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A MARVELLOUS EXPERIENCE. CONTAINING FOR CHRISTIANS, SCEPTICS, AND WORLDLINGS. BY H. T. PALMER \Vancouver, Trythall, City Printing Works, 50 Cordova Street certificate. Vancouver, March^27th, 1893. O DO HEREBY CERTIFY, that the things written in this Book, referring to my visit to another world, and experience of leaving the body on different occasions, in March, A. D. 1888, and the nine visions which God has given in answer to prayer in connection with this work, were positively realized by me, and that it is not fiction, superstition, or fancy. And, furthermore, that this work has been written under the influence resulting therefrom ; written under the directions of God, through the key of communication, for the advancement of His kingdom, and for his glory : in whose presence I place my signature ; whereby I certify to the above statement. (Signed) Henry Thomas Palmer. INDEX ITHIN the reach of every child of God, there is a key of communion by which to. communicate with Him ; and by which, always, to receive a direct command in reply : a mysterious, yet easy way to talk with God. Each communication—as a covenant—is binding on your part, to be fulfilled according as the Lord directs. For instance, if through this key you ask the Lord to direct you in the way that you should go, or should act, in reference to anything that might bear upon your social or spiritual welfare, and with a natural expecting;—therefore living faith—fully decided to do your part in obedience, through the covenant, to God's will, you perform the covenantal rules, then the Lord will answer and never fail to lead you in the right way : but you must abide by His decision. The command in reply is always received, without delay, just as easy as a message through the telephone, but you must have the same kind of natural expecting, living faith in God, as you would have in the man at the other end of the telephone. This covenantal key has long been sealed to all, and ever will be sealed to those who know no£ God. Therefore, we have not given the full particulars concerning it. Its substance is composed of love, faith, and obedience on uur part, in connection with the Bible and Bible numbers Without the pearls of faith and obedience, no man can use; this key, bv which every sentence of this book has been accepted by the Lord, and that which was not accepted has not been written. Difficult points were made clear and plain through it, by the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. I VICTORY, THROUGH CHRIST | Not by might nor by power, but by my word saith the Lord." *fKjO man by mental shrewdness, or by physical force, can gain one single victory for his soul, or climb one step towards the standard of a consecrated life upon the great ladder of love, which our Lord has brought from heaven to earth, that we might ascend and be transplanted into another, better world. The first great standard platform, of this consecration ladder, is the new birth (John iii., 7) 1 Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again." Born of the Spirit of God, cleansed from the disease of sin, justified by the atoning blood of Christ, placed upon the Rock of God's mercy, sanctified, set aside from the guilty nature that seized Adam and Eve which caused them to hide from the presence of the Lord. The second great standard is a sanctified body, consecrated to the service of God, made free from the power of the great temptations—the besetting powers that controlled and dragged the soul into sin. Sanctified, brought into obedience, made subject to the will — 6 of the soul. This standard, which cannot be attained unless you follow Jesus wherever he may lead, represents a sanctified, but not perfect Christian. The third is the highest standard of God's golden ladder of love and righteousness, to which man in this body can attain. A sanctification unto holiness ; a life hid with Christ in God, free from' the world's temptations, doubts and fears ; ever rejoicing in the Lord, because the presence of God is ever with them, filling their souls with praises. Planted by the waters of the River of Life, yielding forth the fruits of Righteousness, resting in the peace and light of God. From this high standard only, can man or woman go forth and lay down their life unto death as a martyr for the Lord's cause. And yet we cannot reach perfection even in this life of Holiness, but must wait until promoted to the higher life, within the pearly gates of paradise above. The wanderer may ask, How do you Christians know these things ? We know them by experience. We know that the guilt is gone, and peace instead now fills our soul. We know that the tempter's power is broken ; and feel the freedom of Salvation. We know the blessed fellowship of love divine and feel the Father's hand that guides us day by day, as we feed upon the riches of God's unbounded grace. This, dear reader, is not only the experience of the writer, but of countless thousands, whose robes are washed, 7 whose lamps were filled and shining with the presence of the Lord. Whose foot-prints on life's ocean here below, will never cease to guide the wanderer to life's better way ; who shine as stars in Heaven for ever, and forever more. Now, if you are not, you may and ought to be, of this noble standard, living in the atmosphere of infinite love. Jesus is waiting to bless you. O come with us, and taste of the riches of grace in the presence of God. We have been to the fountain, and know of its manna most sweet ; and long for the hungry to taste it. Will you come to this fountain ? Come and eat. I pray that each reader may know it and find it in Christ, a salvation complete. With a deep longing for souls, as in the very presence of God, under His controlling will we write, while drinking of His own sweet.presence, which fills every soul with light, and love divine, who closely follow all the guidance of His most blessed will. As in the presence of Jehovah, who knows man's inmost thoughts; whose invitation is but a command to duty, in obedience to His word. This book is not a fable, a theory, or an imaginary picture made by one to excite the admiration of others, but the true, the real and personal experience of the writer, who expects soon to render an account of all the deeds of this life, whether they be good or whether they be evil, and to be rewarded accordingly before a pure and just God, who cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance ; before — 8 — whom the liar, the deceiver, and the false witness is art abomination, and so realize the responsibility placed upon me. We have been careful to please God rather than man. It is plain to the average reader that this work is not intended for any one class on earth, but for all. Its mission is the advancement of the kingdom of God, and its nature is love : a little spark of God's unbounded love : so may it shine to glorify our God who leads His people here, for beneath the banner of His own, sweet, perfect love, the living Church of God moves on triumphantly ; kept in the hollow of His own most glorious hand led forth to victory. A grand eternal victory, for her Lord. On earth her sins are covered with a crimson stain, from off the cleansing fountain, reflecting the sweet presence of the King of Kings, proclaiming God is love, making her very life and character reflect once more the image of her Master. In Heaven, her living garments all spotless and unstained by sin, sparkling with the splendor of His presence, speaks more perfectly of His unbounded love. His very presence fills the soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory. In a vision, while bathing in the sweet calm of gentle sleep, we stood upon the thick, massive, but only partly constructed walls of a building ; the mortar of which was so wet and soft, that the wall commenced to crumble to the ground. We decided to save the bricks and to wait for a more convenient — 9 season in which to build ; but was shown another larger, grander building, than we expected to construct. This was the guiding hand of our loving, Heavenly Father. We awoke to a higher sense of the work which lay before us and decided to wait and watch more carefully the directions of the Lord, and to write only as directed by the Holy Ghost, accepted of Him, through the key of communication with the Lord, the result of which you may find within the following pages of this book. Read Luke xvii., 20-26. Not with observation and outward show or earthly pomp or power, but with righteousness and meekness. A kingdom of love. We need not expect the Lord to come in form, visible to our mortal eyes, during this, the Gospel age which is drawing to a close. The kingdom of God is within you ; you who are redeemed, sanctified. The bride is being gathered into ths feast of the marriage supper here and promoted from this to the great majority, to join the grander feast above. The apostles would desire to see the gospel spread as it is to-day over the world, but did not see it. Theirs was a time of light and martyrdom ; ours of- light and freedom. In this, the day of the Son of Man, rehVion is free and the beautiful light of the Son of Man, the Star of Bethlehem, flashing across from heart to heart and from nation to nation, lights the whole face of the waters of the earth with His glory, raising the 10 — heathen from their darkness. Christians must first suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. The suffering is past, the victory of our redemption won, and Christ the King of Kings is ruling the affairs of His kingdom in this world, purging His floor and gathering His wheat into the garners of another. (Verses 27-33.) As people were living in sin and for self at the time of Noah and of Let, so in this the present day, when Christ is revealed, and with all the responsibilities of gospel light, men are living for self; living in sin, unless sanctified by the love of God to his service. You cannot serve two masters. Now is the day of the Lord and thousands of souls are lighted with the beautiful rays of His presence, stamping upon them His own unchanging likeness and image, His character of love. Thousands are following Satan across the sinking sands of time, being stamped with his nature of sin, and fitted for his abode of darkness and hate. Now is the gospel age. Now is the coming of the Son of Man, and thousands every day are being divested of their earthly tabernacle and are taken unawares from time into eternity, prepared or unprepared. They behold the coming of the Son of Man : some from the field, some from the shop, and some from their beds, to behold the coming of the Son of Man. Then, must they appear in their nature of sin and hate, or cleansed and sanctified. The re- II deemed are taken to enjoy God's presence forever, but the lost who rejected and closed their hearts against God's mercy, are left to the adversary of their souls, to await the last great day of judgment. Whosoever seek the things of this life, can lay up no treasures in Heaven ; therefore lose their life, its privileges of preparing for the eternal world, the new Jerusalem above. If there we would live and reign as kings and priests unto God, we must be members of his body here ; circumcised in heart, those who are circumcised in flesh only, are not of the Israel of God. The remnant of Israel to be gathered, are being gathered, the Apostles and followers of Christ, are being assembled there, and the Throne of David most gloriously triumphant, is being established pure and undefiled. The Bride in the New Jerusalem above, the place of the marriage supper, all who enter there, must go beneath the blood-stained banner of the Cross. Israelites circumcised in heart. (Acts xv., 14, 17.) Simeon hath declared how God at the first, did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name ; 15, and to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written ; 16, after this I will return, and will build again the Tabernacle of David, which is fallen down and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up ; 17, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things- — 12 — He whose heart is not circumcised, whether Jew or Gentile, is not meant to surround the Throne of David, the new Jerusalem above, for sin cannot dwell there, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us. Simeon hath declared how that God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. After this I will return, and will build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord. The Tabernacle of David : meaning the body of sanctified ones upon earth. The body of Him who is sanctified, set apart in love to the- service of God, is but a part of the Tabernacle of David, the Tabernacle of the immortal soul, the Temple of the Living God, know ye not that ye are temples of the living God. Just think in comparison, of the body as the metal, and of the soul as the electricity, while you examine a wire charged «with the fluid, you can see and feel nothing but the metal, yet you know that in and all around it, there is a continual electric current of several hundred horse power, driving the cumbersome train from station to station. When that same fluid passes out into other metal, under other circumstances, it may both be seen and felt as it lights the streets with its presence. So the body as the Tabernacle is filled with the soul, this fact was realized in a wonderful experience by the writer, that should not fail to convince the most hardened, intelligent sceptics, if they could only realize what I did ; if the veil were lifted to them, the world would soon be free from infidelity, crime, darkness and hate. The time to test religion and its possessor, and the sinner, is when the soul is about to take its departure from its earthly home ; then the sceptic, the sinner, and those who say in their heart I there is no God," are tormented with an agonizing fear—a foretaste of Hell—bitter indeed, as he longs for another lease of life. But the redeemed of the Lord, he whose soul is fully resting on the finished work of God, hath perfect peace, more than peace—a joy beyond description, a sweet communion with the Lord, sweeter than tongue can tell. This is no theory, or fancied delusion, to please the mind, for the love of God is seen in the calm, sweet look of the dying Christian, who has already a foretaste of Heaven. Isaiah lx., I : "Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." 5. "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged ; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces- of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." 11. "Therefore thy gates shall be open continually ; they shall not be shut day nor night ; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that A — 14 — their kings may be brought" 14. I The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee ; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." 19. " The sun shall be no more thy light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy Glory." 21. " Thy people also shall be all righteous : they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified." 22. "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation : I the Lord will hasten it it in his time." " Arise, and shine, for thy light is come." Six hundred and ninety-eight years before the Star of Bethlehem shone out upon this world in its darkness, the Lord proclaimed the coming of His kingdom when time should be changed and all things made new; and we, looking back, can see the closing up of the old world, the Jewish dispensation ; can see the then coming Messiah, as the risen Saviour, the Son of God ; can see the beginning of the New World, the gospel dispensation, the kingdom of which is a kingdom of love : so complete is the change that even our 15 — Sabbath-day of rest, began with this our new world. If it were not so, Christ would not have said fj behold I make all things new." He who knew just what and when our Sabbaths were going to be, would not have given the example which He gave to His disciples, by meeting with them always on the seventh day from that of the resurrection. The Lord knew when our Sabbath would be observed, and did not speak a word against, but rather encouraged it ; that we might be free from every yoke of bondage, belonging to the old world, for it was clothed in garments of darkness ; but the glory of the Lord hath shone through the darkness, and the kingdom which the Lord hath established in God, is the light of the world. Its gates are open, both day and night; the great, the rich, and the poor, alike, are continually passing througli, going even from nations who hated and persecuted the Church, and passing into the glorious sunshine of the kingdom of God. Neither sun nor moon can give light to this kingdom, for the King of Glory, the/ Sun of our Souls, giveth it light. Though the eyes of his body be blind, the consecrated soul, walk in the light of God's presence, and feels His rays of love yearning down upon his soul, eradicating every form .of sin, placing there oiice more the likeness and image of its Creator, Changing man from hatred to love, from death.to life, X and from sin to righteousness. The people of this / "Sfli- 16 kingdom are all righteous, a dead professor—a hypocrite—is not a member of this kingdom ; no Jew or Gentile can be an Israelite of this New Jerusalem unless circumcised in heart. When the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, was sent, the Church was but a little one. To-day it is represented by countless millions in Paradise, and hundreds of thousands here on earth ; and the time is at hand when righteousness shall prevail, when the righteous shall make laws that will bind Satan's powers ; for ha must be bound for a thousand years, and speedily the Lord is bringing it to pass. I. Cor. xv., 22. t% For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." 29. I Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? why are they then baptized for the dead ? " 43. " It is sown in dishonour ; it is raised in glory : it is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power." 49. I And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50. " Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." If 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in Victory." In the day that Adam disobeyed the command of ,God, he became dead to the nature of innocence and love, that was gently burning in his soul reflecting in him the image of his Creator, and became dead to his birthright, was no longer fit to have fellowship with God, was no longer a Son of the King of Kings, but was stamped with eternal death ; alive to a nature of guilt and hate, which brought him darkness and shame; this is the first death the human family ever tasted ; but, Glory to God in the highest, through Christ all are made alive, every one, without an exception, and the devil cannot claim a soul, until they first, like Adam, taste of guilt through sin, by rejecting God's love, as shown, upon the cross of atonement. By the awful price that was paid to satisfy, the eternal law of God's perfect justice, and to place within man's reach the only means that we can find on earth to change man's fallen nature from darkness and hate, to light and love. Since Christ the Sun of our Souls, the Son of God, became one with us, He has put all things under our feet, even as the Father, hath put all things under His feet, that we might tread down every power of sin, escape the sting of death, and rob the grave of its victory. But we cannot tread one step. — 18 — II f l-f alone ; only as we follow Jesus can we triumph over sin. If we reject Christ, we cannot escape the damnation of Hell. If we repent, by turning from sin, having faith in Christ, which gives us inward peace, realizing that He is our personal Saviour, and are baptized with the Holy Ghost and the fire of love, we. are made anew, the sons of. God, and shall be kings and priests unto Him who has loved us and given us .the victory. We believe that the Lord was immersed, baptized in water, not for himself, but in behalf of all who should have received it, that their righteousness might be complete and acceptable through the redemption in Chribt ; not for us of this dispensation, but for all the human family previous to the resurrection of the Saviour, who was the first fruits. They who understood not Christ's mission, could not acknowledge Him in baptism by water, but Jesus made the Way for their acceptance by being baptized with the baptism of which the water is only symbolical. Inasmuch as they were accepted through faith and burnt sacrifices by God in a coming Saviour, even so it pleased the Lord to fulfil for them their righteousness by representing them as their brother, whose faith was well pleasing unto God the Father, and thus we see the whole of the old world immersed in the baptism of Christ. But we of this new world cannot claim that baptism of water by the Lord. It does not fulfil our duty for us, as a people living in the light of fii — 19 — God, it is our duty to fulfil this righteousness for ourselves, and God has prepared a way for all who are worthy to have this righteousness fulfilled in their behalf, even in this present kingdom, who have not been able to show their allegiance to God, by being baptized personally before the world, while they were in it. Every jot and every tittle of the word of God must be fulfilled, and if we thus honor God with our . mortal bodies here, we shall be honored in our immortal bodies hereafter. Our little acts of obedience and love to the Lord, while ■ here, will be developed into a glorious service of love to God hereafter. As we rejoice in the blessings which God has suited to us in this world, we shall also rejoice in the grander, more glorious blessings for which we are suited in Heaven. You are forming your birth for all eternity. Oh, do not fail to remember it. All eternity ! Flesh and blood cannot enter into Heaven, but must decay and pass into the one great body, called dust, and of that same material, of which our mortal bodies are a part, shall the Lord give us an immortal glorious body, if we have a part in the first resurrection. If through the life, the death, and the resurrection of our blessed Saviour, you, my beloved reader, are justified by faith, and know your sins forgiven, but are 'not yet wholly sanctified (set aside), from the drawing influence of your besetting sins, whatever they may be, although the sting of death is gone, yet — 20 — they may hover like a cold dark cloud around, and keep you from the sunshine of God's love, and though you wish them gone, they will remain to rob and blight your soul, for the Lord will not change you as you might the crank of a machine, and you have nothing to say in J:he matter. God is always more ready to show you His will and to manifest His love to you than you are to receive it. Do you think that God will do great things for you, when you are content to do very little for yourself? How often we' need to have mercy on ourselves, remembering that God will forgive us as we forgive our enemies. When we know that it is the will of God that we should be sanctified against an evil, it becomes us to work and wait, to watch and pray, especially to pray in the very moment of temptation, then will the Lord give, victory, complete victory ; your very nature will be changed from grace unto grace, and you will be sanctified against the temptation. It is God's will that you thus overcome, and grow in grace, and it should be your longing desire to see your brother and sister in Christ overcoming also. It becomes followers of the Lord Jesus Christ to live righteous, unspotted lives, which you cannot do if walking far from God. Love your enemy, though you hate his sin ; for the Lord is the avenger of all that is evil, and has called us unto holiness. If we despise that which is holy, we despise God, who has — 21 — given us His Holy Spirit. To have the spirit of God, is to have love one for another. If you, dear reader, are alive, see to it that your life shall in no way prove a stumbling block, to prevent those who are asleep in sin from coming to life, light and liberty ; but that your lamp be trimmed and brightly burning, to help them on to God. James v., 20. | Let him know, that he which con- verteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." I. Peter i., 4. " To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you." 7. I That the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 13. " Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" 22. I Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." 23. I Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.'' 22 24. " For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away." . , Saved from death ; not from mutilation, not from perpetual oblivion ; but from an awful death, death to all that is good ; separation from God and from the glories of Heaven ; separation from love, joy and peace, from the good, the noble, and the true. Joined to the devil and his agents of darkness and hate, buried in the association of fiends for ever, whose very desire and nature is to torment and torture each other and so make the very brimstone of Hell. If your sins are hidden beneath the precious blood of Christ, is it not your bounden duty to try to rescue others? Can you watch the slumbering sinner, intoxicated with the tempting powers of satan as he walks over the very jaws Of hell, and not seek to rescue him ? If so, his blood may be required at your hands. Will you be counted worthy of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, if you have not the love of God in your heart towards your fellow man ? Although of a very different nature, the soul like the body must receive food or it cannot grow, and the nature of its likeness and character will appear in eternity, according to the food upon which it has grown. If fed upon sin, which .cultivates a nature in you that rejects God's love as shown in Christ, you will not have a nature of love which is the wedding garment that must seal your — 23 — passport, if admitted through the pearly ga^es of the New Jerusalem. Love and faith are two of the pearls you must have. The whole web of the wedding garment is composed of those essentials, which only can be obtained through a risen Saviour. How precious$hen is the trial of your faith ! Your preparation for the coming of the Lord ! For as you are passing over the Jordan into eternity, the Son of Man shall appear, wherefore gird up the loins of your minds, hope, have faith to the $nd, for the grace that shall be brought unto you at the revelation, the appearing of Christ. If, by obedience to the voice of the Spirit of God, you are purified, made free from condemnation, and have the peace of the love of God in your soul, you will love the brethren ; and see to it that you work for God in winning souls, being born again by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ev#r, the gospel which is preached unto you. II. Thess. i., 6. "Seeing it is a righteous friirig with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." 7. I And to you who are troubled rest with us,^ when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." 8. "In flaming fire taking vengeance €»h them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." p| — 24 — 9. I Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." to. " When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day." ii., I. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." .3. Let no man deceive you by any. means : for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." 