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THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom

VOL. XXIX FEBRUARY 1946 NO. 2
Table of Contents

The Victor's Song

The Christian's Present Value

"Speak Thou Through Me"

"Copying but a Fragment"

What Think Ye of Christ?

Conventions and Items of Interest

Faithful Admonitions

"I Understand"

True Vision Deepens Trust

"The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to show Himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect toward Him." - 2 Chron. 16:9.

THE FOUNDATION of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His." (2 Tim. 2:19.) The Good Shepherd knows His sheep by name, and leads them in and out to find pasture. Think what this means! Since He knows and calls His own by name, it can only mean having our name written in His "book of remembrance." It means that we may rejoice because our "names are written in heaven." Written also among "fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life." And what a privilege to believe that to us the word can be, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands." - Mal. 3:16; Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Isa. 49:15, 16.

Each redeemed one is a treasure gathered out of the world-field purchased by the Savior's death, and to Him they are dear and precious. Because they are His members in particular, to offend one of the least is counted as an offense against Himself. To give a cup of cold water to one such is to have a special reward held in readiness for just such acts of kindness. He tells them that even the hairs of their head are numbered, thus to illustrate how very personal and wonderful is the oversight each' one receives. Well might such honored ones ask in amazement:

"Among so many can He care?
Can special love be everywhere?
A myriad homes -- a myriad ways --
And God's eye over every place?

"I asked: my soul bethought of this;
In just that very place of His
Where He has put and keepeth you,
God hath no other thing to do."

No other thing to do regarding each individual than to watch over and direct them in the place His love has appointed for them as best for developing a sweet, submissive faith in His love and care. Then, since such, tender care is given those who are His special treasure, all their cares may be cast on Him, fully assured that with every interest so placed in such faithful hands everything must work out for good in the end. The same comforting word has come down through all the years since it was first written, bringing good cheer and courage to all who have been called to walk by faith through sunshine of shadow. That word has been, "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by My name; thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall any flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior." - Isa. 43:1-3.

The Lord is our Rock, our sheltering Fortress amid the chilling blasts of earth's woes and sorrows, and. our support through all the fiery heat of promised trials. His marvelous love gives sweetness to our joys and glorifies our pain. He has chosen us in His grace and is ever using life's experiences to prepare us for His presence. He has assured us no immunity from tribulation while in this world of sin, but He has bequeathed His peace to us, and taken, us into the unfoldings of God's purposes, that our joy, like His own, may be full. Thinking of all His benefits toward us, surely we can say, "I sat under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me into the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love." - Song of Solomon 2:3, 4.

We must not forget that if all God's hidden purposes could be seen and fully understood, there would be no opportunity for the exercise of a faith which He counts very precious, "more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire." It is for a great purpose such trials of faith are necessary.

It is to the end that it may "be found unto, praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." With that event now so near, can we believe our faith will be ready for that glory and praise? What a reward awaits those with such tried and proven faith! Without testings there can be no such faith, and without faith we cannot be pleasing to God, nor merit the rich rewards it will be His pleasure to give and our joy to receive when the walk of faith is over.

Perfect trust in God is a very beautiful thing. Again and again in the Scriptures we are shown that God delights in seeing a faith strong and steadfast under all circumstances. It pleases and glorifies Him when we demonstrate that we would very much rather walk in the dark with Him than to go alone in undimmed light. He rejoices when we can say with afflicted job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him," and when we say with the confidence of the Prophet, "I will trust, and not be afraid," (Job 13:15; Isa. 12:2.) God's smile of pleasure and approval rests on such faith because it makes it possible for Him to "show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. He sees the lessons of faith being learned and the qualities of character He seeks developing, and He has in readiness advanced lessons leading to still larger blessings.

Think again of Abraham. God tried and developed his faith by some methods he must have found difficult to fully understand. Yet how great was the love hidden in God's mysterious ways. It was love, and only love, in all God required of him, for was he not the personal friend of God, one whom He would greatly use and honor? -- love manifested through all the succession of trials Abraham experienced. It was as true with Abraham then as with us now, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." These chastenings are not just to see how much we can bear, but they are permitted because He has such marvelous blessings to give to those who leave the choice of life's experiences with Him. Under His hand the disciplines of life will mean developed faith, and this faith means a friendship embracing all the possibilities of divine sonship, if we are humble, submissive, and ever grateful to be under the loving will of God. One severe trial was not enough for Abraham's preparation, therefore successive ordeals came to him, until he reached that degree of confidence in God that he could arise "early in the morning," and hasten to obey God's command to lay his beloved Isaac on the altar of sacrifice. What would we not give to possess and manifest a faith like this! Of Abraham it is said, "he staggered not at the promise" made to him though it required a miracle to fulfil it. It seems equally true to say he never staggered nor faltered before any demand God asked of him. There was no asking Why? but always a willingness to go on, not knowing. ''Lord, increase our faith" until we too can meet every necessary test with unquestioning confidence in Thy will.

Faith must hold fast to the assurance that God is always near His own. He can never fail to fulfill any promise He has made to us, if we will but claim and act upon the promises. His silences at times may seem to suggest an occasion for questioning the fact of His presence, and the keeping of His word to us, but very often such seeming silence is God's way of giving greater depth to our persistent faith. Then again, it may be that these experiences are permitted so that we may be led to a careful searching of our heart condition, for there can be no faith-strengthening vision if the heart is not pure. A proper heart. searching is never without profit if it be done in an abiding trust in the love of God, however frail we may be. It serves to keep the conscience true, and capable of feeling a pain of heart over any shadow caused by a failure of omission or commission. But such seasons of inward questioning are passing things when the heart is right, and then, after having felt a loneliness in walking as it seemed alone, the cloud lifts and the heart is gladdened anew by a restful "afterward of peace," an assurance that all is well. At such times the fragrance of the Savior's proven love is as perfume poured forth from the golden censer of His grace. How often we are privileged to see that God knows best how to distribute the degrees of sunshine and shadow in order to teach us that we can glory in tribulation, and rejoice evermore. What He sends, or what He withholds, teaches us,

"He knows the way I take,
What matter then if dark it be,
Or rough, or hedged about --
His staff shall comfort me.

"And should His love withhold
What seems so near, so dear, so sweet,
I'll humbly take this thing
And lay it at His feet.

"How sweet to know He knows,
And cares, and holds me by the hand --
Will safely guide until
I reach the Heavenly Land."

