and do we not see "the elements beginning to melt with fervent heat"? Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without, spot and blameless. Can we be blameless if we permit the old nature to rise to the ascendancy? Can we be dead and our lives hid with Christ in God if we allow our minds to be set upon the things of the flesh? Must we not put to the death the old-nature? Then how can Christians strive? We cannot if we have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him. If we do these things after we have received the knowledge of the truth are we not in danger of a willful sin?

The Christian who should apostatize to Judaism placed himself without the bounds of Christian grace. Since he had come to a knowledge of the truth then due, he was beyond the reach of the Judaic system, the obsolete order which must give way to the new and living way, and he had nothing left but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.

Comparing him with one who despised Moses' law and suffered death, the Apostle says, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and bath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" Apostatizing from the Christian faith of that day is comparable to going back into the world in this day. It is not difficult to tread under foot the Son of God today. Sins of omission may cost us our crown, and we may become castaways, not "more than overcomers." Willful sin will cost us our inheritance. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save him that receiveth it." "I will recompense saith the Lord." And again, "the Lord shall judge His people."

Experience Proves His Supervision

Let us call to remembrance the former days, in which "after we were enlightened, we endured a great fight of afflictions," those early days in our Christian life when we started out with confidence and hope, joyous in the prospects before us, confident in the full assurance of faith, those days when we seemed surrounded and protected by an influence which must have been divine. We seemed like the little one learning to walk-all obstacles and blocks of stumbling were removed from the pathway, there were no storms and the skies were cloudless, and we felt that we could conquer life with God's help. We rejoiced in our new relationship and our enthusiasm ran high.

These were the days of preparation for the struggle of life, and as we developed a measure of strength, the trials began to come. The Adversary was permitted to test us perhaps as job was tested; doubts came to our minds concerning some of those things which had seemed settled beyond dispute. We questioned our consecration, our part in the divine Plan, though not the Plan itself, for we believed firmly that God had a beautiful and wonderful arrangement for the world's salvation, but we felt we were not worthy of a share in it. These and other things intruded upon our minds until the temptation began to come that we could not qualify and had better cease the struggle, for it was not for us. We remember how these, and other thoughts, came to us to disturb and distress; we remember, too, how by the guidance of His Holy Spirit we were led again into the light and how we rejoiced in the victory, stronger for the experience; how again and again these days came upon us, and how again and again we came off conquerors by His grace, for He had promised that with each temptation a way of escape would be provided, that He would not suffer us to be tempted beyond endurance. These things are something like the ballast in the hold of the vessel, they keep us from getting heady. "He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations"; "and I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels."

Our experiences in the way have served to prove His supervision over us. The trials have not been joyous at the time, but we have learned to count all but loss and dross, and our faith in God increases with each of these experiences. We therefore cast not away our confidence which bath great recompense of reward, both here, in the peace and joy of life, and hereafter, because of our promised inheritance. These things must be borne with patience that after we have done the will of God, we might receive the promise. Patient endurance of affliction is necessary if we would become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. To such is our Savior's promise, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God and he shall go no more out . . . and I will write upon him My new name."

"Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him." Is it possible that any can draw back after having been received into this heavenly relationship? It must be so or the Apostle would not have expressed such a possibility. May we apply the lessons of this epistle to our own lives. Is there anything which can separate us from the love of God? "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Only by our own delinquencies can this be accomplished. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." - Rom. 8:37-39.

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." This can be only if "we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul.

"The bird let loose in Eastern skies,
When hastening fondly home,
Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies
Where idle warblers roam.
But high she shoots, through air and light,
Above all low delay,
Where nothing earthly bounds her flight
Nor shadow dims her way.

"So grant me, God, from every care And stain of passion free Aloft, through virtue's purer air, 'To hold my course to Thee! No sun to cloud, no lure to stay My soul, as home she springs, 'The sunshine on her joyful way, Thy freedom in her wing."

Mirrors

"We Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture will give Thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth Thy praise to all generations." - Psa. 79:13.

WE ALL know what mirrors are, for we use them every day to reflect our image. But how many of us realize to what extent we ourselves are mirrors, receiving and reflecting either God's glory or the negative of that glory. The Psalm from which the above verse is quoted is mostly a lament over the condition of natural Israel in subjection to her foes, and a prayer of supplication by its author that God would glorify His own name in bringing about a deliverance, and punishment upon those who defied Him in their treatment of Israel. If this prayer is answered, the promise is given that they, the people of God, will render due thanks and show forth God's praise forever. This Psalm had its direct application to natural Israel, but antitypically no doubt to spiritual Israel. "We will show forth Thy praise to all generations," or in other words, the Psalmist here declares that God's people will mirror His glory.