8£ We find in the first part of this lesson, that it is a right thing with the Lord to punish those who are opposed to righteousness, and to give rest to those who are troubled for righteousness sake; also in I. Thess. v., 9, we learn that God has " no pleasure in the death of the wicked." No pleasure in banishing man from all that is good ; has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation is appointed for every one. It is for you, dear reader. Have you accepted or rejected it ? Are you really asking God to wait until some other time, and thus rejecting the marvellous love and mercy of your Heavenly Father ? Are yo6 going to face Justice with a plea of good intentions ? — 25 —. Or, of chance ? Or. with morality ? Justice knows no mercy. Morality or chance can never save you. You must be born again. Must get a new nature that overcomes the old, born of the Spirit of God, cleansed in the atoning blood of the risen Saviour, before you can enter Heaven. Are you carelessly rejecting the Saviour? If so, you are preparing your eternal destiny : a home with fiends and demons, a place of darkness, and hate. Oh, why not stop now? Just now, before the thread of time is broken ; it may be this very day, and mercy's voice may stop, and you be lost? Lost! Yes, lost forever. Oh, awful thought, lost! lost!. and it might have been otherwise. Dear reader, why not accept the Saviour now ? Just now, before it is too late, for serious are the effects of sin, even in this world, and serious ..the fruits of delay and putting off. A woman recently, with a mother's heart, residing not far from Hamilton, Ontario, who allowed her child to grow up without a proper religious influence, was one day smitten with a serious blow: her child was lost Lost ! Gone, she know not where ; her darling girl—whom she had fed perhaps on literature degrading to the mind, and novels that defile the heart, cultivating sin and pride, and marking the stamp of death upon the soul—was gone ; helped forward to ruin, perhaps, by the cold grasp of jealousy through an unfaithful lover, into the jaws, the very jaws of satan's power, into the slum B — 26 i. over which is written, in invisible letters, the word I death." How bitter the trial, the aching heart and sleepless nights of that poor mother as time passed on ; but, at last, one night amid her uneasy slumbers she thought that she heard a rattling noise, a knocking at the door. Who can it be? But all was still again. Who is there ? No answer. Let them knock again then. I will arise and see who it is, seemed to be the half-awakened thought of the drowsy woman ; j but the knocking came no more. She fell into an excited stupor, scarcely worthy to be called a sleep, to arise with the morning, anxiously wondering who had been at the door. Might it have been—ah, now the thought arises—might it have been my darling. As she quickly opens the door, to see if there are any indications,—ah, yes, there are a woman's footprints in the newly fallen snow. Could it have been my darling child ! and she started, half-wild with the exciting powers of a mother's affections ; upon the track—across the yard to the right or to the left, down by the lane, around and around, until at last, just in front, stiff* and cold upon the snow, there met that woman's gaze. Oh, what a sight, as she beheld her darling girl within the arrrls of death. What was the bitterest sting ? What the crudest thought that burned into her very soul, that pierced the heart, and brought the cold sweat upon the brow ? It was this awful fact, this cruel reality, that it might have been — 27 — otherwise. It might have been. Oh, why did I not spring from the bed, burst through that door, and clasp the darling to my bosom safe again ? Why, oh why? It might have been ! It might have been ! And so—if you, dear reader, in carelessness, wickedly cast away the Saviour's mercy, and the crown of life eternal—you will find among the burning flames of hell this brand to scorch your< soul. It might have been otherwise ! Oh, it might have been otherwise ! I might have been saved. Then arouse ! Oh, arouse from the slumbers of sin ! Open your heart to wisdom now ; just now ; and let the Saviour in. Accept the Saviour's pardon now, by accepting God's beloved Son. But you say, How can I accept the Saviour? You cannot accept the Saviour until you want salvation, and you cannot want salvation until you feel that you are lost. Lost, dead, alienated from God by nature, under the unchanging law of God that seals your doom. When first the love of Jesus demanded your soul's surrender, and you refused, just refused until some other time ; then the blood was removed from the door posts and lintels of your soul; and then just then, the angel of death entered, and is holding the avenging sword of justice, .awaiting the moment when the banner of mercy is folded for ever. Then oh, what then will your eternity be ? What will it be ? Understanding as we do, by experience, the meaning of Christ's words, when He said, " Ye must be born — 28 — If. J again," it is our earnest desire that you also might understand it by experience. Born again or lost; born of the Spirit, having a new desire to serve God ; a new nature of love that makes you happy in His service, that makes you feel the presence of God in your soul. Born of the Spirit; the nature of God, which is love. There is nothing under Heaven that can elevate and bless nations and individuals like the love of God. Just as everything in nature, which God has made, was made to suit mankind, to feed and bless the body ; so the new birth is suited to our souls, giving us the nature of God. | Christ is the Bread of Life. To feed on Him, is to partake of. His nature, and to prepare for -another world ; to accept Christ as your personal -Saviour^ by simple trusting faith, with a determination to follow, wherever he may lead, with prayer and fasting. Fasting from sin, means to y"u eternal life, joy, peace, and glory, being ever with the Lord. Why then do you not tr?ust Him and receive the blessing now, just now ? Reject the Saviour and you cannot escape, the death sentence is already sealed.. God is not mocked. If you reject God's mercy, then justice demands its own ; justice, perfect in itself, without mercy. Paul says, " he who believeth not is condemned already." The sentence is already passed-; no waiting until the judgment day, but doomed already ; waiting, only waiting until the banner of love and mercy is folded, and Jesus invites you — 29 — no more. Then stop, dear reader, stop trifling with God. Do not trifle with your own welfare. Be in earnest! Win Christ while you can. If you know God as a loving Father, through His word by faith, and through His presence by love in your soul, then God will be a glorified in your life, and you will rejoice in the coming of the Lord, and in fellowship one with another, and need not be afraid or troubled, though the world were just coming to an end. To know God, is to get a new nature—a spark of God'-s nature. God, is love. His love will enable you to pray for your enemies, and will destroy the carnal nature, that selfish, revengeful disposition : the nature which enabled a mother to murder her own son, of which we will give you a brief statement. The following is an exact copy taken from a paper commenting on the case : I KILLED HER OWN SON. 1 Fatal mistake of a Mexican Mother—She commits suicide. j£| I SANTA Fee, March 3rd, 1892.—A terrible tragedy came to light this week at El Rito, a little Mexican town about fifteen miles from this city. Some ten years ago a young man, named Rodrigo Martinez, left home for old Mexico, to work in the mines ; he told his old mother and his sweet-heart that he would return wealthy and would care for them in good style. He had been gone about three years and wrote at i/ — 30 — long intervals. Then suddenly all communication ceased. Finally it was learned through a man, who was supposed to be a friend of young Martinez, that he had been killed in a fight in the mines. Rodrigo meanwhile had received word from his old home that his mother had died, and then that the girl who had promised to wait for him, had married another. After working hard for ten years, he returned to his native town, to learn that his mother was still alive, and his former sweetheart was not married. He met the man who told his mother that he was killed and this man advised him to go to his old home in disguise and surprise his mother. The idea was acted upon, and, while he was sitting in his mother's house, as a stranger introduced by the friend, he was suddenly set upon by the old woman, who stabbed him to the heart. She had been told by the supposed friend, that he was the one who had killed her son, and she took immediate revenge. When she learned the truth, she went raving mad, and cut her throat from ear to ear. The intended wife of Rodrigo heard of the details, and through her instrumentality the false friend also met his death." Psa. lxxxi., 9. " There shall no strange God be in thee ; neither shalt thou worship any strange God. 10. "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." 3i i? j. I Oh that my people had hearkened unto .me, and Israel had walked in my ways."* 16. I He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." Psa. Ixxxii., 1. "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty ; he judgeth among the gods." 2. I How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked ? Selah." 8. I Arise, O God, judge the earth : for thou shalt inherit all nations." We are all children of one loving, Heavenly Father, created by the same Almighty Creator, responsible alike for the talents and privileges He has given ; and it should be our delight to know all we can concerning His will towards us. And of our duty towards each other, and to our God ; our delight to study His marvellous works, called nature. Nature, because of their perfection. ' In nature you cannot find the footprints of chance ; they cannot enter there. Chance means confusion. God's works, perfection; and, in all His marvellous works, we behold His wonderful love and goodness, and the unchanging almighty irresistible nature of His perfect law of justice. Justice that knows no cruelty. Justice that knows no mercy, because of its perfection. If you hold your hand in the fire, it will not be spared, though you are the king of a nation ; but if you accept, and take the blessings 32 it offers, they will not be withheld, though you are the beggar among Jaeggars. Such are the laws which control the works, of God, even in man's earthly surroundings, and in all His works ; wherever there is a need, a vacancy, a longing, the exact thing is marvellously and perfectly made to 'fill the vacancy ; to supply the need, to satisfy the longing. Eyes to guide the hands and f.;et; mouth to feed the stomach ; aTections to satisfy the heart. So all earthlv th.'n^s that are only of time on earth, have on earth their longings satisfied, excepting where God's laws are broken and the penalty" follows. There is only one thing on earth which God has pronounced immortal, the immortal soul of a human being ; and the soul is the only thing that is being created for another world and longs for something more than earth can supply. The wild man and the heathen in their darkness long for something more than earth can give ;. they know not what ; and worship something for a god. If. this need, this vacancy, this longing were not supplied, God's works would not be perfect, and man would find, for the first time, an awful imperfection in the works of pur All-wise Creator ; but, glory to God, there is the all-sufficiency ; the satisfying portion in the Lord Jesus Christ the Bread of Heaven, the fountain of livi lg waters, wre are feeding on. Are you, dear reader ? If not, the Saviour is calling you now ; just now. Are you living for the 33 world, then you are following satan. Do you love money, or worldly folly, more than your Creator? Then that is your god, and it is a strange god ; strange to your immortal nature, for it cannot satisfy the longings of your immortal soul. Thy Creator says^ thou liSj shalt have no other gods, no strange gods in thee.JT-t God, your Creator, who has protected and spared you until this present moment, says, j" Open- now thy,^t,- mouth wide and I will fill it." Oh, don't you want.,-.;, your soul to be satisfied ? Don't you ?r.; Filled with .v; the'Holy Spirit of God? Having sweet communion, 8| with the Saviour, filled with love to God .and to .your S fellow-man ? Oh, won't you come with usj and drink ,,,. and live? -Come now, just now 1 Don't wait,. To j| wait, is to obey the devil, your bitterest cne-my;-. Hearken unto the Lord now#; just now, while He is If calling and waiting to save. Oh, follow in His ways and you shall be fed with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the Rock of Ages, and your soul. I shall be satisfied. God, who standeth in the midst of |fi His people, knows where your heart is attracted most ; knows your gods ; and asks how long you will judge .-.. unjustly ; accepting the wicked, the bad, in preference |jj to the right, the good. How long will you follow satan across the plains of deception, seeking for peace you never can find ? Your enemy will not lead you to fountains of blessings. No, but to the-jaws of an p awful abode. God is now judging the people, and — 34 — will sift out the wicked speedily and the meek shall inherit the earth. Isaiah xi., I. " And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." 4.||" But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth : and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." 5. j|" And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." • 14. "But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab \ and. the children of Ammon shall obey them." 15. I And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea ; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod." Isaiah xiii., 9. " Behold, the day of the Lord com- eth, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate : and he shall destroy the sinners thereof, out of it." J 11. "And I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity ; and I will cause the — 35 — arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low tke haughtiness of the terrible." God is not only the Father, the Creator, but the life of man, and His mercy endureth forever, His love is unbounded: it cannot be measured by mortal minds. He has given all things, even the body in which we dwell, to feed and to bless the soul, and all things, even temptations, must result in blessing to those who shall inherit God's eternal life, His presence for ever. Before man's fall he was happy in the presence of the Lord, because he was innocent; like the butterfly or the humming bird that dance from flower to flower, their life all full of pleasure, unblight- ed by sin, so was man in his natural state of innocence; but, not like them, he bore the image of his Lord—^t never dying soul—capable of being ; and intended to be made responsible for every action, and prepared for the garners of another world, and by one command was made responsible, and permitted to partake of evil with the good. The greatest thing on this earth ^known to man, is man ; and the greatest responsibility and grandest privilege placed upon him is to glorify God his Creator. If we do so in this life we shall reap an eternal reward ; what we sow that also shall we reap, and reap through an endless eternity* Dear reader, don't forget it. Don't think it a small matter. It is of most vital importance to you, whether you are sowing unto life eternal, or the seeds of death. 3« Whether the fruits of your labours here will yield an eternal harvest of love, joy, and peace, in the presence .of God—a nature that is to you a robe of righteousness, a crown of life, the wedding garment, which Jesus is offering you now, just now ; or whether you shall reap the fruits from the seeds of sin, a nature that will debar you from the glories of Heaven, and •fit you only for darkness and hate, to be left, when your body dies, instead of being taken into Paradise ; left to be dragged by fiends, down into their eternal habitations, to await the final judgment; to lose every vestige of human affection, to retain only selfish affections and. the power to hate, but not to love. Can you risk your whole eternity another day ? Oh, what a risk to run ! What mad folly! How dare you do it, when God commands you to accept salvation now? Just now I Seven hundred and thirteen years before Christ, Isaiah, inspired of God, told of a rod that should, come out of the stem of Jesse, a branch that should grow out of his roots, and we behold the Star of Bethlehem, the Rose of Sharon, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Redeemer of this fallen world as that rod. By accepting Christ as your personal Saviour, through faith and obedience, you will be grafted into Christ, the true vine, as a branch, and bring forth true fruit unto life eternal. By rejecting Him, you must remain a wild olive tree, only fit for destruction. Can you do so ? Can you afford to lose - II3;"" - € • ' • all that is valuable, for all eternity? You cannot. You must not. While God's mercy and loving kindness endures for ever, His laws of perfect justice can never waver, but demands atonement for every act of sin. Do you think that God is too merciful to let His child burn in fire, just because it has broken a law which He has made ? Do you ? Then try it. Hold your hand in the fire and see if the law which God has established there will not demand its claim and you pay the penalty. Such are the laws of our God. Fire is given to bless the world by its use, but through its abuse it has burned thousands to cinders. If the wicked were permitted to dwell in Heaven, it would no longer be Heaven. The law that keeps them out, is a law of love and mercy: it is God's protecting care, His law of love and mercy to the pure in heart, to the countless hosts of Heaven who dwell within the vast pavilion of His love. But that law is a consuming fire to the man, who cruelly places himself beneath its grasp. Those who reject the love of Jesus Christ, must accept a home in hell, the fires of which are kindled, fed and fanned into a furious heat by devils, fiends, and demons. Will you, dear reader, run the awful risk, for just one more day, of having to spend your eternity with them in darkness ? Can you be so simple, so deluded ? Will you allow the drawing power of satan to drag you down, when you can escape ? Wil! you follow and c. mm. serve your deadly enemy, and despise the loving kindness of your best friend, just for a little while longer? You will" then ; it may be for eternity. How can you endure the thought of being a fiend in hell, when you have the privilege of enjoying the glories of Heaven, by accepting Christ now ? Not to-morrow, but now. Just now. We hope, dear reader, that you have accepted Jesus as your Saviour, and are basking in the sunshine of His most precious love, feasting as only the child of God can, upon the riches of His grace. If you have not done so, and have no desire to do so, it is because you do not fully believe in the existence of God, or of devil, of a heaven, or of a hell. Perhaps your lips say you do ; but your actions fully prove that you do not. Could any intelligent mortal run the awful chance of losing Heaven and gaining hell, who really believes in his heart that there is a hell to escape, a Heaven to win, a devil to fear, to despise, and to avoid ; a God to love, to honor and to obey ? Could a man believe it in his heart and then serve the devil? Could he realize the truth as it is and then rest one moment on the brink of ruin ? No ; he could not rest. Could any man, but a fool in this enlightened age, say in his heart there is no God, no Heaven, no hell, no sin, no righteousness ? Surely not, when he can hear from all his surroundings the silent voice that speaks the presence of. God, and see in all created things the perfect wisdom, love and power of an All- — 39 wise Creator, by whom, and like whom man himself has been created. Go down into the depths of the ocean, and there among the countless millions of its living creatures, we behold the marvellous wisdom of Almighty God. The fool says in his heart, it happened to be so, by some mysterious chance. The eyes and mouth of the fish happened to be placed in the most convenient place, because it was necessary ; its scales and fins also grew on the right way, the right size, and the right shape, because it was necessary. But for his very life, he cannot tell you how it happened that chance has placed in each fish just the exact amount of compressed air, in the exact part of each one, to balance and enable it to swim naturally, and with perfect ease. If it were placed a little nearer the head, then the tail would sink; or nearer the tail, and the head would always be going down. This wonderful balance of the fish was made by Wisdom similarly, but vastly higher than that which put the balance wheel in the watch. And alike foolish are they who think th?t either were made by borne power without knowledge ; some moving, but dead, unintelligent matter without reason, taste, refinement, or wisdom. They who think so, after seeing in flowers trees, birds, and human beings, the wonderful wisdom^ taste, and refinement that is manifested there in the works of God, are like unto him, who says in his — 40 heart, " there is no God." Can a man be wise who thinks there is no Heaven, no grander world than this, inhabited by nobler, brighter beings than mortals like himself? After gazing out upon the countless millions of heavenly bodies, in their perfect motion, among which this earth is but a babe or a drop in the ocean's bosom ? Could he be wise who thinks this the only world, the only great centre ; and that no other kin I of Heavenly body could exist ? After seeing and feeling the beautiful rays of our solar system's marvellous centre, would it not be just as reasonable to think this the only world in space, as that we are the only intelligent beings ? Is it not just as reasonable to think that the earth is as great as the sun, as that man is as great and as wise as the angels of God ? But reason tells us that it is not, and all things proclaim with unerring voice that man is not the highest power of knowledge, for he does not understand the source of the simplest works by which he is surrounded. Is he wise, who thinks there is no hell, when the All-wise and glorious Creator, God, proclaims that there is, and when its very brimstone sparks have scorched the trembling sinner, even before he cast away his earthly tabernacle ? How bitter is the sting even before the body dies ? Can he be wise who thinks there is no sin, when he can feel it in himself, and trace its footsteps all around, and knows that falsehood, jealousv and — 41 g| hate, have dragged countless millions of suffering mortals to a bloody death upon the field of battle, and that the gambling hells and liquor dens, and sin- stained slums of death have cursed unnumbered millions with the bitter fruits of sin ? Though man may look upon sin as a trifle, God does not, and could not let it go unpunished, but came Himself to pay the law's demand, to cleanse and get us freedom if we through faith and loving obedience will accept the gift. | ij 'J And, again, Can he be wise who says there is no righteousness upon this world, when he sees that nations are elevated, and made nobler by righteous laws ? and that the greatness, of the greatest nations on earth is the result of the leaven of God's Word of righteousness, moulding the hearts and lives of men : that its sway has raised millions from pits of ignorance, sin and suffering, and touched their hearts and minds with love, like the sweet perfume of the loveliest flowers, or budding forth like living trees from seeds which righteousness has strewn along their path, turning darkness into light, breaking down the walls of ignorance, and making smooth the places that are rough, giving love for hatred, and wisdom in the place of ignorance ? When righteousness is so truly good and sin so bad, why do men indulge *in sin at all ? Why, if it is not that their very nature is bad? Human nature, in itself, has not a spark, a 42 — lit mite, a speck of righteousness that is not saturated through and through with sin. The moralist may think that he is good enough, but without Christ he cannot enter the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem. Without the crown of life, the wedding garment, the likeness of our Lord, the love of God, he could not be happy in the presence of God and the holy angels. | Whosoever will be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me," is the loving invitation of our blessed Saviour. Oh, will you not accept the gracious call and get the blessing now? Just now, for Jesus is tenderly calling, but will not always strive with you ; will not always be seeking for you, drawing you with the tender cords of mercy. Perhaps even now you are under the influence of the unpardonable sin, scorning and laughing at the loving, entreating voice of the Holy Ghost, getting your soul hardened against the Holy Ghost; hardened into such a state that you have no desire to be good, or to do good, if it means repentance. When you scorn, the thought of repentance, then, are the offers of grace withdrawn, arid you left to your own will, to your own fate, but as long as there is ax spark of love, a grain of repentance, you may be pardoned, saved with an eternal and glorious salvation. Man's fallen nature, is to wander from God ; and, if we WILL, to let that nature have its way, we walk towards the gates of hell ; but, when we WILL to serve our Lord, He leads us to the — 43 — mansions of His glory. In marching down to hell, you tread beneath its darkening smoke, and taste its sparks of torment as they sometimes light upon the soul, and the nearer you approach, the hotter is their glow. But the path to Heaven is a glorious road of righteousness and every spark that lights upon the soul is a beam of life, a ray of love, that thrills the soul with joy. The predominancy of man's WILL points out the road where God permits him to walk, and for which he is held responsible, according to his light/ * || .: In Joel ii., 28, it is written "your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams." It is, perhaps, not necessary in this enlightened age to say more in regard to the nature of a vision, than that it is a picture, an object lesson stamped upon the camera of the soul, like a tree that is complete, having roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit, perfect in itself; not merely the production of the mind, but an impression stamped upon the mind. We will relate a vision, in which we had started on a journey. The way was broad and fenced on either side, and> as we passed along, we met a crowd of men, who wore a dark, wanton, ghastly appearance ; and seemed to mutter out some words of jealous hatred, as they hurried by. We felt, with sorrow, that they were going to an awful doom, going of their own accord, as it were, to the very jaws of hell. We — 44 — only spoke a word, but did nothing to stop them. Soon we turned towards the beautiful hills, beyond which we could see a bright light looming up in splendor, like a sunset in autumn ; and, on one side of the road, we came to a yard in which some sheep had stopped, instead of going on with the multitude, which • we knew had already gone to the beautiful hills. We tried hard to send them on, or to take them with us, but some kept looking back the way the fugitives had gone ; they would not walk forward with the rest of us and could not go back the way they were looking. Our sorrow was very great, on their account, and, just at that point, the vision ceased. We awoke. The vision was printed as a picture within the camera ; stamped upon the mind, not to be erased ; the meaning of which is too real to be mistaken. In starting life's journey, in this world, we are placed upon the broad road that leads directly to another. Upon this road there are just now about one billion arid a half of mortal souls hurrying on, some to a grander world than this, but, awful to know, some to a worse. The sheep, the redeemed of the Lord, to enter into the fold of God's love to enjoy His presence forever; the goats, the haters of righteousness, to a world where nothing is right, to endure the torments of hell, because sin is their choice. Upon this great path through time, some are going — 45 — on towards the better life, while others step toward the gates of hell. When a man reaches that better life, his way is changed ; he is born again ; he beholds the beautiful.hills of faith, hope, love, charity, over which he can see the glorious sunshine of his Father's House, and feel the bright rays of His love. Born again, changed from a goat to a sheep, having the name written in the Lamb's Book of Life ; whose sins are blotted out, never to be remembered against him any more, for Jesus hath borne them on the cross. Previous to the new birth, a man cares little and does little for the salvation of his fellows, who may be deep down in the chains of sin and satan, but will calmly watch him sink in death's deep ruin ; but, when born again, he longs to see the salvation of God extended to his fellow, brother or sister, however low and black their life may be. Tc-day, as in ages past, there are people, who, believing that Christ is the Saviour of the world, have walked by faith until they turned toward the beautiful hills. Were born of the spirit through faith in Christ, as their personal Saviour ; saved with an everlasting salvation ; became the properly of the King of Kings; and no longer satan's property by choice ; and not their own, they are sons and daughters of Jehovah. But, they are no longer walking by faith, they have disobeyed the loving voice, by which Jehovah would lead them on to victory, not to redemption. They are redeemed — 46 - already, but have to work out their own salvation ; to lay up treasures in Heaven ; to win crowns, to characterize the nature of their being for eternal ages. They have halted : the world, the flesh, and the devil have led them into a side track, to grow weaker and colder until they scarcely know whether they belong to God, or not. 