VOL. XXVI JUNE 1943 NO. 6 "Take Your Profits From Defeat" Atheist's Plea to a Church Member "To Every One on Earth God. Gives a Burden" Reflectors of Christ"Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and
lead me in a way of plainness, OUR
INFLUENCE upon others for good or ill is a great responsibility. To realize this fact, as
we should, must cause the prayer of this text to be much on our hearts. In the Psalmist's
case he seems deeply concerned over his responsibility in this matter, and realizing he is
being watched by others, perhaps particularly by his enemies, he pleads for a clear
understanding of God's way. There must be no occasion given to his foes to scoff, nor
wrong example to become a cause for stumbling any sincere of heart. So it should
be with us also. By those friendly or unfriendly toward us our words and actions are
constantly observed. Our prayer for a clearly-marked pathway should therefore be as
fervent as the Psalmist has expressed his concern. Rather than assuming that all the
perfect way of the Lord is known by us, and that we are sure of everything, better far to
"fear to touch things that involve so much" at times, and so wait before the
Lord for plainly given guidance. When thus led in the right way, we may hope to be such as
Paul desired Timothy to be-"An example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in
charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." - 1 Tim. 4:12. By precept
and example we are either helpers or hinderers of others. To exert an influence for good
and toward righteousness is such a commendable thing. To glorify God and bless His people
iss to accomplish a great end in life. But how fearful are the results when the influence
is toward evil and apart front God's way. How sad and deplorable it is when because of
misconduct on the part of one claiming to be a follower of Christ, "the way of truth
is evil spoken of." Sad too, when a brother is stumbled or made weak through the
unwise or unloving ways of one looked up to as helper and friend. It is well to keep ever
in mind the warning uttered by Jesus in this same connection: "Whosoever shall offend
one of these little ones that believe in Me, it is better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea." (Mark 9:42.) In contrast to
the results of such influence in a wrong direction how desirable is this commendation,
"God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed
toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." - Heb.
6:10. To be a
reflector of Christ we must live near to Him. In both precept and example He is the
perfect Teacher. None can teach like Him. His words and methods are ever the perfect
criterion for us to follow. In all our relationships to Jesus, what a depth of meaning
there is in His statement, "It is written in the Prophets, and they shall all be
taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me. (John 6:45.) God Himself has given
witness to this in saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him." (Matt. 17:5.) Thus we are
shown that a careful study of the words and
methods of Jesus' ministry is a very important thing if we want, to faithfully represent
and reflect Him. For lessons, let us note a few of the outstanding features of His brief
years of perfect method and message. He came to a
people burdened to the breaking point with innovations of men, and He denounced these
traditional shackles because they took away the key of knowledge, and shut out the vision
of God. For publicans and sinners He had words of mercy and forgiveness, but for those who
claimed to sit in Moses' seat He had little but stern rebuke. He claimed that He had
come to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. How revolutionary therefore
His methods were to those who made rites more important than love. A poor despised
publican smiting his breast in confessed unworthiness is used to teach the proper approach
to God in prayer. A despised Samaritan on the Jericho road is used to sweep away all the
chilling ceremonials of priest and Levite, and to have the whole law epitomized in his
kindly act. The Master Teacher invites Himself into the home of another despised publican,
a tax gatherer, and by His condescending kindness transforms a life. He travels, weary and
hungry, into despised Samaria, and forgets His weariness and hunger in changing a woman of
wanton character into an effective witness to His Messiahship. He finds a place in
acceptable service for one casting out devils, though walking not, with His little band of
followers. He rebukes the readiness of His disciples to call down fire from heaven on
those unfriendly to His ministry. And in the midst of "fields white and ready to
harvest" He calls a halt to laboring therein, in order that needed instruction may be
given to men who doubtless believed themselves already well equipped for that service.
All these lessons are still greatly needed. Added to these let us not forget that this
unexcelled Teacher gathered up the whole round of duty to God and man in profound, yet
simple terms understandable by all. Hearken to these words again: "Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy- soul, and with all thy mind. This
is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thy self. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." -
Matt. 22:37-40. REFLECTIONS OF THE LIGHT OF CHRISTIn following
the example of Jesus as we have noted His walk and message, we are privileged to be of
those of whom He said, "Ye are the light of the world." This is truly a
wonderful identification with Himself, remembering that, He said, "I am the light of
the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life." (John 8:12.) But in calling us "the light of the world" Jesus meant
this to be more than a mere figure of speech. As the light of the world He meant us to be
plainly seen, as "a city set on an hill cannot be hid." He, admonished us to
"let our light so shine before men that
they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven." "By
this, He said, "shall all men know that ye are My disciples,
if, ye have love one to another." And to
the same end He prayed, "That they all may
be one, even as we are one, . . . that the world may believe that Thou halt sent
Me." (Matt. 5:14, 16; John 13:35; 17:21.) Such is the place Jesus gives us in the
world about us. Yet to be these witnesses to the fact that His light can be so reflected
in us, it becomes the more apparent that in all things we must walk as He walked among men, and among His own immediate
brethren. In ourselves we have no light, but are much like the moon without the light of
the sun. All the light which seems to flow from itself is but a reflected light, since it
is a dead, lightless planet. But in order to thus reflect that light the moon must move in
an orbit of precise alignment with the sun, its fountain of light. So with us. There is as
fixed an orbit in which we must live and have our spiritual existence, an alignment with
Christ in and by which we may, catch the beams of His light, and so become its reflectors. Something
very suggestive of this power to reflect the light we receive from Christ, has been given
us by the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 3:18, and beautifully translated by Rotherham, as
follows, "And we all with unveiled face receiving and reflecting the glory of the
Lord into the sauce image are being transformed, front glom into glory." In so
receiving and reflecting the, light of Christ we fill the place given its in Phil. 2:13:
"'That ye may be blameless and sincere, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst
of a crocked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.": This
must therefore be our constant aspiration. Is it not what we mean in saying, "So let
the Christian graces shine, that all may know the power divine"? When this
aspiration 'becomes the inspirational thing it should always be with us, the light
within can be most wonderfully reflected in the outward life. In some lives which have
touched ours we have seen this truth verified beyond question. Some one has expressed it
very nicely' in these lines,
To
have the words of Jesus thus verified in the life is an end greatly to be desired. Surely.
