

About the Book

J R Miller brings us 366 helpful, comforting, and challenging Bible verses and thoughts –undated with one for every day of the year ‒ following Jesus from his birth, through his ministry and miracles, ending with his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. The Lord is always ready to show us something new, and there are some things we can never be told too many times as we try to live a positive and active Christian life.

Come Ye Apart

Daily Readings and Thoughts

in the Life of Jesus

JR Miller

(1840-1912)

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-72-8

This White Tree Publishing Edition ©2020

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

More books on www.whitetreepublishing.com

Contact wtpbristol@gmail.com

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this revised edition.

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Book

About the Author

JR Miller's Original Introduction

Publisher's Note

Page 1

Page 10

Page 20

Page 30

Page 40

Page 50

Page 60

Page 70

Page 80

Page 90

Page 100

Page 110

Page 120

Page 130

Page 140

Page 150

Page 160

Page 170

Page 180

Page 190

Page 200

Page 210

Page 220

Page 230

Page 240

Page 250

Page 260

Page 270

Page 280

Page 290

Page 300

Page 310

Page 320

Page 330

Page 340

Page 350

Page 360

About White Tree Publishing

More Books by JR Miller

Author Biography

James Russell Miller was an amazingly prolific Christian author. In addition to having the post of Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, he was the pastor of several Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois during his working life. He was born on March 20, 1840 near Frankfort Springs, Pennsylvania. His parents had a total of ten children, but his older sister died before he was born. When James was about fourteen years old, his father moved to a farm near Calcutta, Ohio. In the new home James was as popular among his schoolmates as he had been in his Pennsylvania home.

We can see when reading about James Miller's early family life, how it is that he was able to write with great understanding and sympathy about the needs of individual Christians. His biographer, John T. Faris, (The Life of Dr. J. R. Miller: Jesus and I Are Friends 1912) tells us that, "The young people of the neighborhood delighted to gather at the Miller [James's parents] fireside to enjoy one of the evenings of good fellowship for which the household was noted."

Faris also tells us that family prayers in Miller's family home, when he was young, were given absolute priority over everything else. There was to be no reading of a single Bible verse and a brief prayer!

Miller married Louise King in 1870. They had three children. He died in Philadelphia at the age of seventy-two in July 1912, having been used by God to bring a great blessing to many thousands through his various pastorates, and to countless readers through more than thirty Christian periodicals, and through the sale of more than two million copies of his books in his lifetime.

White Tree Publishing is publishing several eBook editions of Miller's titles. Please see our website for updates.

JR Miller's Original Introduction

THIS volume of a year's readings has been prepared in the hope that it may prove daily food to some earnest children of God in their life of care, struggle, and duty. It is made to cover the earthly life of our Lord, from its beginning to its close. The texts are selected from the several Gospels. The book thus provides a year's daily readings on the story and the words of Jesus.

The readings themselves are only fragments of thought suggested by the texts. They are practical and devotional hints. The author's aim has been to put a life-thought on each page ‒ a word that may give a little glimpse of some phase of the beauty of Jesus, or unveil in some of our Lord's sayings a lesson of duty or of encouragement or of comfort. The book has but a single aim ‒ to honour and glorify Jesus in the eyes of those who follow its pages.

There is a tendency to leave the Bible out of our times of devotion. We hear a great deal of earnest counsel concerning private prayer. We are urged both to open and close the day at God's feet. We are taught that prayer is the Christian's vital breath. And not a word too much can be said on this subject. If we would live strong, gracious, beautiful, radiant, and useful Christian lives, we must get seasons of private prayer into all our busy days.

But we must take our Bibles with us into the quiet place. While we talk to God, we must also let God talk to us. God feeds us through his Word. It is into all truth that the Holy Spirit leads Jesus' disciples. Seasons of prayer without meditation on some Word of God cannot yield the full blessing that we need.

For devotional times it is well always, however much of the Scripture we may read besides, to fix our thought on some verse or section, taking it as a word for the day. It is in this way that it is hoped this book may prove a help in the quiet place. Its daily text, with the few words of practical lesson that accompany it, may help the reader to make the day's life more beautiful, more victorious, more radiant, more generous.

Life is hard for most of us; at least, it is hard to live nobly, grandly, purely, Christianly. We can do so only by getting a great deal of help from Jesus. We need, therefore, daily to heed his invitation: "Come ye apart." In communion with him we shall receive strength and blessing to enable us to fulfil our mission of obedience and ministry in his name.

We shall rob ourselves, therefore, of Divine anointing and Divine help if we do not make room in our busiest days for quiet retreats from noise and strife ‒ apart with Jesus, where we may sit at his feet to hear his words, or lie on his bosom to absorb his spirit, for the refreshing and transforming of our own lives.

This book is sent out with the earnest prayer that the Holy Spirit may use it to bless some of the Father's children by helping them to get better acquainted with Jesus, and to get grace, peace, and joy from him.

J R Miller

Philadelphia

Publisher's Note

This is an edited version of James Miller's original Come Ye Apart that was first published towards the end of the nineteenth century. At White Tree Publishing we have maintained Miller's Bible verses which are generally from the King James Bible, but in his own work we have simplified some of his wording, sentences, and paragraph lengths ‒ but never altered his teaching. An important change we have made is to his almost exclusive use of the name Christ when referring to Jesus, even though in the Bible verses he quotes, the name Jesus is used fifty times, compared to 11 times for Christ.

The use of the name Christ rather than Jesus is a frequent occurrence in writing from this period, even though in his own words, Miller writes that Jesus is our Saviour, Friend, and Brother. But this was an era of formality when addressing people, and those writers might have felt that using the name Jesus too often was taking a step too far in familiarity. We should, however, remember that the name Christ means Messiah, Anointed, so the full title for Jesus is indeed Jesus Christ. Let's never overlook the importance of this. We have made many replacements from "Christ" to "Jesus" here, bringing a greater feeling of personal directness to the writing. We have also attempted to attribute authorship to the poems and hymns that Miller quotes.

Another custom from many Christian writers from that period was quoting Scripture without giving any reference. Perhaps people were so familiar with the Bible that it wasn't necessary. At White Tree Publishing we believe that all readers, whether familiar with the Bible or not, may want to read the verses for themselves in a version of their own choice. The same lesson goes for reading Miller's Bible verse at the start of each day in your own Bible. We also recommend not just reading the verse at the top of the page, but the chapter in the Bible in which it appears, to understand better the setting.

A free Bible app we can strongly recommend is http://www.youversion.com/ which has almost every English translation that has ever been published, and also the Bible in more than sixty other languages. With this app it is easy to read the same verse in several versions on your phone, tablet or laptop offline. They also provide helpful Bible study programmes on the website, which are also free.

Miller's original book had every page dated, from January 1 through to December 31. The idea was to start with the earthly ministry of Jesus, concluding with his death, resurrection and ascension. We can see no point in waiting for the New Year before starting on these readings. We have instead numbered them 1 to 366, so you can start today ‒ and be helped, comforted, and challenged! Another advantage in the numbers is that it's possible to read several pages in one go, to follow up a theme. Or find a particular verse or topic using a search tool.

Footnote August 2020: this book was scanned and prepared during the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown, and although care was taken with proofreading, an unusual number of errors crept through. These are not doctrinal, but nevertheless may have caused some confusion or annoyance. Since our eBook publications are free or at a nominal cost, we cannot afford professional proofreaders, and we ask our readers to excuse the occasional typo or missing word in all our books. We believe this book is now up to our usual standard of publication, which is not to say it is totally free of typos!

1

IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

LIFE is full of beginnings, and here is a beginning that carries our thoughts back beyond all years, all dates of history, all imaginable periods of time, beyond the beginnings of creation. Then Jesus was. What an awe-inspiring stretch of being these words give to him who is our Saviour! We cannot grasp the thought, but we can find security and comfort in it when we think of Jesus, and when we rest in him as our hope and salvation.

We trust in human friends, and the comfort is very sweet. Yet we can never forget that they are but creatures of a day, and that we cannot be sure of having them even for tomorrow. But we trust in Jesus, and know that from eternity to eternity he is the same, and therefore our confidence is for ever sure and strong.

Our trust is still more stable and firm when we read on, and find who this Person is in whom we are confiding. "The Word was God." There is nothing doubtful in this language. No kind of theological argument can blot from this brief clause the truth of Jesus' divinity. The Saviour, into whose hands you have committed your life, is the eternal God. Earthly trusts are never secure, for everything human is mortal; but those who commit themselves to the keeping of Jesus are safe for ever.

It is very sweet to think of Jesus' humanity. It brings him near to us. He is like one of ourselves. He is our own brother, with tender sympathies and warm affections. We study the Gospels and learn the graciousness of his character as seen in his compassion, his tears, his love. Then when we know that behind these qualities are the Divine attributes – that he is very God – what glorious confidence it gives us! Let us set this glorious truth at the start of these readings. It is a shining point from which to begin.

Come and hear the grand old story,

Story of the ages past;

All earth's annals far surpassing,

Story that shall ever last.

Jesus, the Father's Son eternal,

Once was born, a Son of man;

He who never knew beginning

Here on earth a life began

Hear we then the grand old story,

True as God's all-faithful word,

Best of tidings to the guilty

Of a dead and risen Lord.

Hear we then the grand old story,

And in listening learn the love

Flowing through it to the guilty

From our pardoning God above.

Horatius Bonar

2

A PLAN FOR EACH LIFE

There was a man sent from God.

John 1:6

JOHN the Baptist had his commission from God. He came as God's messenger on God's business. But each one of us was likewise "sent from God" into this world. If we are sent from God, it is on some definite errand. God has a plan, a purpose, for each life. No immortal soul ever came by accident into this world, and none ever came without a mission. We ought to think of this. People sometimes suppose that such men as Moses and John Baptist and Paul were exceptions.

They had their own specific mission; God sent them on very definite errands. But surely we "ordinary" people are not sent from God in the same sense. We never saw God in a burning bush, nor received our commission directly from his lips. No angel came before our birth to announce what we were to be and to do in this world. We had no revelation of bright glory smiting us down in blindness.

Yet nevertheless we are "sent from God," every one of us, and have as definite a work allotted to us as had Moses or John the Baptist or Paul. Are we living out God's thought for us, what he had in view when he made us and sent us hither? Are we doing in this world what he wants us to do? These are important questions. We should not stop short of honest answers to them, for we shall have to account to God at the end for the way we have fulfilled our mission.

Any life is a failure which does not accomplish that which God sent it into the world to do. We find our work and our mission by simple obedience to God and submission to him. He first prepares us for the place he is preparing for us, and then at the right time leads us into it. We can, indeed, miss our mission in this world, but only by taking our own way rather than God's.

3

BEARING WITNESS OF JESUS

He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

John 1:8

LIKE John the Baptist, the mission of every Christian is likewise to bear witness of the Light. The Bible says that the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord (Proverbs 20:27); but in our natural, unregenerate state the candle is unlit. It is capable of being lit; but until the Divine Spirit touches it with heavenly fire and sets it ablaze, it is dead and dark.

When the candle is lit, however, it shines within us and makes us light. Thus it is that we bear witness of the Light: it is Jesus in us that shines; our light is but a little of his light breaking through our dull souls. Everyone who sees us sees in us a few gleams of the true Light.

There is another way also in which we may bear witness of the Light. We cannot alone light anyone to heaven. We cannot save any perishing one, nor give life to any dead soul. But we can point lost and dying ones to Jesus, who is the great and true Light. We can tell others, in their experiences of need and sorrow, of the fulness there is in Jesus. We should bear this witness to Jesus in many ways.

We can do it by our words, telling what he has done for us. There certainly is great honour for Jesus, and also great blessing for others, in simple testimony for him. If a physician heals us, we speak their praise among all our friends. Why should we not thus bear witness of Jesus? We can bear witness, too, by our lives, showing in ourselves what Jesus can do for others who will come to him.

We should all be good witnesses, true representatives, never giving any wrong impression of our Master either by word or by act. It would be sad indeed if anyone looking at us should get a wrong thought about Jesus. We need to be most careful that we never in any way misrepresent him.

4

REJECTING JESUS

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

John 1:11

THE picture represents Jesus coming with infinite grace to those he loved, and to his own people ‒ only to be rejected by them and turned away from their doors. This was one of the saddest things about the Saviour's mission to this world. He was the God of glory and of life. He came to bring heaven to earth: but when he stood at people's doors and knocked, the doors were kept closed upon him. He had to turn and go away again, bearing back in his hands the precious gifts and blessings he had brought and wished to leave.

We say the Jews, "his own," were very ungrateful to treat their Messiah in this way. Also that their rejection was a terrible wrong to themselves, for they thrust away in Jesus the most glorious things of heaven and eternity. But how is it with ourselves? Jesus comes to us. He is continually coming. His hands are full of blessings. He has eternal life to bestow. Do we receive him? Is it not true of us that he comes unto his own, and his own receive him not? Do we really take from the hand of Jesus all that he offers to us?

Do we not daily grieve him and rob ourselves of blessings by declining what he brings? Especially do we reject Jesus often when he comes to us in the garb of pain or sorrow. Many times the blessings he brings to us then are the very richest and the most precious in all his store. But how many of us receive Jesus as gladly, and take the gifts from his hand as cheerfully and gratefully when he comes in grief or suffering, as when he comes in the garb of joy or worldly prosperity? Why should we not do so? Can we not trust his love and wisdom? He never sends pain unless pain is best. He never chastens unless there is a blessing in chastening.

5

ACCEPTING JESUS

As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

John 1:12

THE people who shut their doors on Jesus always shut out great blessings ‒ those who open to him let all heaven's love and joy into their lives. Some say it does not matter whether they receive Jesus or not. They believe in God's mercy and love, and do not see why they need accept Jesus. Here it is made very plain that the only way to receive God's love and mercy is by receiving Jesus. They, and they only, who accept him become God's children.

Jesus is the only way to God, the only door into the Father's house. To refuse Jesus is to refuse adoption into the family of God. Then we learn also from today's text another thing. Some people are puzzled to know how to become Christians. Here the way is surely made as plain as a pathway of light. Jesus comes to us as the one Mediator, the Son of God, the Divine Saviour; and we have only to receive him, to accept him with our hearts, and commit ourselves to him.

"But there is that mystery of the new birth. I can't understand that," says someone. You have nothing whatever to do with that; for does not this verse say that if we receive Jesus we become the children of God? The same sentence goes on to say that those who thus receive Jesus are born again. But it says expressly that this change is not our own act, not the act of any man, but is divinely wrought ‒ we are born of God. All that belongs to us to do is simply to receive Jesus.

We have nothing whatever to do with the mystery of the new birth. That is God's work, and he is able to effect it. Our part is the acceptance of Jesus ‒ God will change our hearts. If we accept God's Son as our Saviour, the new life will at once flow into our heart, and we shall become children of God – not by any imaginary name, but by the communication of Divine life.

6

THE INCARNATION

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

John 1:14

WE must notice that it is the same Person who was in the beginning, who was God, and who made all things, who is here said to have become flesh. The Jesus of the Gospel story is the God of eternity, the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The reason for the incarnation was the salvation of man. The Good Shepherd came to seek and to save his sheep which were lost. He came in human form that he might get nearer to the sinner.

A Moravian missionary once went to preach the gospel to the slaves in the West Indies. Failing as a free man to reach them, he became a slave himself, and went with them to their toils in the field and into all their hardships and sufferings, thus getting close to them. Then they listened to him. This illustrates Jesus' condescension to save the world.

We could not understand God in his invisible glory. So Immanuel came, and in human form lived out the Divine life, showing us God's thoughts and character and feelings, especially God's grace and his love for sinners. This was one object of the incarnation ‒ it revealed the invisible things of God in a way which people could understand.

Jesus also became man that he might learn life by actual experience, and thus be fitted to be our Saviour, and to sympathize with us in all our experiences of temptation, struggle, and sorrow. We are sure now, when we come to Jesus in any need, that he understands our condition and knows how to help us.

We have a high priest in heaven who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because he was tried in all points as we are. Jesus became man also that he might taste death for every man, thus abolishing death for his people. He remembers what he suffered being tempted; and when he sees his people in their struggles, he remembers when he endured the same, and is ready to sympathize with and help them.

7

GOD REVEALED IN JESUS

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 1:18

SO we never can know God except through his Son. There is no other possible revelation of him. There is no ladder by which to ascend to God's blessedness, but the ladder of Jesus' incarnation. Jesus came in lowly form, and appeared to his friends as a man; but when they came to know him, they found he was God himself.

This is one of the most precious truths about the incarnation; and we understand its meaning only when we see in every act and word of Jesus a manifestation of the Divine heart and life. When we find him at a wedding feast, we see God putting his blessing anew upon the sacred ordinance of marriage, and upon innocent human gladness and festivities. When we behold him taking little children in his arms, laying his hands on their heads and blessing them, we learn how God feels toward children, and that he wants parents now to bring their infants to him.

When we see him moved with compassion in the presence of pain or of sin, we have a glimpse of the Divine pity toward the suffering and the sinning. When we look at him receiving the outcast and the fallen, treating them with kindness, forgiving them, and transforming their lives into beauty, we see how God feels toward sinners, and what he is ready to do for the worst and most guilty. When we see him going at last to the cross in voluntary sacrifice, giving his life for the lost, we see how God loves sinners.

Thus the whole of the incarnation is a manifesting of the invisible God in acts and expressions which we can understand. Thus it is literally true, as Jesus said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 14:9). If we would ever see God, and know him, and enter his family, we must receive Jesus. To reject him is to shut ourselves for ever away from the vision of God.

8

A TRUE AND HOLY LIFE

In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest ... and his wife.

Luke 1:5

IT makes a great deal of difference in what times and amid what circumstances and influences someone lives. In godly days, when piety pervades all life, it is not remarkable that one should live righteously. But when the times are ungodly, and the prevailing spirit is unrighteous, the life that is holy and devout shines with rare splendour, like a lamp in the darkness. Such were the times and the spirit of "the days of Herod," and such were the lives of the blameless elderly couple who are here mentioned.

Amid the almost universal corruption of the priesthood and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, they lived in piety and godly simplicity. The lesson is that it is not necessary for us to be like other people, if other people are not what they ought to be. The prevailing standard of living ought not to satisfy us, if the prevailing standard is low. No matter how corrupt the times, we should strive to live righteous and godly lives.

Nor is this impossible. God is able and willing to give us all the grace we need to enable us to live a true and holy life in the most unfavourable circumstances; and he will do so if he has really placed us in these circumstances. God makes no mistakes in planting people in this world. He does not put any of us in a spiritual climate in which we cannot grow into beauty and strength. Wherever he plants us, he sends the streams of grace to refresh us. So, whatever our circumstances may be, it is possible for us to live a godly life.

The darker the night of sin about us, the clearer and steadier should be the light that streams from our life and conduct. Anyone should be able to live well in the midst of friendly influences and favouring circumstances; but it is doubly important that we be loyal and true to Jesus when surrounded by those who care not for him.

9

THE TEST OF LIFE

And they were both righteous before God.

Luke 1:6

THIS is a beautiful thing to have said of them. Yet, after all, that is the test which every life must endure. It is not enough to have human commendation: how do we stand before God? How does our life appear to him? It does not matter how men praise and commend, if we are wrong as God sees us. The Pharisees were righteous before men; but if you would see how they stood in God's eye, read the twenty-third chapter of Matthew.

We are in reality just what we are before God ‒ nothing less, nothing more. The question always to be asked is, "What will God think of this?" If we would meet with his approval, we must first have our hearts right, and then we must be true in every part of our life.

One of the old artists was chiselling with great care on the back part of his marble. "Why do you carve so carefully the tresses on the head of your statue?" asked someone. "It will stand high in its niche against the wall, and no one will ever see its back."

"The gods will see it," was the reply.

We should learn a lesson from the old pagan artist. We should do our work just as honestly where it will be covered up and never seen by human eyes, as where it is to be open to the scrutiny of the world ‒ for God will see it. We should live just as purely and beautifully in private as in the glare of the world's noon.

There really is no such thing as secrecy in this world. We fancy that no eye is looking when we are not in the presence of men; but really we always have spectators ‒ we are living all our life in the presence of angels, and of God himself. We should train ourselves, therefore, to work for the Divine eye in all that we do, that our work may stand the Divine inspection, and that we may have the approval and commendation of God.

10

GOD LOOKETH ON THE HEART

Walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Luke 1:6

OF course, this does not mean that they were absolutely faultless, but that their lives were so beautiful, so sincere and faithful, that God saw nothing in them to blame or rebuke. This truth is very beautifully illustrated in one of Mrs. Herrick Johnson's tender poems.

A mother is sitting at her work, her mind perplexed as she thinks of her poor, faulty life. She had longed to serve the Master, and had tried to do so; but it seemed to her that she had utterly failed. Just then she turned the garment she was mending, and her eye "caught an odd little bungle of mending and patchwork" done by some other hand.

Her heart grew tender as the truth flashed over her. Her little daughter had wanted to help her. To be sure, she had not done it well, but the mother knew it was the best she could do, and she felt a strange yearning for her child.

Then a voice whispered, "Art thou tenderer for the little child than I am tender for thee?" She understood it all in a flash, and her perplexed faith brightened into peace.

I was sitting alone in the twilight,

With spirit troubled and vexed,

With thoughts that were morbid and gloomy,

And faith that was sadly perplexed.

Some homely work I was doing

For the child of my love and care,

Some stitches half wearily setting,

In the endless need of repair.

But my thoughts were about the "building,"

The work some day to be tried;

And that only gold and the silver,

And the precious stones, should abide.

And remembering mine own poor efforts,

The wretched work I had done,

And, even when trying most truly,

The meager success I had won:

"It is nothing but 'wood, hay and stubble,'"

I said; "it will all be burned‒

This useless fruit of the talents

One day to be returned.

"And I have so longed to serve Him,

And sometimes I know I have tried;

But I'm sure when He sees such building,

He never will let it abide."

Just then, as I turned the garment

That no rent should be left behind,

Mine eye caught an odd little bungle

Of mending and patchwork combined.

My heart grew suddenly tender,

And something blinded mine eyes.

With one of those sweet intuitions

That sometimes make us so wise.

Dear child! She wanted to help me.

I knew 'twas the best she could do;

But oh! what a botch she had made it‒

The gray mismatching the blue!

And yet—can you understand it?‒

With a tender smile and a tear,

And a half compassionate yearning,

I felt she had grown more dear.

Then a sweet voice broke the silence;

And the dear Lord said to me,

"Art thou tenderer for the little child

Than I am tender for thee?"

Then straightway I knew His meaning,

So full of compassion and love,

And my faith came back to its Refuge

Like the glad, returning dove.

For I thought, when the Master-builder

Comes down His temple to view,

To see what rents must be mended,

And what must be builded anew,

Perhaps as He looks o'er the building

He will bring my work to the light,

And seeing the marring and bungling.

And how far it all is from right,

He will feel as I felt for my darling,

And will say, as I said for her,

"Dear child! She wanted to help me,

And love for Me was the spur.

"And for the true love that is in it,

The work shall seem perfect as Mine,

And because it was willing service

I will crown it with plaudit Divine."

And there in the deepening twilight

I seemed to be clasping a hand,

And to feel a great love constrain me,

Stronger than any command.

Then I knew, by the thrill of sweetness,

'Twas the hand of the Blessed One,

That will tenderly guide and hold me

Till all my labor is done.

So my thoughts are nevermore gloomy,

My faith no longer is dim,

But my heart is strong and restful,

And mine eyes are looking to Him.

Mrs. Herrick Johnson

11

MESSENGERS FROM GOD

And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him!

Luke 1:12

YET the angel had come on an errand of love ‒ had come to announce to Zacharias tidings which would fill his heart with great joy. It is often so. All through the Bible we find that people were afraid of God's angels. Their very glory startled and terrified those to whom they appeared. It is often the same with us. When God's messengers come to us on errands of grace and peace, we are terrified, as if they were the messengers of wrath.

Angels may not appear to us in these days in their heavenly garb, but they come no less really and no less frequently than in the Bible days; but they wear other and various forms. Sometimes they appear in robes of gladness and light, but often they come in dark garments. Yet our faith in our Father's love should make us confident that every messenger that he sends to us, whatever the attire, brings something good to us.

All God's angels come to us disguised ‒

Sorrow and sickness, poverty and death;

One after other lift their frowning masks,

And we behold the seraph's face beneath,

All radiant with the glory and the calm

Of having looked upon the face of God.

J R Lowell

The things which we call trials and adversities are really God's angels, though they seem terrible to us. If we will only quiet our hearts and wait, we shall find that they are messengers from heaven, and that they have brought blessings to us from God. They have come to tell us of some new joy that is to be granted ‒ some spiritual joy, perhaps, to be born of earthly sorrow, some strange and sweet surprise of love that is waiting for us. We want to learn to trust God so perfectly that no messenger he ever sends shall alarm us.

12

MAGNIFICAT

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord.

Luke 1:46

NO wonder that Mary sang that day. At the shut gate of the Garden of Eden there was a promise given of a Saviour ‒ a Saviour who should be "the seed of the woman." Ever after that, all along the line of the covenant, each woman hoped that she might be the mother of this Saviour. Centuries passed, and generations of disappointed hearts saw their hopes fade. At length one day a heavenly messenger came to this lowly Nazarite maiden, and announced to her that she should be the mother of this long-expected Messiah.

What a glorious honour! No wonder she rejoiced. One strain of her song was, "My soul doth magnify the Lord." We cannot make God any greater; he needs nothing from us. Can the candle add to the glory of the sun's noonday splendour? But we can tell others of God, that he will seem greater to them.

It was said in praise of a distinguished preacher that in his sermons he made God appear very great. We can declare God's goodness and grace. Then we can so live ourselves as to honour him, and thus magnify his name.

Retzsch, a German sculptor, made a wonderful statue of the Redeemer. For eight years it was his dream by night, his thought by day. He first made a clay model, and set it before a child five or six years old. There were none of the usual symbolic marks about the figure ‒ no cross, no crown, nothing by which to identify it. Yet when the child saw it he said, "The Redeemer! The Redeemer!"

This was a wonderful triumph of art. We should exhibit in our life and character such a reproduction of the graciousness and beauty of Jesus that everyone who looks upon us may instinctively recognize the features, and say, "Behold the image of our Redeemer!" There is no other way of magnifying the Lord that so impresses the world.

13

THE CHRISTIAN'S JOY

My spirit hath rejoiced in God ....

Luke 1:47

THIS is another strain of Mary's song, and it has for us the secret of all deep Christian joy. We have no real and lasting joy till we are in God's family, and in God as the refuge of our souls. Isaiah says, Let the inhabitants of the rocks sing! (41:11). None can sing with lasting gladness, but the inhabitants of the Rock ‒ those who are in the shelter of the Rock of Ages. The world's songs soon change to cries of terror.

During the battle of Gettysburg there was a little bird on a tree that would sing a few notes every time there was a lull in the awful roar of battle; but when the crash began again, its song would cease. That is the way with this world's joy. It sings a few strains now and then in the pauses of life's struggle and discontent. When the waves of sorrow break, its voice is drowned. It cannot sing in loss, in bereavement, in the hour of dying. But one who rejoices in God has a joy that sings on through all the roar of battle, through all the darkness of night.

Troubles come to the Christian, but they do not rob us of our glory. We may be in deep sorrow, but all the while there is a fountain of joy welling up in our heart. Sometimes there is a fresh water spring by the seashore. Twice every day the salt tides roll over it, but the spring never ceases to flow; and when the brackish waves have rolled back, the waters of the spring are still sweet as ever.

That is the way with the Christian's joy. It is a living well in our heart. Even in our sorrow we have a deep peace in our soul. Then when the sorrow is past, the joy springs fresh as ever. The permanence of all joy depends upon the source from which it comes. If it be in God that we rejoice, then earth has no power to take from us the gladness.

14

JESUS IS MINE

... my Saviour.

Luke 1:47

IT is a great thing when anyone can say, "My Saviour!" Many people can talk about Jesus very beautifully and eloquently. They can linger upon the story of his life, and speak with tender accents of his sufferings and death. They can paint the beauties of his character, and tell of the salvation which he has provided. Yet they cannot say, "He is my Saviour." And what good does all this knowledge of Jesus do them if they are not saved by him?

I saw a picture of two little children begging on the pavement outside a beautiful house. They were looking in at the windows where they could see a happy family gathered around the table at their evening meal. There were signs of luxury and great comfort within the house. It was winter, and the night was bleak, and the snow was falling. The poor children outside saw all the brightness and beauty within. They could describe it, but they could not call it their own. And while they looked in upon the happy scene, the storm swept about them, and they shivered in their thin rags, and felt the pain of unsatisfied hunger.

So it is with those who know about Jesus and his salvation by the hearing of the ear, but who cannot say, "He is my Saviour." They see the deep joy of others in time of trouble, but around them the storm still breaks. They look at others feeding upon Jesus, and witness their satisfaction, but they themselves stand shivering in the winter of sorrow, and their hungry hearts find no bread to eat.

All our study about Jesus will do us no good if we do not take him as our own personal Saviour, and learn to call him "My Jesus." But when we can say of him, "He is my Saviour," all life is bright and full of joy for us. He is ready to be ours, to give himself to us with all his blessed life, and all the privileges of heirship in the Father's family, the moment we accept him.

15

LOWLY SERVICE

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.

Luke 1:48

WHAT a beautiful name by which to call one's self! A handmaid is one who devotes herself to tho service of another. A young girl is the handmaid of the Lord when she gives herself to him, and then lives all her life just to please him and serve him. This does not always mean that she must give up her home and the comforts of life in her own country, and go away to a foreign country as a missionary.

Sometimes it may mean that. It did for Harriet Newell, and it has meant that for hundreds of other young Christian women along the years. But for most young girls it means to serve Jesus and live for him just in the ordinary life of every day. There are a great many ways of serving him. One is by always doing right. We are serving him whenever we are listening for his voice and promptly following him. He says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Another way is by doing everything we can to make friends for him, by getting other people to love and serve him. A young girl is a handmaid of Jesus when she is trying to get other girls to come to the Sunday school. Another way is by doing every kindness we can to others in his name.

When Jesus was on the earth as a man, some women left their homes and went with him, ministering to him. It is probable that they made clothes for him, prepared food for his meals, and did every little personal kindness they could. That was a very sweet privilege. No doubt if he were here now, many girls and women would do the same. He is not here in human form, but he has told us that if we do these same kindnesses even to the least and lowliest of his friends who are in need, it is the same as if we did them to himself. So it is not hard to be a handmaid of Jesus.

16

HE CARES FOR YOU

He that is mighty hath done to me great things.

Luke 1:49

IS it not wonderful that the mighty God, so great, so holy, should ever think of a poor, lowly sinner on this earth? But does he really? It scarcely seems possible. Only consider how many people there are in this world. Can it be that the glorious God ever gives a separate, special thought to any one person among so many? He may give personal thought to a few great people ‒ to kings and rulers, and to certain very good men and women ‒ but surely he does not think of anyone as small and obscure as I am.

Ah yes he does. You remember that a child called Ishmael was once dying of thirst in a desert (Genesis 21:14-21), and God heard its cries amid all the noise of the world, and sent an angel to point out a spring of water and thus save its life. You remember, too, that story of the baby Moses that the mother could no longer shelter, and which she put into a little ark and laid among the sedge beside the river (Exodus 2:3); and you remember how God cared for that helpless infant and provided for it in a wonderful way.

Then you remember that Jesus said our heavenly Father cares even for a sparrow and feeds it, and that he even clothes each little flower in the field. If there is not a bird or a flower that he does not think of and care for, surely he gives thought and care to us. We are better than a sparrow, better than a flower (Matthew 6:25-34).

We have immortal souls; we are God's own children; and was there ever a true father who did not think of, and love and care for, his children?

He calls each one of us by name. He hears our prayers. He knows when anything is going wrong with us, or when we are in any trouble. He watches over us, and sends blessings to us every day. What a wonderful thought, that God thinks of each one of us, and does great things for us!

17

SPIRITUAL HUNGER

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

Luke 1:53

A GREAT many people attend church and Sunday school, where the blessings of grace abound, and yet are "sent empty away." They are not fed. They do not carry anything with them from all the fulness before them. They are no better, no stronger, no happier for the privileges they have enjoyed. Is it the minister's fault, the teacher's fault? No; the fault must be their own. They were not really hungry, or they would have been tilled.

A lady was ill with tuberculosis. She was advised to go to Florida to spend the winter. She wrote home glowing letters about the healthy climate, the wonderful foliage, the luscious fruits. While it was midwinter at her old home in the North, it was summer where she was. She spoke of the table ‒ how it was covered with all manner of tempting fruit. But in every letter she wrote there was one sad lament: "I have no appetite. If I only had an appetite, I am sure I should soon grow well amid such luxuries."

Then in a little while word came that she was dead ‒ dead in the midst of abounding plenty, not for want of food, but for want of appetite. So it is with many souls. They live amidst abundance of spiritual provision. God spreads full tables before them continually. They sit down beside them, and then are sent away empty; not because there is nothing there for them, but because they have no hunger for such things.

Others sit close by them, at the same tables, with the same provisions before them, and are richly fed, and go away rejoicing in strength and hope, and refreshed in all their nature; but these came with spiritual appetite. Our constant prayer should be that God would make us hungry for himself. The beatitude is, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

18

THE DIVINE VISITOR

He hath visited and redeemed his people.

Luke 1:68

WHAT a beautiful thought it is that God pays visits to his people in this world! We remember a number of visits he made in the olden times ‒ to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses, to Joshua, and to others. But the most wonderful visit he ever made was when Jesus came and stayed so long, and did so much to bless the world.

After a while he went away; yet we must not think that he went away to stay, and that he never pays visits to this world anymore. Every time any of his children are in trouble he comes to help them. They do not always know it; for he comes unseen, and often so softly and silently that people do not know they have such a glorious visitor within their doors.

He visits those who are not saved, to try to persuade them to accept salvation. When we are in great danger, he visits us to deliver us. When we are sick or suffering, he visits us to give us grace to bear our suffering. Then often he comes and knocks at our doors, and wants to visit us and give us some rich blessing, and we will not open the door.

There was an old Scottish woman who could not pay her rent, and the landlord said he would seize her goods. A good friend heard of it, and went to her house to give her money to save her property. He knocked, but could not get in. Next day he met her and told her of his visit. "Was that you?" she said with amazement. "I thought it was the officer coming to take my goods, and I had all the doors and windows barred, and would not let him in."

So Jesus comes and knocks. He knows of our need, and wants to bless or help us; and we bar our doors and keep him out, not knowing who he is or why he comes. We must remember that when Jesus comes it is always to do us good, and that we shall rob ourselves if we ever keep him out or refuse his visit.

19

THE DOOR OF MERCY

The tender mercy of our God.

Luke 1:78

WHAT would we ever have done if God had not been merciful? There could never have been a soul saved in this world. There is a story of a man who dreams that he is out in an open field in a fierce driving storm. He is desperately seeking a refuge. He sees one gate, over which "Holiness" is written. There seems to be shelter inside, and he knocks. The door is opened by one in white garments; but none save the holy can be admitted, and he is not holy. So he hurries on to seek shelter elsewhere.

He sees another gate, and tries that; but "Truth" is inscribed above it, and he is not fit to enter. He hastens to a third, which is the palace of Justice; but armed sentinels keep the door, and only the righteous can be received.

At last, when he is almost in despair, he sees a light shining some distance away, and hastens toward it. The door stands wide open, and beautiful angels meet him with welcomes of joy. It is the house of Mercy, and he is taken in and finds refuge from the storm, and is warmly entertained.

Not one of us can ever find a refuge at any door save the door of Mercy. But here the vilest sinner can find eternal shelter; and not mere cold shelter only, for God's mercy is "tender." We flee for refuge, and find it. Strong walls shut out all pursuing enemies, and cover us from all storms. Then, as we begin to rejoice in our security, we learn that we are inside a sweet home, and not merely a secure shelter. Our refuge is in the very heart of God: and no mother's bosom was ever so warm a nest for her own child as is the Divine mercy for all who find refuge in it.

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty;

He shall cover thee with his pinions,

And under his wings shalt thou take refuge."

Psalm 91:4

20

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Luke 1:79

SUPPOSE the sun were never to rise again, and the light of every star were put out ‒ what a gloomy world this would be! This is the picture of the world, in a moral and spiritual sense, without Jesus. It is painted in these words, "in darkness and in the shadow of death!" No light to guide, to cheer, to produce joy and beauty. A world without Jesus would be utter blackness, unlit by a single ray of sun, or even by a single burning faraway star.

Jesus is light. Only think what light does for us! It makes our days bright; it shows us all the beautiful things that are around us. But it does far more. It produces all the life of the earth, and then nourishes it. There would not be a bud or a root or a leaf were it not for the sun. Nor would there be any beauty, for the sun paints every lovely thing in nature. Think of Jesus, then, as light. His love brooding over us causes us to live, and nourishes in us every spiritual grace. Every beam of hope is a ray of light.

What the coming of light is to a prisoner in a darkened dungeon, that is the bursting of mercy over the guilty soul! Light gives cheer; and what cheer the gospel of salvation gives to the mourner, to the poor, to the troubled! Is it not strange that any will refuse to receive this light? If anyone would persist in living in a dark cave, far away from the light of the sun, with only dim candles of his own making to pour a few feeble, flickering beams upon the gloom, we should consider them foolish indeed.

What shall we say of those who persist in living in the darkness of sin, with no light but the candles of earth's false hopes to shine upon their souls? There are many such, too. They turn to every "will o' the wisp" that flashes a little beam ‒ anywhere, rather than to Jesus. It is like preferring a wax candle to the sun.

21

PATHS OF PEACE

To guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke1:79

FIRST Jesus made the way of peace for us. Sin had destroyed the road to heaven, leaving only a rough and thorny way for human feet to go upon. There never would have been a path of peace had not Jesus himself made it. All ways in life, save that one which he has opened for us, are full of pain and trouble, and lead only to sorrow, despair, and death. But Jesus prepared a highway that is beautiful and blessed, and leads to eternal joy and glory.

It was not easy work building this road. In the construction of some of this world's great thoroughfares thousands of human lives were sacrificed. We forget sometimes, as we move on in the highway of redemption, amid peaceful scenes, with soft music in our ears, and rich comforts in our hearts, and heavenly hopes to woo us forward, what it cost our blessed Lord ‒ what toil and tears and blood, to prepare the way for us, to bridge over the chasms and level down the mountains. But now the way is open, and from beginning to end it is a way of peace.

A great many people think that the Christian life is hard and unpleasant, that it is a rough and steep road; but truly it is a way of pleasantness and peace. The only really happy people in this world are those who are following Jesus along the way of redemption. They have their share of troubles, disappointments, sorrows; but all the time in the midst of these they have a secret peace of which the world knows nothing.

There are paths in the low valleys, paths among the great mountains, which are sweet pictures of the Christian's way of peace. High up among the peaks and crags the storms sweep in wild fury, but on these valley paths no breath of tempest ever blows. Flowers bloom and springs of water gurgle along the wayside, and trees cast their grateful shadow, and bird songs fill the air. Such is Jesus' "way of peace" in this world.

22

BLESSED NIGHT WATCH

There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came.

Luke 2:8-9

WE should notice that it was while these shepherds were at their common, humble work that they had this wonderful vision. The best place to have the angels come to us is always at our post of duty, no matter how lowly it is. They never show themselves to one who is ashamed of his calling, or too idle to be faithful at his proper work. It did not seem a very pleasant way to live ‒ to be poor, and to have to stay out all night in the field, and keep awake and watch the sheep.

No doubt the people who lived in the great houses thought the poor shepherds had a hard time of it, and they despised them for their lowly work and their poverty. It may be that the shepherds themselves sometimes envied the people who had fine houses and lived in luxury, and never needed to work hard or to stay up at nights.

A good many people, in these modern days, who have to work hard are disposed to be envious of the rich. But it is quite certain that these shepherds were never sorry after that night that they were poor shepherds, and that they were at their post at that time.

If they had thought themselves too good or too fine to do such work, and had given up their position for something more elegant or more respectable, they would have missed the angelic visit that night, and would have lost the honour of being the first to hear the announcement of the Saviour's birth.

We never know what we lose by being out of our place of duty. Celestial visions do not come to those who despise God's placings in life. The angel honoured poverty and faithfulness when he came to the shepherds rather than to the door of some lordly palace, to proclaim his glorious tidings. The best place to be in is always the place of duty.

23

GOOD NEWS

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.

Luke 2:10

EVERY word of the gospel is a joy-bell. Eastern legend tells of a wondrous tree on which grew golden apples and silver bells. Every time the breeze went by and disturbed the fragrant branches, a shower of the golden apples fell, and the bells chimed and tinkled forth their sweet and airy music. Like this tree of fable is the gospel-tree, ever dropping rich and mellow fruits, and ringing joy-bells whose music thrills our hearts with its celestial sweetness.

The gospel is always good news. Who was ever made sad by it? It brings good news to the guilty sinners when it comes to tell them of forgiveness. It brings good news to the struggling souls in the strife of temptation, when it comes to offer help to overcome. It brings good news to the man or the woman who has failed, and is in despair over a ruined life and hopes dashed to the dust, when it says, "You may rise yet to a glorious life."

It brings good news to the mourner when it breathes comfort, the assurance of Divine sympathy and love, and a promise that good shall come out of sorrow. So wherever the gospel goes, it tells good news, never bad. Think what joys it has started in this world, what sadness it has chased away, what ruin it has restored to beauty. Think of the hymns of joy that have been sung along these Christian centuries, and are yet echoing in countless human hearts.

Think of the heavenly songs in which millions will unite eternally. Then remember that all this song and gladness will be but the prolonged echo of that joy which the angel proclaimed. We must be sure that we let this good news into our hearts, else we can never share this great gladness. Then we should in turn become joy-bearers, by repeating the good news, and likewise by letting all about us see in us what deep victorious joy the gospel of Jesus can give.

24

THE CHRIST-CHILD

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!

Luke 2:11

HOW wonderful this was! We must remember who it was that was thus born. The birth of another child in this world was nothing strange, for thousands of children are born every day. But this was the Lord of glory. This was not the beginning of his life. He had lived from all eternity in heaven. His hands made the universe (John 1:1-4). All glory was his. All the crowns of power flashed upon his brow. All mighty angels called him Lord. We must remember this if we would understand how great was his condescension.

We read that Peter the Great left his throne, and in lowly disguise apprenticed himself at Zaandam and Amsterdam as a shipwright. He worked among the common labourers, dressed in their working clothes, living in a hut, preparing his own food, making his own bed. Yet in doing so he never for a moment ceased to be the ruler of Russia. His royal splendour was laid aside for a time; his regal power and majesty were temporarily veiled beneath the disguise he wore; but there was never an hour when he was not an emperor.

So Jesus' glory was folded away under robes of human flesh. He never ceased to be the Son of God; and yet he took on all the conditions of humanity. He veiled his power, and became a helpless infant, unable to walk, to speak, to think, lying feeble and dependent in his mother's arms. He veiled his knowledge, and learned as other children do. He laid aside his sovereignty, his majesty.

What condescension! And it was all for our sake, so that he might lift us up to glory. It was as a Saviour that he came into this world. He became Son of man that he might make us sons of God. He came down to earth and lived among men, entering into their experiences of humiliation, that he might lift them up to glory to share his exaltation.

25

A STRANGE SIGN

This shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Luke 2:12

WHAT a strange sign this by which to recognize the King of glory! The shepherds would not find him robed in purple garments, like the child of a prince, but bundled up in long strips of cloth. They would not find him in a palace, but in a stable, with a manger for his cradle. Is it not strange that the very marks and authentications of Messiah's character and mission, by which these shepherds recognized him when they found him, were these tokens of poverty and humiliation? This tells us what empty things are the world's marks of greatness.

No one would expect ever to recognize earthly royalty by any such insignia as these. When Jesus came, he despised all the badges of rank by which men indicate greatness, and wore the insignia of earthly poverty. Yet was he less great because he did not bear the world's stamp of honour?

True greatness is in the character, never in the circumstances. No matter about wearing a crown; make sure that you have a head worthy of wearing a crown. No matter about the purple; make sure that you have a heart worthy of the purple. No matter about a throne to sit on; make sure that your life is regal in its own intrinsic character ‒ that people will recognize the king in you, though you toil in the field or mine, or serve in the lowliest place.

These strange tokens tell us also of Jesus' sympathy with the lowliest life, with the plainest and poorest of the people. None can say that Jesus never came to them. If he had been born in a palace amid splendours, the common people would never have felt that he was their Saviour, as they feel now that he is. Jesus went down and touched life at its lowest point, that there might be none to whom his mission of love and grace should not reach.

26

GOD IS LOVE

Good will toward men.

Luke 2:14

YES! That is the meaning of it all. It tells of the good will of God toward all men. There is a strange medieval legend which illustrates this truth. An unbeliever knight, in the wildness of his mad, Heaven-defying infidelity, determined to test, by the method to which as a knight he was accustomed, the reality and power of the God whose existence he denied.

So, going out into the field, armed as if for combat, he cast his glove down upon the ground, after the manner of the ancient challengers, and cried out to the heavens, "God! ‒ if there be a God ‒ I defy thee here and now to mortal combat! If thou indeed art, put forth thy might, of which thy pretended priests make such boasts."

As he spoke, his eye was caught by a piece of parchment fluttering in the air just above his head. It fell at his feet. He stooped and picked it up, and found inscribed upon it these words, "God is love!"

Overcome by this unexpected response, he broke his sword in token of his surrender, and kneeling upon the fragments, consecrated his life henceforth to the service of that God whom he had just before defied. Thus to all men's defiance, to the rebellion of a world, to the godlessness of nations, to the blasphemy of individuals, the answer that heaven has always let fall has been, "God is love!"

This was the message that came wafted down that night on the silent air in this sweet note of the angels' song. This was the meaning of the coming of Jesus. Cold was the world; shut were men's hearts against God; defiant was the attitude of nations. Yet to this coldness, this defiance, this revolt, the answer was not swift judgment, but the gift of the Son of God as the Saviour ‒ "On earth peace, good will toward men." Wherever the gospel goes today, it breathes the same loving message ‒ God does not hate us, he loves us with a love tender and everlasting.

27

DAILY DUTY

The shepherds returned.

Luke 2:20

THEY might have been so enraptured with the sight of the Christ-child that they would not have cared to go away again to their own dull work in the fields. Some people in their ecstasies feel disinclined to devote themselves to the mundane things of this common work-day life.

Peter wanted to stay on the Transfiguration Mount (Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36). Earthly life, with its toils and struggles, would be too tame, he thought, after such ecstatic visions. And surely no human eyes ever gazed on a more glorious vision than that which these shepherds beheld that night. Yet they went back to their lowly toil, and no doubt they were just as faithful shepherds after that as they had been before.

We need to learn a lesson here. All our spiritual enjoyments ought to make us more diligent and faithful in the duties of our ordinary callings. It is not a true devotional experience which draws us away from our daily duty. The nearer we get to Jesus, the better should we do all our work. Our love for communion with God and with his people should never make us negligent in the doing of the tasks that the ordinary days bring to us.

After our most heavenly experiences on Sunday, or in the quiet place of prayer, we should return to our work with fresh earnestness and enthusiasm. God gives us our spiritual raptures, our glimpses of his face and his glory, our foretastes of celestial joy, our fragments of heavenly vision, for the very purpose of making us stronger and braver for duty. It will be sad indeed, then, if they make us less fit for life here with its burdens and cares.

We should seek to bring the heavenly visions down and give them reality in our lives, so others may see the beauty too, and be cheered by it. Our hours of communion with Jesus should leave some gleams of brightness on our faces as we come to walk again in life's dusty ways.

28

UPRIGHT DEVOTION

The same man was just and devout.

Luke 2:25

SIMEON was just in all his dealings with men, and devout in his feelings toward God. It takes both these elements to make true faith. Some people are just, and not devout. They are scrupulously honest in all their dealings, yet they never think of God or of their duties to him. They do not bow to him in prayer; they never lift their hearts to him in praise. They do not love him. They confess no obligations to him. Their whole religion simply is honesty toward their fellow-men, while they utterly ignore God, their Creator and Redeemer, in whom they live, from whose grace every hope in their lives flows, and upon whom they are dependent every moment for breath, for protection, and for all the blessings of life.

It is readily seen that such religion is not true Christian faith. While we are just and honest in our transactions with others, it is to God that we owe the first and highest duties. We are his creatures; we are saved, if at all, by his grace. We owe to him obedience, faith, love, honour, service. So we must be devout as well as just. On the other hand, there are some people who profess to be devout who are not just. They attend upon church ways of worship, they sing and pray; and then they go out into the weekday world, and are hard, unjust, greedy, oppressive.

It is very evident that this kind of religion does not please God. He wants our praise and honour, but he wants us to honour him by our lives and actions as well as by our lips. There are two tables of commandments ‒ to God and to our neighbour. And the second table commandments are as binding as the first. We are to love God with all our heart, but we are also to love our neighbour as ourselves. While we are devout toward God, we are to be honest, true, unselfish toward others. The two things must go together, and must never be torn asunder.

29

ARE WE READY?

He should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Luke 2:26

IT is a fearful thing for anyone to see death before seeing Jesus. Death is terrible. It is a vale of shadows. It ushers us into the presence of God to be judged. What if we have never seen Jesus? It does not matter how many great men we have seen during our life; it does not matter what we may have done in the way of good or great deeds. We may have seen the wonders of every land; we may have achieved honour and fame. But if we have not seen Jesus we are not ready to die. Even sinful people want to see Jesus before death, although all through their life they have rejected him. They can live without him, but without him they dare not die.

There is a story of an unbeliever whose wife was a lovely Christian. Their beautiful young daughter was dying. Her father had always ridiculed Jesus in her presence. When she was near death she asked him whether he wanted her to die in his or in her mother's belief ‒ as an unbeliever or as a Christian.

With great emotion he said, "Mary, I would rather you would die in your mother's faith ‒ die as a Christian." He was not content for his child to meet death as an unbeliever. All his scepticism vanished in the presence of the dread mystery.

Death tests all creeds. A belief that is not good to die in, which a man wants to give up and throw away as he enters the portals of eternity, surely cannot be worthy of acceptance by an immortal being. No one, as he entered the valley of shadows, was ever heard regretting that he had trusted his soul in Jesus' hands.

When we have truly seen Jesus, we are ready for death any moment. We have already passed from death unto life, and have nothing to dread in the experience of dying. Departure will only be translation from darkness into light.

30

ASLEEP IN JESUS

Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.

Luke 2:29

NO one is ready to die in peace until they have seen Jesus; but when they have seen him, they need no further preparation for dying. They may never have looked upon any of the wonders of this world; but it is not necessary that they should have done so, if they beheld the Lamb of God. They may not have carried out one of their own ambitious plans in life, nor have achieved anything great or beautiful; but no matter ‒ the one essential achievement in life is to see Jesus. When we have truly seen him, dying has no more terrors, for he has robbed death of its sting, and the grave of its victory.

Christians have a soft pillow of peace to rest on when they come to die. Jesus has lifted the curse from their soul, and made death but the way to glory. He himself tasted death for his people; but now there is no death for any of them. He said to Martha, by her brother's grave, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:25). That means that those who are saved by Jesus find no terror, no darkness, nothing to harm them, in dying, but pass through the experience as through a beautiful gate into life everlasting.

The word "lettest" here means "set free" ‒ "Let thy servant free to depart;" implying that what we call life is like the imprisoning of the eagle; and what we call death, after we have seen Jesus, is blessed and glorious emancipation. What a beautiful thought of dying! On the gravestone of a little child are the words: "Out of the darkness into the marvellous light!"

All we need, then, is truly to see Jesus before we die. When he has lifted away the curse of sin, and put his own holy life into our souls, we are already in the portal of heaven while in this world. Dying will only be entering in, to behold Jesus' face to face for ever.

31

LOOKING UNTO JESUS

Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

Luke 2:30

TRAVELLERS come home from abroad, and tell of the wonderful sights they have seen. They have stood among the mighty Alps, and been awed by their grandeur. They have walked on the streets of famous cities. They have visited the old cathedrals. They have stood enraptured before the pictures of the Old Masters. And they speak with pride of what they have seen. Yet it is a far greater thing to be able to say, "I have seen Jesus."

The sight of earth's beautiful and wonderful things may have a refining and inspiring influence upon our mind, may add to our intelligence and broaden our experience. But seeing Jesus changes our whole life and destiny. It makes us an heir of heaven and glory; it transforms us into the likeness of Jesus himself. We who see Jesus are saved.

Some writer says, "Never lose an opportunity to look on a beautiful thing, for it will leave a touch of new beauty in your own soul." We may say, "Lose not the opportunity to look upon Jesus, for he will print glory in your soul." Saint Paul tells us that by beholding the glory of Jesus, as it lies in the mirror of the Scriptures, we are changed into the same image (2 Corinthians 3:18)..

The old monks had a superstitious notion that if they gazed continuously and intensely on the figure of the Jesus on his cross which hung upon their cell wall, the marks of the wounds would appear in them ‒ the print of the nails in their hands and feet, and the scar of the spear gash in their side.

This is but a gross representation of the spiritual truth which lies under it ‒ that beholding Jesus produces the real "marks of the Lord Jesus" in our souls. Looking upon him with steady, loving gaze, the glorious vision that our eyes behold prints itself deep in our hearts, and the "beauty of the Lord" shines out in our dull faces.

32

HOMAGE

When Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judaea ... there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.

Matthew 2:1

THAT was the most wonderful birth that ever occurred in this world. It is not strange there were so many remarkable events accompanying it ‒ that angels came down to announce it and sing their song of rejoicing, and that wise men came from afar to pay their homage. It was the Son of God incarnate who slept his first sleep in the manger of Bethlehem.

This is so great a mystery that we cannot understand it; yet we know that the same One who then became flesh had been from all eternity with God, that he was God, that he made all things, that in him was the fountain of all life and blessedness.

That a child should be born was not a strange thing; children are born in this world with every heartbeat. That a child should be born in a stable was not a remarkable occurrence in that country. But when we remember who it was that was made flesh that night, we find ourselves in the presence of the most stupendous wonder of all ages.

We should certainly come with the shepherds and the Magi to pay our homage at the cradle of this same glorious child-King. The Magi came hundreds of miles to find Jesus. The journey was difficult and perilous, and very costly. We ought to count no toil or sacrifice too great to find Jesus.

We ought to be ready to go thousands of miles, if need be, to find him. He is the pearl of great price, and we shall be well repaid for our quest ‒ even if it costs us the loss and sacrifice of all things, and though we may even have to lay down our lives to gain him.

We notice also that it is not always those who are nearest to Jesus who first see his glory. He was born right among the Jews, but nobody went out from Jerusalem to worship him. Shall it be so with us? Shall we miss the blessing of seeing the Saviour who is so near?

33

THE KING OF KINGS

Where is he that is born Krug of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Matthew 2:2

SURELY it was strange that the Jews did not know of the birth of their own King. Usually when future kings are born, the whole realm rings with joy. But when the Messiah was born there was no rejoicing on earth. A few humble shepherds came to look with wonder on the newborn babe which lay in the young mother's arms; but that was all. The Jews had been looking for their Messiah, but did not recognize him when he came.

For one thing, we learn how quiet his advent was. There was no blare of trumpets. Noise and show are not necessary accompaniments of power. The mightiest energies in this world are often the quietest. The grace of God always comes quietly. Angels minister noiselessly and often unseen. The most useful Christians are not those who make the most ado in their work, but those who in humility, unconscious of any splendour shining in their faces, go daily about their work for Jesus.

Another thought here is that we do not always know when Jesus comes to us. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not (John 1:10). Yet why should we complain so of the Jews? Are we any better? Our King is in our midst. Do we recognize him? Do we worship and honour him? These wise men had only a star to guide them; yet they followed it with loving trust and unfaltering step, and it led them to the feet of the King of glory.

Even the faintest glimmerings of light should be welcomed and their guidance accepted. We must not wait to know all about Jesus, and see him in all his glory, before we set out to seek him. We should follow the first faint gleams. As we go on, the light will brighten, until we see him in all his blessed beauty, face to face.

34

OFFERING GIFTS

They saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:11

THOSE who follow the light will surely be led at last to Jesus. There is always joy, too, in the heart when someone has found the Saviour. The first act is to adore and worship him. These men saw only the little babe lying in the young mother's arms. There was no crown on his head. No glory gleamed from his face. His surroundings were most unkingly, without pomp or pageant. The child did nothing in their presence to show his royalty ‒ spoke no word, wrought no kingly act of power. Yet the Magi believed and worshipped him.

Think how much more we know about the Jesus than they did. We see him in all the glory of his life and death and resurrection and ascension. We see him sitting at the right hand of God, King of kings, wearing many crowns. It is not hard for us to see the regal marks in him. Shall we be behind the Magi in our adoration?

They were not content merely to worship the King, showing him homage in word and posture; but they also laid their gifts at his feet. It is not enough for us to sing our songs of praise to Jesus, to look up adoringly into his face, to bow before him in reverent worship, and speak our heart's homage in words. We should bring our gifts, too, to lay at his feet.

There is a great deal of mere sentiment in the consecration of many people. When there is call for gifts of sacrifice, or for real service, it instantly vanishes. People sing missionary hymns with great warmth, and when the collection box comes to them they have no gifts to offer. These men not only brought presents, but they brought presents that were costly. We should bring our best, our gold and frankincense and myrrh, the alabaster box of our heart's deepest love ‒ and the best of all, our life and service.

35

GUARDIAN ANGELS

When they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth.

Matthew 2:13

WE have a glimpse here of the closeness of Heaven's watch over this imperilled Babe. A wicked king was plotting for the life of the child, and his earthly friends could not protect him. But in the hour of human weakness, Heaven came quickly to shelter and save him. The destinies of the human race were in that Child's life, and all God's power would have been used to deliver him. It is a precious truth, too, that over every child Heaven keeps a like close and sure watch.

The poet William Wordsworth says, "Heaven lies about us in our infancy;" and it is very true of every child. Jesus himself said, speaking of the children, Their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 18:10). This means that heaven's strongest, holiest, and most favoured angels are set to guard children in this world.

Fathers and mothers should never forget that their children are very dear to God, and are under his unsleeping protection. This should give them great comfort and confidence, as their little ones go out into the midst of the world's dangers. No human eye can be always upon them. No human hand can ward off the evils that lurk in every shadow. But there are unseen guardians that never leave them for a moment. Heaven is interested in the keeping of every tender child's life in this world.

Christian parents may commit their little ones to God with implicit confidence. If they are only faithful as parents, God will not disappoint their hopes. Children also should know that they are being cared for by celestial guardians whom they cannot see. Angels may not frequently appear in these days, but they are continually around us, encamping about our homes, and watching over us by day and by night. Though their bright faces are not seen by our dull eyes, their loving ministry never ceases.

36

HEAVENLY GUIDANCE

Be thou there until I bring thee word.

Matthew 2:13

ALL our movements should be under the direction of God. In Moses' time, God guided his people by a pillar of fire and cloud, which lifted and moved when they were to move, showing them the way, and which rested and settled down when they were to halt. In these days of so much fuller revelation, there is no need for any such visible token of guidance, yet the guidance is no less real and no less unmistakable.

It was an angel that brought to Joseph the bidding to flee into Egypt (Matthew 2:13). Angels may not now appear to our eyes, but who will say that they do not whisper in our ears many a suggestion which we suppose to come from our own hearts? At least we know that in some way God will always tell us what to do ‒ and if only we have ears to hear, we shall never fail of guidance. We should always wait for God's bidding from the Holy Spirit before taking any step. Especially in times of danger, when we are moving under his guidance, should we wait and not move until he brings us word.

It ought to give us great comfort and a wonderful sense of safety to know that God is caring for us so faithfully. Some people laugh at the simple faith of child-like believers in God, and say that it is all fancy ‒ that there is no one in heaven taking care of us. But we need not be worried by such sceptical ones. There is a God in heaven, and he is our Father. He never sleeps. He has charge of all the affairs of this universe, and is always "at the helm."

This should give us all confidence. Our whole duty is to be ready always to obey. Whenever the voice comes bidding us arise and depart, there is some reason for it, and we should not hesitate to obey. Wherever we are sent we should quietly stay till again God sends to call us away. The place of duty is always the place of safety, and we should never move until God brings us word.

37

THE NAZARETH HOME

He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth.

Matthew 2:23

IT WAS in that little village, until ready for his public ministry, that Jesus made his home. It is a sweet thought that the Son of God dwelt for so many years in a home on earth. His pure and sinless life opened out there as a bud opens into a lovely rose, pouring fragrance over all the lowly place.

The study of the childhood and the youth of Jesus, even from the few fragmentary glimpses of those years given us in the Gospels, ought to prove an inspiration to every child and young person. No doubt, we wish that we could know more of that blessed home life, but the little we are told about it is enough, or God's Spirit would have given us more of the story. We know there was no sin in Jesus, and we can think of his gentleness, his obedience, his love, his unselfishness, and of all his other graces and beauties of character.

He was a natural child, glad, joyous, interested in beautiful things, studious, earnest without being precocious or unnaturally religious. He was such a boy as God loves, and as he would have every other boy strive to be. We have one glimpse of Jesus at twelve, when he began to think of his relation to the heavenly Father. Yet we must note the fact that he went back to Nazareth and resumed his place of filial duty, staying there for eighteen years longer.

The Father's business on which Jesus entered at twelve was not preaching and working miracles, and going about doing good in a public manner, but for the time remaining at home, a dutiful child, a glad, helpful youth, and an industrious, growing man.

Some young men chafe under the providence that keeps them so many years in a quiet, obscure home, where they can do only plain, common duty. But if Jesus found his Nazareth home a wide enough sphere for his blessed life, surely we should not think any home too narrow for our young lives to grow in.

38

THE MOTHER OF JESUS

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom.

Luke 2:40

ONE of the chief influences in moulding Jesus' life was his mother. When God wants to prepare a man for a great mission, he first prepares a righteous mother, and puts the child into her bosom to be trained. The Jews had a saying, "God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." Nearly all the truly great men of the world have received the inspiration and stamp of their lives from their mothers.

When Moses was to be trained for his work, the Lord put the little babe back in the hands of its mother as his first teacher. There is no doubt that in preparing Mary to be the mother of the Saviour, the rarest and loveliest graces of womanhood were wrought by God into her nature. She was not sinless, but surely we may believe that no more perfect woman ever lived.

Woman! above all women glorified;

Our tainted nature's solitary boast;

Purer than foam on central ocean tossed;

Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strown

With fancied roses.

In whom did blend

All that was mixed and reconciled in thee

Of mother's love with maiden purity.

William Wordsworth

Such a mother would exert a wonderful influence over the child Jesus. She was his first teacher. Her love wrapped him around in its warm folds in his earliest infancy and through all his youth and young manhood. Her sweet life was the atmosphere that hung over his tenderest years. Her prayers kept heaven lying ever close about him.

Her hands guided his feet and shaped his character. What a blessed mission is that of a mother, any mother! What woman in whose arms God has laid an immortal life will despise her glorious calling? What woman so honoured will not die rather than prove unfaithful to her holy trust?

39

THE ROCK OF SALVATION

Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark 1:1

MARK does not intend that there shall be room for mistake concerning the person of our Lord. Each of the names he here uses represents one particular phase of his character. Jesus means Saviour. Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). None of his names can be sweeter than this. It is enshrined in every Christian heart. This is the name that brings hope into our souls.

The first thing we all need is to be saved, and Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. Christ means the Anointed One, the Messiah. He is the one whom the Father has anointed to be prophet, priest, and king. He is our prophet, our teacher; he is our priest interceding for us, having already made himself an offering for our sins; he is our king, and we ought to obey him.

Son of God tells of his Divine nature and his eternal Sonship. This is the name that gives security to all our hopes and trusts. If Jesus were only a man, he might be very tender, loving, and kind, but could he do for us everything we need? Could a man make atonement for our sins? Could a man put his own life into our dead souls? Could a man fight our battles for us, and rescue us out of the hands of Satan? Could a man be with us in all the ways of toil, sorrow, need, and struggle? Could a man save us in death and bear us through the dark mystery to glory? Could a man stand for us in the judgment?

The Divinity of Jesus is the rock of our hope and our salvation. Our Saviour and anointed King is the Son of God. We can lean upon his breast and know that we are folded about with divinity, that our refuge is the eternal God, and that the arms which are clasped about us are everlasting. In all danger we may rest secure, for the power that would pluck us out of our resting place must be mightier than God's.

40

REPENTANCE

Repent ye.

Matthew 3:2

THIS was John the Baptist's gospel of salvation. At first it seems very unlike the story of love which Jesus preached, and yet it is part of the same story. Repentance must always come before forgiveness and peace. Perhaps we need to be reminded of this in these days. We are in danger of making salvation too easy a matter and of being altogether too tolerant with ourselves. We forget, some of us, that sin is such a terrible thing, and we are too careless about getting rid of our sins.

We misunderstand God's forgiveness if we think of it merely as an easy forgetting that we have done the wrong thing. Jesus did not come to save us merely from sin's penalties ‒ he came to save us from the sins themselves, by leading us to forsake them for ever. Unless we repent of our sins we never can have forgiveness.

We must make sure, too, that we do careful work in our repenting. Repentance is not merely a little twinge of remorse over some wrong thing. It is not simply a gush of tears at the recollection of some wickedness. It is not mere shame at being found out in some meanness or uncleanness or dishonesty. It is the revolution of the whole life. Sins wept over must be forsaken for ever.

Repentance is a change of heart, a turning of the face the other way. It is well for us to make diligent quest to be sure that we always abandon the wrongdoing which we deplore, that we quit the evil course which we regret, that we turn away from the sin which we confess.