'If they continue so unto the end—saved though as by fire—they will suffer an awful loss, for all shall be rewarded according to the deeds done in the body. They are the sheep which halted by the way ; they walk no more by faith, but keep looking toward the world. Are you, dear reader, looking back to the allurements of satan ? A poor wretched Christian, starving upon the husks of sin ? Jesus is asking you to put on the whole armour of righteousness. You, who have been redeemed, shall be punished—though a child of God—-according to the light and privileges by which you are surrounded knowing your duty, and failing to do it, because, you are standing still. And, looking back will bring an awful reward,* The fire of time is burning away, as it were, the eternal mansion that should be yours ; burning away your very life by every moment that passes ; burning away all the treasures of character that should be yours; burning up the riches that should be laid up in Heaven. | Saved though as by fire," the Lord has no pleasure in the eternal loss • which you must suffer. You must render your ac- — 47 — count, as written in living characters upon your soul and receive a like punishment or reward. You have been redeemed, but have you grown in grace ? Are you sanctified against your besetting sins, and so •worthy to be counted among the meek-of the earth ? Is righteousness the girdle of your loins and faithfulness the girdle of your reins ? The Lord will establish your goings, will bless your labors in His vineyard and give you the bright, the Morning Star. Rev. ii., 26. I And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." 27. J And he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers : even as I received of my Father." 28. . I And I will give him the Morning Star." Will enable you to fly upon the shoulders of the^ Philistines, that is to overcome evil ; to tread down sin ; sinners shall be slain, brought into a- newness of life by the Lord through you, as his instrument The tongue of wicked nations shall be destroyed. The Lord shall shake His hand over the river, the religious influences in the world, and smite it in the seven streams, the seven influences of the spirits, the stars of the angels of God. You may trace them most easily from the word RELIGION ; the spirit of Righteousness, the spirit of Education, the" spirit of Love, the spirit of Industry, the spirit of - §-4s- - . Gentleness, the spirit of Obedience, and Nazareth. With these pearls of great price, you may tread in the path where the Master has trod, without sin leaking into your soul, as it were dry shod. Oh, how important, how vitally important, that you have these pearls, without which you cannot enter in through the pearly gates. For the day of the Lord cometh, both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and He shall destroy sinners. The wicked^ shall be punished for their iniquity, for God says, " I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity ; and will cause the ar- rogancy of the proud to cease." But how shall we get these living characters established in our hearts. We cannot place them there at our own wills. We cannot change our nature. No, but you can have a desire for the new birth, a desire to be good. If not, you cannot take a higher place than thousands who are down in hell. They were like you are. If you want to live the life of the righteous, you must commence at the roots and climb to the branches before you reap the fruits of the tree of life. When you feci the Holy Ghost drawing you to Je.cus, you must follow ; not wait to be dragged by some unnatural influence to the cross ; but come just as you are and accept and follow Jesus. Then your nature will be changed, and, according as you live in close communion with the Lord, will the great brush, by the Perfect — 49 — Artist, paint upon your soul, in living characters, the image of Himself. If, when Jesus called some of the twelve to follow Him, they had put it off and waited to be carried, or, for some unnatural influence to make them go, they might have remained in the ranks of satan,.and had their abode in hell. Their loss no tongue could tell ; but they started at the roots, just as they were, and followed when Jesus called ; they grew in grace, and became sanctified more and more, and the Morning Star, the Pearl of Great Price, the price of calvary's cross, was painted in full length upon their souls. They were ready to give their bodies to be burned, if necessary, for righteousness' sake. 1 Seek Him early," is the command. Seek the Saviour now ; not to-morrow, but now ; for this day thy soul may be required of thee. The writer was converted in his youth ; born again, filled with love, peace and pleasure ; raised through Christ in the glorious resurrection from sin unto righteousness ; changed from life unto death—dead to satan's kingdom; and from death unto life—alive unto the kingdom of God ; born of the spirit, washed in the blood, drinking deeper and deeper of the wonderful fountain of love that flows from the Throne of God, sailing upon its waters clear as crystal. Guided by the Holy Ghost, I have been enabled to 'overcome e^ery foe, even self, man's greatest enemy. Victory after victory has been given by the Master. By seek- D. 5o I ing in earnest, I found the pearl of greatest price ; and through believing with a simple, trusting faith, have received victory all the way. In writing of my experience, while just at the edge of the grave, and the wonderful visit to another world, it is necessary first to give a lew facts bearing upon the connecting gtprcumstances. While residing at Broadview, in the North-West Territories of Canada, A. D. 1888, I was suddenly taken very ill, and continued to-grow weaker, each day, although Dr. Hutchinson (of Grenfell, about Sixteen miles distance), the nearest available physician, was in attendance. After about twenty days, he pronounced my case beyond recovery. The body became so weak and near to death's door, that it seemed at times scarcely able to contain the man that was dwelling within, and, on different occasions, during about one week, I passed as it were .out from the body, and appeared to know the people in the room, and knew that I had left the body, and was able to consider the fact that I was a body and a soul, and to say, now I know that I am two, for there is my body and here is my soul ; and realized that I could leave the body, but not at my own will. I was suffering principally from extreme weakness, but never experienced the fulness of the love of God, as then ; the presence of the Lord with my soul, was more than words can show. One day, during this time, I was told by One whose voice came as from a distant land — 5i — like a roll of thunder, but perfectly natural, familiar and suited to the ears. Its harmony and melody cannot be explained. Never will be forgotten the voice which told me I was called to go ; to go to another world. It was the voice of command, but it filled my soul with joy which I cannot express. For about three days I remained unconscious of the exact meaning of the call, but was fully expecting to leave this body to moulder into dust, and be taken to where a deeper love and higher, closer walk with God, would be my lot to share. Although just waiting death, yet those were perhaps the happiest hours of life, the most sublime ; for then I had the closest walk with God ; a something more than joy, or peace or pleasure. These we may have and with them a silent voice longing for something still higher and nearer to God, not perfect jgest This was a new manna, a higher feast upon the Bread of Life. Joy, peace, pleasure and rest were mixed together in the fountain of love, because His presence, who is the sun and life and joy of our souls was there, giving me a foretaste of Heaven||- God is love, for His presence fills the heart with love ; not mere affection, but love, while in this earthly tabernacle ; and more than love when we leave this body and are closer to Him, in our being. I. know no name for what I realized in the presence of the Lord ; but felt and knew God's presence. It was glory to the soul I will call it the new manna.- If before their 52 fall our first parents inherited by nature that new manna, how awful was the death, to lose that glory and get a nature of sin and hate. About three days after the call I realized its fulfilment, by leaving the body and going to a world the glories of which cannot be described. It was like a world of worlds. I say world of worlds, because each one was surrounded by another. Each like a great tressel work of thrones, perfect in form ; like a ball within a ball, or a great sea of living splendor. The centre of centres, the throne of thrones, enclosed in a globe composed of glorious beings, and the globe is encased by another, just as though the clouds which surround this earth were covered with another world of clouds, leaving a clear space between. They in turn were surrounded with another, and so on, world after world, so that a world of thrones, ten thousand miles from the centre of fhe middle world, would be about twenty thousand miles in diameter and sixty thousand miles in circumference. The redeemed souls from this earth would not fill the countless millions of mansions in one of those globes in ten thousand years. Then, think of countless millions of worlds encircling each other, as one great world of worlds ; a grand pavilion, God's eternal throne, inhabited by immortal beings, clothed in living garments, brightly glowing with the presence of the King of Kings, too grand to be described. Their form was like that of man, but they -3 were perfect; beautiful in feature, past man's understanding, among whom I was but a child. I remained just where I first arrived, looking at those by my side; then at the countless hosts who were sitting upon thrones, or mansion's, which formed the encircling worlds ; or at the centre world-, surrounded by worlds, the glory of which could not be told. There were no temples or palaces there to dwell in. It was like one vast throne, a city whose streets were marked off by pews, with tables like pulpits of bright beautiful hue, flickering in living beauty, with which there is nothing on earth to compare. But the most beautiful of all were the wonderful beings who were there, robed in white mantles of living splendour, whose visages were perfection. Judging by the curve in the circle of the world where I was, we were very far from that centre of centres ; but could see at a distance the same as if near. After gazing at the glories of the surroundings; and, while calmly considering what I saw, One in that centre of thrones arose, and pointing with the right hand away to the opposite direction from where I was, told me that my place was appointed there in the third Heavens. He who spoke, did not -turn or look towards me. Tbj voice came like a distant thunder, or. from a great trumpet, and it was just the same wonderful voice which had called me to go three days before, which fact should convince the most doubtful that the call 54 and its fulfilment, as written, was real, and that Heaven is real, which many will find to their joy and others to their sorrow. As soon as my place was appointed, I felt a darkness ; a strange feeling came over me and then I knew no more until restored to the body. Joel iii., I. | For, behold, in those days and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem." 2. " I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there, for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." 3. I And they have cast lots for my people ; and given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink." 4. I Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine ? will ye render me a recompence ? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head." 7. " Behold I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and wfll return your recompence upon your own head." 11. I Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about ; thither Cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord." — 55 — 12. " Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about." llllfe The Lord Jesus Christ is on the throne of God,.on earth as well as in Heaven. " All power is given unto me in Heaven and on earth' (Matt, xxviii. 18). I All things are delivered unto me of my Father, | (Matt, xi., 27). ^^^^Jii The Loi;d gives blessings to His children according to their love, faith and Obedience. Not many are fit to be translated as Elijah was ; not many to wrestle with the Angel of the Lord as Abraham -did ; not many to go into the presence of the Lord and receive the commandments of God as Moses did. None in themselves were fit, but through Christ, by faith, love and obedience, they were permitted ; and so God, who changes not, deals with His people to-day,, giving blessings according to their standard of love, faith and obedience. "The Father loveth the Son, and has given all things into His hands " (John iii., 35), and " hast given Him power over all flesh" (John xvii., 2); If we are Christ's we are loved of God, § For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have be^ lieved that I came out from God ' (John xvi., .27). Are you a follower of our loving, sympathising Saviour, who has suffered that you tmight be free ? Free from the penalty exacted, by the justice of .His _ 56- own unchanging law, which seals your doom ? Then remember, He says, " I will never leave thee, aor forsake thee." Let all your care be this, the doing of His will. I As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in Him " (Col. ii., 6); and be led forth to victory by the Lord, who says, " To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me on my Father's throne, even as I overcame and am set down with my Father on His throne." No tongue or pe^n can tell the. vastness of the meaning attached to those words— | on His throne ;" a glorious centre, a world of worlds. Oh, brother, sister, run the race that is set before you with all your might You cannot afford to grow weary in well-doing while you are preparing for eternity. If you labour and are heavy ladened, go to Jesus, just as you did at first; for He says, " I will give you rest " (Matt, xi., 28), If your faith is weak, pray for strength ; look away from yourself and look to Jesus ; keep looking to Jesus " the author and finisher of your faith " (Heb. xii., 2). Having by faith a living personal union with Him who says § because I live ye shajL live also ; " then you can say with David, at the last, " in$p thy hands I commit my spirit, thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth" (Psa. xxxi., 5); and, like Stephen, before you have left the body, while the spirit is just letting go its earthly tabernacle and you are about to depart, you will see Him; and calling upon God, saying " Lord Jesus receive my spirit' — 57 — (Acts vii., 59). You will fall asleep and be promoted ; translated into another, a glorious home. If you live upon earth in close communion with and in strict obedience to God, following wherever Jesus leads, you will have peace and pleasure every day, and have "power with God and with men "^ (Gen. xxxii., 28). llfllfgL.- Joel ii., 2. § A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong ; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it even to the years of many generations." 3. 1A fire devoureth before them ; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of* Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness ; yea and nothing shall escape them." 4. " The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses ; and as horsemen, so shall they run." 7. I They shall run like mighty men ; they shall climb the wall like men of war ; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their k_ » s. 11. I And .the Lord shall utter his voice before l>is army: for his camp is very great : for he is strong that executcth his word I for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible ; and who can i;bic!c it ? " 19. "Yea, the Lord-will answer and say unto his 58 people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith : and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen." 20. "But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east ^ea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things." How natural it was for the people who were looking for the day of the Lord to expect a grand time—a time of rejoicing for saints and sinners—having a great earthly kingdom set up to monopolize all other nations, and to be filled with earthly treasures. They themselves were to b e fed and clothed with the richest and best of earthly blessings ; yes, all the good things for self; but death and destructions for others. Oh, how natural for the unregenerated soul to think thus, and to expect the pure love of God to descend to cultivate and feed their carnal nature with just whatever they desired and how hard it was for them to see the real condition, of their own circumstances. How hard to see the cruel monster of death, the leprosy of sin, the nature of self, of hate and of pride which had seized the human family, and by which they themselves were separated from their God, not only from the glorious presence of God in Heaven above, but even from an Eden upon earth. As th 59 * t* day of the Lord found those people in darkness, so it finds the rejectors of Christ to-day : but the Rose of Sharon, the Star of Bethlehem is shining through the clouds, and awakening the dead ones to life ; and, as the Lord warned them of the terrible destruction as written in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th verses and spared them because they repented, so He -is warning people of the second death—a home in hell. All who repent, by turning to the Saviour, are being saved from the powers of satan, saved from the nature of devils, saved from a home in hell. Can God be perfect in love and allow sinners in Heaven ? We answer, No. Could Heaven be pure and holy if a particle of jealousy were there? Could Heaven be a home of perfect love and pleasure if hate's cruel bands were there ? Could Heaven's perfect harmony exist if sin's vile discord were allowed to clog the wheels? Oh, no. The justice of man's reason . answers, No. Man's nature answers with unerring proof that sin and righteousness are mighty powers. Powers that are opposed one to the other, even in this world The embodiment of the powers of sin is a living nature, therefore no sin could exist on earth unless man became sin. Then it is plain that the sinner is sin, the embodiment of sin, while he by.nature rejects the Saviour's mercy and therefore could not dwell in the presence of God. As sin.and Tiate are opposed to love and righteousness, so Heaven and hell are op- — 6o — posed by their very nature. To exclude the sinner who rejects the Saviour's love from entering Heaven only manifests the boundless perfect love of God ; just as a parent would exclude from his-family one who has the leprosy, because he loves the rest, so God's love is manifested in banishing sin from Heaven. Can God be perfect in mercy and cast sinners into hell ? We answer, Yes, perfect ; perfect in mercy as in all His attributes; perfect in mercy as in all His works ; perfect in mercy as in love and in justice. Was God perfect in mercy when He paid the law's demands upon the cross for fallen, sinful man ? When He freely suffered in our stead, not only for a part, but the whole world, so that every one who cometh into the world are redeemed. § Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life" (Rom. v, 18). Yes ; it was boundless mercy brought the blessed Saviour down to man's condition, to break the bars of death, to satisfy eternal justice and to connect once more to earth the glorious ladder whose steps are made of mercy, love, and justice all combined. It was mercy, love and justice that brought the King of Glory down to seal it to earth, with his own blood ; that, ascending from the tomb, he himself might make the way to take us with Him to the glories of His home above. Now He invites, and draws poor — 6i — sinners to the shelter of His fold ; and none can taste the pangs of an eternal hell without they first reject His offered mercy. No soul is lost without he first refuses to climb the wonderful ladder of mercy, leading from earth to Heaven. The soul that beholds the love of Jesus Christ bleeding on the cross for him and coolly spurns the offered mercy, spending his life for satan and the world, is past repentance. Like Judas he goes beneath the law that seals his doom, and sends himself to the place for which he has, by his own choice, prepared. By nature he is only fit to dwell with devils in the jaws of hell, not because God's mercy, is not full and free, but because the man has no mercy on himself and must go to the place he has chosen. What is hell ? Hell is the abode of the devil and his followers, who once enjoyed the glories of Heaven, who became sin and were cast out They were partakers of the goodness of God, and fell after partaking of. the Tree of Life, the presence and love of God. They having sinned under such light, knowing so well what they were doing, became hardened, fixed in their nature, just as Adam and Eve would have been, had they been permitted to partake of God's presence and love, after they had sinned. They must live for ever in a nature which kindness cannot change, which cannot be restored to love again and fitted for Heaven. Even if the love of God, as shown upon the cross, E. — B — were extended to them as it is to man they would not be changed ; they might believe but not be made any better ; not born again, not fitted for Heaven ; their nature of hate would not be changed to love. If trying to do good to some men in this world, is like (t casting pearls before swine," it must be worse to try to do good to devils, the nature of whose being is hate and darkness, void of every particle of love or justice. | Give not that which*is holy unto the dogs, - neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."