it is a, practical end toward which we may look with fervent hopes. To the several
statements of Jesus so far used. wt add two further texts from the sayings of Solomon and
the Psalmist -- Eccl. 8:1 and Psalm 34:5: "A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine,
and the boldness of his face shall be changed." "They looked unto Him and were
lightened: and their faces were not ashamed." In a preference for Moffatt's
translation, of these texts we quote his better expressions, "Man's wisdom lights his
face up, it transfigures a rough countenance. "Look to Him, and ye shall beam with
joy." When we speak of walking in the light of God's countenance, we are thinking,
not of His face, but of His personal glory and holiness. In this sense, how many "a
rough countenance" has been literally transfigured by the inward joy of Christ
filling the heart. If true of man's higher realms of wisdom, and it is true, then' how
much more true when 'the heart and life are filled and moved by the wisdom from above. In
the light of such Scriptures surely if we live daily in the light of Christ's countenance,
beholding "the glory of God in the face of Jesus' Christ." we may hope to
radiate His light, brightening the cornet where we, are, by thus walking "acceptable
to God, and approved of men." - Rom. 14:18. DIFFUSING THE FRAGRANCE OF CHRISTWe
turn now to another' feature of our privilege of reflecting Christ. In the Diaglott
translation of 2 Cor. 2:14, we read, "Now, thanks be to that God, who always leads us
forth to triumph in the Anointed One, and who diffuses by us the fragrance of the
knowledge of Him, in every place. This fragrance was primarily in the message of Christ
that Paul carried with him. But in the life of such as Paul the fragrance of the message
is surely imparted to the vessel bearing the knowledge of Christ to others. This, in its
meaning to us, represents a like fragrance we may hope to carry with us as we mingle among
men. An illustration of this may be 'taken from the oils and perfumes used in anointing
Israel's priests for office. The oils used were made of aromatic spices; hence an aroma
would be diffused from the garments of the priest as he came forth from 'the anointing.
The anointing we have received should mean much the same to us. If we are "the salt
of the earth," "the light of the world," in the sense Jesus meant, then we
must also be "a sweet savor of Christ" as Paul means we can be. In a forecast of
our Lord's character it was written, "All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and
cassia." So it has been said, "The Christian may carry in his garments the
fragrance of the sanctuary, of the holy oil, of the sweet spices of the garden of Christ,
of the flowers of grace, the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley." Mary's
opened alabaster box filled the house with its pleasant odor. So should it be with us.
Just to the degree of our nearness to Christ will this be so. He will impart it as we are
prepared to receive it. Though from the standpoint of natural character we were of a
"rough countenance, yet the fragrance of Christ can be ours none the less. Let us
remind ourselves of this fact again by recalling some lines from the poem -- legend of the
lump of clay perfumed by contact with the rose:
SPREADING 'THE, COMFORT OF CHRISTThough
applying primarily to our Lord Jesus, yet it is evident that the wonderful commission of
Isaiah 61:1-3 is likewise applicable to all who faithfully go forth with Christ's
'message. How, complete it is! "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the
Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the
broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them
that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of
our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them
a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,'
that He might be glorified." (R. V.) Here we have ten features of a divinely
arranged ministry of comfort, with only one feature pertaining to declaring judgment. Does
it not suggest that nine-tenths - of our message today should be comforting the saints,
and speaking consolation to the multitudes whose sorrows are accumulating daily? Here,
surely, is a test by which the Lord's messengers may be distinguished from all others.
This same strain we find in Psalms 84:5, 6, R. V. "Blessed is the mart whose
strength; is in Thee: in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Passing through the valley
of weeping they make it a place of springs." Who could fail' to covet being found
ministering in harmony with these two Scriptures just quoted? This is following the
example of Jesus, for of Him it was said, "They wondered at the gracious words which
proceeded out of His mouth," as "He went about doing good." - Luke 4:22
Acts 10:38. In
2 Cor. 1:3, 4, we read, "Blessed he God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who, comforteth us in all our
tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." Rotherham
substitutes "encouragement for "comfort" in verse three, making it,
"the God' of all encouragement." Knowing that such He is, what "comforters
of the brethren" we should seek to be in times like the present. Barnabas characters
are greatly needed today. For many the struggle grows harder, making the true word in
season particularly one of encouragement and good cheer. If we fail in this part of our
mission, it is possible that some one we might have helped may become disheartened, and
give expression to this lament:
Here
again we must keep looking to our example in Jesus, looking to Him for guidance through
these days of exceptional opportunity. As we saw in Psalms 84, the man of blessedness is
he "in whose heart are the high ways to Zion," and whose ministry turns
"the valley of weeping" into "a place of springs." What, then, are
these high ways leading to Zion and which may be in the heart? The plural term suggests
there is more than one such way. This may be said to be true, but they all converge in the
one Way, in Him who said "I am the Way." In Him there is the way of love, the
way of peace, the way of joy, and the way of the
unity of the Spirit. All are high ways Zion
ward. But Christ Himself is our great High Way to the heavenly Zion; and in Him we must
constantly abide if we are to spread His comfort where most needed. We must know Him intimately and have a true perspective of our
life in Him. Philip lived with a revelation of
God for most of three and a half years, yet missed the vision notwithstanding. He had seen
the Father in the daily walk and ministry of Jesus, yet failed to interpret Him correctly.