A good many people get only half the gospel. They talk a great deal about believing, but very little about repenting. It needs to be remembered that a faith which does not lead to genuine repentance is not a faith that saves. He who bewails a sin and confesses it, secretly intending to return to it again, has no good ground to hope that he is forgiven.

41

THE COMING OF THE LORD

Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Matthew 3:3

THE Lord is always coming to us, or is always ready to come to us, if the way is open for him. Yet no doubt we are continually losing heavenly visitations because the road is blocked. If we would receive the visitations we must keep the way always open. Sins clung to, unconfessed, unrepented of, unforsaken, block up the path, and Jesus cannot come to us until we get them out of the way.

Then there is another sense in which we need to prepare the way of the Lord. He may come any moment in death to call us away from all our busy work. Is there no preparation needed now in our hearts for this coming of the Lord? Are we ready for him any moment? Are our lamps trimmed and burning? Are we fully dressed in God's armour, and have we our shoes on our feet and our staves in our hands? If Jesus came this hour how would he find us?

Peter gives us good counsel when, speaking of Jesus' coming again, he says, Be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless (2 Peter 3:14). Would he find us thus if he came today? Are we in peace ‒ in peace with God, in peace with ourselves, in peace with all the world? Would he find us without spot? Have we kept our hands clean and our hearts pure, and ourselves unspotted from the world? Would he find us living blameless lives, so sincere, so true, so without blemish that the world can find no cause of reproach in us, and that he himself will approve us?

It will be well for us to think of these things, and if the way for his coming is not prepared, to hasten to have it ready, for he may come any moment. The Jews were taught to prepare a way for the coming of the Lord by repenting of their sins and turning their hearts to God. That is just what everyone must do who desires Jesus to come to him with blessing ‒ every sin must be swept out.

42

THE WRATH TO COME

Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Luke 3:7

THERE are a good many people who want to flee from wrath, but are not willing to give up that which draws down the wrath upon them. When a godless man becomes sick, and it seems as though he may die, straightway he begins to look about for some way of flight from the wrath that he feels hangs over him.

He sends for a minister or for some good man. He has his long-neglected Bible laid beside his bed. He will find refuge from his peril, if he can. He wants to have the Bible read to him. Perhaps there is some virtue in that which will shield him. He wants the minister to pray for him. He has heard that a good man's prayers will save a soul. He wants to be baptized and to receive the Lord's Supper. He hopes that these holy ordinances may somehow shelter him from the wrath.

All the while he has not really thought of trying to unload the burden which is crushing him. He is carrying his sins unconfessed and unforgiven. He has no true sense of sinfulness, no realization of God's holiness or of his own debt to him. He is simply terrified, and is trying to flee from the impending wrath. If he gets well again, he will very likely return to his old life and live on in sin as before, proving the insincerity and worthlessness of his repentance. If he were asked, "Who warned you to flee?" his answer could not be, "Love for Jesus," or "A sense of my guilt," but "Fear ‒ the terrors of death and eternity."

It was a very proper question, therefore, which John the Baptist asked the multitudes who came to him desiring to be baptized. The only flight that saves is away from sin, to Jesus. No one is saved to caries their sins with them in their flight. The door of the refuge is wide enough to admit the worst penitent sinner, but not wide enough to admit any cherished sin.

43

EVIDENCE OF REPENTANCE

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.

Matthew 3:8

THERE is only one way to prove that we have truly repented. It will not be enough to tell people that we have ‒ they will wait to see the evidence in our lives. Suppose a wicked person joins the Church and then goes back on Monday morning to their old wicked ways, will anybody credit their Sunday's profession? They must go on Monday morning to a new life if their repentance is to pass for anything. Everybody knows what is right in such a case.

None are quicker to cry out against the insincerity and unreality of someone's profession than wicked people themselves, when they see someone continue in their old evil ways. Even bad people know what it is to be good; thus they pay high compliment to Christianity. Repentance amounts to nothing whatever if it produces only a few tears, a spasm of regret. A little fright as a flash from eternity reveals to someone their guilt and danger, but what if they return tomorrow to the same old wicked ways? What are the works that are worthy of repentance?

A grocer went home from the meeting one night where he had heard a sermon about false weights and measures, and burned the "bushel" he had been using to cheat his customers. A father who had been living carelessly in his home, when awakened to the truth took down the old family Bible and confessed to his household his neglect, and re-established the family worship. These are illustrations of work worthy of repentance.

In short, we must leave the sins we repent of, and must do them no more, and we must walk in the new clean ways of holiness. The heart is the important matter in all spiritual life, but the heart makes the life; and if the life be yet evil the heart can be no better, whatever external profession of a new life it may have made. The way to prove to others that we have really repented, is really to repent, and the fact will soon speak for itself.

44

THE DIVINE PATIENCE

The axe is laid unto the root of the trees.

Matthew 3:10

THE axe lying at the tree's root, or raised in the woodman's hand to strike, shows that judgment impends, hangs ready to fall. Any moment the tree may be cut down. The axe lying at the tree's root unused tells of patience in the husbandman. He is waiting to see if the fruitless tree will yet bear fruit. The axe leans quietly against the tree. The meaning is very plain.

God waits long for impenitent sinners to return to him. He is slow to punish or to cut off the day of opportunity. He desires all to repent and he saved. Yet we must not trifle with the Divine patience and forbearance. We must remember that while the axe is not lifted to strike, still there is not a moment when it is not lying close, ready to be used; when the summons may not come, "Hasten to judgment." The axe of death really lies all the while at the root of every life. There is not a moment when it is not true that there is but a step between us and death.

The lying of the axe at the root suggests that its use is not pruning but cutting down. God has two axes. One he uses in pruning his trees, removing the fruitless branches, and cleansing the fruitful branches that they may bring forth more fruit. The work of this axe is not judgment or destruction, but mercy and blessing. It is the good, the fruitful tree that feels its keen edge.

Then God has another axe which he uses only in judgment, in cutting down those trees which after all his culture of them bring forth no fruit.

Life is all very critical. There is not a moment in any day on which may not turn all the destinies of eternity. It certainly is an infinitely perilous thing for an immortal soul to rest an hour with the axe of judgment waiting to strike the blow that will end for ever the day of mercy. Only the most supreme folly can be blind to duty in such a case.

45

OUR EVERY-DAY LIFE

He answereth and saith unto them....

Luke 3:11

IN John the Baptist's several answers to the different inquiries made of him, we see that our faith is not something entirely apart from our everyday life. He did not tell these men to fast for a week, or to leave their business and retire to a monastery, or enter upon a long course of devotions. Nothing of the kind. They were to begin at once to live according to God's commandments in their own particular calling ‒ to do their everyday work faithfully.

The "people" were to begin to practise the law of love, thus giving up their greed and selfishness. The "publicans" were to cease to practise extortion, and begin to deal honestly and justly with all men. The "soldiers" were to refrain from all acts of violence. He did not tell them to give up their calling, but to do their duty as good and true men in their calling ‒ to carry the principles of true faith into all their actions.

It is well for us to catch this lesson. A good many people think that being a Christian is to pray a few moments morning and evening, to read a daily chapter or two in the Bible, and attend church on Sunday. These duties are important as means of grace, but they are not true Christian faith. Faith is living out the principles of Christianity in one's ordinary weekday life. It is getting the Bible and the prayers and the services into thought and act and character.

We must not cut our lives in two and call one part secular, governing it by one set of principles, and regarding the other part as sacred, to be controlled by another set of rules. All life is to be made holy in the sense that everything is to be done in such a way as to please God, under the direction of his counsel. We have just as much spiritual life as we get into our weekday life, and not a whit more. Whatever we do, even to eating and drinking, we should do in the name of the Lord Jesus.

46

SELF-RENUNCIATION

John answered ... one mightier than I cometh.

Luke 3:16

THERE is something very fine in John the Baptist's behaviour on this occasion. The people were expecting Jesus, and when John rose up in such brightness they were ready to accept him as the Messiah. So intense was the excitement, so wild was the enthusiasm, that almost the whole nation flocked to the Jordan to see and hear John.

One word from John the Baptist claiming to be the Messiah would have kindled a feeling among the people which would have crowned him as king. But the picture which we see is this great man pushing away the honours which lay within his grasp, and saying, "Nay, they are not mine to wear. Put them on the head of him who is coming after me."

Many of us are ready to accept honours for ourselves when we are doing Jesus' work. We like to have people praise us and commend us. Sometimes we are in danger of striving to get honour for ourselves, rather than to put honour upon Jesus. How much more beautiful was John's self-renunciation! It is pleasant when we have helped people to have them come to us with their grateful tributes, to have them show their love to us and put honour upon us.

Let us beware, however, lest we take that which belongs to Jesus, and also lest our friends see only us and see not Jesus. Let us keep ourselves out of the way, that they may behold him. Let us remember always that there is One coming after us, yea, standing unseen beside us, while we do our work, that is far mightier than we, and that we should strive only and always to put the honour upon him, utterly forgetting ourselves.

He will look after us and honour us, if we will only seek always his honour and never our own. But if we rob him here of the praise that is his, to wreathe garlands for our own brow, we shall find ourselves stripped of honour and crown in the day of Jesus' manifesting.

47

BAPTISM

I indeed baptize you with water. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

Luke 3:16

BAPTISM with water is right. It is one of God's appointments, and he would require nothing that is useless. Some people think that there is no necessity for being baptized; but they make themselves wiser than Jesus in saying this of that which he commanded to be done.

Baptism has a meaning, and must never be despised. It teaches by picture, showing us, first, that we are unclean and need washing, and then depicting the deep work of grace by which the heart is cleansed.

We should not lightly esteem a rite which has such solemn Divine sanction. But while baptism with water is proper and should not be omitted, it cannot wash away sin or save our souls. We must not think that because we have been baptized we are necessarily Christians. There must be a change within us. We must be converted, born again. And no amount of washing with water will produce this change. Jesus must baptize us with the Holy Spirit. There is danger that many are satisfied with the baptismal water, and do not look for the regenerating grace.

It is the peril of all forms of church rituals that people trust in them and do not realize their need of Jesus. A few drops of water on the brow make no impression on the life, and it is only when the baptism symbolized by the water is received by faith that real blessing comes upon the one who is baptized. When Jesus was being baptized he prayed, and the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended and abode upon him.

Like blessing descends from heaven upon everyone receiving the symbol who also by prayer seek the heavenly baptism. The same is true of the Lord's Supper and other Divine ordinances. When the ordinance is received in faith and with prayer, God gives the grace of which the emblem is but the image.

48

WHEAT OR CHAFF?

He will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff.

Matthew 3:12

THE illustration which the preacher of the desert here uses is very striking. The wheat sheaves were gathered on the threshing floor and trodden over by oxen to free the grains from the chaff. Then came the process of winnowing, when the chaff was blown away and the wheat left on the floor ready for use. After that, the wheat was carried to the garner ‒ the granary ‒ and the chaff was swept up and burned. God's penitent, believing ones are wheat, and the finally impenitent and unbelieving are chaff. Jesus' gospel has a stern side.

The same breath that cleanses the wheat drives away the chaff. Which are we ‒ wheat or chaff? Very evidently our eternal destiny will depend on which we are, and we ought to be very sure of it ourselves.

There is a great difference between wheat and chaff. Wheat has life in it. Wheat grains dropped into the earth grow and yield a harvest. Wheat is food; it makes bread and satisfies hunger. Wheat is precious; it is highly prized in the market. Chaff has no life in it. It does not grow, and only rots in the ground. It is not food; it satisfies no hunger. It is not of any value, and it is good only to throw away or to burn. Which of these descriptions best fits our lives?

What sadder thing is there in this world than a human life, made to be golden wheat, to feed men's hunger, yet proving only worthless chaff? Apart from the doom of impenitence, who, with an immortal soul and almost infinite possibilities of usefulness and blessedness, should be content to be worthless chaff? Made to be children of God and heirs of glory, and to live in blessedness in heaven for ever, shall we tear ourselves away from our high destiny, and by our own unbelief and folly doom ourselves to be swept by the Divine wrath into unquenchable fire?

49

EXTERNAL RITES

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized, of him.

Matthew 3:13

WE may look at the baptism of Jesus in several ways. For one thing, it tells us that he honoured the external rites of religion. Some people cannot see why it is necessary to make a public confession and to observe the ordinances of the Church. These are only rituals, they argue, and do no good.

What benefit is it, they ask, to a man or woman or to an infant to have a few drops of water sprinkled on the forehead, or even to be plunged into water?

What blessing can come to one's soul from eating a little piece of bread and drinking a sip of wine as a religious ceremony? Or what good does it do to one to "join the Church"?

There are many reasons that might be given why we should observe the ordinances which God has appointed, but none ought to have more weight than Jesus' own example. He thought external rites to be of sufficient importance to be observed by him. He came all the way from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized, and then insisted on receiving the ordinance. He was publicly baptized, thus showing all men where he stood, enrolling himself under the banner of righteousness.

Shall we say, then, that there is no necessity for public confession of Jesus, for declaring ourselves on his side, for uniting with his Church? The disciple is not above his Lord. Surely Jesus would not have ordained baptism if baptism is a mere empty and valueless form. He would not have commanded us to observe the Lord's Supper if the Lord's Supper is nothing more than a common meal, and not a means of grace.

The fact that the wise and holy Jesus ordained them ought to make them sacred to every loyal Christian heart. And the fact that Jesus himself thought these necessary for him, ought to silence shallow talk that we do not need to observe these "forms."

50

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John.

Mark 1:9

ONE meaning of Jesus' baptism was that it was his consecration to his public ministry. For thirty years he had dwelt in the quiet home at Nazareth, doing no miracle, wearing no halo, manifesting no Divine glory. But he had been sent into this world on a definite mission, and now the time had come for him to enter upon the work of that mission.

So, obeying the heavenly bidding, he left his home and came to the Jordan to be baptized, and thus consecrated to the ministry of redemption. He knew what was involved in his work.

From the edge of the Jordan he saw what his life would be through to the end. The shadow of the cross fell on the green banks and on the flowing river, fell also across the gentle and holy soul of Jesus as he stood there. He knew what that baptism meant, to what it introduced him, what its end would be. Yet, knowing all, he voluntarily came to be baptized, thus accepting the mission of redemption.

It was a solemn hour to Jesus when he stood before John waiting for the ordinance that would set him apart to his work. It was a literal laying of himself on the altar, not for service only, but for death.

It is always a solemn hour when anyone stands before God and men to make a public confession of Jesus and to enter his service. The act is nothing less than the consecration of a human soul to a service for life or for death.

On the seal of one missionary society, an ox stands between an altar and a plough, and below is the motto, "Ready for either" ‒ ready for service or for sacrifice. This should be the heart legend in every public confession. It should be a solemn devotion to Jesus ‒ an entire surrender to him for obedience, duty, sacrifice. A consecration of the whole life to Jesus and his service. Such consecration everyone has made who have publicly given themselves to Jesus.

51

THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS

Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.

Matthew 3:15

ONE meaning of Jesus' words here is that as man in the place of sinful men, he must take upon him all the conditions of humanity. He had no sins of his own to confess, and yet he came to John the Baptist as other men came. He did this because he was in the place of sinners. A little later John pointed to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:36).

So we see Jesus coming to be baptized, because all we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). This baptism with water, however, was but the merest shadow of what the bearing of our sins cost him.

In Holman Hunt's picture, "The Shadow of the Cross," Jesus is represented as a young man, standing in the carpenter's shop at the close of the day. He stretches out his arms, and the setting sun casts his shadow in the form of a cross on the opposite wall. The artist's thought is that across the young Jesus thus early fell indeed the shadow of the cross. No doubt the thought is true. Especially here, as Jesus entered his public ministry, did this shadow fall upon him.

This baptism was but the emblem of the other baptism. This was only with water, and was but symbolical. He had another baptism to be baptized with ‒ the baptism of sorrow, of death, and of curse, when he redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).

Here we see Jesus entering upon the edge of his sore baptism from which he finally emerges on the morning of his resurrection. We ought never to forget, as we enjoy the blessings of redemption, what it cost our Lord to procure them for us. He endured his nameless baptism of sorrow, pain, and death, that we might receive the blessings of peace and joy. He tasted death for us, that we might have deathless life.

52

THE SPIRIT LIKE A DOVE

He saw ... the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.

Mark 1:10

EVEN Jesus with all his Divine power needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to set him apart for his lifework, and to make him ready for it. How much more do we, his disciples, need the same anointing before we are truly set apart for work and qualified for it?

There is rich lesson also in the form in which the Spirit descended. A great many tender thoughts cluster around the dove. It was the dove that the very poor were permitted to bring to the altar as an offering, as a substitute for a more costly animal. The appearance of the dove was one of the heralds of coming spring. The dove was always remembered by the Jews in connection with the abatement of the waters of the deluge, when it returned to the ark bearing the olive leaf; and it has become among all Christian nations, as well as the olive branch, an emblem of peace.

The dove was also referred to by Jesus as a symbol of gentleness and innocence. All these associations made the dove a most fitting emblematic form for the Holy Spirit to assume when descending upon Jesus. For Jesus came to be a sacrifice for all, even the poorest. He came as the spring comes, bringing life to a dead world. He came bringing a message of peace from heaven to everyone who will open to him. And he is like the dove in gentleness and innocence.

It is this same holy Dove that must descend upon us if the kingdom of heaven is truly to begin in our hearts. Until the Holy Spirit has been given to us, and received by us, there is no life in our souls and no power in us for work. But this Divine anointing is promised to all who truly consecrate themselves to Jesus and believe on him. No vision of open heavens and descending dove appears to human eyes, but above every scene of holy devotion to Jesus this blessed reality hangs.

53

ENDURING TEMPTATION

Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Matthew 4:1

THE time is to be noted. It was just after the wonderful scenes of our Lord's baptism. The heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended and abode upon him, and the Father's voice was heard from heaven in approval and witness. Then immediately came the terrible experience here described. Spiritual privileges do not save us from fiery trials. Indeed, there is no time when Satan is so sure to come with his subtle arts as just when we have passed through some season of special blessing.

When we go from our quiet place of prayer, after a time of tender communion, he meets us at the door with some evil suggestion. It is after we have been nearest to God that we are sure to find the devil most active. He is not half so anxious to tempt worldly Christians as those who are glowing with spiritual zeal.

The writer John Trapp says: "All the while our Saviour lay in his father's shop and meddled only with carpenter's chips, the devil troubled him not; now that he is to enter more publicly upon his mediatorship, the tempter pierceth his tender soul with many sorrows by solicitation to sin."

It is the same with us. So long as we move on quietly in our ordinary life he does not trouble himself to harm us; but when we rouse up to new consecration and new activity in God's service he pounces upon us and tries to destroy us. It is therefore in our times of greatest spiritual exaltation that we need to be most watchful.

We learn here also that we may expect to endure temptation in this world. New power came to Jesus through his conflicts. His life was developed and made perfect through sufferings. Then he was fitted for sympathy with us in our temptations, by himself being tempted in all points as we are. Temptations resisted always bring new strength. Victorious struggle prepares us for helping others in their temptations.

54

OUR TRUE LIFE

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Matthew 4:4

THERE are other needs of life besides those which bread supplies. Sometimes we hear it said as a reason for doing wrong, "Well, I must live;" as if hunger excused stealing or fraud or other sinning in order to get bread. But it is not true that we must live, or that living is in itself the best thing for us. It certainly is not true that we must live if we cannot live without sinning. We have a higher life than our physical, and this, our true life, is nourished by communion with God.

It is never right for us to starve our spiritual nature to get bread for our bodies. It is our first duty to keep God's commandments, and in obedience is the highest good that we can attain in this world. Sometimes the best thing that we can do for our life is to lose it. We had better any day starve to death than commit the smallest sin to get bread. Jesus said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).

Getting bread should not be our first object in living, and is really not our business at all. Life's true object is to obey every word of God, and seek his righteousness. So let us settle it once for all, that we are never to do any wrong thing to get bread; that we are to be true to God always and everywhere, and then leave to him the caring for our bodies. He promises that he will do this if we seek first and only his kingdom and righteousness.

If he wants us to suffer, it will be because in some way suffering will be best. At least we should leave that to him. Then if we are to go hungry for a time, he will give us strength to endure the pangs until he sees fit to send relief. Even if we are to die for want of bread, our soul, our true being, shall live, and shall pass unstained into God's eternal blessedness.

55

SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE

Jesus said unto him, It is written again.

Matthew 4:7

JESUS is our example in all things. Here we see how he met the tempter so as to conquer him. We see just what weapons he used in his victorious conflicts. He used his Bible as a quiver, and he drew from it the sharp arrows which he hurled so successfully against his opponent. We notice, too, that he did not have to get down his Bible and search through it to find texts to use in his battle. He drew them from memory. This shows that Jesus had made the Scriptures a study in the quiet days at Nazareth, and had his heart filled with the precious words, so that when he needed them they were ready.

The lesson for us is clear. If we would be ready to meet the assaults of the tempter, we must have our quiver filled with the polished shafts of Scripture. We must have the words of the Holy Book laid away in reserve in our hearts, so that at the most sudden call we may use them.

There is another thought here. Jesus said, "It is written again." We must compare Scripture with Scripture, so as to be sure of the will of God. A single text taken by itself may not give us the whole mind of the Spirit on any subject. It may be necessary to take other passages, presenting other phases of the truth, in order to get the whole truth. Here the case is very plain and very instructive. The devil had quoted a sublime promise, but had distorted it, omitting the qualifying or limiting words in it.

It is very true that God gives his angels charge over us, but it is true also that to get this heavenly care and protection we must walk in the ways of obedience and duty. The moment we turn away unbidden into other paths, and go where God has not sent us, we forfeit this protection. So we must remember always, when we are tempted to expect God's care or blessing in any sinful or wilful course of our own, that it is written again, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

56

THE LAMB OF GOD

And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

John 1:36

THIS was the first gospel sermon, and it is a model for all preachers and teachers. The preacher pointed his own followers away from himself to Jesus. This same beautiful unselfishness appears in all John the Baptist's teaching. He was only a voice, announcing the coming of a King. He was not that Light, but only one bearing witness of that Light. With throngs following him, the moment Jesus came, John asked the throngs to leave him and go after Jesus. His whole ministry was simply a pointing of men to another.

This is what all Christian workers should do. They should preach and teach Jesus, not themselves. They should not seek to win attention to themselves, but to get everyone to see Jesus and to love him. Like John, they should be willing to decrease, so that Jesus might increase; they should be satisfied to fade away like the morning star in the brightness of the sun's rising.

This name by which John drew attention to Jesus is important. He called him the Lamb of God. This meant that Jesus had come into the world not only to be a teacher, but chiefly to be a sacrifice for the sin of the world, to die in the place of sinners. Jesus was called a lamb, no doubt, because of his gentleness and meekness; but the principal reason was because he was to save us from our sins by bearing them himself. Just the day before this, John said of Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Not only did Jesus take our sin upon himself; he bore it away into eternal forgetfulness, to be remembered no more for ever. Now all who come to him are safe for ever from condemnation. Long ago their sins were laid on the atoning Lamb, and they will never have to be borne a second time. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

57

WHAT SEEK YE?

They followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?

John 1:37-38

HERE we see how easy Jesus makes it for those who set out to find him. When we start to seek him, ever so timidly and tremblingly, he does not leave us to seek without encouragement, but quickly turns to meet us and to cheer and help us. Then he does not stand apart on some lofty mountain-top far away, or hide himself out of sight, compelling us to seek him on our own and struggle through sore difficulties to get to his feet. He sees us when we take our first steps toward him, and notes the very beginnings of our heart's longings for him.

In the parable, the father was watching and saw the prodigal son as he came painfully and wearily homeward; and when he saw him he ran to meet him (Luke 15:11-32). It is just in this way that Jesus does when he sees a penitent sinner turn his face toward him.

Notice his question also: "What seek ye?" This is Jesus' question to all who begin to go after him. He wants us to know ourselves just what it is that we are seeking for. Once, when two blind men cried after him, he turned and asked, What will ye that I shall do unto you? (Matthew 20:32). It is good for us to get our desires into definite form.

Many people are unhappy, and know that they need something, but do not know what it is. They are unsatisfied with themselves. They are conscious of imperfection, of sin, of unrest. They bend their faces toward Jesus and begin to pray to him, but their prayers are vague and indefinite. Then Jesus turns and asks, "What seek ye?"

If we will settle definitely what we want he will be ready to answer. The form of this question also veils a promise: "Tell me what ye seek, and I will give it to you." The question is nothing less than a key to Jesus' treasure house. We need only to be sure that we seek truly, but we must remember that seeking is a very strong word.

58

BEGIN AT HOME

He first findeth his own brother Simon ... and he brought him to Jesus.

John 1:41-42

NOBODY told Andrew to go after his brother. It was the impulse of his own heart that sent him so quickly away on his errand of love, after he had found Jesus himself. The lesson lies on the surface. "Even a dog," says the writer Alexander Maclaren, "that has had its leg mended will bring other limping dogs to the man that was kind to it." One who has been cured of some disease will bring all his afflicted friends to the physician who cured him.

You have had your soul saved. All about you are those whose souls are lost, as yours was a little while ago. How many have you brought to Jesus? Do you think you can hold up clean hands, free from the blood of souls, unless you try earnestly to bring others to Jesus? Notice that it was his own brother that Andrew brought. The words indicate that the other man, John, brought his brother too ‒ only Andrew was quicker.

Home, then, is the place where we ought to begin. Yet, strange to say, it is the last place many of us speak about Jesus. The old proverb has it, "The shoemaker's wife is always the worst shod." Often it is the preacher's or the teacher's own home that gets the least benefit and blessing from his messages of love, or from his Christian life and influence.

Surely the dearest in the world to you are home's precious ones. Go first to them, therefore, if any of them are unsaved, and try to bring them to your Saviour, that they may find what you have found. Of course, you will not stop with home. Let the circle widen until your influence reaches as widely as possible; but do not overlook home and those nearest and dearest to you while you stretch out your hands toward mission fields in foreign lands, or even reach over the fence to save a neighbour. That is a mistake some people make.

59

FINDING JESUS

We have found the Messiah.

John 1:41

WE must notice the kind of witness Andrew used with his brother. He just went to him with a great joy in his heart ‒ the joy of discovery and of satisfaction ‒ and told him about it. An English preacher gives in a sermon this illustration, showing how much more convincing power there is in a little bit of real Christian life than there is in a large amount of religious doctrine.

A minister delivered in his pulpit a very fine course of lectures in dismissal of some form of unbelief. He delivered the course chiefly for the benefit of one man that attended his place of worship. The man was sceptical, and the preacher hoped to remove his doubts. Shortly after the close of the lectures this man came and declared himself a Christian. The minister was very glad, and said to him, "Which of my discourses was it that removed your doubts?"

The answer was, "Oh, it was not any of your sermons that influenced me. The thing that set me to thinking was a poor woman that came out of the chapel beside me one night and stumbled on the steps. I reached out my hand to help her, and she said, 'Thank you'; then she said, 'Do you love Jesus Christ, my blessed Saviour?' I did not, and I went home and thought about it; and now I can say, I love Jesus."

An ounce of heart is worth more than a ton of lead in winning souls. When we have really found Jesus ourselves, the best way to bring others is just to tell them what Jesus is to us. One word of genuine and hearty confession of Jesus by a person whose soul is full of the new-found joy, is worth more than the most eloquent sermons to lead others to believe in Jesus.

Let us be sure that people know from us that we have really found Jesus; then they cannot but be impressed. It will surely be a sad pity if we should so live that they will not suspect that we are Christians.

60

THE WEDDING-FEAST

There was a marriage in Cana; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

John 2:1-2

JESUS approved, blessed, and adorned marriage by attending this wedding feast. The Bible from the beginning to the end puts high honour upon marriage. God himself ordained it in Eden. It is not without exceptional significance that Jesus made this his first public appearance, and wrought this, his first miracle, at a marriage, thus showing his approval, and putting his approval upon the relationship.

There is no subject on which young people in these days need to receive more careful instruction than concerning marriage. The many ill-advised and unhappy marriages, the alarming frequency of separation, and the ease with which for the slightest reason divorces are obtained, show that the ordinance is losing its sanctity in the public mind.

Jesus should be invited to every wedding, as he was to this at Cana. No marriage relationship should ever be entered into when his presence would not be welcome, and on which his blessing cannot be sought and obtained.

It should be noted further here that it was a wedding feast which Jesus attended. His ministry opened amid scenes of human happiness. We need to learn that Jesus is not merely a friend for our times of sorrow, but also for our times of joy. We do not think enough of this. We regard the Christian faith too much "as a lamp burning dimly in a sepulchre," and not as a sun shining amid the brightness and the radiance of the fairest day.

No doubt it is when trouble comes that Jesus seems most precious to us; but he is a Friend for our gladness as well. This lesson from the Cana wedding we should not lose. Our Lord does not frown upon pure, innocent pleasures. Mirth is a duty in its place as really as prayer. We need not be afraid to invite Jesus to our social enjoyments. Indeed, if we cannot invite him, something must be wrong with the pleasures themselves.

61

UNFAILING JOYS

And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

John 2:3

THIS incident is a very fitting illustration of the failure of all this world's joys. The wine gave out at a wedding feast. There was not enough of it to last through to the end. It is just so with all earth's pleasure. It comes in cups, not in fountains, and the supply is limited and soon exhausted. It is so especially with sin's pleasures. The prodigal son soon runs through with his abundance and begins to be in want.

The poet Robert Burns compared the pleasures of sin to a snowflake on the river: "A moment white ‒ then gone for ever." But it is true in a sense also of pure pleasures. Even the sweetness of human love is but a cupful which will not last for ever. The joy which so fills us today, tomorrow is changed to sorrow. Amid the gladness of the marriage altar there is the knell of the end in the words "till death us do part." One of every two friends must hold the other's hand in farewell at the edge of the valley ‒ must stand by the other's grave and walk alone part of the way.

The best wine of life and love will fail. If there were nothing better in this world, how sad it would be! But it is here that we see the glory of Jesus' gospel. Jesus comes when earth's wine fails and gives heaven's wine to supply the lack. How beautiful and how true is the picture here ‒ the failing wine, and then Jesus coming with power and supplying the want! That is what he is doing continually. He takes lives which have drained their last drop of earthly gladness, and he satisfies them with spiritual good and blessing so that they want nothing more.

When human joy fails, if we have Jesus with us, he gives new joy ‒ better than the world's joy, and in unfailing abundance. How sad it is for those who have not taken Jesus into their lives, and they have nothing but the empty cup when earth's wine gives out!

62

THE LORD'S TIME

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

John 2:4

JESUS meant that his time for beginning to work miracles had not yet come. With all Divine power slumbering in his hands, he would do nothing at any bidding but his Father's. Even his human mother's request he could not in this matter regard.

One thought here is our Lord's perfect devotion to his Father's will. We find the same all through his life. He did nothing of himself. He took his work moment by moment from his Father's hand. He waited always for his "hour." He had no plans of his own, but followed the Divine purpose in all his acts.

All those early years at Nazareth, with omnipotence in his arm, he wrought no miracle. Even now, though appealed to by his mother whom he so deeply loved, he would not do anything even one minute before his hour came.

The practical lesson for us here is devotion to God's will. We should always wait for God. Too many of us run before we are sent. In our zeal for God's cause and kingdom we do not wait for Divine direction. We speak words out of season which, despite their earnestness and sincerity, do harm rather than good.

We try to feed others with unripe fruits. We address people before they are prepared to hear, and often in words that drive them beyond our reach. We hurry out to preach, when we ought ourselves to be sitting quietly at our Master's feet as learners.

The most common fault among Christians is that they are too slow in doing Jesus' work and in heeding his calls; but it is a fault also to go too fast for God, to go before he sends us. With all warm love for Jesus we must learn to wait for him, to wait till our hour is come.

He must prepare us for the work before we are ready to do it, and then he must prepare the work for our hand. In Christian work we need patience and self-restraint as well as zeal and earnestness.

63

OBEDIENCE

His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

John 2:5

THAT is the word for all Jesus' servants. That is the motto of true consecration at all times and in all places. Every word in this sentence is emphatic and intense in its meaning. "Whatsoever he saith." There is no other one who has a right to command us.

We belong to Jesus because he has redeemed us. He is our only Lord and Master. "Whatsoever he saith." We must not choose some of his commands for obedience and some for neglect, inattention, or rejection. We are not to do the pleasant things he bids us to do, and leave undone the things that are not according to our own taste and feeling. We are to do even the things that cost pain and personal sacrifice.

It was thus that Jesus himself did the will of his Father. That will took him to his cross; but he did not shrink from accepting it when he saw the way growing dark before him, or when he felt the thorns under his feet and the burdens increasing into crushing weight upon his shoulders. If we would walk in his steps, our obedience must be complete.

"Whatsoever he saith." But how can we know what he says? We cannot hear his voice as the servants at the wedding heard it. He speaks now in his Word, and the worshipping heart may always hear what he says, as the sacred pages are prayerfully pondered.

He speaks in the conscience that is kept tender by loyal obeying. He speaks in the providence that brings duty to our hand. There never is any real uncertainty as to what he says, if we are truly intent on knowing his will.

"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it!" It is the doing that is important. We should never ask questions or make suggestions when Jesus has spoken. The one thing for us is obedience. We should never ask what the consequences may be, what it may cost us – we are simply to obey.

Jesus knows why he wants us to do the thing, and that should be reason enough for us.

64

CO-WORKERS WITH CHRIS

Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

John 2:7-8

THE servants' part in this miracle was important: they had to carry the water and fill the vessels, and then draw out and bear the wine to the guests. Thus they became co-workers with Jesus in his miracle. So our Lord calls his people always to be his helpers in blessing the world.

We cannot do much. The best we can bring is a little of the common water of earth; but if we bring that to him, he can change it into the rich wine of heaven which will bless weary and fainting ones.

If we take simply what we have and use it as he commands, it will do good. Moses had only a rod in his hand, but with this he wrought great wonders. The disciples had only five barley loaves (John 6:9), but these, touched by Jesus' hand, made a feast for thousands. So the common water carried by these servants, under the Master's blessing, became wine for the wedding.

Jesus passes the gifts of his love and grace through human hands to others. The redemption is Divine, wrought by Jesus alone, but the priesthood that mediates is human. Human hands must distribute the blessings. Gifts of mercy can get to the lost only through those who have been saved, for Peter tells us we are all priests of God. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5 and 2:9). Then how striking is the other side of this truth: the servants carried only common water from the spring, but with Jesus' blessing the water became good wine.

So it always is when we do what Jesus bids us to do ‒ our most mundane work leaves heavenly results. No labour is in vain which is wrought in the Lord. Our commonest work amid life's trivialities, in business, in the household, which seems but like the carrying of water to be emptied out again, is transformed into radiant service like angel ministry, and leaves glorious results behind.

The simplest things we do at Jesus' bidding may become eternal blessings to other souls, or to our own!

65

SILENT CHANGE

The ruler of the feast ... knew not from whence it was.

John 2:9

JESUS wrought this miracle without noise or ostentation. He said nothing to call attention to what he was going to do. The people about him did not know of the wonderful work he had wrought. So he works today. He is not in the storm, the earthquake, the whirlwind, but in the still small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12).

His kingdom comes into our hearts, not with observation and show, but silently, without parade. The bad life is changed by his word into moral purity, and yet no one saw the change made or the hand that wrought it. Silently help comes in the hours of need, silently prayer's answers glide down, silently the angels come and go.

It is significant also that the "servants which drew the water knew." Those who work with Jesus are admitted into the inner chamber where omnipotence is unveiled. The lesson is very simple and beautiful. Jesus takes into his confidence those who serve him; calls them no more servants but friends. Those who do Jesus' will know of his teaching, and see his ways of working.

If we would see Jesus' power and glory, we must enter heartily into his service. Often it is in the lowliest ways, and in the paths of humble, self-denying service, that the most of his glory appears. The ruler did not know whence the wine came. Is it not often so with us? People do not know whence the blessings come which glide so softly into their hearts.

Many a troubled Christian kneels in prayer in great fear, oppressed by a sense of need, and rises with new rich joy in their heart, yet knowing not whence the strange sweet blessing came. We drink the cups which God fills for us with heavenly sweetness, we receive the gifts which are brought down to us from the very throne, and yet often we do not know whence these things come, nor recognize the Divine presence that works so close beside us.

66

MORE AND MORE OF BLESSING

Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

John 2:10

THE world gives its best first, and the worst comes afterwards. It is so in all sinful pleasures ‒ first exhilaration and then bitter remorse. It is so in the chase for wealth, power, fame ‒ gratification first, and then painful disappointment. At first, money brings gladness, a sort of satisfaction; but as time rolls on and wealth increases, cares multiply, anxieties thicken, burdens grow heavier, and at last the rich man or woman finds that in all their riches they have less comfort than they had in the days when they were poor, less comfort than they had in the days when they were young. It is so in all mere worldly ambitions.

The first cups of fame are sweet, but soon they pall upon the taste. This truth holds especially in the sinful life. We need not deny that at the beginning sin is sweet, but bitterness is found at the bottom of the cup. In grace, however, this is reversed ‒ the good wine is kept to the last. Jesus himself had humiliation, darkness, and the shame of the cross, then exaltation, power, glory.

In the Christian life the same law holds. First there comes bitterness, but out of the bitterness sweetness flows. There is the deep sorrow of penitence, but this gives way to the blessed joy of forgiveness. First there are self-denial and cross-bearing, but out of these experiences comes a holy peace that stills all the heart. Sorrows are to be endured, but the good wine of comfort is poured into the emptied cup.

There is also a constant progression in the blessings of the Divine life. We never get to the end of them. Indeed, we never get to the best. There is always something better yet to come. Then Jesus keeps the really best wine to the very last – in heaven. Sweet as is earth's peace to the Christian, we will never know the fulness of the love of God until we get home to the Father's house.

67

THE FIRST MIRACLE

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory.

John 2:11

THE glory was there before. It had been in his lowly, human life all along those quiet years of toil and service at Nazareth; but it was now manifested for the first time. This was the first shining out before men of the Divine splendour. We should notice also that it was in a simple act of thoughtful kindness to a perplexed household that this glory was first manifested.

Jesus did not wait for some great occasion, but threw the earliest gleams of his Divine manifestation upon this homely scene. It should be further noticed that it was in the midst of gladness and festivity that these first beams shone forth.

Thus we see that the glory of Jesus was the radiance of love. We follow on and we find the same glory burning out more and more brightly, until at last he goes to his cross, manifesting forth in one great act the amazing splendour of the love of God for the world. No wonder Jesus' disciples believed on him when they saw this miracle at Cana. It was a gleam of divinity which flashed forth from his lowly form and wrought the marvellous sign.

We should note, too, before leaving the story of this first miracle, that this transformation of water into wine was a fitting symbol of the whole work of Jesus in this world. We have but to look about us, and back along the Christian centuries, to see the same glory blazing everywhere, the same transformation perpetually going on.

Wherever the gospel goes, wonderful change is wrought. The desert is made to blossom like a garden. The worst lives are touched and transfigured into spiritual beauty. Can anyone who looks upon the perpetual miracle of Christianity in the world, refuse to believe on Jesus? No mere empty creed could produce such results. There is a life in the Christian faith which quickens and transforms whatever it touches.

68

SECRET DISCIPLESHIP

The same came to Jesus by night.

John 3:2

IT was better to come by night than not to come at all, though we usually think that it showed timidity on the part of Nicodemus. We must remember, however, that Jesus did not rebuke him, nor did he refuse to accept even his secret discipleship. He seems to have received him with loving welcome, and to have taught him in the quiet way Nicodemus chose to come. We must remember, too, that the times then were not as they are now.

Jesus had not yet died, nor had the Christian Church been established. Whatever excuse Nicodemus may have had for it in his time, we should only be secret disciples today in exceptional circumstances. We know too that it was not satisfactory, even in his case. We know also that the time came when he could no longer remain a secret friend.

When Jesus was dead on his cross, and when his body, as that of a crucified malefactor, was about to be buried in dishonour among criminals, it is remarkable that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, the two men who came forward and rescued it from such ignominy and gave it honourable sepulchre, had both until that day been secret disciples.

The death of Jesus so touched their hearts and aroused their timid, hesitating love, that they could no longer continue secret disciples. The true love of their hearts could not be repressed, and they came forward and risked and dared all for him whom they had never before had courage openly to confess.

Secret discipleship in most countries is not satisfactory. It does not get the hearty approval of one's own conscience. It does not bring full rich peace to the heart. It yields but a crippled and hampered Christian life at the best. If we love Jesus we should come out boldly and confess him at a time when our confession will honour him and bring blessing to ourselves.

We have a glorious promise that those who confess him here, he will confess at the day of judgment before angels and men.

69

THE GOSPEL

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

THIS verse is a little Bible in itself, for it contains the whole gospel. It shows us the source of man's redemption ‒ God's love. It shows us the measure of this Divine love ‒ God gave his only begotten Son. It shows us how the redemption was accomplished ‒ by the sacrifice of Jesus. It tells us how to be saved ‒ by believing on the Son of God. It tells us who will be saved ‒ whosoever believeth on Jesus. It shows us what the salvation is ‒ deliverance from perishing, and the gift of eternal life.

Anyone who truly believes that God loves him is saved; the consciousness of this blessed truth is life in the soul. A story is told of a child in Luther's time who thought of God only with dread, as of a terrible Judge. In her stern home God had been held before her only in this way, to terrify her. She had never heard a word about God's gentleness or affection. But one day in her father's printing office she picked up a scrap of paper and found on it just the first part of this verse, "God so loved the world that he gave‒‒‒"

The remaining words were torn off, but even this mere fragment was a revelation to her. God loved ‒ loved the world ‒ loved it well enough to give something. What he gave she did not know, but it was enough for her to know that God loved at all, and that he loved the world enough to give anything to it.

The new thought changed all her conception of God. She learned from this time to think of him as one who loved her, and this thought brought sweet comfort to her. We have the whole verse, and we know that God is love; we know just what his love gave ‒ the most costly and most valuable gift in all the universe; and this revelation should fill us with unutterable joy.

70

HE SAT ON THE WELL

Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.

John 4:6

IN all the gospel story there are few more tenderly evocative pictures of Jesus than that which we have in these words. He has been travelling all day in the hot sun, and coming to this resting place he sits down on the stone surround of a well. He is weary and way-worn with his long journey. He is both hungry and thirsty.

This is the picture of Jesus for tired people. In other places we have pictures for the tempted, for the bereft and sorrowing, for the penitent, for mothers and children, for the blind, the deaf, the lame, and for the persecuted. Here, however, is the picture for the weary.

As we look at it we see the human side of Jesus' life. Here is one of his experiences which we can understand. As we see him healing, teaching, raising the dead, transfigured, he is far above us, and we cannot enter into his feelings. But in his bodily weariness, after his long journey in the heat and dust, he is down amongst us, and we can tell just how he felt. The chief comfort comes to us from the fact that he is able now to sympathize with us when we are tired, because on that day, so long ago, he was tired.

Do we get all the blessing we might get from the truth of our Lord's actual human experiences? When we have been working hard all day and are weary and faint, let us remember this picture ‒ Jesus, footsore and dust covered, sinking down in sheer exhaustion on the stone surround.

He has not forgotten even in his glory how he felt that day: and as he sees us in our weariness, his heart feels tenderly for us. He looks down upon us in compassion, and sends to us a benediction of strength and cheer. Let all the people whose work is hard, and who often are tired, frame this picture in their memory and keep it always hanging up on the wall of their heart.

71

GIVE ME TO DRINK

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

John 4:7

THIS illustrates to us how full the world's everyday walks are of Jesus. This woman went out from her home on a very ordinary and commonplace errand, to draw a little water from the public well ‒ and before she returned she had met the Messiah and he had revealed himself to her soul as her Saviour.

She was not seeking for Jesus, but the unsatisfied yearning of her heart was a faint cry for him whom she knew not. We never know when we are to meet Jesus. He waits for us in all the paths of life. The Samaritan woman was going about a simple duty when he met her.

The way of duty is always the surest place to come upon Jesus. No one ever yet found him in the path of disobedience. This woman was unaware of the glory of the presence beside her. Jesus met her in the form of a weary and way-worn man, and won his way to her conscience and heart before he revealed to her the glory of his personality.

Jesus continually comes in unrecognized ways, getting near to us and drawing out our love and trust before we know that it is Jesus we are loving and trusting. Then he drops the veil and shows us his blessed face.

There is another lesson here. Jesus began his ministry of blessing to this woman by asking a simple favour of her. "Give me to drink," he said. Thus he continually stands before us in some disguise, asking some service. He himself has told us that in the least of his little ones who appeal to us for bread in their hunger, or relief in their distress, he himself comes, and that what we do for these we do for him.

So we never know when it is Jesus who stands before us, in some pleading or needy one, with timid request for help. We should be careful how we treat the lowliest, lest some day we deny a cup of water to the blessed glorious Jesus.

72

EARTHLY JOYS

Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.

John 4:13

THAT is just as true of all earth's springs of joy as it was of Jacob's well. Men and women drink of them today and find a measure of satisfaction for a little time, but soon they are as thirsty as ever again. The human soul cannot be satisfied with any of earth's good things.

This is not the fault of the things of earth ‒ they are good and beautiful in their way and in their place. But the soul is spiritual and immortal, and cannot he filled with any good that is not also spiritual and immortal.

Money and fame and power can never be food for a soul made in the Divine image. Nothing less than God himself can answer its cravings. We could not make the angels happy by giving them gold and diamonds, and building them fine marble palaces to live in, and putting crowns and fine clothes on them. No more can we satisfy our own souls with such things. Men try to do so, but their thirst is only momentarily quenched, and soon they must drink again. Gratification only intensifies desire.

There is said to be a strange plant in South America which finds a moist place. It then sends its roots down and becomes green for a little while, until the place becomes dry, when it draws itself out and rolls itself up and is blown along by the wind until it comes to another moist place, where it repeats the same process.

On and on the plant goes, stopping wherever it finds a little water until the spot is dry; then in the end, after all its wanderings, it is nothing but a bundle of dry roots and leaves.

It is the same with those who drink only of this world's springs. They drink and thirst again, and go on from spring to spring, blown by the winds of passion and desire, and at last their souls are nothing but bundles of unsatisfied desires and burning thirsts. We must find something better than this, or perish for ever.

73

A LIVING SPRING

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 4:14

THE soul was made for God, and when it returns to God it finds peace and satisfaction. It is not meant here, of course, that the Christian has no more desires; for longing is the very condition of more blessedness. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew:5:6).

If there is no thirst there really is no life. The dove that flew away from the ark went on weary wing everywhere, but found only a wide waste of desolate waters, with no place to alight. Then she flew hack to the ark, and was gently drawn inside, where she found warmth, safety, and rest.

The story of the dove illustrates the history of the soul that wanders everywhere seeking rest, at last returning to God. How much better if we believed this truth and went at once to God! An immortal soul, from its very nature, cannot find what it needs anywhere save in God himself.

This word of Jesus tells us also what true faith is. It begins in the heart. It is not something outside ‒ a mere set of rules or laws to be obeyed, a guide to be followed, an example to be copied. It is new spiritual life in the soul. It is Jesus himself coming into the heart and dwelling there.

It is a fountain of life ‒ not a mere cistern, but a living spring open and ever flowing. It is fed from heaven, and no matter then how dry this world may be, this living fountain in the heart shall never be exhausted, for its connection is with the river of water of life which flows out from under God's throne (Revelation 22:1).

Wherever we go we have our faith with us, in us, if we are true Christians. We are not dependent upon circumstances. Trouble does not destroy a Christian, because the fountain of his joy is within. This new fountain of life when opened in the soul is the beginning of eternal life.

74

TRUE WORSHIP

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 4:24

GOD loves to be worshipped ‒ to have the praise, the adoration, and the homage of his children. In the olden days, burning incense was the symbol of worship. Its odours rose up toward heaven, and God smelled a sweet savour. What the fragrance of flowers coming up from dew-anointed fields and gardens is to us, the breath of true worship as it ascends from earth's believing hearts is to God. God is well pleased with it. He is not satisfied with bare, cold obedience.

What parent would be content with mere dutifulness, such as a slave might have rendered to a master, without affection, confidence, regard? God cannot be pleased with the most meticulous external obedience – if there be no heart in it. We must obey him because we love him.

This word tells us also how we may worship God if our worship is to be acceptable. It must be spiritual worship that we render him. Stately forms please him not in themselves. The music of splendid choirs and the repeating of creeds and prayers do not make worship.

Worship is heart adoration, and the only true homage that rises from an assembly or from a quiet place where one bows alone is just the love and praise and prayer and devotion of hearts ascending in the words of human lips.

No mere forms of worship are acceptable. The structure must be breathed full of love and life. No offerings or gifts avail in worship unless they are the expression of holy affections. The teaching is not that we are not to use forms of worship ‒ we cannot well worship without some structure.

The plainest ritual and the tamest ceremonial will be pleasing to God – if heart's love fill them. But the most magnificent ritual will be empty of real worship, and will be an abomination to God, if there be no true worship of the spirit in it. All depends upon what we put into the forms.

75

BREAD FROM HEAVEN

I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

John 4:32

THE disciples had left Jesus hungry when they went away to buy bread. They came back to find his hunger gone, and in these words we have the reason he gave for it. He was intently engaged in his Father's work, doing his will, and in this he found perfect satisfaction. He had found spiritual refreshment, and his bodily weariness and hunger had vanished.

His joy in saving a poor lost soul was so great that it made him forget his hunger. But the joy was not the only food which Jesus had. While doing his Father's work, special Divine grace was imparted to him from heaven, which nourished and strengthened him. He literally fed on bread from heaven ‒ spiritual bread.

We have other examples of the same. When Jesus had gone through his sore temptation in the wilderness, and was an hungered, we are told that angels came and ministered unto him. In Gethsemane also, after his bitter agony, we read that there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening him.

May we not suppose that always when Jesus had any special service, costing him an outlay of strength, spiritual refreshment was imparted to him in some secret way by his Father? Certainly we have the promise of this in our lives. When Paul asked that his trouble, his thorn in the flesh, might be removed, the answer was, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

When we are united to Jesus, our weakness to his strength, our emptiness to his fulness, all our need flows to us from him a supply adequate to our want. We see constant illustrations of this in our homes, where frail ones called to nurse the sick are sustained in a wonderful way through long, wearisome days and sleepless nights of vigil, as if nourished with supernatural food. They have food to eat that others know not of. There flows from Jesus' fulness a strength for their need.

76

DOING THE FATHER'S WILL

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.

John 4:34

THUS Jesus explained to his disciples how he had been nourished during their absence. He had been labouring in his Father's work, and this labour had revived him. There is for all of Jesus' people a wonderful secret of hidden blessedness in these words. There is a life higher than mere bodily existence. As our Lord elsewhere said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

It is only the lower life that can be nourished by bread, and this may be well fed while the true life is famishing. The higher existence is sustained by communion with God, and this communion is maintained by doing God's will. Obedience secures the Divine presence and companionship. It was this communion with the Father that sustained Jesus in all his sufferings. At one time he said, He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him (John 8:29).

The simple joy of doing the Father's will was another element in the "bread" on which Jesus here fed. There was also the joy of saving a lost soul. We do not begin to realize the joy that it gives Jesus to see penitents coming home. It was this same "bread" that sustained him in all the sorrows of the cross, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).

These are but a few of the many deep and rich lessons of truth which lie in this one Divine sentence. We should learn the lesson for ourselves, for it is true for us as it was for Jesus that doing the will of God nourishes our souls. Complete and loving submission to the Divine will in time of suffering lifts the spirit above its pain.

Entire devotion to God's work brings a Christian into such living communion with his Lord that he even rejoices in toil and sacrifice. To do God's will brings us into living communion with him, and that is life.

77

FRUIT UNTO LIFE ETERNAL

He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.

John 4:36

THOSE who work for this world often fail of reward; but those who do God's work are sure of good wages and of glorious harvest. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and the wages of much of earth's toil is disappointment. But the wages of doing good is life, and the joy is sure and eternal. It is often hard work which the Christian has to do. The sowing is often in tears, but the reaping is always in joy.

Jesus himself found the sowing hard and sorrowful, but he has never been sorry in heaven for what it cost him here. The old prophet having spoken of the sorrows and sufferings of Jesus' life, said, He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied (Isaiah 53:11). As he sits now on his throne and sees the millions of the redeemed coming home to glory, all saved through his sufferings, he never regrets that he gave such a price for their redemption, but rejoices and is satisfied with the wages which he receives.

So it will be with all his followers who are permitted to suffer in any way in bringing lost ones home. The wages will a thousand times compensate for all the sacrifice and cost. No true work for Jesus has ever been in vain. On earth many a seed is dropped which dies in the soil, but no seed of heavenly truth which is sown in faith and watered with tears ever fails to spring up somewhere and some time into a plant of righteousness.

It may not always grow as the sower hoped, nor always just where he hoped, nor when. Yet no living word of God can ever die. We should notice the kind of wages God gives his reapers. He does not pay them in gold and silver, but in life ‒ life eternal. Those who work in God's harvest fields may not grow rich in men's eyes, but they themselves grow into richer, riper, holier spiritual blessedness.

78

SOWING AND REAPING

One soweth, and another reapeth.

John 4:37

THIS word of Jesus is often illustrated in its literal sense. Many a man sows a field of wheat, and before the harvest he lies in his grave. Many a man plants a tree, and does not live to taste its fruits; others coming after him enjoy the benefit of his labour. Then still more frequently is this word illustrated in its spiritual sense. Often the sower does not reap any harvest in this world.

Many people work hard and faithfully for Jesus all their life and see no results. Then, by-and-by, others come, and with almost no toil gather from the same fields abundant harvests.

One pastor preaches and prays for many years, and sees but few souls brought to Jesus. The pastor dies, or goes away, and a new pastor comes. Almost immediately a revival begins, and many souls are brought into the kingdom. One sowed, another reaps. But who will say that the sower's work was not just as important as the reaper's?

If the first pastor had not laboured so faithfully and so long, could the second have gathered such a harvest? We are sure that in heaven they will both rejoice together. There is no danger that there will be any jealousy there as to whose is the just reward of honour.

Many a mother teaches her children the story of the love of Jesus, and presses upon them the acceptance of the Saviour. With prayer and faith she awaits the result, hoping to see them confess Jesus. But at length her eyes are closed upon earth, and her children are still unsaved. At last, however, there comes a gentle reaper, and they are gathered into the gamer. So it is with many a faithful teacher or other Christian worker.

We need not then concern ourselves about the reaping. Let us sow everywhere the good seed, and whether we reap the harvest, or some other hand gathers it, it will make no difference ‒ sower and reaper shall rejoice together.

79

TRIALS LEADING US TO JESUS

When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.

John 4:47

THE trouble in his home sent this man to Jesus. Perhaps he never would have gone at all had it not been for his son's sickness. Many of those who went to Jesus were driven by their distress of heart. They tried everything else first, and then at the last moment they hurried to Jesus. The same is true in these days. Many people who have never prayed before have gotten down upon their knees by the bedside of their sick and dying children and cried to God on their behalf.

Many people have first been sent to God by their own troubles. It was not until the prodigal son was in sore want, and every other resource had been exhausted, that he said he would arise and go to his father. Many sinners never think of Jesus until they are in despair under the sense of guilt. Not until they see the storm of wrath gathering do they seek the shelter of the cross. But what a comfort it is that even going so late to the Saviour, he does not reject or cast away those who come!

We ought to remember always, that when any trouble comes to us, whatever other purpose it may have, it is certainly intended to send us anew to Jesus. Perhaps we have drifted away from him, or grown careless, or lost our first love for him. The trouble that touches us is the merciful hand of God laid on us to lead us back to our place of safety and blessedness at his side.

A man was travelling and was hungry, but did not know where to go to find food. There came up a sudden and violent storm, compelling him to seek shelter. Fleeing under a tree for refuge, he found not shelter only, but food, for the storm brought down fruits from the tree's branches for his hunger. Those whom trouble drives to Jesus also find both shelter from the storm and food to meet their spiritual hunger.

80

DEATH THE GATE OF LIFE

He was at the point of death.

John 4:47

HE was just on the edge of death, just at its door. The point of death is a point to which all of us some time must come. We pass through this world by many different roads. Our ways run in diverse directions, crossing each other at every possible angle. No two of us go in precisely the same path. If we could see a map of the world, with all human paths marked out on it, it would be a strange network that we should behold. But however varied our courses, every one of us comes at last to the "point of death!"

This is a point no one can ever evade. There is no road in life which goes around it. It is a strange point. At it the life suddenly passes out of sight, passes from earth, and enters on a new existence in the eternal world. What preparation have we made for this "point of death"? Are we ready for it, so that our sudden coming to it at any moment shall not terrify us? What preparation is necessary? Only this ‒ that we be saved in Jesus, and have our work for him well and faithfully done up to the last moment.

Jesus changed this "point of death" to a "point of life." He tasted death for everyone, and absorbed all death's blackness and curse. Now if we are true believers in Jesus, dying is but leaving darkness and sin and danger to pass into light and holiness and safety.

A poet represents one coming up to a gate on a mountainside, over which were written the words, "The Gate of Death;" but when he touched the gate, it opened, and he found himself amid great brightness and beauty; then turning about he saw above the gate he had entered the words, "The Gate of Life." If we are in Jesus, death is abolished, and the point which earth calls the point of death is really the point of life. We need then to make sure of only one thing ‒ that we truly belong to Jesus by living faith and loving obedience.

81

THE RETURN TO NAZARETH

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

Luke 4:16

IT was a hard place for Jesus to visit and to preach in. He had lived there from infancy. The young people knew him as schoolmate and playfellow, and as the village carpenter. One day he went away from home, and soon there began to come back strange reports about him. Up in Jerusalem and in other places, it was said, he was performing miracles and preaching with wonderful power, and the people everywhere were thronging to hear him, and bringing out their sick to be healed by him.

It requires no deep insight into human nature to know how his neighbours would regard all this. In their envy they would sneer at the reports about him. He was only a carpenter! Then one day he came home again, and went to the village church and preached. But they could not endure to hear his words, and they were filled with wrath, and rose up and cast him out of the town, and tried to hurl him over a precipice to kill him.

There are some lessons which we ought to gather from this visit of Jesus to his old home. One is that we ought to seek the salvation of our neighbours and friends, not turning our back upon our old home, even though Jesus may have grown great and famous elsewhere. Another is that as young people we ought to live so carefully that when we grow up we may be able to stand up in the midst of those who have always known us, and bear testimony for Jesus.

There are some good men now whose preaching would have but little effect where they were brought up, because of the way they lived when they were at home in youth. But Jesus' life had been so pure and blameless that he had no need to blush when he looked his old neighbours in the face and began to preach to them. Every young person should so live that they will never be ashamed to hear again of anything they have ever done.

82

CHURCH ATTENDANCE

As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day.

Luke 4:16

THERE are many evidences that Jesus had fixed customs of worship. Here we have a hint of his attending the synagogue worship on the Sabbath. This had been his custom from childhood, and although he was the Son of God, Lord of earth and heaven, and had been manifested as the Messiah, he still continued to observe the custom.

Some people are careless about church attendance. They find fault perhaps with the minister ‒ he does not feed them, they say. They mean he does not entertain them. Now no doubt Jesus heard a great many dull talks and sermons, but he did not on that account stay away from the synagogue. He went there to worship God, not to enjoy an intellectual entertainment.

Others stay away from church, as they say, because there are so many inconsistent Christians who attend, because the church is so imperfect. We know it was just the same when Jesus was on the earth.

There were a great many church members in Nazareth and elsewhere who were very imperfect. Our Lord knew all about their true character, and he saw the worst there was in them. What he saw in some very prominent church people we may learn from some of his own bitter words against the prominent religionists of his day. Yet this did not keep him from the services. If he could worship God in a congregation of faulty people, we should be able to do it.

Another thought is that if he, with all the resources of his own Divine nature to draw upon, still needed the means of grace, surely we need them far more. Still another point to be remembered is the importance of forming habits, especially the habit of going to church. Here the lesson particularly touches children and young people. Jesus brought this custom from his youth, and never stopped it in his adult years.

83

NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME

He hath anointed me ... to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Luke 4:18-19

THEN there must be a year or a time which is not the "acceptable year." We know that this "acceptable year" closed for the Jewish nation when they nailed their Messiah on the cross. They were doomed from that hour. For a number of years things went on as before. There was a measure of prosperity. Their city stood in its splendour, and the people dwelt in their homes in some degree of peace. But the day of their merciful visitation ended for ever when they finally rejected Jesus.

When Jesus stood on Olivet and looked down upon the city and wept over it, and said, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes (Luke 19:42). When he spoke these words amid the rush of tears, the "acceptable year" closed. After that the doom hung over the beautiful city which in a few years burst upon it in all its woe and terribleness.

This is history, but there is another way to look at this matter. There is an "acceptable year" for each soul. It begins when Jesus first comes to us and offers salvation. It continues while he still stands at our door and knocks. It closes when we drive him away from our door by utter and final rejection, or when death comes and hurries us away for ever from the world of mercy.

This "acceptable year" to each one is now. Have you, the reader of these words, accepted the mercy and love of Jesus? If you have, you know the preciousness of the "acceptable year of the Lord." If you have not, remember that the "accepted time" will soon close. In another place it is called a day ‒ "the day of salvation."

A day is short, and when the time of its setting draws on, no power in the universe can prolong it one moment. It would be a fearful thing were the accepted time to end and leave us not saved.

84

JESUS THE GREAT HEALER

This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Luke 4:21

THE words had been written seven hundred years before (Isaiah 61). Now Jesus reads them and says, "I am the One to whom these golden sentences refer. This Scripture is fulfilled before your eyes. I am the Anointed One, and this is the mission on which I came to this world."

The whole Old Testament was full of Jesus. There were a thousand fingers along its pages, every one pointing to him. All its types and prophecies and promises were fulfilled when he came, and lived, and died, and was raised up and glorified. It is very interesting to take up Jesus' whole public life and ministry, and show how perfectly he lived out the wonderful mission which the prophet Isaiah here outlined for him centuries before he came.

He preached the gospel to the poor; he was the friend of the poor. He healed the broken-hearted. Wherever he went, the sorrowing and the troubled came flocking around him. As a magnet draws steel filings to itself from the heap of rubbish, so there was something in Jesus that drew the sad to him.

There are two classes always of the broken-hearted. There are those whose hearts are broken because of sin, and there are those who are crushed by affliction. Both these classes came to Jesus. Sinners came, and found in him not a stern, disapproving Judge, but a tender, compassionate Saviour. The afflicted came and found true comfort. He loved all people and sympathized with them, and was able to help them.

Then he also brought deliverance to sin's captives, setting them free, breaking their chains. He opened blind eyes; not only the natural eyes to see the beautiful things of this world, but the spiritual eyes as well, to behold the things of heaven and everlasting life. Then he lifted the yoke of the crushed or oppressed, inviting all the weary to himself to find rest to their souls. Thus his whole life was simply the filling up of this outline sketch.

85

THE FIRST DISCIPLES

Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren ... casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.

Matthew 4:18

WHEN Jesus needs men for important positions he never looks for them among idlers. He always seeks in the ranks of busy people, among those who are at their posts and are faithfully doing their duty. When the Lord wanted a man to be the deliverer of his people, he found Moses tending sheep in the wilderness. When he sought for a man to be king over Israel, he found David, a shepherd lad watching over his flocks. When he wanted a man for a prophet, he found Elisha at his plough.

When Jesus needed men to become apostles, to lay the foundation of the Christian Church, he walked by the sea and sought for them among those who were busiest. No doubt there were many idlers loitering along the shore that day, lounging among the boats and watching those who were at work. But Jesus did not call any of these to be his apostles. He did not want for his apostles idle men or those whom their neighbours did not care to employ. So he passed by all the loungers, and kept his eye on the men who were at work.

He must have men of activity, men of energy and earnestness, and he knew where to look for them. We ought not to lose this lesson. If we want Jesus to call us to important places we must be busy and active, that when he comes seeking for people to do his work he will see that we are competent and worthy. We should notice also that Jesus often calls those who are engaged in lowly pursuits.

If we think our occupation unworthy of us, the way to rise to a better one is to be faithful and diligent where we are, until we are called to a nobler and worthier pursuit. It is to him who is faithful in little things that the charge of greater things is promised. (See Luke 16:10.) He who does not fill well the lower place is wanted neither by God nor by men for the higher place.

86

FISHERS OF MEN

Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

Mark 1:17

PERSONAL attachment to Jesus is the very beginning of all Christian life. Believing a creed does not make anyone a Christian. We may believe every word we find in the Bible about Jesus, and every word of his that we have in the Gospels, and yet not be his disciple.

A Christian is one who has joined Jesus' party in this world and attached himself to Jesus as a personal follower. All the invitations Jesus gave implied this. He said, "Come unto me;" "Come after me;" "Believe on me;" "Follow me."

He always wanted people to come out from the world, and personally identify themselves with him. Then after we have joined ourselves to him, and he has put his own Spirit into us, he begins to use us. He cannot use us in the saving of souls until we really belong to him.

We cannot become "fishers of men" in the way we might become carpenters, or merchants, or physicians. It is not one of the trades or professions to be taken up and learned as trades and professions are. Colleges and theological seminaries cannot make us "fishers of men." They may teach us how to think, how to write, how to speak. They can furnish us with knowledge of many kinds, can teach us systems of theology, and make us scriptural analysts, logicians, rhetoricians, or orators. But these things do not make us "fishers of men."