—Matt, vii., 6. If you were to place a number of savage bull dogs all together in one room for the purpose of doing them good, to give them food and shelter, and, as soon as you have turned them in, you . gave them plenty of good meat to satisfy their hunger, what would be the result of your kindness ? How would you be rewarded for your love to the brutes ? Why, the chances are, that they would tear each other to pieces instead of the meat; and the rage and fury of their nature would enable them to fight until many of Ik them were dead, or dying, and so their suffering would be very much increased instead of lessened. They would turn their abode into a prison of suffering, hate, and slaughter, but that could not be compared with the awfulness of hell, for, although they might experience the fire of pain unto death, as they are -63 - being torn into pieces, yet the brimstone is not there —the pain is only physical not mental. They are not filled with the eternal fire of remorse, like devils and fiends, over a lost Heaven, a ruined life, a lost eternity. They only think of the present moment and are not fired with the horrors of eternal ruin. It is evident that God permits ruling powers to have their own way in hell, as on earth, or in Heaven. Eph. iii., 10 : " To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Also, Eph. i., 21 : "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." So that there are principalities and powers in Heaven above as well as on this earth, and God has established laws and fixed rules by which angels, men and devils are controlled ; by which the wicked are judged and punished, and the righteous judged and rewarded.1 As the rewards are great and eternal, so the punishments are great and lasting. In visions, I saw as it were the regions of hell, where the beings resembled man in form ; whose visage was dark and cruel, having a ghastly gfey appearance, who spent their time in fighting and torturing each other. I was permitted to see but not to pass the inner gates. There was no light to brighten !:{'' ■ ' - 64 - :j|- ' ' . the dark abode, but I could see without a light, just as some birds and animals can see in the dark. I gazed with horror at the mustering ranks of devils, as they formed in battle array and became as beasts or elements of fury and vengeance, devouring each other until they wrere tormented to the last degree of suffering, whose bodies, though torn asunder, would unite together again as though drawn by gravity. There was no dropping blood or wasting tissues. It was fTfiT mortal and could not be annihilated. I saw rank after rank undergoing the continual process of torture, compelled by each other to their awful fate, as if under rules of order and controlled by some higher powers of darkness, as well as their own dark cruel natures. And again, as I with others, crossed a vacant apartment, just beyond the wall or line of safety, we were surrounded by devils who impeded our way, and by wild threats, tried to stop and take us into their awful hell of hells, but did not stop us while we made towards the place of safety. As I leaped across beyond their reach and turned and saw one of my company, who had lingered just a moment* . seized and dragged to an awful doom. It seemed to me that this world is that vacant apartment, and that he who rejects the Saviour is the one who lingers and is doomed to hell as his eternal home, to endure the awful fire of its brimstone that never wastes or, ceases I -6s -■ to exist, and cannot cease while devils have the nature which is theirs. The torments of hell, called fire, existed before that which man recognizes as being fire; and the Lord has ordained that man should call both by the same name, so that we might know something of the awful sufferings of the torments of hell. When men get enraged and fight and stab each other through and through, do you think as you watch them suffering in the agonies of death.that God is not merciful because they suffer so ? Oh, no, you understand that God has made a law which they have broken, therefore they must suffer. It cannot be othervvise ; they suffer the burning pain, lit by the fires of hell. A material fire may be fed by wood, brimstone, oil, or other substances united, which waste away and are consumed ; but the fires of hell are fed by a brimstone that does not waste away and is not consumed—a brimstone composed of sin's black fountain—hate, deceit, remorse, and jealousy ; all united, flaming up into the furies of an awful hell that does not cease and never can. Are you saved, dear reader ? Saved ! and can you rest at ease, and watch a neighbour, a friend or foe, make his bed in such an awful hell ? Can you ? Then you better examine your own heart and see whether the love of God is dwelling in your soul or not. If not, you had better go to the beautiful fountain for cleansing \ to the beautiful fountain of love, and get ft — 66 — filled with love and the Spiric, and aroused to a higher sense of your privileges and of your responsibilities, and so be led forth to work and to victory. And again, I saw just inside the regions of the damned, one whose features resembled that of a woman, standing with back to a pillar or black lookinsr wall, fixed to remain there, with arms fastened behind and the appearance of hell stamped upon her visage, although not down into its awful centre. She represents the moral man, who tried to be honest with his fellow-man, and, morally speaking, was a very good living person, but rejected eternal life, and the law of God is still resting on him, which Jesus suffered to save him from by changing his nature and paying his debt ; but he refused the offered grace and is debarred from entering heaven, and is just by the borders of hell awaiting the final judgment. Are you, dear reader, gliding down life's rapid river in the boat of morality and respectability, for your Saviour, expecting them to save you from hell. Then, stop. Oh, stop, just now, for you may enter the rapids of death with only a moment's warning and be left to a fate like hers to await at the portals of hell in the place of the lost, instead of seeing the Lord in the Heavens, when the trumpet shall sound, calling you to the glories of Paradise, to await with the redeemed ones of earth, the same great day of final judgment, when the last sound of the trumpet is given. That is now -67 - calling, and will then have called the last saint and sinner from time into eternity. Then the books of remembrance will be opened and the wicked be sentenced to hell and the righteous to Heaven with perfect justice, for God is not a respector of persons. And again, I was shown just inside the entrance, or one of the many large doorways. ' Some beings appeared to be doing something with large vessels, like boilers foaming with heat ; and a little nearer the doorway, lying on the material below, was a being fixed in a large dark-looking covering, or skin, filled with liquid, which embalmed the whole body. The arms were bound to his side. He kept up a continual wailing, and one of the "beings every few minutes would rush at him, cursing and pounding him in the face, because of the noise of the wailing. So they continued without stopping, which shewed the awful nature of a devil, the brimstone of hell, and of its fire. The furious hate, remorse and cruel vengeance of ^devils and fiends is the brimstone that never ceases ; never is consumed ; and the fire is its effects* that is poured out by the decrees of God. James iii., 6 : I And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue among our members, that it d'efileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell." As in this world there is a cause for every effect, so it must be in-that world of torment A few sparks of i — 68 — the fires of hell may be felt even in this world, where sin's cruel hand has touched the golden cords of life. In all His works, which we call nature, God has made laws that cannot be broken, without the penalty for the breach is paid in full. If in childhood the arm is crushed and amputated, the arm and all its usefulness is gone for ever, and the man must suffer the loss all the days of his life. The law of eternal justice demands it. Cut a small nitch in the body of the sma'l sappling, and' in thirty years after you may find that it is a large mark on a large tree. The tree you have spoiled must remain spoiled for ever, as the punishment due for the law that was broken. Destroy the eyes of man or beast, and they must remain in darkness, never again to have sight restored ; perpetu d darkness is the equivalent which the law demands. A severe punishment it is, yet it must be paid. The miser spends his life in hard, weary toil, stowing away his money and his goods, feeding and clothing himself with a beggar's portion, hoping soon to enjoy what he has saved. So he keeps on plodding and hoping until his life is spent; but the sword of vengeance is cutting all the time and giving justice what he claims, for God has made the line of demarkation that satisfies plain justice throughout creation. If we follow the miser's life of broken laws, we find the punishment attending every breaeh. First, he thinks more of the gold and silver lent him than he ought, - 6g - % an&itis placed in a box or a bank by his own hands, never to be used by him again, but kept for another. Second, all the good things which God has provided and placed within his reach are practically rejected ; because he is too stingy to use them for good to himself or his friends; and, as a punishment he loses the blessings for ever. Third, he meant to be rich, happy and free ; but, with his money stowed away, he was poor all his days : his food, his raiment and his pleasures were limited, and he was always longing for more property and money. The brightest as well as the dullest boy, who sips the drunkard's social glass is tainted by its touch ; each separate glass winds around his conscience, his taste, and his will, as the spider winds it web around its prey, leaving each time a thin dark band of death, which, if continued, will ■complete its work in moulding his character and seal his doom. Each glass of poison seals its own brand upon the nerves, the taste, and the brains ; and any law in nature broken thus, can never be again as though it had not been. God's laws in nature cannot be broken without the penalty is paid ; the punishment inflicted. He who rejects the Saviour's love cannot have the love of God in his own heart; nor have eternal life while eternal death is living in his soul. He cannot serve God and mammon ; neither can he have eternal life and eternal death reigning together. As we find that God's decrees of punish- M |: — 70 — ment for sin, in breaking laws of nature are very severe and always executed, so, also; the broken laws which spoil the character of the soul is always punished, and cannot escape. The perfect law of justice which says the soul that sins shall die, is united by calvary's cross to the perfect law of mercy, which satisfies justice ; and says that whosoever will, may for a look at the cross have everlasting life, the presence of God in his soul. Rev. xxii., 1,2. | And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." The river, clear as crystal, is pure as Christ was pure, and flows from the wonderful fountain of God's love and mercy, right from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down to a lost and sinful world ; from the Creator to the created ; from Heaven to earth ; down until it reached the depth of calvary's cross. All who are immersed in its waters are baptized with the spirit of God and the fire of love. In Bible language, waters mean people, not in a physical sense; not the bodies, but the spirit; the life, the nature, the souls. " And in the midst and on either side of the river," meaning the flowing together . — 7i p of the waters, is " the Tree of Life," God with man. Christ has arisen from the dead and is become our life, administering to those who accept his atoning sacrifice, his spirit; the bread of life, through the Holy Ghost, making them one in spirit, and one in redemption, redeemed from the curse of the law. Christ is the true vine, and we are the branches, through whom, He, the Tree of Life, bears fruit; the fruit of .righteousness ; that we through Him might become sons of God and heirs of Heaven, and so escape from the adversary of our souls, having life and peace and joy for evermore. If you refuse this wonderful salvation and reject the Saviour's love ; just to follow the allurements of the world ; and nibble at the gilded bait of the adversary of your soul, be sure that your doom lies in his hands and he will drag you down to hell, because you choose it to. be so. Whatman seeks most, he may obtain; but must suffer the consequences. If you sow the seeds of love, you reap the same. If you seek after righteousness, ybU shall obtain the fruits it yields in this world, and rich reward for all eternity. Then follow Jesus now, wherever He may lead, and strive to do His blessed will, for it is life unto your soul (yourself) for evermore. If you sow the seeds of hate and sin, bitter will be the harvest you shall reap ; for every one shall be rewarded according to the deeds done in this body, whether they be good or evil. If you accept — n — w - Christ as your Saviour, you will have a-'mansion amongst the greatest or among the least in the kingdom of Heaven, according to the life you now live, the preparation you now are making. If hell is your doom, you will be deep down in its centre, according as your nature has been prepared and hardened by sin ; for to whatever extent it is permitted to touch the nature, it taints the soul. Is he brave who is afraid to do the right ; afraid to refuse the social glaiss, though he knows that for him it contains a poison ; afraid to speak a word, to save a fellow from eternal ruin ; afraid to acknowledge Jesus Christ as his Saviour ; afraid to die because he has not been brave enough to accept (by turning from the devil) the crown of life, and is therefore not prepared; afraid that someone might see him running away from real danger although he knows he ought to do so. Who—like the ostrich, sticking its head under the sand through fear, because the huntsman is coming at a distance—is hiding beneath the sinking sands of chance, waiting with silent fear, hoping that the day of death and-judgment may not be near: so he awaits just where he is, trusting to chance which seems to sooth him, until the trumpet sounds, and his privilege of accepting is past ; his nature se. for ever. His fear comes suddenly upon him in reality and satan claims him by eternal laws, which God has made, that bar him out of Heaven. Jli He lost the Father's greatest gift, The Son of God, to set him free, Who, in his nature's fate is fixed, Fixed in the great eternity. He lost the great Redeemer's love, That freely flaws from Calvary, And, by God's never changing law, Has sealed his own dark destiny. He lost far more than mortals know, Of endless light, and glorious life with God, Where love's sweet manna of living blessings flow, Who, rejecting Christ, his wandered far abroad. He lost a pardon, its value none can tell, Who longed not for the pearly gate, But travelled in the ways of hell, Feeding his soul on sin and hate. He lost much nore than man may think, In the wondrous gift, God's own beloved Son : When trifling, slept on death's dark brink, Till days of grace on earth w^re done. « S-*{1?« He lost much more than time reveals, By added wealth of centuries on earth, For ceaseless rolling ages swell, The one long night that seals his birth. He robbed himself of all but hell, Its nature and its fires that burn, And fellowship with fiends to dwell, For he the Saviour's love doth spurn. F. — n — He robbed himself of all that's good, By following o'er the sinking sands, Feasting on that which is not food, But husks of sin, from satan's hands. He robbed himself of light and life, And drinks the power of sin below ; He struggled in the world's vain strife, With selfish aims, for peace, which none can know. Which he has lost ? Lost! because he hardened his heart against the Holy Ghost; and against the gracious invitations of the loving Saviour; refused salvation by rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. Joel ii., 20: "But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things." The Lord promised to drive the enemies of that people far off, to the east sea ; or to a distant heathen people, who knew nothing of righteousness, where there was nothing to destroy ; and where he, the destroyer, would be exposed for his iniquity; the punishment of the sins of a wicked people would have been sent upon them, had they not repented by turning from evil. There are people to-day hardening their hearts against the mercies of God, while He is offering to drive their enemies far away and to set — 75 — them at liberty ; liberty from self, and from their besetting sin ; and liberty from the drink demon, or liberty from the slums ; liberty from fornication, or liberty from lying deceit ; liberty into the glorious light of gospel truth, light that shows the awful nature of sin, and what great things it has done to destroy and blight its victims. Oh, if you are among that number, accept the offered mercy, by starting now! Just now! to follow where Jesus leads, that you too may escape from those adversaries and receive the blessing of the Lord in your soul. Then will He lead you in the beautiful path of righteousness, to feast as we and many others are feasting, upon the sweet pas^- tures of His presence, by the beautiful rivers of the waters of life. Awake ! you who are sleeping on the sinking sands of sin. Awake ! for the bands of love and mercy will quickly be severed by the knife of justice. Then the cords of hell, that are now fastened to your soul, will drag you down into the awful abode of the lost. Awake ! don't stop to look at others faults until you are lost in hell. Don't stop to argue with satan, who once was an angel of light, lest his deception hinder your escape, and you be crushed beneath His. vengeance. Don't wait to consider whether you are good enough or not,, while death is lurking in your soul. Never put off till to-morrow, nor rest until you have peace through accepting Christ, that speaks your sins forgiven ; the fellowship of love : . - 76 - -,. - to God, that gives you joy of heart, a fountain of pleasure in this life, and glory beyond this strife of sin against righteousness. Every follower of God must face this strife in this world, while there is a soul unredeemed, while there are dear ones to be saved from the destroyer ; dear ones who are watching your life, if you are a Christian, and expecting your aid. Oh, Christian, be true to your God, to your brother, your sister. .Be true to those who need salvation, who are drifting to an awful doom. Be earnest in lifting up the Saviour, that they might look and live ; lead them tD the fountain of living waters of life, that they with you may rejoice and be glad in the Lord for evermore. Then, great will be your reward. Every act of love and mercy done by you, in the name of Jesue Christ, for a fellow creature is but another touch of the Master's will, fitting and preparing you for a higher mansion, a higher life with God. For as man is prepared by nature, when he leaves this world, so his glory will kbe great or small, and a mansion accordingly suited to him in Heaven ; or his guilt fixed upon him, and a place prepared in hell. Matt, xxv., 40-46 : "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have . done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels j — 77 — For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee ? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it "not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous unto life eternal." I Ye have done it unto me." It is not the mere act that is valued and rewarded by the Lord, in giving a cup of cold water in the name of Christ, but the nature of the love in which it is given. The nature that rejects the Saviour cannot give even a cup of cold water in His name ; for, unless given in love, not selfish affections, but the love of God, it is not given in His name. However fine the outward show, or lip profession, it will not be accepted of God, unless it is love from the heart. Oh, the awful meaning of those words—| Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire '•'—that sentence, like a burning flame will fill the being with fire of hell. To see himself barred out of Heaven and given over to devils, because he.chose it so, will fill the soul with fire that ceases not to burn and torment him, with the fires of hell in the presence 78 of his God, and the holy angels before the judgment bar of God. How important then that we each one search our ways and see if we are preparing to hear the welcome home "ye have done it unto me." Or, will it be I depart from me ye cursed " " inasmuch as ye did not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." We are either preparing to suffer the second separation from God, or to enjoy the glories of His presence for ever. How great is the question, Where am I going to spend eternity ? In a better world, or a worse one than this. Happy are they, and blessed, who beneath the shadow of His presence upon the Rock of Ages- can read through Christ their titles clear to mansions in the sky. It is placed within the reach of all to do so, but he who seeks an entrance into Heaven on his own merits, through fear of hell fire, and has no other motive to be a Christian than a selfish one, can never be a Christian by nature, only by name. He who is prompted to be good only through fear of punishment can never be good by nature. The fearful and the unbeliever shall be turned into hell. Love casteth out fear. He who wants salvation because he wants to be better in his own nature, and asks the Lord to make him so, expecting what he asks for, receives the blessing every time ; for he cannot ask thus without faith. When he repents by turning away from sin and follows where Jesus leads accepting Christ as his personal — 79 Saviour, he receives the blessing of peace and pardon, and hath eternal life ; not thinks he has, but has eternal life. To be a Christian because one wants to be, is not hard, but easy ; to accept the Saviour's offered mercy is not hard, but easy, if you really want to do so. While you halt between two opinions the way is hard. Some who want to have eternal life through Jesus Christ the Saviour, are snared by satan, who gets them to halt and wait until to-morrow. They wait with good intentions for a time, which never comes, and are lost. Rom. vi., 16-23 : * Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh : for as ye have yielded your members servants to unclean ness and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have 8a — your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." If you yield to the influence of sin, you by obedience become a servant of sin ; and, until you are made free by the blood of Christ, you live in its atmosphere and are a servant of satan. Just as the waters of a river take the boat towards the ocean, so sin drags the soul towards hell ; but, blessed be God, who hath pitied our helpless condition and changed the whole atmosphere above, and sent, a gentle breeze to drive us back up the current of the waters—a breeze which flows above, with power to stop our downward speed, and drive our little barque upwards, on the course of life's fitful river, towards the pearly gates of Heaven. If we will but hear his voice; and change the helm and raise the willing sails mercy's breeze to ca'ch and set us free from the powers of death below, then we are free. No longer are we the servants of satan, obedient unto death, but servants of the King of Kings, children of our Father and our God ; heirs through Jesus Christ to the new Jerusalem above, where glory fills the soul, for His presence will be there, and that will be Heaven's highest glory, its greatest joy. All may taste the joy of His presence here, even here, where we cinnot see Him as He is. Then we shall see Him face to face, and, if we know and love him now, we shall know and love him then _ 81 — with a higher, purer love. Oh, shall we not hear the call and accept His mercy now ! Why spend our time in sin, and let life's chances pass forever? Why live a life on earth that will yield the fruits of repentance in the fires of hell ? If not already saved, oh do not rest until you are ; nor cease to strive with all yeur might to live a life of obedience unto righteousness. You can find no fruit that is good in sin ; none but those which blight, and curse the soul. But the fruits you reap from serving God are holiness and everlasting life. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, is eternal life." Sin, when embodied, is a living moving, nature of cruel, jealous, hating, covetous deceit ; and he who is sin, is a child of satan, inasmuch as satan is the father of lies. We cannot go to Heaven without the new birth, through the blood and resurrection of Christ, for by the character of our nature God will judge and give everyone a place in the ranks which his character marks for him. The joys which sinners find in sin are but the sweetened coatings of the fiery pills of hell, for its pleasures quickly pass and leave a deadly sting to fester in the soul. Each little act af sin, each little hate, is but an added drop to make the bands of hell more firm, until the being is a nature lost through sin and turned away from God. We pray for you who read, fearing that some, even some who read this book, may drink — 82 of sin till life is past, and Heaven to them is lost, for ever lost. Rom. v., 6-13 : " For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we. shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when We were enemies, we were reconciled to God bv the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our. Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Where - fore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned : For until the law sin was in the world : but sin is not imputed when there is no law. During the old world, before Christ, man did not know God as we do, but were down in darkness from which they could not rise. Without the light of life— the Sun of our souls—neither can the sinner or the heathen of to-day know God. They were in the dispensation when God ruled by Angels ; but we are in the dispensation of the Kingdom of God. Then men knew but little of the indwelling of the love of God, His presence, His mercy and justice. Therefore they could not receive the image of God in their character, nor receive the Holy Ghost the Comforter ; they could not know God's boundlessdove, for they did not behold in Him the one who would take their nature on Himself and weep over a fallen world, of which He Himself would become a part that they might be raised. They could not say as we can, " He has borne our sins Himself, and has paid our debt on the Cross, has finished.the work." They saw no victory over sin for sinners won ; they did not even understand the meaning of the sacrifices, the types of Christ, who would die upon the cross for them, for they had not strength to see their own lost and ruined state. They could not realise the fact that they were Satan's property, and that Heaven to them was lost and lost for ever, unless redeemed ; therefore could not receive the new birth, from selfishness and hate to love and righteousness. But we can see and know of a Saviour's love, and have strength to grow in grace, the love wherewith He hath loved us, because His love is manifested in our behalf, reconciling us to Himself, baptising us with His own nature of love, and thereby fitting us for the indwelling of His presence, giving peace and rest, and preparing the mortal for immortality and Heaven, and satisfying God's laws'of divine eternal justice. If those in darkness were held responsible for this life and are now reaping what they have \fV - 84 - I sown, how much more are we responsible, who have the light of God shining upon us, if we do not use our talents for His glory ? They had a few blessings or talents, but we have many/ Much more perfection of character will be required of us, for every one must render an account according to the blessings lent him. Then search your own nature diligently and prepare to meet the Lord, for the time is near at hand when you must leave this life to meet the Judge who knows your every thought, who will say to Christ's rejectors, I Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire." " But God commendeth His love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," and rose that we. might have the resurrection power and be created for another world. Before man's fall, he was created and fitted only for this world, but was intended for another ; his nature was such that he would yield to the first temptation and sin. He was not yet fitted for the paradise above, to which he was intended to go and spend eternal ages. His flesh and blood like all things of time were to change anel ripen, like the ears of corn, and, falling asleep to crumble into dust once more, to await the resurrection morn, for which the soul also should wait in paradise above. If prepared for death, then it shall be clothed upon with an immortal glorious body ; but if not prepared to meet the Lord, must wait in the borders of hell, to be clothed in its body of sin, to burn in its fires, and wail in its torments of woe. - - - 85 - . v ;§ , Stop now, and think ! Prepare, oh, prepare, for soon you must meet with the King to be judged ! Then don't fail; don't fail, to prepare ! In the day that Adam sinned, he died ; but his body, did not cease to live, he himself died. The nature of his soul, that would have admitted him into paradise above, was dead, and he was changed. Before the fall, he was happy in the presence of God ; after, he was not so and was unfitted for paradise below as well as that • above. In the face of eternal justice, he had become another creature ; to renew that soul to life again is to create a.soul for Heaven, which is the second and all important creation in connection with us. In this second creation, we each one have a part to act, • by which we stand or fall, a test of love to gauge our worth, to mark us wheat or tares. I Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." But Christ now offers pardon. Will you by any means reject it and be doomed ? Oh, don't reject the Saviour's love, but accept Him now. Just now, before it is forever too late. Prepare now to meet the Lord thy God. As the sinner and his sins are one, Or as poverty and want collide, So Christ's rejector, quite undone, Satan has bound in sin and pride. G. w.t — 86 — Each evil thought, the product of a cause within, Is marked and seasoned by a devil's breath ; Ignorance yields, but pride and sin, And broken laws an endless lingering death. And laws abound to bless mankind, Laws both of good and evil, That we through them might be refined ; Created saints to dwell in Heaven. Rom. viii., 6. "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." 7. " Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." 8. I So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." 