The Majesty on High

Apparently there was a time when God was alone. Such a state is beyond our comprehension, but we must come to this conclusion if we accept the Bible statement that Jesus in His prehuman state was "the beginning of the creation of God."

If there was a beginning to creation and if Jesus was that beginning, instead of being a third part of a Trinity as some say, then God must have been alone-not 'hut God-no opportunity or possibility for the exercise of His attributes of wisdom, justice, love, and power-nothing but Himself -- nothing to reflect His glory. How wholly inadequate our minds are to grasp or fathom God and eternity!

Certain philosophers claim that what we call time came into existence with the creation of the material universe, and that the past, present, and future are all in the present with God. All that has occurred in the past and all that will occur in the future is before Him now. The findings of science and certain Scriptures seem to support this view. For example, Acts 15:18 declares that "known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." In Romans 4:17 it is written: "I have made thee [Abraham] a father of many nations, like unto Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." At the time this statement was made to Abraham, as we view things, he was not the father of many nations, but in God's sight the thing was accomplished.

An illustration that has been given to show how things past and future to us, are in the present with God, is that of two men, one walking along a country road, and the other flying high overhead. To the man walking along the road the farm-house a mile back and the stream and foot-bridge just beyond the next hill are things of the past and future in his sight and experience, but to the man high overhead they are open to view and are in the present. This is a crude illustration but gives some idea of how things or events which are in the past and future so far as our experience goes may stand revealed in the sight of God.

The Aorist Tense

In this connection it is of interest to note the use of the aorist tense in the New Testament Greek. Scholars tell us that this tense has no equivalent in the English language for it seems to combine past, present, future, and perfect.

The translator of the Interlinear New Testament says: "This tense [aorist] of the Greek verb has been at all times the most difficult to deal with, being translated in the Authorized Version, (and by , others) sometimes by the present, sometimes by the past, sometimes by the future, and sometimes 'by the perfect. Grammarians say that, in the main, 'it is the indefinite past.' For example: to say, 'He has cleansed me,' is more than saying, 'He cleansed me,' because the first expression implies a continuance of the act or its effect to the present time; whereas the latter expression speaks of an act at some time in the past, without anything being implied as to its continuance."

In 2 Tim. 2:19 we read (Authorized Version) "The Lord knoweth them that are His." The verb "knoweth" is from the Greek aorist. In this case the English tense is a fairly good rendition. The Lord knoweth those that are His, whether in the past, present, or future.

The verbs in John 3:16 are also in the aorist tense. Our common version reads: "God so loved [past tense] the world that He gave [past tense] His only begotten Son." The Newberry and Concordat Version translate the text: "God so loves the world that He gives His only begotten Son." It is hard to give the correct thought in English for the aorist tense in which the original Greek is couched includes past, present and future.

It is somewhat like the name God gave to Moses in answer to his inquiry as to what he should tell the children of Israel when they asked who said they were to do certain things. God said to Moses: "I am that I am." The name suggests eternity.

God's Glory Reflected in Creation

Isaiah 43:7 tells us that all things were created for God's own glory. All things were intended to mirror the glory of God in some way pleasing to God. Think what that glory must be that requires all of creation to reflect it! Think of the wisdom and power revealed in creation-no two things exactly alike-each grain of sand, each atom and ion in that grain, reflecting in some degree and some special sense all its own, the glory of God! As the Psalmist declares, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."

"He that hath Seen Me hath Seen the Father"

The first creation to manifest God's glory was the Logos. John's Gospel, first verse, says: "In a beginning was the Logos [Word] and the Logos was with the God, and a God was the Logos. The same was in a beginning with the God." This translation harmonizes with the statement of Rev. 3:14 which calls' Jesus the "Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."

John 1:3 continues by saying: "All things were made by Him [the Logos] and without Him was not anything made that was made." This agrees with the statement of Paul who said "All things are of the Father, but by [or through] the Son."