These acquisitions may be helpful to us in our spiritual work ‒ if we are consecrated to Jesus. But the point to be remembered is that Jesus alone can make anyone truly a "fisher of men." Teachers in the Sunday school should remember this. With all that they can learn in normal classes about how to teach, and all they can get in teachers' meetings or from lesson aids regarding the lesson, they need yet to go to Jesus to learn how to win the souls of their scholars.

87

AT THE CALL OF JESUS

They straightway left their nets, and followed him.

Matthew 4:20

THEIR nets were probably all they had. It was with these that they earned their living. Yet at the call of Jesus they gave up all, cut themselves off from their means of support, and in simple obedience and faith went with him. That is just the way we all should do when Jesus calls us. We should obey instantly and without questioning. No matter how much the sacrifice involves, we should make it cheerfully for his sake.

Though to obey cuts us off from all our ordinary means of livelihood, and leaves us without provision even for tomorrow, we should not hesitate. Jesus takes care of his servants when they are faithfully doing his will. He asks for absolute surrender to him. He wants us to trust him while we obey him unquestioningly.

The faith in Jesus which the gospel requires is the utter, unreserved consecration of the whole life to him, and the unreasoning committal to him for time and for eternity of every interest and hope. The question what he will do with us or for us, how he will provide for us, should not for an instant be raised. There must be no conditions in the following and the consecration. We may not bargain with him for an easy time, for "ways of pleasantness," but should simply give ourselves to him absolutely and for ever, to follow where and to whatsoever he may lead us.

The "straightway" is also important. Many people are for ever postponing duties. But every call of Jesus should be answered immediately. Let us get this ringing gospel "straightway" into our lives. Many people obey so laggardly, so reluctantly, and so long after they are called, that half the value of their obedience is lost. Jesus wants always instant obeying.

There is no tomorrow with him. Tomorrow he may not need us, or we may not be here to do the duty he now asks of us.

88

SHE MINISTERED UNTO THEM

He took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.

Mark 1:31

THAT is just what Jesus is doing all the time to people sick in body, to those sick in soul, and to those who are down in any way and unable to rise. He does not stand far off when he would help people and call them to come to him, but he comes to them with a brother's warm heart and ready hand. That is the way we should learn to help each other, by extending a strong, uplifting hand to those that are down.

Many fall and perish who would be saved for life and glory if someone would come in Jesus' name and help them up. The example of this woman must not be overlooked. Jesus had given her back her life, and what should she now do with it but consecrate it to the service of him who restored it to her? This she did, not in mere words of thankfulness, not in warm and tender emotions of praise only, but in service; she arose and ministered to her Healer and his friends.

Her ministry, too, was of the most practical and helpful kind. She did not sigh for some opportunity to do a great service for Jesus; she simply took up the service that came first to her hand, and set about rendering the commonplace attentions of a mistress of the household.

There is a whole cluster of lessons here. Every sick person who is restored, whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way, should hasten to consecrate to the service of God the life that is given back. Surely it was spared for a purpose, and we shall be disloyal to God if we do not thus devote it.

A great many people are always sighing for opportunities to minister to Jesus, imagining some fine and splendid service which they would like to render. Meantime they let slip past their hands the very things in which Jesus wants them to serve him. True ministry to Jesus is doing first of all, and well, one's daily duties.

89

COMMUNION WITH GOD

In the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Mark 1:35

JESUS would always find time for prayer, or make time for it. If his days were full of excitement and toil, he would take time out of his nights for communing with God. He never allowed himself to be robbed of his hours of devotion. There are some Christians who think they are excused from prayer and meditation in private because they are so busy. Their work presses them so in the morning that they cannot possibly get time to pray.

Their cares occupy them so all day that they do not find one quiet moment to go apart with God. In the evening there are so many social or other engagements ‒ meetings, societies, parties ‒ or they are so tired, that prayer is crowded out. The example of Jesus speaks its solemn rebuke of all such trifling excuses. We must find time for communion with God, or God will not find time to bless us.

There are some people, also, who claim that they can pray and commune with God just as well in one place as in another. They do their praying while they walk about and while they work. They see no use in going apart to pray. Surely if anyone could pray well in a crowd or while engaged in work, Jesus could. No doubt he did hold communion with his Father even in his busiest hours, but this did not meet all the needs and longings of his soul.

He left the crowd, left even his own disciples, and retired into places where no eye but God's could see him. Where no human footfall or voice could interrupt the quiet of his soul, and where he would be absolutely alone. Surely if he required such conditions in praying, we do too. We need to find a place for prayer, in which nothing can intrude to break the continuity of thought or devotion.

Jesus tells us to enter into our quiet place, shut the door, and then pray (Matthew 6:6).

90

HE WENT ABOUT DOING GOOD

He said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for therefore came I forth.

Mark 1:38

JESUS went about doing good. He did not confine his blessings to single localities. He sought to reach as many souls as possible. He did not wait for people to come to him, but carried the news to their own doors. He thus teaches us by example that his gospel is for all men, and not for any particular place or people. He taught us also that we should make the most of our lives and opportunities, scatter the blessings of grace as widely as we can, and tell as many people as possible the good tidings of God's love.

He wants his Church to keep on preaching the gospel to the "next towns" till there is not a town left in which it has not been heard. Jesus was in this world for one thing ‒ to show us a pattern of a true life. We should specially study his life as the highest example of consecrated ministry. Here we have a glimpse of the way he sought to do good.

Jesus went about, carrying into every place he could reach the blessings of his grace and love. There is something intensely inspiring in the picture which this verse gives us. He seems in eager haste to get to as many places as possible. He has the look and the movement of a man who knows he has not long to stay, and that he has a great deal to do before he goes away. He wants to miss no town, to leave no person unvisited.

There surely is much in this stirring picture which we ought to copy. We are here on an errand of blessing to men. We have something to give to the world, a message from the Father to deliver to his children, benedictions to scatter upon needy lives. Somewhere, not very far before us, waits the end. What we do we must do quickly.

We should hasten on from one to another with the gifts of love, help, and comfort, which our Master has given us to scatter.

91

HEALING SICKNESS

Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness.

Matthew 4:23

IT is sometimes charged that the Christian faith is only for people's souls, that it gives no care to their bodies. But the charge is without foundation. The most casual glance over the Gospel story shows that Jesus himself was deeply moved by the people's sufferings, and was continually putting forth his power to heal them.

Nearly all his great works were miracles of healing. Then it should be remembered that the whole system of institutions for the relief of suffering and for the care of sufferers ‒ hospitals, shelters for all classes of unfortunate people, and homes for the orphaned and the aged ‒ is the fruit of Christianity.

Wherever angels of mercy go among the sick, the wounded, the suffering, ministering in any way to their comfort, there Jesus goes about with sympathy and healing. He cares not alone for people's souls, but for their bodies as well. Any trouble of ours whatsoever, whether of body, mind, or soul, moves him with compassion.

It is a great comfort to know that while we may not always receive miraculous healing of our bodily illnesses, we are sure at least that our Lord is not indifferent to these distresses; that he designs to use them for our spiritual benefit; that he is ready to give us the grace we need to endure them patiently and submissively; and that he is ready to heal us when his wise purpose in these afflictions has been accomplished.

So we may be sure always of the sympathy, love, and help of Jesus in all our sickness. He sits constantly in every Christian sickroom, and where faith is strong and clear he gives great comfort and peace. When he was on earth he did not go very often to the places of festivity, but whenever there was anyone sick in a home he was sure to go there. Sickness and pain draw him to us, and whenever he comes he brings great blessings.

92

MAKE ME CLEAN

Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me dean.

Luke 5:12

THIS prayer shows a beautiful faith. The leper had no doubts whatever of Jesus' ability to heal him. The only question in his mind was whether Jesus would be willing to do it. There might be some reason why the Lord would not wish to answer his request. It would be an unimaginable blessing to have this loathsome, terrible leprosy taken away. Jesus could do it if he would, and he would do it if it were best that it should be removed. So we find in his brief prayer submission as well as humility.

This was a prayer, not for spiritual, but for physical blessing, and in such things we never can know what really is best for us. A mother may bend over a dying child and plead with affectionate yearning for its life. God will never blame her for the agonizing persistence of her plea; yet she dare not pray wilfully. She must end her most intense pleading with the submissive refrain, caught from Gethsemane, Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done (Luke 22:42). It may not be the best blessing to her or to her home to have her child spared.

Or a man may be threatened with loss of property. He turns to Jesus for help. "If thou wilt, thou canst save me from this sore loss." Yes, Jesus can ‒ there is no doubt about that. But will he? He will if it is best, for he never chastens but for his people's good. But will it be a blessing to have this calamity averted? The man cannot tell. Perhaps it may be necessary for him to suffer this misfortune in his temporal estate, that he may not lose his inheritance in heaven.

Paul's "thorn in the flesh" is an illustration (2 Corinthians 4:7). He wanted it removed; but no, it was necessary to keep him from spiritual pride, from being exalted above measure. Prayer should be submissive as well as earnest. We do not know what we should pray for, nor if what we desire would really bless us.

93

THE MASTER TOUCHED HIM

He put forth his hand and touched him.

Luke 5:13

NONE of the Jews would have done this. They kept the leper far off. To touch him would defile them. But Jesus was not afraid of defilement. He could as easily have stood afar off and cured the leper by a word, for he sometimes cured from many miles away. But the man needed a touch from a warm hand to assure him of love and sympathy. The touch left no taint of pollution on the Master, but it left the leprous body clean as a child's.

There are some who want to help others, if at all, at a convenient distance. They work through committees or agents. It is a great deal better to come close to those to whom we would do good. There is a wondrous power in a human touch. A gift to the poor may do good in whatever way it comes; but if you bestow it yourself, and show personal interest and sympathy, its value will be largely increased. You put something of your self into your gift.

The gospel may save the fallen, even coming through the cold air from a lofty pulpit; but it will be far more likely to save if the sinner feels the touch of a hand of love, and catches the message warm from quivering lips. There is no danger of receiving defilement even from touching the worst outcasts, if you go to them with the love of God in your heart, yearning to do them good.

Do not stand far off and toss the bread of life to them, as men throw gifts into leper hospitals. Do not slip your tract under the door and hurry away as if you were ashamed of what you had done.

Go to the homes of the worst people. Give them your hand. It will not soil it to clasp theirs, and you never can know what a thrill of new life it may start in hearts long unused to tenderness, yet yearning for sympathy.

Put heart and inspiration into all you do. You never can know what a thrill of inspiration and life you may give to weary and disheartened ones.

94

HE COULD NOT BE HID

It was noised that he was in the house.

Mark 2:1

IT never can be kept quiet long when Jesus gets into any house. He cannot be hid. The neighbours will soon find out that he is there. The people cannot keep the secret. They will let it out in a great many ways. They will show it in their faces. Those who have Jesus in their home do not look like other people.

There is a radiance or sunniness about them when they come out that tells of an unworldly source of joy. There is something about their speech, too, that lets out the secret. They cannot help talking about their Guest. So, in spite of themselves, the family in whose house Jesus is, will disclose the secret.

Fragrant flowers cannot be concealed, and there is a fragrance about Jesus that always reveals his presence. Light cannot be hidden, and there is so much light in him that it shines out at every window and through every chink and crevice of the house where he abides. Love itself is invisible, but wherever it dwells it produces such effects that its presence soon becomes known. It makes people gentle, kindly, thoughtful, unselfish, and fills them with new desires to do good, to serve and bless others. And wherever Jesus is, love is ‒ in all its pervasive, transforming influence.

Some people like to gather beautiful things into their homes ‒ paintings, sculptures, rare things from foreign lands, objects of interest and attractiveness. Some pride themselves on the elegance of their furniture and the fineness of the decorations in their houses. But in no other way can the Christian bring into his home so much beauty, so much joy and comfort, so much true peace, as by making Jesus his abiding guest.

No matter how quietly Jesus enters, the neighbours will soon know it, and they will also get the benefit and blessing of it. From a home where Jesus abides there always go forth a fragrant influence and a loving, helpful ministry.

95

DIVINE POWER

The power of the Lord was present to heal them.

Luke 5:17

IT was not always so. Once we read that Jesus could not do any mighty works in his home town of Nazareth (Mark 6). It is not said that he would not, but that he could not. It seems strange that "could not" should ever be written of the all-powerful Jesus. Did he then have his weak hours? Were there times when the power fled from his arm? But we read on and find that the reason he could not do any mighty works at that time and place was because of the unbelief of the people.

Their hearts were shut against him. He came with rich blessings in his hand to bestow upon them, and finding no reception had to carry them away again with a sad heart. So no doubt the reason the power of the Lord was so graciously present to heal on this occasion was because the people's hearts were open to take what he had to give. They met his compassion and love with faith, and the Divine power in him worked unrestrained.

We ought not to miss this lesson. There is never any want of power in Jesus to bless us, and yet we may be near him and still receive no blessing from him. He may have come to us eager to impart the rich gifts of strength, comfort, joy, help, wisdom; and yet he may be unable to bestow them. We ourselves must be in condition to receive what he has to give, or the blessing cannot be bestowed.

We can shut up our hearts so close as to keep the mighty Jesus outside. Weak as we are, even the Divine omnipotence cannot force any blessing into our lives. There must be willingness on our part to receive. It is because of our unbelief that the power of God is not always present to heal and to bless.

Whenever we have faith and are willing to receive what Jesus will give, his power will be present to heal, and to pour all manner of rich blessings into our hearts and lives. He will never force us to accept his gifts.

96

BEARING ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS

They come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

Mark 2:3

THAT was a very touching sight, those four strong men carrying their helpless friend to the Healer. That is the kind of help we ought always to be willing to give to one another. There are on all sides of us many people who need to be helped. There are people to be assisted over rough places, and blind people to be led along the way they cannot see themselves, and even those who have to be carried in strong hands.

The Christian law of love requires that we shall be ready always to lend a hand to those who need the aid we can give. We never can tell how soon it may be our turn to need just such friendly aid as our neighbour requires from us today. If we expect to have people turn aside from their work to help us in our time of need, we must be willing to do as much for others who now require help.

There are many ways of doing the neighbourly duty to others. These four men bore their friend to Jesus. They could not heal him themselves, but they could carry him to the One who could heal him. All about us are family members, neighbours and friends who are spiritually dead. We cannot cure them, but perhaps we can take them to One who can do for them what we cannot do.

We should notice, too, that there were four men who carried their friend to Jesus. One of them could not have done it; two of them could not have carried him with ease; even for three the trembling burden would have been hard to bear. But when all four of these men united their strength, they bore the man along without difficulty.

So it is in helping sinners to Jesus. There is strength in the union of hearts and hands. When one alone cannot take a friend to the Saviour, let him call others to his aid, and let them unite in their efforts on his behalf.

97

FAITH SEEN IN OUR WORKS

When he saw their faith.

Luke 5:20

SO far as we know no one had spoken a word to Jesus about the sick man, but there really was no need for words. The pains at which the friends had been to get this poor sufferer into the presence of Jesus told of a very strong faith. The best evidence of faith is the effort we make to obtain faith's prize.

Abraham proved his faith first of all when he promptly obeyed God's call and left his own home and country to go out he knew not where, simply following where God might lead.

He proved his faith again when he was bidden to offer his only son as a burnt offering, and without a question or remonstrance he obeyed. It was after this that God said, Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me (Genesis 22:12). There is no need for words or protestations of faith when there are such acts of faith to attest it.

God can see faith. He can see it in the heart where it is exercised, even before there has been any expression of it in word or act; but here the emphasis lies on the fact that he sees it in act. He is pleased when we show our faith by our works. There are many prayers without words, and God sees them when he does not hear them. There is in the Bible at least one instance of God forbidding spoken prayer and commanding action instead. At the edge of the Red Sea he said to Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward (Exodus 14:15).

So we should learn to put our faith into instant act. There are times when we should stop praying, get up from our knees, and hasten out to duty. Praying for a friend in trouble is good, but it is a cheap and selfish way of showing our love if they have needs that we can supply. Praying for missions is right, but it is no acceptable substitute for giving if we are holding the Lord's money in our hands. God wants to see our faith.

98

STRENGTH BESTOWED

I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way.

Mark 2:11

THAT was surely a very strange command to give to a paralyzed man. He could not rise up. He could not lift up his bed. He could not walk a step. He was as helpless as a corpse. Why did Jesus require of him such an impossibility? But as we look on the helpless form we see that the limbs move, the man rises, takes up his bed, and walks away in the presence of all the people.

As we watch him going his way, we learn that when Jesus gives any command which seems impossible, he always gives strength to perform it. As the man's will began to obey Jesus' bidding, power came back into his long-paralyzed body, and he was able to rise up and walk.

It is the same in spiritual life. We have no power in ourselves to do Jesus' will, but as we begin to obey the needed grace is given. Young people often say that they are afraid to enter upon the Christian life because they cannot do what will be required. In their own strength they cannot. It would be as easy for them to climb to the stars as unaided to live a true Christian life. Human strength in itself is inadequate to life's sore needs. But the young Christian who sets out in obedience to Jesus, depending upon him to open the path of duty, will never lack help at the moment of need.

Older Christians also often shrink from duties because they have not the ability to perform them. But for them, and for all who attempt any work or service in obedience to Jesus, it is true that the effort to obey will always bring with it the strength to obey.

We should notice too that the strength will not come until we try to obey. If we will not attempt to do our duty, we shall remain for ever immobile; but as we put forth the exertion, the life will flow into our souls and we shall be strong.

99

BLESSED BY SICKNESS

A certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

John 5:5

THAT was a long time to be ill. It is very hard to be an invalid year after year. This day's reading may come to some who have been thus afflicted, and we may as well stop a minute to think about their situation. Christian invalids have many comforts, if they will but take them to their hearts. God makes no mistakes in dealing with his children. He knows in what school they will learn the best lessons, and in what experiences they will grow best.

Richard Baxter has a personal note on this passage: "How great a mercy it was to live thirty-eight years under God's wholesome discipline! O my God, I thank thee for the like discipline of fifty-eight years; how safe a life is this in comparison with full prosperity and pleasure!"

The furnace fires of sickness burn off many a bond of sin and worldliness. Many now in heaven will thank God for ever for the sickness in this life which kept them from sin. We may be sure that God never calls any of his children apart into the sickroom without a purpose of blessing. There is some lesson he wants to teach them, some new glimpse of his love he wants to show them, some beauty in them he wants to bring out. Sickrooms should always be to us sacred places, as we remember that God has summoned us there for some special work upon our souls.

We need to be very careful lest we miss the good he wants us to receive. It is only those who trust Jesus and lie upon his bosom that are blessed by sickness. Too many invalids grow discontented, unhappy, sour, and fretful. Sickness often fails to do good to those who suffer.

There are few experiences in which we so much need to be watchful over ourselves and prayerful toward God. Be sure to keep the sickness out of your heart, and keep Jesus there with his love and peace.

100

EVEN SO SEND I YOU

I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.

John 5:7

THERE are many unsaved people in every community who might also say, "I have no man to bring me to Jesus." There are many lost souls for whom no one is caring. It may be answered that the gospel is offered to all, that all could come if they would. Yet Christians must not forget that the unsaved can receive grace only through the saved; that those who are forgiven must carry the news of mercy to the unforgiven. The redemption is Divine ‒ none but Jesus can save; but the priesthood is human.

God's ordinary way of finding sinners and bringing them to the Saviour is through the love and pleading of other saved ones. Jesus' commission ran: As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you (John 20:21). We are to do for the unsaved just what Jesus did when he was here, what he would do now if he were living just where we live among them ‒ go to them and ask them if they will be made whole.

Are there not lost ones about us who can say at God's judgment bar, "The Christians about me would not lead me to the fountain, never even asked me to come to it for cleansing"? This man waiting at the fountain's edge is an example of many about us ‒ close to the healing waters, with hungry, unsatisfied hearts, needing but the help of a human hand to lead them to the Saviour, yet never getting that help or that sympathy, and sitting there year after year unsaved.

Surely we should not allow any unsaved ones about us to perish without trying in every way to lead them to the cleansing, healing waters. What evidence have we that we are saved ourselves if we are not interested in the salvation of other lost ones? Let us look about us and see if any of our neighbours could say what this poor man at Bethesda said. Then let us go quickly and lead them to the Saviour.

101

IMMEDIATELY MADE WHOLE

Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.

John 5:8-9

THE man might have said, "Why, I cannot rise. That is the very thing which I have not been able to do for thirty-eight years. Take up my bed! Why, I could not lift a feather; and as for walking, I could as easily fly. I cannot do these things until I am cured." We have all heard people talk like this about starting in the Christian life. They plead their helplessness as reason for their delay. There is a fine lesson for such in this man's obedience.

The moment he heard the command he made the effort to rise; and as he made the effort, the strength was given. New life came with his simple obedience. Jesus never commands an impossibility. When he bids us rise out of our sin and helplessness and begin the Christian walk, he means to give grace and strength to enable us to do it.

The same is true of all that Jesus requires of us in his service. People think it "humility" to be timid about duty and about accepting responsibility at Jesus' call. But it is not humility at all ‒ it is unbelief and sin. We lie on our poor rugs and say, "I have no strength for this, no wisdom for that," while if we simply arose to obey every call of Jesus, he would use us for gracious service.

This man showed his faith by immediately exerting himself to do what Jesus had bidden him do. Had he not done this he would not have been healed. There are many who lie spiritually paralyzed, year after year, just because they are waiting to be healed before they try to rise and walk.

There are many who never do any worthy service for Jesus, and lie in a condition of uselessness through years, because they think themselves unequal to the duties to which they are called. It is time we learned to step forward instantly, to do whatever Jesus bids us do. When we begin to do this we shall find ourselves strong.

102

THE SABBATH

The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.

Mark 2:27

THE Sabbath was not made for man merely as an arbitrary law which he must observe. It is as much a law of his nature, or in harmony with his nature, as is the night which bids him cease his toil and seek rest and sleep. It was made for man's physical nature. It has been proved many times that the body needs the Sabbath. It was made for man's spiritual good, to give opportunity, not alone for physical rest, but for communion with God, when the noise of business and of toil has ceased.

It was made for man to promote his welfare in every regard. All history proves that the Sabbath is a blessing wherever it is observed, and that its violation always brings loss and suffering. Our Lord clearly showed by his example and teaching that the Sabbath is never meant to be a burden to be carried oppressively. Though secular work is forbidden on the Sabbath, it is not a violation of the sacredness of the day for us to prepare food sufficient to meet the hunger of our bodies, or to lift out of a pit a beast that has fallen into it, or to heal a man who is sick.

There is no great need in these days to say much on this side of the question. Not many people are now disposed to make the Sabbath a burden or a cruel yoke. The tendency is the other way. At the same time it is well to understand just what our Lord taught on this subject. He never sought to make the Sabbath oppressive or a burden.

Works of necessity are allowed, even though they may seem to violate the letter of the law. So also are works of mercy, works of benevolence. It will be hard, however, to get out of this great saying of our Lord any excuse for the secular goings-on that men want to bring in under the shield of Jesus' teaching.

103

THE GREAT PHYSICIAN

He had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him.

Mark 3:10

THOUGH the plots of his enemies drove Jesus out of the city, they did not stop his doing good. Though some rejected his love, his heart was not closed. Capernaum lost much when he went out of its gates, but on the throngs that followed him the gracious blessings fell.

That is often the way. The gifts of love that Jesus bears in his hands are rejected by those to whom they are first offered, but are then carried to others, who receive them with gladness. Persecution generally scatters the seed which it means to destroy.

When the first Christians were driven from Jerusalem, it was only to carry the word into all countries round about into which they fled. They went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following (Mark 16:20). Opposition should never silence the lips that carry the words of life. If one rejects and scorns us, we must bear our message to another.

The picture of the people thronging here about Jesus, pressing upon him, each one eagerly struggling to touch him, is very graphic and vivid. A touch was enough. All that touched him were made whole. Life and health flowed into the diseased bodies when the trembling fingers came in contact with the Healer, even with his garments.

So a touch is enough always. Anyone who really touches Jesus is healed. But we must be sure to touch him. It is not enough to be in the crowd that gathers about him. Only those are healed whose faith truly brings them in contact with him. It is not enough to be in the congregation that worships.

One sitting or bowing next to us may receive a great blessing while we receive none at all. It is because they reach out their hand of faith and touch Jesus, while we, as close to Jesus as they are, do not put out our hand to touch him, and therefore receive no blessing.

104

THEY CAME UNTO HIM

He calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.

Mark 3:13

THAT is the way Jesus is doing continually ‒ standing and calling people to come to him. And here we see the way everyone who hears his voice should answer ‒ leave the world's company, step boldly out, cross over the line and take their place by the side of Jesus.

There are several things to be said about the way these men responded to Jesus' call to be his disciples. They did it freely. Although he had chosen them out of a whole nation, and called them, there was no compulsion laid upon them to go with him. They could have refused if they had chosen.

Jesus never makes disciples by force. We must be willing, and must choose to come to him. Then they responded promptly. There was no hesitation. They said nothing about considering the matter for a while. They did not talk about being unfit or unworthy. They did not tell Jesus they were afraid they could not continue faithful. They did not say, "Tomorrow we will go." The moment they heard their names called they answered.

Then their answer was given in a way that could be understood. Whenever they heard the call they stepped out with firm tread, and crossing over the space between the crowd and the Master they joined themselves to him. It was not done secretly. They did not wait till they were alone with him, and then tell him quietly that they had resolved to accept his invitation.

They did not decide to become his disciples, and yet stay among their old friends, and keep on at their old business. They immediately separated themselves from the people about them and went over to him, putting themselves absolutely into his hands, to be his and to do his bidding so long as they lived. This is the way these men started, and this is the way everyone should start whom Jesus calls to be his disciple.

105

TRANSFORMING POWER

Simon he surnamed Peter.

Mark 3:16

IN a gallery in Europe are shown, side by side, the first and the last works of a great artist. The first is very crude and mostly faulty; the last is a masterpiece. The contrast shows the results of long culture and practice. These two names are like those two pictures. "Simon" shows us the rough fisherman of Galilee, with all his rashness, his ignorance, his imperfections.

"Peter" shows us the apostle of the Acts and the Epistles, the rock firm and secure, the man of great power, before whose Spirit-filled eloquence thousands of proud hearts bow, swayed like the trees of the forest before the tempest; the gentle, tender soul whose words fall like a blessing; the noble martyr witnessing to the death for his Lord.

Study the two pictures together to see what grace can do for a man. It is not hard to take roses, lilies, fuchsias, and all the rarest flowers and with them make forms of exquisite beauty; but to take weeds, dead grass, dried leaves trampled and torn, and faded flowers, and make lovely things out of such materials, is the severest test of skill.

It would not be hard to take an angel and train him into a glorious messenger; but to take such a man as Simon, or as Saul, or as John Newton, or as John Bunyan, and make out of him a holy saint or a mighty apostle ‒ that is the test of power. Yet that is what Jesus did and has been doing ever since.

He takes the poorest stuff ‒ despised and worthless, outcasts often ‒ and when he has finished his gracious work we behold a saint whiter than snow. The sculptor beheld an angel in the rough, blackened stone, rejected and thrown away; and when men saw the stone again, lo, there was the angel cut from the block.

Jesus can take us, rough and unpolished as we are, and in his hands our lives shall grow into purity and loveliness, until he presents them at last before the throne, faultless and perfect.

106

BEATITUDES

Blessed ... Blessed ... Blessed.

Matthew 5:3-10

THE Blesseds of the Scriptures shine all over the inspired pages, like stars in the midnight sky. The Bible is a book of the greatest blessings and inspiration. God's mercy lies everywhere. Wherever we see Jesus, he is imparting blessings as the sun imparts light and warmth.

While he was here on the earth he was always reaching out his hand to give a blessing to some life that sorely needed it. Now it was on the children's heads, now on the leper, now on the blind eyes, now on the sick, now on the dead that he laid those gracious hands, and always he left some rich gift of blessing.

Then we remember one day when those gentle hands were laid out by cruel enemies, and with iron nails fastened on the cross; yet even then it was in blessing that they were extended, for it was for our sins they were transfixed thus on the wood.

As we see them thus stretched out as wide as they could reach, the attitude suggests the wideness of the Divine mercy. Thus the arms of God are open to the utmost to receive all who will come to seek refuge. There is room for the worst sinners.

Then it is a striking fact that the last glimpse we have of the Saviour in this world shows him in the attitude of blessing. He had been talking with his disciples as he led them out, and then he lifted up his hands and blessed them; and while he was blessing them he was parted from them and received up into heaven.

Surely there could be no truer picture taken of Jesus at any point in his life than as he appeared in that last view of him that this world glimpsed. In heaven now he is still a blessing Saviour, holding up pierced hands before God in intercession, and reaching down gracious hands full of blessings for our sad, sinful earth. If any life goes unblessed with such a Saviour, it can be only because of unbelief and rejection.

107

HUMILITY

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3

THIS beatitude is not pronounced upon the poor in earthly condition; for someone may be very poor and yet very proud, or one may be rich in worldly goods and yet be very lowly in spirit. Nor is it on the poor in mind, for mental poverty is not necessarily a state of blessedness, and ignorance is certainly not desirable. It is the poor in spirit, in disposition, on whom the beatitude is pronounced; that is, the lowly in heart, the humble, those who are conscious of unworthiness.

Humility is not thinking badly of one's self, holding one's gifts or abilities as of no account. We are under obligation to recognize our talents and make the fullest possible use of them. We are also to recognize our place and our privileges as God's redeemed children ‒ no longer condemned sinners and dutiful slaves lacking respect.

What, then, is humility? It is a spirit that bows reverently before God, and then holds its divinest gifts as not too good or too fine to be used in Jesus' name in the service of the lowliest of God's creatures. The Bible everywhere speaks its praises of humility. Jesus refers only once in the Gospel to his own heart, and then it is this picture that we see: I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). To be poor in spirit is to be rich toward God, while pride of heart is spiritual poverty.

Humility is the key that opens the gate of prayer, while to the loud knocking of pride there comes no answer. The proud Pharisee in his prayer found no blessing, but the lowly publican went away with heart and hand full of heaven's divinest gifts. Pride is the cold mountain peak, sterile and bleak. Humility is the quiet vale, fertile and abounding in life, where peace dwells.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are lowly. They may wear no earthly crown, but a crown of glory, unseen by men, rests even here upon their heads.

108

COMFORTED

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

WE do not usually regard sorrowing people as blessed. Here, however, is a special beatitude for mourners. Probably Jesus meant particularly penitent mourners. In all this world there is nothing so precious before God as tears of contrition. No diamonds or pearls shine with such brilliance in his sight. It was Jesus himself who said there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.

Truly blessed, therefore, are those who in true penitence grieve over their sins. A holy light shines from heaven upon all such mourners. They are comforted with God's pardon and peace.

But no doubt the beatitude refers also to those children of God who are in sorrow, from whatever cause. Blessing is never nearer to us than when we are in affliction. If we do not get it, it is because we will not receive it. Some day we shall see that we have received our best things from heaven ‒ not in the days of our earthly joy and gladness, but in the times of trial and affliction. Tears are lenses through which our dim eyes see more deeply into heaven, and look more fully upon God's face than in any other way.

Sorrows cleanse our hearts of earthliness and fertilize our lives. The days of pain really do far more for us than the days of rejoicing. We grow best when clouds hang over us, because clouds bear rain, and rain refreshes. Then God's comfort is such a rich experience that it is well worth while to endure trial, just to enjoy the sweet and precious comfort which God gives in it.

But to receive from our sorrows their possibilities of blessing, we must accept the affliction as a messenger from God, and pray for true comfort ‒ not the mere drying of our tears, but grace to profit by our affliction, and to get from it the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

109

MEEKNESS

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:5

MEEKNESS is not a popular quality. The world calls it a cowardly spirit that leads a man to remain quiet under insult, to endure a wrong without resentment, to be treated unkindly and then to give kindness in return. Men of the world say that this disposition is unmanly ‒ that it shows weakness, fear, a lack of spirit. So it might be, if we went to stories of ancient heroes for our models of manliness. But we have a truer, a diviner example for our pattern of manliness than any that this world has produced.

Jesus Christ was the only perfect man that ever lived on the earth, and meekness was one of the noblest qualities of his character. He was gentle in disposition, not easily provoked, patient under wrong, silent under reproach. When he was hated, he hated not in return. When he suffered, he threatened not. Possessing all power, he never lifted a finger to avenge a personal injury.

He answered with tender love all man's wrath; and on his cross, when the blood was flowing, he prayed for his murderers. Meekness is then no weak spirit, since in Christ Jesus it shone so brightly. It is Divine to forgive those who have wronged us, to bear long with those who treat us ill, to give the soft answer that turns away wrath, to bathe in the fragrance of love the hand that smites, to render always blessing for cursing, good for evil.

The lesson is hard to learn, for it is directly against nature. We can learn it only as our lives are transformed into the Divine image, only as Jesus enters into our hearts and dwells there. This beatitude shows, too, that meekness is not an impoverishing grace.

The meek shall inherit the earth. Those who commit their lives to God who judges righteously, and leave to him the adjustment of the inequalities of human treatment received by them, do not suffer in the end.

110

SPIRITUAL HUNGER

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6

IT strikes us somewhat strangely at first that there should be a beatitude for dissatisfaction. We know that peace is promised to the believer, and peace is calm repose and satisfied restfulness. The words "hunger and thirst" appear to suggest experiences incompatible with rest and peace. But when we think a little more deeply, we see that spiritual hunger must form a part of all true Christian experience. Hunger is a mark of health.

It is so in physical life. The loss of appetite indicates disease. So a healthy mind is a hungry one. When someone becomes satisfied with their attainments, they cease to grow. The same is true in spiritual life. If we become satisfied with our faith and love and obedience, and our communion with God, and our consecration to Jesus, we have ceased to grow.

Invalids die often amid plenty ‒ die of starvation ‒ not because they can get no food, but because they have no appetite. There are many professing Christians who are starving their souls in the midst of abundance of spiritual provision, because they have no hunger. There is nothing for which we should pray more earnestly and more persistently than for spiritual longing and desire.

It is indeed the very soul of all true prayer. It is the empty hand reached out to receive new and richer gifts from heaven. It is the heart's cry which God hears with acceptance, and answers always with more and more of life. It is the ascending angel that climbs the radiant ladder to return on the same bright stairway with blessings from God's very hand. It is the key that unlocks new storehouses of Divine goodness and enrichment.

It is indeed nothing less than the very life of God in the human soul, struggling to grow up in us into the fulness of the stature of Jesus. Such spiritual hunger never fails of blessing.

111

THE GOLDEN RULE

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Matthew 5:7

PEOPLE get back in this world just about what they give. If we think the world is hard with us, the probability is that the hardness is in ourselves, and that it is the echo of our own speeches that we hear, the rebound of our own blows that we feel, the reflection of our own ugliness of disposition and temper that we see, the harvest of our own sowing that we gather into our lives.

If we are untrue to anyone, it is quite likely that some day somebody will be untrue to us. If we are unjust to another, there is little doubt that some time someone will deal unjustly with us.

On the other hand, if the world seems to us full of love, it is quite likely that we give the world little but love. People generally treat us as we treat them. The generous person finds people generous. The sympathetic person finds sympathy. The merciful person obtains mercy. The selfish person always thinks this world very selfish. Hence the Golden Rule rests on a deep principle in life.

Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them (Matthew 7:12). What we do to others they will do to us. That is the principle. If we want mercy, we must be merciful. If we expect sympathy and help, we must give both sympathy and help. We have only to change places with people and then ask them how we would want them to do to us. As a rule people do not give warmth for coldness, courtesy for rudeness, kindness for unkindness.

The principle applies even to the Divine treatment of us. In God's judgment we receive according to our deeds. We obtain forgiveness if we forgive others. We find mercy if we shall mercy to others. Jesus will confess us before his Father if we confess him before men. So for eternity we shall reap what we have sowed, and gather what we have scattered.

112

PURITY OF HEART

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8

THERE is no beatitude in the Bible for anything unclean. We are told also that there is no room in heaven for anything that defiles. Therefore if we hope to enter heaven we must prepare for it here. To a child who expressed the wonder how he could ever get up to heaven, it was so far away, a wise mother's reply was, "Heaven must first come down to you; heaven must first come into your heart." The words were very true. Heaven must really be in us, or we can never enter heaven. And just as we become pure in heart, is heaven entering into us.

But what is heart purity? It is not sinlessness, for none are sinless. A pure heart must be a penitent heart that has been forgiven by Jesus and cleansed by his blood. We have a Bible promise that though our sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). The pure heart is one, then, that Jesus has cleansed. It is one also that is kept pure by obedient living and close communion with God.

We are taught in the Scriptures that an important part of true faith is to keep one's self unspotted from the world. It is an evil world in which we live; but if we faithfully follow Jesus, doing his will, keeping our hearts open to every influence of the Divine Spirit, we shall be kept by Divine power from the corruption that flows about us.

As the lily remains pure and unstained amid the soiled waters of the marsh in which it grows, so does the lowly, loving, patient heart of the Christian disciple remain pure in the midst of all this world's corruption. Over such a heart God's face beams in perpetual blessing. The vision on earth of course is never full and clear, but it grows brighter and brighter as the believer walks ever towards the morning, and at last it will be unclouded and full in the perfect day of heaven.

113

PEACEMAKERS

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Matthew 5:9

THIS seems to be too much an overlooked beatitude. There are many people who are really strifemakers rather than peacemakers. They do not seek to heal estrangements between others, to prevent quarrels and contentions, and bring together those who have begun to drift apart. Indeed, their whole influence goes toward widening breaches, intensifying bitterness, and increasing anger and hatred. When they find in anyone a germ of suspicion or dislike of another, they stimulate the evil growth.

Is it not time that we should get our Lord's beatitude down out of the skies and begin to work it into our lives? Is it not time that we should become peacemakers in a world whose beauty is marred by so much strife?

The peacemaking spirit is Divine. No one in heaven finds delight in separating friends. Just so far as we get the peacemaking spirit into our lives, do we bear the mark of God's image. To be peacemakers we must first of all strive to live peaceably with all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, says Saint Paul, be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18). But, further, we are also to strive to make and promote peace between others.

Our ministry is not to be confined to the settlement of great quarrels, but may find even its most fruitful work in the healing of the petty contentions which we discover all about us. Whenever we find one person angry with another, we should seek to remove the angry feeling. The little rifts in others' friendships we should strive to heal. The unkind thoughts of others which we find in people's minds we should seek to change into kindly thoughts.

We can do no more Christlike service than to seek always to promote peace between people, to keep them from drifting apart, and to get them to live together more lovingly.

114

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

Ye are the light of the world.

Matthew 5:14

EVERY true Christian is a candle shining in this dark world. The Bible speaks of the spirit of man as the candle of the Lord (Proverb 20:27). In the natural state, before new birth, we are unlit candles. We are candles, however, capable of being lit; for God made us in his own image, though sin has put out the flame or left it only a smoking, smouldering spark.

But a thousand unlit candles in a dark room would not make the room light. So when we receive Jesus into our hearts, the Holy Spirit touches these candles with the Divine flame, and they begin to shine. Thus every believer becomes really a candle of the Lord.

We must remember that we never can shine of ourselves; that we are light only as we are lit by the life of Jesus in us. We are to let our light shine ‒ that is, we are to keep the wick trimmed, so that the flame shall be always bright. And we are to keep the windows of our life clean, so that the beams may pour out without hindrance.

We are also to be sure always to have reserves of oil to replenish our lamps when they burn low. That is, we must live in constant communion with Jesus, abiding in him, that we may draw always from his fulness.

Then, each one in his own place, we must give light to other lives, and make the one small spot in this world that is close about us brighter and happier with love and grace. The great lighthouse lamp pours beams far out to sea, but it does not lighten the space around its base.

Some people send brightness far away, working on the mission field and doing deeds which benefit the world, while they fail to brighten their own homes and the lives close beside them. We ought not to be such lights as these. While we send our influence as far as possible, we should live so that we shall be a blessing to those who are nearest to us.

115

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW

I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Matthew 5:17

THERE are not two Bibles in the one. The Old Testament and the New are not two distinct books, but parts of the same. The New Testament does not set aside the Old, but is simply the rich, ripe harvest of which the Old was the sowing and the early growing.

The gospel which we have in the New Testament is not a different faith from that which we have in the Old Testament, but the same more fully developed, more clearly taught. In the Old Testament, Jesus was foretold sometimes in prophetic promise, sometimes in picture and type. In the New, these promises are fulfilled, these pictures and types find their realization, and we see the Son of God walking among men in the beauty and glory of his incarnation.

The blossoms are not destroyed when they fall off and the fruit comes in their place. The ripe fruit is but the fulfilment of the promise and prophecy of the blossom. The artist's outline sketch is not destroyed when the splendid picture covers the canvas, hiding the first light tracings. The finished work of art is but the completion, the filling out of the original drawing until life glows in every feature.

Jesus destroyed nothing of past Divine revelation when he came. He was the warm summer, wooing the slumbering buds, and dry roots, and waiting prophecies of life into full, luxuriant growth. He was the great Master, taking the dim sketches and shadows of the Old Testament, and filling them out in his own blessed life and death.

So we ought not to lay away our Old Testament as an antiquated book, of no value to us since we have the New. The Old Testament is full of precious things. One of the strongest proofs of the Christian faith is the wonderful fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies in the life, sufferings, and death of Jesus Christ. Let us love the whole Bible ‒ not one word of it is obsolete.

116

PROMISES AND PROPHECIES

One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Matthew 5:18

JESUS referred here primarily to the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. There are thousands of blossoms on the trees in the springtime that never become fruit; but there are no lost blossoms on the Old Testament tree. The exact fulfilment of prophecy is an irrefutable evidence of the Christian faith. But the assurance of these words refers also to every promise of the Scripture. Not the smallest of these shall ever fail anyone who trusts them.

"No word he hath spoken shall ever be broken," goes the hymn. Every pledge God has made he will surely keep. Whenever we find a Divine word we may lay hold of it with perfect confidence, and know that we are clinging to a rock that never can be shaken. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee (Isaiah 54:10).

This is true also of the Divine threats against sin. Not one of these shall fail to be accomplished upon those who reject God's words of grace and mercy. Jesus said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). And that word will prove true to everyone who receives it. But he said also in the same sentence, "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him;" and this word shall just as surely be fulfilled as the other.

In these days, when so many people hold loose views of God's Word, it is well that we fix it deeply in our minds that whatever God says in the Holy Scriptures he says with authority ‒ that his promises are sure as his own eternity, and that every sentence of his is absolutely incapable of being changed. "Only words," we sometimes say, as if words were unreal and unsubstantial; but the words of God are more real and substantial than even earth's greatest mountains.

117

LITTLE SINS

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:19

A GREAT many people are careful about breaking large commandments and committing grave sins, while they continually and without scruple do small wrong things. They would not tell a direct lie for the world, but their speech is full of little falsehoods. They would not take money from the pocket or purse of another, and yet they continually commit small thefts.

For example, the grocer by mistake gives them too much change, and they do not think of returning it. Through the carelessness of an official the postage stamp on a letter is left uncancelled, and they take it off and use it a second time. They would not try to blacken a neighbour's name or destroy their character, and yet they repeat to others the evil whispers about them which they have heard, and thus soil their reputation.

They would not swear or curse in the coarse way of the street, but they are continually using mild, timid substitutes for profane oaths. They would not do flagrant acts of wickedness to disgrace themselves, but their lives are honeycombed with all manner of little meannesses, impurities, selfishnesses, and bad tempers.

We need to remember that little disobediences bring one down to an inferior place in the kingdom of heaven. Little sins mar the beauty of the character. Then they are sure to grow. Often, too, they are infinite in their consequences. The little crack in the lute widens, and by-and-by destroys all the music. The trickling leak in the dike becomes a torrent, deluging vast plains. We ought never to indulge even the smallest faults or evil habits, but should aim always at perfection.

We ought to be satisfied with nothing less than perfection in character, and perfection is made up of many small things.

118

TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS

Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20

IN place of abolishing or destroying the law, Jesus put new meaning into it. As he expounded it, it went far more deeply into people's lives than the leaders of religion had understood it to go. They had taught that a rigid external obedience was required; but Jesus told them that if this were all, they could not enter the kingdom. Instead of lowering the requirements of the Divine law, he elevated them and gave them a new meaning.

He said the righteousness of his followers must be a great deal better than that of the average professors of religion in his day. They had a sound creed, and were punctilious in the observance of the ten thousand tiny rules about ceremony, dress, attitude, and devout manners. But their lives were full of hardness, pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy.

Jesus said that unless his disciples had a better righteousness than these orthodox Jews had, they would never get into the family of God. The only righteousness that will be accepted by Jesus is that which has its origin in the heart, and then produces obedience and holiness in all the life. We ought to apply this truth very closely. Joining a Church does not make someone a Christian.

The careful observance of all the ordinances and rules of the Church is not being good. There must be faith, love, dutiful obedience, submission. Jesus demands from his followers a high standard of morality. We are not saved by Jesus' righteousness in the sense that we need no righteousness of our own. In place of mere external and formal obedience, the law is written on the heart of the true believer, who obeys it from within.

We should strive to make our obedience so deep and so loyal that our lives will reflect in every feature the radiance of Jesus.

119

ANGRY WITHOUT CAUSE

Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment!

Matthew 5:22

WE ought to learn to read the commandments with the light of our Lord's explanation upon them. So long as the sixth commandment is interpreted to mean only actual murder, most people get along pretty well with it. They are not troubled in their consciences about its violation. There are not many literal murderers loose in our Sunday schools and churches, or living in our homes.

But when we hear our Lord's interpretation of this commandment, and learn that this literal sense does not exhaust the meaning of the commandment ‒ that we break it, too, when we are angry with a brother ‒ we cannot be quite so sure about our innocence. We have never killed anyone, but have we never been angry with another?

Elsewhere we read, He that hateth his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). This does not mean that hatred is as great a crime as murder, but that it grows from the same root and is of the same nature. Murder is only anger full-grown.

The Master's words here should be carefully considered. They condemn all anger against another, all expressions of scorn or contempt. The obedience of this commandment which our Lord requires is love that thinks no evil, holds no resentment, and is patient, gentle, thoughtful, reverent, unselfish.

Yet are we not all too apt to allow the passion of anger to take possession of our breasts? Do we not too frequently permit envy and jealousy and unkind and hurtful thoughts to enter our hearts and nest there, like evil birds?

If we but remembered that the spirit of murder is in all these emotions, we surely would not cherish them for an instant. None of us wants the brand of murderer upon us. The way to keep out such feelings is to yield to every gentle and loving impulse of the Spirit ‒ to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

120

ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Matthew 5:23-24

THERE is something to do before we kneel down to pray in our quiet place, or begin our worship in the sanctuary, or come to the Lord's table. There ought to be a look inward at our own hearts before the look upward at the face of God. Are we ready to pray? Are the obstructions out of the way? Is our heart ready for worship? The worship that pleases God the best is love in the heart.

He has no pleasure in sacrifices and ceremonies and ordinances while the heart is full of bitterness. He cares nothing for our professions of love to him so long as we hate our brother. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (1 John 4:19-20).

If, therefore, we want our worship to be acceptable to God, we must be sure to come into his presence with hearts cleansed of all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and all malice. Thus every approach to God in prayer requires self-examination; and if we can remember that we have wronged anyone, or that there is any estrangement or strife, we should seek reconciliation before we pray. At least we must see that our own spirits are thoroughly cleansed of all bitterness before we come to God's altar.

This rule is fitted to keep our hearts always free from anger. Saint Paul counsels that we should not let the sun go down upon our wrath (Ephesians 4:26). No day should be allowed to close over us with anger in our breasts. We may never see another day, and we should not lie down to sleep cherishing bitterness against any other.

The evening prayer should cleanse our spirits of all feelings of anger, as we pray, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

121

TRUE CHARITY

When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.

Matthew 6:3

THERE are some people who want every good thing they do well advertised. If they give money to some good cause, they want to have it noticed in the papers. If they are kind to the poor or relieve some case of distress, they are particular that the matter should be duly published. They take pains that their charities shall not fail to be credited to themselves.

But this is not the kind of spirit our Lord enjoined on his disciples. He told them that seeking publicity marred the beauty of their alms giving. That instead of announcing to all men what they had done, they should not even let their own left hand know that their right hand had been doing commendable things.

Of course Jesus did not mean that we should not be good before people ‒ that we should never give alms except where the act would be absolutely secret. It is the motive that Jesus was enforcing. His disciples should never give for the sake of men's praise. Devout acts instantly lose all their value when any motive but the honour of God and the desire for his approval is in our heart.

We should not even ourselves think about our charities, but should forget them as the tree forgets the fruits it drops. We should train ourselves therefore to do our good deeds without seeking praise or recognition of men. We should not be so anxious to have our card tacked on every gift we send. We ought to be willing to do good, and let Jesus have all the glory while we stay back unknown and unrecognized.

Florence Nightingale, having gone like an angel of mercy among the hospitals in the Crimea until her name was enshrined in every soldier's heart, asked to be excused from having her picture taken, that she might be forgotten, and that Jesus alone might be remembered as the author of all the blessings which her hand had distributed.

122

SECRET PRAYER

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 6:6

ONE of the most important things we ever do in this world is to pray. No business transacted anywhere so deeply touches the interests of our lives. We ought therefore to learn to pray aright, so as to be sure of answer. We ought to be eager to get every smallest fragment of instruction about prayer.

In our word for today we have one of our Lord's plainest and most significant instructions about the manner and the nature of prayer. He is speaking, not of public prayer, as when the minister leads the congregation, but of personal prayer, when the child of God wants to talk to his Father of his own affairs, and lay at his feet his own individual burdens.

We should seek to be alone in all such praying. Other presences about us disturb our thoughts and restrict our freedom. So we are to go into our quiet place and shut the door.

This shutting of the door is significant in several ways. It shuts the world out. It secures us against interruption. It ought to shut out worldly thoughts and cares and distractions, as well as worldly presences. Wandering in prayer is usually one of our sorest troubles.

The door shuts us in, and this also is important and significant. It shuts us in alone with God. No eye but his sees us as we bow in the secrecy. No ear but his hears us as we pour out our heart's feelings and desires.

Thus we are helped to realize that it is with God alone we have come, that he alone can help us. As we are shut up alone with God, so also are we shut up to God. There is a precious comfort in the assurance that when we thus pray we are not talking into the air. There is an ear to hear, though we can see no presence, and it is the ear of our Father. This assures us of loving regard in heaven, and of prompt and gracious answer.

123

OUR FATHER

Our Father which art in heaven.

Matthew 6:9

THIS is the golden gate of the temple of prayer. When our Lord taught his disciples how to pray, it was thus he said they should begin. They were not to come to infinite power, or to unknowable mystery, or to inaccessible light, but to fatherhood. This precious name at the gateway makes the approach easy.

The name assures us of love and care. Does a true parent have care for a child? Much more does our Father in heaven care for his children on the earth. He cares even for the birds, seeing that they get their daily food. He cares for the flowers, weaving for them with threads of light the lovely robes they wear. He surely cares more for his children. So the precious name assures us that we shall never be neglected nor overlooked in this great world.

It gives us assurance also of unhindered access to the Divine presence. The children of a great king are not kept waiting at their father's door as strangers are. God's children have perfect liberty in his presence. They can never come at the wrong hour. He is never too busy to see them and to listen to their words of love and prayer.

In the midst of the affairs of the vast universe, our Heavenly Father thinks of his humblest child in this great world, and amid all its confusion and noise hears and recognizes the faintest cry that rises from the lips of the least and lowliest of his little ones.

This name interprets also for us the grace and mercy of our God. We are always conscious of sin. How, then, can we gain access to a holy God? Ah, he is our Father! We know that even an earthly father does not shut the door on his wandering child. The candle is left burning in the window through the long dark nights, that the wanderer out in the blackness and longing to return, seeing the bright beams may be assured of love and a waiting welcome. Infinitely more gracious is our Father in heaven.

124

GLORIFYING GOD

Hallowed be thy name.

Matthew 6:9

WHILE the name "Father" over the gate of prayer assures us of loving welcome and of all tenderness, consideration, and care, the words "which art in heaven" remind us of the surpassing glory and majesty of God. We should not rush into his presence as we do into the presence of an earthly parent. We should remember his infinite greatness and holiness, and should come always with reverence.

His is a name to be hallowed. "Holy is his name" (Luke 1:19). Of this, this petition reminds us. It checks the flow of our thoughts and feelings, and bids us approach God with a suitable sense of our unworthiness and of his holiness. It bids us be reverent though bold.

This is a prayer for the glorifying of God in this world. When we pray it, we must be sure that we do our part in making his name hallowed. We can do this by our own reverent use of that holy name. Good Christian people sometimes grow very careless in speaking of God. They become so accustomed to using his name in prayer and speech that they utter it as lightly as if it were the name of some familiar friend.

But what shall we say of our own taking on our sin-defiled lips the holy name of God? We ought to learn to hallow that blessed name in our speech. Then we should hallow it in our lives. We are God's children, and we bear his name. How may a child honour a parent's name? Only by a life worthy of the parent.

We must take heed, therefore, that in every act of ours ‒ in our behaviour, in our whole character and influence ‒ we live so that all who see us shall see in us something of the beauty of God. It would be a sad thing, indeed, if we gave people a wrong idea of God, or the nature of Jesus Christ.

125

HEAVEN BROUGHT TO US

Thy kingdom come.

Matthew 6:10

THIS is a very comprehensive prayer. It pleads for the extension of God's spiritual realm in this world ‒ his power over hearts and lives, the conquest of earth's kingdoms to his sway. It is a prayer that men may be better ‒ that they may put away their sins and amend their lives; that they may take Jesus as their king, and yield every thought and desire to him. It is not a longing to be lifted away to heaven, but a passion that heaven may be brought to us, into our hearts and lives.

We are in danger of thinking too much of other people and the coming of God's kingdom into other hearts and lives as we offer this prayer. The little piece of world for which we are first responsible is that which lies within our own hearts and lives. While then we pray, "Thy kingdom come," we should look within ourselves to see if we have submitted to the reign of Jesus.

Thy kingdom here?

Lord, can it be?

Searching and seeking everywhere

For many a year,

"Thy kingdom come" has been my prayer;

Was that dear kingdom all the while so near?

Was I the bar

Which shut me out

From the full joyance which they taste

Whose spirits are

Within thy Paradise embraced ‒

Thy blessed Paradise, which seemed so far?

Let me not sit

Another hour

Idly awaiting what is mine to win,

Blinded in wit.

Lord Jesus, rend these walls of self and sin;

Beat down the gate, that I may enter in.

Susan Coolidge

126

DOING THE WILL OF GOD

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10

MANY people always quote this petition as if it meant only submission to some painful providence. They suppose it refers only to losing friends or money, or being sick or in trouble. But this is only a little part of its meaning. It is for the doing of God's will, not the suffering of it, that we here pray.

It is a good deal easier to make prayers like this for others than for ourselves. We all think other people ought to do God's will, and we do not find it a difficult prayer to make that they may do so. But what about ourselves? There is no other person in the world for whose life we are really and finally responsible but ourselves.

This prayer, then, if we offer it sincerely, is that we may do God's will as it is done in heaven. We can pray it, therefore, only when we are ready for implicit, unquestioning obedience to our Heavenly Father's will the moment we know what that will is.

Then sometimes it is a passive doing that is required. God asks of us something that costs pain or sacrifice or earthly loss. When this is true, our prayer may cut deeply into our own hearts. It may mean a giving up of some sweet joy, a losing of some precious friend, the sacrifice of some dear possession, the going in some way of thorns and tears.

We should learn always to say the prayer, and then to hold our lives close to the line of God's will, never rebelling or murmuring, but thoughtfully doing whatever he gives us to do.

He always wins who sides with God,

To him no chance is lost;

God's will is sweetest to him when

It triumphs at his cost.

Ill that he blesses is our good,

And unblest good is ill;

And all is right that seems most wrong,

If it be his sweet will.

Frederick William Faber

127

DAY BY DAY

Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:11

THIS seems a very small thing to ask ‒ only bread for a day. Why are we not taught to pray for bread enough to last a week, or a month, or a year? For one thing, Jesus wanted to teach us a lesson of continual dependence. He taught us to come each morning with a request simply for the day's food, that we might never feel we can get along without our Father.

Another lesson he wanted to teach us was that the true way to live is by the day. We are not to be anxious even about the supply of tomorrow's needs. When tomorrow comes it will be right for us to take up its cares. The same great lesson was taught in the way the manna was given ‒ just a day's portion at a time.

Make a little fence of trust

Around today;

Fill the space with loving deeds,

And therein stay.

Look not through the sheltering bars

Upon tomorrow;

God will help thee bear what comes

Of joy or sorrow."

Mary F. Butts

We should not overlook the word "us." It is plural, and bids us send thought beyond our own individual need and remember God's other children. This should always be a prayer for daily bread for our hungry neighbour as well as for our self. Then while we thus enjoy our own plenty, we must share with those who have need.

"This crust is My body broken for thee,

This water His blood that died on the tree;

The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,

In whatso we share with another's need;

Not that which we give, but what we share

For the gift without the giver is bare:

Who bestows himself with his alms feeds three,

Himself, his hungering neighbour, and Me."

James Lowell

128

A FORGIVING SPIRIT

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Matthew 6:12

THE first part of this petition is not so hard to say. Most people are willing to confess, at least in a general way, that they are debtors to God, that they have sinned. But the second part is harder to repeat. When someone has done us an injury, and we are feeling hard over it, it is not so easy to ask God to forgive us as we forgive. Perhaps we do not forgive at all, but keep the bitter feeling in our heart against our brother.

What is it, then, that we ask God to do for us when we pray, "Forgive us as we forgive"? God has linked blessing and duty together in this petition. If we will not forgive those who have wronged us, it is evident that we have not the spirit of repentance to which God grants remission of sins. If we would enjoy the sweet peace of God in our own breasts, we must keep our minds free from all bitterness and anger, and all feelings of unforgiveness.

"Forgive us, Lord, because we have forgiven,

Not as we have forgiven, is our prayer ‒

Earth is so lower far than highest heaven,

Man is not even as the angels are,

And thou to angels art as sun to star;

Measure thy pity not in our poor scale,

But in thine own which weighs eternities.

We do our little part, we strive, we fail,

Our wine of charity has bitter lees;

Our best unselfishness seeks self to please;

Our purest gold with base alloy is dim;

Our fairest fruit hangs tainted on the tree;

Our sweetest songs heard by the seraphim

Would all discordant and unlovely be

Save for the charity they learn from thee.

But thou canst pour forgiveness with a word,

O'er countless worlds an all-embracing ray,

Beyond our hopes, our best deserving, Lord,

Forgive us, then, and we in our poor way

Shall catch thy higher meaning as we pray."

J R Miller

129

ENDURING TEMPTATION

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Matthew 6:13

IT is impossible to live in this world and escape temptation. People have fled away from active life and from human companionships, hoping thus to evade enticement to evil. But they are not successful; for wherever they go they carry in their own hearts a fountain of corruption, and are thus perpetually exposed to temptation. The only door of escape from all temptation is the door that leads into heaven.

We grieve over our friends whom the Lord calls away ‒ the little child in its sweet innocence, the mother in her grown saintliness, the young man in his pride of strength ‒ but do we ever think that we have far more reason for anxiety, possibly for grief, over those who live and have to battle with sin in this world? Those who have gone from us in the victorious release of Christian faith, are for ever secure; but those yet in the sore battle are still in peril.

This petition is a prayer that we may never be called needlessly to meet temptation. Sometimes God wants us to be tried, because we can only grow strong through victory. We have a word of Scripture which says: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life (James 1:12).

Yet we ought never ourselves to seek any way of life in which we shall have to be exposed to the peril of conflict with sin. Temptation is too terrible an experience, fraught with too much danger, to be sought by us, or ever encountered save when God leads us in the path on which it lies.

We must never rush unbidden or unsent into any spiritual danger. There are no promises for presumption. It is written, said the Master, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (Matthew 4:7). When God sends us into danger, we are under his protection. When we go where he does not send us, we go unsheltered

130

THE LOVE OF MONEY

Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:24

WE had better look very carefully into the meaning of these words, remembering that it was our blessed Lord who spoke them. Mammon means riches. To serve means to be the slave of. Saint Paul loved to call himself the servant or slave of Jesus. Now Jesus says here that we cannot be God's slave and mammon's slave too. We cannot belong to any two masters at the same time. If we are the slave of riches, that ends it ‒ we are not God's. If we belong to God, riches are not our master.

Think, too, what a degrading thing it is for anyone bearing the image of God to be the slave of money. To use the word "serve" in its mildest English sense, no man should be even the servant of money. Riches are meant to be man's slave. Now think how degrading it would be for anyone to become servant or slave to their own slave. A man should be ashamed to call riches his master.

Money is meant to be our servant, and so long as we are its perfect master it may be a blessing to us, and an instrument with which we may do great good. But when we get down on our knees to it, and crawl in the dust for its sake, and sell our lives to get it, it is only a curse to us. Thus it is easy to see why anyone who serves God cannot serve mammon.

God must have all the heart and must rule in all the life. He will not share his throne with the god of gold. God's true servants may have money, and may even be very rich; but they must use their money as a means for honouring God and blessing the world in Jesus' name. We must own the money; the money must not own us. We must carry it in our hands, not in our hearts. This is a very important thing for us to learn. Many Christian people are in danger of forsaking the sweet, blessed service of Jesus for the servile, slavish service of mammon.

131

ANXIOUS THOUGHT

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for....

Matthew 6:25

OF course we are to take thought in a true sense. Why were we made with brains if we are not to think with them? It would be as if God bade us not to walk after he had given us feet, or not to talk after giving us tongues. We are to train our minds and think with them, and think about the future too, laying plans with a long reach into the years before us.

It is not forethought that is forbidden, but anxious thought, worry, fear. We shall see as we go on just what we are to do instead of being anxious. At present, let us get the simple lesson that we are never to be anxious. This is not a rule with exceptions. It is not a bit of creed that will not work in life. It is a lesson that we are to strive to carry out in all our days, however full they may be of things calculated to distract us.

But why are we to take no thought? The "therefore" helps us to the answer: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore take no thought." So, then, taking thought seems to be serving mammon. We say we are God's children, and yet when riches seem in danger of failing us, we get anxious.

Practically, then, we trust our possessions more than we trust our Father. We feel safer when their abundance fills our hands than when riches threatens to fail and we have only God. That is, we trust God and mammon. Anxiety about the supply of our needs is therefore distrust of our heavenly Father.

If we serve God only, we should not worry though we have not even bread for tomorrow. We should believe in our Father's love. Money we may lose any day, for riches make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven (Proverbs 23:5), but we never can lose God. Nothing can rob us of his love, nor rob him of the abundance he possesses from which to meet our needs. So if we trust God we ought never to be anxious, though we have nothing else.

132

A LESSON OF TRUST

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Matthew 6:26

ARE we to draw the inference that since the birds neither sow nor reap, we should make no exertions to provide for our own wants? No: if we did nothing to earn our own bread we should soon starve. God would not feed us as he feeds the birds. He has bestowed upon us powers by which we can make provision for our own wants. He feeds us, not by bringing the bread to us, but by making us able to sow and reap and gather into barns.

God nowhere encourages that "trust" which idly sits down and waits to be cared for. Little babies, and sick and infirm people, and any who are incapacitated may live as the birds do, and may expect to be cared for. But healthy people, with active brains and strong hands, will fare very poorly if they try to live the birds' way.

The point of the illustration lies elsewhere. God's care extends even to birds. There are two reasons, then, why it will more certainly extend to his people. First, we are better than birds. Birds have no souls, do not bear the Divine image, have no spiritual nature, cannot worship nor voluntarily serve God, have no future and immortal life. The God who cares for a little soulless bird will surely care much more thoughtfully for a thinking, immortal, godlike man.

Then the other reason is that God is our Father. He is the creator and provider of the birds, but not their Father. Surely a father will do more for his children than for his chickens; a mother will give more thought to her baby than to her canary. Will not our heavenly Father provide more certainly and more tenderly for his children than for his birds? So from the birds we get a lesson of trust. Every little bird sitting on its bough, or singing its sweet song, ought to lead us to renewed confidence in the care of our Father.

133

USELESS ANXIETIES

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

Matthew 6:27

SO it is useless to worry. A short person cannot, by any amount of anxiety, make himself an inch taller. Why, therefore, should he waste his energy and fret his life away in wishing he were an inch taller? One worries because he is too short, another because he is too tall; one because he is too lean, another because he is too fat; one because he has a disabled foot, another because he has a disfigurement on his face. No amount of fretting will change any of these things.

People worry, too, over their circumstances. They are poor, and have to work hard. They have troubles, losses, and disappointments which come through causes entirely beyond their own control. They find difficulties in their environment which they cannot surmount. There are hard conditions in their lot which they cannot change.

Now why should they worry about these things? Will worrying make matters any better? Will discontent cure the disabled foot, or remove the ugly mole, or change the shape of their body? Will complaining make the hard work lighter, or the burdens easier, or the troubles fewer?

Will anxiety keep the winter away, or the storm from rising, or put coal in the cellar, or bread in the larder, or get clothes for the children? Even wise philosophy shows the uselessness of worrying, since it helps nothing, and only wastes one's strength and unfits one for doing one's best.

But Jesus goes farther, and says that even the hard things and the obstacles are blessings if we meet them in the right spirit ‒ steppingstones lifting our feet upward, disciplinary experiences in which we grow.

So we learn that we should quietly and with faith accept life as it comes to us, fretting at nothing, changing hard conditions to easier if we can. If we cannot, then we must use them as means for growth and advancement.

134

LESSONS FROM THE FLOWERS

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29

WITHOUT any toiling or spinning on their own part, God clothes the flowers in loveliness far surpassing any adornment which the most skilful human arts can provide. Flowers bloom for a few days and fade. We are better than flowers. If our Father lavishes so much beauty on plants, is there any danger that he will not provide raiment for his own children?