Thus he was asked to go back in memory over those years and think of how his Master had spoken and acted, and thereby
see the character of the Father. By doing as he did, we too get the true conception of the
Lord we follow. The God of all comfort comforts us by pointing us to all the excellencies
in the life and ministry of Jesus, and how He may live in us and we in Him. It is out of
this experience that we are fitted to reflect the true comfort of Christ. Out
of this life the fulfillment of the great commission of Isaiah 61:1-3 will come. Then
indeed will garlands of hope and joy be given where discouragement had seemed to turn
all to ashes. Blessed service this, by which valleys of weeping become, a place of
springs, and hearts set singing over the high ways to Zion. This is sharing one another's
burdens and fulfilling the law of Christ. This is reflecting the life of Christ, diffusing
the fragrance of Christ, and spreading the comfort of Christ. Then of a truth it can be
said, "Christ liveth in me." - J. J. Blackburn. I Would See Thy Face
- Nellie Florence Jolly. "Take Your Profits From Defeat"Some
time ago, The Forum, under the above heading, contained the following quotation by William
Moulton Marston: "If
there is any single factor that makes for success in living, it is the ability to draw
dividends from defeat. Every success I know, has been reached because the person was able
to analyze defeat and actually profit by it in his next undertaking. If you confuse defeat
with failure, then you are doomed indeed to failure. For it isn't defeat that makes you
fail; it is your own refusal to see in defeat the guide and incentive to success." Christians
should be able to profit in a spiritual sense by the wisdom contained in this quotation,
for it sets forth clearly a great truth which we sometimes fail to grasp in our complex
experiences. The
narrow path leading unto the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus, is paved with memories of defeats which are humiliatingly painful, but which prove
to be stepping-stones to those who eventually overcome. There is no success or reward in
any sphere of life to those who permit discouragement to take possession of their minds
and wills. In worldly pursuits, such men are called "quitters," and at best they
are regarded with pity. In militarism, they are despised. There
are also quitters in the ranks of those fighting under the banner of Christ-those who turn
back after having put their hand to the, plow -- those who permit their affections to slip
from heavenly things and become fixed on earthly gain-those who return' to their former
sinful lusts and pleasures like the swine that returns to its wallowing in the mire. It is
not when the world, and the flesh prove temporarily overpowering, that the sin unto death
has been committed; -- but when the new mind ceases to struggle with its enemies and
permits them to hold unhindered sway. Then
there is also the parallel of those who start with the high goal in mind but fail to put
their whole effort into the fight because they lack the fortitude and patience necessary
to success. In the world, such constitute a majority of men, and we are not surprised when
we learn, that the same is true in the heavenly calling, for many who build on the true
foundation compromise with inferior work. Let
us, dear fellow servants, no matter how far short we feel we come, keep the high ideal of
our heavenly - calling always before us and never, never
give up the fight. Let us profit by our defeats and mistakes, and, in -our experiences
learn; obedience that thereby we may not fight unwisely but victoriously as did our
Captain before us. "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on the life eternal,
whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in' the sight of many
witnesses." - 1 Tim. 6:12. John T. Read. "As Always, So Now"PART II - "FIXING THE CHARACTER""According to my earnest
expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness,
at always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by
death." - Phil. 1:20. CONTINUING OUR meditation upon these
four brief words, we desire to trace out in the life of the Apostle those influences and
experiences which operated in him and' enabled him to utter such remarkable words. It is
not every follower of the Lord who can look back along life's thorny road, at some later
crisis in his life and say he hopes he may be able now to do as he had always done before,
and in doing over again what he had done so many times, merit the Lord's smile and
approval. It requires a consistent life of singular constancy and devotion, actuated
by the loftiest motives, undeviatingly followed, to be able to say these words
truthfully. Who has not at some time parleyed with the Tempter, and stained his hands
(and heart) as a result? Who has not let the strain of some difficult situation wring from
his lips regretted words, which he would have given much to recall? Who has not been weak
and cowardly, where he should have been firm and strong? All such things may by us have
been confessed, and freely forgiven by our gracious Father, but who, more grown in grace
and knowledge would care to say today, "As I did then, so would I do today"? These words show a heart like the
magnetic needle swinging truly and freely to the "pole" of a Savior's guidance.
They tell of a life, as of a journey plotted and charted before, which leads straight on
to its destination, following no by paths or detours -- determined only on "getting
there." There is a positiveness about the attitude indicated by such a statement
which eliminates all doubts and vacillation; an applied concentration which precludes
all misuse of energy; a purposeful conservation which prevents the frittering of
resources; and a depth of understanding which sees the necessity of "keeping on"
because the reward of past achievement is made sure only by continuing firmly to the
end. Whatever the achievements made, there is no half-way house of rest or retiring. The
reward is to be received only at the end of the way. No matter how often another victory
can be added to the "as always," the "so now" will keep on moving
forward to the emergencies which lie ahead, until in due time, the last "so now"
will bring us right up to "the veil," and we shall pass into the presence of
the King with our "as always" resolutions untarnished and unbroken. UNTIRING ZEAL OF MANHOOD RIPENS INTO ARDENT LONGING FOR HIS LORDAt
the time Paul wrote these words he had grown old in his Master's service. Indeed, we may
say lie had grown old prematurely, for the intensity of his labors and the severity of his
sufferings had aged him beyond his years. He speaks of himself as "Paul the
aged" (Philemon 9) at a time when by all the evidences we have available, he could
not have been much beyond his threescore years. For more than twenty years he had served
his Master, during which the untiring zeal of
his fuller manhood had ripened and matured into a holy fire of ardent longing for his
Lord, and an all-consuming passion in his watch-care over the spiritual-sons whom the Lord
had given him. They were years of hard, unremitting labor, during which he had lived so
utterly and entirely to his Master as to identify himself with his Master, and his Master
with himself insomuch that he could truly say, "I am crucified with Christ,
nevertheless T live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,"' (Gal. 2:20.) The
sufferings he endured were to him, a bearing "about in his body of the dying of the
Lord Jesus." He had come to look upon his diminutive little body, not only as
belonging to the Lord Jesus (as the slave belongs to his master) but also as being
tenanted and indwelt by the Lord Jesus, in order that he might learn to know and
experience all -that Jesus had experienced in the day of His rejection. Twenty
years of such strenuous experience had so crystallized and fixed his character, that he
responded to the dangers and deliverances of his Apostolic calling almost with the