9. " But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." '. j - v - Jf, 10. I And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin ; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." 11. I But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 12. I Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh." 11 - 87 - 13. " For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye. through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." To be carnally minded is to long for the things of earth in preference to the things of Heaven ; to have a nature that will sell the truth in order to obtain earthly blessings ; to love evil rather than good, that is carnal, that is death. Such are dead to the likeness and image of God, dead to the presence of the Holy Ghost, dead to the nature of love and meekness that fits a soul for Heaven, the white robe and the wedding garment. Carnally minded, dead in sin, not the same nature, therefore not the same creatures that they ought to be ; instead of being in harmony with God's love, and thereby with His divine will, they are at enmity against God, for they are not subject to the law of God, for by their very nature, they cannot be. To be spiritually minded is life and peace, happy in' the presence of God, like the child at its parent's knee, because love casteth out fear. If we are in the flesh, we cannot please God, because we are spiritually dead while the flesh predominates, leading the soul into sinr and controlling the man ; therefore, the soul is dead unto righteousness and can do nothing ; and the body is alive unto sin, through the consent of the enslaved, dead soul. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. You are not of the Spirit while you have the nature with which you came into — 88 — lift this world ; not in the Spirit unless you have the Spirit of God dwelling in your heart ; and, if Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. The sceptic and the freethinker may doubt this marvellous fact, to which the writer and countless thousands of other redeemed ones can testify and do know by personal experience of the change, the quickening power, of the new birth, from death unto life, from sin unto righteousness, our mortal bodies quickened, sanctified,, set aside from sin, having God in our souls. This is no mere theory of the writer's, but the practical personal experience of many. The infidel may argue that he knows as much as the sanctified child of God about the love of God, the presence of God, and the will of God towards men, because he has studied and read a great deal about the works of God ; and that nature is his God, for nature, the works of the Creator, are received by him as Go J, instead of the Creator himself. But alas, he who is blind from his birth cannot see the beauties of land or sky, with their lovely flowers and beautiful star-decked Heavens, until his sight is given. He may argue that he knows as much as any one else, because he lives and feels the rays of the sun and enjoys life in his own way, and so the infidel may think that he knows as much as the - 89 - child of God, the sanctified one, whose nature has been changed, who is following the Lord ; led on by the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, drawn out into a life of righteousness by wonderful cords of love, the love and fellowship of God with his soul. But he who looks upon some deeply hidden unintelligent thing, in nature, as God knows nothing of the realities of the divine evidences of the Christian experience of the true child of God, for he is blind and dead, to those glorious blessings, and out of Christ; he finds no peace, no satisfaction, no rest for his soul ; for our Creator, has ordained that it should be so in order that man might search for and have the true riches, in the character of his nature that fit him for another —a better, purer life beyond, where joys will never fade and love will never cease. You may educate a mortal with the highest learning of the present age and elevate him to earth's highest pinnacle of fame ; but, apart from God, you cannot give him peace to satisfy the longings of the soul. Education has never changed a sinner to a saint, and never will. Honor, wealth or fame, have never changed a nature from hate to love and never can. It is ordained that nothing but the love of God—as revealed by the great sacrifice in our behalf, the great freewill offering of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost—should redeem us from the curse of sin and the power of the law and create a soul for the paradise above and the — 90 glories of Heaven, which is God's chosen plan for creating sons and daughters for Heaven, giving them his own life, his own image and nature, and an inheritance in eternal glory. Then, how awful must it be to miss the mark of our high calling and lose the life which is hid w ith Christ in God— so freely offered to all—for whosoever will may come and drink of the life-giving fountain of the love of God. If God had opened any other door to Heaven for us, excepting that of love and free grace, or permitted us to enter that door under any other merit than our own personal love, and personal responsibility to God, the responsibility of loving God for His love to j us, - and of -accepting and following Him, we could not enter as sons and daughters, but as aliens. Not born of God, we would be fitted for no purer world than this, having overcome no powers of evil through Christ; we would have no wedding garments, no oil of love in our souls. In fact, we would not be fit for Heaven, therefore there is no other way whereby we can be saved, and that is why it reads in Rev. v., 3 : " And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon." 4.JI" And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." 5. " And one of the elders saith unto me. Weep — 9* — not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose . the seven seals thereof." Man hath broken the law and man must pay the debt; but since no man could do it, Christ became man, that he might redeem and create us for the home above. No other plan would do ; for, if men were taken into Heaven like machinery and placed there regardless of his own will, without his oWn efforts or consent, he would not be worthy of a home in the presence of God and the Holy Angels, and could not be happy there. The sinner, even in this world, is not happy in the presence of God and often shuns even the house of the presence of God, because of his own guilty nature. In a vision, the writer was in the interior of a large building which was stocked with earthenware—dishes of various kinds and sizes. The owner, a merchant, was eagerly purchasing more, although he had in stock all he needed and more than he could pay for ; he was therefore in trouble on account sof the debt which resulted from reaching for too much at a time, and yet he was buying more. But he was not more foolish than those people who are not seeking first the kingdom of Heaven, but the things of earth ; seeking in eager haste for things that must pass away so soon, in preference to the eternal riches that never fade. Although they cannot pay.God for one of the — g2 — true real blessings, which they are receiving, they transgress His law and sell the truth 'and their own souls for fleeting, fancied pleasures that lead to hell, and which departing leaves a sting of death upon the soul. I saw men, also, who came into the place ; that were small, withered and black. My sister-in-law informed me that one of them who had just gone out had been her mother's slave in the old country. I soon learned that her mother was the earth and that it represented the one who seeks first the things of this earth and was a slave to sin and the world, which had been so effectually stamped upon him—the nature of the likeness of his soul before God. He had lived in the old nature, under the law of sin, a slave to the flesh, the devil, and the world to which he had gone to reap the fruits of the deeds done in this body. Then a neighbour came in, who was in trouble, and would not sit nor rest for one moment; his shoes were very thick and hard, made of sole leather all over, and hurt his feet very much. He kept asking me about a bond, and would not explain just what he meant, and soon went out. I knew the man to be one of good intentions, who hoped to go to Heaven at last, yet he was serving satan, in bondage to sin, and represented those who are saved through the atonement of Christ, as was the thief on the cross, who was saved ; though as by fire, redeemed from hell. All his life's privileges were consumed—gone forever—and he must appear — 93 — empty handed before the great judgment throne, to render an account and to receive his reward, which cannot be the glorious eternity that might have been his; for he will, by nature, if saved, be among the least in the kingdom above. No wonder that the shoes of a backslider fit tight, when his soul is encased in the coils of the world. No wonder that he knows not a moment of rest, or peace in God, when he questions the bond of satan's claim upon his immortal • soui- ills Romans viii.,13. " For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Psalm xcii., I. " It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High :" 2. To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night." 3. " Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery ; upon the harp with a solernn sound." 4. " For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work : I will triumph in the works of thy hands." 5. " O Lord, how great are thy works ! and thy thoughts are very deep." 6. 1 A brutish man knoweth not ; neither does a fool understand this." 7. 1 When the wicked spring as the grass, and 1*1; — 94 — when all the workers of iniquity do flourish ; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever :" 8. I But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore." 9. " For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish ; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered." 10. I But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn : I shall be anointed with fresh oil." 11. "Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me." 12. I The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree :• he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." ||| 13. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.'' 14. " They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing ;" 15. " To shew that the Lord is upright ; he is my rock, and there is no un righteousness in him." Galatians iii., 7. 1 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." 8. I And the scripture foreseeing, that God would justify the heathen through faith, preachsd before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." 9. I So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." WW - . — 95 — : .".p;; 10. " For as many as are of ,the works of the law are under the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." 11. " But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." . ' ■• - ' §-; '%• - « 12. | And the law is not of faith : but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." 13. I Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us : for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." 14. 1 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Only those, who are of faith, are the children of Abraham, not meaning those of the same nationality but those of the same faith. Abraham believed God with a natural,- satisfying, therefore living faith, and was blessed. The Israelites, believing that God accepted them through their sacrifices, were saved, although they understood not the great sacrifice that was to come, of which their obedience and sacrificial ordinances were typical. In faith they were children of Abraham, and now all who accept Christ as their own personal Saviour are of laith, therefore in faith are children of Abraham, the seed of whom shall be more than the sands of the sea for number. ^The ^ill if' -. .-96- \ 1 kingdom of Israel, a^s existing on earth to-day, is grander, nobler and larger than it ever was before, and is working in the beautiful rays of the Light of God, as reflected through the Sun of our Soul. In the old dispensation, before Christ, while its people were chiefly composed of Jews, it stood beneath the cloud of separation from its God. Theirs was but faith in a Saviour yet to com?. Our faith is sealed with the glorious sunshine of His presence in our souls. Theirs was in types and symbols. Ours, the substance, the love, the life restored again. Yet all, both Jew and Gentile, through faith are one : one in Christ—the Israel of God. Do we wonder that the Jews of this present age so completely fail to see and recognize the way in which God has established His kingdom ? Fulfilled His laws and promises to the world through them, a chosen people, chosen not to be the grandest, richest, or most independent, nation on the earth, but chosen and used to fill His special mission, that they might have eternal life secured for them and all mankind, used as instruments to bless all nations ? Do we think it marvellous that they remain a distinct and separate people from all others ? Yet it is perhaps not so marvellous after all, when we know that it is their choice. They do not. want to realize that all their sacrificial types and emblems were ended and completed on Calvary's cross ; were wound up and finished in Christ; that the old — 97 — world ended and this new one begun. They chose to be a separate people and God has said that they would be so ; they reject God's plan of salvation and lose its blessings, because it is their choice. They look no higher than an earthly kingdom and an earthly king, expecting to be justified before God by their own good works ; to get a nature of love and justice, the image of God's nature, by wearing a heavy yoke of bondage, and so to grind down their nature of evil by force. How miserably they failed ? Instead of growing in love, they grew in hatred, until they could murder a man for a small offence, whether they were sure of his guilt or not. Even the Sanhedrim, their highest assembly of justice could rush upon the innocent Stephen and murder him without law or justice, because his speech offended. So then, bondage does not purify the nature (ioth verse) " For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (nth verse) " But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.'' Christ has died that we might live through faith, by accepting of God's mercy, but only the just, those who have a desire to do the will of God have the promise of this verse. (Gal. ii., 21.) I If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." We know that law and bondage does H. I Ifl — 9B — not cultivate love and righteousness ; but rather a nature quite opposite. In Gal. iv., we find Abraham's two sons given in allegory, representing the two covenants (24th verse) " the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar," (25th verse) " For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem " (not the buildings but the people), " which now is, and is in bondage with her children." To-day those who seek for righteousness and the peace of God, out of Christ, are within that mountain's darkness, held by the bondage of its law. (26th verse) I But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." (28th verse) " Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." " The just shall live by faith." Psa. xci. 1st. The state of the godly. 3rd. Their safety. 9th. Their habitation, nth. Their servants. I <j.th. Their friends ; with the effects of them all. i. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." '' > - 2. "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress : my God; in him will I trust." 3. " Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence." 4. jl" He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." — 99 — 5. " Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day ;" 6. " Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." y. " A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh thee." 8. " Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked." 9. I Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation ;" 10. I There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." 11. 1 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." 12. " They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." 13-H" Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder : the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet." 14. I Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him : I will set him on high, because he hath known my name." 15. I He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble ; I will deliver him, and. honour him." 16. I With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation." 100 — Rom. iii., 24. " Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus :" 25. I Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God ; " 26. "To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness : that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." 27. " Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what law ? of works ? Nay : but by the law of faith." 28. I Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the. law." 29. I Is he the God of the Jews only ? is he not also of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also : | 30. " Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith 1 31. I Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish the law." Why is there redemption in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood ? And, why on account of Christ's righteousness, does God forbear towards the repenting sinner, remitting his sins that are past and receiving him as a child—an heir to Heaven ? Is it not because Christ, as a great God of love attracting the sinner, fills his soul with love, and so prepares him for God's — IOI presence ? Is it not because Jesus paid his debt, that he, through asking in faith, receives remission for all past sins, and because of the change in his nature, that he is adopted into the family of God ? It is through Christ's righteousness being manifested in our behalf that our salvation is complete ; that we are created and made meet for the kingdom of Heaven, and in the crucified and risen Saviour is the only power upon earth, that can teach man to love his enemy and his neighbor as himself; the only power which gives a nature of love that is free from selfish motives. It is the sacrificing love of Christ that draws man out from sin and hate, and brings him near to God. (28th verse) " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Christ has satisfied the law, by paying its demands, and therefore, as many as enter into Him, by faith, through love, partaking of the nature of God, are free with Christ, who hath taken our place : therefore we may have eternal life, but we must WILL to have it, otherwise it cannot be ours. We must WILL to have the new birth with a will that is willing to put off the old man ; with all—even the very appearance of—sin ; and to become a new creature in Christ. But, before you can have a will like that, you must believe God's word, that Christ is the Saviour and that you are by nature under the condemnation of eternal, unchanging justice ; cursed by sin, debarred — 102 — from the presence of God, who loves your soul and expects you to receive the wedding garment. Have you, dear reader, slighted—directly or indirectly—the Saviour's love, refused his call, rejected his pardon, and so refused eternal life. If so, then you are under the claims of hell. It owns you for its victim, however good your character may be. Your doom is sealed, unless redeemed. For character has no passport to take you into Heaven. You must accept God's offered mercy by deciding to follow Jesus, and by following wherever He may lead. Then you will go in the path of the righteous, by the rivers of life, perfumed with sweet roses of love, and tinged with the red crimson blood which He shed, riving life to your soul and a right to a home in His presencea bove. Then you will be prepared for that home; but you must follow in little things as well as in big ones, and all the time as well as at the hour of prayer; ever praising the Lord with thanksgiving. If you want to be a Christian, the way is easy and natural. No trouble at all. When you really want to be—when you decide to accept and follow Jesus just as his apostles did—then He will lead you sweetly and gently through the gates of mercy into the New Jerusalem on earth, where you will find peace, joy and pleasure, through the presence of the Lord, with your soul. He will lead you onward and upward, into the glory of His presence, to a higher, purer life in Heaven — J03 — above. When a man wills to be good, he chooses his surroundings to correspond with his will. You may see it in his actions. You may hear it in his words, or find it in his text book. For an example, the following copied from a War Cry, gives the observing reader an idea of the nature of the desires and will of Commandant Booth : A LEAF FROM THE COMMANDANT'S DAILY TEXT BOOK, On August fjth, 1892. I Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope."—Zech. ix., 12. I God is a refuge for us.—For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God. .The name of the Lord ib a strong tower ; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. I The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble : the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him ; and the Lord shall cover him all -he day long and he shall dwell between his shoulders. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms ; and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, destroy them. I Israel then shall dwell in safety ; for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved ; God shall help her, and that right early. I The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom — 104 — shall I fear : the Lord is the strength of my life ; of whom shall I be airaid ? for in time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion : in the secret of his tabernacle shall He hide me. " Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat. Happy art thou, Oh Israel: who is like unto thee, Oh people saved by the Lord." Psa. xxvii. 1st. David sustameth his faith by the power of God. 4th. By his love to the service of God. 9th. By prayer. A PSALM OF DAVID. Psalm xxvii., 1. | The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear ? the Lord is the strength of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? " 2. " When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell." 3. I Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear : though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident" 4. " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." 5. I For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion : in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me ; he shall set me up upon a rock." 6. " And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me : therefore will I offer — 105 — in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy ; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." 7. I Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice : have mercy also upon me, and answer me." 8. I When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." 9. " Hide not thy face far from me ; put not thy servant away in anger : thou hast been my help ; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation." 10. I When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." 11. I Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." 12. " Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies : for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty." 13. "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." 