Of course it is not implied that like the lilies we need neither toil nor spin. It is all right for lilies just to stand still and grow. That is their mission; that is the way God made them to grow. But he gave us hands, feet, brains, tongue, energy, and will; and if we would be cared for as are the flowers, we must put forth our energies to produce the results of comfort.

Yet Jesus tells us to consider the lilies, how they grow. We ought to study the beautiful things in nature and learn lessons from them. Here it is a lesson of contentment we are to learn. Whoever heard a lily complaining about its circumstances? It accepts the conditions in which it finds itself, and makes the best of them. It drinks in heaven's light, air, dew, and rain, and unfolds its own loveliness in quietness and peace.

The lily grows from within. So ought we to grow, having within us the Divine life to be developed in our character and spirit. The lily is an emblem of beauty. Our spiritual life should unfold likewise in all lovely ways. It is a picture of perfect peace. Who ever saw wrinkles of anxiety in a lily's face?

God wants us to grow into peace. The lily is fragrant; so should our lives be. The lily sometimes grows in the black marsh, but it remains unspotted. Thus should we live in this world, keeping ourselves unspotted amid its evil. These are a few of the lessons from the lily.

135

GOD WILL PROVIDE

Seek ye first the kingdom, of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

THERE is one thing, however, for which we are to take thought ‒ not anxious, but very earnest thought. We are to take thought about our duty, about doing God's will and filling our place in God's world.

We ought to get this very clearly in our mind. Too many people worry far more about their food and raiment, lest they shall be left in need, than they do about doing their whole duty well. That is, they are more anxious about God's part in their lives than they are about their own. They fear God may not take care of them, but they do not have any fear that they may fail in faithfulness to him.

We ought to learn well that providing for our wants is God's business, not ours. We have nothing at all to do with it. But we have everything to do with our own duty, our allotted work, the doing of God's will. God will never do these things for us. If we do not do them, they must remain undone. If we do them faithfully, God will care for us.

The noblest life possible in this world is simple consecration to Jesus and to duty, with no anxiety about anything else. We may not always be fed luxuriously, nor be clothed in scarlet and fine linen; yet food convenient for us will always be provided, and raiment sufficient to keep us warm. But suppose we are near starving! Well, we must just go on doing our part and not worrying. In due time, somehow, God's will will be done.

Here we have our Lord's own promise of this. The truth is, too many of us take a great deal more thought about our support than about our duty. Then of course we forfeit the promise and may suffer. How much better the other way ‒ ours the doing, God's the providing.

136

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

Matthew 6:34

THIS last reason our Lord gives against anxiety for the future is that we have nothing to do with the future. God gives us life by days, little single days. Each day has its own duties, its own needs, its own trials and temptations, its own griefs and sorrows. God always gives us strength enough for the day as he gives it, with all that he puts into it.

But if we insist on dragging back tomorrow's cares and piling them on top of today's, the strength will not be enough for the load. God will not add strength just to suit our whims of anxiety and distrust.

So the lesson is that we should keep each day distinct and attend strictly to what it brings us. Charles Kingsley says: Do today's duty, fight today's temptation, and do not weaken and distract yourself by looking forward to things which you cannot see, and could not understand if you saw them. We really have nothing at all to do with the future, save to prepare for it by doing with faithfulness the duties of today.

No one was ever crushed by the burdens of one day. We can always get along with our heaviest load till the sun goes down. Well, that is all we ever have to do. Tomorrow? Oh, you may have no tomorrow; you may be in heaven. If you are here, God will be here too, and you will receive new strength sufficient for the new day.

One day at a time. A burden too great

To be borne for two can be borne for one;

Who knows what will enter tomorrow's gate?

While yet we are speaking all may be done.

One day at a time ‒ but a single day,

Whatever its load, whatever its length;

And there's a bit of precious Scripture to say

That according to each shall be our strength.

J R Miller

137

JUDGING OF OTHERS

Judge not, that ye be not judged?

Matthew 7:1

NO faults are more common than this judging of others. It would not be so bad if we were disposed to look at people charitably; but we are not. Our eyes are far keener for flaws and blemishes than for marks of beauty. Not many of us are for ever finding new features of loveliness in others; not a few of us can find an indefinite number of faults.

If we were ourselves up to the standard whereby we judge others, we should be very saintly people. If we were free from all the faults we so readily see when they appear in our neighbour, we should be well-nigh faultless.

This word of our Lord not only instructs us not to be critical of others and judgmental, but it presents the strongest kind of motive against such judging. It makes the appeal to our own interest. Others will hand out to us just what we hand out to them. None of us likes others to be critical and judgmental toward us. We wince under unjust criticisms.

We resent unkind fault-finding. We demand that people shall judge us fairly. We claim forbearance and charity in our failures in duty and for blemishes in our character. Can we expect other people to be any more lenient towards us than we are toward them?

If we would receive kindly judgment from others, we must give the same to them. If we criticise someone today in a harsh manner, we need not be surprised if we hear their harsh criticism of us tomorrow. But if, on the other hand, we speak up kindly, appreciative, and charitable words of someone today, very likely tomorrow we shall hear some pleasant word that another has said of us.

So we make very largely the music or the discord for our own hearts. We get back what we give. We gather the harvest of our own sowing. Then, even in the last judgment, we shall receive from the Judge what we have shown to others.

138

FINDING FAULT WITH OTHERS

Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Matthew 7:3

IT is strange how oblivious we can be of our own faults and blemishes, and how clearly we can see those of other people. One old writer says: "Men are more apt to use spectacles than looking glasses ‒ spectacles to behold other men's faults than looking glasses to behold their own."

A man can see a little speck of dust in his neighbour's eye, while utterly unaware of the great beam in his own eye. He observes the most minute fault in his brother while unconscious of his own far greater fault.

We would say that a beam in someone's eye would blind them so that they could not see the mote in another's eye. As our Lord represents it, however, the person with the beam is the very one who sees the mote and thinks himself competent to pull it out. So it is in morals. No one is so sharp at seeing a fault in another, as the person who has the same or a similar fault of their own.

A vain person is the first to detect the indications of vanity in another. A bad-tempered person is most apt to be critical of a neighbour who displays bad temper. Someone with a sharp uncontrolled tongue has the least patience with another whose speech is full of poisoned arrows. A selfish person discovers even motes of selfishness in others. Rude people are the very first to be hurt and offended by rudeness in a neighbour.

So it is always. If we are quick to perceive blemishes and faults in others, the probability is that we have far greater blemishes and faults. This truth ought to make us exceedingly careful in our judgments and exceedingly modest in our expressions of censure, for we really are telling the world our own faults. It is wiser, as well as more in accordance with the Spirit of Jesus, for us to find lovely things in others, and to be silent regarding their faults.

138

A SELF-RIGHTEOUS SPIRIT

Or how wilt them say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Matthew 7:4

IS it not a kindness to a friend to take the mote out of their eye? If we met a neighbour with a cinder in their eye, would it not be a gracious thing to stop and take it out for them? Then why is it not just as true a kindness to want to cure another's fault, even though we have the same fault ourselves? If we did it in the right spirit, it would be. We are bound to seek the welfare of our friends in every possible way, and therefore, if we discover in them things that mar their beauty, we should seek the removal of those things.

But the trouble is we are not apt to look at our neighbour's faults in this loving and sympathetic way. To begin with, we do not know, or at least we do not confess, that we ourselves have beams in our own eyes. We are not even aware that there are even motes in our own eyes. It is the self-righteous spirit that our Lord is condemning here.

A man holds up his hands in horror at the speck he has found in his neighbour's character; and his neighbour, looking up, sees in him an immensely magnified copy of the speck. Will the neighbour be greatly benefited by the rebuke?

Suppose a bad-tempered person lectures us on the sin of giving way to temper, or a dishonest person on some apparent lack of honesty, or a liar on the wickedness of falsehood, or a bad-mannered person on some discourtesy of ours, or a hypocrite on insincerity – what good will such lectures do, even admitting that we are conscious of the faults?

We are only irritated by the unfitness of such rebukes from those in whom the faults are ten times greater than in us. We wonder how people can have the face to talk about motes in our eyes when huge beams project from their own eyes. Truly this is not the way to tell others of their faults.

140

BEGIN AT HOME

First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Matthew 7:5

BEGIN at home ‒ that is the teaching. Not at home in the general sense, with other members of your family, but even closer at home, with yourself. It is a good deal easier, of course, to pull motes out of other people's eyes than beams out of our own. Yet we are not put in this world to look after other people's faults, to pick the dust out of their eyes, to remove their specks of blemish. Our first business is to get rid of our own faults.

We are scarcely competent to take the grain of dust out of another's eye while a beam protrudes from our own. We are not ready to do much toward curing our friends of their faults until we have sincerely tried to rid ourselves of our own.

We all know people whose very presence is a silent rebuke of sin. Their lives are pure and holy, and their unconscious influence is a restraint upon all evil. We are often told that one of the truest tests of a good friendship is that our friend can tell us of our faults and we shall receive it kindly. That depends first on ourselves, and then upon our friend.

If we are proud and vain, it will be very hard for any friend, the wisest and gentlest, to speak to us of our faults, save at the peril of the friendship. Then if the friend treats our faults in a conceited and critical way, it will be equally dangerous. The friend who would truly help to take the motes out of our eyes must come to us in tender love, proving their generous and unselfish interest in us.

They must come to us humbly, not as our judge but as our helper, with faults like our own which they are trying to cure. If they approach us in this way, conscious of their own infirmity, desiring to be helpful to us, as Jesus has been helpful to them, nothing but unpardonable vanity and self-conceit will prevent our accepting their kind offer.

141

THE PRAYER-PROMISE

Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened!

Matthew 7:8

THESE are very positive promises, and yet they must be read intelligently, in the light of other Scriptures which explain and qualify the words. It is not all asking that receives; for there is asking that is not true prayer. Some ask merely in word, with no real desire in their hearts.

Some ask selfishly, that they may consume the Divine gift on their desires. Some ask rebelliously, without submission to the will of God. Some ask without faith, not expecting any answer. Some ask idly, not ready to do their own part. Some ask ignorantly for things which would not be blessings if they were granted. It is clear that in these cases those who ask will not receive.

So not literally all who seek find. The seeking must be earnest. There is a remarkable word in one of the old prophets: Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). The seeking must also be for good things. If our quest is for sinful things, or for worldly good that would work in us spiritual harm, God will not give us what we seek.

Then we must live right. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11). The thing itself must be good; and we must walk in paths of obedience, or there is no promise of reward for our quest.

In like manner it is not to all knocking that God opens the door. There are timid knocks that indicate neither desire nor faith, as when mischievous children ring a doorbell and then run away, not wanting to enter. It is when we knock at the right door, and knock with expectancy and faith and need, that the door is graciously opened. Thus in interpreting this wonderful prayer-promise we must read into the words their true meaning. The asking, seeking, knocking, must be true prayer.

142

GOOD THINGS FROM GOD

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Matthew 7:11

NO father will answer his hungry child's cry for bread with a stone, or give the child a serpent if he asks for a fish. Even sinful parents have in their hearts something of the image of God's own fatherhood. The point being made here is from the less to the greater. If a true earthly father, with all his imperfection, will not mock a child's cry, but will respond lovingly, how much more will our Father in heaven do for us?

"How much more?" is a question none can answer. We can only say as much more as our heavenly Father is more loving, and wiser, and more able to give, than is the earthly father. Yet we must explain this promise also by other Scriptures. The gate of prayer is set very wide open in this verse, yet those who would enter must come in the right way and seek "good" things.

While no one who asks for bread will receive a stone, neither will someone who asks for a stone receive a stone. Many times we come to God pleading with him to let us have a stone. Of course we imagine it is bread, and that it will be food to us. It is some earthly thing, some gift of honour or pleasure, some achievement of ambition, some object of heart's desire.

It looks like bread to our deluded vision. But God knows it is only a cold stone ‒ that it would leave us starving if we were to receive it. He loves us too well to listen to our piteous cries for it, or to be moved by our earnestness or our tears to give it to us.

When we ask for a stone he will give us bread. Thus it is that many requests for earthly things are not granted. Yet the prayers are not unanswered. Instead of the stone we wish for, God gives us the bread we need. We do not always know what is bread and what is a stone, and we must leave to God the final decision in all our prayers.

143

OUR DUTY TO OTHERS

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

Matthew 7:12

THIS is a wonderfully comprehensive rule of action. It bids us consider the interests of others as well as our own. It bids us set our neighbours alongside of our self, and think of them as having the same rights as we have, and requiring from us the same treatment that we give to our self. It gives us a standard by which to test all our motives and all our conduct bearing on others.

We are at once in thought to change places with the person toward whom duty is to be determined, and ask, "If they were where I am, and I were where they are, how should I want them to treat me in this case?" The application of this rule would instantly put a stop to all rash, hasty actions, for it commands us to consider our neighbours and question our own heart before doing anything. It would slay all selfishness, for it compels us to regard our neighbours' interests as precisely equal to our own. It would lead us to honour others; for it puts us and them on the same platform.

The application of this rule would put a stop to all injustice and wrong; for none of us would do injustice or wrong to ourselves, and we are to treat our neighbours as if they were our self. It would lead us to seek the highest good of all others, even the lowliest; for we surely want everyone to seek our good.

The full application of this Golden Rule would end all conflict between capital and labour; for it would give employers a deep, loving interest in the people they employ, and lead them to think of their employees in all ways.

It would also give to every employee a desire for the prosperity of their employer and an interest in the business. It would end all strife in families, in communities, among nations. The perfect working of this rule everywhere would make heaven; for the will of God would then "be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

144

TWO ROADS AND TWO GATES

Enter ye in at the strait gate.

Matthew 7:13

ALL truly valuable things cost much. Such a glorious privilege as the Christian's, therefore, cannot be achieved without effort. To open the way, and to purchase for us the privilege of becoming children of God, the Son of God had to come from heaven in condescending love and give his own life.

Jesus said, too, that any who would reach the glory of his kingdom must go by the same way of the cross by which he went. He said that the person who will save his life ‒ that is, keep it from self-denial and sacrifice ‒ shall lose it; and that only the person who loses his life, gives it out in devotion to God and to duty, shall save it. (See Matthew 8:35).

In one of his parables Jesus speaks of salvation as a treasure hidden in a field, and a man who learns of the treasure and its hiding place sells all that he has and goes and buys the field. In another parable our Lord presents the same truth under the figure of a merchant seeking goodly pearls, who, finding one pearl of great price, sells all he has and buys it (Matthew 13:34-46). We must, in a very deep sense, give up all we have to get Jesus and the blessings that come with him.

Here the truth is put in another way. There are two roads through this world, and two gates into the future world. One of these ways is broad and easy, with descending incline, leading to a wide gate. It is not hard to go on this way. The other road is straight, and leads to a narrow gate.

To go this way we have to leave the crowd and go almost alone, and leave the broad, easy way, and go on a hard, rugged path, and enter by a gate too small to admit any bundles of worldliness or self-righteousness, or any of the fashionable trappings of the old life.

If we would get to heaven, we must make up our minds that it can be only by this narrow way of self-denial. All the world is not flowing into heaven – the crowds are going somewhere else.

145

IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Matthew 7:15

THERE is something fearful in the eagerness of the devil to destroy souls. He sends his agents and messengers in forms and garbs to deceive the naïve and unwary. He even steals the clothing of God's own servants and children, hoping thus to gain the confidence of believers, and then destroy their faith and lead them away to death.

The world is full now of just such agents of Satan. They profess to be Christians, but in their hearts they are disloyal to Jesus and to his cause and kingdom. They win the confidence of the sheep by passing themselves off for sheep; but the sheep's covering is only worn outside, while underneath is the heart of a hungry, bloodthirsty wolf.

We need to be on our guard perpetually against the wiles of the devil. Eternal vigilance is the price of spiritual safety and of Christian peace. Many young people, especially those who are intelligent and gifted, fall under the influence of those who have caught smatterings of sceptical talk which they drop in the form of sneers or mocking queries in the ears of their confiding listeners.

They laugh at the simple cradle-faiths these young Christians hold, and ask with wise air, "Do you still believe those old superstitions?" Then they go on to cast doubt or start questions about this or that difficulty in the Bible, or they mock some Christian doctrine and hold it up in such light as to make it look absurd.

Thus they poison the minds of these earnest young believers, weaken their faith, and fill them with perplexity. Pastors and teachers of intelligent young people are continually called to try to undo the destructive work of these wolves in sheep's clothing; but often it is impossible to undo it. Wrecked cradle-faiths are hard to restore.

146

DOING THE FATHER'S WILL

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:21

IT is not enough to believe in Jesus intellectually, even to be quite traditional in creed. It is not enough to seem to honour Jesus before men, praying to him and ascribing power to him. It is a sad thing that Jesus tells us here ‒ that some who have thus seemed to be his friends on earth, and who have publicly confessed him, shall fail at last to get into heaven.

Such a word from our Lord's lips cannot but startle us. We stop and ask, "Are we sure that we shall be admitted to heaven? Why are these confessors of Jesus kept out? What are the conditions of entrance?" To these questions the answer is so plain that there is no possibility of mistake ‒ if we read the Lord's words with honest care. He tells us that those only shall enter heaven who on earth do the will of the Father.

No confession, therefore, is true which is not confirmed and verified by a life of obedience and holiness. "Simply to thy cross I cling" is but half of the gospel. No one is really clinging to the cross who is not at the same time faithfully following Jesus and doing whatsoever he commands.

No one can enter into heaven into whose heart heaven has not first entered on this earth. We shall do God's will in heaven if we ever get there – and we must do it here, or we shall never do it there.

Some people have the impression that salvation sets them free from the law. It does, as a ground of salvation, but it does not as a rule of duty. We pray, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." If the prayer is sincere, it must draw our own lives with it in loving obedience and acquiescence to the Divine will.

Our confessions of Jesus must be confirmed by the earnest doing of the Father's will. All other confession is only an empty mockery.

147

THE SAFE FOUNDATION

Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.

Matthew 7:24

EVERYTHING turns on the doing or not doing of Jesus' words. Both these men heard the words, but one of them obeyed, and thus built on the true and immovable foundation. Both men built houses very much alike so far as the superstructures were concerned. But there were two kinds of ground.

There was a valley which was dry and pleasant in the summer days when the men were looking for building sites. Then there were high rocky bluffs. One man decided to build in the valley. It would cost less. It would be easy digging. It was more convenient, for the bluffs were inaccessible. The other man built on the high ground. It would cost more, but it would be safer.

The two homes began simultaneously, only the one in the valley was finished long before the other. The families moved into their new homes, and were quite happy for a time. But one night there was a storm. The house in the valley was carried away with its dwellers; the house on the bluff was unharmed.

The pictures explain themselves. The person who built in the valley is someone who has only knowledge and profession, but who really has never built on Jesus as a foundation. The other person, who built on a rock, is someone who has true faith in Jesus, confirmed by loving obedience.

The storms that burst are earth's trials which test every life, and then the tempests of death and judgment. The person who merely professes religion is swept away in these storms, for they have only sand under them. The person who is truly in Jesus is secure, for no storm can reach the safety of Jesus.

It will be a terrible thing to cherish a false hope of salvation through life, and only find out in eternity, too late to build again, that we have no foundation under our hopes.

148

JESUS THE GREAT COUNSELLOR

John calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus.

Luke 7:19

JOHN the Baptist was in perplexity about certain matters. There were some things that were worrying him, things he could not make out himself. So he sent to Jesus to ask him about them. That is just what every one of us should do when there arise perplexities of any kind in our lives or affairs ‒ we should carry them straight to Jesus.

Even children have their disappointments and trials. They have discouragements. Now they ought not to worry about these matters. Of course they cannot always understand them. How could they expect to understand everything in such a vast world as this? But is it not a great thing to know that Jesus understands it all? He knows what he is doing.

So the true way for us is just to do what John did ‒ tell Jesus whenever anything appears to go wrong or when anything happens that we cannot understand. That is the rule Paul gives for keeping clear of anxiety. Be careful [or anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God (Philippians 4:6). Then he promises that if we only do this we shall never have worry: The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds (verse 7).

The meaning of all this is that we should never carry a worry of any kind, even for a moment, but whenever any matter begins to perplex us we should go instantly and tell Jesus all about it, and leave it in his hands, that he may manage it for us.

The leaving is the hardest part. We can easily take it to him, but we are so apt to pick it up again and carry it back with us and keep it, just as if we had not taken it to him. We should learn to tell Jesus of our perplexities and sorrows, and then commit all to him without further anxiety. This is faith, and is the way to find peace.

149

LOSS OF FAITH

Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?

Luke 7:19

JOHN the Baptist was in prison, by tradition in the castle of Machserus. It certainly was not a very cheerful place to be in. We ought scarcely to be astonished at his temporary loss of bright faith. Yet a good many people think it strange that the grand, brave John could really have been in doubt, and scarcely believe it. "It is not possible," they say, "that such a great, heroic man should ever waver in his confidence."

They forget that John lived just in the dim dawn of the gospel, before the full day burst upon the world. He had not the thousandth part of the light that we have in our day; and yet do we, with all our light, never get depressed? The truth is, there is not one of us who is not sometimes disheartened without a hundredth part of the cause John had.

But that is always the way. We are amazed at every person's blindness, or dullness, or unbelief, but our own. Other people's failures look very large to us, but we never see our own at all. We wonder how Moses once, under terrible provocation, lost his temper and spoke a dozen hasty and impatient words; while we can scarcely get through a single sunny day without a much worse outbreak upon a far slighter provocation.

We wonder how John the beloved disciple, with all his sweet humility, could once show an ambition for a place of honour (Mark 10:35-45), while we ourselves are for ever scrambling for preferments. We say, "Isn't it strange that people would not believe in Jesus when they saw all his power and love?"

Yet we do not believe in him any more fully than they did. We can scarcely believe that John the Baptist grew despondent when his trials were so great, though most of us are often plunged into gloom by the merest trifles. Many Christians get more despairing over the loss of a small amount of money, or a little pain, than John the Baptist did in his really great trials.

150

NEEDLESS DOUBTS

Look we for another?

Luke 7:19

JOHN the Baptist did not doubt the Messiahship of Jesus that day beside the Jordan, when from the broken heavens the radiant dove descended upon Jesus, and the Father's voice was heard in loving approval. Nor did he doubt in any of the bright days that followed. It was only when it grew dark for John that he doubted.

That is just the way now with many people. When everything is bright and sunny they think they have surely found Jesus, and they believe he is their friend, and their hearts are full of joy. But when troubles come and things begin to go against them, they wonder whether, after all, they have really found the Saviour. They begin to question their own experiences. "Am I really a Christian? Was that really conversion when I thought I was saved? Is there some other experience I must yet have?"

Jesus does not do just the things they thought he would do for them. Their faith does not support them as firmly as they supposed it would. If they are indeed Christians, why does Jesus let them suffer so much and not come to relieve them? So they sink away down into the Slough of Despond, sometimes losing all hope.

See how unnecessary was John's doubt. Jesus was indeed the Messiah. John's active work was done, and he was now to glorify God by suffering and soon by martyrdom. Just as needless is all anxiety of Christian people in their times of darkness.

Of course we must face some earthly trials. Jesus does not carry us to heaven on flowery beds of ease. We must expect to bear the cross many a mile. The true way for us is never to doubt Jesus. Suppose there are clouds ‒ the sun still shines behind them undimmed. Suppose we have failures, trials, and disappointments ‒ Jesus is the same loving friend as when there was not a speck of trouble for us in all the world.

151

JESUS ALWAYS ANSWERS

Then Jesus answering....

Luke 7:22

JOHN the Baptist was perplexed, and sent from his prison to ask Jesus if he were indeed the promised Messiah. Jesus patiently answered the messengers. He always answers. Many of our prayers to him are mixed with doubt; many of them are filled with complaints and fears and murmurings. Still Jesus never grows impatient with us. He never shuts his door upon us.

It must grieve and pain him to have us doubt him. Joseph wept when his brothers sent a message to him, after their father's death, asking him to forgive them, when he had forgiven them years before, and had proved it by a thousand kindnesses. It almost broke his heart to think how they had misjudged him.

Yet that is the way many of us do with Jesus. After all the sacrifices he has made on our behalf, and the blessings his love has bestowed upon us, when some shadow falls upon our heart we wonder whether Jesus loves us or not, whether or not he has forgiven us, whether or not he will take care of us in the future.

We are half the time perplexed about something ‒ full of worries. And these doubts, fears, and anxieties get into our prayers. They take the joy out of our worship, and the faith out of our supplications, and give a sad tone to our devotions.

Does Jesus never get tired of such prayers? No, no, he listens, and hears all the discords made by the murmurings. His heart must be pained by them too, but he answers us nevertheless. He is very patient with us ‒ he never chides. He remembers how frail we are, and sends the sweetest answers that his love can give. It is wonderful indeed how rich and gentle our Saviour is. Truly:

There is no place where earth's failings

Have such kindly judgments given.

There is no place where earth's sorrows

Are more felt than up in heaven.

Frederick William Faber

From: There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

152

THE FOOTPRINTS OF JESUS

Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen.

Luke 7:22

JOHN wanted to know whether Jesus really was the Messiah or not. Jesus did not present arguments to prove that he was the Messiah, but pointed the messengers to the work he was doing. The best evidence of the divinity of Jesus is not any number of proof-texts gathered from all parts of the Bible and arranged in order, but the works that Jesus has done and is doing every day.

An atheist asked an eastern Christian how he knew there was a God. The man answered by inquiring, "How do I know whether it was a man or a camel that passed my tent last night?" He knew by the footprints. Then he pointed to the setting sun and asked, "Whose footprint is that?"

Look at the footprints of Jesus, and see whether they are a man's or God's. Whose prints are those by the gate of Nain, by the grave of Bethany, coming away from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea? Whose prints are those by the doors of sorrow, along the path where the leper, the blind, the lame, the demon possessed waited for him?

Or look around at what you see now ‒ churches, missions, hospitals, places of care, sweetened homes, cleansed sinners, renewed lives, comforted mourners: whose prints are these? These works, wrought by Christians, are the best evidences of Jesus. Jesus wants to be judged, not by his claims, but by his works. The world is full today of the proofs of Jesus' divinity.

In like manner we must prove that we belong to Jesus, not by getting certificates of church membership, but by showing in our daily lives the unselfishness, the sympathy, the self-denial, the kindness, the love that were the highest proofs in Jesus' own life of his Divine mission.

We must be able, when people ask us if we are Christians, to say, "Look at my life and my works, and judge for yourselves."

153

WAVERERS

A reed shaken with the wind.

Luke 7:24

THE picture is of someone wavering and unstable, easily swayed and bent from uprightness. That is what a good many people are. A reed grows in soft mud by the water's edge. Then it is so frail and delicate that every breeze bends it and shakes it. Jesus did not intimate that John the Baptist was a man of that stamp, but meant just the reverse. John was not like a reed shaken with the wind. He was a man whom nothing could bend or sway.

Rather than preach soft words to please Herod, and keep quiet about sins that the king was committing, John charged home the sins without quailing, losing his head at last as reward.

Yet there are some people who are like reeds. Instead of being rooted in Jesus, their roots go down into the soft mud of this world, and of course they are easily uprooted. Then they have no fixed principles to hold them upright and make them true and strong. They are bent by every wind, and moved and swayed by every influence of fear or favour.

The boy that cannot say no when other boys tease him to smoke, or drink, or do a wrong or mean thing, is a reed shaken by the wind. The girl who is influenced by frivolities and worldly pleasure, and drawn away from Jesus and from a beautiful life, is likewise a reed bent and swayed by the wind.

They are growing everywhere, these reeds, and the wind shakes them every time it blows. Who wants to be a reed? Who would not rather be like the oak, growing in soil as solid as a rock, which no storm bends or even causes to tremble?

There is one apparent advantage in being like a reed: one seems to escape persecution. John would hardly have met the fate he did meet if he had been easily shaken. People who are like reeds do not often lose their heads on the martyr's block. But they are in danger of losing their souls ‒ and that certainly is worse.

154

THE FRIEND OF SINNERS

A woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat....

Luke 7:37

IT is wonderful how genuine goodness draws to itself the unfortunate, the troubled, the friendless, the outcast, the fallen. Wherever Jesus went, these classes always found him and gathered about him. It was because he was the true, disinterested friend of everyone. They found sympathy in him. He would listen to their story. Though he was the sinless One, there was yet no air of "I am holier than thou" about him.

He was just as gentle to an outcast sinner as to a spotless Nicodemus. No matter who reached out a hand for help, he was ready to grasp it. One of the truest things ever said of Jesus was the prophetic word concerning him, A bruised reed shall he not break (Isaiah 42:3 and Matthew 12:20). He always dealt most gently with sore spirits and with bruised hearts.

Those who want to be useful in this world must have the same qualities. There is a kind of human "holiness" that draws nobody to itself, but rather repels. Genuine holiness, however, wins its way everywhere into men's hearts. The secret of it all is in living not to be ministered unto, but to minister (Mark 10:45), in considering one's self not too good to serve the least worthy of God's creatures.

If we stay in this world to be served, we shall be of no manner of use. But if we live to minister to others, yearning to be of service to everyone we meet, our life will be something worth. The hungry-hearted and the soul-needy will be drawn to us, and God will love to put work into our bands.

We need, too, to train ourselves to exceeding gentleness in dealing with human souls in their spiritual crises. Many earnest people, in the excess of their zeal, do incalculable harm to those whom they greatly desire to help. People with sore and bruised hearts usually need loving sympathy and strong, kindly friendship much more than they need theology!

155

A BROKEN SPIRIT

Stood at his feet behind him weeping.

Luke 7:38

THOSE who are familiar with the story of Paradise the Peri by Thomas Moore will remember how the banished Peri sought to gain admittance at the closed gate of Paradise. The angel told the nymph that there was one hope ‒ that the Peri might yet be forgiven who would bring to the eternal gate the gift that was most dear to Heaven.

The Peri wandered everywhere, sweeping all lands with her swift wings, searching for some rare and precious thing to carry up to the barred gate. Amid scenes of carnage she found a hero dying for liberty; and

Swiftly descending on a ray

Of morning light, she caught the last,

Last glorious drop his heart had shed,

Before its free-born spirit fled.

Thomas Moore

With this she flew up to the gate; but, precious as was the gain, the crystal bar moved not. Next in her quest the Peri came upon a dying lover, over whom his betrothed hung; and stealing the farewell sigh of that vanishing soul, again she sought the gate of bliss: but even to this precious gain the bar swung not.

Again she wandered far, and came at last upon a wretched criminal, stained by countless deeds of shame and blood, but now weeping in bitter penitence. The Peri with joy caught up the holy tear of contrition as it fell, and swiftly bore it away to heaven; and the door flew open, admitting her to the blessedness within.

This beautiful Asian legend is not untrue to heavenly fact. The Bible tells us the same thing. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Psalm 51:70). No offerings we can bring are so precious as contrite tears. No song on earth rings with such music up in heaven as the penitential cry, God be merciful to me a sinner! (Luke 18:30).

156

FREE FORGIVENESS

When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.

Luke 7:42

ALL of us are in debt. Of course there is a difference in the amount of our debts. Some have sinned far more than others. But whether our debt be little or much, we have nothing at all with which to pay it. We could not more easily pay the debt of fifty than the five hundred. He forgave them both. It is just as easy for God to forgive the greatest sins as the smallest. He forgave them. That is the only way we can ever get clear of our sins.

A king owed a large sum to one of his nobles, but could not pay it. The nobleman made a great feast in honour of his king. A fire of perfumed woods burned on the hearth. During the feast the host brought out all the king's promissory notes and cast them into the fire, thus obliterating beyond possibility of restoration every evidence of his indebtedness. That is the way God does with our sins. Into the fragrant flames of Jesus' sacrifice he casts them all, and they will never be heard of more.

There is a story of a simple boy whose idea of forgiveness was beautiful. He said that Jesus came and with his red hand rubbed out all his sins. A quaint man used to carry a little book, which he took very often from his pocket, and which he called his "biography." It had only three leaves, and there was not a word written on any of them; yet he said the book told the whole story of his life.

The first leaf was black: that was his sin. That was his condition by nature. He would shudder when he looked at it. The second was red: that was the blood of Jesus; and his face glowed when he gazed upon it. The third was white: that was himself washed in Jesus' blood, made whiter than snow. His book told the whole story of every redeemed life. Between the black of our sins and the white of redemption must always come the red of Jesus' blood.

157

PEACE WITH PARDON

Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Luke 7:50

SAVED! This poor, shame-soiled, sin-ruined thing, that the Pharisee would have thrust out of his house into the street ‒ saved! Never to go back any more to her old life! An heir of heaven now, destined to walk the heavenly streets in white!

We can read the whole story in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus did something wonderful on the day of our story. He touched this fallen woman's soul, and it was transformed into beauty. That woman has been in glory for more than nineteen centuries. That is what Jesus does for everyone who creeps to his feet in penitence and faith.

Peace came with the forgiveness. There could be no peace until she was forgiven. No one has any right to be at peace while the guilt of sin remains uncancelled. But when Jesus has forgiven us, we should be at peace. Why or of what should we then be afraid? What is there for us to fear in this world or the next?

There is a story of a man in the olden days who had committed a capital crime. He was the king's friend and favourite, and when his trial came on, although the case went sorely against him, he showed no fear. The evidence accumulated. There was no loophole of escape from conviction. His friends had no hope, yet they marvelled at his calmness ‒ he was at perfect peace.

He was convicted and was about to be sentenced, yet still there was in his features no trace of alarm. At the last moment the secret was revealed. He drew from his coat a paper, and handed it to the judge. It was the king's pardon. With that in his possession he had no cause for fear. And with our King's pardon, no matter how guilty we are, we have no need to be afraid, and may be at peace.

158

RIGHT ENTHUSIASM

When his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

Mark 3:21

EVEN our Lord's relatives did not understand him. His life was so unworldly that it could not be measured by the ordinary standards. Here they could account for his unconquerable zeal, except by concluding that he was insane. We hear much of the same kind of talk in modern days when some devoted follower of Jesus utterly forgets self in love for his Master. People say, "He must be insane!"

They think everyone is crazy whose faith kindles into any sort of unusual fervour, or who grows more earnest than the average Christian in work for the Master. Some of Paul's friends thought he was crazy when he went sweeping over land and sea to carry the gospel to every city. But his answer was, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness (Acts 26:25).

That is a good sort of insanity. It is a sad pity that it is so rare. If there were more of it, there would not be so many unsaved souls dying under the very shadow of our churches. It would not be so hard to get missionaries and money to send the gospel to the unsaved. There would not be so many empty pews in our churches, so many long pauses in our prayer meetings, so few to teach in our Sunday schools. It would be a glorious thing if all Christians were beside themselves as the Master was, or as Paul was.

It is a far worse insanity which in this world never gives a thought to any other world, which, moving continually among lost men, never pities them, nor thinks of their lost condition, nor puts forth any effort to save them. It is easier to keep a cool head and a colder heart, and to give ourselves no concern about perishing souls; but we are our brothers' keepers, and no failure in duty can be worse than that which pays no heed to their eternal salvation.

159

A BEACON LIGHT

He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness.

Mark 3:29

FEW words in the Bible have caused more anxiety and fear than these. Learned men do not agree in their idea as to what it is to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. But no matter about the exact meaning of the words, they stand here as a warning against a terrible danger. They are like a red light hung over a perilous rock. While we may not know just what constitutes the sin, it certainly is our duty to keep as far from its edge as possible.

And surely all wilful and determined resistance to the influence of the Holy Spirit is a step toward this point of awful peril. This utterance of our Lord should lead us to treat with the utmost reverence every appeal, persuasion, or bidding of the Holy Spirit, never to resist, but always to yield to his every influence.

We have no other Friend in this world who can guide us home. If we drive him away from us for ever, we shall be left in the darkness of eternal night. How long we may continue to reject him and not go beyond the line that marks the limit of hope, we know not; but the very thought that there is such a line somewhere ought to startle us into instant acceptance of the offered guidance.

Oh, where is this mysterious line

That crosses every path ‒

The hidden boundary between

God's patience and his wrath?

How far may we go on in sin?

How long will God forbear?

Where does hope end, and where begin

The confines of despair?

An answer from the skies is sent:

"Ye that from God depart,

While it is called Today, repent,

And harden not your heart."

J A Alexander

160

JESUS' RELATIONS

Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Mark 3:35

THIS seems too good to be true. To be the brother or the sister of Jesus ‒ did you ever try to think what it means? For every Christian to be taken by Jesus into as close and tender a relationship as his own mother sustained to him ‒ did you ever try to think that through, remembering that you are the one taken into this loving fellowship?

Thousands of women have wished that they could have had Mary's honour in being the mother of Jesus. Well, here it lies close to their hand. We cannot have Mary's distinction in this world, but they can have a place just as near to the heart of the Jesus as she has. How strange it is that sinful creatures can be taken thus into the very family of God, and have all the privileges and joys of the children of God!

We cannot understand it, but let us believe it and think of it. Until it fills our hearts with warmth and gladness, we do not begin to realize the blessedness and glory of being a Christian.

There is a picture which seen in one light shows a poor, weary pilgrim lying on a miserable pallet in a dreary garret; but seen in another light the same picture shows a saint of God, an heir of glory, arrayed in white robes, surrounded and carried up by angels to heavenly glory.

The first view is that which human eyes see in the Christian; the other is the reality ‒ that which heaven sees. But we must not overlook the first part of this verse, that tells us who are received into this close relationship ‒ "whosoever shall do the will of God."

At every point as we go on, we catch more and more distinctly the teaching that obedience to God is part of the faith that saves. We must do God's will, and follow Jesus with loving faithfulness, if we would obtain the privilege of being the brothers and sisters of Jesus.

161

ALWAYS ON DUTY

A certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.

Luke 11:37

OUR Lord was not ashamed to be the guest of publicans and sinners, but neither did he reject the invitations of the rich and influential. He was ready to go wherever there was an opportunity of doing good, even to social feasts and large dinner parties. Of course we are safe in following his example, but we must read on a little farther, and then we shall see that he always used these opportunities as occasions of doing good.

We may go to any place where we can do the part of a messenger of God to other souls. We are never to be off duty as Christians, and as Christians we must be always Jesus' servants, ready to bear blessings from him to others. We are to be sure, before we accept an invitation to any place, that our Master has an errand there for us. Then when we go, we are to use the occasion for doing good in some way to some who are there.

Jesus never went to any such places as offer their temptation to young people in these days, and yet this same principle applies to these. "Is it right for me to attend this gathering or go to that place?" Well, can you go there as a Christian? Can you confess Jesus there? Can you talk of him to others? Can you ask his blessing on your going? Can you go as his messenger, sure that he sends you there?

It is time we began to look at these matters very honestly and frankly. If we are Christians, we are to be Christians seven days in the week and everywhere.

Then we are to be Christians always on duty. A young clergyman who had been reproved by his bishop for certain unministerial conduct, sought to excuse himself by saying that he was not on duty at the time. The bishop replied: "A clergyman is never off duty." This is true of every Christian. Wherever we go we represent our Master.

162

COVETOUSNESS

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Luke 12:15

THIS is one of the red flags our Lord hung out which most people nowadays do not seem much to regard. Jesus said a great deal about the danger of riches, but not many people are afraid of riches. Covetousness is not considered a sin in these times. If a man breaks the sixth or eighth commandment, he is branded as a criminal and covered with shame; but he may break the tenth, and he is only considered to be enterprising.

The Bible says the love of money is a root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10); but everyone who quotes the saying puts a terrific emphasis on the word "love," explaining that it is not money, but only the love of it, that is such a prolific root.

To look about, we would think someone's life did indeed consist in the abundance of the things they possess. People think they become great just in proportion to the wealth they gather. So it seems, too, for the world measures people by the size of their bank account. Yet there never was a more fatal error.

Timothy's verse in the full says, For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10).

A person is really measured by what they are, and not by what they have. You may find a shrivelled soul in the midst of a great fortune, and a grand, gracious soul in the barest poverty.

The first thing is to gather into our life all the truly great and gracious things of character. Here are two texts to ponder, because they settle this question: Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things (Philippians 4:8).

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (2 Peter 1:5-7).

163

HEART-HARDENING

And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside.

Matthew 13:4

HOW are human hearts trodden down into a highway? A child's heart is sensitive to every impression. But as it grows older, the thousand influences, feelings, emotions, imaginations, treading over it continuously, trample it into hardness. Every time a young man feels conviction of sin and does not turn from the sin, his heart is left a little less tender.

Every time he feels that he ought to do a certain thing and does not do it, allowing the good impulse to pass, he is left a little less sensitive to good impressions afterward.

The same effect is produced by the daily experiences of life. The wheels and carts of business go lumbering over the heart. We ought to have our hearts fenced in. and allow none of these heavy wagons to pass over them. Anyone in business ought to keep their heart soft and warm in the midst of all their dealings, tender as a little child's, humble, teachable, loving, trusting.

The need to have a sanctuary in our inner life into which no unhallowed foot, none but the priestly feet of heavenly guests, should ever pass. But too many make their hearts an open common, till they are beaten into an insensitivity that nothing can impress.

Another way is by the feet of sinful habits. There was an old legend of a goblin horseman that galloped over a farmer's fields at night; and wherever his foot struck, the soil was so blasted that nothing would ever grow on it again. So is it with the heart over which the beastly feet of lust, of sensuality, of greed, of selfishness, of passion, are allowed to tread.

There is a notion that it does young people no harm to indulge in sin for a time – if they afterward repent. No more fatal falsehood was ever whispered by the tempter into any ear. The heart that is trodden over by vile lusts or indulgences of any kind is never the same again.

164

ROOTLESS GRACES

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth.

Matthew 13:5

THERE is a thin covering of soil on the rock. The seed sinks in a little way, and the heat radiating from the rock causes it to shoot up at once. This represents a group whose religion is emotional. At first they give great promise. They are easily moved by any appeal. The feelings work immediately to the surface. Such people always seem most affected by sorrow.

They weep inconsolably, but their grief is soonest over. In like manner they appear to be most deeply affected by religious appeals. They begin a Christian life with an earnestness that puts older Christians to shame. They attend all meetings; they weep as they sing and pray; they talk of Jesus to their friends; their zeal is wonderful.

But such quick growths may lack root, and cannot endure the heat of summer. The sun soon scorches them, and they wither. In spiritual life, also, the analogy holds. Emotional religion is not apt to be permanent. It bursts up into great luxuriance today, but we are not sure that it will be found tomorrow in healthy life. Too often the enthusiasm is but transient. In the heat of trials, temptations,, toil, or sorrow, the rootless graces wilt down and die.

Often the Christian life that is most permanent is that which grows slowly to strength and abundance. It has good soil, and the roots go down deep into the earth, and are unaffected by the frequent changes in temperature, and by rain or drought.

If anyone finds that their spiritual graces are rootless, and that there is a hard rock in their heart underneath the surface, they should seek at once to have the rock broken by repentance and prayer, that the plants of righteousness may have opportunity to grow.

165

WHAT OF THE ROOT?

Because they had no root, they withered away.

Matthew 13:6

THE ROOT is very important in a plant or a tree. One may take a green branch from a living tree and set it in the ground, and for a little while it may seem to be living; but soon, under the sun's heat, it will wither. It has no root. The root is not a very beautiful part of a tree ‒ it is hidden away out of sight, and nobody praises it. Yet it is essential to the tree's life.

In like manner there is a hidden part in every Christian's life. It does not seem to bless the world in any way. It is the heart-life ‒ faith, love, communion with God in his Word and in prayer. No one praises a Christian's hidden life of prayer and meditation upon the Word. It is secret, and no one sees it: yet it is the root of the whole strong, beautiful life which men do see and praise, and whose ripe fruits feed their hunger.

Our Lord says the trouble with these shallow-soil people is that they have no root in themselves. That is, there is not in their heart that root-principle of Christian life which consists of faith in Jesus and love to him. Where there is such a root, no persecution can tear it away, no outward circumstances can affect the permanence of its life. It is not kept alive by any external influences. Its source is in the heart. It feeds on heavenly food. Temptations and persecutions only make the true Christian purpose all the stronger.

But it is not so with superficial religion. It has no inward life of its own. It is not produced by an unconquerable love in the heart for Jesus. It depends simply on external excitement ‒ revival meetings, some favourite preacher, some special form of worship, the influence of some friend ‒ something, at least, in the outer circumstances which keeps the emotions in play for a time. But it has no root in itself; and in such a religion there is nothing to carry a life very far through times of trial.

166

WHAT ARE THE THORNS?

Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

Mark 4:7

THE thorns had been chopped off, but their roots were still in the ground. Then as the seed began to grow, so did the thorns. Growing faster and more densely than the wheat, they soon choked it out, so that it came to nothing in the end. What are these thorns? Our Lord says they are the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches (Mark 4:19). "Cares" are anxieties, distractions, worries.

Martha was in danger of having the good seed in her heart choked out by her distracting thoughts about her household affairs (Luke 10:38-42). Many a promising Christian life has been dwarfed and stunted from the same cause: "The deceitfulness of riches." Thousands of spiritual lives have been starved into ghostly leanness by the desire for riches. The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful (Mark 4:19).

We have all seen people who began well, but as cares multiplied or riches increased, their zeal waned. We need, however, to look to our own hearts, and we shall probably have enough to do if we keep out all the thorns and weeds in the one little garden committed to us.

Jesus did not say these people are not Christians, but that they bring no fruit to perfection (Luke 8:14). The distractions of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of other things entering in, choke the spiritual life, stunting its graces. They lose the sweet comforts of a healthy faith. The fruits of the Spirit in them are shrivelled.

They may go on working in the church, preaching, teaching, praying; but the life is wanting. What is the lesson? This: we need to watch without ceasing these hearts of ours, and let no weed or brier grow there for a day. Sometimes God himself does the weeding. He lifts out of the bosom the earthly object that is absorbing all the heart's love. The process is sore, but the results are full of blessing.

167

GOLDEN GRAIN

The sower soweth the word.

Mark 4:14

THE human heart is only the soil. Its natural products are thorns and briers. These grow without sowing and without cultivation. We do not need to be taught in order to be wicked. But if good things are to grow in our hearts, they must be sown and cultivated. The seeds must be brought from heaven. This is just what has been done.

The words of the Bible are Divine seeds. They have a wondrous power in themselves. Like natural seeds, they grow when planted, and produce plants of righteousness. Our hearts are bare like the desert, or grown over with weeds and briars like neglected gardens until the Sower comes. But if we receive the good seed with faith and love, our lives are changed, and are made to blossom like the rose.

There is another thought: all of us may be sowers of this good seed. We must take heed that we really sow the "word." There is no other seed that will yield the harvest of spiritual life. The words of God have life in them. The words that I speak unto you, said the Master, they are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63). If we get these heavenly seeds into people's hearts, we shall not look in vain for fruits.

It is a holy privilege to be permitted to help the great Husbandman in the sowing of this precious seed. We can carry the golden grains with us, and drop them wherever we go. This we can do by being full of the word, thus having something to give for every experience.

We can sow the seed by the careful giving of tracts and leaflets. We can do it by writing letters to carry to others some truth suited to their need. Then we can live so that our daily influence will be a scattering of heavenly seed all about us. Then some day we shall stand before the great Husbandman, our arms full of golden sheaves.

168

HIDDEN LIGHTS

Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?

Mark 4:21

NO one would think of doing such a thing. People always set a lamp where it will give the most light. It would be absurd to cover it up so that its beams could not pour out. Yet that is just what a great many people do with their Christian life. This is the striking figure that our Lord uses when describing Christians. He calls us lights, lamps, candles, which he lights with the fire of his own life when we believe on him.

There is much difference in the brightness of the light in different believers. Some are only little tapers; others are great lights. But even a taper makes one spot a little brighter.

The point of our Lord's teaching here is that the light is not to be hidden or covered up, but permitted to shine. Yet some people do indeed put their candle under a bushel – a closed measure for grain or beans. They carry it so that it never gives light to others. Sometimes they hide it away under an imagined modesty or humility. They do not want to "put themselves forward" ‒ it would seem presumptuous. Sometimes it is the "bushel" of timidity or bashfulness under which they hide their light.

One person cannot rise to say a word in the prayer meeting; another cannot even conduct family worship in the midst of his own household; another cannot talk to a neighbour about his soul; another cannot stand up to make a public confession of Jesus before the world; another cannot go to call on a poor family or sick person, or offer consolation to someone in sorrow ‒ all because they are too hesitant.

Some again hide their candle under a very imperfect life. Their faults obscure the light of the faith they possess, as a dirty glass chimney dims a lamp's shining. There are a great many lamps hidden away under bushels which ought to be shining to some purpose.

169

PROFITABLE HEARING

Take heed what ye hear.

Mark 4:24

THIS is a very important counsel. "Take heed what ye hear." The things we hear, enter into our souls and become part of our being. They give form and colour to our character. There have come infinite blessings from the printing press. There are thousands of good books, whose pages are like leaves from the tree of life, for the healing of the nations.

But there are also thousands of immoral books, whose pages reek with poison, and scatter influences of corruption and spiritual death. With all this great mass of books, good and bad, it is vitally important that we take heed what we absorb. We would not eat poisoned food; why should we take poison into our souls?

If we open our ears to the evil things that are continually spoken on all sides, and that come to us on printed pages, our hearts will become foul and unclean, and our lives will be corrupted. We should shut our ears to all that is unholy.

Many a now utterly ruined life dates the beginning of its shame from the moment when an impure word was whispered in a listening ear, or when an immoral book or paper was secretly read. On the other hand, every beautiful life has been made beautiful by what it has heard. We are saved by words. Pure, true words are transforming.

The Bible is simply a book of words; but every word contains a revelation from God of some beautiful thing in character or attainment which we should strive to reach. We should always strive gladly, because we may always safely and profitably hear the words of God. Then we should open our ears to the voice that speaks in every good book.

We should take heed what we hear. Then we must not forget the Master's other counsel, Take heed how ye hear (Luke 8:18). We should hear thoughtfully, reverently, obediently, letting the words of God into our heart, that they may transform our life.

170

AFTER MANY DAYS

The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself.

Mark 4:28

YET not without certain other influences upon it. If the sun does not shine upon it, and if there is no rain from heaven, the seed will never germinate, however rich the soil. The human heart is the soil in which the seeds of truth grow; but it must have the sunshine and rain of Divine grace upon it before it will produce any spiritual fruit.

A gentleman tore down an outbuilding that had stood for many years in his yard. He smoothed over the ground, and left it. The warm spring rains fell upon it, and the sunshine flooded it. In a few days there sprang up multitudes of little flowers, unlike any that grew in the neighbourhood. Where the building had stood was once a garden, and the seeds had lain in the soil without moisture, light, or warmth all the years. As soon as the sunshine and the rain touched them they sprang up into life and beauty.

So often the seeds of truth lie long in a human heart, not growing, because the light and warmth of the Holy Spirit are shut away from them by sin and unbelief. But after long years the heart is opened in some way to the influences of the Holy Spirit, and the seeds, living still, shoot up into beauty. The instructions of a mother may lie in a heart, fruitless, from childhood to old age, and yet at last may save the soul.

When we have sown the heavenly seed, we should continually pray that God would pour his Spirit, like rain and sunshine, upon the heart where it lies to quicken it into life. Then, for ourselves, we should seek always to keep our hearts open to every invigorating influence of the grace of God. We need to pray constantly for the rain to come down, else our hearts will lie bare and sterile, though filled with the Divine seeds.

171

PROGRESS

First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

Mark 4:28

WE understand this well enough in nature, but do we understand it in spiritual life? The beginnings of Christian life are very feeble and imperfect. We must not expect in young converts the maturity of character we look for in older Christians. Grace begins in a small way. We have no right to look at once for the ripened fruits of Christian experience. But the wheat does not stop at the tender blade; it shoots up into a strong stalk, at last into ripeness.

Christian lives should grow. They have no right to stay always at the starting point. They should grow in knowledge, in power, in purpose, in achievement, until they put forth all the fruits of the Spirit, and grow into the ripeness of Christian experience.

We are to notice here also that while the growth is secret, its results are obvious. The processes of spiritual life are invisible, but the results are not. If a Christian is growing in grace, we shall know it by their life. They will wear more and more of the image of Jesus, and the "mind of Jesus" will appear more and more in their disposition and conduct.

Another thought that comes to mind here is that the beginnings of Christian life in young Christians ought to be most gently nurtured by those who are their spiritual overseers. The tender blades cannot endure a frost. Young converts cannot endure the sharp trials and temptations of this world.

A clergyman is reported as saying, "I do not dare to bring too many children into my church ‒ not because I do not believe in their sincerity and piety and fitness for church membership, but because there is no provision for their growth and nurture after they are in the church." Could any sadder confession be made? Something must be wrong with the church when this is true. Let the words stand for the consideration of those whom they concern.

172

DROPPING SEEDS

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree.

Matthew 13:31-32

ANY great histories of blessing may be traced back to a very small seed. A woman, whose name is forgotten, dropped a tract or little book in the way of a man named Richard Baxter. He picked it up and read it, and it led him to Jesus. He became a consecrated Christian, and wrote a book entitled A Call to the Unconverted, which brought many people to the Saviour ‒ among others Philip Doddridge.

Philip Doddridge in turn wrote The Rise and Progress of Religion, which led many into the kingdom of God, among them the great William Wilberforce. Wilberforce wrote A Practical View of Christianity, which was the means of saving a multitude, among them Legh Richmond. In his turn Legh Richmond wrote the book called The Dairyman's Daughter [published by White Tree Publishing], which has been instrumental in the conversion of many thousands.

The dropping of that one little tract seemed a very small thing to do; but see what a wonderful, many-branched tree has sprung from it! This is only one illustration of marvels of grace coming from the minutest grains of the heavenly seed. One seed planted in a heart, dropped by some very humble worker, perhaps unconsciously, may not only save a soul for an eternity of blessedness, but may start a series of Divine influences which shall reach thousands of other lives. A simple invitation from his brother brought Simon to Jesus – and what a tree sprang from that seed!

Let us go on, day by day, dropping seeds into as many hearts as we can. We may not always know what comes of them, but from any one of them may spring a history of blessing which shall reach thousands of souls. The branches of the tree from one seed may spread over all lands.

173

THE OTHER SIDE

He saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

Mark 4:35

JESUS is continually saying the same to us, though with varying meaning in his words. He is ever calling us to pass over some line into new fields, with their new experiences, new privileges, new duties, new conflicts, new joys.

He says it to the impenitent when he graciously invites them to become his disciples. He wants them to cut loose from this world, from sin and all their old dead past, and rise up and go with him to the better life which lies beyond. He invites them to his Father's country, into his Father's family. It is a land of blessing and of beauty, of plenty and of great riches.

True, there is a sea that must be crossed to reach it. No one can reach the glorious country on "the other side" without passing over this sea, and no one can pass over without encountering tempests.

There are fierce temptations, sore self-denials, mighty struggles, and many losses and sorrows, before we can reach heaven ‒ but the reward is so great that we should be ready to endure any hardship or suffering to win it.

Then Jesus gives the same call and invitation to his people when they reach the end of earthly life, and when he comes to take them home. Before them then rolls the sea of death, dark and full of terrors to the natural sense. They shrink from crossing it. Yet there is no reason why they should. On "the other side" glory waits.

There is the Father's house with the many mansions. And however dark and terrible may seem the narrow sea that has to be crossed, there is no danger; for Jesus himself accompanies his people, and none of them can perish. But if we would have this final invitation to come over to the other side into the heavenly glory, we must accept the first call to come over out of the old life of sin into the new life in Jesus.

174

LIFE'S STORMS

There arose a great tempest in the sea.

Matthew 8:24

THE disciples had not put out to sea by their own suggestion. Had they done so without Jesus' bidding, they would not have had the same reason to expect protection and deliverance. The lesson we learn here is this ‒ that storms may arise even when we are in the plain line of duty. We should not be discouraged by the difficulty or trouble that comes, and conclude that we are in the wrong path.

We see, too, that Jesus' presence with his disciples does not keep the storms away. There are no promises in the Bible that Christians shall not meet trials. Our faith builds no high walls about us to break the force of the winds. Troubles come to the Christian just as surely as to the unbeliever. There are the storms of temptation that sweep down with sudden and terrific power from the cold mountains of this world. Then there are storms of sickness, of disappointment and adversity, of sorrow, that make the waves and billows roll over the soul.

On the Sea of Galilee travellers say that a boat will be gliding along smoothly over a glassy surface, unbroken by a ripple, when suddenly a tempest will sweep down, and almost instantly the boat will be tossed in the angry waves. Thus many of life's storms come. Temptations come when we are not looking for them. So disasters come.

We are at peace in a happy home. At an hour when we think not, without warning, the child we love so much lies dead in our arms. The friend we trusted, and who we thought could never fail us, proves false. The hopes cherished for years wither in our hands in a night, like flowers when the frost comes.

The storms of life are nearly all sudden surprises. They do not hang out danger signals days before to warn us. The only way to be ready for them is to be always ready.

175

FAITHLESS FEAR

They awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

Mark 4:38

THESE words imply that the disciples thought Jesus was indifferent to them in their danger ‒ that he was neglecting them by sleeping while they were exposed to such peril. But how unfair was this reproach! They were never safer than they were that moment, in the midst of the wild tempest. The boat that bore the Lord could not sink in the sea. Faith should have trusted in the darkness.

Yet do we never, at least in our hearts, make the same complaint about our Lord? When we are in some sore trial, and the trial grows very sore, and he does not come to deliver us; when we seem about to be engulfed by the waves of adversity, and no relief comes down from him ‒ do we never say, "Jesus does not care though I perish"?

When we pray long and with entreaties for the lifting away of some heavy cross, or the lightening of some sore burden, and no answer comes, does the thought never arise in our minds that Jesus does not hear us, or that he does not come to us?

But such complaint is never just. Sometimes he may seem not to care. The disciples had some lessons to learn. One lesson was, how helpless they were in themselves in the world's dangers. Another was that Jesus alone could deliver them. They could not learn these lessons except in the storm with the Master asleep.

So there are similar lessons that we never can learn until Jesus withholds his help for a time. Sometimes he hides himself for a season just to teach us faith, but he is never indifferent to us. He never neglects nor forgets us. His heart always wakes and watches, and at the right moment he comes and brings deliverance.

We should learn to trust our Lord so confidently that in any hour of danger we can nestle down in his bosom, without fear or anxiety, and let him take care of us.

176

THE HEARER OF PRAYER

And he awoke. ASV

Mark 4:39

JESUS did not hear the roar of the storm in his sound sleep, but the moment there was a cry from his disciples for help he instantly awoke. What a revelation of heart have we here! Jesus is never asleep to his people when they call him. Amid the wildest tumults of this world he ever hears the faintest cry of prayer. Nor is he ever too weary to listen to the entreaties of human distress.

We have another illustration of this same quickness to hear prayer in the hours of our Lord's sufferings on the cross. His life was fast ebbing away. His own agony was intense beyond description. Around him surged a storm of human passion. Curses fell upon his ear. But amid all this tempest of hate he was silent. To all these bitter insults and keen reproaches he answered not a word.

Then amid the derisions and jeers of the multitude there broke a voice of prayer. It came from one of the crosses beside him. It was the penitential cry of a soul ‒ Lord, remember me (Luke 23:42). And in all the tumult of the hour he heard this feeble supplication. In his own agony he gave instant answer. Doubt not that this Jesus always hears prayer. His love is ever on the watch, ready to catch the faintest note of human distress.

Though aroused so suddenly in the midst of such scenes of terror, Jesus awoke calm and peaceful. Dean Trench says: "It is such cases as these ‒ cases of sudden, unexpected terror, met without a moment of preparation ‒ which test a man what spirit he is of, which show not only his nerve, but the grandeur and purity of his whole nature."

Here we have an illustration of what Jesus' peace was, and of what he meant when he said, My peace I give unto you (John 14:27). It was thus he moved through all the turbulent scenes of his earthly life.

177

JESUS IN THE STORM

He ... rebuked the wind, and mid unto the sea, Peace, be still.

Mark 4:39

JESUS spoke to the storm and to the tossing sea as if they were intelligent creatures. The truth we learn here is that he is Lord of nature, that the elements recognize his voice and obey him even in their wildest moods. If we only fully believed this, it would bring a great deal of peace to our lives.

No tempest ever breaks from the control of him who is our Lord and Redeemer. No wave ever rolls any farther than he permits. There is nothing in this world that is not under the sway of the hand that was nailed on the cross.

There is a story of a Christian army officer at sea with his family in a storm. There was great terror among the passengers, but he was calm. His wife, in her anxiety, reproached him, saying that he ought to be concerned for her and the children, if not for himself in such danger.

He made no reply, but soon came to her with his sword drawn, and with a stern countenance pointed it at her heart. She was not the least alarmed, but looked up into his face with a smile. "What!" said he, "are you not afraid when a drawn sword is at your breast?"

"No," she replied, "not when I know it is in the hands of one that loves me."

"And would you have me," he asked, "to be afraid of this tempest when I know it to be in the hand of my heavenly Father, who loves me?"

Thus even in the wild tumults of nature we should be at peace, since our Saviour is Lord of nature. Someone tells of being at sea in a terrible cyclone, and of seeing a small bird fly down when the storm was at its height, and light on the crest of a wave, where it sat as quietly as if it had been perching on some green bough in the quiet forest. So should the believer in Jesus repose in quietness and confidence in the wildest terror.

178

DEPART FROM US

They began to pray him to depart.

Mark 5:17

THIS is one of the saddest sentences in the Gospels. We can scarcely conceive of any person asking Jesus to go away. He had come to their coast to bring them rich blessings. His hands were full of golden gifts. He had power to heal the sick, to open blind eyes, to make the lame walk, to scatter all kinds of blessings among the people.

He had begun his work of grace as soon as he landed by curing their most terrible case of demon possession. He would have gone on performing other works of mercy and love if they had not begged him to depart. It was probably all because of the loss of the swine. If that was the way Jesus' work was going to affect them, they did not want him to go any further.

Some people feel the same way when a work of grace begins in their community. They are opposed to Christian teaching because it interferes with their business which is not honouring to God. They are against the Christian faith, because the teaching of the Christian faith is against their ways.

So all of us are apt to want Jesus to depart from us when he interferes with our cherished plans. We need to be careful lest we send Jesus altogether away from us, for he did not stay after these people asked him to go away. He would not stay where he was not wanted. He carried back the gifts he had come to leave there.

The sick remained unhealed that he would have healed, and the lame continued lame, and the devil possessed remained possessed, and the dying whom he would have restored passed away. Does anyone today ever ask Jesus to depart when he comes with blessings? Does Jesus turn away from any heart now because he is not wanted, because he is rejected?

179

THEY THAT ARE SICK

They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.

Mark 2:17

THAT was the answer of Jesus to the murmuring about his presence among the disreputable people at Matthew's feast. The Pharisees thought he was compromising himself in sitting down at the table with such characters. Their implied inference was that he must belong to the same class himself.

But Jesus gave them a wise and good answer. These wicked and sinful ones were the very classes that needed him most. It was just with him as with a physician. The physician does not go about visiting the people who are in excellent health. Those who are well do not need the physician, but the sick and plague stricken need him ‒ and the worse their sickness, the more severe their diseases, the more do they require his presence and his service.

No one would ever find fault with a physician for going into sickrooms, and into hospitals, and into plague infested districts. No one would ever suggest that he must have a low and similar life because of the kind of people among whom he spends his time. It was just the same with him, Jesus said. He had come to this world expressly to save sinners.

Surely, then, Jesus could not he blamed for going where sinners were; and the worse the sinners the more reason there was why he should be found there. Good people, like those who criticised him, did not need his services; but wherever he found a poor, lost sinner, there was one of the people he had come to help and save.

One lesson is that like their Master, Jesus' disciples should try to carry the gospel to the most needy. We should not mingle among the wicked as companions, but when we strive to save them we are becoming Jesus to them. Another lesson is that no sinner need ever despair of hope, since the worse they are, the more surely is Jesus willing to save them.

180

JOY IN THE LORD

Can the children, of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Mark 2:19

THIS was our Lord's answer to those who thought his teaching was too sunny and joyous ‒ that it had not fast-days enough in it. They thought that godly faith was genuine only when it made people sad, and that its quality was just in proportion to its gloom. But Jesus' reply showed that mournful faces are no essential indicators of new life. Should his disciples be mournful and sad when he was with them, filling their lives with the gladness of his presence?

Should Christians profess to be heavy-hearted, wearing the symbols of grief, when they are really filled with joy, and when there is no occasion for sorrow? Why should someone who has been saved by the Lord Jesus, and who is rejoicing in full assurance of hope, go about in sackcloth and ashes? Is there any godliness in a sad face? Does God love to see his children always in mourning? Is human joy displeasing to our Father?

All these questions are answered here in our Lord's words. He does not wish his disciples to go mourning and fasting when they have no occasion for such behaviour. His words are a defence of Christian joyfulness. Jesus wants his friends to be glad. There is an utter absurdity in a sad and mournful Christian life.

By its very nature true faith is joyous. Our sins are forgiven. We are adopted into God's family. We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). The covenant of love arches its shelter over us all the while. All things in this world work together for our good, and then glory waits for us beyond death's gate.

With all this blessed heritage, why should we be mournful and sad? While we enjoy the smile of Jesus, the consciousness of his love, the assurance of his forgiveness, and the hope of heaven and eternal life, what should make us sad? We should have radiant faces!

181

A NEW GARMENT

No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment.

Mark 2:21

JESUS did not come into this world to patch up an old religion, merely to mend a hole here, and beautify a spot there, and add a touch to this part or that. He came to make all things new. And when he saves a sinner, he does not propose merely to mend them up a little here and there, to cover over some bad spots there, and close up rents in their character by strong patches of the new cloth of grace.