unvarying precision of absolute law. According to a law of natural science, iron
contracts under cold, and expands under heat, without variation. Almost as invariably
Paul responded, to the chilling influences of this wicked world in one very precise and
definite manner, while to the warming, cheering influences of heaven, he responded in an
entirely different way. He had become so developed that he was drawn as by the forces of
attraction to all righteous and holy things; he was driven, as by the forces of repulsion,
from all unrighteous and unholy things. A HOLY INDIFFERENCE IN FACE OF DANGERLike
his Lord and Master, he now loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Unlike his Master,
he had had to learn this responsiveness to good and evil at a tremendous cost. Such was
now his state of development that the ultimate goal of character fixation was almost
reached. We say, almost reached, because later in this letter he says he had not yet
apprehended that for which he had been apprehended. But he was earnestly pressing on to
that apprehension. He was applying himself to that end with a diligence and singleness
which allowed distracting influences no hold or power over him. Though the goal had not
yet been reached, he had the firm intention not to dishonor his Lord, but rather to
magnify Him, either, by life or death. And that intention stated in such words, and at
such a time, shows that he was very near the point where his needle was all but at rest,
pointing dead true to the pole of His Master's will. It was still uncertain whether or not
the outcome of this ordeal would bring him down to death. But what matter if it did, so
long as he could remain constant and true? He
had looked death in the face too many, times already to be afraid of its icy clutch. It
had no terrors for him now. Even death itself should bring him "gain"! So why
fear it, whensoever or wheresoever it came? His Lord and Master had carried him through so
many phases of development both by observation and experience that what at first may
have been merely human zealotry became at last a holy indifference in face of danger. Not
only had the Lord redeemed Paul as He redeemed other men, but the Lord had given the price
of another life purposely to win to his service this "chosen vessel." -Many
years prior to this imprisonment in Rome, while Paul stood sponsor for the executioners
and warden for their clothing, he had watched one faithful Christian martyr pass into the
valley of the shadows with a prayer of victory and charity on his lips, and a look of
radiant triumph on his face. His schooling and preparation for reaching the later heights
of selfless submission had begun right there even before he knew the Lord. Paul never
forgot that scene, as Stephen, crushed to earth by the stones, sank to his death. He saw
in that martyr's noble bearing those sublime characteristics -- that excellence of moral
fiber -- which his own ardent soul, in its best and noblest moments longed to possess. In
spite of his own meticulous observation of the law, the dying man had attained to
something he wanted but which hitherto had eluded his grasp. What
a remarkable contrast that scene afforded. The condemned, execrated and, dying man, put by
his own act outside the pale of the Covenant (as Paul thought), was there facing the
supreme issue, not for this life only, but-if tradition were true-for the life to come
also, not stoically, not callously, but compassionately and forgivingly, possessed of
peace and power, and of a holy calm, while he, Paul, whose exertions had successfully
procured the warrant for the martyr's death was a conflicting maze of disappointed and
unsatisfying emotions. It left on Paul's mind an indelible and ineffaceable picture, which
remained with him to the end of his days. But the Lord knew His man. He knew that in
surrendering Stephen, He was in the way for winning Saul. From that moment on, the
memory of that happy, triumphant face was the sting in his conscience, "the
goad" that continually pricked his distraught heart which the watching and
waiting Jesus kept at work there, till the "chosen vessel" laid himself down at
His feet in full and complete surrender. The
very ferocity of his madness against the followers of Jesus, as he sought them out in
every synagogue, only shows the intensity of the strain which this persecution was
intended to relieve in his tense and tortured heart. Saul came of a noble race, whose sons
and daughters, inspired by a glorious hope, had given themselves heroically to torture and
death time and again when their nation s welfare was in danger. A glorious roll-of-honor
of all this martyr-blood was kept laid up in every loyal heart. But, illustrious though it
all was, the best of all that long roll was the thin line of Prophets who had sealed their
testimony for righteousness with their blood. They bore witness, not against the enemy
-and the alien hit against their own kith and kin, as they strove kith mighty energy to
arrest that inward corruption Which had defiled and polluted their fathers. And it was by
their own people's hands they were slain and imprisoned. The same thing was happening over
again. Disguise it as he would, Saul saw that the death of "Thy martyr Stephen"
and the sufferings of numerous others were in the direct line of succession to the
Prophets. It was for their testimony to their own' people that they died. even though
their testimony was regarding the despised and crucified Nazarene, whom Paul„ and his
fellows accounted to have been "smitten and afflicted of God." Yet, outcast --
though they accounted Jesus and His humble followers to be, out of all this experience
there came that exhibition of a sublime and chastened indifference to pain, anguish, and
death, which could not but impress a' mind which revered the like thing in the
"Prophets" and "Fathers." Thus in the very madness- of his
persecution, Paul was given his first lesson in that Christian constancy which carried
him, at last, to his own martyr death. As
a first-hand agent, he saw that these despised followers of the still more despised
Nazarene, were possessed of that moral greatness which shed such it lustrous splendor upon
the names and lives, of their most distinguished ancestors. And Paul desired' this deep,
moral power with all his zealous but misguided heart! THE LESSONS BY EXPERIENCEFrom
the day when Paul met and capitulated to the Heavenly Master, until he now stood face to
face with the "great' issue," who can say how many times he had looked death in
the face? Some slight idea of these occasions may be gathered from his own arresting
phrase in 2 Cor. 2:23: In deaths oft." Not once, nor twice, but "oft" had
the menace appeared. Again in 2 Cor. 1:10, he, thanks God "who had delivered us from
so great a death" even when he had in himself "the sentence of death." It
was one long unbroken sequence of experiences, beginning in that very city of Damascus
whither he had gone seeking his prey, by which be was now learning through intense
personal participation, the lesson of Christian, constancy and devotion to his Master. The
Master allowed the fires to be kindled and stoked to white heat, and then, into the fiery
furnace He went to walk and talk with His chosen disciple. And in those moments when no
arm of flesh could comfort and succor, Paul learned to "know Him" whose servant
and messenger he had become. He tells us briefly in 2 Cor. 2, of perils on the highway,
perils on the deep; perils from hunger, thirst, and nakedness, perils from malignant
enemies and false friends. In the narrative, it is but a brief recital, but it was the
experience of years, with death lurking round the corner at every turn of the road. In
this autobiography in 2 Cor. 2:23-27 Paul outlines quite a few experiences of which, from
the record in Acts we know nothing at all: "Of the Jews five times received I forty
stripes, save one." We have no record of that. "Three times was I beaten with
rods" by the Romans. Of only one such beating have we any reference in Acts.