This is the faith by which life's greatest joys are purchased. It was so with the sorrowing disciples long ago. To think of being left in the world without the visible presence of their beloved Master was a cause, it seemed, for unmitigated sorrow. But Jesus consoled them with the promise, "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy." (John 16:20.) In time they would understand why it was expedient for Him to leave them and return to God. When that understanding would come, Jesus knew how joy would take the place of sorrow, and they would rejoice to know He was in God's presence interceding on their behalf -- put to death for their sin, and raised again for their justification. So it is sure to be again and again with us if we are trustful, whatever experience the same loving Lord sees expedient for our sake. With this deepened trust we can say,

"God holds the key of all unknown,
And I am glad.
If other hands should hold the key,
Or if He trusted it to me,
I might be sad."

In times like the present, what a boon faith in God is! What a heritage of joy and peace belongs to those today who are sheltered in the secret place of the Most' High! We live in a time of unparalleled distress, confusion and perplexity. General conditions throughout the whole earth are becoming tangled by increasing problems, and aggravated by man's utter inability to bring order out of the chaos. What a blessing it is to be able in these days to turn to the Word of God, and there find an enlightenment which means peace, an understanding by which we may have a rest of mind in seeing that these very conditions tell us that a long prayed for Kingdom of righteousness, justice, and power is near -- even at the door. How blessed it is to know that the hand of God is over all .that is disturbing the world; and so putting our hand in His we can place every interest of ours in His care, whether present, or future, willing to go on, sharing whatever outward distress these conditions may bring to us in common with others, glad to accept what He gives, and glad to forego what His wisdom and love withholds. In this faith we may tie our lives in with God and so remain steadfast in the midst of all the turmoil and unrest. Our anchor is set deep in the will of God, bringing to us the smiling of His face and all the refuge of His never failing grace.

It is a beautiful expression some one has given us in the statement, "Tears are our telescopes to let us see farther into heaven. God washes our eyes with tears till they can look undazzled on the land where tears are unknown." If it be so that ere our course is finished it is God's will to let us share more of the world's distress than we had thought likely, and give us more cause to "weep with those who weep" around us, and without our hope, are we prepared to demonstrate the buoyancy of a faith able to remain quiet and joyful amid the wreckage of the present order? That will be our privilege, but there will be failure here unless we hold fast to the vision by which such faith is produced and deepened. Then the opportunity will be ours to prove that we too have learned to acknowledge that no such circumstances can move us, for we "reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Rom. 8:18.) That is the faith we will need henceforth.

We should not want to have God explain all the secret workings of His will for us in these present prolonged experiences. We need to remember the words of Jesus to a doubting disciple who would not believe until he could have all the visible evidence he demanded. It was to Thomas He said, "Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29.) It is worth much to understand God's ways where He has made it possible to do so, but in some very important features of His operations, it is much more important to trust Him where we cannot trace the details of His purposes.

And why should we fail in trusting Him fully? Our faith in His forgiving love brought us peace of conscience, so that we have been able to come near to Him without fear. Faith in His supreme command over everything that touches us should be equally clear and steadfast. Always, "underneath are the everlasting arms" of His power. Let us, then, like the Apostle, keep setting the eternal blessings and heritage over against the passing and temporal in every possible way, until "affliction works out endurance; and endurance approval; and approval, hope," "which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." - Heb. 6:19.

This is the vision by which trust is deepened, and though it still be true that "no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby," and so life can "flow on in endless song" notwithstanding earth's lamentations, just because we have faith in God. Let us maintain the vision that deepens trust, and keep on trusting until faith is lost in sight. The toils of the way are nearly ended, and the hour draws daily nearer when we will look back and give praise for all the way the Lord so faithfully and lovingly led us.

- J. J. Blackburn.

Rest in the Lord

"Rest, weary one, did you not know
That there is rest for you below,
Or did you think that you must wait
Until you enter Heaven's gate
To lay your burdens at His feet
And rest at last? O, hark how sweet

Within the pages of His Word,
The promises our tender Lord
Gives to His own! -- 'Come unto Me,
And I will give you rest. All ye That labor.
How the precious theme
Of rest, as lovely as a dream

Shines from these pages! 'Ye shall find
Rest for your souls,' and weary mind
And heart. 'For we which have believed
Do enter into rest.'Received,
Appropriated now! He too
Trod weary, dusty roads; He knew

The weight of burdens, and the taste
Of bitter tears and He did haste
To help. He knows we can not wait
Until we enter Heaven's gate
For rest and peace. He knows. And so
He gives it to us here and now."

The Victor's Song

"And they sang as it were a new song ..." - Rev. 14:3.

THE WORD "song" has a wider meaning than simply a musical cadence: it is used in the Scriptures and elsewhere to indicate joyful praise. Song is the outward expression of joy within. And in this simple yet beautiful language the Revelator pictures to us the wondrous joy, the unequaled praise, of this victorious band.

The statement is that they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God. Let us therefore go back in memory to the occasion of that song. God's people Israel were in bondage in Egypt. Then God sent His servant Moses, working miracles before Pharaoh, with the command that Pharaoh let his people go. But not until the death angel in one night slew all the first-born of the Egyptians would Pharaoh relent. Israel started out, a great host of more than a million souls, and came to the Red Sea.

Then was Pharaoh's heart hardened again, and he sent his armies to capture Israel and bring them back into bondage. With the sea before them, mountains on. either hand, and Pharaoh's hosts at their back, their case seemed utterly hopeless. But at night there came between them and the Egyptians a pillar of cloud to the latter, hiding Israel, but to Israel it was a pillar of fire, giving light. And the Lord caused a strong east wind to blow all that night, blowing back the water and exposing the bed of the sea, so that Israel was enabled to pass over dry-shod.

But in the morning light, when Pharaoh's hosts attempted to follow, God caused the sea again to cover its bed, and all the army of Pharaoh was drowned, and their horses and chariots were completely lost; there remained not so much as one of all that host. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And the record says, Exodus 15:1-21:

"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He bath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.

"The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

"The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is His name.

"Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.

"The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

"'Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power; Thy right hand, O Lord, bath dashed in pieces the enemy.

"Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

"Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is, like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

"Thou stretchedest out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

"Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation."

Egypt is a type of this present evil world, under the dominion of Satan, who is Scripturally termed its prince. Israel, God's fleshly people, is a type of His spiritual household. The song of Moses, the servant of God, becomes then a beautiful picture of joy awaiting the overcomers of that spiritual household, those who have gotten the final victory over all their enemies. The song shows how complete is their victory. (Ver. 10, 12.) Moses took no credit for the victory, but gave all the glory to God. (Ver. 13.) It was due to the great mercy of God, and to His guiding hand and His overcoming strength that they were brought to His holy habitation. In their case they were brought to Sinai, where the Lord abode for the giving of the Law. But in the Revelation picture this company have been brought to the Lord's heavenly habitation, to the mansions which Jesus went Home to prepare for them.