Gospel work is not patchwork. Jesus does not sew on pieces; he weaves a new garment without seam throughout. So we may try to make human character lovely, but there is sin in its very fibre, and the blemishes will ever work out and mar all. The only way is to have a new heart, and then the beauty will be real and will endure.

A mother lost by death a lovely and precious child ‒ her only child. To occupy her heart and hand in some way about her vanished treasure, and thus fill the empty hours, she took up a photograph of her child and began to paint over it with her skilful fingers. Soon, as she worked, the features became almost lifelike.

The picture was then laid away for a few days, and when she picked it up again, the child's eyes were dimmed and the face was marred with ugly blotches. Patiently she went over it a second time, and the bewitching beauty came again. A second time it was laid away, and again the blotches appeared. There was something wrong in the paper on which the photograph had been printed.

There were chemicals lurking in it which in some way marred the delicate colours, and no amount of repainting could correct the faults. So is it in human lives. No outside change is enough. All the while the heart is evil within, and it sends up its pollution, staining the fairest beauty. The change that is permanent must be wrought in the heart.

182

AT THE POINT OF DEATH

There cometh one of the rulers ... and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death.

Mark 5:22-23

THERE is nothing like trouble to drive people to Jesus. So long as things prosper, many people do not ask any favours of him; but when sickness or great need comes, he is the first to whom they turn. This is one of the most obvious uses of trouble. God stirs up many an earthly nest in which his children are reposing too softly, that they may be compelled to try heavenward flights.

There are many in heaven now who would never have left the old earthly life had not God sent troubles, sorrows, and adversities. This father said his little daughter was "at the point of death." This is one point to which everyone must come. The paths of earth run in very diverse ways, but they all pass at last the "point of death."

It is a point that lies hidden from view. No one knows the day or the hour when they will come to it, and yet somewhere along the sunny years it waits for everyone. Sometimes this point is struck in early youth. Here it is a little girl of twelve who lies "at the point of death." Even the children should think about dying, not as a sad and terrible thing, but as a point to which they must come, and for which they should prepare.

It is a touching sight to see this father falling at Jesus' feet. The strongest men break down when their own children are sick or in danger. A man may seem very cold and stern as he carries his load of business, or makes his struggle with the world, or presses toward the goal of his ambition.

You think he has no tenderness in him ‒ that he is a man of iron or rock. But let one of his children be stricken down, and your man of iron melts like wax. Behind his stern aspect and all his severity there is a warm spot in his heart where he is gentle as a woman.

183

THE TOUCH OF FAITH

Jesus turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

Mark 5:30

HOW did he know that one touch amid all the jostling of the crowd? The multitude were close about him, pressing up against him. The disciples even thought it strange that he should ask such a question. The people could not help touching him. Ah, but there was one touch different from all the rest!

There was a heart's cry in it, a piteous, earnest supplication. It was not like the jostling of the crowd, an accidental or a thoughtless touch, the mere touch of nearness ‒ there was a soul in it. So, amid all the rough pressure of the multitude, Jesus recognized it.

In every church service all are near to Jesus, but all are not blessed. All press up against him, but some go away as they came, carrying with them sores unhealed, weakness unstrengthened, heart-hunger unfilled. Others, sitting close by, receive rich help. The first, though near, reach out no hand of faith, while the others touch the hem of Jesus' garment.

Church services may be compared to telephone wires, through which messages are all the while passing. You may climb up and put your ear to the wire, or hold it in your hand; but you will not hear a word of all the important messages that are flashing through it. But let an operator come with his instrument and attach it, and he hears every word.

So in the services we touch the invisible wires that bind heaven and earth together. Along these wires messages are flying ‒ up from earth to heaven, prayers, praises, heart-cries, faith-filled desires. And down from heaven to earth, answers of comfort, cheer, joy, and help, blessings of pardon, healing, life, peace.

But many know nothing of all this ‒ no flash of healing, new life, joy, or help comes to them. They are close, but have no faith-attachment. The others touch by prayer and faith.

184

THE CHILD OF JAIRUS

"There came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead."

Mark 5:35

SO it seemed that Jesus had tarried too long on the road. To us it appears that he ought not to have stopped at all to heal or talk with the woman. The child of Jairus was dying, and there was not a moment to lose. Why did the Master not hasten on and get to her bedside before she died? But when we read the story through to the end, we are glad that he did stop to heal and help the woman.

One thing we learn from this incident is that Jesus is never in a hurry. He is never so much engrossed in one case of need that he cannot stop to give attention to another. He is never so pressed for time that we have to wait our turn. No matter what he is doing, he will always instantly hear our cry for need.

A little child's idea of God's listening to her was that when she began to pray God bade all the angels be quiet, saying, "I hear a noise ‒ a little girl's noise;" and then all the angels kept perfectly still till she said Amen. The angels need not be hushed for God to hear the humblest little one pray; yet the child was not far wrong.

Another thing we learn from this delay is that Jesus never comes too late, never waits too long. It certainly seemed that he had tarried too long this time; but when we see how it all came out, we are sure that he made no mistake. True, the child died while Jesus lingered, but this only gave him an opportunity for a greater miracle. He waited, that he might do a more glorious work.

There is always some good reason when Jesus delays to answer our prayers or come to our help. He waits that he may do far more for us in the end. So we have one more lesson on letting our Lord have his own way with us, even in answering our prayers. He knows best when to answer, and what answer to give.

185

NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPING

Why make ye this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

Mark 5:39

THE Christian should not sorrow as others do. Jesus has brought the truth of immortality out into clear light. We ought to familiarize our minds with the Christian conception of death. Jesus wrote no clearer lines anywhere than he wrote over the gateway of this believer's grave. We ought to learn to look at death in the light of Jesus' teachings.

Too many Christians, however, never seem to have entered into the blessedness of the Saviour's victory over the grave. Here, in the account of this miracle of the raising of the ruler's daughter, we have a beautiful illustration of the way our Lord would have us look at death.

When we lament over our dead, he says, "They are not dead, but sleeping. Why do you make all this bitter weeping?" Our Christian friends who have died have only passed away out of our sight. They have not ceased to be. Even their bodies only sleep. As a mother in the morning calls her children and awakes them, so Jesus will some day call up from their graves all who sleep in him.

Sleep is not a terrible experience; it renews and strengthens the weary body. So the sleep of death is a time of rest and renewal. The calling of this child back from death, and her restoration to her friends, represented what Jesus will do for all his people at the end. He will restore friend to friend, and bind up again the broken fragments of households.

There is one point, however, in which the raising of this young girl does not illustrate the final resurrection of believers. She was brought hack to resume the old life of toil, struggle, temptation, and sorrow, and to die again. But in the final resurrection believers shall rise to a new, glorious, and immortal life, without sorrow or sin, in the fulness of life, joy, and blessedness.

186

WORDS OF WISDOM

Many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things?

Mark 6:2

They could not help being astonished, for Jesus' words were full of wisdom. _No man ever spake like this man_ , the temple officers told the chief priests (John 7:47). Yet, although they were astonished, they did not yield him their confidence and their love. The outcome of their amazement was only scornful and unbelieving rejection.

It is often the same today. People cannot help confessing that Jesus is wonderful ‒ that he is the most glorious character the world ever saw; that his teachings are infinitely above all human teachings; that his power is majestic; that his love passes all thought.

Yet while they grant all this, they do not give him the homage of their hearts. It is as if a drowning man in the sea were to be amazed at the beauty and the completeness of the lifeboat that came to offer him rescue, and should yet reject the rescue and stay in the waves to perish.

"From whence hath this man these things?" they asked in derision and contempt. They knew him. Some of them had been his playmates and schoolmates in earlier years, and then later his workmates. They knew he had never been to any but the village school, where they had all attended.

How came it that this plain, untaught young man had such wisdom as he now seemed to have, and did such works as were reported of him? They could not explain it, and so they treated the whole matter with contempt.

We may ask the same question today in sincerity of those who reject Jesus. Here is a man who spoke the wisest words ever spoken on this earth, and who did the most wonderful works ever performed. Yet he was only a village carpenter, and had only a village school education. How do you account for his wisdom and his power? "Whence hath this man these things?" Can it really be that he is no more than human?

187

ONLY A CARPENTER

Is not this the carpenter?

Mark 6:3

CERTAINLY ‒ yet that disproves nothing. It only helps to prove the claims of Jesus to be the Son of God. If he had been a learned rabbi or philosopher, it might have been said that he had received his wisdom from men; but as he was only a poor village carpenter, he must have been taught of God.

There are other thoughts which this question suggests. It tells us how wisely Jesus spent his youth and early manhood ‒ not in idleness, but in useful toil, no doubt helping to provide for his mother and her family. The example has its inspiring lesson for every young person growing up in the home of their childhood. They should make the years bright with hard work and the conscientious use of every moment of time.

There are no physical pictures of Jesus, yet there are on the pages of the evangelists pictures of Jesus which have deep meaning for us. We see him with a whip in his hand driving the temple profaners from their unlawful work. Another time we see him with a basin and towel. Again we see him on the cross dying. All these pictures are richly helpful. Here we see him as a carpenter, with the saw and the chisel in his hands, and this picture is also rich in meaning.

It teaches us that there is no disgrace in working at a trade, since the Son of God worked as a carpenter. No hands are as beautiful as working hands. Marks of toil are brighter symbols of honour than jewelled rings and delicate whiteness. The picture shows also the grace of Jesus. Though he was rich, he became poor, and even toiled for his daily bread. It assures us, therefore, of his sympathy now with those who toil.

It is a pleasant thought that the hands that now hold the sceptre once wielded the hammer and the saw.

188

THE SECRET OF POWER

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils.

Luke 9:1

THE first thing is always to come to Jesus himself. We can do nothing until we have been to him. We should take every commission from his lips, and go out always with the blessing of his touch upon our heads. It is related of one of the Duke of Wellington's officers that when commanded during a battle to do some perilous duty, he seemed to hesitate.

He did not for a moment shrink from the hazardous service, but he said to the Duke, "Let me, before I go, have one grip of your all-conquering hand, and then I can do it." There is no duty too perilous, no toil too heavy, no task too responsible if, as we start, we have the inspiration of Jesus' hand-grasp and his encouraging words.

Jesus alone can give power for the work he bids us do. His followers are to have authority over devils. Anyone who tries to cast out devils in his own strength, whether the devils are in himself or in some other, will meet only miserable failure. A man may rule nations and conquer kingdoms, and yet be unable to eject one devil from his own breast.

Alexander conquered the world, but he was overthrown by the devils of appetite and passion. Men are for ever foolishly trying to battle unaided with the evil of their own natures; but they fail in the struggle.

The same is true of power over devils in others. Once, the disciples in Jesus' absence tried to cast out an evil spirit, and could not do it. Yet they ought to have been able in Jesus' name to cast out the demon. Jesus said afterward that the reason they could not do it was that they had not faith. He wants every follower of his to have power over all forms of evil in this world. And if only we have faith in him, Jesus will always give us power.

189

WHAT WE CAN DO FOR OTHERS

He sent them to preach.

Luke 9:2

APOSTLES are not the only people to whom Jesus gives this same commission. He wants everyone that he saves to go out and preach the gospel to others. Christian hoys and girls can preach by living a gracious and beautiful life at home, at school, among companions. Beautiful living is the most eloquent of all preaching.

There is a story of a man who became a Christian, and when asked under whose preaching he had been converted, he replied: "Under nobody's preaching, but under Aunt Mary's practising." Everyone ought to preach by faithful practising.

But there are other ways. There is in the Bible a story of a captive maid, far away from home, who told in her master's house what the God of her own nation could do; and her words led to the healing of one leper at least (2 Kings 5). We can all tell something about Jesus ‒ what he has done for us, what he can do for others; and our words may fall upon some ear that will be glad to hear them, and upon some heart that will turn to him with hungry faith and prayer.

This is a gospel text, and there are a thousand ways in which we can help to give the good news of Jesus to the world. What a pity it is that we should keep to ourselves anything so precious, that has such power to bless the world, and that men, women, and children everywhere need so much as the good news of Jesus Christ!

Think of a rich man in the time of famine, when his neighbours are all starving, keeping his great full barns locked up, and not dealing out bread to the hungry! We who have found Jesus have bread for human souls, not only enough for ourselves, but enough for all about us. Giving out does not waste this bread of life.

All around us are perishing sinners whom we may save. Shall we keep to ourselves that for want of which souls are dying?

190

HOME MISSIONS

Whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide.

Luke 9:4

THE place to carry the gospel is right into people's homes. We must take it along the streets and alleys, and over the fields and hills, entering every door and telling the old, old story by the firesides and at the household tables. It should be the aim of every church to reach every house in its parish with the gospel.

Christians should go themselves to this work, and not merely send a hired carrier to put tracts under the people's doors. Tracts are good, but we should take them ourselves and add to them the gifts of our own warm love and eager sympathy and interest. We should get the gospel into every home by telling it from our own lips.

Did you ever think what a wondrous blessing it is to a home when the salvation of Jesus comes to it? Think what a dark and sad place a godless home is, with no prayer, no recognition of God's love and mercy, no shelter, no comfort in sorrow, no hope in death. Then think what Jesus brings when he is admitted.

Peace comes with Jesus, for sin is pardoned. God's love builds a shelter over the home, for they are his children who dwell there now. There is communication direct from heaven, a ladder running up, with angels upon it and God above it. There is comfort in sorrow, help in trial, strength in weakness, hope in dying.

For illustration of the two homes ‒ the godless and the godly ‒ we can picture an Egyptian and a Hebrew home on that night when the angel of death came to slay the firstborn. The blood on the door post made the difference. Jesus' blood on the door of a home is a shelter from every woe (Exodus 12).

Would it not be a great thing if we could carry the good news of Jesus into every home about us where he has not already been received? Do you know a home where there is no prayer? Will you not try to open that door for Jesus?

191

THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT

They departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.

Luke 9:6

A GREAT many people do not do this. They come to Jesus and hear his command, but they do not go, or at least they do not preach and heal. They do not carry to other homes and to other lives the blessings of mercy and health they have themselves received. Surely this is very ungrateful to Jesus, when we remember all he has done for us. Then it is also very selfish when we have found such joys, not to try to share them with others who need them.

Jesus wants to get the gospel of salvation into every home in the world, and the way he wants to do this is through the hearts and hands of those whom he has already saved. If we do not carry the good news, the lost will not receive it at all. It is told of a boy who was converted and at once started to walk ‒ for he was poor, and could not buy a ticket on the railroad ‒ away to a place in the West, more than a thousand miles from his home, to tell his brother about Jesus.

History relates that the early Christians, many of them, were so eager to carry Jesus' gospel everywhere that they even hired themselves out as servants or sold themselves as slaves, that they might be admitted into the homes of the rich and great among the godless, to live there, and thus have opportunity to tell in those homes of the love of Jesus and of his salvation.

It would have great power in shaping our lives for usefulness for us to consider ourselves under a Divine commission to advance the kingdom of our Lord, by bringing others under its holy sway. So long as we merely regard ourselves as sinners saved by grace, with no further responsibility, we shall be of very little use. But when we become conscious that we are apostles, every one of us, sent to witness for Jesus, we shall become blessings.

192

HERODIAS' REVENGE

The daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

Matthew 14:6

IT was deemed disgraceful even in that country and in those days for a woman to show herself in a hall of revelry and carousal. Then to perform such a dance in such a place for the entertainment of the revellers was regarded as a most debasing and shameful act. The dance was indecent, and only those who had lost all sense of modesty and womanly propriety would so debase themselves.

That a mother should send her own daughter into such a scene to perform such a part seems almost incredible. The act reveals the kind of home life and the ideas of womanly purity that prevailed in the court of Herod; also the strength of Herodias' passion for revenge upon John. She would even send her own daughter to play this shameful part, in order to accomplish her purpose.

While this picture is before them, young girls should learn that they cannot be too careful of their behaviour and bearing in public. A young woman's reputation is a precious jewel, which she should prize above all wealth or pleasure. If she loses it, neither wealth nor pleasure will be of much avail to her afterwards. Her name once sullied, never can be altogether white again.

Sometimes young girls think their parents unreasonable in the restraints which they put upon them with regard to appearance or conduct in public; but some day they will see how wise and loving is such restraint. It may very fairly be questioned whether young ladies can take part in certain activities today, and not pass beyond the bounds of decency and respectability.

Heart-purity is so holy a thing, and so easily tarnished, and the harm when done is so irreparable, that one had better deny one's self many a fascinating pleasure rather than risk the loss of anything so precious.

193

A ROYAL COWARD

For the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.

Matthew 14:9

HEROD called himself a king, and yet see what a poor slave he was, what a spineless coward! He was sorry he had made the oath, exceedingly sorry. His conscience was not altogether dead. He did not want to kill John the Baptist. He was afraid of public opinion, which he knew would condemn him.

He was afraid of avenging wrath. Then he hated himself for having been caught by Herodias in her plot to have her long-cherished revenge. Yet he was so much a slave that, although he claimed to be a king, he had not the courage to refuse such a request.

True, he had made an oath, but no promise or oath is binding which requires one to sin. Of course, Herod did very wrong to make such a reckless oath, not knowing what his promise would involve. After he had made it he was bound to keep it, at whatever cost to himself, provided nothing sinful was involved. If Herodias had asked for half his kingdom, he would have been bound to grant her request, but he was under no obligation to grant any desire which required him to commit murder.

It was not the oath, however, that really influenced Herod. He had not the courage to do the heroic thing he ought to have done. He was afraid of the ridicule of his guests, and he was so under the power of Herodias that he dared not refuse what she demanded. It was his weakness that wrecked him. Rather than be a moral hero he stained his hands in holy blood; and the stains are not yet washed out.

There are some things we have no right to swear away. Things that are our own, we are always to do with as we have sworn. But no oath binds anyone to give away another man's life. This is not his to give.

194

DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

Matthew 14:10

THIS seems a sad end for this glorious man's life. After a few months of faithful preaching he was cast into a dungeon, where he lay for a year, and where he was beheaded as a felon. To us it is very mysterious. Why did God permit such a fate to come upon so faithful a servant? Our Lord himself said that no greater man ever lived than John the Baptist. Why then was his life allowed to go out in such darkness?

We know, first, that it was no accident. There are no accidents in this world over which our loving Father presides. John would not have chosen such a life plan for himself, so brief, with such a tragic ending. Few of us would choose exactly the life we live in this world. There are no chances, no accidents. Our ways are those of the Lord's choosing ‒ ways sadder, perhaps, but safer; rougher, perhaps, but surer; narrower, perhaps, but better than those of our own dreaming.

John finished his work. If there had been anything further for him to do he would not have been left to die so ignominiously, to gratify the revenge of a wicked woman. His work was done when Jesus began to preach. Then when he died, it was for faithfulness to the truth. It is not long years that make a complete life.

A life is complete, whether long or short, that fulfils the purpose of its creation. And the longest life is incomplete and a failure if it does not do the work for which it was made. It is better to die in youth with a life unspotted than to live on to old age in sin and crime. It was a thousand times better every way to die as John died, than to live on as Herod and Herodias lived.

He liveth long who liveth well,

All else is being flung away;

He liveth longest who can tell

Of true things truly done each day.

Horatius Bonar

195

TELL JESUS

The apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things.

Mark 6:30

THAT is just what we should always do when we have been trying to do any service for our Lord. We should do it as well as we can, and then go and tell him what we have done. At the close of each day we should go to him and tell him of all that we have done or tried to do during the day.

We should tell him how we have lived, how we have done our work, how we have endured temptations, how we have treated our friends and those with whom we have been associated, how we have performed our mission as his servants, what words we have spoken for him, what efforts we have made to do good or to give comfort or help, and how we have met the calls upon us for sympathy and aid.

We must not forget to tell him about the day's failures. Did we lose our patience? Did we yield to temptation? Did we neglect to speak the word for the Master that we ought to have spoken? Were we unkind to anyone? We must tell him of the efforts to do good which seemed to come to naught. Often we are like the disciples who had toiled all the night and caught nothing.

At many a setting sun we come, weary and sad, with empty hands. Then sometimes we are tempted to stay away from the Master and make no report. What have we to report? Nothing but a fruitless day. But we should not, therefore, keep away from him who sent us forth. Jesus had days in his own life that seemed fruitless, and he can understand our sadness when we come with no sheaves.

So let us tell him all. That is the kind of evening private prayer that will bless us. It will make us very watchful all day if we remember that we must report to Jesus all we say, or do, or fail to do. It will keep us in closer relations with him. Then his sympathy will strengthen us for better service each day.

196

QUIET RESTING PLACES

He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.

Mark 6:31

HOW thoughtful Jesus is for the comfort of his disciples! He never wants to overwork them. He provides seasons and places of rest for them all along the way. One of these "quiet resting-places" is the night, coming after each day of toil. Then our emptied life fountains are refilled. Another resting place is the Lord's Day, after the week of anxious battle and strife. Then it is that we should seek the renewal of our spiritual life by communing with God, by lying on our Lord's bosom.

The Lord's Supper is another resting place. The Master leads us into the upper room to sit with him at his table, to feast our souls on the provisions of his love and grace. There are many other quiet places to which our Lord invites us to come apart with him to rest a while ‒ the sweet hours of prayer, alone, or in the house of God, the times with friends, the sacred hours we spend in home joys.

Sometimes the Master calls us to rest a while in a sickroom, away from the noise and struggle of the busy world. It may be in pain or in suffering, and there may be no bodily rest. But our souls are resting, and we are learning lessons we never could have learned in the midst of life's toil.

One thing about all these "rests" to which Jesus invites us, is that we are to rest with him. He never says, "Go ye apart and rest," but ever his word is, "Come ye apart." The resting is always to be with him. It is his loving presence that makes the blessedness of the rest. There is no true soul refreshing for us anywhere, even in the most sacred ordinances, if we do not find Jesus there. It is lying on his bosom when we are tired or sorrowing or penitent that rests us.

Rest at a distance from Jesus brings no refreshing. So we must be sure that we go to rest with the Master.

197

DIVINE COMPASSION

Jesus ... saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd.

Mark 6:34

HERE we have a window through which we catch a glimpse of the heart of Jesus. Every scene of sorrow touched him. It is a great thought that the heart of the Son of God is actually moved at the sight of human distress or want. It was this compassion that brought Jesus from heaven. It was because our Father loved the lost world that he gave his Son to save the world. Does God care now, if we are in suffering or in need?

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him (Psalm 103:13). Does Jesus, since he has gone up into glory, have any such compassion for human sorrow on the earth? For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15).

It is worth while to notice what kind of trouble it was that so stirred the compassion of Jesus at this time. It was because he saw the people as sheep not having a shepherd. It was not their hunger, nor their poverty, nor their sickness, but their spiritual need that so deeply touched his compassions. There were no wise, gentle, thoughtful pastors watching over the higher interests of their immortal natures, feeding them with heavenly bread, protecting them from the wolves of sin and lust, and leading them in right paths.

We learn here that no condition is so sad as that of spiritual neglect. Soul peril is far more pitiable than bodily danger or distress. Nothing moves the Divine heart so deeply as a soul exposed to the world's hostility, wandering from the fold amid sin's pitfalls and uncared for. Happy are those people, old and young, who are safe in the Good Shepherd's keeping! If we have "the mind of Jesus," we also shall be moved with compassion for all souls that have no shepherd.

198

THE BARLEY LOAVES

He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves.

Matthew 14:19

WE are not surprised that a disciple asked about the five loaves and two fishes, "What are these among so many?" What a small way they will go in feeding such a multitude! Why bring out this poor, insignificant store at all? Surely Jesus can feed the hungry people without these poor little loaves.

Still, Jesus told the disciples to bring the loaves to him, and he used them. Is it not strange that the mighty Jesus should need us and our little barley loaves to feed people's hunger? Yet he does: he wants our gifts; and then he wants our ministry in dispensing the gifts.

He passed the bread to the multitude through the hands of the disciples: he passes salvation through his saved ones to the unsaved.

Only one talent small,

Scarce worthy to be named:

Truly he hath no need of this,

O soul, art thus ashamed?

He gave that talent first:

Then use it in his strength;

Thereby ‒ thou know'st not ‒ he may work

A miracle at length.

Many the starving souls

Now waiting to be fed,

Needing, though knowing not their need

Of Jesus, the living Bread.

To others make it known;

Oh! hast thou known his love?

Receiving blessings, others bless!

No seed abides alone

And when thine eyes shall see

The holy, ransomed throng

In heavenly fields, by living streams,

By Jesus led along,

Unspeakable thy joy shall be,

And glorious thy reward,

If by thy barley loaves one soul

Has been brought home to God.

Emily Hartley

199

TOILING IN ROWING

He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them.

Mark 6:48

JESUS always sees our toils and distresses in this world. We do not see him, and sometimes we think he has forgotten us; but that is never true. He is never indifferent for a moment. On the heights of Sedan, while a battle was in progress, stood a group of men watching the struggling armies in the plain below. [The Battle of Sedan was fought at the French border fortress of Sedan on the Meuse River during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870.]

In this group was the American general Sheridan, who watched the mighty strife with the keen eye of a soldier. King Wilhelm I was also there; but his interest was different from Sheridan's. His son was in the thick of the fight, and he watched the battle with the eye of a father as well as of a king.

Jesus looks down upon our struggles in this world. He sees us toiling; all our battles and strifes he beholds. He sees us in the waves and in the storm. He sees us, not with the eye of the calm spectator merely, but with the eye of tenderest love. This is a great thought. If we can only get it into our hearts, it will give us wondrous courage in the hour of toil, sorrow, or struggle. Jesus knows when the battle is hard, when the night is dark, when the temptation is more than we can hear.

Here the winds were contrary, though Jesus sent his disciples out to sea. We learn that even when we are doing the things God has bidden us do, we may encounter opposition and sore difficulty. We may even be beaten back, and find the resistance too great for our strength. Many of the Lord's disciples have to make their voyage over very stormy seas on their way to glory.

For some people, duty is hard. Indeed, a true, gracious, positive, aggressive life must always be in the face of opposition and contrary winds. "The law of headwinds in life is doubtless in the secret love of God. When the voyage is over, perhaps we shall be let see the charts, and know why it had to be."

200

NEVER FORGOTTEN

About the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea.

Mark 6:48

IT was a long night for the tempest driven disciples; they were in great distress. But Jesus was only testing them; he had not forgotten them. From his mountain seat, unseen by them, he was watching them. He saw their struggle and danger. He put up prayer for them. Then at length he came to rescue them.

It is the same in every Christian's life. Sometimes Jesus seems to have forsaken his people. For a long while they are left to struggle alone, driven back by contrary winds. They call, and get no answer. The night wears away, and it is almost morning. Then at last he comes.

When people are in sore trouble of any kind they are like those disciples that night out in the midst of the sea. No human aid can reach them. Human friends eagerly want to help, and they come to offer sympathy and consolation. But in such hours the most helpful of us are only like men standing on the shore of a dark and stormy sea, while our friends are far out on the wild waves.

We cannot go to them to give help or rescue. Our little boats cannot ride in the mad surges. All we can do is to stand on the shore, as it were, and look with pitying eye and heart at the struggling ones in the angry sea. That is the very best that the richest human love can do. A father stood on the shore opposite the wild cataract, and with anguish unutterable saw the boat that bore his own son swept into the angry torrents, and could do nothing.

Thus it is in all life's deep needs. It is in such hours that we realize the blessedness of Jesus' power to help. He can go out on any wave, into the wildest sea, to reach those who are driven and tossed. He can carry help to all who are troubled. He can comfort in any sorrow, and give victory in any strife.

201

JESUS WALKING ON THE SEA

When they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out.

Mark 6:49

IT seems strange to us that the disciples should ever have been afraid of their own Master. They had been in great distress all the night because he was not with them. There was nothing they had desired so much all those long dark hours as that he would come to them. Yet now, when he came, they were in terror at sight of him. It was because they did not know it was Jesus that his presence so affrighted them.

It is often so with us. We are in some need or danger, and Jesus does not come to us. We call upon him, and most earnestly desire his coming; yet he comes not. At length he comes; but it is not as we expected, in lovely visage and gentle manner, but in form of terror. It is in some great trial that he comes. Death enters our door and carries away a loved one.

We experience some loss or some misfortune ‒ at least it seems to us loss or misfortune. We cry out in terror. We do not know it is Jesus, veiled in the dark robe, who has come. We do not know this is the answer to our prayer for his presence and his help. We are frightened at the form that moves over the waters in the dark night. We think it is new danger, when really it is the very Divine love and Divine help for which we have been longing and pleading.

We ought to learn that Jesus is in every providence that comes to us. He does not come in the sunshine only; quite as frequently it is in the shadow that he draws nigh. It is our duty as Christians to train ourselves to see Jesus in each event. Then, whether it is sorrow or joy that knocks at our door, we shall give it a loving welcome, knowing that Jesus himself is veiled in whatever form it is that enters. Then we shall find that when we welcome him in the sombre garments of pain, he has always a rich blessing for our lives.

202

PEACE IN STORM

He went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased.

Mark 6:51

WHEN Jesus comes to us, our trouble ceases. At his bidding the wildest storm instantly becomes a calm. The trouble itself may not go away from us, but it is no longer a trouble when he is with us. The wind may not cease to blow and beat upon our lives, but he makes peace within. It is far better to have so much grace that our hearts shall be calm and quiet in the fiercest storm, than to have the storm itself quieted, while our hearts remain restless as ever. Peace within is far better than any mere calm without.

In a gallery in Italy there are two pictures side by side by different artists. One represents a sea tossed by storms. Dark clouds hang over it, and lightning bolts pierce the sky, and the wrathful waves roll in fury. In the seething waters a dead human face is seen. The other represents a sea similarly storm tossed, but in the midst of the angry waters is a rock. In the rock is a cleft with green herbage and flowers, and amid these a dove quietly sitting on her nest.

These two pictures tell the whole story of human life in this world. The first is the story of life without Jesus, unblessed by his presence and peace. There is storm everywhere, with no quiet shelter. The other picture paints the peace which Jesus gives. There is no less storm. The waves roll as high. But there is peace. The rock represents Jesus. It is in the cleft of the rock that the peace is found.

Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee.

It is in the redemption and atonement of Jesus alone that we can have peace. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace (John 16:33). If, therefore, we take Jesus into our small boats on the storm swept sea, we shall glide on in safety through earth's tempests to glory's shore.

203

ONE THING NEEDFUL

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.

John 6:27

WE should call a man very foolish who, in building a great and costly house, should look only after the outside, spending large amounts of money in exterior decoration, while he left the interior in a rough, unfinished state ‒ the walls unplastered, the rooms filled with rubbish and without furniture or decorations of any kind. No one can get comfort from a beautiful exterior in their home and from fine grounds, if within all is rough and bare.

The wise house builder will think more of the inside than of the outside of the house in which they are to live. They will provide beauty, warmth, and comfort, and thus make a true home for themselves, in which they may dwell in peace and in real enjoyment.

Still more foolish is the person who thinks only of the needs of their physical nature, and gives no thought to the needs of their immortal soul. They are looking after the outside, and neglecting the inner life. They are providing for their body, which will soon perish, and giving no care to their soul which will endure for ever. They are planning only for the present, and neglecting the interests that are eternal.

How pitiable is such a life, deliberately turning away from all the best, holiest, most beautiful, and most enduring things, and seeking only the poor, miserable, worthless things that are only burdens, impediments, not enriching the person who has them!

Our Lord's counsel is that we should look first after our spiritual necessities. It is a fearful mistake to toil all our days for bread and raiment, or for wealth and honour, and never do anything for the inner life. At the end there will be nothing left to show for all the toil and pain and sacrifice.

If we look after the interests of our souls, then when this life is ended we shall find ourselves in possession of eternal life. A good motto for life is, "Live for the immortal things."

204

THE WORK OF FAITH

This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

John 6:29

PEOPLE are puzzled to know how they can eat spiritual bread. They cannot see it, nor take it into their hands. When they are told to: labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27), they ask how they can do it. Here Jesus says that the way to work for the spiritual food is to believe on him.

Of course believing on Jesus must be taken in its fullest sense. Merely believing that bread will satisfy hunger will not in itself satisfy any hungry man. He must eat the bread, its nourishing qualities being thus assimilated in his system. And merely believing that Jesus is able to meet all our soul's needs will not in itself bring to us spiritual satisfaction. Jesus must he received into our lives.

There are different ways of believing. We may read in a book on astronomy that the sun is some ninety-three million miles away. We believe the statement, but it has no particular effect on our living tomorrow. It is not calculated to have any effect of this kind. But when we read that whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, the truth is meant to bless us by leading us, first of all to entrust ourselves to Jesus for salvation, then to follow him as our Master, then to have our unholy life transformed into beauty like Jesus.

So it is with all spiritual truth. The mere receiving it is not enough. It must be assimilated, as food is assimilated in the body. The bread of today is the labourer's strength, the orator's eloquence, the .artist's skill tomorrow. The Bible verses of the morning must become the Christian's joy, or refuge, or inspiration, or warning, or transforming influence, in the day's struggles and toils.

It should be noticed also that we are not to get this spiritual food by working for it, but by believing on Jesus. We live by faith.

205

THE BREAD OF LIFE

The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven.

John 6:33

NO bread on the earth will furnish food for a human soul. In all our worldly strivings and ambitions we are thinking only of our perishing part. We are looking only after the poor, frail tabernacle, while we are allowing the dweller within to die of hunger.

Recently in a well furnished house in a city a family was found starving for bread. There are many souls starving in bodies that are luxuriously cared for. A soul cannot feed on grains and fruits. The finest luxuries of earth will never quench a soul's hunger.

Manna is called once in the Bible "angels' food," but this was only a poetical term, referring to its falling from the sky. Manna did not really come down from heaven. It was not angels' food. It was food for bodies, not for spirits. Angels could not have lived on it.

Imagine an angel taking up his abode in some millionaire's palace on the earth. Would he care for the magnificent things filling every apartment? Would he sit down and feed at the rich man's luxurious table? And souls and angels are much alike in their needs: both are spirits, unable to subsist on material food. Yet many people live as if their souls could be clothed in earth's finery, and fed and satisfied with earth's dainties.

Bread for souls must literally come down from heaven. It is the nature of the soul to feed upon immortal things. Its hungers and cravings are for pardon of sin, for peace, for communion with God, for holiness of character, for Jesus-likeness, for restoration to the Divine favour.

The bread for these spiritual hungers must come down from heaven. It must come in the form of mercy, of grace, of love, of Divine friendship, of gifts of life. Such food is found on no table on earth; it grows in no earthly clime; it can come only from God. It is for God, the living God, that our souls hunger and thirst.

206

SPIRITUAL FOOD

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.

John 6:35

HOW is Jesus bread? We understand what the bodily needs are which common bread satisfies. What in the soul corresponds to these cravings? The most intense of the soul's cravings is for pardon. Everyone sins, but sin satisfies no one. Nor has the world any power to give peace to a troubled conscience. We cannot forgive ourselves, and no one can really forgive us.

How is Jesus bread to this hunger? He was the Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world; and because he bore our sins he is able to forgive us. We remember how on earth the guilty crept to his feet when they saw him, and looking up into his face heard the word which gave them peace.

Another hunger is for holiness. The world has no skill by which human souls can be restored into moral beauty. Men can restore paintings, and buildings over which the fire has swept can be erected again into more than their original nobleness; but there is no human hand that can replace the glory of a ruined soul. Yet this hunger Jesus satisfies through the Holy Spirit, who enters the heart of everyone who believes, and builds up anew the holy beauty which sin has destroyed.

Another of the soul's hunger is for life, spiritual life here, and then everlasting life. Again, earth has no bread to meet that hunger. The searches for hope are among the most pitiable of this world's experiences. But those who receive Jesus have eternal life. He has opened the doors clear through into the glory beyond. He said, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:26).

He is the hope of glory to everyone that receives him. Said a martyr as he was led to execution, "I have only two stiles to get over to reach my Father's house ‒ one, the steps up the scaffold; the other, the ladder let down from heaven."

207

A WELCOME FOR ALL

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

John 6:37

WE need not worry ourselves trying to harmonize the two parts of this verse. We can believe them both, and find great comfort and joy in them. Together they bring to every Christian a glorious and double confidence. Surely it is a blessed thing to know that God has thought about our salvation and planned for it, and then given us to Jesus to be his.

If this is true, it is easy to understand the other part of this verse. Of course Jesus will not cast out any whom his Father gives to him. They are his own. He knows them by name, and loves them, for he died for them. Surely he will not pass by one of his own when he finds him lying by the wayside or among the thorns, wounded, bleeding, dying ‒ but will take him up and bear him home in safety.

We need not give ourselves any anxiety about the former part of this sentence. The latter part is all that really concerns us. If we truly come to Jesus, we are here assured that he will in no wise cast us out. But we must come. Then we shall find room enough, and a most loving welcome.

No father's house is full,

E'en though there seems no resting-place for more;

Forgiving arms and doors do open wide,

If one repentant child implore

Outside.

No mother's heart is full,

Unless it be with longing, burning wild ‒

Heart throbbings that no cheerful face can hide ‒

The wish to clasp her sinning child

Outside.

God's flock is never full:

Fear not to enter boldly at his door;

None ever were refused who there applied;

He hath abiding-place for more

Inside.

A C Sewall

208

OUR SECURITY

This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

John 6:39

THERE is not a shadow of doubt in the Christian's hope. There is not a broken link in the chain that binds the believer to eternal blessedness. There is not a step wanting in the ladder that reaches up from the depths of sin to the heights of glory.

For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified (Romans 8:29-30 ASV).

These are the links in the Christian's hope as Saint Paul saw them. In the words of today's text we have the same links as they appeared to our Saviour's eye. The assurance is, that Jesus will never lose any soul that entrusts itself to him for salvation. "Yet Christians die, just like other people," says someone. Yes. but they are not then lost. Their spirits pass at once into glory with Jesus, and their bodies will only rest in the grave until the resurrection.

An old Christian sailor put it well. When asked if he was not afraid when the storms were high, he answered that according to the Bible God held the waters in the hollow of his hand; and even if the ship were wrecked, and he should fall into the sea, he would but drop into his Father's hand. That is what death is to all Christians, however and wherever they may die ‒ breathing their souls into the hands of God.

The grave seems dark, but we have Jesus' own pledge here that not one of his own shall be lost or left in the grave. No matter where we die, or where our bodies lie, we have the Saviour's word ‒ which we had better receive in simplicity, without questioning or doubt ‒ that: this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day (John 6:39).

209

PHARISAISM

The Pharisees... except they wash ... eat not.

Mark 7:3

THE religion of the Pharisees consisted not in love to God, and disposition, character, and conduct, but in certain ceremonial rites which they observed with great scrupulousness. They washed their hands before meals, because ceremonial uncleanness in the hands communicated itself to the food. Yet they took no pains to wash their hearts of evil or uncharitable thoughts and feelings toward others.

They washed when they came in from their shops, because worldly business defiled them; but they were not careful in their dealings with others to be just, honest, and true. They saw that every pot and kettle, every vessel, and all household arrangements, were ceremonially cleansed ‒ but they did not stop to look within their own hearts to see if all was clean there for the indwelling of God's Spirit.

We all need to watch against making our religion consist in forms of worship. We may pray many times a day, and read a regular number of Bible chapters, and go through many and laborious devotions, and yet not have a particle of true faith. We are truly religious just in the measure in which we have the Spirit of Jesus in our disposition, heart, and character. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17).

Loving God and our fellowmen is the sum of all duty. Unless we have this twofold love in our hearts, shown in life and character, our profession of Jesus is empty. Not a word should be said against external cleanliness. A clean heart should make the life clean to the tips of the fingers and in all tastes, feelings, habits, words, and actions.

But clean hands and well scrubbed floors and shining dishes and careful ceremonial observances will never please God ‒ if in the heart there be no love for him and no love for men. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

210

CORBAN

Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Mark 7:13

IT is a good thing to dedicate one's property to God. But when we have done this we must take good heed that we use it in the ways marked out for us by the Divine commandments. It will not do to cover miserliness and greed by a pretence that we have already consecrated our money to God, and therefore cannot use it for charitable purposes.

For example, if a man has needy parents, one of the first uses of consecrated money is to provide for their wants. He may say that he is gathering means to build an orphanage, or a place for infirm old men or old women, and that he has consecrated his property to this great charity; but if meanwhile he allows his own aged parents to suffer, his consecration of property is not acceptable to God.

He who sets aside the fifth commandment to honour our parents, and uses his money for the poor, is playing a miserable farce before God. No amount of service in the work of the Church avails when one is neglecting the duties he owes to his own family.

The case is still worse when, as under the Rabbinical rules, the money or property was never really used at all for God, the plea of "Corban" being only a pretext to evade the requirements of duty to our family. The consecration of money to God implies always the use of the consecrated money in the service of God as he may call for it. God does not want money hoarded up ‒ he wants it going about doing good.

We apply the parable of the talents to everything except money, when there surely is nothing to which the parable applies more certainly than to money. At least we must never pretend that we have consecrated our money to God, and therefore cannot give it away. Giving it away for wise use is the very thing God wants us to do with it.

211

WHAT DEFILETH?

Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Matthew 15:11

THERE are many applications of this principle. The food we eat does not affect our moral character. No external ceremonies really touch the soul. Indeed, nothing in this world has any power to defile a heart while it remains outside and is not allowed to enter. A man may be a coalminer, always black and grimy, and always working in dirt, and yet he may have a soul clean and unspotted. This is true of living amid temptations. So long as we keep them outside, they have no power to injure us.

Luther says that we cannot prevent the birds flying about our heads, but we can prevent them building their nests in our hair. We cannot prevent a great many evil things buzzing around us continually, but we can keep them from entering our hearts and nesting there. As long as we do this, the worst things in the world cannot lay a spot upon our souls.

The Saviour says further that it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles. So, then, there may even be evil in the heart which does not defile, unless it is allowed to shape itself in thoughts, words, or deeds. The suggestion of wrongdoing is not a sin until the suggestion is accepted and acted upon.

Temptation to sin is not itself sin. Jesus was tempted. Suggestions of evil were made to him by Satan. Yet he never sinned, because these suggestions never found any lodgement in his heart, and therefore never found any expression in word or act, or even in thought. So temptations come to us from without. These things we cannot help; we are not responsible for them. There is no sin in merely having these suggestions.

But the sin begins the moment we open the door to one of these sinful suggestions. That which cometh out defileth.

212

HE IS HERE

He could not be hid.

Mark 7:24

THE fame of Jesus had gone out too widely over the whole country for him to travel anywhere without being recognized. No doubt there was something in his appearance and bearing that distinguished him from other men and soon revealed him. There must have been a rare sweetness in his face, the outpouring of the great love of his heart.

There was no halo upon his features, as artists represent him in their pictures; yet there must have been a glow of grace that revealed him to sad and hungry hearts. But really Jesus never can he hidden. He can be in no place in this world very long and his presence not be recognized. You may hide sweet flowers so that they cannot be seen, but soon the fragrance will disclose their hiding place. So the sweetness of the Saviour's life and love will always tell when he is near.

When he enters a human heart he cannot be hidden, for soon his Spirit begins to breathe out in all the words, actions, and life of the new follower. When he enters a home he cannot long be hidden, for the home is changed ‒ worldliness, bitterness, and sin giving place to prayer and praise, to the spirit of love and gentleness, and to purity and holiness.

When he enters a community he cannot remain concealed. The stories of missionary work illustrate this. People are changed into God-fearing, loving followers of Jesus. Jesus will always reveal his presence in this world.

The same is true also of all faithful discipleship. A Christian cannot be hidden. If the love of Jesus is in their heart, people around them will very soon know it. They will see it in their bearing, in their disposition, in the way they honour God, in the way they treat their fellow men.

When someone can hide their faith, they do not have much of it to hide. True faith breathes out in fragrance, shines out in light.

213

SILENCE NOT DENIAL

But he answered her not a word.

Matthew 15:23

THERE is something remarkable in this silence of Jesus. Usually he was quick to hear every request made to him by a sufferer. Scarcely ever had anyone to ask twice for a favour. His heart was sensitive, as is a mother's heart to her child's cries, and instantly responded to every appeal for help. Yet now he stood and listened to this woman's piteous pleading and answered her not a word.

Like a miser with hoards of gold, at whose gates the poor and suffering knock, but who, hearing their cries of need and distress, keeps his gates locked and is deaf to every entreaty, so Jesus stood unmoved by this woman's cries to help her daughter, though he had all power in his hands (Matthew 15:22-28).

Why was he silent? It was not because he could not help her, for his arm was never weak. The best of us have our weak hours, our days of emptiness, when we have nothing wherewith to help; but Jesus' fulness was never exhausted. It was not because he was so engrossed in his own approaching sorrows that he could think of no other one's sorrow, for even on the cross he forgot himself to show kindness to others.

Evidently the reason for his silence was to try this mother's faith, and to draw it out into still greater strength. He was preparing her to receive in the end a better blessing than she could have received at the beginning.

Our Lord sometimes seems to be silent to his people today when they cry to him. To all their earnest supplications he answers not a word. Is his silence a refusal? By no means. Often, at least, it is meant only to make those who are praying more earnest, and to prepare their hearts to receive richer and greater blessings.

So when Jesus is silent to our prayers, it is that we may be brought down in deeper humility at his feet, and that our hearts may be made more fit to receive heaven's gifts and blessings.

214

CRUMBS FROM THE MASTER'S TABLE

The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.

Matthew 15:27

BOTH the humility and the quick, eager faith of this woman appear in this response. She was not offended by the example our Lord had used. She was willing to be as a little dog under the Master's table. The children were first served, and then the pieces they let fall belonged to the dogs. All she asked was the portion that ordinarily went to the dogs. And even the crumbs from that table were enough for her, more than the richest dainties from any other table.

Thus both humility and faith were shown in her answer; and in both she is an example to us. We should come to Jesus with a deep sense of our unworthiness, ready to take the lowest place. It is such a precious thing to be permitted to take even the crumbs from the Master's table, that we should exult in the privilege. Even the crumbs of his grace and love are better than all the richest feasts of this world.

Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs

With trembling hand that from thy table fall,

A weary, heavy-laden sinner comes

To plead thy promise and obey thy call.

I am not worthy to be thought thy child,

Nor sit the last and lowest at thy board;

Too long a wanderer, and too oft beguiled,

I only ask one reconciling word."

Edward Henry Bickersteth

Yet we are not fed with crumbs. We are seated at the full table, with the richest provisions before us. The prodigal son, returning, asked only to be made a servant, as he felt unworthy to be restored to a son's place. But father-love knew no such halfway restoration as that. The white robe, the ring, the shoes, were given to him, insignia of sonship. God puts the lowliest and least worthy at once into the children's place, and feeds them abundantly.

215

DIVINE SYMPATHY

And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.

Mark 7:34

HOW it must have saddened the heart of Jesus to walk through this world and see so much human misery. There is a story of a sculptor who wept as he saw at his feet the shattered fragments of his breathing marble on which he had spent years of patient, loving toil.

Jesus walked through this world amid the ruin of the noblest work of his own hands. Everywhere he saw the destruction wrought by sin. So his grief was twofold ‒ tender sympathy with human suffering, and sorrow over the ruinous work of sin.

It is a precious thought to us that we are so dear to Jesus that the beholding of our grief touches and stirs his heart. What a wonderful revelation it is to us that he thinks of us, and cares enough for us to be moved to sorrow by our woes and sufferings.

Then Jesus' help does not just end in sympathy. That is about as far as human help usually goes. People stand over us when we are in misfortune or trouble, and heave a sigh, and then pass on. Sometimes this is all they can do. Human sympathy in suffering is a wonderful help, but the assurance of Divine sympathy is infinitely more uplifting.

Jesus gives real help. He was moved with compassion as he saw the widow of Nain in her lonely sorrow, and restored her dead son to her. He wept with Mary and Martha, and then raised their brother Lazarus. He sighed as he looked on the misfortune of this deaf man, and then opened his ears. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15) and then gives grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Not only does he pity us when he finds us deaf to all the gentle voices of love and grace, but he is ready to open our ears. We have only to bring to Jesus our infirmities, and he will take them and give us back souls with all their lost powers restored.

216

DEAF AND TONGUE-TIED

His ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

Mark 7:35

IT is a great thing to have deaf ears opened. In many places in the Bible we find the words, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:15, Mark 4:9, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:35). This suggests that there are people who have no ears, and also that there are those who, having ears, do not hear. The person who cannot hear is a great loser. The world is full of harmonies of sound. The deaf person misses all the pleasure which others derive from the songs of the birds, the tones of human speech, the charms of music. It is a great thing when closed ear-gates are opened.

Then souls have ears ‒ ears fitted to hear the voice of God and the harmonies of heavenly music. Yet there are many who are utterly deaf to these spiritual utterances. They hear God neither in the voices of Nature, in the whisperings of conscience, nor in the sacred words of Holy Scripture. Jesus is also able to open these spiritual ears, that our souls may listen on this earth to the music of heaven.

Then it is a great thing also to have our tongues loosed, that we may talk of these things to others. Some people, however, who seem to have their ears opened, still have their tongues tied. They do not speak of God's love. They have such an impediment in their speech when they talk of spiritual things that they stammer and hesitate and break down altogether, although on other themes they can talk plainly and fluently.

There are Christians who are eloquent when they talk of business, of science, of farming, or of whatever may most occupy their thoughts and hands; but the moment the subject of Christian experience is approached, their eloquence forsakes them. They are tongue-tied Christians.

What a blessing it would be to them if Jesus would some day loose the string of their tongues, that they could speak plainly!

217

THE LORD WILL PROVIDE

They have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat.

Mark 8:2

THESE words of Jesus shows first how earnest the people were in their desire to be with him. They had been three days with him, and even when their provision was exhausted they would not leave him. They would rather stay with him hungry than leave him to go away to seek bread. It would be a good thing if there was such devotion to Jesus today.

Some people can scarcely sit through one short hour with Jesus in the church, or spend a few minutes with him morning and evening, communing with him. If we had real spiritual hunger, we should not weary so soon of waiting upon Jesus.

Another thought that comes to mind by these words is that Jesus will take good care of those who are earnestly following him. The reason for this multitude being so long in the wilderness was their desire to be with Jesus. It was this fact especially that stirred his compassion when he saw them growing hungry. "They came here to find me, and they have lingered here, forgetting their own needs, that they might be near me. I will not allow them to suffer, but will provide for them."

We may draw the lesson that Jesus will take care of those who are enduring hardness for his sake. He may not always save them from suffering, but he will always watch over them and provide for them in the best way. His heart is just as tender now in the midst of heaven's glory, and as thoughtful of his friends in their need, as it was when he was on the earth.

We must not overlook the fact that it is care for the people's bodily needs that we find here in our Lord. We are constantly in danger of limiting our faith in Jesus to spiritual things, but he looks just as lovingly after the supply of our physical needs as after the needs of our souls.

218

HELP IN TIME OF NEED

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

Mark 8:18

THERE is nothing unreasonable in expecting someone with two eyes, when walking through an art gallery, to see the beautiful pictures that hang upon the walls. Why were there eyes given to them if they are not to see with them? And it was nothing unreasonable that our Lord looked for, when he expected the disciples to understand his spiritual teachings. They had eyes with which they might have seen spiritual things, yet they failed to use them.

Many people never learn to see much with their natural eyes. They walk over the fields in summer days and never see a lovely thing; while in every wild flower and in every blade of grass there is beauty enough, if perceived, to fill the dullest heart with rapture.

It is still more true in spiritual things. We walk in a world full of the glories of God's love; yet how much do we see of this indescribable splendour? At best, in this world we see only through a glass, darkly. Should we not train our eyes to see?

Then there was another wonderful faculty which the disciples did not use. This was memory. "Do ye not remember?" They did remember the facts of the miracles very definitely, but they did not recall the spiritual lessons. They had forgotten the spiritual meaning of the miracle.

This is what all of us are too apt to do. We remember the things God has done for us in the past, but we fail to draw the lessons from these experiences which they are meant to teach us. We fail to profit by the experience. Every deliverance in time of danger, every help in time of need, ought to write upon our hearts its new lesson on trusting in the Lord.

When we come again to similar points of need or danger, we ought not to be afraid, but, remembering how God helped us before, should believe that he will give us the same help in the new experiences.

219

LED APART

He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town.

Mark 8:23

THAT was a very gentle thing to do. Look closely at the picture: Jesus leading a poor blind man along the street. What thoughts does it start in our minds? The blind man represents each one of us in our sinful state ‒ in the midst of a world of beauty, but seeing nothing; groping in the gloom, unable to find the way alone; doomed to perish for ever in the darkness, unless someone takes us by the hand and lead us.

As Jesus came to this man in his blindness, so he comes to each one of us, offering to take us by the hand and be our guide, to lead us through the gloom and the dangers, home to light and glory. We can never stumble in the darkness if he leads us. The blind man entrusting himself, without fear or questioning, to be led by this Stranger, and quietly and confidingly going with him, is a picture of true faith in Jesus.

It is in this way that we are to commit ourselves to Jesus. It is not enough to lay our sins on him; we must entrust our whole life to his guidance. We can never find the way ourselves in this world's paths, but we may hand ourselves over with unquestioning confidence to Jesus' leading.

I do not try to see my way,

Before, behind, or left, or right;

I cannot tell what dangers gray

Do haunt my steps, nor at what height

Above the sea my path doth wind:

For I am blind.

Yet not without a guide I wend

My unseen way, by day, by night;

Close by my side there walks a Friend ‒

Strong, tender, true: I trust his sight;

He sees my way before, behind,

Though I am blind.

Jay 1890

220

WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?

But whom say ye that I am?

Matthew 16:15

IT is to us a great deal more important question what we think personally about Jesus than what the world thinks about him. We may be able to state the doctrines of all the creeds of Christendom concerning his person; and yet the question remains: "Whom do you say that I am? What think you of Jesus?"

It is vitally important that we have right views of Jesus. Who is he? Is he Divine, or only human? If he is only human, we may get much profit from his teachings and from his example, but that is all. In our days of struggle and temptation we cannot turn to him for personal help.

The holiest saints in heaven cannot impart to us any strength in our weakness. They cannot reach down their hands to lead us, to defend us, to help us over the hard places. If we fall, they cannot lift us up again. We can get no help from John or from Paul.

If Jesus was no more than a good and holy man, he can do nothing for us now except through his teachings and his example; but if he is Divine, he can be to us all that we need as friend, helper, guide, comforter, refuge. So we see that it does matter what we believe concerning the Person of Jesus. Doctrines are important.

Then, when the doctrinal question has been answered, there are other questions that come still more closely home: "What is Jesus to you personally? Is he only in your creed? Is he only a person about whom you believe a great many blessed and glorious things? Is he in your thoughts only as the mighty Saviour of all who believe on him? Is he anything to you personally? Is he your Saviour, your Friend, your Helper?"

These are the questions that tell just where we stand with regard to Jesus and eternal life. Opinions about Jesus, though ever so true and orthodox, are not enough ‒ only living faith in him saves.

221

THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS

He began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mark 8:31

PETER had made a splendid confession of his faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah, and now Jesus tells him what that Messiahship meant, how he was to fulfil his mission. It was not what the disciples expected. They were looking for his demonstration as an earthly king. But he tells them that the way to his throne is through suffering and by the cross.

It is to be noticed that while the way Jesus marked out lay through darkness and sorrow, at the end there would be glory ‒ "after three days rise again." Thus there was to be no failure in his mission. Paul and Barnabas, on their missionary journeys, said to new believers in Jesus, "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). The tribulation was hard, but they would go through it; and beyond was the kingdom of heaven. In the Twenty-third Psalm there is a verse often quoted: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow.

In these words there is a suggestion of gloom ‒ but the Christian is going through it ‒ then comes "the house of the Lord for ever." So here the dying of the Saviour seemed to be failure, but the rising again meant glory, victory, and eternal blessedness. He was simply going through death, as the appointed way to his throne.

This quiet announcement by our Lord of what was in store for him reminds us of an element of sorrow in Jesus' life from which we are mercifully spared. He knew beforehand every inch of his path of woe.

The shadow of his cross lay upon his soul through all the years. We sometimes rashly say that we wish we could see our future, but really it is a most gracious provision of our own life that we cannot see an hour before us. To know the future would only darken the present and unfit us for duty. It is better by far that it is hidden.

222

PETER REBUKED

He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.

Matthew 16:23

IT was Peter's love for Jesus that made him rebel so at the thought of such a fate for him. In his love he sought to hold the Master back from throwing away his life. But in doing this he was acting the part of Satan in seeking to tempt Jesus from his great work of sacrifice. This way of the cross was not an accident, it was the way marked out for Jesus. To swerve from it would be to fail in his mission.

Our best friends may become our tempters in the same way. In their love for us they may seek to keep us from entering paths of duty which will lead to sacrifice. Mothers may seek to restrain their children from going to foreign mission work. Any of us, in the warmth of our affection for our friends, may seek to dissuade them from perilous or costly service which it may be their duty to undertake. We need to guard ourselves at this point. The path of true success does not always lie along the sunny hillside. Sometimes it goes down into the dark valley of self-sacrifice.

If we try to hinder anyone from entering upon hard duties, urging them to choose easier ways, we may be doing Satan's work. We may be plucking the crown from the brow of a friend by holding back their feet from the way of the cross.

We all need to guard, too, against the counsel of friends who would restrain us from costly or perilous service. In matters of duty we must know only one Guide, and follow the call of only one voice. We are not set in this world to have a good, easy time. We are not set here to suit our own inclinations at all.

We are here to go where Jesus leads; to follow him to sacrifice and to death if he leads us in these paths. We dare not allow ourselves to be turned aside by any tenderness of human love. It is the way of duty, however hard, that takes us home.

223

SELF-DENIAL

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.

Matthew 16:24

THERE are few things at which people play more wretched farces than in their efforts at self-denial. Very few seem to have the remotest conception of what it is. One does without meat on Fridays, eating fish instead, and thinks he has denied himself in a most commendable way. Another gives up social activities for forty days in Lent, and is complacent over the merit of great self-denial. Others make themselves miserable in various ways, inflicting pain, making useless and uncalled-for sacrifices, as if God is pleased when they suffer.

But these things do not constitute self-denial. There is no merit or virtue in giving up anything, suffering any loss or pain, or making any sacrifice, merely for its own sake. True self-denial is the renouncing of self and the yielding of the whole life to the will of Jesus. It is self coming down from the life's throne, laying crown and sceptre at the Master's feet, and then submitting our whole life to the path he has chosen for us.

It is living all the while, not to please ourselves, not to advance our own personal interests, but to please our Lord and do his work. It is denying to ourselves anything that is sinful in his sight. It is gladly making of any sacrifice that loyalty to him requires. It is the giving up of any pleasure or comfort for the good of others which the living out of his Spirit may demand. The essential thing is that self gives way altogether to Jesus as the object of life.

Nothing, therefore, is true self-denial which is done merely as self-denial. True self-denial, like all other traits of Christ-likeness, is unconscious of itself, knows not that its face shines. We deny ourselves when we follow Jesus with joy and gladness, through cost and danger and suffering, just where he leads.

224

NO CROSS, NO CROWN

And take up his cross, and follow me.

Matthew 16:24

THE cross is to be taken up, not simply borne when laid upon the shoulder. This implies willing, cheerful suffering for Jesus. Some people endure trials, but always with complaining. The spirit of these words requires cheerfulness in suffering for Jesus. Half the trial is gone if we meet it in this glad spirit.

Notice again, it is our own cross and not that of someone else that each one of us is to take up. It is the particular cross that God lays on our own feet that we are to bear. We are never to make crosses for ourselves, but we are always to accept those which are allotted to us. Each one's own cross is the best.

Sometimes we think our lot is exceptionally hard, and we compare it with the lot of this or that other person, and wish we had their cross instead of our own. But we do not know what other people's crosses really are. If we did, we might not want to exchange.

The cross that seems woven with flowers, if we put it on our shoulders we might find filled with sharp thorns under the flowers. The cross of gold that seems so bright, we should find so heavy that it would crush us. The easiest cross for each one to bear is our own.

There is a way to get the crosses out of our life altogether. A father explained it this way to his child. Taking two pieces of wood, one longer than the other, he said: "Let the longer piece represent God's will, and the shorter your will. If I lay the two pieces side by side, parallel to each other, there is no cross. It is only when I lay the shorter piece across the longer that I can make a cross."

So there can be a cross in my life only when my will crosses God's, when I cannot say, "Thy will be done." If my will agrees with his, there is no cross. The way to take out the crosses is therefore always gladly to accept, through love to him, whatever trial, pain, or loss God sends.

225

LOST, YET FOUND

Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Matthew 16:25

IT seems to some that the way to save their life is to be governed by self-interest, to avoid self-denial and sacrifice, to live to gather into their hands as much as possible of the things that give comfort, pleasure, or power. But if this is the way, their life is really thrown away. That is the deep meaning of our Lord's words: self-seeking is self-losing.

We have not really learned how to live at all until we have learned to live for Jesus. What we keep for ourselves we lose. It is only what we give away that we really keep. Selfishness is not only sin, it is also spiritual death.

The way to save one's life, says the Master, is to lose it. Jesus himself lost his life, poured it out in loving self-sacrifice for the good of others. It seemed a waste; but was it a waste? He found it again in greater glory. Paul lost his life for Jesus, renounced everything for his sake, suffered everything, and gave his very life at the last. But did he lose anything by his self-sacrifice?

Many years ago, a young girl, beautiful, cultured, honoured, with a lovely home and many friends, turned away from ease, refinement, and luxury, and went to teach the freed slaves. She lived among them, and gave out her rich young life in efforts to help them up and save them. One day she sickened and died, and her friends said, "Oh, what a waste of precious life!" But was it a waste?

All who follow Jesus truly, make this choice between saving and losing their life ‒ that is, between making self-interest or Jesus the motive in living. In following Jesus, we may never be called actually to make great sacrifices; but that we are ready to make them, even to the utmost, is implied in our covenant of discipleship.

Yet this losing is saving. It is sowing the golden wheat in the ground ‒ losing it for the time ‒ to reap a rich harvest by-and-by.

226

AN UNANSWERED QUESTION

What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Matthew 16:26

THAT is putting the question in its most favourable light. The whole world is the largest possible gain. But suppose a man gets it. It cannot keep him from trouble; it cannot give him peace of conscience; it cannot comfort him in sorrow; it cannot make a soft pillow for him when he is dying; it cannot purchase heaven for him when he is gone. All he can do with the world, after he has it, is to keep it until he dies. He cannot carry any part of it with him to the other life.

"How much did he leave?" asked one, referring to a millionaire who had just died. "Every cent," was the reply. He left all. So it is easy to see that there is no profit, but rather a fearful and eternal loss, in gaining even the whole at the price of one's soul.

Then think for how much smaller price than "the whole world" many people sell their souls. Some do it for a few hours' guilty pleasure; for gambling; for addiction to alcohol or drugs: some for a political office; some for money; some for honour which fades in a day.

People are continually giving home and property and peace and love for pitiable trifles. They are bartering their heavenly birthright for a mess of pottage.

What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Ah, that's the trouble. When the soul is lost, there is no way of recovering it. When we have made our choice, and lived our life, whether right or wrong, there is no possibility of changing the results.

Life is given to us only once, and if we live it wrongly there is no chance to live it over again. A soul lost cannot be gotten back. No money will redeem it.

227

JESUS' SPECIAL FRIENDS

Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John.

Matthew 17:1

THESE three disciples belonged to the inner circle of our Lord's friends. There must have been something in them that uniquely endeared them to him. We know that Peter was a leader among the apostles, and also a bold confessor; that John was "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and that James was the first of the band to die as a martyr.

It is encouraging to look at Peter, a man with so many faults, and who made so many mistakes, at last shamefully denying Jesus ‒ and yet remember that he was one of our Lord's closest friends, admitted to such high privileges. It gives encouragement to us that, with all our faults, we are very dear to Jesus.

It does not seem so strange that John was allowed to enter the inner circle. His disposition was gentle and amiable, very much like the Master's. Yet it is probable that John owed his gentleness of character to his being with Jesus. He was not always a man of love.

There is a Persian fable of a piece of clay that was made fragrant by lying on a rose. The perfume of the rose passed into the clay. So it was with John. He crept into his Master's bosom, and lay close to his heart; and his Master's spirit of love and gentleness passed into his life and transformed it. Thus we have a lesson, too, from John: constant and loving communion with Jesus will change us into his likeness.

The lesson from this choosing of three out of the whole band for unique privileges is that while Jesus loves all his friends, there are certain ones whom he takes into closer confidence than the others. There are degrees of nearness to him, even in this world.

Should we not strive to be among those who, by disposition and by service, win their way to the closest places?

228

HEAVENLY MESSENGERS

There appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

Matthew 17:3

THESE two heavenly messengers were conversing with Jesus. They were talking with him about his death. Several thoughts come to mind. One is that the death of Jesus was part of the Divine plan. It was no disaster, no defeat. It was understood in heaven that he was to die on a cross.

Another thought is that Moses and Elijah had been sent to talk with Jesus, as he was now about to turn his face toward Jerusalem, that they might strengthen him for the sad journey and for the bitter sorrows at the end of it.

Before Jesus went to the wilderness there was a vision of glory by the Jordan, and a voice spoke, uttering the Divine approval, to strengthen him to endure his temptation. Now again, when he is setting out for his cross, there is a vision and a voice to prepare him for the darkness and the agony.