"Thrice was I shipwrecked; a night and a day have I been in the deep." Of all
these marine experiences we know nothing at all, for all these preceded the shipwreck when
on the journey to Rome, under escort. The Lord withheld not the perils, nor the dangers,
but allowed them in abundance, so that He might find opportunity to grapple and draw that
intrepid heart to His own by hooks stronger than steel. Again
let us permit Paul to be his own biographer, and interpret for us exactly what he means by
his all embracing words "as always." In 2 Cor. 4:8-11, he says: "We are
troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus; . . . For we which live are always delivered
unto death for Jesus' sake." "Always" -- without variation or cessation
facing the fire and the flames enkindled by men, but always
without variation or cessation finding the Lord with him in the midst of the flames.
It requires the heat of the furnace fires, and the skill of the metal-worker in mixing his
compounds, together with the right force and distribution of his blows, to temper the
steel, and make it a product of higher worth. Thus by observation of the early believers,
and the crucial nature of his experiences, the Lord had produced in Paul the qualities
and characteristics which would remain constant under great strain and difficulty. One
other factor was needed to make Paul feel and realize his dependence upon his Lord and
Master: After one blessed season when the Lord had given him deep understanding by visions
and revelations, there was given to him "a thorn in the flesh" -"a
messenger of Satan to buffet him." We cannot be sure what this handicap was, but it
is quite possible that it was something that affected his bodily presence. At times his
enemies spoke slightingly about his appearance, describing him somewhat as an
"under-sized oddity." Paul felt this keenly, whatever its cause. He besought
the Lord to remove it, in order that this offensiveness give no opportunity for his
enemies' sarcasm and wit. Thrice
did he approach the Lord about it, and thrice did the Lord decline to take away the
objectionable thing; at the same time remarking, "My grace is sufficient for thee,
for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Here Paul, sensitive to his
infirmity, susceptible additionally to sarcasm and scorn, is taught to know that the
favor and approval of his Master, is of more importance to him than all the favors of
friend or enemy. The Lord thus shut Paul up to Himself, making Paul's peace of heart
dependent entirely upon His own grace and approval. When the lesson had been learned,
Paul said, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities. that the
power' of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, inn distresses, for Christ's sake; for when I
am weak; then am I strong." - 2 Cor. 12:9, 10. This
was a wonderful experience. When the scoffer and scorner would taunt Paul, he turned his
heart inward to the Lord, and in this isolation, he became insulated from their attack.
But the scoffing tongue was permitted all the time to abound, that the messenger of the
Lord should all the time, have need to live under the shadow of His Wing. Thus Paul became
Jesus' "special man" a "chosen vessel unto" Him; and thus were the
characteristics developed and fixed which enabled Paul to speak as he-did as he
contemplated his appearance before Rome's supreme tribunal to "magnify Christ"
there. The Lord had prepared His man for that hour, and in preparing him for that He was
preparing him for all eternity. Our
meditation has followed in brief outline the outstanding aspects of the later life of the
Apostle Paul, but the basic principles of that character development and, fixation, are
as true of others as of Paul. Paul was chosen for a special work, at a special time;
hence his development was on the colossal scale. But every follower of the Lord may apply
the lessons to himself or herself. The need is just the same though the scale be less:
"Without holiness shall no man see the Lord." Holiness implies "wholeness
unto the Lord" -- as wholly devoted to His purposes as is the Lord God Himself. Let
every brother and sister ponder deeply these experiences of the Apostle and within his or
her own little sphere, put themselves in the Apostle's place. Then will the lesson be
fully appreciated and well learned. - Contributed. The Letter to the Colossians"In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the flesh
by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
Him through the, faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead. And
you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened
together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." - Col. 2:11-13. IN
THE verses previous to those now under discussion, there has been in the Apostle's mind
the contrast between that fullness which is the precious lot of those who are in Christ
Jesus, those who have the mind of Christ, and
two will-o'-the-wisps prevailing in Colossae=-the empty philosophies resulting from the
reasonings, so called, of human minds; and the religion of vain formalism. Always there
have been the two corrupting tendencies to influence religious thought, that of the
intellect, and that of the senses -- the danger that the cultured few will place their
trust in the superior workings of their mind, while the great mass will make the equally
serious mistake of depending on feelings. With the one, speculation runs riot, and with
the other religion becomes a mere display of feelings. Apparently both these false hopes
held sway in the Colossian group, for Paul assailed both. In
the verses now before us, the Apostle is answering that company of formalists who would
impose the Jewish circumcision on Gentile converts. This that was the seal of the Covenant
with Abraham's seed (Gen. 17:9-14) and which must be maintained in order to retain their
right, to the blessings promised to the Jews, either in that day or in this, could be of
no avail to a Christian, whose seal is not the letter but - the spirit. (Rom. 2:29; 7:6; 2
Cor. 3:6; Matt. 23:23; Gal. 4:10; Col. 2:20;
2 Tim. 3:5; Rom. 14:17.) "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything
in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 5:6; 6:15.) But there is a circumcision for Christians-the
circumcision of the heart, their seal of acceptance with God. For those who have this
circumcision the ancient Jewish rite manifestly is obsolete. CHRISTIAN CIRCUMCISION DEFINEDThis
true circumcision has three characteristics: It is "not made with hands"; it
consists in "putting off the body of the flesh"; and above all it must be
"of Christ." Since
it is "not made with hands," it is a God-given reality and not the work of the
flesh. The Jewish circumcision was a ceremonial cleansing faintly suggestive of the
Christian's purity of heart. Even the Old Testament points to this deeper meaning of
circumcision, as in Deuteronomy 30:6: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart
. . to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart." See also Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4. The
Christian circumcision is no such small matter as the Jewish symbol, for it is the
"putting off the body of the flesh." The words, "the sins of," are
evidently an interpolation, as indicated by the more reliable manuscripts; and we
suspect Satan's hand in this addition. He would very much like to convince every saint
that all there is to his circumcision is the putting off sins, whereas its real import is
the "putting off the body of the
flesh" -- the "making no provision for
the flesh to satisfy the desires thereof." - Rom. 13:14. The
Apostle's expression is a strong one, for, the "putting off " is more literally
a complete stripping off, as of the laying aside
of one's clothing. How evident it is that this
is not made with hands, even though it is a gradual work and embarrassingly partial for
a time. Only our Heavenly Father can effect and complete so great a change as this circumcision" of
the heart. This must be circumcision "in the
spirit." If it were only "in the letter," an obedience to the letter of
the law, man might work that in a measure
satisfactory to the human mind. "Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be
born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of
God." (John 3:5.) "Not by works, of righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5.) Even
though there were an absence of allusions in Col.