The song which this victorious band sang in John's vision was not only the song of Moses, the servant of God, but also was the song of the ^-Lamb, the Son of God. It was not two songs they sang, but one. Yes, Jesus sang that same song, declaring the majesty of God, His final triumph over all sin and unrighteousness; that- God was His strength, and joy, and salvation; His God, for whom He would prepare a habitation, even His loving, obedient heart, the One whom He would exalt and glorify, the One in whose strength alone He was enabled to press onward, even through the valley of the shadow of death, until He came at last back to the Father's actual presence, into heaven itself. Every day, by His every act and word, Jesus sang that song. No will of His own controlled His acts, and no message of His own passed His lips; it was His Father's will and word that engaged all His time and energies, and to Him He ascribed all the praise.

Well then does the Revelator sum up this song of Moses and the Lamb, which has become the victory song of these overcoming saints.

Would you sing this victory song? Would you join this heavenly chorus ascribing all praise and majesty, love and truth, to the great Creator, the Author of the Divine Plan of Salvation? It is still your privilege to prepare to swell this chorus, for this scene is still in the future, and this company is not yet complete. But to sing this victors' song you must be a victor; and the very word "victor" implies a conquest, valiantly waged.

What are the conditions? What is the conquest which must be victoriously waged in order to entitle one to a place among these overcomers? Let us see again what the Revelator tells us about their conquest, for here the Revelator gives us the key to this conquest in the three points mentioned in verses 4 and 5.

Everything about us tells in accents unmistakable that this life is not the end for which we were begotten. "Fading, transient," is the message written upon all present forms of life, and we are warned that this life is but a period of passing through to something beyond; a formative stage; a battleground; a great opportunity to use all the varying trials of life by which to rise to rise to greater heights, to nobler ends.

All our experiences will prove to be either stumbling stones or stepping stones. We may either drift with the tide, take the easiest course which presents itself, and finish as pitiable failures; or we may battle against the tide, take the difficult course, and by means of those very difficulties mature a character strong in all that assures success and victory.

Life then is a conquest -- to the Christian a conquest against foes without and foes entrenched in his own flesh and nature. Like Christian in "Pilgrim's Progress," our goal is the celestial city, but devious are the ways through which we, like him, must pass to arrive there, and many are the besetting foes. The course of the Christian is therefore Scripturally likened to a warfare, and therein are there many helpful lessons drawn from the life of the earthly soldier.

The one who enlists as a soldier in an earthly army is first of all called upon to forsake all else, to leave family, home, and possessions for the sake of the cause in which he is enlisted. The soldier of the cross must first make a like choice. We hear the Prophet saying (Psalm 45:10-11): "Hearken, . . . and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty; for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him."

Then comes the voice of Jesus bringing the same message (Luke 14:26, 27): "If any man comes to Me, and will not put aside his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. He who will not take up his yoke and follow Me cannot be My disciple." - Four Gospels-Torrey.

The soldier loves his family no less after he has enlisted; on the contrary, perhaps he has greater opportunities to prove his love for them. But a higher power has come into his life which demands his first and chief attention. Just so with the soldier of the cross: he must learn to put first things first.

Following up the Scriptural illustration, we find that as Christian soldiers we are provided with a spiritual armor, and spiritual weapons, both defensive and offensive, which are effective against our enemies. (Ephesians 6:13; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.) Our weapons are not carnal, not fleshly weapons, but they are more effective than any earthly weapons; for the latter can inflict injury only on our fellow man, while the weapons of our warfare are mighty, through God's power, to pull down strongholds of error and sin, casting down imaginations (margin, reasonings -- of the fallen human mind) and over coming every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

We do not do battle alone, for greater is He who is on our part than all they that be against us. (1 John 4:4.) We have a Captain of our salvation to lead us in the fight. (Heb. 2:10.) There are earthly captains who send their men into battle, while they sit back in comparative safety to plan the attack; but our Captain leads His soldiers. "When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them." (John 10:4.) He never asks His soldiers to endure any hardship which He has not endured before them, for He was in all points tested like as we are. (Heb. 4:15.) When we follow our Captain and do battle in the strength which He supplies, we are assured of the victory. (1 Cor. 15:57.) And as soldiers in the armies of earthly kings go forward under a banner which is to them the expression of their highest ideals, so our Captain spreads a banner over us which represents the embodiment of the great ideal He would keep before our eyes, for "His banner over me was love." - Song of Solomon 2:4.

This conquest in which we are engaged we find is a threefold one: against the flesh, the world, and the devil.

The flesh-fight is the first of these conquests in which we find ourselves engaged after enlistment in this cause, and it is the one we must most persistently pursue throughout our course as Christian soldiers. The enemy entrenched in our flesh the Scriptures call by various names. The old creature, the old man, the body of sin, the carnal mind, are some of its names, which signify the evil propensities which inhere in our fallen natures, and incline us away from righteousness and toward evil. The control of this enemy over our flesh finds expression in a multitude of forms, through evil desires, and especially through selfishness, by which it impels us to gratify the evil desires of the flesh. This enemy is to be fought by seeking through the Lord's Spirit the opposite of that to which it inclines us; that is, the development of the new creature, the new man, the mind of Christ; through seeking to be pure in mind, merciful, kind, loving. "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom. 12:21.) This is the conquest of keeping the body under and bringing it into subjection; of beng "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.) This we do, in part, through thinking upon those things which are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. (Phil. 4:8.) By these and many other passages do the Scriptures inform us how to fight and overcome the enemy entrenched in our flesh. And we are so constituted that --

"Each victory will help you
Some other to win."

Even after this enemy is thoroughly conqueredd in its grosser forms, it still remains with us, seeking to control through selfishness; and even after years of walking after righteousness, walking in Jesus' footsteps, we find it cropping out in insidious forms of selfishness, such as desiring a little more ease in the Master's service, a little holding back of the complete sacrifice of self we contracted to make, or a little self-righteousness or satisfaction with our attainments, and impatience with the attainments of others, or a leaning to our own understanding.

So that as long as we remain in these bodies we must be ever on the alert against this enemy, ready to do battle the moment he shows himself. As the poet has well said:

"Ne'er think the victory won,
Nor lay thine armor down;
The work of faith will not be done
Till thou obtain the crown."

This battle with the flesh is illustrated by Jesus' temptation to turn the stones to bread, that the desires of the flesh might be satisfied. We see how in this instance the desire of the flesh -- Jesus' hunger -- was not in itself evil. It was only a natural craving. But Jesus' answer disclosed that the great desire of His heart was to feed upon the spiritual food His Father had supplied, rather than to seek to satisfy the wants of the flesh. How often that testing comes to the Christian who, like Jesus, has come presenting his body a living sacrifice, seeking to find delight in his Father's will -the test of whether the desires of the flesh, even for those things proper and right in themselves,. are going to be sacrificed in the interest of progress along spiritual lines! Over and over that test will come; and over and over it can., by God's assisting grace, be met, until, at the close of the conquest, having demonstrated himself one who "sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not" (Psalm 15:4), that is, having made a covenant for his own sacrifice and faithfully carried it out, God may declare of him as in Rev. 14, verse 5: "And in their mouth was found no guile [deceit]: for they are without fault before the throne of God" - that is, blameless; not subject to censure; they kept their covenant.