In these heavenly visits we have a hint of the service of the redeemed in heaven. These two men are sent all the way to earth to comfort and cheer a weary spirit in its mission of suffering. May it not be that all the saved shall thus be employed in glory? It is delightful to think that we shall be sent from world to world on errands of love. The idea that in heaven we shall do nothing for ever but rest on green banks and sing praises to God receives no encouragement in the Scriptures.

We are to be like Jesus, and he is never idle, but ever busy in loving service. We shall be as the angels, and they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. His servants shall serve him (Revelation 22:3), is one description of the employments of heaven.

It will still be nobler there to minister than to be ministered unto. Our poor work here is only a training for work in heaven and for ever.

229

DUTY AFTER PRIVILEGE

Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles.

Matthew 17:4

WE should know that it was Peter who said this, even if his name had not been given. It is just like Peter. He wanted to hold the heavenly vision on the mountain top, and not go back to the cold, struggling life of earth. It seemed such a heavenly place that he did not want to leave it. It certainly was good to be there, but they could not stay there long, and still be faithful to their duty and their mission.

There was work waiting in the sad world below which they must hasten to do. There was a poor demon possessed man at the foot of the mountain whom the disciples could not cure. The Master was sorely needed there. Then farther off was the Garden of Gethsemane, the courtroom of Gabbatha, and the crucifixion on Golgotha for Jesus. He must make an atonement for the world. Then for Peter there was Pentecost, with many years of earnest service – and martyrdom in the end.

Devotion is good. It is very sweet to commune with God in the quiet place, in the church, at the sacramental table; but we must not spend all our time in these holy exercises. While the raptures thrill our souls, we must not forget that outside there are human wants crying for help and sympathy. We must tear ourselves away from our warmest devotions and most exalted experiences to go down to answer these cries. Our Christian faith is not for enjoyment only. God gives us spiritual enjoyment so that we may be strong for all loving service.

Hark, hark! a voice amid the quiet intense!

It is thy duty waiting thee without.

Open thy door straightway, and get thee hence;

Go forth into the tumult and the shout;

Work, love, with workers, lovers all about;

Then, weary, go thou back with failing breath,

And in thy chamber make thy prayer and moan.

One day upon his bosom, all thine own,

Thou shalt lie still, embraced in holy death.

George MacDonald

230

BRIGHT CLOUDS

A bright cloud overshadowed them.

Matthew 17:5

THE cloud was a symbol of the Divine presence. Luke says the disciples were afraid as they saw the cloud come down over the Master and the heavenly visitants. God still comes to us often in thick clouds, and we are afraid too. But the cloud meant no harm to the disciples. No cloud means any harm to a disciple when God is in the cloud; and always, if we only listen, we may hear words of love.

Sorrow touched by thee grows bright

With more than rapture's ray;

And darkness shows us worlds of light

We never saw by day.

Thomas Moore

There was a voice out of the cloud testifying to the Divine Sonship. The disciples had been staggered at what Jesus had said about his rejection and death. Now they are assured that he is the Messiah, and they must hear him. Even if they could not understand, and if the things he said seemed to destroy all their hopes, they were still to listen.

There are times when God's ways with us seem very hard, and we think disaster is coming to every fair prospect in our life. In all such hours we should remember that he who rules over all is the Son of God, our Friend and Saviour; and our trust in him should never fail. We should always listen to what he says, and when everything seems strange and dark we should never doubt nor fear.

What so shook the disciples, we now see to have been the most glorious and loving wisdom. So in our strangest trials there is the truest wisdom and the richest love. Hereafter we shall know. It was out of the cloud that this voice came. Out of the clouds that hang over us often come the tenderest voices of Divine love, the most precious disclosures of Divine grace.

231

FAILURES

I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

Matthew 17:16

THERE are a great many teachers in our Sunday schools and youth work who have had similar experiences. Children have been brought to them possessed by evil spirits, and they have failed to cast out the demons. They have tried every device, gentle and severe; they have prayed and laboured, they have talked and wept; but the evil spirits in their scholars have defied all efforts to dislodge them. Teachers of such apparently hopeless cases may learn some lessons here.

It may be a little encouragement, first of all, to know that even Jesus' apostles met at least one case that they could not do anything with, so it is no wonder if people like us fail now and then. It is failures like this in the apostles that bring them down to our level.

When we see them victorious and successful at every point, we are discouraged. But when we find them baffled and defeated, we see that they were human, just like us, and could do nothing by themselves. We get far more real help from Saint Paul's experience with his "thorn" than we get from his "third heaven" exaltation. In this latter he is so far beyond us that we cannot follow him. In the former we are on familiar ground (2 Corinthians 12:7 and 2 Corinthians 12:2).

It may be instructive also to study the reasons of the apostles' failure. First, the Master was absent: the disciple cannot do anything without his Lord. This is a lesson we should deeply impress on our own minds. Unless we have Jesus with us, all our Christian work will utterly fail.

Of ourselves we can never change a heart. Another reason was lack of faith in the disciples: unbelief makes anyone weak. Though absent, Jesus' power would have been theirs had not their faith failed. Still another reason was the hardness of the case: all cases are not equally difficult, with some requiring more faith and spiritual power than others.

232

THE UNFAILING HELPER

Bring him hither to me.

Matthew 17:17

THE disciples had failed in their effort to cast out the demon, but there yet was hope. The Master himself was now at hand, and he could not fail. There should be a great deal of encouragement in this for all who are trying to change people's lives into spiritual beauty.

When parents have done all they can to make their children true and beautiful in their character, and have failed, they can take them to Jesus. He can cast out the evil that is in them. He can give them new hearts. He can put his own Holy Spirit within them, and thus transform them into Jesus-likeness.

When teachers have in their classes scholars on whom they can make no impression, their discouragement and failure should lead them to bring them to Jesus, for he is yet able to take them and change them into gracious beauty. When troubled souls have sought in vain for comfort and help from the Church and from Christian ministers, they should go to Jesus himself, for he can comfort.

No matter in what we have been defeated, Jesus stands ready to take our humiliation and turn it into victory. The disciples had toiled all night in vain, but when they dropped their net at the Lord's bidding, great was their success (Luke 5:5). So always in the shadows of our human failure he stands to give blessing.

There is another thought here. It is to Jesus, and not merely to the school or the church or the minister that we should try to lead our children and our friends. The teacher cannot regenerate the child. The church cannot renew its nature. The minister cannot cast out the evil in the child's heart. Unless we bring our children truly to Christ they must remain unchanged. Baptism does not wash the heart. The Lord's Supper does not put grace into the life. We must bring our friends and ourselves direct to Jesus.

233

DESIRE FOR PLACE AND POWER

They held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.

Mark 9:34

SOMETHING is wrong when we have done something in the day which we are ashamed to tell Jesus about when we come home in the evening and bow at his feet, or when we have said something that we are not willing to repeat to him in our prayers when we come to talk with him face to face.

The disciples' ideas of position and rank were altogether earthly. They wrangled for places in the kingdom Jesus was going to set up, very much as a company of modern politicians wrangle over spoils of office. Peter thought he ought to be prime minister, for he was the best speaker.

Judas thought he would certainly be keeper of the treasury, which would give him a prominent place. John was Jesus' favourite, and felt sure he would be the greatest. Andrew had been first called, and claimed that this fact ought to give him the precedence. So they bickered.

So Christians sometimes do today. They want official places in the Church ‒ want to be elders, deacons, or trustees; or want positions in the Sunday schools as superintendents, teachers, secretaries, or librarians; or want to be presidents or vice-presidents, or something else of missionary societies, or small mite societies, or Dorcas societies, or of some other organizations; or want to be pastors of popular city churches.

It is the same old spirit ‒ the idea that the way to be a great Christian is to be prominent in some official position, to have honour and power among men. It is a shame to see such scrambling in the Church of Jesus, but sometimes we see it; perhaps we sometimes also scramble.

234

THE CHILD IN THE MIDST

Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them.

Matthew 18:2

THE child preached the sermon. It is as though the child said to those ambitious disciples, "Shame on all your quarrelling about prominence and high places. Look at me. I am much higher up in the kingdom of heaven than you. You must get clear of all your proud thoughts and become lowly and simple-minded and childlike, or in the new kingdom you will have no place at all, much less a high place."

Little children are always preaching sermons to us, if only we have ears to hear. Children, in their innocence, their simplicity, their naturalness, their attractiveness of soul, wherever they go exert an influence upon other lives which no words can describe. They are at once the greatest preachers and themselves the most eloquent sermons.

This picture of Jesus with the little one in his arms is very beautiful. In all the Bible there is scarcely another which so well represents the attitude both of the soul, and of the Saviour in salvation and in all Christian life. Jesus takes the child in his arms. There is love, tenderness, protection. The bosom is the place of warmth, of affection, of intimacy, of confidence. The encircling arms imply safety, support, shelter.

Jesus lifted up the child and held it in his arms; so he carries his people through this world. He does not merely tell them how to go, but he takes them on his shoulders, carrying not only their burdens, but themselves. Thus he bears them on through life and through death.

Then look at the picture the other way ‒ the child in the Saviour's arms. Its attitude speaks of trust, confidence, repose, peace, love, joy ‒ just the feelings which belong to the true Christian. What a place the bosom of Jesus is in danger, in storm, in sorrow, in death! Shall we not learn just to nestle in our Saviour's arms in all life's experiences?

235

FOR HIS SAKE

Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me.

Mark 9:37

THIS saying of Jesus is rich enough to be studied long and deeply. To receive a child in a certain way is to receive Jesus himself. How must a child be received? In Jesus' name ‒ that is, out of love to him, for his sake, just as we would receive Jesus himself if he actually came in person. So it is not enough to love children, to care for orphans or those that are destitute. It must be for the sake of Jesus that we do these things. Thus in every child do we see Jesus stand before us, and we may have the honour of receiving him.

The Christmas legends are full of illustrations of this truth. One of the most beautiful of these tells how on a Christmas Eve a poor man, coming homeward through the forest, heard a cry, and found a little child, cold and hungry. The good man searched and found the little one, and took him with him to his house.

His children gladly welcomed the stranger, and shared their evening meal with him. Then, while he sat there at the table, suddenly a change came over the child's appearance, and lo, it was the Christ-child whom unconsciously the family had received in this needy, suffering little one.

Jesus is ever coming to our doors in the person of some poor or suffering one, and the reception we give the one he sends, we give to him. This ought to make us careful how we treat those who need sympathy or help, lest some time we slam the door in the face of Jesus.

These words of Jesus have their precious lesson for parents. The child that comes to them comes in Jesus' name, comes in his stead. It brings blessings to them and to their home if they receive if in the right way.

But they must receive the child in Jesus' name, with love, with thankfulness, with reverence. Suppose they do not receive it with welcome, as from God? It is as if they rejected Jesus himself.

236

LITTLE DEEDS OF LOVE

Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

Mark 9:41

IT seems wonderful indeed that God should keep note of such a little thing as the giving of a cup of water to a thirsty Christian brother or sister. It shows how dear to him are his people, since the smallest things done to one of them he accepts, remembers, and rewards.

The mention here of the giving of a cup of water suggests that this promise is for little, commonplace acts, rather than for great deeds. We are often too mean with our helpfulness.

God has put his gifts of love into our hearts, not to be kept locked up and useless, but to be given out. We would call someone selfish who should refuse a cup of water to one who was thirsty, yet many of us do this continually. It is the heart that thirsts, and the water we refuse to give is human kindness.

'Tis a little thing

To give a cup of water, yet its draught

Of cool refreshment drained by fevered lips

May give a shock of pleasure to the frame

More exquisite than when nectarean juice

Renews the life of joy in happiest hours.

It is a little thing to speak a phrase

Of common comfort, which by daily use

Has almost lost its sense, yet on the ear

Of him who thought to die unmourned

'Twill fall like choicest music.

Thomas Talfourd

Kindness is just the word for these small acts. Kindness is love flowing out in little acts of gentleness. We ought to carry our lives so that they will be perpetual blessings wherever we go. All we need for such a ministry is a heart full of love for Jesus; for if we truly love Jesus we shall also love our fellow-men, and love will always find ways of helping. A heart filled with gentleness cannot be miserly with its blessings.

237

WISE SACRIFICES

It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

Matthew 18:8

THIS life is so full of peril that even its best things may become stumbling blocks. Our very qualities of strength may become fatal forces driving us to ruin. Human beauty is a memento of unfallen life, and yet beauty has proved a snare to many a woman, drawing her away from God. Power to make money is a perilous gift, which has led many to spiritual ruin.

The appetites, desires, and affections are part of the glory of humanity, and yet unbridled they have whirled many a noble life to destruction. These are illustrations of our Lord's meaning when he speaks of cutting off the hand or the foot which causes us to stumble.

It is better to throw away altogether the moneymaking power and go poor through life with the talent wasted and shrivelled, and reach heaven, than to exercise the gift and grow rich, and be lost for ever. A steam vessel came into port which had long been out on the sea. An accident had happened which caused delay. The coal gave out; then all that would burn ‒ cargo, stores, furniture ‒ had to be burned to bring the vessel home. At last she gained the shore, but stripped of everything of value. Yet it was better to burn up all her cargo and stores than perish at sea.

Some can get to heaven only by sacrificing every earthly pleasure and crucifying every desire ‒ but who will say the prize is not worth the sacrifice? The hand had better be chopped off than steal or strike down another. The foot had better be cut off than carry one into crime or sin. The eye had better be put out than by its lustful gazing set the soul on fire.

A man on a wrecked vessel had better throw his bags of gold into the sea and have his life saved, than hold on to the gold and sink with it into the waves.

238

THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM

When the time was come that he should be received up.

Luke 9:51

THERE were a great many painful steps to take before our Lord could reach this blessed hour and be received up to glory. The immediate future was full of struggle, loss, and pain. On yonder heights his eyes could see the radiance of heaven, with its opening gates and its welcome home; but before his feet could enter the shining portal there was a broad battle plain to pass through, and it was full of enemies.

There were days of toil and nights of loneliness. At last he must pass through Gethsemane's gloom, and all that via dolorosa which led to Calvary. He must die and go into the grave. All this before he could be received up.

But he did not think of any of these painful steps. He did not let his eyes rest on the shadows that lay in the valley, but lifted them up to the mountain top beyond, where the splendours of heaven blazed. Keeping his thoughts on the glories that were to be his when he had ended the journey, he forgot the toils and the tears and fainted not.

This is a wonderful secret which all of us ought to learn ‒ not to think so much about the toil and hardness of the battle, but to look beyond to the brightness of the end. It does not matter how rough the road is, if it brings us home at last. Many of us go worrying all through this life, keeping our eyes always downcast on the path we are treading.

We see all the troubles, the difficulties and discouragements, but we never raise our eyes to see the joys and the blessings that are waiting for us. We ought to learn this life-secret which made Jesus forget the shame and sorrow of his cross, and see only the glory beyond.

Learn to look up toward heaven. Think of its joys, its blessedness, until earth's trials shall melt away in the brightness, and its griefs and losses be forgotten in the hopes of glory.

239

GO FORWARD

He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Luke 9:51

WE do not know what lies before us in life. Some great sorrow or anguish may be awaiting us on the morrow, but it casts no gloom over our spirits today, because we are unaware of it. This is a merciful provision in our lives. If some of us knew all that we must pass through in the future, it would make our lives very bitter, even while our joys are unbroken. It is a great deal better that we should not know, until God leads us to the edge of the experience.

But there was no such kindly veiling of the future from Jesus' eyes. He saw every step of the sorrowful way to the close of his life. Yet this makes the scene before us all the more striking. Knowing all, see how eager he is to press on in his path. He could not be held back. He steadfastly set his face to go, and bent his steps with intense haste to his journey, which he knew would lead him to Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha.

In this, as in all things, he left us an example, that we should follow his steps. It is thus that we should ever go forward in the path of duty, no matter what the dangers, the sufferings, the sacrifices that lie in our path. We are too apt to hesitate and count the cost when hard tasks are assigned to us, instead of eagerly pressing on in duty's path.

That walk to Jerusalem, every step a step toward the cross always in plain view, is one of the finest heroisms of all history. Let us not forget why the walk was taken. That cross meant salvation and eternal blessedness for countless millions of lost souls. Love was the heart of that heroism. Jesus pressed on with intense earnestness, because the accomplishment of his mission would be life for the world and glory for the Father.

We ought to bare our heads in reverence as we see Jesus thus hastening to his cross. It was for our sakes he set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.

240

AN OPEN FOUNTAIN

If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

John 7:37

EVERY word here is full of meaning. "If" marks the one condition to which the Saviour's invitation is addressed. Of course, if we do not thirst we will not care to come to the well and drink. Souls are dying all about us, not because there is no water near, but because they are not thirsty. Intense thirst is a pitiable condition, but the lack of soul-thirst is infinitely more pitiable. It is hopeless. The words "any man" show us how universal is our Lord's invitation. The cry was not to "any Jew," nor to "any man of good character," but to "any man." No one is left out.

The word "thirsty" describes the need which Jesus is able to supply. It is not bodily thirst, but thirst of the soul, which he offers to quench. The soul as well as the body has its thirsts, and there is no spring on earth at which they can be satisfied.

The words "let him come" show us the gate to the fountain flung wide open. There is no barrier in the way. "Let him come" reminds us, however, that if we would have our thirst quenched by Jesus we must really come to him. We must leave our dry wastes, where no water is, and come to Jesus. We cannot find Jesus while we stay in our sins.

The word "drink" tells us that we must receive Jesus himself into our hearts if we would have our thirst satisfied. Merely going to a spring and looking at its sparkling waters will never quench anyone's thirst ‒ we must drink of the waters. So, looking at Jesus is not enough to bless us. We must take him into our life and let his Spirit fill our hearts.

This new picture of Jesus presents him as a great well in the desert. The water gushes from a cleft in the rock. We understand the meaning of the cleft ‒ Jesus died that there might be water for our soul's thirst.

241

WORDS OF LIFE

Never man spake like this man.

John 7:46

IN all literature there are no words like those which Jesus spoke. We remember what wonderful power his words had. One of them dropped upon the wild sea and quieted it in a moment. Another touched the blind man's eyes and opened them. Another fell upon the sparkling water and changed it into wine;. Another fell into a dark grave and caused a dead man who lay there to arise and come forth.

Then we remember how Jesus' words comforted sorrow and gave peace to troubled ones; how they reached men's hearts and changed the whole purpose of their lives. Those who heard his words rose up from their work and from their sins, and left all to follow him in his homelessness and loneliness. Demons listened trembling when he spoke, and instantly recognized his power, and cowered and obeyed.

These words of Jesus still have the same power. They are yet calming tempests, and opening blind eyes, and expelling evil spirits, and raising the dead. They are yet giving comfort to sorrowing ones, and hope to despairing ones, and forgiveness to penitents.

They are still changing hearts, sweetening bitter fountains, and making flowers bloom where thorns grew before. If you lean upon a word of Jesus, you will find the everlasting arms underneath it.

If you are sinking in the waves of trial, and grasp one of these blessed words, you will find the Divine hand gloved in it, and will be upheld by it. If you are pursued by spiritual enemies and seize a word of Jesus, you will find in your hand an all-conquering sword before which all foes will fly. If you are weary, or in sorrow, and pillow your head on one of these precious words, you will find that you are lying on your Father's bosom, close to his warm, beating heart.

The world's richest treasures today are the words of Jesus. "Never man spake like this man."

242

EXPERIENCE THE BEST EVIDENCE

Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

John 7:51

NICODEMUS asked justice for Jesus, and pleaded that he should not be condemned without a fair hearing. The same principle of justice should appeal now to those who are uttering hostile opinions of Jesus. His enemies are never really those who have by experience proved his promises unworthy of confidence. The world has never yet known of a true follower of Jesus who has honestly made a test of Jesus' salvation and has been disappointed.

All who have trusted him have found every word true on which he caused them to hope. No one that has tried him as Saviour, Deliverer, Helper, and Friend, has ever become his enemy. Those who oppose Jesus are they who know nothing about him by experience. They judge him before they hear him.

But is this just? Is it right to condemn any man if we really have no knowledge of the facts alleged against him? Would it he right to condemn a book we had never read, or of which we had no actual knowledge?

Surely no one has any right to be an enemy of Jesus without having honestly and conscientiously examined Jesus' claims, and then proved them untrue and unworthy of confidence. No one should put Jesus away until they find something better than Jesus ‒ something that will do more for them, that will bring them better help in trouble, a better salvation in their lost condition, that will make a better person of them, lifting them up to greater heights of holiness and beauty.

The best evidence of the Christian faith is always experience. "Come and see," was all the eager disciple asked, when the man invited doubted. "Come and see" is better always than argument. If we can only get people to try trusting Jesus for themselves, there is no danger that they will condemn our faith.

243

NO LONGER CAPTIVES

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!

John 8:32

EVEN among the followers of Jesus there is still much bondage because of ignorance of the truth. Superstitious people are in terror of certain imagined dangers, but their terror instantly vanishes when they learn the truth. They are slaves of ignorance until knowledge makes them free.

So it is in spiritual things. There are Christians who are in perpetual distress about their sins, thinking that God's wrath still rests upon them, when in reality they passed long since from under wrath into blessed forgiveness. They do not know the truth about Divine forgiveness, and therefore miss all the joy. If they but knew the truth, the truth would make them free.

At the end of the war between France and Great Britain [1792-1802] there were a number of French ships that had been out at sea for some years. They did not know that peace had been proclaimed in their absence, and they wanted to get back to their own country without meeting any British men-of-war. A gale scattered them, and one vessel was carried away from the others, and when the morning broke she found herself opposite the coast of England, with a British warship lying close by.

The French captain was greatly perplexed and in terror. His first thought was to sink his vessel rather than allow her to fall into the enemy's hands. At length his ship was hailed from the man-of-war, and he was told that peace had been proclaimed between Great Britain and his own country. When he had been assured of this fact his fear vanished.

So the truth of the gospel makes us free, by telling us of the peace which has been made for us by Jesus' cross. The moment we truly accept Jesus, we are free for ever from sin's curse and condemnation. We are no longer captives, but free.

244

JESUS' YOKE ‒ TRUE FREEDOM

We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

John 8:33

SELF-CONFIDENCE is the peril even of the truest holiness. We are in danger of forgetting that we are nothing, and that Jesus Christ is our all in all. This very day, children of godly parents need to be on their guard against the sin of these ancient Jews. By what species of mental hoodwinking they fancied themselves "free," when at that very time Roman soldiers stood guard about their city, we cannot understand.

But both these errors are common enough. Many people boast more of their "blood line" than of anything else. It truly is a great privilege to have good ancestry. It is good capital with which to start in life; but beyond a certain point it does not count. The first question may be, "Who is your father?" but the next question will be, "Who are you?"

Parents may lead a child to Jesus in infancy, but when the child is old enough for moral accountability it must accept Jesus by a personal faith. Nothing else really avails for salvation.

We must enter Jesus' kingdom as individuals. Abraham had some descendants who were far enough away from his godliness, and whom he would scarcely wish to recognize as his children; and many a godly father nowadays has worthless sons.

Then the illusion of freedom, while one is really in chains, is not altogether rare. A great many people living in sin imagine they are the only free people there are. They have thrown off the restraints of religion and of law, and they think they are free, while they regard those who follow Jesus as slaves.

Sin plays strange tricks. Insane people sometimes deck themselves out in glittering clothes, and imagine that they are some great personages. The devil often puts similar notions into the heads of his deluded followers. None are free but those who wear Jesus' yoke.

245

SERVANTS OF SIN

Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

John 8:34

SO the people who boast of their freedom are really slaves after all. They look upon a Christian with a sort of pity, because he cannot do the wrong things they do. "Oh, I forgot! You are a Christian. I would not be so bound up. I want to be free." So these people talk while they enjoy their way of life ‒ which they call liberty! They do not imagine that they are the slaves, and that the Christians whom they so pity are really the only free people there are in the world.

Everyone is a servant of some master, the only difference being in the master. There is no dishonour in having a master, if the master is worthy of us, able to lead us up to glory. The Christian has Jesus for his master; while he who lives in sin has sin for his master. Jesus is a blessed master. Serving him lifts us up to eternal glory. What sort of a master is sin? We need but to look about us to see. What does sin do for its slaves? What life did it ever ennoble or lift up?

It is said that one of the large American prisons, Sing Sing, was built by the prisoners themselves. They dressed the stones and built the walls which afterwards shut them in. The legend is familiar, too, of the man to whom the devil came ordering a chain of a certain length. Coming at the appointed time, he ordered the chain made longer, and then went away. When at last it was finished he came again, and with it bound the poor man who had fastened its links at his command.

So sinners are everywhere building their own prison walls, and with their own hands fashioning the chains to bind them for ever. We need to be on our guard perpetually against little sins of thought, of habit ‒ mere gossamer threads at first, which will become heavy ropes at last if we allow them to be wrapped about our souls.

246

PASSING BY

By chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Luke 10:31

WE must not suppose that all priests in the time of Jesus were cold and heartless. Ministers today are generally warm-hearted men. They ought all to be so; they ought to set the people the example of kindness and sympathy; they ought to be like Jesus ‒ and he was always ready to help anybody in trouble.

No doubt many of the Jewish priests were kind and generous; but here was one who was not. This shows us that being a priest or a minister does not make anyone tender-hearted. Someone may occupy a very sacred place, and yet have a cold and hard heart. But it is very sad when it is so.

This priest did not even stop to look at the sufferer, or ask him how he came to be injured, or inquire what he could do for him. He kept as far to the other side of the road as he could get. Perhaps he even pretended not to see the wounded man. No doubt he had excuses ready in his own mind. He was in a great hurry, or he was very tired, or he could not do anything for the poor man if he should stop, or he was very tender-hearted and could not bear to look on blood.

No matter about his motives, it is more to our purpose to avoid repeating his fault. Do we never pass by human wants that we know we ought to stop to relieve? Do we never keep out of the way of those whose needs call out to us? Do we never have trouble hunting up excuses to satisfy our own clamorous consciences because we have passed by someone we ought to have helped?

Some people look the other way when they are passing a blind man on the wayside. Ministers have refused to go to see sick people because they were feeling weary. People have stayed away from church because there was to be an appeal for money for a needy cause. This verse is an ugly mirror, isn't it? It shows us blemishes that we didn't know we had.

247

MY NEIGHBOUR

A certain Samaritan ... had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds.

Luke 10:33-34

NOW we must not conclude that the Samaritans were better than the highly-favoured Jews. Our Lord uses a Samaritan in his parable because he wants to impress the law of love. No matter who the sufferer is that we come upon in any of life's paths, man or woman, they are our neighbour. They may be a worthless sort of person; but no matter, they are our neighbour.

As we look closely at them, we may see that they are an enemy. Once they did us a bitter, cruel wrong, and they have no claim whatever on us for sympathy or for help; but no matter, they are our neighbour. The person of the human race that we find suffering or in need of any kind becomes for the time our neighbour ‒ the one neighbour to whom for the present we owe love.

There is more definition here: we learn what the word "love" means. You say, "I can't love hateful people; I can't love criminals; I can't love a poor beggar." Nobody expects you to love such people as you love your husband or wife, your child, your friend. It is not likely that this Samaritan had a tender affection for this wounded Jew while he was helping him.

Samaritans were not in the habit of loving Jews very deeply. But this Samaritan did not look at the man and calculate whether he loved him or not before he began to attend to his wounds. Yet he loved him precisely as the commandment meant he should love him. His love was not a warm emotion; it was a very practical affection.

First it was pity. He had compassion on him. But pity is sometimes a useless emotion ‒ merely a teardrop that comes easily, and costs nothing. This good wayfarer had more than a tear. His pity got into his hands and into his pocket. He went to the man and bound up his wounds and helped him to an inn, and gave attention to him until he was restored.

247

SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

John 9:1

THE blind man illustrates everyone's natural condition. For one thing, he had never been able to see. We are all born in a state of sin. Whatever we may say about the sweetness, innocence, and purity of childhood, the Scriptures plainly teach that no one is born by natural birth in the kingdom of heaven, but that all must be born again to enter it.

Another point of analogy is that this man's blindness shut off from him a whole world of beauty. There were lovely things all around him ‒ green fields, flowers, blue skies, bright sunshine, shining stars; but he never saw any of these things. So there is a whole world of spiritual beauty lying about and above the unsaved person ‒ the love of God, Divine promises, blessed hopes, the heavenly kingdom, all the joys of salvation – but they see nothing of this glorious world.

It is said that a lady looking at one of Turner's pictures, delineating some scene of nature, said to the artist, "Mr. Turner, I cannot see in nature what you put in your pictures." The artist's quiet answer was, "Don't you wish you could, madam?"

Men and women of the world observe the raptures of Christian faith and Christian hope, and read the joyous words of Christian experience, and say with a sneer, "We cannot see any such joys as these in what you believe."

The only proper answer is, "Don't you wish you could?" It takes the artist's eye to see the glory of nature; it takes the opened eye of Christian faith to see the glories of God's spiritual kingdom.

For another thing, this blind man's condition was incurable. In this, too, his case illustrated the condition of every sinner. The sinner is incurable, and none but Jesus can remove his spiritual blindness. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

249

THE NIGHT COMETH

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

John 9:4

EVEN Jesus felt the pressure of time's brevity, and the necessity for doing promptly and quickly the work which had been given him to do. How much more should we feel this pressure, and hasten to improve the moments as they fly. We all have some work given us by God himself. We are in the world on Divine missions ‒ sent from God to take some specific part in blessing the world.

To do this work we have just a "day" of time. Each one's day is his lifetime. A day is a brief time: it is not long from the rising to the setting of the sun. It is a fixed time. When the sun comes to his going down, no power in the universe can prolong his stay for one moment. When death comes, he will not wait one instant. Unfinished then, unfinished for ever.

Yet the day is long enough for God's plan. The sun never sets too soon for his purpose. Each little life is long enough for the little part of the world's work allotted to it. This is true even of the infant that lives but an hour, merely coming into this world, smiling its benediction, and flying away.

It is true of the child, of the young man or young woman, of those who die in the maturity of their powers, with their hands yet full of unfinished tasks. No one can ever offer as an excuse for an unfulfilled life-work that the time given was too short. It is always long enough if only every moment of it be filled with simple faithfulness.

To have our work completed at the end, we must do it while the day lasts. The passionate preacher, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, had on his watch dial a picture of the setting sun, and over it the words from today's verse, "The night cometh." Every time he looked at his watch to see the hour he was reminded of the shortness of life, and of the urgent necessity for importance in duty. We should all catch the lesson.

250

SIGHT TO THE BLIND

When he had thus spoken ... he anointed the eyes ... and said, ... Go, wash.

John 9:6-7

IT is related that one day, many years ago, the Empress of Austria was riding over the country in her carriage, and saw a woman a little distance from the road acting in a strange manner. She soon discovered that the woman was blind, and further, that she was so close to a precipice that another step might hurl her to death.

The empress quickly left her carriage and hurried to the poor woman, just in time to save her life. The world admires the act, but here is one still more beautiful. The King of glory sees a poor blind beggar sitting in darkness, is moved with compassion for him, and stops to open his eyes.

We may trace here the course of Jesus with this blind man. He saw him, and was touched by his condition. So the sight of a sinner always touches Jesus. He came unasked to the blind man, and brought the unsought healing to him. He touched his eyes, bringing himself as the light of the world into contact with the man's darkness.

So Jesus comes first to us, not waiting to be sought. In his incarnation he brought himself in contact with our fallen nature to save it. By his Spirit he touches each blind soul that believes, and brings light and salvation to it.

He used means, making clay with the spittle, anointing the man's eyes, then sending him to wash. Jesus uses means in the opening of men's spiritual eyes. He sends his grace to us through his Word, through the sacraments, through the touch and love of human friends.

He gave this man something to do, something requiring obedience and action. So he gives the sinner something to do, asking him to believe, to rise up, to wash in the fountain, to confess his Saviour, and follow him into lowly service. Thus the curing of this blind man illustrates the opening of our spiritual eyes.

251

THE BLIND MAN'S OBEDIENCE

He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

John 9:7

WE must mark the promptness of this blind man's obedience. See him rising from his place, and led by some attendant, walking along the street with the patches of mud upon his eyes. People probably laughed at him as he went along, but he did not mind. Jesus had told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash, and he was going to do it.

Was not the great blessing of sight blessing enough to compensate for any trouble in going after it? He would not be laughed out of the cure that was so near to his hand.

Perhaps some people told him it was all nonsense ‒ that mud never cured anyone's blindness, and that the Siloam water had no such wondrous power. Still he pressed on through the streets, amid the hooting and laughing people, until he came to the pool.

There he washed, and lo, as he washed, his eyes, which never had seen before, now saw clearly. For the first time in all his life he saw the beautiful things about him ‒ the sky, the hills, the buildings, the colours, the faces of the people. So his faith was rewarded.

In all this there is a parallel which is so obvious that it scarcely need be written out. This man's faith in taking that walk through the streets to the pool illustrates the kind of faith every sinner must exercise in obeying Jesus, if he would have his spiritual eyes opened and be saved. People sneer at the Christian, and ask, "What good is it going to do you to trust in Jesus and join a Church?"

Then the result ‒ the opening of his eyes to see the world of natural beauty never seen before, though lying close all the years ‒ illustrates the revelation which faith in Jesus brings to the believing soul. God's face and heaven's invisible things burst upon the spiritual vision of him whose soul's eyes are opened. So faith has its reward.

252

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

He calleth his own sheep by name.

John 10:3

THERE is a great difference between the care which the owner gives and that which a servant gives. There is a difference between the way a true mother looks after her child and the way a hired nurse does it. This is seen especially when the child is sick or in danger. The nurse serves for pay; the mother serves for love. Jesus the Good Shepherd is the owner of his sheep.

There is something very moving in the thought that Christians are Jesus' own. It suggests how dear they are to him. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end (John 13:1). The thought also brings with it the assurance of love and care. His will is that "his own" shall be with him in heaven for ever. The thought suggests also much about our duty to Jesus. If we are of "his own," he has the entire right to the use of our lives and our services.

There is something wonderful in the thought that Jesus calls his sheep by their individual names. There are some pastors who do not know their people by name when they have but a few hundred to know. Jesus has millions scattered over all the world. It is hard for us to realize that he knows every one of these personally by name. The Bible tells us that he calls the stars by their names, but then the stars are so big that it does not seem so strange.

But here is a poor widow, one of his own, living in a desolate garret in the heart of a great city, amid thronging thousands. Does he know her name? Here is a little orphan child, one of his own, left with no human friend to protect. Does he know this little one? Certainly he does. This ought to be a very precious truth to everyone who loves Jesus and belongs to him.

He knows if any of his own are suffering or in need, or if they are in danger and he will never neglect even the least of them.

253

FOLLOWING JESUS

The sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

John 10:3-4

THE Eastern shepherd does not drive his sheep, but leads them wherever he wants to take them. At night he leads them into the fold for safety. In the morning he leads them out to pasture. So Jesus never drives his people; he goes before them and leads them, and they follow him.

Sheep need to be led. They have no such instinct for finding their own way as most other animals have. Jesus' own people are just like them. Sheep wander away, and a lost sheep never finds its way hack. All we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6), and we never could find the way home again if the Good Shepherd did not seek us and lead us back. Jesus leads his people gently.

He goes before his sheep. He is very thoughtful for the weak ones. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom (Isaiah 40:11). He never leads his sheep too fast. He takes them sometimes over rough and dangerous ways, but he never loses any of them. Not a sheep of Jesus' was ever yet lost by the way under his guidance, even in the most perilous paths.

An old guide said to a tourist in the Alps, who was afraid to trust himself to the guide's hand to be helped over some perilous ledge, "This hand never lost a man." Jesus never lost a man. He has led millions home over this world's paths, but not one of them ever perished in the way. Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and not one of them is lost (John 17:12).

Jesus leads his sheep to the pastures and by the still waters. Sometimes he leads them over deserts, and along thorny paths, and through dark gorges; but he is always just before them ‒ and where he is, they are safe. At the last he leads them through the valley of the shadows into the heavenly fold. There they shall be safe eternally, and be blessed in his love.

254

GREEN PASTURES

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

John 10:9

THE shepherd takes care that his sheep are well fed. Jesus also feeds his people, and leads them out to find pasture. The Bible is his pasture land, and the pasturage there is always good. Every chapter is a field of rich grass. Some of these fields seem at first to be bare and sterile, but even in the barest there is enough pasture to feed a hungry soul.

Then there are the pasture fields of prayer. These lie very close to the border of heaven. They are always up in the quiet valleys among the mountains. The Good Shepherd leads us to them through the gates of prayer. We bow down in lowly humility, and enter with him into the green pastures, and feed our souls until their hunger is satisfied.

The Church is another of our Shepherd's pasture fields. We enter the gates of the sanctuary, and at once we find spiritual food. We find it in the worship, the teaching, and the sacraments.

In our everyday life in this world, if we are faithfully following Jesus, we are continually in fields of rich pasture. Jesus never leads us into any places in which there is nothing to feed us. Even in the hot plains of trial and sorrow there is food. We sometimes think there is only barrenness in our toilsome life, filled with temptations, cares, and sacrifices; but the Good Shepherd is ever with us, and there is always pasture.

Thus the whole world is a rich field when Jesus leads his flock. If any Christians are not well fed, it is because we will not feed. The trouble must be that we do not hunger for spiritual food. The saddest thing in this world is not a passionate cry for bread, but a soul that has no hunger.

Many souls die in the midst of the provision made by the Good Shepherd ‒ not for want of food, but for want of appetite.

255

JESUS KNOWS HIS OWN

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep.

John 10:14

THE Eastern shepherds had certain marks by which they knew their own sheep. In most countries the farmers put marks on their sheep ‒ their own initial, or an "ear-mark," or some other sign by which they will know them anywhere. Jesus knows his people by certain distinguishing marks.

He knows them by their faces. There is something in every true child of God which shows where they belong ‒ some family likeness, some feature of the Divine image shining out. The prodigal's father knew his son when he saw him a long way off. In his rags, amid the traces of depravity, the eye of love recognized the child.

Jesus knows his own, however dim the likeness, by their faces. The crowds do not recognize heaven's princes in the humble Christians they meet; but every angel knows them. Not only does Jesus know his own by their faces, but also by their voice. The mother knows her child's voice anywhere, even in the darkness, and can distinguish it among a thousand voices. Jesus knows the voices of his own wherever he hears them speak or cry.

He knows them also by their character. Even if the outside is rough and uncouth, it does not hide from his eye the inner life, the spirit, the heart. He saw the future Peter with all his grandeur of character in the rough fisherman called Simon who was brought to him. He knows his friends by their obedience. He knows the white garments of righteousness which his redeemed ones wear.

He knows his disciples by their following where he leads. He knows the penitent heart by the fragrance it puts forth. It is an altar of incense. It is a box of ointment broken open.

As we find out the hiding places of flowers by their scent, so God knows the home of the penitent heart by the sweetness that floats up from it. He knows his own.

256

THE HOME OF BETHANY

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

John 11:1

THIS home at Bethany was wondrously favoured. The family seems to have been wealthy. It was a loving home, the three members named being bound together by very close and tender ties. This we know from the fact that Jesus found it such a congenial home for himself. He surely would not have chosen a quarrelsome household for his own abiding place. He could not have found a refuge there if it had been anything but a home filled with love's sweetness.

We know it was an affectionate household, also, from the sorrow of the sisters when their brother was dead. As we read the matchless story we are sure it was no ordinary tie that bound the family together. In too many homes, brothers and sisters are not to each other what they might be. Often there is at least a lack in the showing of the love. Brothers and sisters should not only love one another, but they should be kindly and affectionate in their interaction together.

Then it was a favoured home also, because it was the one which Jesus chose to be the resting place for his heart in the still evenings after the fierce strifes with his enemies in the temple. It was his love for the members of this family, and the honour he put upon their home, by which the little town of Bethany is immortalized.

Yet, highly favoured as was this home in these ways, sickness came into it. We get some lessons. No home can be made which will shut sickness out of its chambers. Wealth cannot keep it away, love cannot. Yet we learn, also, that sickness in our home is no proof that Jesus does not love us. Into the households that are dearest to him, pain and sorrow come; but we shall see that in the end blessing to the family and glory to God come from the trial.

These thoughts should comfort us when sickness comes into our households.

257

THE SISTERS' MESSAGE

His sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

John 11:3

IN their trouble, the first thought of the sisters was of Jesus, and they sent at once to him. This lesson we should not overlook. No doubt they sent for the physician, but they sent also for Jesus. We should never fail to send word to Jesus when anything is wrong in our home. We should want him always in our sickrooms when our loved ones are suffering.

We must notice also the message which the sisters sent to Jesus. It was very short and simple. They did not beg and plead with him to come. Indeed, they made no request whatever. They merely told Jesus that his friend was sick, and left to himself to decide what he would do.

They knew he would do the right thing from the prompting of his own heart. Notice also the plea. They did not say, "He who loves thee is sick," but, "He whom thou lovest is sick." They made their appeal to Jesus' own heart rather than to any personal claim. This is always our best plea with Jesus ‒ his love for us, not our love for him.

There is something also in this message which speaks of a deep feeling of peace in the midst of danger. Many people in such experiences lose all their courage and often their faith, but these sisters, though in such deep distress, maintained their composure. They had learned lessons of peace from Jesus in the bright, sunny days beforehand, and when the trouble came they were ready for it, and were not disturbed.

If we would get Jesus' sweet comfort when sorrow comes, we must welcome him in the days of gladness. If this Bethany family had shut Jesus out of their home when they were all well and happy, they could not have had his blessed comfort in their sore distress. We must take Jesus in the bright days if we would have him when it grows dark.

258

MARTHA GOING TO JESUS

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

John 11:20

THE coming of Jesus to this Bethany home was never so welcome as on that day. It is the same yet in people's homes, even in those where he is most loved: Jesus is never so dear and precious to us as when we are in trouble. Need reveals his preciousness. Many people who do not desire the minister's presence during their days of prosperity and gladness are quick to send for him when sorrow comes.

This was not Martha's way, however. She had welcomed Jesus to her home in the happy days when there was no sorrow, and that was what made his coming such a blessing to her now. We get this lesson ‒ that the only true preparation for trial is personal friendship with Jesus.

If we never turn to the Bible for comfort until some great grief is upon us, it will not give us much light. But if we have it in the bright days, and its words are hung up like lamps in our heart's chambers, when it grows dark the beams will shine out and change night into day.

When visitors to the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky are preparing to enter that wonderful cavern [at the time of writing], the guide puts into the hand of each tourist a lit lamp. It is noonday, perhaps, and it seems very foolish to walk down the green bank carrying little lamps in the bright sunshine. But when the party enter the mouth of the cave and go a little distance, they understand the use of their lamps.

In the darkness they would perish but for their pale light. Some people do not think, when they are moving along in joy and gladness, that they need Jesus; but by-and-by it grows dark in some path of sorrow, and then they learn the blessing of having Jesus beforehand. If they have him in their hearts, they find it light all about them. If they have him not, the gloom is turned to despair.

259

UNBELIEVING "IFS"

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

John 11:21

WOULD Lazarus not have died if Jesus had been there? We read that because Jesus loved the Bethany family, and because he learned of the sickness of Lazarus, therefore he remained two days after the messenger came. Did he not also say that he was glad he had not been there before Lazarus died?

One thing at least we know: it was better as it was ‒ better that Lazarus should not be cured, but should die, and then that Jesus' power should be shown in his resurrection. It was therefore an unbelieving "if" and a groundless one, which fell from Martha's lips.

But we are all apt to let similar "ifs" drop from our lips when trouble comes to us. If we had only tried another physician, or taken the matter in hand a little sooner, our friend had not died. We feel sometimes that sorrow is evidence that God did not hear our prayers. If he had only heard our cry, the trial would have been averted. Yet we have only to read this story through to the end to see that Jesus' way was the better way here, as it always is the better way.

We sadly watched the close of all,

Life balanced on a breath;

We saw upon his features fall

The awful shade of death.

All dark and desolate we were;

And murmuring nature cried ‒

"Oh, surely, Lord, hadst thou been here,

Our brother had not died."

But when its glance the mourner cast

On all that grace had done,

And thought of life's long warfare passed,

And endless victory won,

Then faith prevailing wiped the tears,

And looking upward cried ‒

"Oh, surely, Lord, thou hast been here:

Our brother has not died."

J D Burns

260

LIFE IN JESUS

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

John 11:25-26

MARTHA believed in the resurrection at the last day; but that seemed far away, while her heart craved a present comfort. It was to this feeling, which many another mourner besides Martha has experienced, that our Lord spoke these wonderful words. His answer shows that he himself is the bridge of life that unites the shores of eternity and time, filling up the dark chasm, and bringing the resurrection and life eternal close to earth's death.

The resurrection is not far away, for it is all in Jesus' hands. When his believing ones die they but sleep in him. They are not really dead. Indeed, those believing on him never die at all. What we call dying is only passing through the gate into the immediate presence of Jesus. Jesus has abolished death.

To Jesus, death was real and full of terrors. But because it was so terrible to him, it is only an entrance of glory for his people. He absorbed the blackness and the gloom in his own soul as he passed through the valley, and left it a vale of brightness for his followers.

If we could all get into our hearts the truth of the immortal life as revealed in the gospel, it would take away all the gloom from the graves of our dead. Those who live here are in Jesus, and those who have passed over are with Jesus ‒ thus in him we are still united. There is but one family in Jesus ‒ part gone over, part crossing now, soon all to be together.

This truth of the endless life is one of marvellous power when we have, even in the least measure, realized it. Death is not the end of anything but of mortality, imperfection, and sin. Life goes on fuller, richer, nobler, with enlarged capacities, beyond the incident which we call death. We shall never die.

261

THE SEEKING SAVIOUR

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Luke 15:4

DOES the shepherd care when one of his sheep has left the fold? He has a hundred in his flock; does he care that one of them has gone? Does he miss one among so many? Jesus has millions of holy beings about him ‒ angels and redeemed saints ‒ who never go astray. Does he care when on earth, in the heart of a great city, or out in some lonely country town, one soul wanders away into the darkness?

There were ninety and nine that safely lay

In the shelter of the flock;

But one was out on the hills away,

Far off in the cold and dark;

Away on the mountains wild and bare;

Away from the tender Shepherd's care.

"Lord, thou hast here thy ninety and nine;

Are they not enough for thee?

But the Shepherd made answer:

"This of mine has wandered away from me;

And although the road be rough and steep,

I go to the desert to find my sheep."

Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane

Jesus misses even one, no matter who, that strays away. Did any mother ever have so many children that if one of them wandered from home she would not miss it? We have strange thoughts of Jesus' love if we think he loves us only as a race, and not as individuals.

The father of a stolen child said, "So long as I live I will continue to go up and down the country, looking into the face of every boy I meet, trying to find my own lost child."

Think of that weary, broken-hearted father going from city to city and giving up everything in this one sad search. Then think of Jesus seeking the lost one that has wandered away from his home of love. Behold him, weary, with bleeding feet, as he goes on and seeks until he finds!

262

BROUGHT HOME

When he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders.

Luke 15:5

HE does not drive the poor weary sheep home. This is not the way the gentle Eastern shepherd does. He stoops down and lifts it up, and lays it on his own shoulder and carries it back. There is a wonderful revelation in this little touch in the picture. Let us be sure that we understand just what the words say.

We all know that Jesus carried our sin when he went to the cross. We know, too, that we may cast our burdens upon him. But here we learn that Jesus wants to carry, not our sins only, not our burdens and cares only, but ourselves. The shepherd took up the sheep and laid it upon his shoulder.

"I am the Burden-bearer; I

Will never pass the o'erladen by.

My feet are on the mountain steep;

They wind through valleys dark and deep;

They print the hot dust of the plain,

And walk the billows of the main;

Wherever is a load to bear,

My willing shoulder still is there!"

Thomas Buchanan Read

He does this with "rejoicing." Can this be true? Has Jesus really interest enough in any human being on this earth to be made sad by their wandering, and glad by their recovery? The thought overwhelms me. We can understand a shepherd's rejoicing when he bears home a sheep that has been lost. We can understand a mother's joy when her lost child is brought to her door. But that the heart of Jesus rejoiced when he found us, and bore us back toward home, seems too amazing to be true. Yet here the word stands.

Then listen to Zephaniah: The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). How dear we are to Jesus!

263

THE FAR COUNTRY

The younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country.

Luke 15:13

A MAN has not long shaken off his dependence on God before he begins his departure from him. He first gets the reins into his own hands, and then the old paths are too straight and limited for him. He has taken all his "goods" into his own keeping. He has taken charge and control of all his own powers, gifts, and energies; and now he will go out and try life in his own way ‒ the way of liberty and self-gratification.

Everyone has departed from God into the far country if they are not at home with God, not living as a child in the Father's house. The "far country" is a costly place to live in. When the prodigal son got there his property soon began to go. It was not very long till it was all gone ‒ wasted in riotous living.

This story is the literal history of a great many young people. There are thousands of them who are wasting large fortunes every year in this same riotous living ‒ in all kinds of immorality.

But how must we interpret this in its spiritual application? The "substance" of the sinner consists in their gifts, talents, powers, opportunities, and possibilities. They "waste their substance" whenever they do not use it for God and for the good of the world ‒ the uses for which God bestowed it. They waste it also when they squander it in sin.

Here then is the picture in this parable: a man endowed with powers fitting him for nobleness and usefulness, rushing into evil ways, spending his strength in sin, destroying his body, mind, and spirit in revelry and dissipation.

The man with one talent, (Matthew 25:14-30), who only hid it away and did not use it at all, keeping it as it was, to be returned in the end, was condemned to outer darkness. How much sorer will be the doom of those who squander their talents in sin, and use them to curse the world and drag down other souls!

264

THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN

When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him.

Luke 15:20

THE young man had, in the faraway country, a vision of his old home. As he sat there and thought of his dishonour and his ruin, there flashed before him a picture which made him homesick. The vision brought back the old home in all its beauty and blessedness. There was plenty there, while here the once happy, favoured son was perishing with hunger.

It was a blessed moment for the prodigal. It was God's message to him, inviting him to return home. When a child is stolen from a lovely and tender household, it may be kept by a family that stole it even to old age, but there are always broken fragments of sweet memories that hang over the soul like trailing clouds in the sky ‒ dim, shadowy memories of something lovely, pure, reminiscences of that long lost, long forgotten past, when the child lay in the mother's arms, surrounded by beauty and tenderness.

So there is something in the heart of everyone who has wandered from God that ever floats about them, even in sin's revels ‒ a fair, insubstantial vision, dim and far away maybe, but splendid as the drapery of the sunset. It is the memory of lost innocence, of the Father's love, the vision of a heavenly beauty possible of restoration to the very worst.

When the prodigal reached home he found his vision realized. His father was watching for him ‒ had long been watching for him. It is a picture of the heavenly Father's loving welcome of every lost child of his that comes back home. Thus he receives the worst who comes penitently.

Our sweetest dreams of God's love are a thousand times too poor and dim for the reality. A great way off, God sees the returning prodigal and runs to meet him. No matter how far we have wandered, there is a welcome waiting for us at home.

265

THE BEGGAR'S ESCORT

The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

Luke 16:22

NOTHING is said about his funeral ‒ of course it was only a pauper's. Earth had no honour for the beggar, no splendid coffin, no flowers; but the angels came, and were his bearers and escort to glory. Notice also that nothing is said about what became of his body; but little matter, for the man himself was no longer in that old, worn-out, battered frame. He was soon far away in a realm of brightness. While the body was dropped in the grave, the beggar, the real man, was carried away to heaven; and we see him there, a beggar no longer, enjoying blessedness.

There is still another thought here. We dread death. It seems the end of existence. But really to the Christian it is only an incident in his life. It is just a moment's passage through an experience we never can understand; and then ‒ glory. One minute this poor beggar lies at the gate, despised, suffering, hungry; the next, a strange sensation passes over him, and all is confusion. Then he awakes with angel escort, and in a little time is inside the gate of pearl, and lives on. There is no break in his life.

Death came also to the rich man. His riches could not save him from that. No doubt he had a splendid funeral. There would be a long procession, many mourners, great waste of perfumes, every show of honour. But who would not rather have the beggar's escort after death than the finest funeral earth ever gave to mortal?

There have been funerals of rich men at which there was genuine sorrow, where those who had been blessed by their benevolence came and wept by their coffins. But in this case there were no sincere mourners, for the man had allowed the needy to lie hungry at his gates. He had lived for himself only, and no one really missed him when he was gone.

266

CONTINUE IN PRAYER

Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.

Luke 18:1

A GREAT many people get discouraged in praying, because the answer does not come at once. It should be settled in the mind, first, that God always hears the true prayer, and that he will always send an answer, though it may not always be the answer we desire. He never despises nor disregards the cry of one of his children; but sometimes for wise reasons he delays his answer. Perhaps it cannot be prepared at once.

God's plans reach out widely, and he works slowly. Look at Joseph in Egypt ‒ a slave, then a prisoner. No doubt Joseph was praying every day for release, and he may have thought at times that the answer was long in coming. But when it came, he could see that one reason for delay was that all things might be got ready. It took years to prepare the answer that came at last with such blessing.

Perhaps the reason of God's delay may be to draw out our faith, to increase our earnestness. The story of the Syrophenician woman illustrates this (Matthew 15). At first Jesus "answered her not a word;" but it was for her sake that he kept her waiting. She received a far better answer at last than she could have received at first. Suppose she had "fainted" after her first apparent repulse: think what she would have lost.

No doubt thousands of prayers are never answered because men faint at God's delay. Perhaps you have lost many a joy and blessing because you lost heart and faith before the answer came. A little more patient perseverance would have brought you a great reward.

After spending a fortune in drilling for oil, the operator became discouraged and sold out for a trifle. The purchaser started the drill, and in six hours found a flowing well. We see what "fainting" cost the first owner. Many Christians lose heart just when the answer is about to be granted.

267

TWO PRAYERS

God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are. ...

... God be merciful to me a sinner.

Luke 18:11,13

HERE we have two kinds of prayer set side by side for our instruction. The first really is no prayer at all; it is only a bit of self-praise in the presence of God. Yet it was not much comfort that the Pharisee found. He was better than certain other men, he said. He never thought of comparing himself with God, the only true thing to do.

This Pharisee has many followers. A great many people's whole stock of piety consists in not being as bad as someone else. The dishonest man praises his conscience with the reflection that he is sober and temperate. The false-tongued man is thankful that he pays his debts.

The gossiping woman finds great comfort in the fact that she is not like her neighbour who never goes to church. But it is a poor kind of virtue which has nothing better to build on than such imperfect relative goodness. Someone may be clear of a great many ugly faults that their neighbours have, and yet not be a saint.

The other man's prayer was different altogether. There was in him no measuring of himself with other men to see whether he or they were the worse. Then there was no going over sins he had not committed. He said nothing about his neighbour's sins, but was very free in speaking of his own. He stood before God burdened with the consciousness of his own personal guilt, and cried to God for mercy ‒ mercy wholly undeserved, to be granted only through grace.

It is very obvious which was the true and acceptable prayer. It is the penitent's prayer that reaches heaven. God wants honesty in our supplication; he wants humility. It is not enough to be worried about other people's sins. The sinner with whose sins we ought to be most concerned is our self.

268

THE CHILDREN'S FRIEND

Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray.

Matthew 19:13

THOSE children must have been glad in later days to remember that Jesus had laid his hands upon their heads and blessed them. Sometimes the remembrance even of a human hand laid on the head in childhood stays all through life, and is a benediction.

A Christian man said late in his life that he could still feel the touch of his dying mother's hand on his head as she bade him farewell, and asked him to promise to follow Jesus.

A boy was brought to his father's bedside, and was "kissed and blessed and given to God." All through his youth, when there came any temptation to do wrong, the thought would come, "No, I must not do this, for I am the boy who was kissed and blessed and given to God."

When, later in life, burdens pressed and he was about to yield to despair, he would remember his father's acts and words, and the remembrance would support him: "No; am I not the boy who was kissed and blessed and given to God?"

In the stress of life his mind at last gave way, and he spent years in the gloomy apartments of an asylum for the insane. And thence in his brighter moments he would write to his daughter: "Here I am shut away and very lonely. I have no one to sing to me as you used to do, 'Jesus, lover of my soul,' or 'Rock of Ages, cleft for me.' It seems very dark and hard; but yet I am the boy that was kissed and blessed and given to God."

Thus all through his life he was sustained and strengthened by the remembrance of his father's last blessing. If all who have been consecrated to Jesus, and have had his hand laid on them, would ever remember that holy touch, how pure and true would it make their lives!

269

FORBID THEM NOT

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me.

Matthew 19:14

THE love of Jesus for children was one of the most beautiful qualities in his life. It revealed his true human-heartedness. But we must remember too that it revealed his Divine interest in the children.

Jesus was much displeased when his disciples rebuked those who brought the little ones, and would keep the children away. "Suffer them to come to me, and forbid them not," he said. So we have the caution for ourselves. We must be very careful that we never keep any children from coming to Jesus.

We may do this in many ways. We may do this if we are parents or older Christians, by our own worldly example. Undevout parents are likely to keep their children away from the Saviour, even unintentionally, by the influence of their own life.

We may do it also by telling them they are too young to come to him; by simply doing nothing, allowing them to grow up uninfluenced toward the right; by allowing their minds to become preoccupied with other things, to the exclusion of Jesus.

Jesus stands yet and calls upon us to clear every hindrance out of the way, that the children may come to him, and also to do all we can to bring them to him. It must be noticed that it is to Jesus himself the children are to come.

Suppose they cannot understand "the plan of redemption," or cannot know the doctrines of the Church, or cannot answer the hard questions we sometimes put to inquirers. Shall we therefore keep them back?

No! Jesus says, "Let them come to me." No matter how little they know of the way, we are to put up no gates, we are to make no standards of knowledge or experience. We are only to be sure we do not hinder them in any way, and let them come to him. After that, there will be time enough to teach them.

270

THE YOUNG RULER

There came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

Mark 10:17

THIS was a young man with all his powers fresh and full. He was rich, with all the honour, ease, distinction, and influence that riches give. He was a man of good reputation among his fellows, for he was a ruler of the synagogue. His character was above reproach, for he had scrupulously kept all the commandments.

He was a lovable man, with many fine qualities, for Jesus loved him when he saw him. Yet he was not satisfied. His heart-hunger was also very strong, driving him irresistibly in all haste to Jesus.

There never was a more important question asked than he put to Jesus. Eternal life is the most glorious prize in the universe to be gained. It embraces all the blessings of salvation in this world, and then a place in the family of God for ever.

It is no wonder this young man ran to ask Jesus this question. The wonder is that so few people ever do run to make the same inquiry. They run to seek earth's poor prizes, but they are slow in their pace when they are seeking eternal life.

It is a prize too which can be gained. It lies within the reach of everyone. There is no one who may not obtain it. It is a prize, however, that cannot be got merely by doing anything. There is plenty of room for doing in the Christian life, but this is not the place for it.

Eternal life cannot be gained by saying so many prayers, or fasting so many hours, or being baptized in a certain way, or joining a particular church, or by giving so much money to charity, or by any other kind of religious act or service.

Eternal life is the gift of God. It is obtained through Jesus Christ. It is bestowed upon all who will accept it. The way to get it is to take Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

271

NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM

Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell ... give ... and follow me.

Mark 10:21

JESUS loves everyone, but there was something in this young man that specially drew out his affection. He saw in him many amiable qualities, many elements of beauty of character, many things that by Divine grace could be made into great loveliness and power. There are many thoughts suggested by this statement. Here are a few of them:

Jesus loves those who are not his disciples. Some people think he loves only those who have begun to love him. Jesus is deeply interested in every young person. He sees the possibilities in every young life. He sees lovable things even in the unsaved; but amiable qualities are not enough to save them.

Our Lord's answer to the young man's question is very enlightening. What is the one thing which, besides all we can do for ourselves by obedience and cultivation of character, makes someone a Christian? It is important to be able to answer this question, for it is often asked.

Someone says, "I live as well as Christians do. I attend church; I keep the commandments; I am kind to my family and generous to the needy and poor; I live conscientiously in all things. What do I lack?"

What shall we answer that person? Shall we tell them to sell their property and give all they have to the poor? Was that the one essential thing in the Master's counsel to this young man? No, the essential thing was following Jesus; the selling and giving away were the parts of this. The young man's heart was attached to his wealth, and the "one thing" was to take Jesus, instead of his wealth.

So we should answer our inquirer by telling them that they must accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, that they must lay their money and all that they have at Jesus' feet, to be used only for him and as he directs, and must take Jesus as their sole portion for ever.

272

SERVING OTHERS

Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.

Matthew 20:28

THE art or photography is now so perfect that the whole side of a great newspaper can be taken in miniature so small as to he carried in a little pin or button, and yet every letter and point will be perfect. So the whole life of Jesus is photographed in this one little phrase. He came not to be served. If this had been his aim he would never have left heaven's glory, where he lacked nothing, where angels praised him and ministered to him.

He came to serve. He altogether forgot himself. He served all he met who would receive his service. At last he gave his life in serving ‒ gave it to save others, to redeem lost souls. You say you want to be like Jesus. You ask him to print his own image on your heart. Here, then, is the image. It is no vague dream of perfection that we are to think of when we ask to be like Jesus.

The old monks thought that they were in the way to become like Jesus when they went into the wilderness, away from men, to live in cold cells or on tall columns. But surely that is not the thought which this picture suggests. "To minister" ‒ that is the Jesus-like thing. Instead of fleeing away from men, we are to live among other people, to serve them, to live for them, to seek to bless them, to do good, to give our lives.

Jesus tells us also that this is the stairway to the highest reaches of Christian life. Whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all (Mark 10:44). To worldly people this seems indeed a strange way of rising. According to this, all our scrambling for place and power is really scrambling downward rather than upward. The real heights in human life are the heights of self-forgetfulness and service.

We are to use all our redeemed powers in doing good to others in Jesus' name. That is what Jesus did with his blessed life, and we are to follow in his steps.

273

JESUS PASSING BY

When he heard that it was Jesus ... he began to cry out.

Mark 10:47

NO doubt the blind man had been wishing that Jesus would come to Jericho. He had grown to believe that if Jesus would only come, he could open his blind eyes. What a burst of joy filled the poor man when he learned that Jesus was passing by! Now was his opportunity. Instantly he began to cry out. The lesson here is that when Jesus is passing by, all who need help should at once call upon him.

But when may it be said that Jesus is passing by? Of course, he is always present everywhere. We cannot get out of his sight for a moment. Yet there are times when he seems specially to visit certain places. The day of Israel's visitation was when Jesus was going through the land teaching and healing. So times of revival in a church are times of exceptional visitation.

When the Spirit is working mightily, when many hearts are bowing down in penitence, then Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, and then is the time to call upon him. When conscience is tender, when the Spirit is silently striving, when some unique experience has awakened the soul, again is Jesus passing by.

He passes by in youth. There is no other time when he is really so near. Then the heart is tender, the affections are unengaged, the life is not yet hardened, and he comes specially close. There will never be a time in after life when it will be so easy to call upon him and be saved as in our young days. This blind man wisely seized the opportunity.

Jesus was passing now, was close to him, could readily hear his call. Now was his time. If not now, perhaps never. Surely we ought to act as wisely in seeking Jesus while he is near. It must not be forgotten that Jesus really never passed through Jericho again. If Bartimeus had said, "I will wait till he comes again," what would have been the result?

274

FAITHFULNESS

Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

Luke 19:17

IT is remarkable how much the Word of God makes of faithfulness ‒ simple faithfulness. It is not great things that God requires of us, unless our mission is to do great things. He asks only that we be faithful in the duties that come to our hand in our everyday life.

That means that we do all our work as well as we can; that we serve well in the varied relationships of life in which from time to time we find ourselves; that we stand fearlessly in our lot, resisting temptation and continuing true and loyal to God; and that we fulfil our mission in all ways according to the grace given unto us, using every gift and talent for the glory of God and the good of the world. The world crowns success ‒ God crowns faithfulness.

Jesus tell us that faithfulness in this life lifts us to places of authority hereafter. So, then, life here is only a trial to see what we are capable of doing. It is after all a real test to find out who may be set over large trusts. And the real life is to be begun in the other world. Those who prove faithful here will have places of responsibility in the kingdom of glory.

This ought to give a new and mighty motive to our living in this world. Our eternal honour and employment will depend upon the degree of our faithfulness here. Good men and women often say at the close of their lives, "If I could only begin now, with all my experience, I could live my life much better." Well, if they have been faithful, that is the very thing they will be permitted to do in the next world.

A mother who had brought up a large family said, "I have just learned now how to train children. I could do it well if I could begin it again." If she has learned this, that is just what Jesus wanted her to learn. Now she is ready for full service in his kingdom.

275

HOUSEHOLD DUTIES

They made him a supper; and Martha served.

John 12:2

THERE are certain Bible people that we never fail to recognize. We know Martha by her busy serving. Each time we meet her we find her engaged in active duties. She represents those whose love for Jesus takes the practical form. Some people like to criticise Martha; but, after all, her type of godliness is important in this world where there is so much need for service.

Her sister Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Beautiful as the Mary-spirit is, it would not do if all were Marys; for who would then do the work that needs so much to be done? A wife and mother, for instance, who should spend all her time in Bible reading and prayer, giving no thought to her family, would not make a very happy home.

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 labour 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 daily care.

I bring the bread and wine

To thee, O Guest Divine!

Be this my prayer.

Julia C. R. Dorr

276

AT HIS FEET

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus.

John 12:3

WE see Mary three times in the gospel, and each time she is in the same position ‒ at Jesus' feet. When we have our first glimpse within the Bethany home, we find Martha in her characteristic attitude ‒ serving; and Mary we see sitting at the Master's feet, eagerly listening to his words.