14. I Wait on the Lord : be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." This vast world of human thought and action was intended to be but a transient home, where mortals with immortals dwell—a refinery for the soul, intended to bring forth saints and fit them for another world. This life, so full of joys and pleasures, deep and rich, is always mixed with misery, grief and pain. Here evil is permitted to exist, to teach man right from — io6 — wrong, that he might overcome the evil with the good, and that he might be born again ; created a being for the New Jerusalem above ; crowned with the life, the spirit and the resurrection of God's own glorious Son. As sons of God, and-one in Christ, we have the resurrection power—through his free grace bestowed—if we will but accept His grace. To-day the multitude who are accepting and receiving the new birth into the kingdom of the Israel of God, is larger and grander than ever it was before. But, there is the other side—the evil with the good —which makes the earth similar to a military school, where every soldier puts on his armour and learns the ways of war. So every pupil, in this more important school of life, put on their armour and responsibility as soon as they knovv right from wrong, good from evil ; and, in tender years, start out under the quick marching orders and heavy drill of battle, which cannot cease until some fatal shot or sabre stroke free them from their earthly robe, which must moulder in the dust until the trumpet sounds that ushers them into the presence of God who gave them being. So, both wise and foolish virgins march on in one vast multitude, through time into eternity. The teeming millions of this earth, like the marshalled armies of two opposing nations is divided by the laws of God's eternal justice into two classes : the Godly who are wise ; the bad who are foolish. — 107 — Consider the army of the godly and the path on which they march—the good path—the way of wisdom, love, faith, hope, and charity ; these are the beautiful hills all bright with the presence of God. He has set them to mark the standard of the pilgrims' righteousness, to elevate their life, that they might be sanctified and set aside from the tempter's power. Sometimes we find it hard to climb these hills to nobler character, but our Leader always gives strength sufficient for the day and helps the willing, earnest traveller onward to constant victo'ry, over sin. Above this noble army, you behold the cross of Jesus : ever drawing them up to the measure of his own great boundless love. Their path is far above the deadly paths of sin and darkness of the world, and has a peace which the world does not know and cannot give. You watch a little closer and observe that the great majority grow stronger and stronger all the way, until safe on Canaan's shore. We will follow for a few moments along the footprints of the average child of God, to see his life, his character, and his victory, through Christ the Lord. Born like other sinners, with a nature that seeks after evil, he spends about fourteen years of life in sin, and represents the average sinner, and is kept from crime —only by the fear of man. He has no rest from sin, but feels a longing for some better life ; he has no future prospects until looking up, he beholds the Star of Bethlehem and the lower lights that burn along the ' # e!v< — 108 — Iff Christian's way, and beholds the Son of God upon the cross, and knows it was for him ; to give him life and set him free, that the Saviour suffered there. His heart is touched with a living spark from off the altar. He asks for pardon and receives new life, believes, has faith in God, and repents by turning away from sin, and seals his obedience by willingness to be with Christ baptised; therefore he is born again and accepted of the Lord. The love of God so fills his soul that the remainder of his life is spent in service of the King of Kings. The gospel seeJs grow year by year within his nature, leading him higher and higher on the beautiful hills, which comprise the mountain of the Lord, called Zion. At last with life's journey almost over, he sits upon the banks of Jordan, rejoicing in the Lord, praising and blessing God for the way he has been led, just waitingthe command of the Master's call, that he might enter the beautiful gates of the eternal paradise above. In the gospel dispensation of Christ's kingdom on earth, all must be of the same spirit of love in Christ, or they are not of the Israel of God ; all must have the same faith in Christ as their personal Saviour, or they have not eternal life ; and all must have the spirit of obedience in love to G:>J, or they cannot belong to the New Jerusalem on earth, and must enter God's presence at last, as the foolish virgins, without any spiritual growth in grace of character. The Jew 4 — 109 — must become as the Gentile, and the Gentile must become as the Jew, and the heathen as the Christian ; all of one spirit, born again made one in Jesus Christ in order to be heirs of Heaven. The heathen Gentile must be lifted above his sins—his idol worshipping and superstitions ; saved from his fiendish nature of ignorant hate and selfishness, with its awful work of slaughter; of slavery, tyranny and martyrdom ; changed, like Saul of Tarsus, from a nature that dragged to their death all who were opposed to his claims unto a nature of love and good-will towards all before he is a child of God. The learned Jew must be raised above his selfish claims for earthly power, above his nature that required the bondage of all the Jewish laws, to teach him obedience to the Lord and make him the natural man ; serve the purpose which God intended him to serve., Before Christ, God, ruled man by law and justice ; but now, through love and justice. Christ came a mightier king than the Jews expected, but their nature was too corrupt and earthly to see his glorious mission, though he gave himself a ransom to make them free from the bondage of sin. He brought them light and life everlasting, while they expected only a kingdom of temporal blessings. Their nature was dark and sinful, but on the cross the Saviour said, J Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Their eyes were covered as with a veil that they might not see the Hi — no — Tree of Life, which was protected with the flaming sword of the presence of God ; nor eat of its fruits, while their hands were red with the blood of the innocent ; for if they had tasted of the love of God in their souls and saw His glory, as the saints and prophets did, then they would accept no forgiveness from the Father, but would live for ever in their hardened nature, unchangeable, like devils, whom love and pardon never can renew or change. But the veil of the law of bondage was rent and the Tree of Life is not protected from the Israel of God, for Christ, our advocate, has passed beneath the sword of justice in our stead. It pierced His browT, His hands, His feet, His side, before He gained for us admittance to the presence of the Father. All who now beh6ld His love to them are kindled into love. The nature of His own do live, like Him, through His atoning death and resurrection power, for they have eternal life; not a temporary life, but fixed upon the soul. We, therefore, do not need the law of bondage, but of love and justice, to make us serve -the Lord, which to the Israelite of Christ's new kingdom is an easy, a glorious service ; but, to the Jew in bondage, a heavy burden of hard service, which he cannot perform. No man, by trying to keep the law, can work out his own salvation. Law does not change his nature; it does mould his actions and change his course in life, but never fits him for the courts of — Ill — Heaven. James ii., 10 : " For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James iv., 17 : " Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Sin is therefore a nature of selfish, ignorant rebellion against God's will and is opposed to all that is good. It deadens the conscience and hardens the heart, and is the seal by which satan is permitted to mark his willing victims ; but, glory to God, the seal is broken, and every one who will accept His grace are free. Are you among the foolish virgins ? Are you slumbering beneath the power of sin, refusing to obey the loving entreaties of the Lord, willing, to tread the enchanting path that leads to hell, because you are not inclined to believe that God's word is true, or that the path to Heaven is a reality, though the lives of millions do testify that it is ? Then you are not fulfilling the mission of your life, as do the insect, the fowl, or the beast, which fulfil their mission as God designed. The ant, though it has never seen a winter, is made to build its home and to stow away the necessary food for the winter's use. The bee also selects its home for shelter, gathers the material, and constructs the cells to hold the honey which it gathers to feed on through a winter of which it knows nothing. What of the spider ? It prepares not for winter and it is not necessary that it should, but it prepares for its daily food as God intended it should. 112 M IB Its system is made to be fed on flies and insects ; therefore, it is not provided with wings to fly from flower to flower, as the bees, nor a long extended bill to sip the sweets which God has placed within their little bosom, nor a system which can refine and prepare the honey for the cells. With a wonderful system of manufacturing organs, the spider produces the material, of which it carries a constant supply with which it builds its own web and it is perfectly suited to catch its food, that it might live and fill its little but important mission on the earth. If the spider's appetite called for honey, it could not easily get the food it needed. As with the spider, so it is with every creature. The body is always made capable of securing the right material to' feed and clothe, and so satisfy its own longings. God has made all things perfect in themselves for themselves. The trees, the fowls, or the beasts care not for .he morrow, as man does, for the future. They perform their daily mission in perfect harmony with the design of God's perfect will, while man in his spiritual life is not made like them to obey God's will, but is held responsible for the life he spends. If man goes in the ways of hell, against the grace of God, trampling under foot the love of Christ, then he runs to his own destruction and God will hold him responsible under laws which do not change. If God's laws in temporal things demand of us the awful forfeit of the penalty in full for H3 every breach, how much more awful will it be in connection with things eternal ? If the man, who with his beloved wife and fair young daughter, in the dark drove carelessly over the high embankment, had to pay the penalty by his life and mangled bodies on the rocks below, how much greater will be the penalty you must pay for wilfully neglecting so great a salvation as Christ has died to secure for you ? How great will be the forfeit of Heaven and of eternal life ? When you know that God commands you to follow him in righteousness, and when you feel the Holy Spirit drawing you to Jesus, it is your bounden duty to accept His grace and reach out, with all your might, to receive the crown of life. The bird, which God has ordained to fly in autumn to a summer land of flowers, which it has not seen, must perish in the frosts of winter if it fails to go ; and so you must walk with Christ, by faith in God, or perish in the fires of hell. You must inherit the glories of Heaven, through Christ, or suffer the torments of hell, through sin, because it is your choice. You must choose to serve God, or the devil. How great then is the responsibility that rests upon you ? Oh, trifler of the world, while God is calling, will you not obey and live that you may feast upon the manna of his love and enjoy His presence through time and in eternity ? God's presence is manifested to us just according as we desire to know Him and believe His word. A I! — U4 — man will only seek for blessings according to his faith in the promises of God. St. John i., I. I In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 2. " The same was in the beginning with God." 3. "All things were made by him ; an J without him was not anything made that was made." The Word was not a mere language of words. The apostle refers to the power of the presence of the will of God. The Word with us is God, God manifested to man. The Lord has manifested Himself in three great letters, which form the Word of God, perfectly to our vision. The first great letter is the world in which we live, with all the works of God, speaking forth the power of His unlimited wisdom. The second, the firmament of innumerable mighty worlds, suspended in vacuum, each in its own appointed place, in perfect order, a part of which we can see from this small world speaking forth the wisdom and majesty of His unlimited power. The third letter is man himself; the mortal body and immortal soul, capable of possessing the image of God's own nature, or the nature of devils. Man, planted on earth to be tempted and refined and fitted for Heaven. Man, lifted to a life of righteousness by God's own life, death and resurrection. Man, for whom the Saviour suffered on the cross, and who became man's Sun, and — us — man's Life, telling of God's unbounded love and justice In that Word we see the boundless and perfect wisdom, power, love and justice of our God. It is the privilege and duty of every reader to study the Word and to study it in the light of God's written Word, and under the direction of the Holy Ghost, that you misrht see in it the Glorious Creator and know God by His works, just as you would see and know an absent friend by looking at his picture. The earnest diligent Christian recognizes God in His word. But yet there is a higher, fuller sense by which the Christian knows God and is happy in his presence All may have this joy if it is their will to live the life of righteousness, of faith, and love; being hid with Christ in God ; and so have His presence abiding in their soul. God's presence with man may be likened to the great network of the Electric Tram and Light Company's wires of a large city ; and His love likened to the electric fluid that is rolled forth from motor to motor, flashing along the wires from every throb of the mighty engines. The presence and powrer goes from the power house to each corner of the street and to every dwelling and office where wanted. People sacrifice a little that it might be there to drive away the darkness of the night. So the love of God, flowing down the wondrous cords of grace, reaching from Heaven's high throne to Calvary's Cross for us, bring- — n6 — ing light and life and never-ending pleasures to all who will accept salvation, and sacrifice the devil's alluring powers of sin. All who are reaching forth with all their hearts' desire to clasp the mighty cords of grace, shall ever drink and feast upon the living, ceaseless manna of His love. The servant of the Lord, who is thus in touch with God, shall overflow with praise and adoration all day. long, partaking, as the apostles did, of the presence of the Lord. Psa. xix. i. The creatures shew God's glory. 7. The word his grace. 12. David prayeth for grace. TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, A PSALM OF DAVID. 1. "The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." 2. " Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." 3. I There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard." 4. "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun." 5. 1 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." 6. I His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." 7. I The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the — ii7 soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." 8. I The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the hearf: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." 9. "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." 10. " More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." 11. "Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward." 12. " Who can understand his errors ? cleanse thou me from secret faults." |||g 13. " Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be. innocent from the great transgression." 14. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer." Heb. ix., 21. " Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry." tffisg lH 22. " And almost all things are by the law purged with blood ; and without shedding of blood is no remission." • ... — n8 — 23. I It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." 24. I For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us : " 25. " Nor yet that he should offer himself often* as the high priest entereth into the holy' place every year with blood of others ;" 26. I For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world : but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." 27. I And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: " 28. " So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many ; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." What love the Father hath bestowed on us, in that we are by grace made sons and daughters of God. We, whose doom was written, sealed by His eternal justice, barring us forever from His presence, because the devil's image was written with the indelible ink of sin in living letters on the soul. Stamped with a seal in our nature, which none could break until justice was satisfied ; which demanded that nature's — 119 — death in the soul, so that the soul must become dead unto the image of satan's nature, and alive unto God, before justice could be satisfied, or the seal be broken. Nothing could give us this new birth of nature, but the love of God in the heart, and, though His love could change our nature, yet the seal of the death sentence must be broken, in order to give us liberty. As the soul was alive, so the body also was alive, to sin : both alike under the sentence of death, and the blood representing the life must be shed, and man must pay the awful penalty for his sin. But from beneath his nature of sin, and the power of justice, no man of himself could raise ; for he could not keep the law, nor raise himself up from hell. It was quite beyond man's power, for that which is being created cannot create itself; and just here, the wonderful love of God is bestowed upon us, for when we were doomed to the eternal slavery of devils, and the torments of hell, not being fit for the glorious courts of Heaven where sin can never dwell. He came, in the person of His Son, to Calvary's Cross, to wear our nature and to break the seal, by his broken body, and to cancel the sentence by the blood he shed, in behalf of the sinner. So Christ satisfied the law, broke the seal, and established a beacon light upon the cross, which is growing brighter and brighter unto the perfect day ; as the Sun of our Souls warming all with the radiance of His presence, who will but reach out — 120 — lEr ■ s" ; with eager, earnest, trusting hearts,, and receive his offered grace. There are some souls, so cruelly saturated by satan's nature, that offered mercy only chills their soul, and God's love can never reach their heart, because their selfish ignorant pride hardens them against his grace ; and satan leads them in the broad cruel ways of death, bidding them forget the future; and the fact that they are his slaves, marching in chains to his eternal habitation, telling them that they are after all not so very bad. When conviction of sin bears hard upon them and they wish to escape the powers of sin, he tells them to wait a little longer, and they wait.; for their nature is to linger in the ways of sin, rejecting the mercy of God's boundless love. So they await their adversary's pleasure, until the curtain of eternal justice is lifted, and they are awakened beyond the reach of the precious blood, without which there is no repentance, therefore no forgiveness. The^nature is forever fixed just as the tiger's nature, which cannot be changed by receiving pardon, or allowed to roam at large, in our towns and cities. Neither can sinners be allowed in Heaven. There is no remittance without the shedding of blood, and no repentance without the power of love, for no power can change man's nature, but that of love : and it is the only way by which we can receive the new birth into the kingdom of God, in this life, and into the paradise above. — 121 — | The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," Luke xix., 10. " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," John iii., 36. To believe on the Son is to have a loving, satisfying confidence, that Jesus is your personal Saviour, and, in order to get this living faith, you must study diligently the word of God, in his book of works, and in his book of Words. They are laden with treasures of blessings rich beyond the reasonings of man's mind, yet the simplest may feast upon them as well as the wise ; the poor as well as the rich ; the weak as well as the strong. If it is your desire, you may be full and running over with the love of God. In order to love God, you must learn of Him, whose presence should be sweeter than earth's fairest pleasures, and His word more pleasant than liberty. Oh, how much we need His precious truths to enlighten our mind, and the precious blood of Christ to cleanse the soul, yet the fool rejects it, saying there is no God. Oh, how precious is the Word, since it holds the sanctifying fountain of cleansing for man. Oh, how much the sinner needs the truths it teaches, the life it reveals, and the character it demands, in order that he might have the portion it promises and the person it pictures. If you would grow in grace, you must apply the word of God to your personal habits, your social possessions, and your religious associations; then you may follow Jesus Christ into the higher J. FFF 122 —- ll'iil life and grow more and more sanctified in character from your besetting sins. You must strive to obey every precept and walk in its light. It is your privilege to cherish every promise, to feed on its treasures and to hide it in your heart. Without it, the wise of this world are but fools and must lament their folly while the endless canvas of a^es move. Unless redeemed by the blood of Christ, he who lives afar off and does not cherish the word in. his heart, though he be saved as by fire through faith in Christ, yet he will suffer a vital, eternal loss, in the nature of his wedding garment: a mansion will be given suitable to his nature. If one of the least in the kingdom, his place will be in the outer globe ; not among the worlds of mansions nearest the throne of God's glorious presence. All who have Heaven for their home, may be satisfied in themselves and their surroundings ; each will be in his own natural element, the small vessel full of joy as well as the large one. As all having life in this world are satisfied in themselves : the snail is satisfied, with the fulness of its life and surroundings^ the bird, the fish, and the brute alike with mm a:e filled with the satisfaction of life in themselves. But some are creatures capable of pleasure and honor, while others are not; and, according to their nature, their station in life is fixed. So it is in the world beyond, in reference to the redeemed. A man's wedding garment and the — 123 — oil in the lamp of his soul gain for him his low estate or the crown and throne of glory, as the Lord appoint^ and so we are Weaving our garments each day, either of the golden thread of love, or the dross that will burn ; of the riches of Heaven or the dead things of earth; preparing each day for eternity ; preparing for the small or for the great; but some are not preparing, only walking the dark road to hell. Do you choose to go down with the sinful and low, by rejecting God's mercy and love ; to repent when too late, in darkest despair ; to suffer your horrible doom ; to realize that the train of time is past and that you are lost. ? Are you quietly treading in the path to hell ? We ask it again, dear reader, because the loss is more than you can stand. To miss the blessed fellowship of the Holy Ghost and the wonderful love of God, through rejecting Christ, is to lose that which fits your soul for Heaven. Oh, will you not hear the Saviour's loving voice and accept His gracious call before time seals your doom ? True, Christians long to guide you to the blessed Shepherd's fold. " The Spirit and the Bride say Come." Will you not hear (if yet unsaved) the loving, warning voice of God ? still calling ? Will you not accept the pardon, the crown of life, and everlasting joy ? or will you linger a little longer suddenly to behold the coming of the Lord in judgment, as a thief comes in the night ? You will be unprepared for all, but hell ; to taste its — 124 — brimstone of fire in His presence, because of the very fact of your awful folly, and to receive your eternal doom. Now is the day of grace ! Not to-morrow, but now! Oh, do not wait, nor rest, until you are happy in the Lord, through faith and willing obedience to his Divine and Glorious will. Prov. xxix., i. " He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." 2. I When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice : but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." 3. " Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance." 4. " The king by judgment establisheth the land : but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it." 5. " A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet." 6. " In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare : but the righteous doth sing and rejoice." 7. " The righteous considereth the cause of the poor : but the wicked regardeth not to know it." |||8. I Scornful men bring a city into a snare : but wise men turn away wrath." 9. "If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest." — 125 10. I The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul." 11. "A fool uttereth all his mind : but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards." 12. | If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked." 13. "The poor and the deceitful man meet together : the Lord lighteneth both their eyes." 14. 1 The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever." -15. "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." 16. " When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increascth: but the righteous shall see their fall." 17. jl" Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest ; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul." 18. I Where there is no vision, the people perish : but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." 19. J " A servant will not be corrected by words : for though he understand he will not answer." 20. I Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words ? there is more hope of a fool than of him." 21. I He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length." 22. "An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression." — 126 — JII 23. IA man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." 24. " Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul : he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not." 25. " The fear of man bringeth a snare : but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." 26. "Many seek the ruler's favour; but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord." 27. " An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked " Ephesians ii., 12. | That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world :" 13. "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." 14. 1 For he is our peace, who hath made both oncf and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us ;" 15. " Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances ; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace ;" 16. I And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby :" — 127 —I 17. I And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." 18. " For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." 19. " Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of he household of God." uT GOD'S UNION WITH US. Ii *Y N all the appointed works of God there iu perfect *-J harmony blending with infinite love and justice. All that stands in opposition to that harmony is of sin and is directly opposite to righteousness. Heaven and love are one in God, and God is love. If you are of God, your nature must be love; Hell and sin, united as one, are the products of the devil's nature, and he who loves to make and to tell a lie is himself a lie. Spiritual unions are of more vital importance to man than earthly ones, because their issues are eternal and lead to Heaven or. to hell. The only great and perfect union relative to the human family is that of our united fellowship in love, through Christ, with God our Creator. Why has this union steadily grown for nearly two thousand years, with mighty power, lighting the world's dark vale of death, breaking the powers of hell, and fitting man for a better world ? Why have about fifty millions of Christians, since Christ, given their bodies a sacrifice as martyrs for His sake, for the advancement of His Kingdom an d the salvation of their fellow man ? Why is this — 129 — union between God and man so strong and changeless ? It is because the love of God changes not, and the sanctifying blood of Christ, reaching the soul, is ever the same, making the dead to live, the hater to love, and the unrighteous man to forsake his ways. Nothing but the love of God, as shown by the precious blood of Christ, can change the soul from sin to righteousness ; or pay the law's demand. Yet fools in their folly have sought a substitute—another way to enter Heaven, which never can be found. Then, how precious is the blood that Jesus gave for you ? Oh, ' how great the sacrifice which saves the sinner who wants salvation, and how precious the gift of pardon since it unites the soul with God in love that casts out fear j and puts a sweet assuring peace within the soul. Surely we can bless the Lord and magnify His name at all times, like the Psalmist of old, for a salvation that keeps us every moment, while we trust Him. ' I bless the Lord for the new birth, and praise Him for a full salvation ; the resurrection from death unto life, and for the Holy Ghost the Comforter. I bless God for the fact that I know for myself, by personal experience, of the new birth ; of what it is to be born of the Spirit of God ; changed from the dead, cold, dark, hating, guilty, sinful nature, to the living, loving, trusting, enlightened nature of willing obedience to God. Every intelligent person must know and feel in their own soul, that this first nature referred to leads its victims towards the gates of ruin and the nations into hell ; while the second leads it willing followers towards the beautiful gates of Paradise, and tends to make our world an Eden of Love. Yet, some without a reason, take the downward road to death, knowing that they are wrong. For instance the leading infidels of to-day, knowing that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power that elevates mankind and is the secret of every truly great nations' greatness, are still speaking and working against it. The only reason we can give, is that their nature is in league with the downward path, or they would not want to rob the world of its goodness and fill it with the horrors of hell. The freethinker may be free to say what he thinks about these things, and I bless God that I am not only free to speak what I think about salvation, but know it for myself, I know in whom I am trusting, and have passed from death unto life. I know the presence of God who leads me day by day, and I know the peace the Saviour gives which the world cannot know. The moralist may think that it is only a feeling of excitement that makes the soul rejoice. If so, it is the kind of excitement God has made to elevate the soul and it has lasted me for years, growing stronger and brighter ; deeper and milder all the time; and I bless and magnify the Lord because countless multitudes can testify the same. Yet the proud rejector of the Saviour's love, fails to believe — i3i — the sincere earnest testimony of their experience ; fails to see the difference between good and evil ; fails to recognize the deception of his cruellest enemy ; and must fail to attain the glorious purpose for which he is placed on earth, while he chooses to remain beneath the alluring mists of sin that cloud the world. But> praise the Lord for the thousands who are coming out from beneath the vale of satan's kingdom every day into the marvellous light of Gospel truth and love, being united as one new man through Christ in God. The prayer and desire of the redeemed in this world is that sinners, wandering from God, may be destroyed from off the face of the earth and quickened into a newness of life, changed into saints of the Lord ; that aliens from the common wealth of Israel, whether Jews or Gentiles, who are strangers to the covenants of promise, " having no hope and without God in the world," who are " afar off," may be " made nigh by the precious blood of Christ." I bless God because he has broken down the middle wall of partition that separated the sinner from the Tree of Life, with its fruits of love, charity, faith and peace with God ; who has abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one new man ; so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby ; and now in the word of God, preached through Him, 132 we both have access by one spirit, unto the Father. If the Lamb of God, the great sacrifice slain from the foundations of the world that saints might be created for Heaven, was sent only to obtain a pardon for sinners, leaving us in our sinful nature, we would never be fit to enter Heaven. But, blessed be God, who with pardon demands the new birth, the final change from sin unto righteousness ; and so we find in the sacrifice not only a ransom from the grave, a resurrection for the body, and an atonement for the separation of the soul from God, when the Saviour said upon the cross " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," but also the hidden manna, the unchanging love of God, repealed in the cleansing blood from Calvary's Cross, and in the precious words which Jesus preached and sent his followers into all the world to teach, that all might be brought into one peace and fellowship unto God. So we find that both Jews and Gentiles are one in spirit, through Christ and no longer separate as foreigners and strangers, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Isaiah liii., 5. " But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are healed." 