The world-fight is the next phase of this conquest we are to wage, and refers to the attractive power of the present order of things to draw us aside from the heavenly calling and occupy ourselves with gaining those things which society regards as of the greatest worth. The enemy we are here to conquer is called by the Apostle John "the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. (1 John 2:16.) The lust of the eyes signifies coveteousness, vanity, greed, the grasping attitude that so marks the present order of society; a reaching out after the tangible things of life; a fixing of the eyes upon the things that are seen, and a failure to realize and act upon that realization that the things that are seen are temporal, while the eternal, abiding things are things which are not seen with the physical eye.

The pride of life signifies the pomp, the glory, the show, the fame, which this world has to offer; the sounding name that draws the adulation and worship of man. Together, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life indicate the seeking of unnecessary wealth, whether of money or, possessions; of fame; of undue honor from man, and things similar. The Apostle, in 1 John 2:15, 17, warns us against these, saying, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

Satan, Scripture informs us, is the prince, or ruler, of this world, and these things of space and time are the means he employs to blind the mental eyes of men "lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (2 Cor. 4:4.) All these things, as stated, are transitory. This world passeth away. And upon its ruins will rise a new world wherein dwelleth righteousness, and in which he that doeth the will of God shall abide forever!

That new world is the Kingdom of Christ, the Kingdom of God, come down to earth to rule and bless all men. When that Kingdom comes, it will mean the end of this conquest the Christian soldiers of the cross have been waging. The warfare will be over, and awaiting each Christian soldier will be either victory or failure; either the victor's crown, and participation in the joyous company which John saw singing the victor's song on Mt. Zion, or there will be weeping and wailing-bitter disappointment. Which shall it be for you? for me? It depends upon how we wage this present conquest. Victory is yours if you will but grasp it. Listen to Jesus' words (John 16:33: "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of wood cheer; I have overcome the world." He won that victory for you and for me as our Forerunner; and in the strength which He imparts, the same victory may be ours.

"As surely as He overcame,
And conquered death and sin,
So surely may we do the same,
And all His triumph win."

- The Kingdom Scribe.

The Christian's Present Value

"We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." - Luke 17:10.

WHEN ONE can sincerely express himself as the Master here instructs, he -may be sure that not the mind of the flesh but the "mind of Christ" is speaking. Since the Greek word means "useless, unprofitable, good for nothing," we are not surprised to find the Master's use of it described as "an hyperbole of pious modesty." But those who know themselves, soon discover that this is no exaggeration, for they and. their activities are without merit; only "in the Beloved" have we any standing in the heavenly court of justice; and only through His supervision and strength can anything we do accomplish His high purposes. That which we speak of as natural ability, though it came from God, is now so marred by sin that no perfect work is possible. The brain, diseased by heredity and sin, is incapable of properly appraising its own works or of seeing its own imperfections.

No performance of ours can ever place God under obligations to us. "Our, Lord having exhorted His disciples to good works, now proceeds to rebuke the _.vainglory which so often accompanies them, showing that as a master is under no obligation to a slave who performs his appointed tasks, so neither is God to us. But since God is gracious, He treats those who are slaves, as if they were free, hired laborers, and recompenses- their labors with a reward, and receives their service which is strictly due, as if it were meritorious, and gives a requital out of all proportion to the toil. Thus the goodness of God is stronger than His justice." - Euthymius.

In verses 7 to 10 of chapter 17, our Master shows "that it is in the Lord's service we are to look for the rewards of faith, the special manifestations of divine favor, in the removal of obstacles and difficulties found to be in the way of our progress in His service, by cultivating Christian character in ourselves and others, and in ministering generally to the furtherance of the divine plans. We may not expect these rewards of divine favor except as we prosecute the service. And when they are received we are not to regard them as evidences that we have done any more than it was our duty to do. As servants of God we owe Him the full measure of our ability; hence we may not feel that we have merited or earned the great blessings of heavenly inheritance and joint-heirship with Christ. We have merely done our duty; but God, with exceeding riches of grace has prepared, for those who lovingly serve Him, rewards far beyond what they could have asked or hoped for. We can do no works of supererogation; even at our best our service is marred by many imperfections, and could never find acceptance with God except as supplemented by the perfect and finished work of Christ." - R1967, April 15, 1896.

NO OCCASION FOR SELF-APPRECIATION

"Some amongst the followers of Christ, naturally progressive, are sometimes too aggressive, self-conceited. Becoming His disciples does not change these traits instantly. The old things pass away gradually, and the new take their place. . . . Obedience to His commands is primarily for their correction and development, and a future life of blessing. They should remember that even their service for the Lord is a privilege-that God is not profited by their services.

"We are unprofitable servants in the sense that God could just as easily do without us, indeed, could more easily do His work otherwise than through us. He, could use as His messengers the angels or the various providences of life. None of us is indispensable to His work and to His glory. Quite to the contrary, the opportunity for entering into the Lord's vineyard and laboring therein is chiefly for our own advantage. The service brings us certain joys which we could not otherwise have. It brings us certain experiences necessary to our own development and qualification for higher services beyond the veil.

"As the Apostle declares, 'By grace [divine favor] are ye saved through faith.' To some extent the faith is a matter of our own development. However, the Apostle hastens to add that the faith is not of ourselves, that even it is the gift of God-we have not the opportunity of glorying even in our faith. What have we that we have not received of the Lord? The elemental faith was based upon certain knowledge that God's providences brought to us, and possibly we were prepared for even that by a favorable parentage." - R5446, April 15, 1914.

In the fulfilment of our personal consecration and in the process of the renunciation of self there must be a separation, a cutting loose from all reliance as a "ground of merit or of self-gratulation on our own works." It is undoubtedly trying to unsubdued and selfish nature to attach no value to what it fondly calls its good deeds or its service, such as its attendance at meetings, its study of the Scriptures, its visits to the sick, its witnessing to the Truth in various forms of service. We would not by any means speak lightly of these. It is perhaps difficult to value them too highly if we ascribe them, as we should, to the mere favor and grace of God. But by excluding this grace of God and ascribing them to our own merit, one may make an idol of his good works, whatever may be their nature. We must be willing to account our good deeds as nothing, and to regard ourselves, when we have done all in our power, as unprofitable servants, in order that Christ may be to us all in all.