Our next view of Mary is when Jesus came back to Bethany after the death of Lazarus, and the sisters went out to meet him. Again Mary is at the feet of Jesus, this time in deep sorrow, seeking comfort. Here a third time we find her at Jesus' feet, and now it is in honouring her Lord.

We think of Mary, therefore, as a woman who was always at Jesus' feet. In the bright, common days she sat there as a learner, looking up into his face, drinking in his words, and absorbing his spirit into her soul. When grief came she went to his feet for comfort, pouring out her sorrow there, looking up into his face for consolation.

Then, when the trouble was over, and there were joy and victory instead, we find her again in her usual place, honouring Jesus with her heart's richest gifts. There is no fitter place for the redeemed life than at the Saviour's feet.

In Mary's gift she brought the best she had, the richest gift in all her possession. We should always bring our best to Jesus. No balm in the world is half so precious to him as the love of human hearts. We should bring him our best love, giving him the first place in our affections.

We should give Jesus the best of our lives, our youth in all its freshness and purity, our body and mind when they are at their best. We should give him the best of our time, not the weary moments only, but the hours when we are most alert. We should give him the best of our services, doing our finest work of all kinds for him.

277

FLEETING OPPORTUNITIES

Me ye have not always.

Mark 14:7

WE ought to learn well the value of opportunities. While we linger indecisive, they are gone. Then, when they are gone, they come not again. Whatever was done for Jesus he said must he done at once, for they would not always have him. To put off the act of love would be to miss doing it altogether; for when he was gone away, however much they might want to do the kindness for him, it would be too late.

The poor they would always have ‒ they might care for them at any time; but whatever act of love they would render to Jesus they must render at once. There ought to be a deep lesson for us in our Lord's word in this place. There are certain things that we shall only have the opportunity to do once.

Here is a mother in her home. For years she has given her life in loving, self-denying service, poured it out like rich ointment for the good of her children. Now she is growing old, and as her children look at her it is as if she said to them, "Whatever kindness you would do to me you must do now, for you will not have me always."

We hear of a neighbour who is sick. Just now is the time to perform whatever act of love we desire to render, for we may not long have the friend. Tomorrow they may be gone. There have been tears shed over coffins and graves by those who would have given worlds to get their dead back again, to do for them the things that they neglected to do while they had them. The best time to do a kindness is now.

Someone has beautifully said, "I expect to pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can do for any fellow being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."

278

ACCEPTABLE OFFERINGS

She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

Mark 14:8

THIS was wonderful commendation to come from the lips of the Jesus. Mary could not have done better than this if she had been a thousand times as gifted. We get two lessons. One is that all Jesus wants is what we have the ability and opportunity to do. He asks no impossibilities. The poorest things, the smallest offerings, are acceptable if they are really our best in the circumstances.

A child in a mission school offered her teacher a handful of weeds and grasses, wilted and soiled, which she called a bouquet. Did the teacher refuse the gift, and criticise the poor withered weeds? No, she accepted them with as sincere gratitude and as many thanks as if some wealthy friend had offered her an elegant bouquet of flowers.

This child did what she could; and the teacher looking behind the gift saw the love in the little heart, and that transfigured her poor gift. So it is that Jesus accepts our poorest work or our homeliest offering, if it is our best.

But the lesson has another side. "She did what she could." It is this, then, that pleases Jesus. Are we doing what we could do? Do we always bring to him our very best gifts? Do we never put him off with the faded flowers, keeping the fresh and fragrant ones for ourselves? Do we do for him our very best work? Are we faithful? If we are only doing half what we might, we cannot take the comfort of this commendation.

The widow's mites (Mark 12:43) were very acceptable coming from the poor woman, because they were all she had; but they would not have got any such commendation if one of the rich men had given them. A little child's ministry is very beautiful for a child, but it would not be as fitting in the father or mother. We must really do the very best we can ‒ if we would have this commendation.

279

NOT YOUR OWN

The Lord hath need of him.

Mark 11:3

THERE seems to have been no formal request of the owner for the use of the colt. Jesus sent his disciples to take it by Divine authority. So then the Lord has a right to anything we have. No property right that we can get, takes the title out of his hands. We talk about our possessions as if they were ours indeed. Nothing is really ours, save as lent to us by the Lord to be used for him.

There are practical inferences here which we must not overlook. Jesus has a right to call for anything we have whenever he wants to use it. He has a right to ask for our money, for it is his far more than ours. When our property is swept away by some providential act, we should not murmur, but should remember that the Lord has a right to do as he chooses with his own.

The same principle applies to the loss of friends by death. The Lord has a right to take them, for he only lends them to us; and when he wants them with himself he has a right to call them home.

Another thought here is that Jesus may sometimes have special use for even the humblest of our possessions. The Lord had need of the Good Samaritan's beast to carry the wounded man to the inn. He had need of the lad's five loaves to feed the multitude.

A lady was trying to teach her child that she ought to give everything to Jesus to be used in any way he might choose. "Why, mamma," she replied, "Jesus can never use my doll." Yet in an hour the child was letting a poor child that came to the door play with her doll. Was not the Lord using it then?

The Lord may need our means of transport to carry burdens for others, or to carry those who cannot walk. He often has need of our money, our hands, our feet, our lips, our influence. We do well when we hold all our possessions ready for any call of his to use them as he desires.

280

NOTHING BUT LEAVES

Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon.

Mark 11:13

THERE were many other fig trees in that region, but Jesus did not turn to any of them to look for food, because they gave no promise, made no show or pretence of having fruit. He went to this tree because by its early leaves it declared to all who saw it that it had also early fruit, [young edible knobs called taqsh or breba].

Jesus does not expect to find spiritual fruit on the life of the godless man or the worldly woman; but he does expect it on the life of the man or woman who professes to be a Christian.

As Jesus turned to that barren fig tree, drawn by the tree's outward appearance of fruitfulness, so hungry souls turn to the Church and to God's professed people to find spiritual food. What that tree with leaves and no fruit was to Jesus, the Jewish Church was to the people in their soul-hunger.

With their burden of sin, with their deep heart questionings, with their sorrows, with their unsatisfied longings, with their yearnings for help and sympathy, they turned to the priests, the professed spiritual guides, if haply they might get from them what they wanted.

So the mission of every Christian Church is to feed hungry souls. In the hour of penitence, when the soul is conscious of guilt; in the day of trouble, when the world has no more to give; in the shadow of death, in all the great crises of life, even the most worldly turn to the Church for what they need.

A church is like a great tree in the desert which holds out the promise of fruit, and toward which all the spiritually hungry turn. There can be few sadder things in this world than a church, promising by its very name, by its spire pointing to heaven, by its open doors, by its songs and services, by its bells of invitation, to give food to the hungry, refreshment to the weary, comfort to the sorrowing ‒ and then failing to keep its promises to the souls that come expecting.

281

BELIEVING PRAYER

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Matthew 21:22

THERE are other Scriptures qualifying this. In the first place, it is not all asking that is really praying, and therefore not all asking that receives. Saint James says, Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures (James 4:3 ASV). A man asks for money, not to use it for the glory of God and the good of others, but for his own glory and pleasure.

Again, the Psalmist says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Psalm 66:18). That is, if someone is cherishing a secret sin in their heart while they are trying to serve God, no prayers that they offer will be heard or answered. So here are at least two kinds of asking that will not bring an answer.

Then there are conditions. One is that we must ask in Jesus' name. That implies that we believe in Jesus as our Saviour, and are his faithful friends, and therefore have a right to use his name. This condition narrows down the promise to the true followers of Jesus. Another condition is that we are abiding in Jesus, and his words are abiding in us. So there is a double "if." Even a Christian who is following afar off does not come within the circle of this promise.

Then there is another qualification which belongs to all promises about prayer. God himself must be the judge as to the things we ask, whether they would really be blessings to us or not. There may be things we desire very earnestly that it would be the greatest unkindness to grant us.

Is God then bound by this promise to give us what we crave? By no means. What is good the Lord will give (Psalm 85:12) and No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11). But he will withhold even from the most upright the things which in his Divine wisdom he sees would not be good things. This is implied in every such promise as this.

282

A FORGIVING SPIRIT

When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any; that your Father also which, is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Mark 11:25

IT is told of a Christian woman that a friend entered her room and found her with bowed head, as if in prayer. At length her friend spoke to her tenderly, knowing that a great sorrow was on her heart. "I have been trying to say the Lord's Prayer," she answered, "but I cannot get through it." She had said the words thousands of times in sunny childhood, in joyous youth, on her wedding day, and then along the gladsome years that followed, amid songs and flowers and chattering child voices, and in the sweetness of an unbroken home circle; and they had flowed from her lips like rippling music all the while.

But now a great sorrow had come, and since that she had begun a hundred times, "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will ‒ " But she could not get any farther. She could not yet say, "Thy will be done."

A story is told of a nobleman in Alexandria who complained bitterly to the bishop about his enemies. While in the midst of the recital of his wrongs the bell rang for prayers, and bishop and nobleman dropped to their knees, the former leading in the Lord's Prayer, and the latter leaving his story unfinished for the time, and joining in the prayer.

When the bishop came to the words, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive," he suddenly stopped and left the nobleman to go on alone. The nobleman attempted to say the words, but startled by the sound of his own voice unaccompanied, and recalled by the bishop's silence to the meaning of the prayer, he stammered, ceased to pray, and rose in great despair;

It was only when we have learned to cherish a forgiving spirit toward others that we can say from our heart, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us."

283

THE CORNERSTONE

The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner.

Matthew 21:42

THOSE to whom Jesus first came did not think him suitable to be their Messiah. So they refused to accept him, and nailed him on a cross instead. But now what do we behold? That same Jesus whom they thought unfit to be their king, God has made King of glory, Lord of heaven and earth.

All things are in his hands, all power, all mercy, all judgment. The very rulers who rejected him and demanded his crucifixion, when they awake on the judgment morning shall see as their Judge the same Jesus whom they thus despised and condemned to die.

A great many people today think Jesus unsuitable to be their Master. They do not consider it an honour to be called a Christian. They blush to own his name or enrol themselves among his followers. They do not care to model their life on his holy and perfect life.

All such should remember that Jesus has the highest honour in heaven. No angel is ashamed to speak his name. Redeemed spirits praise him day and night. God the Father has exalted him to the throne of eternal power and glory. Why, then, should sinful men be ashamed to own him as Lord?

They should remember, further, that God has made him the cornerstone of the whole building not made with hands. No life that is not built on him can stand. There is no other rock on which to rest a hope. If they are to be saved it must be by this same Jesus whom they are now rejecting.

How can they live who, sinning, never seek

To have their sins forgiven;

Who, knowing that the strongest yet are weak,

Ask not thy grace and never know thy peace ‒

The gift unspeakable of thy release,

The pardon sealed in heaven?"

284

LET HIM TAKE ALL

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

Matthew 22:37

WE are to notice, first, that it is love God wants. We may give him our life's highest honour, but he is not satisfied with honour. We ought to obey him. He is our God and our King, and we owe him the fullest obedience. But obedience is not enough. We owe him service too, for we belong to him, and we ought to pour out our lives for him. But it is neither honour, obedience, nor service that this command requires.

We are to love God. If it were possible for us to render such honour, obedience, and service as the angels give, and yet not love him, he would not be satisfied. Nothing but love will satisfy him.

We are told here also the measure of the love that we are to give to God. It must be an all-absorbing love. God wants no half-hearts. He must be loved supremely ‒ more than all tender friends, more than all worldly things. Then this love must draw the whole life after it ‒ the mind, the soul, the strength. It must lead to true and full consecration.

Suppose a mother gives her child a beautiful potted plant in bloom, and tells her to carry it to a sick friend. The child takes the plant away, and when she reaches the friend's door she plucks off one leaf and gives that to her, keeping the plant herself. Then afterward, once a week, she plucks off another leaf, or a bud, or a flower, and takes it to the friend, still retaining the plant. Has she obeyed? Nothing but the giving of the whole plant would be obedience.

Yet God asks for all our life ‒ heart, soul, mind, and strength ‒ and we pluck off a little leaf of love now and then, a bud, a flower of affection, or one cluster of fruit, and give these little things to him, keeping the life itself. Shall we not say, "Let him take all"? This commandment requires the complete consecration of the whole life to God.

285

THE WIDOW'S MITE

This poor widow hath cast more in than all.

Mark 12:43

IT is good to have here our Lord's true valuation of earth's gifts. We know that as he saw the offerings that day, and spoke of their worth, so he always beholds how we give, and always weighs our gifts in the same balances. It is most cheering to us to note that it is not the earthly size of our offerings that makes them either great or acceptable in Heaven's sight. The widow's mite outweighed the rich man's heavy coins.

No doubt this poor woman felt that her gift was so small that it was scarcely worthwhile to give it, but in the eyes of the Divine Lord its value was very great. There are two scales weighing all human acts, and all human gifts and offerings.

There are the earthly weighing scales, which weigh in ounces and pounds; and there are the "balances of the sanctuary," which weigh spiritual values. In the latter scales, this widow's mites weighed more than the great glittering coins of the rich which were given with so much display.

This was not only because her gift was proportionally larger ‒ the rich still having much left after giving, and she having nothing left ‒ but also because of her motive and spirit in giving. She gave because she loved God's house, and wished to do her part in maintaining its worship. She gave humbly, not to be seen by men, but to honour God and win his approval.

She gave also largely according to her ability, putting to shame the rich men who gave so much and yet had riches left. Jesus sees into the heart while we make our offerings; and if our heart is right, and we give as we are able, and give out of love for God and desire for his glory, even the smallest offering that we can bring will be acceptable in God's sight, and will bring down heaven's commendation.

Gifts are not estimated in heaven by their earthly face value. A gift of a million pounds or dollars may be exceedingly small when the angels weigh it

286

BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD

We would see Jesus.

John 12:21

THESE men had heard of Jesus, but they wanted to see him for themselves. It does not do for us to see Jesus only through other people's eyes. No matter how vividly they may portray his beauty before us, this is not the seeing that blesses us and prints his image on our souls. We must behold him for ourselves.

In the time of Moses in the wilderness, in the camp when the people were bitten and the brazen image of a serpent was set up (Numbers 21:9), a mother could not look on behalf of her child, nor a friend for a friend. It is so in beholding Jesus. No one can behold him for another.

It is through seeing Jesus that all spiritual blessings come to us. When we are burdened with sin, we are pointed to the Lamb of God who takes away sin. When we seek to grow better, we are encouraged to see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and thus be transformed into his image.

When we ask for a model for our life, we are told to look to Jesus. Many a fleeing slave, by simply keeping his eye fixed on a star, was led away from bondage to liberty. Keeping our eye on Jesus will lead us from chains to glory.

The Greeks in today's verse came to a disciple and asked him to introduce them to Jesus. What nobler service can we render in this world than that of introducing people to Jesus? To do this we must know him well ourselves. But let no one think that they really need anyone to introduce them to Jesus.

A little child was dying, and she said she was not afraid to die; but she wished her mamma could go with her to introduce her to Jesus. "For you know, mamma," said the little one, "I was always afraid of strangers."

But no one will find Jesus a stranger He loves to be sought, to have people want to see him, and he is always glad to reveal himself to every seeker. He is not hard to find. He is near all the while, and we really need no one to take us to him.

287

TWO WAYS OF LIVING

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

John 12:25

WE have our choice. We may live for self, take good care of our lives, not exposing them to danger, not making sacrifices, looking out for our own interests, and we may prosper in the world. People will commend our prudence and congratulate us on our success. We may reach old age healthy and well preserved, and greatly enjoy our accumulated honours and possessions.

This is one way of living. There seems to be something pleasant about such a life, but really it is only the grain of wheat preserved in the grain store and kept from falling into the ground. The life stays on its own, well enough kept perhaps, but with no increase. It has been no blessing in the world. It has done nothing for the glory of God. It has fed no hunger; it has won no reward. That is the whole outcome of selfishness. "He that loveth his life shall lose it."

The other way is to forget self; not to think of nor care for one's own life, but to throw it away in obedience to God and in unselfish service. People will say you are foolish to waste your golden life, to sacrifice yourself for the sake of others or in Jesus' cause. But was Jesus himself foolish when he went to his cross? Let the redeemed Church be the answer. Were the martyrs foolish when they threw their lives away for Jesus' sake?

Ignatius said, when facing the fierce lions in the arena, "I am the wheat of God and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ." Were such martyred lives wasted, thrown away? Is any life wasted that becomes seed corn to produce bread by-and-by for the world? The way to make nothing of our lives is to be very careful of them. The way to make our lives eternal successes is to do with them just what Jesus did with his.

288

A SAVIOUR FOR ALL

I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

John 12:32

AS we read the gospel story we are surprised to see how few people were really drawn to Jesus during his life. Crowds followed him ‒ many from curiosity, but very few were drawn to him in heart and life. We see at the last how few. There was but a little handful of clinging friends about his cross.

It was not until Jesus had made his great sacrifice, had been "lifted up" on the cross, that all men began to be drawn to him. Why was the influence of a crucified Jesus so much greater than that of a living, miracle-working Jesus? For one reason, the death of Jesus revealed the wonderful love of God.

All his sweet, gentle, helpful life told of love, too, but it was when he went to his cross that the full, rich glory of the Divine love was manifested. Love always draws. It is love that men need, and wherever they find it they want to come and rest in its warmth and tenderness.

Another reason why Jesus drew most powerfully after he had been lifted up, was because then the Divine Spirit was present to work on human hearts and lives. Without the drawing of the Spirit none would ever come to Jesus. There was an old legend that when Jesus was dying a dove came and settled on his cross.

It is only a legend, yet it suggests the truth that even after the precious blood had been poured out, we would not have come to Jesus had we not been drawn by the Holy Spirit.

Should'st thou not need some mighty charm

To win thee to thy Saviour's side,

Though he had deigned with thee to bide?

The Spirit must stir the darkling deep,

The dove must settle on the cross,

Else we should all sin on or sleep

With Jesus in sight, turning our gain to loss.

John Keble

289

WATCHING AND PRAYING

Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

Mark 13:33

IT is the time of our Lord's coming again to which these words refer. He is coming; but when, no one can know. He will come suddenly, without warning. Since we cannot know what moment the Lord may appear, we must take heed, watch and pray, lest he come and surprise us unprepared. This does not mean that we are always to be talking and thinking of the event and waiting for it in dreamy idleness and useless gazing.

What Jesus wants us to do is so to live at all times that his coming at any moment of the day or night will not find us unready. For one thing, we should be sure of our personal salvation. If we are not saved now, we should instantly see to the matter; for he may come the next hour, and there will be no time then to seek salvation.

We should keep our work faithfully done, day by day, leaving nothing unfinished any evening; for before morning he may come. We should live at peace with all men, never allowing the sun to go down on our wrath or on any enmity or bitterness; for before another day dawns he may come, and we would not want him to come and find us in strife and bitterness.

We should be careful what we do any hour, for he may come suddenly and find us in sin. We should watch where we go, lest his coming may surprise us in some place where we would not want him to find us.

This truth, kept ever as a living force in our consciousness, would be the weightiest motive to faithfulness in every duty, and watchfulness against every sin. His coming will be so sudden and so unexpected that there will be no time then to set wrong things right, to finish uncompleted tasks, to get sin's stains washed out, to undo evil deeds.

The only safe way to live is to make each task complete ‒ a fit ending for all of life.

290

MYSTERIOUS PROVIDENCES

What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

John 13:7

LIKE many other words of Jesus, this has a much wider application than its primary reference to Peter's perplexity. It furnishes the key to very many of the providences of all our lives. We do not understand them at the time. We do not see how they can have any blessing in them for us.

They seem altogether dark. But we have no right to judge of our Master's work in us or with us until it is finished. "What I do thou knowest not now." How could we be expected to understand all the Master's great thoughts?

Yet this is not the end. "Thou shalt know hereafter." This mystery is to be explained. This perplexity is to be resolved in the clearness of noonday. You do not understand now because you cannot yet see the end, cannot perceive the blessing and the beauty.

The Master himself knows just what he is going to bring out of each unexpected work of his, and therefore he is not perplexed. Then, he says that we also shall know hereafter. We shall see the cloud as it departs, glorified by the rainbow arching its dark folds. We shall see the tangles resolving into lovely grace and beauty.

Some time, when all life's lessons have been learned,

And sun and stars for evermore have set,

The things which our weak judgments here have spurned,

The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet

Will flash before us, out of life's dark night,

As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;

And we shall see how all God's plans were right,

And how what seemed reproof was love most true.

May Riley Smith

What is the lesson? That we should trust God when we cannot understand his ways with us. No doubt love has planned them all. No doubt there is blessing in the outcome as it lies now in God's mind. No doubt we shall see the blessing, too, hereafter.

291

LOWLY SERVICE

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

John 13:14

ARE we to take this literally? Some have understood it in this way. No, say others, Jesus would teach us to do lowly service for one another. Yes, but what kind of service? What did Jesus washing the feet of his disciples mean? It was more than a little lowly act of service. He taught them that he would thus cleanse their souls of remaining faults and blemishes of character, and of the stains received from the world as they pass through.

Our service to one another is to be of the same kind. We are to come to each other with basin and towel. We are to help each other to be clean Christians. We are to seek the sanctification, purification, and upbuilding in character of all our fellow disciples. Of course we cannot wash away sins ‒ Jesus alone can do that, but we can do something toward making others purer and holier.

We can try to bring those who are not yet saved to Jesus for salvation. We can caution others in love, and tell them of their faults, seeking the removal of the faults and blemishes. This requires much grace and great wisdom. We need lowliness of heart and tenderness of affection to discharge a duty so delicate. Especially must we be cleansed ourselves if we would seek the cleansing of others.

What if our own hands, with which we would wash the feet of other disciples, are not clean, but are themselves covered with sin? Instead of cleansing the lives we touch, we shall then leave stains upon them. So we must see that our own hands have been washed in the blood of Jesus, before we undertake to wash the feet of others. Then we must be willing to yield over our own feet to the water. The washing is to go all around. We are to wash one another's feet. The secret of all must be genuine love for others.

292

RESTING ON JESUS

There was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

John 13:23

WE are not told the name of this disciple, but we know him by his place and posture. What were the traits in John's character which made him the beloved disciple? One was his humility. Another was his love. Artists always paint John's face in features of gentleness and affectionateness. Another of his winning traits was his trust. He never seems to have doubted.

When was it that he reclined on Jesus' bosom – lying against Jesus in true love and comfort? It was in a time of great darkness. The Master was about to go away, and all the hopes of the disciples were being destroyed. But where was John in that darkness? Sorrow, instead of driving us into despair, should drive us nearer to Jesus ‒ to his bosom.

He's better to us than many mothers are,

And children cannot wander beyond reach

Of the sweep of his white garment.

Touch and hold,

And if you weep still, weep

Where John was laid

While Jesus loved him.

Aurora Leigh

Where was it that John lay? On Jesus' breast. Not merely on his arm, the place of strength; nor upon his shoulder, the place of upholding; but on his bosom, which is the place of love and tenderness. It is a great thing to know that the Divine power is underneath us in all our weakness; but mere power is cold. How much better is it when power has the heart of love within it.

But what did John do? He lay. He rested his weight on the all-powerful love of his Lord. Jesus wants all his friends to lean on him. He wants to carry our burdens for us ‒ he wants us to lay on him our sins and all our cares; but more than this ‒ ourselves. He wants to bear us, as well as our loads.

293

THE LAST SUPPER

Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat.

Matthew 26:26

THERE was a meaning in every act. The bread itself is an appropriate emblem of Jesus' body. Bread is food ‒ Jesus is food for our spirits. Something may be learned from the manner in which bread is prepared. The wheat is crushed and broken, and then the bread is baked in the fire before it is ready for use.

So Jesus died, his body bruised and broken He was exposed to the fire of great sufferings before he could become the food and life of our souls.

The breaking of the bread is also significant, denoting the breaking of the body of Jesus on the cross. We ought never to forget, in our enjoyment of the blessings of grace, what it cost our Lord to provide them for us. Whenever we come to our Lord's table and see the bread broken, we should remember the anguish and suffering endured by our Redeemer in saving us.

The giving of the bread to the disciples had also a deep meaning. It signified the freeness of Jesus' offer of himself to all mankind. He is ever standing, reaching out his hands with the bread of life, imploring us to take freely all the blessings of salvation.

The taking of the bread by the communicant is significant of the act of faith by which Jesus himself is received. He offers – we receive. Is it not enough that Jesus gave himself on the cross for sinners, and now holds out in pierced hands the blessings of redemption?

No! These stupendous acts of love and grace alone will not save us. There is a needed link which we must supply. We must reach out our hands and accept and take what Jesus so graciously and lovingly offers to us. Then, since bread to nourish us must be eaten, we must receive Jesus into our life as our soul's sustenance, feeding upon him.

294

REMEMBERING JESUS

This do in remembrance of me.

Luke 22:19

THERE is something very tender in the thought of the Lord's Supper as a memorial. We all know the value of mementoes in keeping in mind one whose face we cannot see. A young man sat one morning in his pastor's study, and drew a letter from his pocket, saying that he had just heard from his sister in England. Opening the letter, he showed his pastor some little pressed flowers and some dried blades of grass.

The young man's voice was choked with emotion as he said, "These flowers and grasses are from my mother's grave in England." The little memorials brought back the whole life of the mother . The son sat there and spoke most affectionately of her love, her fidelity, her beauty of spirit, her sacrifices, then of her death. So it is that the memorials of the Last Supper recall to our forgetful hearts the sacred scenes and events of our Lord's passion, and the love that led him to such sacrifice.

But mere remembering is not enough. The remembering ought to kindle love, and keep us faithful. A young man was about to go abroad for a long journey. Just before he set out, his father took his watch from his pocket. On the dial were the pictures of both his parents.

"Take this watch," said the father, "and carry it with you in all your journeyings. Every time you look to see the hour, the eyes of your father and mother will look up into yours. When you see these home faces, remember that we are thinking of you and praying for you. Go to no place where you would not want us to see you. Do nothing you would not want us to witness."

In the Last Supper Jesus has given us his own picture ‒ his body broken, his blood shed. He wants us to remember him and be faithful. Remembering Jesus should always keep us from doubting and sinning, and inspire us to graciousness and beauty.

295

THE REMISSION OF SINS

This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Matthew 26:28

RIGHT in the heart of the Lord's Supper we are reminded of two things ‒ of the price paid for our redemption, and of the deliverance that this redemption brings to us. The price paid was the precious blood of Jesus. The deliverance is the remission of sins.

There is a singular Eastern custom which may help us better to understand the way Jesus made atonement for our sins. "When a debt had to be settled," says Dr. A. J. Gordon, "either by full payment or forgiveness, it was the usage for the creditor to take the cancelled bond and nail it over the door of him who had owed it, that all passersby might see that it was paid.

"Oh, blessed story of our remission! There is the cross, the door of grace, behind which a bankrupt world lies in hopeless debt to the law. See Jesus, our bondsman and brother, coming forth with the long list of our indebtedness in his hand. He lifts it up where God and angels and men may see it, and then, as the nail goes through his hand, it goes through the bond of our transgressions, to cancel it for ever, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross."

This is the wonderful act of remission that is portrayed for us with such vividness in the cup of the Lord's Supper. The nail that went through those bonds and fastened them there on the cross, went also through the body of the Lord Jesus. Blood flowed at the remitting of our sins ‒ the blood of the Son of God. The cup that is so sweet to us was emptied of terrible bitterness by the Lord himself, then filled with heaven's choicest blessings and brought to us.

While we rejoice at the remission, let us not forget what it cost our Redeemer. Nor let us forget the wonderful grace that puts all our sins away as far as the east is from the west.

296

THE HEAVENLY FEAST

I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

Matthew 26:29

THE Lord's Supper points forward as well as back. It keeps the past in remembrance. We are to think of what happened two thousand years ago. The Supper is a memorial. But it is also a prophecy. Jesus wrote the white lines of a blessed hope amid the mementoes of sorrow. He lifted the veil and gave a glimpse of a fulfilment very glorious beyond earth's shadows. Even the Holy Supper, precious as it is, is but a faint picture of something far better.

The disciples would not have Jesus with them at the table anymore. This was their "last supper" together. Henceforth on earth his place would be vacant. But in telling them this, he gave them sweet comfort in the assurance that he would sit down with them again, by-and-by. Not here, but in another kingdom.

These words are full of luminous brightness. They tell us of a supper in glory, of which the Lord's Supper on earth is but the shadow. In Revelation it is called the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). So it will be a memorial, too, of Jesus' death and love.

That night when the Master and his disciples sat down together in the upper room, a great sorrow hung over their hearts and his. For Jesus, it was the shadow of his cross, with all its mystery of woe. For them, it was the shadow of sore loss and separation. But the other side of the cloud was very bright.

Out of Jesus' death came blessed and glorious salvation. Now in heaven, Jesus sees the travail of his soul, and is satisfied. Out of the brief separation there came to the disciples an abiding presence of Jesus which filled their hearts full. Jesus went away from them for a little time, that he might be with them for ever. So out of these sad memories came great joys.

297

COMFORT IN SORROW

Let not your heart be troubled.

John 14:1

JESUS always loves to comfort. He loves to put little candles in the darkened chambers of sorrow. He loves to dry tears and change grief into joy. Then he is able to give comfort, because he has the comfort in himself. We cannot give what we have not to give. We often say to one another in difficulty, "Do not worry! Do not be troubled!" when we have no comfort to give, nothing to cure the worry or brighten the darkness.

Standing on the ship in the midst of a wild sea, Jesus said, "Peace!" and the winds and waves instantly became a calm (Matthew 8). He had the peace in himself, and could give peace to the sea. It is the same with his comfort. His words of consolation are not like so many of ours ‒ they have power to quiet the troubled heart.

It was a time of the deepest grief and the sorest sorrow for the disciples when Jesus said this. Not only were they to lose their best Friend, but they were to lose him in the saddest way ‒ by death in the shame of the cross.

Nor was that all of their sorrow. They had hoped he was the Messiah. Now that hope was gone. They were in utter desolation ‒ in a starless midnight. Surely there could be no comfort for such grief as theirs, they thought that night, as with breaking hearts they sat there in the darkness.

Yet right into the midst of this despairing grief came the words, "Let not your heart be troubled." Let us never say, therefore, that there is any, even the bitterest, grief for which there is no possible comfort. No matter how dark the night is, Jesus can put stars into our sky, and bring a glorious morning after the darkness.

There is comfort for Jesus' disciples in the most hopeless grief. We have but to look forward a few days to see the sorrow of these men turned to blessed joy. So it always is. However we may grieve, there is never any reason why we should lose our peace.

298

PEACE IN BELIEVING

Ye believe in God, believe also in me.

John 14:1

WE should all learn how to comfort others. No duty of Christian love requires more delicacy. We must study our Lord's way of comforting, to learn to give comfort ourselves to those who are in trouble. We see that he did not go over the cold platitudes we are so accustomed to use when we try to console our friends in their grief.

One writes that "Other friends remain,"

That "Loss is common to the race,"

And common is the commonplace,

And vacant chaff well meant for grain.

That loss is common would not make

My own less bitter, rather more:

Too common! Never morning wore

To evening but some heart did break.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

But not in this empty way does Jesus comfort his people. Here he offered no explanations, answered no questions, gave no reasons. He told his disciples simply to believe. They could not understand this terrible grief. They could see no star in the sky. But they did not need to understand, did not need to see any light. They were to do nothing but believe ‒ just cling to Jesus in the darkness and believe.

In all deep grief this is the truest way to find comfort. There is no use to ask questions, for no one can answer them. There is no use to strain our eyes trying to see the light, for as yet there is no light to see. All we can do is just to throw ourselves on our Saviour's bosom and lie there till the light breaks.

We may always be sure of the love and the faithfulness of Jesus. We may nestle down, as John did that same night, upon the Saviour's breast, and be quiet and confident in the time of our sorest calamities. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

299

THE WAY TO HEAVEN

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 14:6

A WAY always leads somewhere: Jesus is the way from earth to heaven, and also from heaven to earth. Through him we get to God, and through him God comes to us. He is the true and only ladder whose foot rests on the earth, and whose top reaches up to the very glory of God. In his humanity Jesus comes down to the lowest depths of human need and sorrow.

Had Jesus been God only, and not man, he could not have done this. The incarnation was the letting of the ladder down until it rested in the deepest valleys. There is now no spot of shame or guilt in this world from which there is not a ladder of light, with its steps leading upward to God and heaven.

For while Jesus' humanity brings the ladder down to earth's places of sorest need, his divinity carries the ladder up past the shining stars, into the very midst of the glory of God. On one page of the New Testament we find Jesus on a cross, dying in darkness and shame, between criminals. We open another page, and we see that same Jesus in the midst of the heavenly brightness, still wearing the wound marks, but crowned in glory. Behold the ladder from earth to heaven!

A ladder is a way for feet to climb. Jesus is the way, therefore, by which sinners can go up out of their sins to the purity and blessedness of heaven. One thing to mark specially is that there is only one way. Jesus is the only Mediator. We can enter the Father's family only through him. Grace can come to us only through him.

There is, then, no choice of ways. If we do not go by this one way, we can never reach home. Nor must we forget that a way is meant to be walked in. We must put our feet on this ladder and go up rung by rung until we reach the topmost step, which will be heaven.

300

KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS

Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?

John 14:9

THERE seems to be pain in the Master's question. This disciple had been with, Jesus for three years. He had seen his beautiful and gentle life. He had witnessed his works of power. Surely by this time, after such long and close intimacy, the disciple ought to have known Jesus. Yet here Jesus tells him that he did not really know him.

We get this lesson ‒ that it is possible to be with Jesus a long time, and to know very much about him, without knowing him in the true sense of the word. Philip knew Jesus as a man, as a worker of miracles, as having a very beautiful character; but he seems never to have gone below the surface in understanding him. He did not know Jesus as the revealer of the Father.

Philip never saw Divine glory in the radiance that streamed from that blessed life. And not to know Jesus in this aspect, to know him only as a man, is not to know him at all. To leave out the Divine in our thought of Jesus is not to have any Jesus at all.

We may be familiar with the facts of our Lord's life, from his birth in Bethlehem to his ascension from Olivet, and yet may not know anything of him as a personal Saviour, saving us from our sins, or as a Helper in our times of need. Such knowledge will do us no good unless it leads us to the true knowledge of Jesus as Saviour, Lord, and Friend.

There is something sad in the thought that for so long the Son of God walked with his disciples, all the glory of divinity dwelling in his humanity, yet they did not recognize him. But is it any better with us? The Divine love is close to us perpetually, flowing all about us, with all its infinite tenderness, but how unconscious we are of it? May our prayer be, "Lord, make thyself known to us!"

301

IMMANUEL

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

John 14:9

THAT was surely a strange thing for a man to say. Can we imagine John, the beloved disciple, saying of himself that those who had seen him had seen the Father? The fact that Jesus said it shows that he was conscious of divinity, that he really claimed to be the Son of God. So it is in all Jesus' words: he speaks always as God.

Wherever we turn in the Gospels we find the outflashings of Jesus' divinity. It would be easier to pluck the stars from the sky than to tear the truth of Jesus' deity from the pages of inspiration. Everywhere it shines ‒ its light the brightest beam in all the radiant splendour that blazes there.

What did Jesus mean when he said this? Evidently, that although he was a man, he was also the incarnation of God; that he was living out in a human life which men could see, the invisible life of his Father. Men on earth could never see God. Then God sent his Son that he might veil his Divine splendour in flesh, and show people how the unseen God feels and acts.

Thus, when we see Jesus taking little children in his arms, laying his hand on their heads and blessing them, we see how God feels toward children. When we see the compassion of Jesus stirred by human suffering, we learn how our heavenly Father is touched by the sight of earthly woe.

When we see Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them, speaking forgiveness to penitents who crept to his feet, and making soiled, stained lives white and clean, we learn the mercy of God

When we follow Jesus to his cross and see him giving his life a willing sacrifice to make redemption for lost men, we see how God loves. So the meekness and patience and gentleness of Jesus were mirrorings of the same character in his Father. If we would see the likeness of God, we have but to turn to the story of the gospel. To know Jesus is to know the Father.

302

THE TRUE VINE

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

John 15:1

THIS is a wonderful Vine. It grew up at first as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness (Isaiah 53:2). The soil in which it was planted seemed too poor to produce anything good. But its origin was heavenly, and it grew into luxuriant beauty. By-and-by it seemed that men in their rage had altogether destroyed this Vine, which had in it so much blessing for the earth. However, it was not destroyed, but was only lifted away from earth and transplanted to heaven.

There in the garden of God its roots were fixed, and the Vine itself dropped down to earth again, and began to send out branches in all directions. Every poor human life which attaches itself to this Vine is grafted on it and becomes a branch in it, drawing life from the Vine's fulness, and sharing its fruitfulness.

These branches are not left to grow wild and untended, but have wise and skilful care. It ought to be a great comfort to us to know that, as branches, we are under the culture of a husbandman who is none other than our heavenly Father: Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman (John 15:1). We are very sure that his care will be both wise and tender.

If an ignorant, inexperienced, unskilful man were to enter a beautiful vineyard and begin cutting away at the vines, he would soon destroy them. He does not know what he ought to prune off, or what he ought to leave on the vines. But if the man who comes to tend the vineyard understands vines, and has had long experience and is skilful, there is no danger that he will do harm in his pruning

Sometimes, indeed, he may seem to be cutting the vine to death; but we know that he understands what he is doing, and that all his pruning is for the good of the branches. In a while, we shall see increased fruitfulness as the result of his unsparing work.

303

THE PRUNING-KNIFE

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

John 15:2

JESUS taught many lessons on the sin and fate of uselessness. This parable tells of a tree that bore no fruit. The soil was good, and the tree was carefully planted and well tended. But when the master came at the proper season, expecting to find fruit, he found none. Fruitlessness is cursed. The tree with nothing but leaves is made to wither. There is no place in the Lord's kingdom for uselessness.

We must notice here that it is the fruitful branch that is pruned. The husbandman does not prune the unfruitful branch. It would do it no good. It is the true Christian that the Father chastens and causes sometimes to suffer under sore discipline. The wicked are left alone, but in all their show there is no spiritual fruit.

Another thing to be noticed here is that the object of the Father's pruning is for the branch to be made to bear more fruit. It seems sometimes as if the pruning is destructive; but he who holds the knife knows that what he is doing will make the vine far more fruitful in the end, and its fruit sweeter and more luscious. The aim of God in all his pruning is greater fruitfulness.

Now the pruning, sharp, unsparing,

Scattered blossom, bleeding shoot;

Afterward the plenteous bearing

Of the Master's pleasant fruit.

Frances Ridley Havergal

If we would but remember this when we find ourselves suffering under God's chastening hand, it would help us to bear the pain with patience, and also to co-operate with God in his design of blessing for us. Earthly prosperity often is to the Christian like the extravagance which the vine dresser must cut away to save the vine's life.

304

ABIDE IN ME

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

John 15:4

AS a truth in nature, the meaning of this is very plain. A branch torn off a vine or a tree, and lying on the ground, will not bear fruit. Indeed, it cannot even live, but soon withers. The analogy holds in spiritual life. It would be just as unnatural to expect the professing Christian who has given up praying and has ceased to read their Bible, and withdrawn from loving and trusting Jesus, to be a fruitful Christian.

The branch has no life ‒ only what flows into it from the vine or the tree. The Christian has no spiritual life but what comes from Jesus' life ‒ through faith and prayer and the Holy Word. We live as Christians only when Jesus lives in us. Said Saint Paul: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

All spiritual beauty in us must be the life of Jesus reproduced in us, just as the foliage and the fruit on a tree are produced by the tree's life flowing into the branches.

A mere Christian profession will not therefore yield the fruits of a true Christian life. One might take a branch that had been torn off, and with cords tie it on a green tree, but that would not make it a fruitful branch. It would draw no life from the tree, and would soon be withered and utterly dead.

One may be tied to Jesus by the cords of outward Christian profession, but if there is no real vital attachment of our life to Jesus by faith and love, Jesus' life cannot flow into it, and it is only a dead, withered branch. We must be truly in Jesus and have Jesus in us, or there can be no life in us and no fruitfulness. We must also abide in Jesus, maintaining our communion and fellowship with him year after year, or we cannot be fruit-bearing Christians.

305

FRUIT BEARING

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

John 15:8

WHAT is fruit in a Christian? We know what it is in the natural world, and know its uses, but what is it in the spiritual world? It is not merely Christian activities. True, well-directed activities are fruits; but there is danger in these days, when Christian work is so praised, that we overlook another kind of fruit which certainly is as essential as the putting forth of consecrated energy.

In nature, fruit is part of the branch itself, not something apart from it. There are spiritual fruits that are part of the life, growths into holiness and Christ-likeness. Thus Saint Paul says, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23). Very evidently these fruits are such as appear in the character itself.

The aim of Jesus' teaching is not merely to make workers of us, to send us out to do good in the world, to fight against evil, to help the weak, and to minister to the sorrowing and the suffering. Its first aim is to make us good, to transform our character, to produce in us the likeness of Jesus. Then we shall be ready to minister. While, therefore, we are to be fruitful in every good work, we are to seek also to be fruitful in the qualities of Jesus-like character.

In nature, the tree's fruits feed the hunger of men. No tree consumes its own fruits; it drops them for those who come to gather them. This suggests that we should not be selfish in our fruit bearing. We should not seek the culture of our characters merely for our own sake. Our aim should be to provide something in our lives that will feed others and bless the world.

All about us are hungry hearts. There are those who long for sympathy and love, those who yearn for comfort, those who desire to be saved. We are to live so that our lives yield bread for these.

306

BEHIND THE CLOUD

It is expedient for you that I go away.

John 16:7

THE disciples thought that Jesus' going away would he an irretrievable loss for them. It was the crushing of all their hopes. They thought they would be left in darkness and loneliness; for they had built up all their Messianic hopes on the idea of Jesus remaining and ruling as a king over his people.

Not only were they about to lose the dearest friend they had ever known, but they were to lose also the One in whom they had trusted as the promised Deliverer and Saviour. They saw no silver lining whatever in the dark cloud that was gathering.

But now Jesus says to them, "It is expedient for you that I go away." There was a silver lining, after all, in that black cloud. What seemed an irreparable loss would in the end prove a gain. The disciples did not understand it now, but there were the Master's words.

The same is true today in the case of all the Master's disciples when he calls away their human friends. We can readily see how it is well for our Christian friends when Jesus takes them. They exchange earth for heaven, sin and sorrow for holiness and eternal joy. There is no doubt that death is gain for those who depart ‒ but how about those who remain? How about the friends who are left with broken hearts to walk on lonely and sad over earth's ways?

This word of Jesus applies: "It is expedient for you that I go away." We cannot understand this; but neither could the disciples understand at the time how Jesus' departure could be better for them than his staying with them would have been.

Afterward they knew; and afterward we shall know how even for us the going away of those we love will become a blessing ‒ if we in faith submit ourselves to God. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28).

307

THE COMFORTER

If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

John 16:7

WHY did the coming of the Comforter depend on Jesus' going away? We may say, for one thing, that the Comforter could not come until the great offering for sin had been made. The Father sent the Son to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Without shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins. There was, therefore, no redemption to be offered and applied until Jesus had made his great sacrifice.

It was necessary, therefore, that he should go away and should die before the Comforter could come. The precious alabaster box of Jesus' humanity must be broken open in order that the sacred ointment of his most blessed life might be poured out on the dead world.

It was necessary, also, that Jesus should return to the Father as the Son of man, the representative of humanity, and be received into the Father's bosom as such. Charles Ellicott writes, "Humanity was to ascend to heaven before the Spirit could be sent to humanity on earth." Jesus also says he will send the Comforter. He could not do this until he had returned to his glory and been exalted, in his humanity, to his throne of power.

These are hints of the reasons why Jesus had to go away before the Comforter could come. We live now under the blessed reign of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we wish we had lived in the time of Jesus' human presence in this world, and look back on the period of the incarnation as earth's brightest and most glorious days; but really we have far richer privileges than had those who knew Jesus in the flesh.

We have the same blessed Presence that they had, only without the limitations of flesh. Jesus is now to countless millions everywhere even far more than he was then to a few favoured ones.

308

LIFE-GIVING KNOWLEDGE

And, this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

John 17:3

ANYONE, therefore, who truly knows God has eternal life. Knowing God, however, is more than knowing about him. One may have all the doctrinal knowledge of God's character, attributes, and works which the Bible reveals, and yet not know God at all in the way that gives life. We may know all about some great man biographically, and yet not know the man at all personally.

But suppose we then meet him, and become closely associated with him, and he becomes our dear friend, and we learn to love him and trust him ‒ then we really know him. It is this personal knowledge of God that is meant in these words. We first learn about him, and then we seek him and find him; and he receives us into his family, and sheds abroad his love in our hearts, and gives us his Spirit. Then we learn to trust him and to love him. This is the knowing God which gives eternal life.

But how can we meet God, and get personally acquainted with him, and form this close friendship with him? There is another word in this verse which helps us to the answer. "That they might know thee ... Jesus Christ." We are clearly taught elsewhere that we can know God only through Jesus Christ. No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him (Matthew 11:27). Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Father to men: He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father (John 14:9).

We can get acquainted with Jesus in his humanity, and thus know God, and have him for our nearest Friend. Rev'd Robert Murray M'Cheyne said, "I seem to know more of the Lord Jesus Christ than of the most intimate friend I have on earth."

Should we not all seek after Jesus' personal friendship? The more we trust him, the more shall we know of him, and the better shall we love him.

309

DIVINE PROTECTION

Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

John 17:11

THERE is matchless tenderness in the picture which these words in our Lord's intercessory prayer suggest. We think of a dying mother about to leave her children behind her in this world, exposed to all the world's dangers. During her own life she has cared for them with all tenderness and fidelity.

Now, however, she is going away, and can guard them no more. But she cannot leave them without securing for them shelter and protection. Looking up to God, therefore, she commends them to his care. She knows that he never goes away, that he is present everywhere, and that he will look after her motherless children.

In like manner Jesus, about to go away and leave his disciples, commends them in their peril and need to his Father's care. The prayer gives us a glimpse of the heart of our Saviour, and of his deep, tender, yearning love for his disciples.

It ought to be a great comfort to us to know that he has just the same love for us, if we are his. When we are going into any danger he looks down upon us with deep affectionate longing, and intercedes for us as he did here for his disciples.

If we belong to Jesus we are divinely sheltered and kept. We cannot keep ourselves, but we have the Lord for our keeper; the wings of the Almighty cover us wherever we go. I have slept in camps in war times, when hostile forces pressed close upon the lines; but we all lay down at night in quiet confidence and peace, without fear, because all around the camps sentries waked and watched.

So God's angels encamp around his children, and so always the Lord keeps those who trust in him. To have Jesus for Saviour is to have his Divine protection and guardianship.

310

LIFE WORTH LIVING

I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.

John 17:15

IT would be a great deal safer, in one sense, for believers to be taken at once to heaven as soon as they begin to follow Jesus. They would then have no temptations, no enemies to fight, no conflicts and struggles to pass through. But who would then do Jesus' work in the world? There would be none to tell sinners about the Saviour, none to show to people the beauty of Jesus in a holy life, none to witness for God and to fight his battles.

There is another reason why Christians are left here. They are not the most majestic trees that grow in the sheltered valleys, where no storms break, but those rather which are found upon the hilltops and the mountains, where they must encounter the fierce gales. It is so with men. The noblest are grown amid difficulties and hardships, not in pampered ease. Even Jesus himself was trained in the school of conflict and struggle.

It may be the easiest thing to have no battles in life, to grow in some sheltered plain where the storms never blow, to meet no hardships, to have no burdens to carry ‒ but what sort of life comes in the end from such a life? If we would reach the heights of blessedness we must be content to pass through the fields of struggle.

When armies return from victorious war, the loudest cheers are not for those who have fought the fewest battles, nor for the flags which are cleanest, but for the regiments which are cut down to a few men, and for the colours that are shot to pieces. So it will be in heaven when the redeemed are welcomed home.

Those who have fought the most battles, and bear the most "marks of the Lord Jesus," will receive the highest honours. It is better, then, even for Christians themselves to stay in this world, and grow to strength through duty and conflict.

311

OUR GREAT INTERCESSOR

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.

John 17:20

IN this wonderful intercessory prayer, our Lord reached out beyond the little circle of imperilled disciples that stood around him that night, and gathered in his arms all those who should believe on him to the end. It includes us, therefore, who in these days believe on Jesus. He looked down along the ages and saw us and our dangers, and amid the deepening shadows of his cross prayed for us. How wonderful to be prayed for by Jesus!

Even that is not all, precious as it is, for we are told elsewhere that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for his people. We are not to think of him as losing interest in this earth when he went away. This intercessory prayer, whose sentences we catch as we read this chapter, is but a momentary revealing to us of Jesus' continual pleading for us within the veil.

We are to think of him as in heaven watching us perpetually and praying for us in every time of danger. He sees each stealthy temptation as it approaches, and asks, "Father, keep thy imperilled child."

It is a precious comfort to know that a dear human friend is praying for us. Many a time in my youth was I kept from doing wrong things by the thought that in my quiet home far away my father and my mother, every morning and every evening, stretched out holy hands in earnest, loving prayer that God would keep their boy.

I could not do the wrong thing with this vision in my mind. Still more powerful in its restraining influence upon us should be the assurance that, day and night, Jesus in heaven is thinking of us, watching us from his holy height in glory, and at every appearance of evil prays for us. How could we do the evil thing if we but stopped long enough to think of this Divine intercession for us?

312

SONGS IN THE NIGHT

And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

Matthew 26:30

THIS is the only record of our Lord's singing when he was on the earth. It is worthy of special notice that it was just as he was starting out to Gethsemane that he sung a hymn with his disciples. It would not have seemed so strange to us if he had sung that night on the Transfiguration Mount, or the day he entered Jerusalem amid the people's hosannas, or on some other occasion of great gladness and triumph. But the only time we hear him singing is in the darkest night of his life.

This tells us of the deep gladness that was in the heart of Jesus under all his griefs and sorrows. He knew the agony into whose black shadows he was about to enter. He saw the cross, too, that stood just beyond Gethsemane. Yet he went out toward the darkness with songs of praise on his lips.

There is a Scripture word which tells us that who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). This was the joy that broke forth here in a hymn of praise. It was the joy of doing the Father's will and of saving lost souls. We get thus here another glimpse of Jesus' great heart of love.

We learn a lesson, too, for ourselves. We should go forward with joy to meet sorrow and sacrifice when we are doing our Father's will. We should learn to sing as we enter life's valleys of shadow. It is a great thing to be able to sing as we work, and sing as we suffer.

The secret of Jesus' song here was his looking beyond the garden and the cross. He saw the reward, the glory, the redemption accomplished. If we look only at the sorrow before us, we cannot sing; but if we look on to the joy of victory, and the blessedness of the reward, and the ripened fruits that will come from the suffering, we can sing too as we enter the sorest trial.

313

THE BAFFLED TEMPTER

Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.

Luke 22:31

PETER was put through Satan's winnowing; but only the chaff in him was blown out. He was a smaller man after the winnowing, just as the bulk of the wheat pile is reduced when the chaff is blown out; but he was a better man. He lost his rashness, his self-confidence, his pride, and came again a humble man, but stronger, majestic ‒ a power to bless the world.

Thus through the grace of Jesus even the autumn times of believers are made to work for their good. Much of the grandeur and power of Peter's later life came out of that costly lesson. "The oyster mends its shell with a pearl." Where the ugly wound was, there comes a gem, hiding the sear, and making it a spot of lustrous beauty. So true repentance of sins changes the weakness of our lives into strength. If we are Jesus' true followers, even our defeats become blessings.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow says of Peter's sifting:

One look of that pale, suffering face

Will make us feel the deep disgrace

Of weakness;

We shall be sifted till the strength

Of self-conceit be changed at length

To meekness.

Wounds of the soul, though healed, will ache,

The reddening scars remain and make

Confession;

Lost innocence returns no more;

We are not what we were before

Transgression.

But noble souls through dust and heat

Rise from disaster and defeat

The stronger;

And conscious still of the Divine

Within them, lie on earth supine

No longer.

314

STRENGTH OUT OF WEAKNESS

When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Luke 22:32

PETER was not to be lost in the terrible experience through which he was to pass. Jesus had made intercession for him, and he would come again from the trial humbled, bruised, defeated, but saved, and a better man. Our Lord tells him here that after his restoration he should turn his experience to account in helping other souls. "Do thou, when once thou hast turned again, strengthen thy brethren." (ASV)

He would be able then to warn others of the dangers in which he had suffered so terribly. We can imagine Peter in after days counselling Christians against self-confidence and the other false steps which led to his own fall, and thus strengthening or establishing them in safe ways. Then there is no doubt that Peter's experience of penitence, and of the grace and love of Jesus in that experience, enabled him to be a wise and safe guide to many another disciple who had fallen into sin and was seeking to be restored.

The lesson is important. All the lessons that God teaches us we should teach others. When we are helped, it is that we may then help others. When God comforts us in any sorrow, he thereby ordains us to go forth to comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God. When we fall in temptation, and God lifts us up and restores us, he wants us to use our experience in helping other weak ones in their temptations.

"O lead me, Lord, that I may lead

The wandering and the wavering feet;

O feed me, Lord, that I may feed

Thy hungering ones with manna sweet.

"O strengthen me, that while I stand

Firm on the rock, and strong in thee,

I may stretch out a loving hand

To wrestlers with the troubled sea."

Frances Ridley Havergal

315

THE MAN OF SORROWS

My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

Matthew 26:38

WE ought often to sit down with our Lord in Gethsemane, and look upon him while he suffers. We never can understand more than a very little of the anguish of that hour in the garden, yet we should often study it. Some hints of its meaning may be reverently mentioned here.

Before our Lord there lay the betrayal, the arrest, the trial with all its mockery and humiliation, then death amid the ignominy of the cross. These physical sufferings alone made an anguish that was terrible to endure.

Another element of our Lord's suffering was the falseness of the human hearts about him. There were the traitorous kiss of Judas, the sad denial by Peter, the flight and desertion of the other disciples, the rejection and crucifixion by the people he had come to save. All this he foresaw from Gethsemane.

But that which made the very essence of the anguish of Gethsemane was the fact that Jesus was bearing our sins. What that meant to him we never can know. We know only what is most dimly shadowed for us in the deep words of Holy Scripture, which speak of his astounding sacrifice. They are such words as these:

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! (John 1:20).

The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24).

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).

We are sure, at least, that the death of Jesus was not like the death of any other man, even though others had to undergo all the physical sufferings that attended our Lord's agony. In some way, though innocent and holy himself, and without sin, he died for sin.

The mystery we never can fathom, but the fact we must remember, as we watch with our Lord in Gethsemane.

316

WATCH WITH ME

Tarry ye here, and watch with me.

Matthew 26:38

THIS request shows the humanness of our Lord. As he entered the darkness, he craved sympathy. He wanted his dearest friends near to him. It was not because of anything they could really do to help him. They could not lighten the awful load by so much as a feather's weight. They could not in any way share the burden. But their presence would make him stronger to endure. The consciousness of tender love close beside him would sustain him in the fearful anguish.

We all understand this from personal experience. A little child's terror in the darkness is instantly soothed by a word from the mother or by her touch. A sufferer can endure their pain better if a close friend sits beside them and holds their hand. We all long for companionship in life's great trials. These are hints of our Lord's feeling and desire that night when he asked his three best beloved disciples to accompany him, and begged them to watch with him while he entered into his agony.

Jesus no longer suffers in any Gethsemane, yet he still calls us to watch with him. Many of his people suffer, and he would have us come up close beside them and by loving sympathy and tenderness sustain and strengthen them. He who thus watches with one of the least of Jesus' brethren in time of pain or sorrow, watches with Jesus himself.

We can also watch with Jesus by being loyal and devoted to him in every dark hour when his cause languishes, and when many are proving hesitant or untrue. The time to be faithful to one's friend is when the popular clamour is against them. Our loyalty to Jesus, in like manner, should be most emphatic when his enemies are most active and when his friends are fewest.

He wants us then to be true. He wants us to keep near him. Surely we should never pain him by coldness or want of interest.

317

THY WILL BE DONE

O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Matthew 26:39

AMONG other lessons which we learn from our Lord's prayer in Gethsemane is this: that all our crying to God should close in submission to the Divine will. It is right to plead earnestly for what we want ‒ earnestly, but never selfishly. We should recognize the fact that our Father has a plan for our lives, and that what we desire may not be in accordance with his plan. We should never want, therefore, to press our will against God's will.

There was a simple, uneducated man who wished to pray, but did not know what he needed. Taking the letters of the alphabet, he laid them down and said, "Lord, I do not know what I need, or ought to ask for. Do thou take these letters and arrange them into the prayer I ought to make, and give me that."

The best thing possible for us is always what God wills for us. Sometimes it may be pain or worldly loss or sore bereavement; yet his will is always love, and in simple acquiescence to this will we shall always find our highest good. No prayer, therefore, is pleasing to God which does not end with this refrain of Gethsemane. This is the way also to peace. As we yield with love and joy, and merge our own will in our Father's, the peace of God flows like a river into our souls.

"Not as I will!" ‒ the sound grows sweet

Each time my lips the words repeat.

"Not as I will!" ‒ the darkness feels

More safe than light when this thought steals

Like whispered voice to calm and bless

All unrest and all loneliness.

"Not as I will," because the One

Who loved us first and best has gone

Before us on the road, and still

For us must all his love fulfil ‒ we will

"Not as we will."

Helen Hunt

318

WATCH UNTO PRAYER

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Matthew 26:41

WE must learn both to watch and pray. It is good to watch. There is danger everywhere. An army in an enemy's country never rests a moment without its encircling line of sentries, keeping watch against danger at every point, and reporting instantly any hostile movement. We are living in the enemy's country, and cannot safely pass an hour without watching.

But watching is not enough, for we are not able to keep ourselves when the danger comes. Hence we need also to pray, asking God to keep us. But as watching without praying is not enough, neither is praying without watching. God means us to use our eyes and to keep our wits about us, as well as cry to him for help.

We must not say that everyone who makes a good profession of faith, and then fails, is insincere or a hypocrite. Peter was neither when he made his bold avowal that he would never deny Jesus, and that he could die with him. He loved Jesus, and meant to be true to him. His spirit was eager and earnest, but he was weak in himself ‒ and because he relied only on himself, he was not able to hold out against the sore temptations which came upon him.

We are all just like Peter. If we are true Christians we mean to be faithful to our Lord. But sincerity is not enough. "The flesh is weak," and we need to rest continually upon God for help to be true and faithful. If young Christians would learn this lesson they would not fall so easily. If the drunkard or gambler who resolves to reform learned it, they would be safer and stronger. No matter how good their intentions, they are not able by themselves to fulfil them.

None of us are as good as we want to be and strive to be; and only through the mighty help of Jesus can any of us live a true and gracious life amid all the world's temptations and dangers.

319

LOST OPPORTUNITIES

He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come.

Mark 14:41

THE time for watching was past. Jesus had now passed through his agony, and on his face was the radiance of peace. He did not need any longer the help of the sympathy which in vain he had sought in the darkness. He looked toward the city gate, and there was the traitor coming. There was neither need nor use now for the disciples' waking and watching, and they might as well sleep on.

The lesson is plain. Whatever we do for our friends, we must do when they are in need of our help. If they are sick, the time to show our sympathy is while the sickness continues. If we allow them to pass through their illness without showing them any attention, there is little use when they are well again for us to offer kindness.

If one of our friends is passing through some sore struggle with temptation, that is the time for us to come up close alongside them and put the strength of our love under their weakness. If we fail them, then we may almost as well let them go on alone after that. Of what use is our help when the battle has been fought through to the end and won without us?

Or suppose the friend was not victorious; that they failed ‒ failed because no one came to help them ‒ is there any use in our hurrying up to them then to offer assistance? Thus on all sides the lesson presses.

We might have lent

Such strength, such comfort and content

To you out of our ample store;

We might have hastened on before

To lift the shadows from your way,

Darkened, ere noon, to twilight's gray;

With earth's chilled air love's warm heart-scent

We might have blent."

Lucy Larcom

320

NEVER DESPAIR

Rise up, let us go.

Mark 14:42

THERE seems to be a voice of hope in this call. The disciples had sadly failed in one great duty: they had slept when the Master wanted them to watch with him. He had just told them that they might as well sleep on, so far as that service was concerned, for the time to render it was gone for ever.

Yet there were other duties before them, and Jesus calls them to arise to meet these. Because they had failed in one hour's responsibility they must not sink down in despair. They must arouse themselves to meet the responsibility now before them.

Again the lesson is plain. Because we have failed in one duty we must not give up in despair. Because a young man has wasted his youth, he must not therefore lose heart and think all is lost. There are other opportunities waiting for him. The loss of youth is irreparable. The golden years can never be gotten back. The innocence, the beauty, the power, are gone for ever. Yet why should a man squander everything, because he has squandered the best? Because the morning has been thrown away, why should all the day be lost?

The lesson is for all who have failed in any way. Jesus ever calls to hope. He bids us rise again from the worst defeat. In the kingdom of grace there is always margin enough to start again, and to build up a gracious life. Even down to life's latest hour this remains true. The door of opportunity opened to the penitent thief on the cross even in his dying hour.

There was no time to make anything good or beautiful of his life on the earth, save in his dying confession and testimony; but the eternity into which he passed is very long, with time enough to know Jesus more fully. So it is always. In this world, blessed by Divine love and grace, there is never any need for despair. The call after any defeat or failure still is, "Rise up, let us go."

321

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

Jesus often resorted thither with his disciples.

John 18:2

THESE words give us a glimpse of our Lord's devotional habits. The deep quiet of the Olive garden was his private place. Here he had been in the habit of going for seasons of prayer. There were other places, too, which were sacred resorts to him. There were mountain tops, where he often spent whole nights in communion with his Father.

Our Lord's example teaches us that we should spend much time in devotion. Some people manage to get along without much praying, but it is always at the expense of their spiritual life. Not feeding their souls, they grow very lean. There really can be no beautiful, strong, helpful Christian life without much private place work.

Every tree has a root, which people do not see, which has no beauty, but which in secret, in the darkness, performs service for the tree, without which the tree could not live. What the root is to the tree, that is the Christian's private devotional life to the external and visible life which the world sees. We shall flourish and be fruitful in spiritual life just in proportion to the earnestness, the reality, and the intensity of our devotional life. A great deal of praying needs to go with a very little working.

Our Lord's example teaches us also the importance of regular habits of praying. Some people say that praying should be spontaneous, and that stated times and places make it formal, and take the life out of it. But we are such creatures of habit that if we do not pray at regular times each day we shall very soon not pray at all.

But if we always go to our quiet place at the same time, our devotions will become part of our daily life, and we shall never live a day without its moments of prayer. If our Lord's holy life required regular habits of prayer and communion, much more do our broken, imperfect lives require the same.

322

THE TRAITOR

Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

John 18:2-3

EVERY new line in the story of the betrayal shows new blackness in the heart of Judas. Going out from the supper table he hastened to the priests, and was quickly under way with his band of soldiers. He probably first hurried back to the upper room where he had left Jesus. Not finding him there, he knew well where the Master had gone, and hastened to the sacred place of prayer.

Then the manner in which he let the officers know which of the group was Jesus, shows the deepest blackness of all. He went up to him as to a dear friend and kissed him ‒ kissed him with feigned warmth and affection.

Let us remember how the treason grew in the heart of Judas, beginning in greed for money, growing into theft and falseness of life, ending at last in the blackest crime the world ever saw. The lesson is that we should watch the beginnings of evil in our hearts.

There are several famous paintings Judas wandering about on the night after the betrayal. In one, he comes by chance upon the workmen who have been making the cross on which Jesus shall be crucified tomorrow. A fire nearby throws its light full on the faces of the workmen, who are sleeping peacefully while resting from their labour.

Judas's face is somewhat in the shade, but it is wonderfully expressive of awful remorse and agony as he catches sight of the cross and the tools used in making it ‒ the cross which his treachery had made possible. But still, though in the very torments of hell, as it appears, he clutches his money bag, and seems to hurry on into the night.

That picture tells the story of the fruit of Judas's victory ‒ the money bag with the thirty pieces of silver in it (and even that he could not keep for long), carried off into the night of evil despair.

323

THE TRAITOR'S KISS

Hail, Master! and kissed him.

Matthew 26:49

THE very reading of the words makes us shudder. A kiss has always been the token of affection, and the seal and pledge of fidelity. Judas's going up to Jesus and kissing him was a solemn declaration of sincere friendship. Yet the kiss was not only false, but was the sign of betrayal. No words are strong enough to characterize this crime.

We remember the fable of the poisonous snake taken into the bosom of a kindly man to be warmed, rewarding the benefactor by striking its deadly fangs into his flesh. But even this does not illustrate the wickedness of Judas' act. It is no wonder that he is the loathing of the world. A poet represents Judas as placed in the lowest circles of the lost, as the sole sharer with Satan himself of the very uttermost punishment, and shunned even there, even by the guiltiest.

In studying the character and the sin of Judas the following lessons may be brought out.

1. We must not be surprised if some evil men enter the Church, for even among the twelve was one Judas.

2. It is no proof that Christianity is untrue when some of its professors prove hypocrites. The defection of Judas did not leave a stain on the name of Jesus, nor did it disprove the loyalty and fidelity of the other disciples.

3. Someone may be very near to Jesus and not be made holy in character. Judas was three years with Jesus, heard his words, lived in the atmosphere of his love, and remained unchanged.

An empty bottle, hermetically sealed, may lie long in the ocean and continue perfectly dry within. A heart sealed to Jesus' love may lie in his bosom for years and not be blessed. Only when the heart is opened to receive his grace does closeness to him sanctify.