2:11 to anything beyond the mere putting aside
of sin, that would not indicate that higher attainments are not part of the work of the
divine Spirit in us. Every one should know "this, that our old man is crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin," but "serve God acceptably with 'reverence and godly fear." - Rom.
6:6; Heb. 12:28; 13:16; Psa. 34:14. The
Law required the circumcision of the flesh. Just as positively the Spirit dispensation
requires the circumcision of the heart; and this is manifestly necessary that there may be
the "new creature in Christ Jesus [for whom] old things have passed away [by heart
circumcision]." (2 Cor. 5:17.) That individual has ceased to live after the flesh,
though' still in the flesh. In another sense
the' Apostle says: "Ye are not in the flesh, but ]'In the spirit, if so be that the
spirit of God dwell in you." (Rom. 8:9.) He can speak thus truly because of his
stronger expression just quoted above that the body of sin is "destroyed, that henceforth we should
not serve sin." This destruction is of course not of the physical body but of the
will that has controlled it until that time. It
is not surprising that Satan has been successful - in inducing the great mass of so-called
Christians to be content became they have in a measure put off some of the. sinful
tendencies of the flesh, but there is no excuse for this error on the part of those who
seek to do His will. One feature of the King James. Translation
that has assisted in this wrong viewpoint is the use of the word "lust" in
translating a Greek word that does not necessarily mean anything stronger than the most
innocent of desires. Evil desire should be implied only when the context so indicates.
("Lust" is, however, the correct translation of another word used in Col. 3:5
and Rom. 1:26.) This true thought is plainly enough taught in Paul's exhortation to live
not after the flesh but after the spirit. The word translated "after" in Romans
8:13, in the construction there used, means "conforming to the standards of" the
flesh. Following the least suggestion of the flesh, unsupported by the Spirit's guidance,
therefore, constitutes one as living after the flesh. This is not a question of sinful
lusts, but of seeking anything other than the will of God-a thing which faith can never
do. When one follows his own will, he is just as definitely proving that his faith is in
self as he proves his faith in God by following the divine will. It is for this reason
that no Christian can pray for anything until he has first determined God's will in the
matter, or in the absence of any means of knowing the Father's will, he will say, "If
it be Thy will." SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION "OF CHRIST"Doubtless
it is this completeness of submission to the divine Spirit that is indicated when we are
told that our circumcision is "of Christ." "In Him" we not only have
the justification that makes us acceptable in the presence of the Father though still
bearing about this body of flesh, but in a still more important sense we are "in
Him" as members of His Body. Here the thoughts of the flesh cease and the "mind
of Christ" begins. But we cannot be "in Him" without "circumcision of
the heart." Any holding fast to the flesh and the works of the flesh marks us as
carnal to that degree. We must not, however, permit Satan to deceive us into thinking that
the works of the flesh must be sinful to place us in this category. The
circumcision is "of Christ" probably both because He submitted to it and
because He instituted it. There were many noble men in Israel previous to the Spirit
dispensation, who knew some measure of this heart-transformed condition, but we cannot
suppose that any prior to Jesus' time could actually experience a condition so drastic as
the entire putting off the mind of the flesh. This work could be possible only in a Spirit
dispensation. And what need can these Gentile converts have of the Jewish ceremony when
the reality is theirs? Later in his argument the Apostle alludes to a series of
ceremonials which are likewise outmoded by the establishing of the reality. The
ceremony has had its place in that great pedagogic work of bringing its votaries to
Christ, not that they might bring to Him something that the empty reasonings of their
philosophers had evolved, but that laying aside all human thought they might receive the
mind of Christ, "bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5.) Never has force imposed
on-any creature bondage comparable to this. They who
are in Christ Jesus; having learned the folly of all the workings of the flesh, even
at its best, gladly share with the Apostle Paul in "dying daily" that the "life of Christ" might be manifested in
them. That life- cannot fully manifest itself while the flesh has its way about
anything. Perhaps
more than anything else in the Christian life this resigning of the will of the flesh
separates us from the world and its spirit. We note in connection with the Apostle's
definition of a new creature that he does not say that all "old things have passed away," but he
does say that "all things are become
new." Much that is "old in the life of the individual continues after he has
given himself unreservedly to the guidance of the Heavenly Father; but every old
practice is conducted on a new basis, so that it is literally true that "all things
have become new." It would be very
strange indeed, if the world would not notice this change and condemn us for being so
contrary to their aims and principles. But this only adds to the Christian's joy, as
thus he can "go to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." Undoubtedly Saul
of Tarsus, as his own words testify, lived on as high a moral plane as was possible for- a
human being, but it was an entirely new experience that came into his life when
"dying daily he shared in the "sufferings of Christ," "filling up that
which was behind of the afflictions of Christ," "bearing His reproach." BAPTISM, PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUALThis
deeper experience is more definitely referred to by the other symbol, baptism, which the
Apostle here associates with circumcision. We are told that the form of expression in the
Greek, implies that the two things are "contemporaneous. In other words there can be
no true spiritual baptism where there is lacking a genuine circumcision of the heart-the
laying aside of the entire will of the flesh. Nor can there be any circumcision of the
heart without a 'true spiritual baptism-burial into the will of Christ. Only
a ceremony which is in accord with the meaning of the word "baptizo" can have
been in the Apostle's mind, and. only that can truly represent the Christian's actual
experience. "All but entire unanimity prevails among commentators on this point. The
burial and the resurrection spoken of point unmistakably to the primitive mode of baptism,
as Bishop Lightfoot . . . puts it in his paraphrase: 'Ye were buried with, Christ to your
old selves beneath the baptismal waters, and were raised with Him from these same waters,
to a new and better life.'" - Manifestly the symbol cannot accomplish for us all
that is ascribed to baptism in the New Testament, any more than could a physical
circumcision all that is ascribed to its antitype. Our hope is not in the work of some man
who submerges and raises us again from the baptismal waters, but- "through faith in
the working of God." - Col. 2:12. - R V. Baptism
is more than circumcision. It carries the picture one step further. Here, too, the death
of the flesh is represented, but additionally a resurrection to "sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, "to walk with Him in newness of life," "even as He walked." (Eph. 2:6; Rom.