OF WHAT MAY WE BOAST

Since it is those who "shall have done all those things which are commanded" them, who are to say, "We are unprofitable servants," what can we say who know that we have come far short of doing that much for the Lord? "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me; if I say, I am perfect [or imply it], it shall also prove me perverse." (Job 9:20.) Truly, "in many things we offend all" (James 3:2); but we can claim that through our very.imperfections we are giving our heavenly Father a perfect opportunity of demonstrating the almost boundlessness of His mercy as well^- as the riches of His grace. As Paul reasons, this, however, gives us no license to sin "that grace may abound."

It is quite apparent that any one God might draw from among men to come into Christ would fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) because of the inherited imperfections of the flesh; and that the only way out of the apparent dilemma therefore is the destruction of the flesh. Even this can be accomplished only through His grace. The process for the Church is a dying "with Him." "Our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed." - Rom. 6:5-8; 8:17; 2 Cor. 4:10, 11; 2 Tim. 2:11.

But this is not the end of our heavenly Father's purpose in accepting us in the Beloved. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: [for him] old things [that were satisfactory to the fallen flesh] are passed away; behold [the miracle of God's grace] all things are become new." (2 Cor. 5:17.) "We must, in the first place, offer up our whole being as a sacrifice to the Lord, laying all upon His altar. But we should remember, it is laid there in order that the natural life may be consumed, and that there may be a resurrection of the true spiritual life from its ashes." He, therefore, who has consecrated himself to God, must expect that the sincerity of his consecration will be tested by the "severity of an interior crucifixion," which is the death of nature, but in the .end, immortal life. It is not until the flame has come upon us, and we have passed through the fire of the inward crucifixion, which consumes the wood, hay, and stubble of the old life of nature that we can speak in a higher sense of the new life and say, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not 1, but Christ liveth in me." No one can be acceptable to God who does not crucify the flesh and reject every form of attraction and pleasure from this source which is not in accordance with the divine mind, and which would in any way interfere with our communion and fellowship with the Lord. The natural affections, "even in their more amiable and lovely forms, often gain- an ascendency in the mind" to the point of exercising a lordship over it. Hence there must be a crucifixion, a cutting off of all desires and purposes which spring from the "life of nature," and not from the Spirit of God. In other words, "it is our duty, as those who would glorify God in all things, to check every natural desire, and to delay every contemplated plan of action, until we can learn the will of God, and put ourselves under a divine guidance." Every desire must lose its natural character before it can be acceptable to God; and every plan of action must in like manner have divine origin. Every desire should be subject to the divine mind, and be merged and lost in the supreme desire for God's glory -- a desire which evidently is not the product of nature, but which can come from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit alone.

OUR ONLY BOAST

He who knows the unworthiness of the flesh and therefore the necessity for its destruction, and who has a faint vision of "the glories to follow," finds no occasion for complaint if during all the hours of his crucifixion no means of securing comfort for the flesh is found. Surely he has his mind on things of more importance than choosing the kind of nails to be used in securing him to his cross-being secured is the important thing. The material and the construction of the crucifix is of no moment. His prayer is, "Use any means to lift me up e'en though it be a cross" -- the one of Your choosing. The gibes of the mocking mob that gather about to sneer at his faith that has lifted him above them, will pass unheeded, for he sees "the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 7:56.) Of how little moment are stones and nails to him, then! The veil into the Most Holy has been rent for him; the gates of heaven are opening to admit him. "For asmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise also with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin." - l Pet. 4:1.

When we see the form of our dying Savior on the cross of Calvary and know that it was for us that He hung there and died, that cross becomes a symbol of His love and our justification. But we -are to learn that our days are not all to be spent at the foot of His cross. Here, and only here, can we make our start in the Christian's course; but the cross that is a symbol of His love also demonstrates ours. Has our love for Him impelled a consuming desire to "live with Him"? Then we must "die with Him." "Far be it from me to glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. This assertion of the Apostle's is followed by his reason: "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." (Gal. 6:14, 15. A. R. V.) He who would boast of his flesh, circumcised or uncircumcised, has forgotten the curse under which he was born, and evidently has not 'fully learned the joy of having old things pass away and all things become new in Christ Jesus.

When one has experienced the process of "inward crucifixion in its entire length and breadth," the blessed result is the extinction of all selfishness and self-will -- a result which comes by means of an entire and unchangeable consecration, attended by the "inwardly operating and searching influences of the Holy Spirit; a result which is so minutely explorative, so thoroughly destructive of those inward influences which obstruct the presence of God in the soul, and withal so.painful oftentimes that it might be termed the 'baptism of fire.'" It is by such means of inward crucifixion that the natural life dies, and the way is thus prepared for the true resurrection and the life of Christ in the soul. God shows us our idols, slaying them one after another, in order that He Himself may enter and occupy their place. We must not expect to be partakers in the heavenly inheritance, joint-heirs with Christ, and at the same time carry the natural life with us. It must be slain, and wholly slain, sooner or later.

It seems hardly possible that any one would cling to the worn out, condemned, old creature after hear ing the invitation to renounce it in order that our wise and loving heavenly Father might begin His work of grace that will eventuate in a new creature in His likeness, yea, even in the "divine nature." To accomplish this, He must work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13.) And who of us is there who has accepted this invitation but has found the utter impossibility of "keeping ourselves in the love of God" except by daily grace from His inexhaustible supply. Truly, it is faith that brings the victory. "All things are possible to him that believeth." (Mark 9:23.) Doubtless the disciples had some faith; but the explanation Jesus later gave indicated there was necessity for more prayer and fasting. These two aids seem to suggest the need for more faith in God and less pampering of self. Jesus still deals with us as He did with the father of that boy, who plead, "If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us." Jesus is saying to us as he replied to him, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Paul "the chiefest of sinners," "the least of all saints," could say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." - Phil. 4:13; 1 Tim. 1:15; Eph. 3:8.

"EMPTIED THAT HE MAY FILL ME"

Long ago there were six water-pots, the most famous water-pots in the world. No one knows today who made them, what shape or color they were, nor even how large. The account indicates that they were of different sizes -- two or three firkins each. (John 2:6.) Their fame comes not from shape, color, or maker, but entirely from the fact that the Master used them. He used 'these pots that ordinarily contained water for the washing of feet, etc., for His first miracle, a miracle that we are told "manifested His glory." (John 2:11.) Surely that statement indicates there was something more to this miracle than just furnishing wine for a festal gathering. Since six is the number of imperfection, may it not be that those water-pots, used for feet-washing represent those whom the Master now finds empty and ready for His use, and in whom He is going to manifest forth His and the Father's glory. (John 15:8; 2 Thess. 1:10, 12.) Would He use any one who is not ready for feet-washing and ready for His filling, empty vessels, ready to be filled by any servant He sends, eager for "that which every joint supplieth"? Rebecca came to the well with an empty water-pot, and was taken to the typical Isaac. The Samaritan woman bore an empty water^-pot, and she met the Lord at the well.