4. Sin grows, and we never can know to what terrible extent a wicked thought or desire may reach.

324

GOD'S WILL IS BEST

The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

John 18:11

THE "cup" is our portion, embracing all the experiences of our earthly lives. Our Father gives us the cup, therefore it must be the very best that the wisest love can provide. When death enters a Christian home, there is sweetest comfort in the thought that God has really done the best possible for the friend whom he has taken away.

We prayed him to crown our loved one with his richest blessings, and is not that just what he has done? Here is a poem which in a beautiful way illustrates this. There is first a prayer for a friend:

"Give her, I pray, all good:

Bid all the buds of pleasure grow

To perfect flowers of happiness

Where'er her feet may go;

Bid Truth's bright shield and Love's strong arm

Protect her from all earthly harm.

"Lest there should be some other thing,

Better than all the rest,

That I have failed to ask," I said,

"Give thou the very best

Of every gift that thou dost deem

Better than aught I hope or dream."

Then here is the answer which came:

"She lies before me still and pale;

The roses that I prayed

Might bloom along her path of life

Are on her bosom laid.

Crowned with a strange, rapt calm, she lies,

Like one made dumb with sweet surprise.

"Better than I can ask or dream!

This was my prayer, and now

That she is lying still and pale,

With God's peace on her brow,

I wonder, sobbing, sore dismayed,

If this be that for which I prayed."

Carlotta Perry

325

PETER'S FALL

Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples?

John 18:25

FOR our own sakes we should mark the steps which led to Peter's fall. One was his self-confidence. When forewarned, he resented the Master's foretelling, and declared that though others might deny Jesus, he never would. When we grow boastful we are in great peril. Safety lies in a consciousness of our own weakness, and in implicit trust in God.

The next step toward Peter's fall was his sleeping in the garden of Gethsemane when he should have been watching and praying. That hour was given for preparation for temptation, but was not used.

Another step was his rashness in drawing and using his sword in the garden. This act made him liable to arrest, which made him nervous and afraid of recognition. He tried to hide his connection with Jesus, lest he should be arrested for his assault in the garden. Rash acts are sure to make trouble for us afterward.

Another step toward denial was Peter's following Jesus afar off. This showed timidity and failing faith. His courage was leaving him. Following Jesus at a distance is always perilous. It shows a weakening attachment and a trembling loyalty. It is in itself partial denial. The only worthy and the only safe discipleship is thorough, unwavering devotion and wholehearted consecration.

This apostle took another step toward his fall when he sat down among the servants of the high priest. He went among them to hide his relation to Jesus. The only safe thing for a Christian is unequivocally to declare his discipleship wherever he goes.

When Peter had taken these steps, he could scarcely do otherwise than openly deny his Lord. The time for us to guard ourselves is at the beginnings of rejection.

326

THE GREAT DENIAL

He denied before them all.

Matthew 26:70

ONE thing that made Peter's denial so exceptionally sad was that he had received so many marks of special favour from Jesus. He was one of three disciples who had been taken into the inner circle of friendship. The more Jesus has done for us, the worse is it for us to prove unfaithful to him.

Another thing was that Peter had so boldly confessed Jesus. It was he who said, when Jesus asked the disciples whom they believed him to be, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 26:23). It was he who, just a few hours before his denial, so vehemently avowed his loyalty and his readiness to die with his Lord. These repeated protestations of faithfulness made the evil of denial more grievous. It is a greater sin for someone who has publicly declared his love for Jesus to prove disloyal to him, than for one who has never made such confession.

Another thing that made the sin worse was the fact that Jesus had forewarned Peter. We say "forewarned is forearmed;" but it did not prove so in this instance, because the disciple utterly disregarded the Master's warnings. We are all warned of danger; do we heed the signals?

Still another hurt was that it was in our Lord's hour of sorest need that Peter denied him. Had it been in some time of popular favour, the denial would not have been so dreadful; but it was when Jesus was deserted, and was in the hands of his enemies. Was that a time for the bravest disciple, the most honoured friend, the noblest confessor, to turn his back on his Master?

When the shadow falls on your friend, when the tide has turned against them, when others fall away from them, is that the time for you, their long-time close companion, the recipient of their help, to turn weak and desert and deny them?

327

THE HOLY ONE

What accusation bring ye against this man?

John 18:29

THAT was a fair question. The Jews wanted Pilate to put Jesus to death; but Pilate had a right to ask why such sentence should be pronounced. No man should ever be condemned without a trial.

We have a right to ask the same now of those who condemn and reject Jesus. What wrong thing has he done? What flaws are there in his character? Whom has he injured? The Jews attempted no answer to Pilate's question. Indeed, there was no answer possible, for no accusation could be brought against Jesus. He had never injured anyone.

A little girl kissed her young brother's hand as he lay in the coffin, and said, "Mamma, this little hand never struck me." It could well have been said of Jesus when he lay in death, "This hand never struck anyone. These lips never spoke a word that gave pain. This heart never harboured an unkind thought or feeling."

On the other hand, the life of Jesus was a perpetual blessing to all who knew him. His hands were ever stretched out in healing ‒ until finally they were stretched out on the cross and fastened back there, but outstretched still in blessing. His lips were ever speaking words of comfort, of love. His heart was ever full of love and grace. Who could ever bring any accusation against him? In truth no one ever did. He was hurried to death by men's hate, without reason or charge of any kind.

This same Jesus stands now before us, asking for our love and our faith. What reason is there that he should not be received? What has he ever done to discredit his own claims? What charge of evil can anyone, the worst enemy, bring against him? Has he ever led a trusting soul into wrong paths? Has he ever disappointed the hopes of any heart that has trusted in him? Why, then, should anyone reject him?

328

PILATE'S INDECISION

Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.

John 18:31

PILATE wanted to evade the responsibility of trying and sentencing Jesus. But instead of honestly refusing to have anything to do with his condemnation, Pilate simply sought to get clear of the case by evasion. He could not do it, however. Each time, Jesus came back and stood before him waiting for his decision.

One of Pilate's questions a little later than this was, "What shall I do with Jesus?" This was a question he was compelled to answer in the end. Jesus stands before every human soul, as he stood before Pilate, demanding reception or rejection, and every one of us must answer this same question.

The question may be postponed, but we cannot get it off our hands. We may send Jesus away, but presently we find him back, standing again at our door. Every soul must sit in judgment on Jesus, and give a decision.

Look on a little. Here we see Pilate on the judgment seat, and Jesus standing before him to be judged. "Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee? (John 19:10). Awful power for any man to hold! The scene closed, and Jesus went to his cross.

Pilate soon fell into disgrace, and in a few years it was rumoured he had committed suicide. When he stands before the throne of the Divine Judge, into whose eyes does he look? Once Pilate was judge, and Jesus stood at the bar. Now Jesus is judge, and Pilate is before him.

Jesus stands today before sinners, meek and lowly, asking to be received. But the scene will soon be changed for those who reject him ‒ they will be hurried away into eternity, and the Judge before whose bar they shall find themselves will be the same One who stood so long, patient and loving, waiting to save them.

329

JESUS OUR KING

The governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews?

Matthew 27:11

JESUS did not look much like a king as he stood there, his hands bound, a cord about his neck. Pilate's question sounds like ridicule. Yet Jesus answered, "Yes, I am a king." Strange answer! Where, then, was his power? Where were his throne, his crown, his sceptre, his royal robes? Who recognized his rule? Pilate probably looked at him with mingled contempt and pity.

But to us today how different does it all appear! He is enthroned now Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come (Ephesians 1:21).

In heaven he is honoured as King of kings and Lord of lords. On his head are many crowns. All over the earth, too, his rule is felt. Wherever his gospel has gone, with its revelation of Divine love and grace, the influence of his kingdom has reached.

Jesus was as really a king when he stood before Pilate that day, to human eyes bound and powerless, as he is now, exalted on heaven's throne. His kingdom was spiritual ‒ it was a kingdom of truth, of righteousness, of holiness, of grace, and of love. He seemed the weakest of all men that morning, but in reality he was the mightiest, the grandest, the kingliest. What, then, is greatness? What is power? What is kingliness? Not anything external, not anything that men's eyes can see.

The world bows down before thrones that glitter, and crowns whose jewels flash in sunlight, and worships power whose majesty is expressed in material splendour. But the real power of the world is Jesus' power ‒ the kingdom whose sway is over human hearts and lives. It is spiritual. It makes us better, and lifts us up into gracious life, into purity, holiness, and Divine beauty.

330

BEHOLD THE MAN!

Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

John 19:5

WE cannot do better than obey Pilate's word, "Behold the man!" and fix our eyes in loving gaze upon Jesus as he is led out from the palace and stands before the multitude. On his head he wears a crown of thorns, around his bleeding body is thrown a purple robe, mock emblems of royalty. He had been called King of the Jews, and the rough soldiers tried to carry out the farce, as it appeared to them.

Behold the man! Behold the man enduring shame and contempt, set forth before the people as a spectacle of mockery, in order that at last we may be presented in glory, and honoured before angels and the Father. Behold the man wearing a crown of thorns, that we may wear a crown of glory and of life. Robed in mocking purple, that we may wear the white garments of righteousness. Behold the man in the majesty of meekness ‒ scorned, yet hating not; despised, yet still loving on; wronged, yet speaking no resentful word.

We should study the character of our Lord as manifested amid the terrible scenes of that morning. How his awe-inspiring patience shames our miserable impatience! We fret and vex ourselves with our silly discontents over the smallest discomforts. Let us look at the blessed peace of Jesus in the midst of the sorest trials. We fly into anger and cherish bitter resentments when others slight us or wrong us in merest trifles. Let us behold the sweet spirit of Jesus ‒ loving, gentle, meek, under the greatest cruelties and wrongs ever inflicted on any life.

Behold the man, the God-man, divinity manifested in humanity, humbling himself and becoming obedient unto shame and death that he might save our souls. Behold the man, holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, yet bearing upon his own head, as the Lamb of God, the sin of the world. Let us look and weep, and love and trust and rejoice.

331

POWER BELONGS TO GOD

Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.

John 19:10-11

AUTHORITY is one of the entrusted talents. Men talk boastfully of their power, forgetting that it is delegated power which they hold, and that they must wield it for God, and must give account to him for their use of it. No man's power belongs to himself to do with as he pleases. It is given him from God, the source of all power. This is true of the authority of parents and teachers, of the power possessed by civil magistrates, and of all power whatsoever.

Men are eager to obtain offices in the city or nation, and they do not always realize the responsibility which attaches to such positions. Power belongs to God, and must be used for God, or its misuse will bring sore penalty. It is a talent which is given to us to be accounted for, and no treachery is worse than wrongful conduct the use of power.

This is true all the way from the power of the child on the playground to the power of the president of a nation, or the king on his throne. "Thou couldest have no power except it were given thee from above."

There is a comforting thought suggested by the words in this sentence, "Thou couldest have no power against me." Jesus in this world was under the protection of his Father, and no one on earth could lift a finger against him but by the Divine permission. What was true of Jesus, the Son of God, is true of each one of the sons of God in all our earthly life.

Each believer, the humblest, the weakest, is kept in this world as the apple of God's eye. No one can touch one of God's little ones save by Divine permission. This shows how safe we are, amid all the world's dangers and enmities, while we trust ourselves in our Father's keeping.

332

FATAL DECISION

They delivered him therefore unto them to be crucified.

John 19:16

SO we see the sad and terrible end of Pilate's weak struggles with his conscience and his sense of right. He first tried every way to avoid the issue. Then he avoided making a decision, hoping in some manner to get free from responsibility. At last he yielded, and his name goes through history pilloried for ever as the man who delivered Jesus to be crucified.

He is known by no other act. It had been a thousand times better for him if he had remained for ever in obscurity, instead of going to that high place of power where he had to meet and deal with this momentous question of history.

We read that Pilate took water in the presence of the Jews and washed his hands ‒ thus by symbol declaring that he was not responsible for the sentencing of Jesus to die. But the water did not wash away one particle of the stain of the guilt of that terrible sin. Pilate had the misfortune to be the only man in all the province who could send Jesus to the cross.

Upon him, therefore, the final responsibility rested, no matter the pressure that was brought to bear upon him by the enemies of Jesus. The fact that others urge us to sin does not take away our guilt for that sin. No being in the universe can compel us to do wrong. If, then, we do wrong, the sin is our own.

We remember that the Jews responded to Pilate's act of washing his hands: Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children (Matthew 27:25).

No one who has read the story of the next forty years can doubt that their self-cursing was fulfilled. The historian Josephus records that thousands of the Jews were killed by the Romans, many of them crucified, in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and many thousand taken prisoner. The crime of the Jews was temporarily successful, but what came of the success in the end? Let us learn the lesson that sin brings always terrible woe, and that the worst of all sins is sin against the Lord Jesus Christ.

333

TAKE UP THY CROSS

And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.

John 19:17

AT first there was no one to help Jesus to bear his cross. Although fainting from loss of rest and from the gashing and laceration of his body by the scourge, and still more from the untold anguish through which he had been passing, he yet had to carry his cross for himself until nature gave way.

We must remember that while Jesus had to bear the cross unaided, it really was not for himself that he bore it, but for us. He endured the shame and pain, and staggered beneath the awful burden, that he might set us free from the burden of sin's curse.

John the Baptist said, when Jesus passed by him at the beginning of his ministry, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! (John 1:29). We may say the same words as we see Jesus bearing his cross. That is what he is doing. It was not the mere wood that was so heavy. The real load which Jesus bore that day was the mountain of our sins. It was this that made him faint and sink down by the way, and that wrung from him such cries and tears in Gethsemane and on Calvary.

A little later he sank down under the burden, and then the officers compelled a passerby to help him. After that the scene was this: Jesus and Simon of Cyrene together carrying the cross. Jesus in advance carrying the heavy end, and Simon coming behind bearing the lighter end.

Here again the picture is very evocative in two ways. We must share the cross with Jesus before we can be saved. That is, we must accept our place with him under the cross and follow him. Then we can turn the picture another way, and we see Jesus helping his people to bear their crosses. Every cross we have to bear, his shoulder is also beneath it, and he always bears the heavy end of it.

No believer ought to be unable to bear any cross with Jesus. No load that we share should crush us.

334

THE PERFECT SUFFERER

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink!

Matthew 27:34

THE offer was kindly meant. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him (Luke 23:27). It is believed there was a group of women at Jerusalem, a compassionate sisterhood, whose work was to provide such stupefying draughts for those who were crucified.

The object was to produce partial unconsciousness, so that the terrible agonies might not be so keenly felt. It is pleasant to find that such an association existed at that early day, and that it was among the Jewish people. True religion always yields such fruits.

Christianity has filled the world with just such gentle ministries. Wherever there is pain, Christian women go to alleviate it. But it must be noticed that Jesus did not accept this potion. He tasted it, showing his recognition and appreciation of the kindness that offered it, but he did not drink it.

One reason probably was that he would not seek to lessen in any way the bitterness of the cup which his Father had given him to drink. He would drink it to its last drop, and not dull the sense of suffering in himself to make the draught any less bitter.

Another reason doubtless was that he would not cloud his mind in the least degree as he entered the last experiences of life. He would not dim the clearness of his communion with his Father by any potion that should impair his full consciousness. The example of Jesus does not, of course, teach that it is wrong in ordinary cases to use anaesthetics to deaden the sense of pain.

There were exceptional reasons why our Lord would abate nothing of the bitterness of his suffering. Anaesthetics have been wonderful agents of mercy and blessing in the world. But it does seem proper that a person should not when dying be given any potion which would cloud the mind, or send the soul in a state of stupefaction through the experiences of death and into the presence of God.

335

THE CRUCIFIXION

They crucified him.

Mark 15:25

HERE we come to the mount of our Redeemer's sorrows, and we should bare our heads in holy reverence as we stand in the silence of wondering love and gaze upon him on his cross. Many thoughts will come to us as we contemplate this scene.

What a terrible thing sin is, that its punishment required such a sacrifice! Shall we go on carelessly sinning when we see what our Saviour suffered to save us from our sins? What wonderful love there must be in the heart of God to cause him to give his Son to endure such a death to save sinners!

What worth there must be in human souls, under all the ruin of sin, that Jesus was willing to make such a sacrifice of his own precious and glorious life to redeem the lost! What a pattern for all life have we here! The cross is Jesus giving himself to bless and save others.

The more completely we forget ourselves and live for others, the nearer do we get to the example of Jesus. How can we ever complain again of our little hardships and sacrifices for the sake of others? The cross, where Jesus is giving all, should make us ashamed even to mention again any little thing that we have done or suffered for another.

Crucifixion was such a blot at that time, wrapped in such humiliation that one who died thus was buried for ever in shame. He never could he mentioned but with thought and memory of dishonour. But Jesus, instead of being covered and borne down for ever by the cross, in the black waters of reproach, lifted the cross itself to glory, until today it is the emblem of hope, of victory, of blessedness, and of joy wherever the gospel has gone.

Let no one be afraid to endure for Jesus' sake, for when the cross is taken up in his name it becomes a "weight of glory."

336

THE SACRED GARMENTS

They parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.

Mark 15:24

WE love to think of those sacred garments which our Saviour had worn. Perhaps they had been made by his mother's hands, or maybe by the hands of some of the other women who followed him from Galilee, ministering to him. They were the garments, too, that the sick had touched in reverent faith, receiving instant healing. We treasure the garments of those we love when they are gone from us. How sacred they are! How it would pain us to see them divided among uncouth enemies and worn by them about the streets!

A unique sacredness clings to everything that Jesus ever touched; and what desecration it appears to our hearts to see these scoffing soldiers take his garments and divide them among themselves as booty! Then what terrible sacrilege it seems to see them throwing dice and gambling under the very cross while the Saviour hangs there in agony!

Why was Jesus stripped of his garments? Was there no meaning in it apart from the mere custom? Was it not that he might prepare garments of righteousness for us in our spiritual nakedness?

One night of bitter cold and pitiless storm a mother was out in the wilds with her child in her arms. Unable to carry her precious burden and find a shelter, she took off her own outer clothing, and wrapping it about her little one she laid him in a cleft of the rock, and hastened on, hoping to find help.

Next morning some shepherds heard the cry of a child, and found the babe safe and warm in the rock's cleft. Then, not far away in the snow, they discovered the mother ‒ dead. She had stripped off her own garments and died in the cold to save her child.

Did not Jesus do the same? He took off his raiment and hung naked on his cross, that we may stand in the final judgment arrayed in robes of beauty.

337

THE KING OF THE JEWS

And set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus the King of the Jews.

Matthew 27:37

THERE was no other crime charged. He had done nothing amiss. Pilate had satisfied himself of that. He had examined him, and could find no fault in him. Hence he would not write any charge on his cross but this, that he was the King of the Jews. The rulers objected to this, and wanted him to write that he said he was King of the Jews; but Pilate would not change a word, and there it stood above his head during all the agony and all the darkness ‒ the King of the Jews.

So he was. The tablet told the truth, though erected to mock the people. He was the Messiah who had been promised all through the centuries. He was the King of whom David was but the type ‒ the picture. He was the Jesus who had been foretold by prophets, and waited for age after age by the nation. At last he came. Angels sang at his birth. His life had been one of great blessing and power. He had wrought miracles of mercy all over the land.

He had taught, speaking as never man spoke. He had fulfilled all the Messianic conditions. Yet his enemies had rejected him; and at last they led him out to Calvary and nailed him on the cross. Still he was their King ‒ their King rejected, their King crucified. His throne was his cross; his crown was the crown of thorns that the soldiers had twisted and wound around his head.

It does not seem to us a kingly hour in our Lord's life when he hangs on his cross, dying, yet really it was the time of his highest earthly exaltation. He spoke of going to his cross as going to be glorified. He was indeed King of the Jews.

They crucified their King. He is our King too. How are we treating him? Are we obeying him? Are any of us rejecting him? Are any of us crucifying him afresh? We had better answer these questions.

338

DIVINE FORGIVENESS

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

Luke 23:34

THIS was the first word spoken by our Lord on his cross. It was uttered just when the soldiers were in the act of crucifying him ‒ driving the terrible nails through his hands and feet. It was a moment of excruciating, inconceivable anguish. Yet he uttered no cry of pain, no word of condemnation upon those who were causing him such suffering, but calmly prayed for his brutal, pitiless murderers ‒ "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

The moment the sacred blood began to flow, the intercession for sinners began. The pleading was first for the soldiers who were acting as executioners, but it was not for these alone. It certainly widened out, and took in all who had been concerned in the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus. It was for the Jewish rulers and people who had rejected their Messiah.

May we not believe that many of those who on the day of Pentecost and afterward were brought to repentance, were forgiven and saved because on his cross Jesus made intercession for them? Then the prayer went out beyond the people who had a direct part in the crucifixion.

From his cross, Jesus saw the lost world down to the end, and prayed for all men. We know, too, that that word of prayer was but the beginning of an intercession that is going on yet inside heaven, where Jesus pleads the merits of his own sacrifice for the salvation of sinners.

This word of Jesus teaches us a great lesson on Christian forgiveness. He prayed for his murderers. We should pray for those who injure us. There are some fragrant trees which bathe the axe that gashes them in perfume. So should it be with Jesus' people. Instead of resentment and injury for injury, we should show only gentle, tender love to those who harm us.

339

SELF-SACRIFICE

The rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ.

Luke 23:35

IT was because he would save others that he could not save himself. The soldier in the battle cannot save himself and save his country. The mother cannot spare herself and save her child. Jesus could have saved himself; but what would have been the fate of sinners?

Three little children wandered from home one afternoon. Evening found them playing by the seashore. It grew suddenly dark and cold, and they could not return. In the morning they were found, the two youngest sleeping warm and safe under coverings of garments and seaweed, and little Mary, the elder, lying cold and dead, with her arms still full of seaweed.

She had taken off nearly all her own warm clothing to cover the younger children, and then carried grass and seaweed to pile upon them, until she died in her loving devotion. She did not save herself, because she would save the little ones entrusted to her care.

During the plague in Marseilles [1720-1722], the physicians decided that nothing could be done to save the people unless a victim could be dissected, and the nature of the disease thus learned. But who would do such a perilous work? One physician arose and said he would do it. Saying his farewell to his family he entered the hospital, made the dissection, wrote out the results, and in a few hours was dead. But now the physicians could understand how to treat the disease.

These incidents illustrate Jesus' devotion to death for sinners. Men could not be saved unless someone could suffer and die in their place, and Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for sins. In one sense he could have saved himself, but then the world would have been lost. His death was voluntary. He gave his life for the sheep. We are saved because he did not save himself

340

AT HOME WITH THE LORD

Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Luke 23:43

THIS was the second word on the cross. Something touched the heart of one of the robbers. Might it not have been the Saviour's prayer for his murderers? He became penitent in his dying hour, and cried to Jesus for mercy, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Quickly from the lips of the dying Redeemer came the gracious response, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."

The words are full of meaning, of which broken hints only can here be given. Though in the agony of death, Jesus could yet give life to a dead soul. Though draining the dregs of the cup of woe, he could give a cup of blessedness to a penitent. Though his hand was nailed to the cross, it carried the key of paradise, and opened the gate to allow a repentant soul to enter. Surely there was no more royal moment in all Jesus' life than this.

The promise itself tells us what death is for the believer. "Today shalt thou be with me." There is no long, dark passage, therefore, through which the freed soul must go to reach blessedness. There is no purgatory in which it must wait to be prepared for glory. At once the spirit goes into the presence of Jesus.

Saint Paul teaches us the same truth when he describes death as departing to be with Jesus. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). That same day, said Jesus, this penitent should be in paradise. We ought not then to be afraid to die if we are of Jesus' redeemed ones.

The words tell us also in what heaven's blessedness really consists. "Thou shalt be with me." Being with Jesus is glory. No sweeter, more blessed heaven can be conceived of. We know but little about heaven as a place ‒ where it is, what it is like. But this much we know ‒ there we shall be with Jesus. Is not that enough to know?

341

THE DIVINE LEGACY

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple, standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

John 19:26

THIS was the third word spoken by our Lord from the cross. Not far away, in some quiet spot amid the multitude, stood a little group of his dearest friends. Most of them were women. As his eye looked down upon them he saw among them his own mother. Truly, the sword was piercing through her heart as she beheld her Divine Son on his cross.

As Jesus saw his mother in her deep grief, though suffering untold anguish himself, his heart went out in compassion and love for her. He thought of her unsheltered, as she would be, when he was gone. He remembered what she had been to him in his tender infancy and defenceless childhood, as she had blessed him with her rich self-forgetful love.

"Stripped of everything," says Frédéric Louis Godet, "Jesus seemed to have nothing more to give. Nevertheless, from the midst of this deep poverty he had already made precious gifts: to his executioners he had bequeathed the pardon of God; to his companion in punishment, paradise. Could he find nothing to leave to his mother and his friend? These two beloved people, who had been his most precious treasures on earth, he bequeathed to one another, giving thus at once a son to his mother and a mother to his friend."

In this beautiful act of our Lord we have a wondrous commentary on the fifth commandment. Every young person, or older one, with parents yet living, who reads this fragment of the story of the cross should remember the lesson, and pay love's highest honour to the father or the mother to whom he owes so much.

No suffering or pain of our own should ever make us forgetful of our parents, and we should honour them to the last moment of our life.

342

THE DARK VALLEY

It was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

Luke 23:44

IT was a mysterious and supernatural darkness. We may say, and we can say no more, that it was nature sympathizing with the crucifixion of its Lord. How dense it was we cannot tell, but it must have filled the hearts of the multitude about the cross with awe.

There was also a still deeper darkness around the soul of him who hung on that central cross. It was so dark that he even seemed forsaken by God. We can never understand it, although we know that it was the sin of the world that made the darkness. Jesus wrapped the glooms of death about himself that we might be clothed in garments of light.

He died in darkness that we might walk into the valley amid the splendours of heavenly light. He had agony in his last hour that we might have joy. His head wore the crown of thorns, and had no place to rest in dying, that under our heads might be the pillow of peace.

It is profitable for us to contrast the death of Jesus with that of his disciples in all ages since. He shrank from the "cup;" they are eager to drink it. He seemed forsaken of God; they look with ecstasy and unclouded vision into the Father's face. Why did death mean so much to him, and why is it such a peaceful experience to them? It is easy to answer this question.

Death has no bitterness for the Christian, because it was so bitter to the Redeemer. He drew the curse from it, and now it has in it only the sweetness of blessing. Indeed, there is no death anymore for the Christian. Jesus abolished death. What we now call death is death no longer, since he passed through it. It is now only the shadow of death, and even the shadow is lit up with the beams of Divine glory bursting from heaven.

Let us never forget that we have light in our dying, because Jesus had darkness.

343

JESUS' CRY ON THE CROSS

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46

THIS was the fourth word on the cross. It is too mysterious for explanation, and we may only ponder it with hushed hearts for a little.

"Why hast thou forsaken me?" It was not the nails in his flesh, nor the insults of scoffing enemies, nor the shame of the cross, but the fact that Jesus, for the time, had lost the sense of the Father's presence, that made the grief of the hour.

"Why hast thou forsaken me?" What had he, the beloved Son, done that the Father should forsake him? It would not have seemed so strange if he had forsaken the angels or the saints living in glory. But why should he forsake his own Son?

"My God!" Why does he not say "My Father"? He said "Father" in the first word on the cross, and in the very last. Why is it "My God" here? Has he in the darkness lost the consciousness of sonship? Does he seem pushed far away from home, from the Father's heart, from the bosom where from all eternity he had reposed? So it seems. Yet mark how his faith clings in the darkness: it is still "My God!" He has not lost faith even in the darkness. His faith holds, though he cannot see God's face.

No matter how dark the night about us, how heavy the cross that weighs us down, how lonely and deserted we may feel, we should never lose faith in God. Behind the blackest clouds his face ever beams with love. He is still our God, though for the time he may have left us alone.

"Why hast thou forsaken me?" Can we answer this "why"? We know only that Jesus was bearing our sins, and that it was for our sake he had to endure this forsaking. He was forsaken then for a small moment, that for all eternity we might enjoy the favour of God and dwell in communion with him.

344

DIVINE THIRST

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished saith, I thirst.

John 19:28

HERE we have our Lord's fifth word on the cross. It was just before the end. All tasks belonging to his work as Redeemer were now finished. He had suffered from thirst all the terrible six hours that he hung on the cross, but he restrained his anguish until his task was done. Now he gave expression to his desire for drink, the only word on the cross that referred to his physical sufferings.

Someone reached up to him, on a stem of hyssop, a sponge which had been moistened in the sour vinegar that stood there. It was an act of kindness and pity. We cannot but be thankful for this small ministry which must have given momentary relief to the holy Sufferer.

Earlier in the day, at the moment of crucifixion, he was offered drink which he refused. That was a stupefying potion, a deadening wine mingled with myrrh or wormwood. It was offered with the intention of dulling his senses, that he might not be conscious of his sore suffering. He refused it because he wished to preserve the clearness of his mind in the hours when he was making atonement for the world.

This potion, offered now by the soldier, was not medicated wine, and was not stupefying in its effects. Jesus needed refreshment to strengthen him for the great final act ‒ the giving of his soul up to God.

All the experiences of Jesus Christ, which reveal human need and suffering, bring him very near to us. Since he suffered hunger and thirst, and pain and weariness and sorrow, he is able to sympathize with us in all our human experiences. He knows what we feel ‒ for he has not forgotten even in heaven what he himself endured in his incarnation.

345

IT IS FINISHED

He said, It is finished.

John 19:30

THIS was our Lord's sixth word on the cross. His allotted lifework was done. All his task was ended, all things set for him to do were done, and nothing more remained for him but to die. Many men come to the end even of long lives and find their work far from finished when the call comes to leave this world; but though the life of Jesus had been so short, he was ready to go.

He had done each day the work given him that day to do, and when the last hour of the last day came there was nothing that he had left undone. We ought to learn the lesson for ourselves and live as Jesus lived, so as to have every part of our work finished when the end comes. We can do this only by taking our portion of duty each day from God's hand and doing it faithfully. Then when the last day comes we shall leave nothing unfinished.

But what was it that was finished when Jesus bowed his head on the cross? The work of redemption was done. The atonement for sin was made. As Jesus died, the veil of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom, and access made into the holiest for all who would enter.

A famous picture represents Jesus lifted up, and beneath him an innumerable procession of the saints advancing out of the darkness and coming into the light of his cross. There can be no doubt that he had such a vision of redemption while he hung there, for we are told that who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2) ‒ that is, the joy of receiving home the souls he had redeemed.

"It is finished" was, therefore, a shout of victory as he completed his work of suffering and sacrifice. Death seemed like defeat, but it was not defeat. He went down into the grave, but not to stay there. He came again, like a glorious conqueror, and because he lives all his people shall live also.

346

LAST WORDS

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

Luke 23:46

THIS was the seventh and last of the words spoken on the cross. Jesus' work as Redeemer was now altogether done. His last word, "finished," marked its completion. Now he is ready to go back to his Father. Before him now lies the mystery of death. He is about to lose consciousness; his spirit is about to escape from his body. Here we see his calm, trustful faith. The terrible struggle is over, and he is at perfect peace.

The word "Father" which he here uses shows that his soul has recovered its serenity. A little while ago he was in the darkness, and felt himself forsaken. Now the darkness is gone, the full light shines again, and the Father's face beams upon him in loving approval. It is the first experience of the glorious joy of redemption, breaking over the Redeemer's soul, as he emerges from the shadows of his cross.

The words are uniquely instructive to us as a picture of a Christian dying. It is but a breathing of the spirit into the hands of the heavenly Father. It is natural to regard death as a strange and mysterious experience, and to think of it with shrinking, if not with fear.

We are leaving behind everything with which we are familiar ‒ the friends, the scenes, the paths, the life ‒ and are going out into an untried way, into what seems to us darkness, a valley of shadows. What is death? Where shall we be when we escape from the body? Will it be dark or light? Shall we be alone or accompanied?

Here comes this word of our Lord, and we learn that the believing soul when it leaves the body passes at once into the Father's hands. Surely that is enough for us to know. We shall be perfectly safe eternally if we are in our Father's hands. If we think thus of death it will have no terrors for us. No child is ever afraid to go into its father's hands, and that is all there is to dying for a believer.

347

THE RENT VEIL

The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

Matthew 27:51

THE veil was the symbol of separation from God. In the Holy of holies, behind the veil was the place where God's presence dwelt. Men could not pass the veil. The teaching was that God could not be approached by sinners. The way was not yet opened.

Once in a year the high priest went behind the veil, implying that there was access to God, but only through a priest. He went with blood ‒ never without it ‒ signifying that only by blood, by sacrifice, could God be approached.

The priest was a picture of Jesus, and his yearly entrance with blood into the Holy of holies was a constant foreshadowing of Jesus once entering with his own blood to make atonement.

The rending of this veil at the time of Jesus' death was not an accident caused by the earthquake. It was part of the symbolism ‒ the end, the completion of it. Men were no longer to be excluded from God's presence, since the great sacrifice had now been made.

The separating wall had been broken down by Jesus' death. Hence the symbol of this separation was also removed. This rending of the veil was therefore a supernatural act, teaching that the way of access to God was now and for ever open to all.

The fact that the veil was rent from top to bottom ‒ torn in two pieces ‒ signifies that the way is entirely opened. The veil is clean gone, the Holiest of all stands wide open with its mercy seat accessible to every sinner, without the intervention of any earthly priest.

The time at which this rending took place is important. It was just after Jesus had died, after he had cried, "It is finished." It was because the great atonement was now made that the way was opened.. As soon as the sacrifice had been made, the way to God was thrown open to all.

348

MINISTERING WOMEN

And many women were there, beholding afar off.

Matthew 27:55

THESE were the earliest of a great and gracious army of holy women attached to Jesus by deep, personal love, following and ministering to him. In all the ages since, Christian women have shown similar devotion and constancy to Jesus, and the same heroic love in serving him. The record of woman's ministry to Jesus is one of the brightest in all the world's history. Women owe an incalculable debt to Jesus. He has lifted them up from bondage and from degradation.

Women have always been grateful too, and have served Jesus with great devotion. Women are found in every sickroom, bending over the sufferer with unwearying solicitude, with matchless tenderness ministering to bodily comfort, and pouring the warmth of affection upon feverish spirits.

They are found in the wards of hospitals, and upon battlefields, moving like God's angels in blessed, loving ministry. Christian mothers are following the Master and doing work which will shine for ever in glorious lustre. Christian teachers are doing quiet service which in God's sight is nobler than that of many of earth's famous ones.

Everywhere, too, there are opportunities for woman's ministry. Jesus is no longer here in person to be served as he was served by these women that followed him from Galilee. But in his needy and suffering followers he is ever present, and whoever will, may minister unto him; for he said that in doing acts of kindness to the least of his we do them unto him.

The practical teaching is in the picture which is here held up before every woman, inspiring her to follow Jesus. Why will so many young girls choose a life of idle display, of aimless, purposeless existence, of mere dressing, and trivial activities, when such a life of glorious service is open to them?

349

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

Mark 15:43

JOSEPH had been a disciple of Jesus for some time before, but had lacked the courage to declare it boldly. He was rich and influential, and had feared the consequences of a public identification with Jesus. But now he throws away his timidity, and shows himself boldly as a friend of Jesus. He did it at a time when all the other disciples, even the apostles, were paralyzed with fear and afraid to speak.

He did it, too, at a time of greatest peril, when shame covered the name of Jesus, and the bitterness against him was intensest. He did it also at a time when faith had died in the hearts of all Jesus' friends, and when there could be no hope of personal gain as a reward for his act.

There were several reasons why Joseph made this bold confession at this time. One was because he was a true disciple, and true love for Jesus cannot always hide itself. Then, when he saw Jesus suffering so at the hands of his enemies, the loyalty of his own heart was strengthened, and he felt he must declare it.

When he saw Jesus dead, all the warm and long pent-up affection in his soul awoke. Then he saw how unworthy his conduct had been in hiding his friendship for Jesus at a time when confession would have done him good. It looks as if his act was an effort to atone for the imperfections of his former discipleship.

We must ever be grateful that Joseph gave Jesus such noble burial. Yet we cannot but remember that his love blossomed out too late. It is evident that his discipleship was incomplete, that it missed much of the blessing of open discipleship, and that even to himself it was far from satisfactory when the great crisis came.

Secret discipleship cannot always remain secret. It must at some time and in some way confess itself, regardless of what it may cost.

350

THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS

When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb.

Matthew 27:59-60

ACCORDING to the Roman custom, the bodies of those who were crucified were left hanging until they were eaten by birds and wild beasts. This barbarous custom being revolting to the Jews, an exception was made in their favour, and burial was permitted. If relatives or friends made application, the body of a crucified man would be given to them to be interred as they saw fit; but if none came it was thrown into a pit.

Had it not then been for Joseph and Nicodemus, the body of Jesus would have been cast, with the bodies of the robbers by his side, into the common receptacle for criminals. Thanks to the love of these hitherto secret disciples, though dying on a cross, our blessed Lord was buried like a king.

We may dwell with loving thought upon the scenes of this hour. First, the body was taken down, not by the rough, unfeeling soldiers, but by Joseph himself, aided by Nicodemus, and probably by some other friends. How tenderly this would be done we can imagine when we think of the love that was in the hearts of these friends. Then the blood was washed from the face, hands, feet, and side.

Next, the body was wrapped in linen, but it seems that because of the pressure of time the spices and the ointments were omitted. Then, with farewell kisses impressed on the silent lips by the loving, sorrowing friends who stood by. The face was covered with a napkin, and the body was tenderly borne to the tomb near at hand, amid garden plants and flowers, and was laid away to rest.

We cannot study this scene of the burial of our blessed Lord without rich spiritual profit. Shall we not, for one thing, seek to carry away a spirit of loving gentleness which shall make our love deeper and our touch softer as we go out among sorrowing ones?

351

THE SEPULCHRE

In the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre. ... There laid they Jesus.

John 19:41-42

AS we stand by this garden-tomb, many thoughts come to mind. Jesus touched life at every point. Beginning at infancy, he went through every phase, at last lying down in a grave. There is no path on which his footprints are not seen. There is no place any of us shall have to stand in of which we may not say, "Jesus was here. He passed through this experience; therefore he knows all about it." We may dread the grave; we may think of its darkness; but since Jesus has lain there, why should we fear its gloom?

Another lesson comes from the fact that this tomb was provided for Jesus by his friends. Writers have noted this as another mark of his humiliation. When he was born, his cradle was a borrowed manger. During his ministry Jesus said, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head (Luke 9:58). When he died, he was buried in a borrowed grave.

Another thought, as we look at the tomb, is how hopeless everything seemed for the time. He on whom the disciples had leaned as the Messiah is now silent in death, his work apparently finished. All the expectations based on him depended on his living to ascend a throne. It certainly seemed now to his friends that all was over. Yet the grave was simply the gateway to glory.

As we see it now, in the light that streams from the good news of salvation, it interrupted no plan, quenched no light, destroyed no hope. When shall we learn to bring the truth of immortality into our own faith and hopes? We stand by the graves of our Christian friends almost as disconsolate as were these friends of Jesus about his grave.

Why shall we not learn faith? Death ends nothing for those who die in the Lord ‒ nothing except struggle, sorrow, and sin. No hopes perish when a Christian is buried. Just beyond, is glory.

352

LOVE AND SORROW

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

Mark 15:47

IT was a loving watch, but a hopeless one, which those devoted women kept. To their faith, their Jesus was lost, because their faith had taken in only an earthly idea of Messiahship. Death was the end of all the hope they had yet learned to cherish.

It surely was a dark hour for the disciples when that Friday's sun sank in the west. Satan seemed to have conquered and utterly destroyed the good seed of life which God had sent down from heaven. A Persian fable says that the earth was created a great barren plain, without tree or plant. An angel was sent to scatter broadcast the choicest seeds on every spot.

Satan, seeing the seeds on the ground, supposed that the sowing of the seeds was God's work, and determined to destroy it. So he buried all the seeds in the soil, and summoned sun and rain to make them rot away. But while with evil feeling of triumph he smiled on the ruin he had wrought, the seeds which had been buried away to rot germinated and sprang up, clothing all the earth with plants and flowers, and in beauty undreamed of before. And a voice said from heaven, "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die."

The application of this fable is obvious. The burial of Jesus was thought by his enemies to be the end, but in truth this was the very way to the glory of Jesus. He himself had said, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (John 12:24).

Jesus' burial in the grave was the necessary way to his final and glorious victory. So now when we lay our beloved Christian dead in the grave, it is in the assured hope of blessed resurrection. The grave is but the shaded way to glory,

353

THE FIRST AT THE SEPULCHRE

When the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

Mark 16:1-2

NOTHING shines more brightly in the story of our Lord's cross and tomb than the loving faithfulness of his women friends. They were last at his cross, and first at his tomb when the Sabbath was past. They came very early in the morning, as the day was but dawning. They must have been up much of the night preparing their spices and ointments.

Hope had died in their hearts when they saw Jesus dead and laid away in the tomb, but love had not died. They had not forgotten the blessings they had received from his hand, and though they had been disappointed in their Messianic expectations, they were eager to do all that could be done to honour his memory.

There are lessons in this picture that are so obvious that they need scarcely be written out. One is that no matter how dark the hour, our love for Jesus should never fail. Though our expectations fail of realization, though our blossoms of hope fade and fall and yield no fruit, still let us cling to Jesus.

Our disappointments often prove the richest blessings in the end. It was so with these faithful women. Their Messianic hopes were buried and never rose, but the true Messianic hopes came in full glory from the grave's gloom. So is it always with faith's hopes that seem to perish: they come again in immortal beauty.

Another lesson is that in the expression of our love for Jesus, we should bring to him the very richest and best that our hearts can find or our hands can prepare. Still another lesson is that we ought always to come early in our service of love for Jesus.

We ought to come to him in life's morning, while youth's purity and freshness are unsullied. We ought also to seek him in the morning of each day, so that not one golden moment may be lost.

354

THE STONE ROLLED AWAY

They said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

Mark 16:3-4

WE are all alike. Even these holy women on this most sacred errand went forward expecting trouble. There was a stone in the way that must be rolled aside, and they had not strength to do it. Naturally enough, they began to be anxious as to the removal of this obstacle. When they came near they saw that the obstacle had been already removed. The Divine love had been before them, preparing the way. An angel had rolled the stone aside.

The lesson is very simple and beautiful. We go forward worrying about the difficulties that lie before us, wondering how we can ever get through them, or who will remove them out of our way. Then when we come up to them we find that they are gone. Someone has been there before us and has taken them away. God always opens the way of duty for us if we quietly move on.

This also applies to someone beginning a Christian life. Many people shrink from it. They say, "I never can be faithful. I never can do the duties. I never can bear the burdens." But as they enter and go on, they find that an unseen and mighty Helper goes on before and prepares the way.

The hard tasks become easy, and the heavy burdens grow light. It is so all through the Christian life. God's commandment seems impossible to obey. Walls of stone seem built across the path we are required to walk. But as we go on, the commandment is easy, and a gateway is opened in the wall.

Love and faith always have an advance of angels to roll away stones. The practical lesson is that we are never to hesitate or shrink back because obstacles seem to lie before us. We are to go right on, and God will take them away for us.

When he wants us to go anywhere he will open the path for our feet. Knowing this, we may go on feeling confident of our own safety.

355

THE EMPTY TOMB

Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus.

Matthew 28:5

IT must have been a glad errand to the angel who was sent to minister at the grave of the Redeemer, to roll the stone away, to keep watch at the empty sepulchre, and tell the good tidings to the disciples who came with such heavy hearts. The message was one of great joy. Jesus, whom his friends sought dead, was alive again for evermore. He had been in the grave, but he was not there now.

The empty tomb has many glorious voices. It tells us first that Jesus actually died. He was buried here, in this place. His head lay there, his feet here. Here are the grave clothes, the pieces of fine linen which gentle hands wound around him. Here is the napkin that covered his face. He lay exactly here. Look at the place and mark it well, and never forget that he actually was dead. This is important, for upon his death your acceptance with God depends.

But look again. The grave is empty now. He was here, but he is not here now, for he is risen. The grave is empty. Here are the grave clothes, but there is no body. He is gone. The empty tomb tells of resurrection. Death could not hold Jesus. He burst its bands and conquered the grave's power.

This is important, for a dead Jesus could not have saved us. Had he never risen, how could he have stood for us before God? How could he be our help in weakness, our support in trial, our Comforter, our Friend, if his dust lay even now in the grave? Therefore he is alive to intercede for us, to help us, to save us.

Still another truth which the empty tomb teaches us is that all who sleep in Jesus shall rise too. One precious word of Scripture says: But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). So let us learn to see through the grave to the life beyond.

356

GO AND TELL PETER

Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter.

Mark 16:7

WHY "and Peter"? Why was Peter named, and none of the other disciples? Had Peter been the most loyal and faithful of all the Master's friends, that he deserved such a mark of distinction as this? Oh no, we remember how Peter had fallen. The last word that had dropped upon the ear of Jesus from Peter's lips was a bitter word of denial. He had acted worse than any other of the disciples.

Why, then, did Jesus send this special word to Peter? It was because he had sinned. That last look of the Saviour broke his heart, and he went out into the night a penitent man, weeping bitterly. Those had been dark days for him since Jesus died. Not only was he overwhelmed with sorrow at the death of his Lord, whom he truly and most dearly loved, but his grief was made bitter beyond endurance by the remembrance of his own denial at the very last.

Deep must his sorrow have been, and all the deeper because he would never be able to ask forgiveness. How he must have longed to have Jesus back, if but for one moment, to confess his sin and beg for pardon!

Jesus left this special word for Peter with the angel at the tomb, because he knew of the bitterness of his disciple's sorrow. Peter might have been saying, when he heard Jesus had risen, "Perhaps he will not own me any more." So Jesus sent this message with Peter's name in it specially, just to let him know that he was forgiven and would not be cast off.

What a world of comfort there is in this "and Peter" for any who have sinned and are repenting! Those who have fallen are the very ones who receive the deepest, tenderest compassion from Jesus, because they need it most, and because he would help them to rise again. The gospel always has its special word for the repentant ‒ Jesus still comes to call the sinner.

357

MARY MAGDALENE

She turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

John 20:14

THE story of Mary of Magdala is one of very tender interest. Jesus had wrought for her a very wonderful deliverance, casting out the seven demons that possessed her. From that time her devotion to Jesus was such that she followed him wherever he went, ministering to him. She was one of those who watched by his cross and tomb, and came early to do honour to his body. In return for her loving devotion, Jesus appeared first to her on the morning he arose.

But when she saw Jesus she did not know him, though her heart was crying out for him with intense yearning. As she stood talking with the angel, she heard a step behind her, and turned, and there Jesus stood. Yet she did not recognize him, though she loved him so much, and though her heart was hungering for him. She was thinking of him as dead, and she did not know him when he stood before her alive.

Another reason she did not know Jesus was that her eyes were so full of tears she could not see him. Many a time it is the same with us. We need Jesus, and our hearts are crying out for him; yet when he comes to us we do not know him, and therefore fail to receive comfort from his presence.

There is a painting which represents a mother in deep distress, yet close by her is an angel bending over her to comfort her, his fingers touching at the same time the strings of the harp in his hands. But she is so absorbed in her own grief that she neither sees the angel nor hears his celestial music.

So her heart goes uncomforted and still breaking while the comfort is so close at hand. We should look up to Jesus when we are in sorrow. If we look down only, we shall never see the beauties and glories of his face, and our hearts shall be uncomforted though he is close beside us.

358

WHY WEEPEST THOU?

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?

John 20:15

THERE really was no cause for tears; for Jesus, whom she mourned as dead, was living. Does not Jesus ask the same question now of many a mourner, "Why weepest thou?" We cannot restrain our tears when a dear friend is taken from us, and there is nothing wrong in such tears. Jesus himself wept beside the grave of his friend Lazarus whom he was about to raise to life.

But with too many, the grief at loss of dear ones is unsubmissive, unbelieving, even rebellious. When a Christian dies, he but departs to be with his Lord. Can we therefore weep for him? Surely not; death to him is glorious gain. Shall we weep because he is with Jesus, in eternal blessedness; because he is past all pain and trial; because he has been exalted to a place in the King's palace? Shall we blame God, and weep bitter, rebellious tears, because he has taken one of his own children away from us?

Does God make mistakes? Are we not sure of his love? Was it in anger that he came and caused us such grief? May we not be sure that the sorrow which came with such a heavy blow was really God's best kindness for us, as well as for the loved one he took to himself? Is it not sin, then, for us to weep without any sweet submission and loving acquiescence?

"Mother, I see you with your nursery light,

Leading your babies, all in white,

To their sweet rest;

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, carries mine tonight,

And that is best.

"But grief is selfish: I cannot see

Always why I should so stricken be,

More than the rest;

But I know that, as well as for them, for me

God did the best."

Helen Hunt Jackson

359

RABBONI

Jesus saith unto her, Mary.

John 20:16

JESUS had not forgotten Mary's name in his experience of death. It was the ancient pagan belief that death washed from the soul all memory of the earthly life ‒ its loves, its sorrows, all its recollections. But here we see Jesus on the other side of death, and the old affections are found unchanged in him. He met Mary and his other friends, and took up the threads of the tender story of love just where they had been broken off three days before, when he died.

This fact ought to be very comforting. Love is stronger than death. When our friends pass through death, whatever changes may be wrought in them or upon them, we know that there will be no change in their love for us. Death will not sever the ties that bind Christian hearts together on the earth. We shall meet again in the afterlife and remember each other, and love each other as before, and take up the old threads of affection, and go on weaving love's web for ever.

When Jesus had called Mary and she recognized him by his voice, she at once answered him in the one word Rabboni! ‒ My Master! This name by which she called him showed the loyalty of her heart, and the consecration of her life to him.

Many people get only a half conception of our Christian faith. They believe in Jesus as a Saviour, but do not think of him as Lord ‒ their own personal Lord. They think of faith only as trusting for salvation, and do not understand it also as obedience and service.

Mary had the true conception. Her answer to Jesus' call implied the surrender of herself to him. All true faith accepts Jesus in two ways and under two names. First, it receives him as Saviour, trusting in Jesus alone for salvation. "Simply to thy cross I cling." Next, it accepts him as Lord, Rabboni, yielding the life to him. The saved soul owes obedience, submission, loyalty, and service.

360

I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord.

John 20:18

We began with the birth of Jesus, and now we come to the hour of restored joy, which is even richer and deeper, because it's fuller than the joy of the Saviour's birth. Christmas tells of the first coming of Jesus to earth, with blessings for a lost world. But Jesus was lost to his disciples when he went down into the darkness of death. Mary's message is of a Saviour come again from the darkness, and come beyond death in immortal life.

Only part of the joy came with the birth. Here we have the full joy, telling of accomplished redemption and glorious victory over death and the grave. Hope was lost on the Friday of Jesus' death ‒ now the stars are shining again, never again to be eclipsed.

So this really is the full Christmas message. It tells not merely of a Saviour born, but also of a Saviour that has lived, obeyed, suffered, died, and risen again, and is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him (Hebrews 7:25). The shepherds and the Magi found but a little babe when they came to see the newborn King. We see a Saviour with the print of the nails in his hands and feet, who has wrought a full and glorious redemption for the world.

Jesus appeared to Mary after he had come again from death. Yet death had not extinguished one beam of his brightness. The resurrection was a picture and prophecy of the future resurrection of all who believe in him and sleep in him. It shows us therefore that death does not mean destruction, is not the end of life. It is but an incident, an experience, and life goes on afterward without loss or disfigurement.

We ought to try to learn this blessed truth. Life is not worth living which is bounded by earth's little horizon and does not reach out into immortality. Indeed, we do not really begin to live until we are living for immortality.

361

THE WALK TO EMMAUS

While they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near.

Luke 24:15

THESE two friends, as they walked along with heavy hearts, had only one theme ‒ they were talking of their sore loss and of him whom they had lost. They were so intensely absorbed in their sorrow as they talked of it, that they were not aware of the near approach of a stranger until he had drawn up to them and joined them.

Jesus always draws near when his friends are talking about him. An Old Testament prophet wrote, They that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name (Malachi 3:15).

Here is something more. Two of Jesus' friends talk about him, and he comes and joins them. How much those Christian people miss who meet and pass hours together, and have no theme of conversation but the gossip of society, filled with backbiting and bits of malicious criticism and mischievous scandal, but without one single word about Jesus!

Does anyone suppose that the Lord takes notice of such conversation, or puts it down in his book of remembrance? Yes, he hears every word of the talk, and every word goes down in a book of remembrance, and we must give account for every idle word. But he does not listen and record that conversation in the sense the prophet meant, with loving pleasure. Does anyone think Jesus will draw near and become one of any such party of Christians as often gather in parlours, deliciously feeding on every bit of fresh gossip, but with never a word about their Redeemer?

What a blessing every hour of conversation would bring if we would only talk together of Jesus and his kingdom! He would then draw near and join us, adding the joy of his presence to our hearts.

Shall we not talk together more of our Lord?

362

ABIDE WITH US

They constrained him, saying, Abide with us.

Luke 24:29

IF the two disciples had not urged Jesus to stay with them, he would have passed on, and they would have missed the blessed enjoyment of his company ‒ and the disclosure of himself which he made to them at the end. The lesson is for us. No doubt we miss many rich comforts and blessings because we do not earnestly urge Jesus to tarry with us.

He loves to be constrained. He does not go where he is not really and earnestly desired, where his presence is not eagerly sought after. Only love in us can receive and enjoy Jesus' love.

The only reason we do not have more of the blessed fellowship with Jesus is because we really do not want more. He is willing to be our abiding guest, entering into every experience with us in our work, in our pleasures, in our social life, in our temptations and trials; but many of us do not want him always with us.

His presence would interfere with our methods of business, or with our way of living, or with our enjoyments and amusements. We do not then strongly urge ‒ constrain ‒ him to abide with us, and he passes on, and we miss the blessing he would bring.

If we were truly to desire Jesus to abide always with us, he would never go away. What a life of benediction and joy we should live if he were indeed always with us! Unbroken communion with him would hold heaven close about us all the while, and thus these sordid earthly lives of ours would be permeated and struck through with the sweetness and fragrance of holiness, and transformed into the likeness of Jesus himself.

Then all life's experiences would be transfigured. Joy would be purer, and even sorrow would be illumined. All through life this should be our continual prayer; then in death our earthly communion shall brighten into heavenly glory.

363

PRIZE PRESENT BLESSINGS

Their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Luke 24:31

ALL along the way Jesus had walked with these disciples, pouring the warmth of his spirit on them, but they did not recognize him until the moment of his vanishing out of their sight. It is the same with us and many of our best blessings. We do not recognize them till they are taking their flight.

We do not prize health till it is broken. Our common privileges we do not value till something deprives us of them. Our homes appear old-fashioned, till we are thrown upon the world homeless.

It is the same with our friends. We do not see the beauties of their character, nor perceive their real worth, until in some way we have lost them. This is especially true of the friends who are nearest to us. They seem to us commonplace, that we do not learn their value to us.

But some day one of these friends vanishes out of our sight. The familiar form is seen no more. The voice of tender love is heard no more. The quiet, gentle ministry ceases. Tomorrow we miss the friend, then in the vanishing we learn what they were to us. Very sadly one has sung:

And she is gone; sweet human love is gone!

'Tis only when they spring to heaven that angels

Reveal themselves to you; they sit all day

Beside you, and lie down at night by you

Who care not for their presence, muse or sleep,

And all at once they leave you, and you know them!

We are so fooled, so cheated!

Robert Browning

Should we not get a lesson here? Shall we not try to prize our blessings while we have them? The vacant chair should not be the first revealer of a loving friend.

364

REJOICE IN THE LORD

Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.

John 20:20

JESUS' death had caused them great sorrow. To have him back again from death gave them unspeakable joy. Indeed, there never would have been any Christian joy if Jesus had not risen from the dead. It was necessary that he should die for our sins; but if he had died and remained in the grave, no benefit could have come to us from his dying.

A dead mother cannot do anything for her children; nor could a dead Saviour have helped those who trusted in him. We need a living Saviour, to whose feet we can creep with our penitence when we have sinned, and in whose hands we can be kept in safety until we reach glory.

We need a living Friend who will bless us by his rich love; whose strong arm will hold us up in weakness, and defend us in temptation; whose presence will restrain us from sin, and inspire in us all good thoughts and holy desires and aspirations.

We want a living Comforter who will stand for us in heaven and plead our cause there, and stand by us on the earth in all our imperilled life.

We want a living personal Caretaker who will look after all our interests, plan for our lives, order our steps, and provide for all our needs.

We want a Prince who has won for us the battle over death and the grave and is able therefore to bring us also from under the power of death.

No wonder, then, that the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, when they had him back again from the dead.

We should be glad too, and rejoice in the glorious truth of Jesus' resurrection. We have a living Saviour. We have One in heaven who loves us. Our Redeemer holds the keys of death. No dark grave can hold us or any of ours who sleep in Jesus. We can enjoy as real communion with Jesus as did his first disciples, because he lives and is one with us.

365

LOVEST THOU ME?

Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? ... Feed my lambs. ... Feed my sheep.

John 21:15-16

THERE are several great lessons which we should learn from Peter's restoration. One is that the first essential in a Christian worker is love for Jesus himself. Wisdom will not do. Eloquence will not do. We may delight in the work itself.

People sometimes talk about a "passion for souls" as essential in one who would work for Jesus; but this is not enough. Nothing less than a passion for Jesus himself will do to fit one for labour for souls.

"I have but one passion, and that is He, and He alone," said a great missionary. When we love Jesus with all our heart, and not till then, are we ready to do his work. He will not entrust the care of his flock to any who are not loyal to him and do not love him. "Lovest thou me?" comes before "Feed my lambs."

Another thought here for workers is that they must feed the souls entrusted to their care. Entertainment is not the object, but feeding, spiritual feeding. But what is food for souls? Nothing but Jesus himself; and the way to feed others on Jesus is to open up for them the holy Word, that they may see Jesus and learn to love him and trust him and do his will. We must be sure that we give true soul food, the pure Word of God, to those whom we undertake to feed.

But more than feeding is here instructed. The Master's words vary here: he bade Peter feed the lambs and tend the sheep; that is, give them all shepherd care ‒ love, protection, guidance, provision. The most important and responsible work in all this world is caring for souls.

The responsibility rests, not on pastors alone, but upon all parents, all teachers, all Christians. We dare not do this work carelessly. It would be a terrible thing if through our negligence any soul should be marred or lost. They are Jesus' lambs and Jesus' sheep that we are set to shepherd ‒ we must be faithful.

366

FOLLOW ME

When he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

John 21:19

WE have come now to the last page. For a whole year in these daily readings we have been walking with Jesus. Is there any better word with which to close this book than this last invitation of Jesus ‒ "Follow me"? This is the true outcome of all learning of Jesus. Mere knowledge, even of spiritual things, avails nothing, unless it leads us to follow Jesus.

We have seen Jesus in all the different phases of his life. We have heard many of his words. Now it remains only for us to follow him. The outcome of seeing and knowing should be living and doing. Who is satisfied with their life as it appears in retrospect from these evening shadows?

The past, however blotted, must go as it is. We cannot change it, and we need not waste time in regretting. But the next year is before us, and if we would make that better than the stained past, it must be by following Jesus more closely.

To follow Jesus is to go where he leads, without questioning or demurring. It may be to a life of trial, suffering, or sacrifice ‒ but no matter, we have nothing whatever to do with the kind of life to which our Lord calls us. Our only simple duty is to obey and follow. We know that Jesus will lead us only in right paths, and that the way he takes slopes upward and ends at the feet of God.

The future is unopened, and we know not what shall befall us, but if we follow Jesus we need have no fear. So let us continue with gratitude to God for his mercies, with penitence for our failures and sins, and let us with earnest resolve in Jesus' name to make the next twelve months the best and most beautiful year we have ever lived.

THE END

Return to Contents

White Tree Publishing publishes mainstream evangelical Christian literature for people of all ages. We aim to make our eBooks available free for all eBook devices, but some distributors will only list our books free at their discretion, and may make a small charge for some titles ― but they are still great value! All our books are fully typeset. No "photocopies" or bad OCR. So check for our name, White Tree Publishing, before downloading! Long sentences and paragraphs are broken into shorter lengths, and modern punctuation is used for easier reading. Many books are sensitively abridged, but in all our books no doctrine or teaching is changed. The full list of over one hundred published and forthcoming books is on our website www.whitetreepublishing.com. Please visit there regularly for updates.

More books by JR Miller from White Tree Publishing are shown on the next pages. Over 100 books by various Christian authors are available from White Tree Publishing in non-fiction and fiction, for adults and younger readers. For more details of each title and cover photo, and the full list of published and forthcoming books, go to our website www.whitetreepublishing.com. Please visit there regularly for updates.

We rely on our readers to tell their families, friends and churches about our books. Social media is a great way of doing this. Take a look at our range of fiction and non-fiction books and pass the word on. You can even contact your Christian TV or radio station to let them know about these books. Also, please write a positive review if you are able.

Return to Contents

Secrets of Happy Home Life

JR Miller

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-16-2

What lies ahead for the newly married couple on the cover of this book? Will they have children and live a happy, fulfilled life? Can there be such a thing as the truly happy family? Such a family may be the exception, but is God content with a Christian home where there are constant upsets and quarrels? Is there a good way to live, according to New Testament teaching? This short book, written in 1894, is a surprisingly modern look at Christian family life. JR Miller shows how Paul's teaching on the duties of husband and wife can produce harmony, although he says many have misunderstood this teaching and taken it to unbalanced, unscriptural extremes, causing tension or even an impossible relationship. It is clear that in a Christian family, not only the parents, but the child, or children, have a vital role to play in creating a happy home life.

JR Miller writes, "This book may come into the hands of some whose home happiness has been shattered. ... It would be a comfort to the author if these simple words should put fresh hope into a discouraged heart, and thus be the hand to help restore the home to its true place."

Help for the Day

JR Miller

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-29-2

Thoughts for every day of the year, by J. R. Miller, that are both challenging and helpful. Some readers may prefer to ignore the days, and read several days at a time, or perhaps select a thought to form the basis of a talk or magazine article. There is something here for everyone who wants to grow in the Christian life, and know the inner peace that only God can bring to their soul. Miller is aware of just how we often struggle to live out our faith and find God's calling in our lives, and he shares his insight and long experience in the ministry. Readers can start at any time of the year, as the thought for each day is a separate unit.

A Gentle Heart

JR Miller

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-46-9

Gentleness has to be learned, says J R Miller. In this book he writes, "Gentleness is a beautiful quality. It is essential to all true character. Nobody admires ungentleness in a man or woman. When a man is harsh, cold, unfeeling, unkind, rude and rough in his manner, no one speaks of his fine spirit. When a woman is loud-voiced, dictatorial, petulant, given to speaking bitter words and doing unkind things, no person is ever heard saying of her, "What a lovely disposition she has!" She may have many excellent qualities, and may do much good, but her ungentleness mars the beauty of her character.

"No amount of good Christian teaching will ever make up for the lack of affection in parents toward children. A gentleman said the other day, 'My mother was a good woman. She insisted on her boys going to church and Sunday school, and taught us to pray. But I do not remember that she ever kissed me.' The mother was a woman of lofty principle, but cold, undemonstrative, repressed, wanting in tenderness.

"We find it hard to be gentle always and to all kinds of people. Perhaps we can be gentle on sunny days, but when the east wind blows we grow fretful and lose our sweetness. Or we can be gentle without much effort to some gentle spirited people, while perhaps we are almost unbearably ungentle to others. We are gracious and sweet to those who are gracious to us; but when people are rude to us, when they treat us unkindly, when they seem unworthy of our love, it is not so easy to be gentle to them. Yet that is the lesson which is everywhere taught in the Scriptures, and which the Master has set for us."

Finding God's Comfort

JR Miller

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-61-2

It is clear from the Bible that God's people are not always spared from suffering. If they were, the churches would not be able to cope with the vast numbers of people wanting to become Christians to avoid suffering! In this book, JR Miller takes a look at the life of Job and unmerited suffering.

Miller writes, "We must be careful never to misrepresent God. We must be careful not to profess to be his interpreters, telling others what God means, why he does this or that, lest we speak of him the thing that is not right. The friends of Job made that mistake. They thought they understood God's meaning and purposes in Job's trials, and they pressed the thoughts upon the suffering man, adding to his pain and grief. But they had spoken about that of which they knew nothing and had done only harm."

Like a loving father holding his child's hand, God leads Job through the darkness into his light. Miller concludes this short book of four chapters by saying, "We do not find comfort by staying in the darkness of our own grief, by thinking only of it. We must forget ourselves and begin to serve others, and seek their good, before we can find the light of God's comfort. Selfishness in sorrow is selfishness, and selfishness in any form misses God's blessing. We begin to find joy only when in self forgetfulness we begin to help others."

There are two versions in this book. Version 1 is slightly updated wording in places, with Miller's original quotations from the American Standard Version of the Bible ‒ the ASV.

Version 2 also has slightly updated wording in places, and quotations from the modern English Standard Version ‒ the ESV.

Added in both versions are chapter and verse reference to all Miller's quotations from Scripture, both for the Book of Job and other Books in the Old and New Testament, so the reader can look up the verses in a Bible version of their choice.

Blessings of Cheerfulness

JR Miller

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-70-4

We are set in this world to be happy. We should not falter in our great task of happiness, nor move ever among our fellows with shadows on our face when we ought to have sunlight.

We have a mission to others ‒ to add to their cheer. This we cannot do unless we have first learned the lesson of cheerfulness ourselves. We cannot teach what we do not know. We cannot give what we do not have.

It may seem a hard lesson to learn. Nevertheless, it is one you want to learn, and one you can learn, if you will surrender your life wholly to the great Teacher.

Return to Contents