The Son of God, called the Logos in His prehuman state, manifests God more fully than any other creation. To begin with, He was the only direct creation of the Father; all the rest were of the Father but by Him. In Proverbs, eighth chapter, He is described as the personification of wisdom. He is recorded as saying: "Jehovah formed Me in the beginning of His way, before [or the first of] His works of old. Then was I by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him."

The Son was always God's right-hand and honored agent; and after His resurrection and exaltation to the divine nature He is described as being the express or exact image of the Father's person-the most complete 'mirror of 'God's glory.

Failing to Reflect God's Glory We Fail in the Purpose of Our Creation

All things having been designed to reflect God's glory, even the lowest forms of creation must ultimately fulfill that purpose. In Rev. 4:11 we read "Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." Here we note the object or reason for all things, namely, for God's pleasure, to reflect His glory; and when persons or things cease to reflect that glory, they no longer fulfill the object of their creation, and will be destroyed.

Adam, created in the image and likeness of God, was capable of reflecting God's glory more fully than any other earthly creation; but when he disobeyed God, sin and the resultant corruption began to tarnish the perfect mirror so that it no longer gave a true or perfect reflection.

God foreknew what would occur before He created Adam, nevertheless He went ahead with man's creation 'because He knew He could cause the treachery of Satan, the wrath of men, and the experience with evil to work out to His own glory and 'honor, and to the eternal welfare of all His intelligent creation. In the meantime these human mirrors have become greatly tarnished, and some almost, if not wholly, worthless. As a whole they were cast off, but here and there God has found certain ones who have been willing to undergo a washing and polishing process in order that they might be used of Him.

"The Washing of Water by the Word"

In the tabernacle type God drew a picture of the plan He would follow in restoring mankind to a perfect condition; and in making the laver, where the priests washed before entering the tabernacle, He used the burnished copper looking-glasses or mirrors of the women. (Exod. 38:8.) This seems to picture the washing of water by the Word, for Paul speaks of the word as a mirror and a cleansing agent for those who use it. The priests using the laver could no doubt see the heavens reflected therein as well as their own faces. Is it not the same when we look into God's Word? Does it not reflect 'God's glory of character as truly as it reveals our own imperfections?

In 2 Cor. 3:18 Paul says: "We all with open face (beholding as in a glass." (Strong says this word "beholding" means "to mirror oneself, see reflected.") "We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord."

It is the writer's' belief that Rotherham and Weymouth each give a better translation of this verse. Weymouth translates: "And all of us with unveiled faces, reflecting like bright mirrors the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same likeness." Rotherham reads: "And we all with unveiled 'face receiving and reflecting the glory of the Lord, into the same image are being transformed."

These translations do not stress the point of God's Word being a mirror, as does the Authorized Version, but rather the fact that we, with unveiled faces, because the veil of darkness that had clouded our minds has been removed, reflect more and more the glory of God we see revealed in His Word.

Exceeding joy to be Ours when We Reflect Perfectly

Jesus was a perfect manifestation of God in the flesh, and if we bear fruit, as is intended of us, then we manifest God also-at the present time, it is true, through imperfect, tarnished reflectors, but in the resurrection the medium of reflection will be perfect.

Paul makes this plain in 1 Cor. 13:12, where he says: "For now we see through a glass dimly." A footnote in the Diaglott states that in olden times they did not 'have clear glass but had to use substances such as horn, oiled parchment, etc., in their windows. These admitted the light, but revealed objects very dimly. We are like that. This earthly body through which we receive and reflect is very tarnished, so we see and know but in part, and so reflect imperfectly. But then, when we are resurrected, with perfect spirit bodies, we will see and know face to face. Our medium for reflecting will not only be perfect, but will be of super-spirit quality, the Divine nature.

What a delight, what a joy it will be, when we can glorify God perfectly! At the present time our efforts are a mixture of joy and chagrin because we reflect so imperfectly. It is human nature to enjoy most those things we do well, and to neglect the things we find difficult. All creatures are happy in doing the things they are fitted to do. Fortunately our new minds dwell on a plane that delights to do the will of God, and so we find pleasure in reflecting His glory even though our mirrors are tarnished. It makes us happy when we realize that we have in some small way conducted ourselves in a manner pleasing unto God; and if this makes us happy, what will be our reaction when we can perfectly reflect that glory? That will be exceeding joy, the Apostle tells us.