Jesus ordered that the six water-pots be filled with water, and they "filled them to the brim." Then Jesus performed His miracle, turning the water into wine. Let us not overlook the fact that the vessels which are "filled to the brim" (that there might be room for none of self) will fail of their real mission if the Lord does not perform His miracle. It is His order that the pots be filled with the water of truth; but this is only preliminary to their being filled with the wine-the spirit. (Acts 9:17; Eph. 5:18.) Note too that it is His spirit with which we are to be filled. One of the characteristics of Christ was the spirit of service.

THE CHRISTIAN'S SERVICE

It is of the utmost importance that we determine accurately just what and how much service we must render to be satisfactory to Him. If it is preaching sermons, selling books or distributing tracts, how many hours a day will He require? We offer Him five hours a day, and He says that is not "acceptable." We suggest ten, and He says that is not "reasonable." We agree with that and propose seven; but He then assures us that we have not yet understood what constitutes Christian service. Through the faithful Paul He pleads with us: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" ("your spiritual service, or worship." A. R. V.). (Rom. 12:1.) The Christian's is a twenty^-four hour service. Anything less would not be holy, acceptable, reasonable, or spiritual. Not just a few hours distributing tracts, selling books, or preparing sermons, but a life devoted to whatever His will shall be for us individually. "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." In another connection the Apostle has told us how we may make ours a twenty-four-hour service -- by being "living epistles."

A story Brother Russell frequently told, was of a stranger endeavoring to locate one of our brethren of whom he apparently knew littlee except his name. He eventually found a man who thought he knew him. "The man you are looking for is a very fine man-one of our best citizens, in fact; but he has a very queer religion." What the brother believed had made no favorable impression, but what he lived had. Here was a "living epistle," which, though lie Probably little realized it, was being "read and known of all men." Not many will read our tracts and our books, and most of those who do, forget them, as well as our sermons. But there is a guarantee with this other kind of literature -- the life -- that it will be "known and read of all."

Long ago there was a Christian whose life so impressed even his brethren that they would inquire of him what the mysterious secret of it was. His reply was that there was no mystery about it -- he simply practiced "the presence of God." "But what do you mean by that?" "Only that I try to have God in every moment and in everything I do or think. If I pick up a pin or move a straw, I try to do it as I think God would wish me to do it." Many would say today as then, "How fanatical!" 'But if this brother meant that if he had less significant things than straws and pins to deal with, he would do as he pleased with them, then his was below the Christian standard. It must always be "Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31.) In that connection the Apostle mentions also two of the things one is most apt to do, thinking only, of self and entirely forgetting the privilege of witnessing for God in the little things. "Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." It is the same Apostle that writes of "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5.) The one who is that fully devoted to the Lord will distribute all the literature he feels the Lord would have distributed and in the spirit in which He would have (it done, and he will talk the truth only in love -- in fact he can do it no other way if, when he speaks, he is conscious of the presence of God. "Will a man rob God?" Yet we are robbing God if we are not giving Him this kind of service.

Only those who submit to God in everything can be worth-while "spectacles unto men and to angels." In the day of reckoning it will be disclosed that there has been an effective witness for God given by each wholly submitted saint. Results should be anticipated among men and among angels. What a joy it will be to find that though misunderstood and misrepresented by many now, they will then be "praising God on our behalf." "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (2 Cor. 4:10, 11; 1 Pet. 4:11.) It is then not our living but our dying, and His living in us, that makes the great impression on those who "narrowly inspect" us. (Greek, see Barnes.) - 2 Pet. 2:12.

From the death of nature springs a new life; altogether different from that which is crucified and dead, a life begotten of the Spirit of God, and bearing the image of the Savior. Just so far then as the old nature has experienced a crucifixion, and a new nature has taken its place, we are the subjects of a spiritual resurrection in Christ. We are dead, and we are alive again; dead to the world, and alive to God. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Then may we truly "know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." Such a one is a true messenger, set apart to labor for God; not by human eloquence and not by the display of worldly pomp; but by the simplicity of holy living, a life wholly devoted to the Lord, and by the word of power uttered in faith. If "Christ liveth in me" there is something worth while for all to behold. Even angels will marvel that such grace can be manifested in condemned, mortal flesh. To such a saint it is possible to come saying, "We would see Jesus"; and go away testifying "We saw no man save Jesus only.

- P. E. Thomson

"Speak Thou Through Me"

"I ask Thee, ever blessed Lord,
That I may never speak a word,
Of envy born, or passion stirred.
"First, true to Thee in heart and mind,
Then always to my neighbor, kind,
By Thy good hand to good inclined.
"Oh, save from words that bear a sting,
That pain to any brother bring:
Inbreathe Thy calm in everything.
"Let love within my heart prevail,
To rule my words when thoughts assail,
That, hid in Thee, I may not fail.
"I know, my Lord, Thy power within
Can save from all the power of sin;
In Thee let every word begin.
"Should I be silent? Keep me still,
Glad waiting on my Master's will:
Thy message through my lips fulfil.
"Give me Thy words when I should speak,
For words of Thine are never weak,
But break the proud, but raise the meek.
"Into Thy lips all grace is poured,
Speak Thou through me, Eternal Word,
Of thought, of heart, of lips the Lord."

"Copying but a Fragment"

"We all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." - 2 Cor. 3:18, R. V.

"Heaven whispers wisdom to the wayside flower, Bidding it use its own peculiar dower, And bloom its best within its little span. We must each do not what we will, but can, Nor have we duty to exceed our power."

NOTHING IS more striking to a close observer of human life than the almost infinite variety of character which exists among those who profess to be Christians. No two are alike. Even those who are alike revered for their saintliness, who alike seem to wear the image of their Lord, whose lives are alike attractive in their beauty, show thee widest diversity in individual traits, and in the cast and mould of their character. Yet all are sitting before the same model; all are striving after the same ideal; all are imitators of the same blessed life.. There is but one standard of true Christian character -- the likeness of Christ. It is into His image that we are all in the end to be transformed, and it is toward His holy beauty that we are always to strive. We are to live as He lived; we are to copy His features into our lives. Wherever, in all the world, true disciples of Christ are found, they are trying to reproduce in themselves the likeness of their Master.

WHY THIS DIVERSITY

Why is it, then, that there is such variety of character and disposition among those who aim to follow the same example? Why are not all just alike? If a thousand artists were to paint the picture of the same person, their pictures, if faithful, would show the same features. But a thousand persons seek to copy into their own lives the likeness of Christ, and the result is a thousand different representations of that likeness, no two the same. Why is there this strange diversity in Christian lives, when all have before them the same original type?