6:4; 8:1; 1 John 2:6.) Paul, in this same letter (Col. 3:1), tells us how we may know
whether this is our experience or not, for he says that such "seek those things which
are above." It should be easy for each one to scrutinize his daily life and know
whether treasure is being laid up on earth or laid up in heaven. "Where one's heart
is, there will his treasure be also." (Matt. 6:19-21.) We may well ask ourselves,
Which brings the greater distress into our life, the missing of some spiritual blessing,
or the missing of some physical satisfaction? If the former, we have known the "power
of His resurrection." Jesus' resurrection demonstrated the acceptableness of His
sacrifice. The power of His resurrection manifest in us proves the acceptableness of our
"living sacrifice." By His cross the world must be "crucified unto us [dead
so far as we are concerned], and we unto the world [dead to its every allurement]." "LIFE MORE ABUNDANT"This
would be a sad state in which to find ourselves if it were not followed by the
resurrected life. "There is the actual communication of a new life when we touch
Christ by faith. The Prophet of old laid himself upon the dead child, the warm lip on the
pallid mouth, the throbbing heart on the still one, and the contact rekindled the
extinguished spark. So Christ lays His full life on our deadness, and does more than
recall a departed glow of vitality. He communicates a new life kindred with His
own." Paul's
next phrase, "having forgiven us all our trespasses," as the most trustworthy
manuscripts render it, gives us one of his intimate, personal touches, introducing us into
the depths of the Apostle's character. While all that he had spoken of before was part
of his own experience as a Christian, both the circumcision and the baptism, his sharing
in them is not alluded to; but he is too widely awake to the, realization of his own
unworthiness to fail to mention his association with those who must have their
trespasses forgiven. The manuscripts from the earlier centuries render the passage,
"having forgiven us all trespasses." It is through Christ's death that this
pardon is Paul's and. ours. Satan's eagerness to becloud this truth is matched by Paul's
intense hatred of anything that would veil from our sight the crucified Christ. The
ordinance of baptism into literal water was given, not only that we might recognize our
privileges, but also that we might the more clearly apprehend Him who first went down
into the waters symbolic of death and resurrection. "Circumcision is nothing, and
uncircumcision is nothing; but the' keeping of the commandments of God." (1 Cor.
7:19.) Nor is baptism into water of avail for the washing away of sins or the consecrating
of the individual; but burial into His will, accompanying true circumcision' of the heart,
a stage of the true baptism, is absolutely essential that we may rise to walk with Him
in-newness of like the final stage of the Christian's baptism -for this walk, for those
who are "faithful unto death," will lead to and beyond the "veil that but
thinly intervenes." "For we are the circumcision, which worship God -in the
spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." - Rev.
2:10; Phil. 3:3. - P. E. Thomson "My Chain""I am bound with this chain. -
Acts 28:20.
- J. Danson Smith. Agency--Divine and Human"For we are laborers together with God: ye
are God's husbandry, THROUGH
HIS Prophet (Jer. 18:1-10), in the familiar figure of the potter and the clay, God
forcibly calls to our attention His absolute sovereignty over the life and being of every
man. The illustration vividly represents the subjection of our nature and our personal
history to the divine control. And yet the fact of our moral freedom, the prerogative that
belongs to us of choosing and following our own way, would seem to make the comparison
defective; for physical analogies fail to perfectly set forth the realities of moral and
spiritual life. Nevertheless the figure is deeply true as suggestive of the power. God
has over us to mold us as He pleases. Free as are our wills, our whole nature is as
plastic material in the hands of Him who made us, the "Divinity that shapes our
ends." There
is a hidden power, the mastery of which over thought, feeling, purpose and action is the
deepest reality of our experience. God exercises His agency, however, with gracious provision for the freedom of the human will. The Apostle in the words of our text thus reveals a harmonious cooperation between the saint and his God for the Lord is not content to arbitrarily work His will, but has provided for the agency of His creature" the privilege of participation in the outworkings of His glorious purposes. Divine willing and working are the source and the cause. Human willing and doing are the condition and the means. Human agency is demanded. Divine agency assures results. To, illustrate this we have selected copious Scripture references Human Agency Divine Agency
The intervolution or merging of
the divine and the human wills is thus amply witnessed. Even the acceptance of the
Gospel must be by a process in which the will has a part, and to which the heart gives
determinant force. It
offers to man reasonable grounds for "decision without crushing his individuality.
The prodigal remembers his Father's house, and is melted. The sinner looks to Him that
""first loved him," but is neither captured by force nor imprisoned with
violence. He is saved in the exercising of that which .is most distinctive of him as an
individual, the use of God's noblest gift to man, the free human will. And having come
into closer relationship with his God, freed from the bondage of sin, he is yet the
"bond slave of Christ." Joyfully and willingly he seeks ever the will of God,
for it is now his will. The rich supplies of divine grace are returned again to the Giver
in the form of heart obedience, and his prayer is ever that of the old saint: "Demand
what Thou wilt, only give what Thou demandest."
- W. J. Siekman. A Difficult Text Examined"Jealousy is cruel as the grave." - Song of Solomon 8:6 THAT
JEALOUSY is cruel as the grave none will deny. That such a thought, however, was present
to the mind of the inspired writer when he penned the words of which this phrase is a
translation, no scholar will admit. As a matter of fact, in the musical and suggestive
phrases of verses 6 and 7 of chapter 8 (Song of Solomon 8:6-7) of the Song of Solomon, we
have a brief Hymn in praise of Love, which is the Old Testament prelude and counterpart of
St. Paul's matchless Psalm in praise of Love. (1 Cor. 13.) Unfortunately for the English
reader, the beauty of the Hymn, the very fact that it is a Hymn, is concealed from him by
the malarrangement and mistranslations of the Authorized Version. It is the object of this
brief article to bring out that fact, and to indicate the meaning and beauty of this tiny
masterpiece. The
Hymn begins with the second clause of verse 6, and extends to the close of verse 7.