In nearly every place where this phrase "exceeding joy" is used, it is connected with the completed work of transformation in our mirrors or characters. Jude says, verse 24, "Now unto Him that is able .to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever." In being made faultless, (no tarnish or flaw in our mirror) we must pass through trials and testings; and if we could not by faith look ahead to the finished work, we might become discouraged and quit. But Peter says: (1 Pet. 4:12,13) "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." Here again, we see the "exceeding joy" linked with the completed work of transformation. Paul, also, links the two in 2 Cor. 4:14-18: "He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall also raise us up by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For 'our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things that are seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

"If any Man Draw Back"

If any man draw back from this process of being made meet for. the inheritance in glory, God's Word tells us that He will have no pleasure in that man, but will cut him off from life; for nothing will be permitted to exist that does not in its own station, perfectly fulfill its Creator's will.

James says (James 1:23-25) "If any one be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he resembles a man viewing his natural face in a mirror; for he viewed himself and went away, and immediately forgot what kind of a person he was. But he who looks intently into that which is the perfect law of freedom and continues in it, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of its work, this man will be blessed in his deed." His contemplation of the perfect character reflected in the perfect law of freedom, has a transforming effect upon his own character.

The Scriptures indicate that God has had the new creation in mind from the beginning of His work; He did not, however, see fit to create it outright as He did the various orders of angels and mankind, but has proceeded in the strange and mysterious manner of taking imperfect human beings, the lowest order of beings formed in His image, and is making them over into the image of His Son. The Son, we are told, is in the express image of God, having life in Himself, even as the Father bath life in Himself. This whole matter has been a mystery all down through the ages, and is still a mystery to all except the little flock, the ones who are being transformed.

The Creation of the New Creation

No other creation has known anything about its own creation before it began to function as a completed being reflecting in some degree God's glory. But the new creation, including its Head, is made fully aware of what is happening unto it; and what is still more strange, is invited, yea, even expected, to cooperate to the extent of its ability in bringing about its own perfection, and any who will not cooperate are cast aside as unfit.

Nothing like this has ever occurred before, nor, so far as we know, will ever occur again. God has followed this course, we understand, because of the very exalted position this class will occupy when completed. These are free moral agents; it is left to their own volition as to whether they will be made to reflect God's glory or not. God will not need to test this new creation after it has been perfected, as He has tested all other free moral agents; because this class has been fully tested in the process of making it meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, where it will be crowned with immortality.

"If I in Thy Likeness, O Lord, May Awake"

It is believed by many that once God has given any one the divine nature even He Himself could not destroy that one. Whether this be true or not, the course God has followed in His development of this class has obviated such a contingency, because the ones that are given the divine nature will have proved beyond, all possibility of doubt that they will forever remain loyal to God and His will.

We now have the opportunity of demonstrating our loyalty to God and the principles of righteousness, and should rejoice in any test He sees fit to bring upon us. "Count it all joy," says the Apostle, (James 1:2-4) "when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience; but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

It rests with us whether we will let God work in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. "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." (Rom. 12:2.) It rests with us whether we will "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God in order that He may exalt us in due time."

In the 44th chapter of Isaiah we read "Behold I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth, shall ye not know it? I will even make' a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. . .: I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise." They shall mirror or reflect My glory.

"Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth [mirror] all His praise? We Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture will give Thee thanks forever; we will show forth [mirror] Thy' praise to all generations." - Contributed.

CONVENTIONS

Tampa. Fla.

"The conventoin in Tampa, held at the end of January, is now a thing of the past. During the two days we had a real season of moutain top rejoicing, and we felt we had the Lord's presence very manifest. The efforts of the local friends was amply repaid as they saw the smiling faces of brethren from various parts of Florida, some of whom we had not met in years.

"The talks were exceptionally good and uplifting and the gathering ended all too soon. The lesson we carried away with us was that we must be diligent in the making of our calling and election sure, and we saw that the signs of the times speak of the imminence of our gathering unto Christ.

"We were sorry indeed not to have with us our dear Brother Friese, and our hearts go out to him in sympathy and Christian love in his sickness. His place was ably filled by dear Brother Stiles of Washington, D.C., whose talk was greatly appreciated, and it was a pleasure to have him in our midst.

"On Sunday evening a special meeting was held for the Jews in their own building. About seventy-five were present, about half of these were friends. Good attention was given and the lecture appeared to be appreciated. At its close 21 booklets on 'Zionism in Prophecy' were sold."

1937 Index