One reason for this is that God does not bestow upon all His children the same gifts, the same natural qualities. The Creator loves variety, as all His works attest: no two animals are precisely alike in every feature; no two plants are exactly similar in their structure; no two human lives in all the race are identical in all respects; and divine grace does not recast all dispositions in the same mould. When gold is minted, each coin of a kind is stamped by the same die; and a million coins of the same value will all be precisely alike. But life is not minted as gold is. Grace does not transform Peter into a John, nor Paul into a Barnabas, nor Luther into a Melanchthon. Regeneration does not make busy, bustling Martha quiet and reposeful, like her sister Mary; nor does it change Mary's calm, restful spirit into the anxious and distracted activity of Martha. It makes them both friends of Jesus, devoted to Him in love and loyalty and service; but it leaves each of them herself in all her individual characteristics. It makes them both like Christ in holiness, in consecration, in heavenly longings; but it does not touch those features which give to each one her personal identity.

HIS CHARACTER SO MAJESTIC AND GLORIOUS

You drop twenty different seeds in the same garden-bed, and they spring up into twenty different kinds of plants, from the delicate mignonette to the flaunting sunflower. No skill of gardening can make all plants alike. The fuchsia will always be a fuchsia, the rose will always be a rose, the geranium will always be a geranium. In the same soil, with the same sunshine and rain, and the same culture, each grows .up after its kind. In like manner divine grace does not make all Christian women either Marys or Marthas, or Dorcases or Priscillas, nor all Christian men either Johns or Peters, or Barnabases or Aquilas; but each believer grows up into his own peculiar self. Regeneration neither adds to nor takes from our natural gifts; and since there is infinite variety in the endowments and qualities originally bestowed upon different individuals, there is the same variety in the company of Christ's followers....

A thousand believers may all, in a certain sense, be like Christ, and yet no two of them have, or consciously strive after, just the same features of Christ in their souls. The reason is, that the character of Christ is so great, so majestic, so glorious, that it is impossible to copy all of it into any one little human life; and again, each human character is so imperfect and limited, that it cannot reach out in all directions after the boundless and infinite character of Christ.

AN APT ILLUSTRATION

It is as if a great company of artists were sent to paint each one a picture of the Alps. Each chooses his own point of observation, and selects the particular feature of the Alps he desires to paint. They all bring back their pictures; but lo! no two of them are alike. One canvas presents a sweet valley-scene, with its quiet stream and bright flowers; another has for its central figure a wild crag among the clouds; another a snow-crowned peak, glittering in the sunshine; another a rushing torrent leaping over the rocks; another a mighty glacier. Yet no one of the artists can say that the pictures of the others are not true. They are probably as true as his own, but there is not one of them all that has painted the whole Alps. Each one has put upon his canvas only the little part of the magnificent scene which he saw.

So it is with those who are striving to reproduce the likeness of Christ in their own lives. A thousand Christians, earnest and sincere, begin to follow Him and to imitate Him. One seizes upon one feature which to him seems to be the central beauty of Christ's character; another, looking upon the same glorious person with different eyes, or from the viewpoint of different experiences, sees another feature altogether, and calls it Christ; each one strives to copy the particular elements of Christly character which he sees. No two reproductions are precisely the same; no two have the same conception of Christlikeness. Yet no one can say that the others are not true Christians, that they have not also seen the Lord, and have not faithfully copied into their own lives what they saw of Him.

The truth is, the Alps as a whole are too varied, too vast, for any one artist to take into his perspective, and paint upon his canvas. The best he can do is to portray some one or two features -- the features his eye can see from where he stands. And Christ is too great in His infinite perfections, in the majestic sweep of His character, in the many-sidedness of His beauty, for any one of His finite followers to copy the whole of His image into his own little life. The most that any of us can do is to get into his own soul one little fragment of the wonderful likeness of our Lord.

THIS LESSON FORBIDS SPIRIT OF CRITICISM

Thus it is that there is such variety in the individual dispositions of Christians, while all seek to follow the same, copy, and while all may be equally faithful in. their noble endeavors. The practical lesson from this fact is, that no one follower of Christ should condemn another because the other's spiritual life is not of the same stamp as his own. Let not Martha, busied with her much serving, running everywhere to missionary meetings, or to visit the sick and the poor, find fault with Mary in her quiet devotion, peaceful, thoughtful, gentle, loving, because she does, not abound in the same activities. Nor let Mary in her turn judge Martha, and call her piety superficial. Let her honor it rather as the copy of another feature of the infinite loveliness of Christ.

There is the greatest diversity in the modes of service rendered by different followers of Christ. All may be alike loyal and acceptable, and yet no two be the same. Each follows Christ along his own path, and does His work in his own way. Whatever we may say about the sweetness and beauty of Mary, as we see her sitting in such peaceful attitude at the feet of her Lord, we must not forget that it was not Martha's service which Jesus reproved, but her anxious, fretful worry. Her service was important, was even essential to our Lord's own comfort, and to her true and hospitable entertainment of him in her home. The Marys are very lovely; and every woman should have the Mary-spirit of peace, and should sit much, Mary-like, at the Master's feet to hear His words, in order to be fitted for the best service. But Martha's work must be done too: no true Christian woman will neglect her duties of service in her privileges of devotion.

"Yea, Lord. Yet some must serve.
Not all with tranquil heart,
Even at Thy dear feet,
Wrapped in devotion sweet,
May sit apart.
"Yea, Lord. Yet some must bear
The burden of the day,
Its labor and its heat,
While others at Thy feet
May muse and pray.
"Yea, Lord. Yet some must do
Life's daily task-work: some
Who fain would sing, must toil
Amid earth's dust and moil,
While lips are dumb.
"Yea, Lord. Yet man must earn,
And woman bake the bread;
And some must watch and wake
Early for others' sake,
Who pray instead.
"Yea, Lord. Yet even Thou
Hast need of earthly care.
I bring the bread and wine
To Thee, O Guest Divine!
Be this my prayer."

LET EACH SERVE GOD WHERE BEST FITTED

Let each of these good women follow the Master closely, see as much as possible of the infinite loveliness of His character, and copy into her own life all she can see; yet let her not imagine that she has seen or copied all of Christ, but let her look at every other Christian woman's life with reverence, as bearing another little fragment of the same Divine likeness. Let every man do earnestly and well the particular work which he is fitted and called to do, but let him not imagine that he is doing the only kind of work which God wants to have done in this world; rather let him look upon every faithful servant who does a different work as doing a part equally important and equally acceptable to the Master.