Literally rendered, it runs as follows: For
strong as death is Love. This is the first line of the Hymn, and our Authorized
Version gives it correctly. But in the second line it mistranslates every word. The word
rendered jealousy" in, "Jealousy is cruel as the grave" means not
jealous," but "love." In a footnote to the Variorum, Drs. Ewald and
Ginsburg are both cited as rendering the word in this connection "ardent love" Dr. Samuel Cox* comments:
"Love regarded in its ardor and inexorable force, the love that can neither yield nor
share possession of its object. -------------------------------------------------- *
For much of the material and many of the phrases of this article we are indebted to Dr.
Samuel Cox, first Editor of "The expositor." The
word rendered "cruel" indicates the tend of its ardent affection, not its cry;
it implies, not that it will ill-treat or torture its object, but that it will never let
it go.. The word rendered "grave" is "Sheol," the condition of death,
which holds all who enter it with such a firm and unyielding grasp. "So that, as we
have no such synonym for the word 'love' as the Hebrew uses here, we had better, to avoid
repeating the same word, omit it from the second line altogether, and translate the
whole passage thus: Love is strong as death,
tenacious as Hades itself." And, obviously, what the Poet intends is to set forth
this master-passion of the soul as an elemental principle of being, the sole power in us
which, because it is of God, is capable of coping with Death and Hades itself." And,
obviously, what the Poet intends is to set forth this master passion of the soul as an
elemental principle of being, the sole power in us which, because it is of God, is capable
of coping with Death and Hades, and of overcoming them. In
the next two lines he proceeds to describe this passion as an all-pervading fire, kindled
by God Himself, and sharing His own divine nature; for instead if "the coals thereof
are coals of fire, which hath a Host vehement flame," we ought to read as it is given
in the American Revised Version: "The flashes
thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of Jehovah." That is to say, Love is
divine, a flame kindled and fed by the God Who is a quickening as well as a consuming
Fire." -Heb. 12:29. The
next two lines, "Many waters cannot quench
love, neither can the floods, or streams; drown
it," are accurately rendered in the Authorized Version, "and resent this
divine principle as triumphing, by its inherent might, over all the forces that oppose or
may oppose it. Fire is a symbol of Love; and
therefore its antagonist element, water, is used to
set forth the powers that are hostile to Love, but which' must, in the end, be overcome
by it. The
last two lines are also rendered with accuracy, though the final line is even more
emphatic in the original than in our Authorized
Version: -- "I am a man would give all the
substance of his house for Love, with scorn should it be scorned"; at the same
time there is so quaint and choice a touch in the Authorized rendering of, this line,
that we can hardly but prefer to retain the words, "it
would be utterly contemned" find doubtless the thought of this final passage is the sacredness of Love. It is not a commodity to
be bought and sold' in the market; no money, no price, can purchase an affection so
priceless, because so holy and divine. So
that the whole little Hymn, whose meaning and beauty must by this time be in some measure
apparent, runs thus:
And
the intention of the Poet is to sing the inherence: majesty of Love, its divine on in, its
victorious victorious course, its unpurchasable sanctity. He is speaking of Love not
simply, nor mainly, as it shows itself in our imperfect affections for each other, but as
a universal and divine principle, the motive and supreme principle of eternal life; he
is speaking of the Love which is from God, the Love which is God, and in which He dwells;
the love in which if we dwell, God dwells in us and we in Him. And, taken in this sense,
the Hymn is surely no unworthy precursor, no mean rival even, of St. Paul's noble and
famous song: in praise of that Love which "never faileth." - 1 Cor. 13:8. - P. L. Read. Atheist's Plea to a Church MemberDear
Friends: I
am enclosing a poem entitled, "Atheist's Plea." About a year after this was
written, there was placed in my hands a set of "Scripture Studies," and the
trandscendent glory of the Plan of God has given me joy these many years. I hesitate to
trouble you with this, but it seems to me that sometimes we forget what a wonderful thing
the Lord did for, us when He gave us this knowledge of His Word through the
"Scripture Studies" -- a burning and a shining light, a transfiguring influence
in the lives of many. May we never forget, because of familiar and daily contact with it,
what a glorious thing this truth of God is to us. Sincerely,
One of the Least. ATHEIST'S PLEA
Encouraging MessagesDearly
beloved Brethren: I
want to speak of dear Brother Friese, whom I miss also., Although I never met him, he must
have gotten my name through the "Herald" Office, and has for some time past sent
me messages of Christian love, cards with beautiful lines of good cheer and comfort in the
blessed hope, and copies of his treasured possessions,. including "The Lamb's
Wife." I have wondered at his interest in me, never having known me in the flesh, but
in some way he may have known me in the spirit and thought of me as a "lonely heart
to cherish as the days passed by." My last message to him received no reply, and I
knew he must be very ill. I give this testimony concerning him to let you know how
faithful he was in the "little things" which are sometimes of more value than
the greater, and make me feel humble. Sister L and I still love the
"Herald" and the Christlike spirit manifested in its pages. The money is for our
subscriptions, and balance for the Lo-rd's brethren who are in adversity: - James 1:27. By
His favor, Dear
Brethren: I
am enclosing subscription for two years for the "Herald" which should bring me
up to date. I am very sorry I have neglected to send this before. I kept intending to do
so, but with the war coming nearer and my own young people being involved, and so, much
demand made on my time, I am afraid I just let it slip. However, I am very grateful to you
for continuing to send me the "Herald"; also for your letters.' It touched me
very much to know that you showed that interest in my spiritual welfare, and I took it as
from the Lord, as the '"Herald" has always been a: great help to me. Its
articles always speak to me of that deep spirituality which is so needed these days; also
I like to feel that contact in fellowship with other brethren in other parts' fair away.
Truly, how blessed is that tie that binds! Our
little Class here is very small in numbers, only about twelve members altogether; and we
have, gone through some very difficult times and testings, but the Lord has brought us
through it all and has greatly blessed us. Again
thanking you for your kindly interest, and may God richly bless your efforts for His sake. With
sincere Christian love and very best wishes; Yours
in Him, Dear
Brethren: Enclosed
you will find $2.00 for which I would like to have you send me four copies of the book,
"Daniel the Beloved of Jehovah." I, ordered two of these a while ago, and liking
them so much I told the Class about it and now they are interested to read it. Thanking
you, I remain Your
brother in Christ, "To Every One on Earth God. Gives a Burden"
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