The bird praises God by singing; the flower pays its tribute in fragrant incense as its censer swings in the breeze; the tree shakes down fruits from its bending boughs; the stars pour out their silver beams to gladden the earth; the clouds give their blessing in gentle rain; yet all with equal faithfulness fulfil their mission. So among Christ's redeemed servants, one serves by incessant toil in the home, caring for a large family; another by silent example as a sufferer, patient and uncomplaining; another with the.pen. sending forth words that inspire, help, cheer, and bless; another by the living voice, whose eloquence moves men, and starts impulses to better, grander living; another by the ministry of sweet song; another by sitting in quiet peace at Jesus' feet, drinking in His spirit, and then shining as a gentle and silent light, or pouring out the fragrance of love like a lowly and unconscious flower; yet each and all of these may be serving Christ acceptably, hearing at the close of each day the whispered word, "Well done."'

- Selected.

What Think Ye of Christ?

Jesus challenges the attention of the world by His many-sidedness. He meets the need of all classes and conditions of men. As deep answereth unto deep, so doth He respond to. the movings of each soul of man.

Call the roll of the world's workers and ask "What think ye of Christ?" Their answers amaze us by their revelation of this many-sidedness of our Lord.

To the artist He is the One Altogether Lovely.

To the architect He is the Chief Corner Stone.

To the astronomer He is the Sun of Righteousness.

To the baker He is the Living Bread.

To the banker He is the Hid Treasure.

To the biologist He is the Life.

To the builder He is the Sure Foundation.

To the carpenter He is the Door.

To the doctor He is the Great Physician.

To the educator He is the Great Teacher.

To the farmer He is the Sower and the Lord of the Harvest.

To the florist He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.

To the geologist He is the Rock of Ages.

To the horticulturist He is the True Vine.

To the judge He is the Righteous Judge, the Judge of all men.

To the juror He is the faithful and true Witness.

To the jeweler He is the Pearl of Great Price.

To the lawyer He is the Counselor, the Lawgiver, Advocate, Mediator.

To the newspaper man He is the Good Tidings of Great Joy.

To the occulist He is the Light of the Eye.

To the philanthropist He is the Unspeakable Gift.

To the philosopher He is the Wisdom of God.

To the preacher He is the Word of God.

To the railroad man He is the New and Living Way.

To the sculptor He is the Living Stone.

To the servant He is the Good Master.

To the statesman He is the Desire of All Nations.

To the theologian He is the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

To the toiler He is the Giver of Rest.

To the sinner He is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

To the Christian He is the Son of the Living God, the Savior, Redeemer, and Lord.

What is He to you?

- Selected.

Conventions and Items of Interest

CHANGE OF DATE FOR ANNUAL MEETING

Some of the friends whose families and school duties make it difficult for them to be in attendance at the Annual Meeting before the close of the school term, have asked us to move the date to a time when they could attend. It has therefore been decided to change the date for this year as an experiment, from the first Saturday in June to the first Saturday in July. We trust this arrangement will add to our number several who have not found it possible to attend these meetings- in the past, and thus add also to the interest and profit of the convention which it has been decided will be held July 6 and 7.

More detailed announcements will appear later.

Thanks for Your Consideration

The many little acts of thoughtfulness of the brethren are appreciated. One that is easily overlooked, but of which many of you have been careful, is giving your address on each letter, thus saving us the time necessary for looking it up in our files. Another is sending us notice promptly of each change of address. This is a necessity if Heralds are not to be _lost.The Postal Department does not forward second class mail unless they are notified in writing that you will pay the postage.

The newspaper clippings have been much appreciated that the friends have sent us, but there will be better prospects of our being able to make use of these in the "Herald" if you will always remember to write the name of the paper and its date on the clipping.

Faithful Admonitions

THE REAL PURFOSE

Professor Drummond once wrote: "'To become Christlike is the only thing in the whole world worth caring for; the thing before which every ambition of man is folly, and all lower achievement vain." It is certain that the real purpose for which believers are redeemed and called is that they should be "conformed to the image of His Son." (Romans 8:29.) We may read much and hear much on this and that phase of Christian theology, all of which may be helpful, but most important of all is the simple truth that Jesus wants to live His life in us.

DEEPLY TAUGHT CHRISTIANS

"The most deeply taught Christians are generally those who have been brought into the searching fires of deep soul-anguish. If you have been praying to know more of Christ, do not be surprised if He takes you aside into a desert place, or leads you into a furnace of pain. God's private mark is always burnt into the spirit in a furnace." - F. B. Meyer

"LEARN OF ME"

"There is always a danger of the work and workman being more the object than the Master. This grieves the Holy Spirit, which labors always to exalt the name of Jesus. It is offensive to the Father, who would ever be' sounding in our ears, and deep down in our hearts those words heard from an opened heaven, on the mount of transfiguration. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' It is positively hostile to the mind' of heaven, where every eye is fixed on Jesus, and where the one eternal, universal cry shall be, 'Thou art worthy." Let us think of all this, think deeply, think habitually! that so, we may shrink from every evil thing bordering upon, or savoring of, the exaltation of man, of self, our doings, and sayings and things. May we all more earnestly seek the quiet, shady and unobtrusive path where' the spirit of the lowly Jesus will ever lead us to walk, and serve.

- C. H. Mackintosh:.

"I Understand"

(Psa. 50:15)

Hast thou been hungry, child of Mine?
I, too, have needed bread;
For forty days I tasted naught
Till by the angels fed.

Hast thou been thirsty?
On the cross I suffered thirst for thee;
I've promised to supply thy need,
My child, come unto Me.

Perhaps thy way is weary oft,
Thy feet grow tired and lame;
I wearied when I reached the well,
I suffered just the same:

And when I bore the heavy cross
I fainted 'neath the load;
And so I've promised rest to all
Who walk the weary road.

Doth, Satan sometimes buffet thee,
And tempt thy soul to sin?
Do faith and hope and love grow weak?
Are doubts and fears within?

Remember I was tempted thrice
By this same foe of thine;
But he could not resist the Word,
Nor conquer power divine.

When thou art sad and tears fall fast
My heart goes out to thee,
For I wept o'er Jerusalem --
The place so dear to Me:

And when I came to Lazarus' tomb
I wept -- my heart was sore;
I'll comfort thee when thou dost weep,
Till sorrows all are o'er.

Do hearts prove false when thine is true?
I know the bitter dart;
I was betrayed by one I loved --
I died with broken heart:

I loved My own, they loved Me not,
My heart was lonely, too;
I'll never leave thee, child of Mine,
My loving heart is true.

Art thou discouraged in thy work?
Doth ministry seem vain?
I ministered midst unbelief,
Midst those with greed of gain:

They would not hearken to My voice,
But scoffed with one accord;
Your labor never is in vain
If done unto the Lord.

Have courage, then, My faithful one,
I suffered all the way,
Thy sensitive and loving heart
I understand today;

Whate'er thy grief, whate'er thy care,
Just bring it unto Me;
Yea, in thy day of trouble, call,
I will deliver thee.

- Susanne C. Unlauf.

1946 Index