6. " All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have — 133 — turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." 7. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." 8. " He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation ? for he was cut off out of the land of the living : for the transgression of my people was h^,stricken." 9. " And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death ; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." 10. " Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall "prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." 11. I He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied : by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many ; for he shall bear their iniquities." K. GOD'S PRESENCE WITH US. nil 1 9J| MORTAL cannot grasp the height and breadth of the love of God any more than you can understand the endless ends of the countless millions of imaginary lines which pass you on every hand, of which reason says they must begin somewhere and have an end. While circumstances prove them endless, and causes man's highest reason to fail in blank confusion, with nature's sight, aided by the telescope, you can see countless millions of miles of the s pace in which you dwell, although you cannot see it all. He whose spiritual eyes are opened by gospel light, can see a part of God's boundless love and glorious presence ; have, through Christ, the risen Saviour, a satisfying portion of the peace He gives ; sees through Him the Father's boundless love, which surrounds the Christian in this life ; and fills his soul with ceaseless hope and joys unspeakable. He feels and knows that the presence of the Lord is with him. He looks to Calvary's cross and beholds the Saviour, suffering there on earth to make him free from sin, to pay his ransom price, and be his advocate. We — 135 — know that this is true, by personal experience, and that 1 He was wounded for our transgression, was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed." Have you watched the thoughtless, unre- generated soul, while he was sinking beneath the waters of affliction, approaching the gates of death ? Have you sought to find in him the peace of the presence of God ? If so, you have sought in vain. The Lord does not dwell with us until our nature is moulded by His own great love, the love of God; cleansed in the fountain of his blood. Let us not forget that the blessed Lord and Saviour was smitten for us, was afflicted of God, that we might escape hell and the nature of devils, and that we might have an entrance into Heaven. God, in love and justice, will not permit a nature of sin to dwell in Heaven, because He loves the angels. When all we like sheep had gone astray, following after our own nature of sin, Jesus bore our iniquities and was afflicted in our stead, and murmured not, but went as a lamb to the slaughter ; from prison and from judgment to Calvary's cross, because he loved us. He was able to pay our debt, because his own life was sinless, and he could lay it down and take it again that we might rise with Him. He gave His soul an offering for sinners because He loved us Then, can we afford to neglect that gift of pardon, the — 136 — crown of life and love, he offers, and reject our souls' salvation ? If we do, we cannot escape a home with devils, for Jesus did not escape the cross, but paid the law's demand, and bled on Calvary. " He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands." This present day is the day of the Lord that is prolonged ; and is biing prolonged to cease only when the jubilee of earth's great millennium is here, and the Lord shall I see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." GOD'S LAW WITH US I. Peter iii., 15. ** *fi2UT sanctify the Lord God in your hearts ; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear : " 16. I Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ." 17. I For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing." 18. " For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:" 19. " By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison ;" 20. " Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." nv -138- 21. I The like figure whereunto even baptism doth often now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: " 22. " Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God ; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." Sanctification is a progressive state, meaning set aside. Sanctify God in your heart, by seeking first and above everything else to serve and glorify God with your whole life, making everything of second consideration. If you accept Christ for your Saviour and obey Him with a willing loving obedience, you have rest from a guilty conscience, a peace which is the evidence of the new birth ; a change from guilt and from a nature of sin to righteousness and loving confidence in God ; then you are sanctified, set apart from sin, but not made perfect. To sanctify God in your heart should occupy the whole of the Christian life, and mean a life of obedience in all things—a loving service to God, growing in grace and working out your own salvation. After, you are redeemed} preparing your mature for Heaven. God, in perfect love, demands that none but blood-washed souls shall enter Heaven. Are you sanctified through Christ in love to God ? Then you should strive to sanctify the Lord God in your heart, by studying His word as written in His books, so as to answer with meekness R ^39 — any man that asks for " a reason of the hope that is in you," having a good conscience, which is the fruit of walking in love through Christ with God, speaking forth the life of Christ, testifying by your actions as well as by your words of the presence of God in your soul. You show to the world that, since Christ has suffered: " the just for the unjust" to satisfy the law of God and to bring us to Him, you accept His grace and the baptism of death in the flesh, and through God have been quickened with Christ by the Spirit. When Christ was put to death for us, He was quickened by the Spirit, by which He also went and preached unto the spirits in prison. The disobedient, who had no part in the first resurrection, and were left in prison until the final judgment—had they been obedient to God's laws of perfect justice—they would have been taken into Paradise at the first resurrection, of which Christ was the first when He arose. They had lived before Christ came and had not the privilege to reject His salvation, therefore were not yet lost, for Christ atoned for every one and He offered them salvation, for that is what He preached. While the Ark was being prepared, Noah waited in obedience to God, through faith, and through that faith God saved him by the waters which bore him up and destroyed the wicked from the earth. And so baptism, in a like figure, doth also now save us. Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the an- . — 140 |f| Swef of a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a work of faith, not to cleanse the body or the soul from sin, but a spiritual dipping with God into the blood that stained the cross on Calvary—a token of our death with Christ to the world ; and resurrection with the Son of God by faith through a loving obedience to the Saviour's command. As it is not of works, but of love, faith and obedience to God, it matters but little wh ether you are baptised in a river or baptistry—in much or little water—whether you are sprinkled or immersed. If your love and faith is pure, natural and sincere, God will accept your baptism as a righteousness fulfilled and give you the answer of a good conscience. I was immersed in the waters of a river in the State of Missouri. No other way would have sufficed than the way of immersion, for I had been taught so, and God requires that we do what we believe to be His will Had I been taught that sprinkling or pouring on was an acceptable way unto the Lord, and followed that teaching, it would not have lessened my love, my faith or my obedience. It would have been acceptable unto the Lord, because it is not an act of works, but of faith—a loving service. We find that God acknowledges baptism for departed souls, who physically could take no part in the baptismal form, but spiritually could ac- — 141 — cept it through the act and faith of another. I. Cor. xv., 29: " Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? why are they then baptized for the dead ? " I myself, have used the privilege offered in that verse for departed brothers and sisters in the • Lord, who confessed the Saviour on their dying beds, from which they passed to meet their God without having fulfilled this righteousness, in obedience to the Saviour's will. We believe that every jot and every tittle of God's law must be fulfilled in behalf of every one before they can enter Heaven. Angels, whose majesty and glory are beyond our comprehension, and principalities and powers obey God's will. The Almighty forms the laws of Heaven and earth, and appoints kings and priests to administer His laws of love and justice. He gives each saint a mansion and a crown, or a place in Heaven, according to the spiritual character when brought before the bar of eternal justice, at the last great judgment-day, when Paradise will be exchanged for Heaven ; or the prisoner doomed to hell. The fruits of the new birth is the answer of a good conscience toward God. It matters little what your feelings are, if you believe that Jesus is your Saviour, and choose to follow Him. If you repent, by turning away from sin and confess the Lord by baptism, you have eternal life abiding in you, and you eat and drink of the spiritual food of the flesh and blood of the Son of God, which is eternal life, and God will raise you up at the last day, when your time on earth is done. St. John vi., 54 : "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day." Then come to Jesus, as the late Rev. C. H. Spurgeon advises in the following beautiful hymn : FLY TO JESUS. Guilty sinner, fly to Jesus; He alone can purge our guilt; From each deadly sin He frees us, 'Twas for this His blood was spilt. Come and welcome; Come this moment if thou wilt. Empty sinner, haste to Jesus, For in Him all fulness dwells, And His inmost soul it pleases When a longing soul He fills. Be not backward ; He invites whoever wills. Hopeless sinner, look to Jesus, In His death thy ransom see ; From despair His word releases, Trust in Him and fear shall flee, High as Heaven Are His thoughts of love to thee. GOD'S GRACE TO US. Hebrews ii., n. ** *|pOR both he that sanctifieth and they who are *** sanctified are all of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren," 12. 1 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." 13. I And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me." 14. I Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ;' 15. I And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." 16. " For verily he took not on him the nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17. "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining — H5 — to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." 18. "For in that he himselfhath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted." Since God who sanctifies and we who are sanctified are all of one spirit, through Christ, He is not ashamed to call us brethren, and His grace—meaning favour— is extended to us, not because we have chosen to follow Him, but because His blood—through his grace— has cleansed our heart, and His love has changed our nature. Inasmuch as the children of God are f partakers of flesh and blood, He also likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil," and save us from the power of the law that would send us down to hell, where by law and by nature we belonged, and, inasmuch as God's free grace extends to sinners a pardon from Calvary's cross, comes to make us free. His favor also extends to guide the ransomed home to be forever in His own sweet presence. How does the Saviour lead His ransomed from the gates of hell? By the cross, and its fountain of cleansing ; by the straight and narrow way. Straight and narrow in regards to the sinful pleasures of this world ; but wider far than earth are the real pleasures of a Christian"life, though upwards eveiy step, there is a light above—a guiding star—and sweet forget-me-nots, perfumed with love on every side, and living promises on which L. Ill- M'. "~ *4^ "" to feed, like honey in the comb above each craggy rock over which you mount. It is the sweet manna of the presence of the Lord, whose promises are ever sure. Oh, pilgrim, feed thou On them both day and night and they will fit thy soul for mansions fair and a crown of life which thou may est wear. But you must wear the armour of the Lord and bear a cross, in order to ascend the beautiful hills of Christian graces, not merely as a form or a rule by which to ascend. Oh, no ; but to change the pilgrim's nature, from darkness and hate to love and righteousness, and to fit you to inherit a place in the Heavens beyond the hills of Christian duty ; to be changed from the nature described in Rom. I, 29. 1 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers,' 30. " Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,' 31. "Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:" Let us look at the changed nature as presented in Psalm xv., 1. I Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? " 2. I He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart." — 147 — 3- " He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour." 4. "In whose eyes a vile person is contemned ; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." 5. " He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved." No ; for he has the spirit of the Lord, who said on the cross for His enemies; " Father forgive them for they know not what they do." To be changed by the grace of God from a nature of death to the glorious image and nature of the blessed Son of God is a glorious victory, a victory which none can gain in their own strength or merit of themselves. With the new birth, from death to life, the Christian is placed upon the first great standard of the platform of salvation, and sees before him the beautiful hills of Christian graces for him to ascend. He starts with loving confidence and eager haste, and finds a cross to bear only when the nature of the old man comes in contact with that of the new, which constantly occurs before he reaches the higher standards of grace—nearer to God. Perhaps he expects to reach at once the highest standard and be a perfect model Christian ; but is trusting more in self than on the Lord. Soon he falls beneath some cruel shaft of satan's power, because, I — 148 — trusting in self, he laid aside some of the armour of the cross, and has slidden down ; but again he rises and marches onward. Every step now he trusts more in the Lord and less in self. Every little stumbling block he passes, increases his love and confidence in God. As he rises higher in his spiritual life, his feet are placed higher on the Rock of Ages ; until from the mountains of the Lord, where by nature he has been fitted to stand, he beholds the glorious radiance from the City just beyond, as he crosses the river from'time into eternity. Heb. ii., 17 : " Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of people." Jesus came to be made like His brethren ; not like man in his fallen state, but like man in his highest, noblest state of Christian manhood. It becomes His folio (vers to strive to come up to that standard. Dear brother or sister in Christ, Are you following afar off; walking in your own strength ? Then the way is hard. Jesus, who called you out of satan's ranks of sin unto righteousness, is calling yet tenderly ; calling you higher and nearer. Oh, why not go for a greater blessing ; blessing for all eternity ? Since Christ has descended from the glories of the Father's presence to the standard of a saint on earth, surely you cannot — 149 -- afford to come short of that standard of character ? for it will be required of you at the judgment, when receiving your eternal rewards. A mansion will be appointed that suits your character: prepared for you; not you for it; and so your eternal glory will be according to your eternal nature. If you are saved, you cannot afford to be a small vessel when you should be among the large ones, for life's issues are eternal. WALK WITH THEE. Tune - "Not my own." Not alone, but with my Saviour I will tread the narrow way ; All along through life's rough journey Saviour, I will near thee stay. CHORUS I'll walk with Thee; yes, yes.. I'll walk with Thee; yes, yes. Saviour, I will walk with Thee. All along through life's rough journey. Saviour, I will walk with Thee. Saviour, now my all I give Thee. I will share the cross with Thee, And wherever You will lead me, Saviour, I will follow Thee. And when on earth my work is ended, Saviour, this will be my song- Bear me safely o'er the river, There to join the blood-washed throng. — 150 — gj I. John i., 3. I That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us : and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 4. I And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." 5. " This then is the message which we have heard of him,and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." 6. 1 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth :" 7. J But if we walk in the light, as he is in the. light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 8. "Ifwe say that wc have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 9. I If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " 10. " If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." Man need not wait until after death in order to be a saint Anyone who accepts Jesus Christ for his Saviour and follows Him, is a saint of God just as much, according to his Christian character, as were those saints in the Lord whom Paul commended -to the Church (Rom. xvi., 15) to be received by them as saints. Every saint on earth has a fellowship with the Lord, which always corresponds with his faith, obedience and love to God, and should have fellowship one with another. The Christian's fellowship with God is nobler and sweeter far than all the world can offer. If all were Christians, in fellowship with God, man would be in his natural element of Paradise, and earth would drink no more the murderer's victims' blood- War's cruel strife, with its deadly weapons and lingering famines—the fruits of sin, though they represent the powers of hell—would cease. Our prison gates would be closed to remain without a victim ; then millions, who are now employed for the purpose of maintaining justice in the world, wouid be free to work and thereby increase the necessaries of life. Poverty would be unknown, for the liquor demon would be banished from the land. Then love and purity would reign sublime, while earth would be an Eden as at first. But, suppose that all were wicked, having no fellowship with God—a world of thieves, of falsehood, of murderers and drunkards—then the present legal forces would have to be enlarged. More soldiers and police guards would be raised, more swords and guns manufactured, more prisons built, more drunkards' graves prepared to receive their victims, and more wives and children would die a lingering death through cold and hunger. More famine and pestilence, would be added to the suffering mass of sinners, more horrors to endure, and earth would wear the aspect of a hell—a place of torment—instead of a glorious Eden. Therefore, it is plain that for man to have fellowship with God, who is our light and life, is to have all that is good for us to have and a fulness of joy. But, to have fellowship with satan, is to walk in darkness and be filled with hate and the leprosy of sin ; to taste of the fires of hell in this life and be filled with them in the next. Yet, in the face of these facts, some people act and speak as if they were satisfied with the wages of sin and use their influence to make the world a hell rather than a Paradise, preparing themselves while in time for eternal suffering and woe. Then, let us be careful what We do, for I if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His.word is not in us." But I if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Jesus is tenderly calling from sin all who will go unto God for salvation—eternal salvation—to be saved from a home down in hell. Saved from satan, the prince of the powers of darkness— man's real, eternal, and awful enemy—wTho^ constantly seeks to draw us down to his own abode ; but, blessed be God, who has paid the ransom price to set us free. The price, which represents our ruined state, He paid. If you reject that ransom and the Saviour's love, you have no fellowship with God, and are by nature an — 153 — heir of eternal woe. You are filling for yourself the cup which satan offers, and choosing, instead of your eternal Heaven an eternal hell. Now to the power of God supreme Be everlasting honors given ; He saves from hell,—we bless His name— He guides our wandering feet to Heaven. *Twas His own purpose that began To rescue rebels doomed to die : He gave us grace in Christ, His Son, Before He spread the starry sky. Jesus, the Lord, appears at last, And makes His Father's counsels known ; Declares the great transaction, past, And brings immortal blessings down. He dies and in that dreadful night, Doth all the powers of hell destroy ; Rising, He brings our Heaven to light, And takes possession of the joy. I. Watts. IS MAN IN HIS NATURAL CONDITION, >BY NATURE, A DEMON? 'HIS seemingly unnatural question, was given for a heading in connection with the following previously selected portions of scripture, in answer to prayer for guidance of the Lord : St. John iii., u. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen ; and ye receive not our witness." 12. " If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things." 13. " And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven." 14. " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:" 15. " That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." 16. 1 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," — 155 — 17. " For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world through him might be saved." 18. " He that believeth on him is not condemned : but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." The subject was manifested by a vision, and the command to use it, through the key of communication with God. We say vision, because we recognize in it an object lesson placed before the soul by the agency of another power, not its own, while the body was at rest. If you desire to draw a beautiful object lesson to suit a special purpose, and cannot do so without being assisted, you then seek that assistance. If, when the body sleeps and the mind is wandering in dreams, a practical lesson is given which you could not conceive unaided, you may know as did the men of olden times that it is a vision, given for a purpose. In the vision, I saw a wide road running through a wild uncultivated country, with some dwellings situated here and there. Just across the road I heard the angry voice of a furious man, ringing out in fierce oaths upon his victim's head. The victim was his slave: a poor half-starved, overworked, neglected, fellow-man, whose features showed the lack of education, whose face was tanned red, and who seemed - 156 - • to know no claim for right or wrong. He was the slave of a cruel master, whose words now turned to actions, as I heard the whistling hum of his long cruel whip, which seemed almost to burn the air in its speed. He applied it hard and long upon the poor suffering, silent, terror-stricken man—a brother, though a slave. Others looking on did nothing in his behalf, and seemed to regard the man as but a dog ; yet he was a fellow-man. The master was looked upon as a man, although he wore the nature of a demon. I realized the fact that man in his unregenerated nature is but a demon in the sight of God's eternal justice and nothing but God's love sprinkled in blood upon the heart can change that nature, which is like a wild, uncultivated country. The state in which many dwell, though polished in their manner, their nature is corrupt; though planted on this earth to grow as wheat, they ripen into tares, unless touched by the soul-cleansing blood of atonement. Before the new birth, we are children of satan : demon is the proper name for the nature we then possess. Unless the Son of Man, who was lifted up for us, not only draws us to Himself, but shines upon and changes us by the beautiful rays of His love, we must ripen into eternal demons by nature. But, praise the Lord, millions have proved that man can ripen into a saint meet for the Master's use, and need not wear the nature that devils wear ; nor walk with them—away from God and — 157 ~ Heaven—towards the gates of hell. Man's fallen guilty nature is like the new, uncultivated country; and they who choose to remain in it, rejecting the loving offers of salvation, have a living germ of sin within their soul: a nature—in God's sight, before His eternal justice—that is doomed to eternal hell, and wears the name of demon. Nothing but the love of God, flowing in blood upon the soul from off the cross to pay his debt and set him free, can kill the demon nature and take him out from his unregenerated state, across the road of righteousness into the plains of everlasting life and peace and pleasures, beside the Tree of Life, where living waters flow. St. John iii., n. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen ; and ye receive not our witness." 12. I If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" . '■-'" ::|§: 13. " And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that cam^ down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." Without the new birth, you, like Nicodemus, cannot understand what the new birth is ; and will not fully receive the witness of His children. If you do not believe that God is the Creator of earthly things, you can understand nothing of heavenly things. Before Christ's death and ascension to the Father, no man — 158 — had ascended up to Heaven, except the Son of Man which is in Heaven, for Christ was ever in the Trinity —the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—the everlasting God. Even when on earth a perfect man, Christ was God and was ever with the Father, except, when on the Cross He said ; " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." Oh, let us not forget, that | as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness ; even so the Son of Man was lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." " Whosoever," meaning you and I ; that you and I might escape the powers of hell. Jesus died for you ; not to condemn you, but that, through faith, you might escape from eternal condemnation. Won't you, for your own sake, and for Jesus Christ's sake, accept salvation ? escape from hell and gain a glorious Heaven ? For " he that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already ;" condemned by God's law, and his own dissatisfied nature. When drawn towards the cross, he looks with a disbelieving, doubting mind, and rejects the Saviour's love for the sake of selfish pleasure and is blind to the awful result, receiving the dross with its poison, instead of the glories of everlasting life. To believe— to look and live—means to take God at His word and believe that Christ's atonement is for you ; and to acccpfit by a simple, trusting belief, and a perfectly willing, loving obedience ; knowing that faith without — 159 — works is just as dead as works without faith. It is written : | And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not."—Acts xxviii., 24. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed from death unto life."—John v., 24. " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God : 1—I. John v., 1, 8 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever bdieveth in him shall receive remission of sins."—Acts x., 43. I Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.''—I. Peter i., 8. " He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son."—I. John v., 10. I If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."—John viii., 24. I He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."—John iii., 18. " He that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him."—John iii., 36 Which portion is yours, life or death? " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."—Acts xvi., 31. The day that remains of life, encircled by the moving wheels of time, like a flickering torchlight sending forth its rays of good or evil, may in an instant cease, and you be ushered into the presence of your God ; or it yet may last a week, a month, a year, or a hundred years, or even more. But, when it has gone and you stand, at your last fleeting moment, upon the Rock of Ages, and behold the gates of Paradise ; or, in horror, see the gates of hell ; the past, though it were a hundred years, will be as nothing in itself, but lost. All lost in you, condensed into a character, and stamped upon your soul ; marking your eternal destiny ; the destiny that you are forming now. Grace is all of God. If you reject His grace, the character of your nature will be only sin. Sin, which you of yourself cannot change. You have accepted or rejected the Lord, and are walking with God, or with the devil. Building the nature of your own eternal being, preparing for a home above, or a home in the dark regions of woe. Which are you doing ? You are nearing an endless home. Where shall it be ? An eternal home of love and pleasure, or sorrow and hate. Without the new birth, you can do nothing good ; can lay no treasures up in Heaven. The most important of all things in life is the new birth; the love of God in the heart ; love, unto obedience to Him ; being changed from a demon to a saint. Why should a man be proud, though sur- 161 — • rounded by worldly honors and clothed in. fine garments, glittering with golden gems and diamonds rare, if in his soul there is a demon—though small and masked—that claims him for a child of hell ; lower than the lowest beast on earth ? Why should he be proud? His pride is vain; his folly the maddest crime. Walking in pride to an eternal doom. Walking in satan's alluring mists ; knowing not when God shall call him and his doom be fixed ; forgetting the price which Jesus paid for his redemption. He sees not the cross in his own behalf, feels not the blood, and will not have it sprinkled on his heart. : He is too dead to be dissatisfied with self, and will not hear the voice of the Son of God; for "they that hear shall live." As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man, and God in him raised Himself up from death in our behalf, and broke the bands of law that sealed the tomb, and became the first fruits of the first resurrection. So now we who in Christ fall asleep in death—death to the body, but sleep to the soul which is raised, when the body is really dead —are quickened into a spiritual body ; awakened in Paradise, to await the final judgment of reward. Having been raised in the first resurrection they have passed the judgment of condemnation. Our blessed Saviour told the people before His death and resur- — l62 — rection, not to marvel that " all who are in their graves should hear His voice and should come forth ; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." The resurrection time is called an hour ; but that hour extends from Christ, the first fruits of the first resurrection, to the last resurrection, when God shall judge the world and execute judgment upon the wicked and reward the righteous. (II. Cor. v. 10.) By searching the scriptures you will find that there are two resurrections and one judgment. Blessed are they who have part in the first resurrection. Since Christ took our place as the sinner, He came under the law that doomed man to the first death, of separation from God, therefore He said " I can myself do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father who hath sent me." If Jesus Christ, in your stead, could not obtain salvation for you without undergoing the whole penalty of the demands of justice, how shall you escape if you neglect to accept the great salvation secured for you at so great a price ? How deep the folly and black the ignorance of him who serves the devil and reaps the wages of sin, especially after seeing others, who have served the devil, paid with the sufferings of hell, as the)' passed from this world to another. Oh, how mad is his folly who follows after sin with its separation (death) from God ? — 16*3 — choosing misery and woe, instead of righteousness— love and joy and peace, and everlasting life. Then seek, dear reader, to follow Jesus ; follow close where He may lead. Know that every command—the smallest is as the greatest—all just alike demand obedience in love. Then follow in His way, for § obedience is better than sacrifice " to God. BE STILL. By Horatius Bonar, D. D. Be still, my soul! Jehova loveth thee ; Fret not, nor murmur at thy weary lot; Though dark and lone thy journey seems to be, Be sure that thou art ne'er by Him forgot. He ever loves thee ; then trust Him, trust Him still; Let all thy care be this, the doing of His will. Thy hand in His, like fondest, happiest child, Place thou, nor draw it for a moment thence ; Walk thou with Him, a Father reconciled, Till, in His own good time He call thee hence. Walk with Him now, so shall thy way be bright And all thy soul be filled with His most glorious light. Fight the good fight of faiih, nor turn aside, Through fear of peril from on earth or hell: Take to thee now the armour proved and tried, Take to thee spear and sword. Oh, wield them well ! So shalt thou conquer here, so win the day, So wear the crown, when this hard life has passed away. Take courage, faint not, though the foe be strong. Christ is thy strength ; He tightest on thy side ; Swift be thy race; remember 'tis not long— The goal is near ; the prize He will provide ; And there from earthly toil thou resteth ever ; Thy home on the fair banks of life's eternal river. He comes with His reward ; 'tis just at hand ; He comes in glory to His promised throne. My soul rejoice ; ere long thy feet shall stand Within the city of the blessed One. Thy perils past, thy heritage secure, Thy tears all wiped away, thy joy for ever sure. THE NEW LIFE. Isaiah lv., I. 44 *fR%0, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy, and cat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." 2. I Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread ? and your labour for that which satis- fieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." 3. 1 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." 4. "Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people:" 5. 1 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Ho!y One of Israel ; for he hath glorified thee." 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near ;" |§j| — i66 7. p" Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." The new life—the life which is hid with Christ in God—is a mysterious stumbling block to the infidel, the sceptic, and the moralist, because they choose to follow sin. They know nothing of its meaning as a reality and judge only by sight or hearing, but never by practical, personal experience. They have never tasted of it, though they may have professed to do so. They never knew the Bread of Life or drank of the living water, the water which Jesus invited the woman of Samaria to drink of (John iv., 14), which " if any man drink he shall never thirst again," because he would have in him eternal life. Eternal life ! the very name indicates its nature, for it would not be eternal life if it were to cease to be. God, our Creator, knows the seeds that will grow into fruits of eternal love and beauty—the likeness of Himself who changes not. He gave you intelligent, reasoning faculties, for which you are responsible. He draws you to Himself by love's strong cords of mercy, laden with eternal blessings— life and peace and pleasure. If you reject God's loving mercy, His eternal laws of unerring justice must sever the cords and cut you down as a cumberer of the ground. But you may be saved, if not already. Study well the following verses, for they are worthy. — 167 — | For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour ; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto a knowledge of the truth."—I. Timothy ii., 3-4. " "# I Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."—Heb. viiM 25. I For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world through him might be saved."—John iii., 17. I For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the .gift of God :"—Ephes. ii., S I For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."—Luke xix., 10. I Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."—John 1., 29. " Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."—Acts iv., 12. I For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."—Romans x., 10. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."— Romans x., 9. I Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth "—Isaiah xlv., 22. _ t68 — m Beside the above precious passages of scripture, there are many others calling you into the new life, of which millions have testified ; not only by words, but by actions ; not merely for a week or a month, but for years ; glorifying God with their whole lives, rejoicing continually in the service of God. The writer also can add his testimony, which he will endeavor to give in a plain, simple way, hoping that it may in some way help to remove some of the mists'that cloud the mind of some earnest readers, whose experience may, in some respects, be as his own has sometimes been. At my mother's side, in childhood days, the Saviour on the cross was presented for the first time to my view, and the first bright spark of living fire—the fire of love which I have, never lost—touched my soul and left its image there. Then I looked upon Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, and hoped that He would soon be mine, but failed to secure the blessing. I spent my childhood days with that living spark upon (not within) my soul, and that hope within my heart, which helped to mould my nature and keep me from the ways of sin. I had not the joys of a Christian, though I believed that Christ was the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, because I did not seek salvation in earnest. I was disobedient to God's will and sought for sinful pleasures in the world, which did not satisfy the longings of the soul. — 169 — Years rolled on and stronger grew the cords that drew me to the cross ; until at last, in early youth, I approached the mercy seat. I got to the feet of the Lord alone, in the closet. I simply asked in faith for pardon and the blessing of a new heart; when a loving obedience to God was added unto my faith. I received the Holy Ghost the Comforter; and the Lord took possession of my soul and filled me with His presence. Then a deep, rich peace and pleasure —a joy, not an excitement—a love to God and man, growing stronger, broader and calmer, day by day, was mine. But, alas, my obedience was not yet made perfect unto God, whom I had not yet confessed before men as my Saviour, although I knew that it was my duty to do so. I put it off day after day, through a bashful ignorance, thinking that others would laugh, or that there would be a better chance another time to tell of my conversion, of my love to God, and of my great desire for the salvation of my friends and neighbours. At last I resolved to obey at once the voice of God and wait no longer. Just then another stumbling block appeared and the way of duty was made harder still. Satan was permitted to spread another net; and make me think that my schoolmates and friends would not believe me, and I fancied that if I said that I was born again, saved a year ago, they would think me foolish ; and so I was hindered.by mountains, that were only mountains of — 170 111 mist, because my nature was not right and my will was not fully subject to the will of God. It costs more than you might think to cure a nature of such mad folly- If you have a like experience, I ask you to step forward like the Israelites who crossed the Red Sea ; and your stumbling blocks will move like the waters ; for God will clear the path when you press forward in obedience to His will. Those trials would not have troubled me if the standard of my nature was above them, but it was not It had to be cultivated before I was enabled to overcome or go any farther, and it cost me much precious time and golden opportunities. My youth was spent, not like the prodigal son, but like the one who wasted all his time in slumbering disobedience to his Father and laid up no treasure in Heaven. But soon I reached to early manhood ; got a higher sense of duty and sought a closer walk in the presence of the Lord ; made a full surrender of obedience to His will and then received again the peace and joy of consecration, the fellowship which I so long had lost. Disobedience took away my peace but not the new born nature of eternal life, for the Saviour ever lives to intercede for me. Because I thirsted for a closer walk with God, He enabled me to overcome and filled me with the wine and milk of His own presence. I had been spending my time for that which did not satisfy, and lost the wine and the milk. He who made the everlasting covenant with me gave the victory, and made me to be more than — 171 — conqueror, feeding my soul upon that which was good and making me to delight in the fatness of His blessing. | Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near : "—Isaiah lv., 6. " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."—Isaiah lv., 7. Then Jesus drew me up and made me to ascend the beautiful hills ; to the higher standard of the Christian life ; to gain the precious pearls of character; to lay up treasures which never can be lost ; to realize that obedience unto God is better far than sacrifice ; to be set aside by the sanctifying process of His love ; to learn obedience to His blessed will and follow all the way ; not pare, but all the way, wherever He may lead. God's way of righteousness and love has always proved to be the way of peace and pleasure. The Christian's pathway never should be hard and rough, for when it is the Christian is himself the cause ; his nature is not right and conflicts with the perfect way of peace. Every time that he is chastened he receives a blessing, though he may think it but a curse. It moulds his nature in accordance with the Perfect Artist's will, and helps to fit him for his eternal home above, giving him who has the new life here the nature demanded of the child of God, as found in — 172 — Matthew v , 44. " But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you ; " 45. I That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust." 46. " For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same?' 47. " And if ye salute your brethren only,-what do ye more than others ? do not even the publicans so? ' 48. I Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Although you cannot grow to perfection in every respect, yet you may grow to perfection in love and obedience to God, having perfection in this one most important virtue : wearing as a child of God the pearl of love, the image and likeness of God ; so being perfect in yourself, even as God is perfect in Himself To attain this highest of human virtue, you must always walk with God, wearing the attitude of praise to Him all the time, feasting upon the fatness of His presence. Psalm exxi., 1. " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." 2. I My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth," — !73 — 3. I He will not suffer thy foot to be moved : he that keepeth thee will not slumber." 4. " Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.'' 5. I The Lord is thy keeper : 'the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand." 6. I The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." 7. I The Lord shall preserve true from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul." 8. I The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even lor evermore." OBEDIENCE UNTO SALVATION. <^T is reasonable and just, so far as man can judge +J or know of law and justice, that the first great cord in God's great plan of redemption that should touch the soul, is the cord of obedience. The rod of disobedience first smote and drove him from his earthly Paradise and broke the cords of love, which linked his heart to God, his living head. It sowed the seeds of cieath within his soul, for which the Saviour's death atones ; for now the soul, though dead by nature through guilt and sin, may live again the moment that obedience and faith is rendered unto God. As the invitation was given to the smittenl Israelites to look upon the brazen Serpent and be healed, so the command is given unto man to look to Jesus Christ and live ; and he who will not look, must stay beneath the endless death that seals his doom. Faith and works are dead, when one is without the other. Neither can live unless supported by an obedience that is prompted by love; love that is perfect in itself, even as God is perfect in himself. How precious then is that loving obedience, which is the ground work of every Christian's nature ? The faith which is encircled by it is a living faith and is always united with works ; always looking for blessings ; always taking God at His word and having the assurance of His presence. " I am the vine, and ye are the branches : he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." You do not abide in Christ unless your nature is conformed to His will, drawing you out in search after God's commands to do them for His glory. It is not only your privilege to have that nature, but it is your bounden duty. You are blessed with .faculties of reason, for which you are held responsible, and must suffer the eternal consequences if you do not honor and serve God with a service of love. No matter how bad your nature is, you are commanded to partake of the nature of love, without which you cannot be fitted for Heaven ; and it all depends on your own will ; whether you obey God or not (I. Cor. x., 31.) If you would be engraft- ed into Christ you must seek to obey. His will. John xv., 7, 8. " If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." And again in John xiv., 12,13, 14. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." — iy6 — 15. " If ye love m3, keep my commandments." And in John xvi., 23. " And in that day ye shall ask m3 nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.' 24. I Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name : ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.' 25. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs : but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew *y°u plainly of the Father." 26. "At that day ye shall ask in my name : and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you :': 57. I For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." You find that a Christian's life is full of duties, which can only be performed by a loving obedience to God, and a continual abiding in Christ. If you abide in Christ, it is placed within your reach to do mighty works, through Christ in God ; but you must have the natural, living, loving, abiding faith of perfect obedience through Christ in God, or you can do nothing. The Lord has given the promise that if you ask anything of the Father—not of Himself—but of the Father, it shall be done unto you. " If ye ask anything in my name I will do it." " Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name : ask and ye shall receive," but you must have an expecting faith. If you have never asked the Father, in Christ's name, for a clean heart, a new nature, why not ask Him now ? not to-morrow, but now ! He will give you the everlasting blessing ; then will be performed in you the greater work—the work of having a dead soul raised to life, and fitted, through the risen Saviour, for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost; brought into the kingdom of Heaven, which is established here. John xvi., 26. 1 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you :" 27. I For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." You have been redeemed and are serving the Lord; then serve Him with an obedient heart; obeying what seems to be the smallest commands, for they are the large ones in disguise, and on them you are building your nature. How inspiring to His beloved children, are those precious words of Jesus : " I say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father loveth you, because ye have loved me and believed that I have come out from God." The Father is waiting to bestow each needed blessing, but you must ask in Jesu's name ; and in faith, not doubting, and render to Him the obedience which love should constrain the Christian to give. You cannot tell the greatness of N. it " ■ -178 -_ the possibilities which God has placed within your reach through those promises. Not only the writer, but many others as well, have realized that these precious promises have been fulfilled in their behalf when they have complied with the conditions of the promise. In order to make it more plain to the reader, I will give the following case of my own experience, which to some will only appear as a dream yet it was an answer in full to my petition. The promise is " whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it-unto you." Relieving that promise I asked God, in Christ's name, to show me a vision that would guide my thoughts and give character to what I was about to write. The faith was merely a trusting faith, the fruits of past experience, and so, according to my faith, because that I reajly expected it the Lord granted my petition within a few hours, by placing before the eyes of my soul, while the body was unconscious in sleep, a road running east and west, which appeared to have been much travelled, and was fenced on the south side with a good, strong, high fence, and on the north with one that was partly broken down. A number of persons, including myself, were on the north side, some distance from the road. The country was wild and flat, with here and there a few bushes and shrubs. Near us there was a ferocious beast with legs and head like a bull, which could stand like a bear on its hind feet. We seemed If l79 —;" to know that we had no business there and as we attempted to leave the beast showed fight and chased us. I, with one of my companions, ran quickly and kept going until we reached the fence. As I was ahead, the brute followed more especially after me, but I reached the fence and bounded to the other side. As I did so, the brute ran to where the fence was low, to jump over, and suddenly a club was placed in my hands. I knew not how, but knew my duty was to fight for life and freedom, and obeyed ; and kept the monster back from crossing the fen<?e. My companion had reached and caught hold of the fence, but would not climb over, although I kept telling him to do so. He thought that the brute was going to get over also, and lingered in disobedience to the call of duty instead of climbing over, and helping to beat the enemy back. Therefore he, as a disobedient coward, failed to escape. As I crossed over the road, and climbed the higher fence over into the country on the south, which God had blessed with safety and freedom, I saw my poor companion seized by the monster. Then the vision was over, but not to be forgotten or misunderstood. The wild north country is the nature of sin. The beast represented satan, seeking whom he may devour, and we the sinners who wander off from God. The middle road was but to show man's earthly paradise ; his state of innocence, where before the northern fence — i8o m was brdKen down by disobedience, at the first, man knew no danger and felt no guilt, for God was there to bless him all the time. When, through disobedience, he broke down the northern fence, satan came in, and he Was driven out a captive into the cold, dark nature of the world of sin. Since that fall, the road of innocence is travelled* only by infants who have no under, standing, idiots who know not good from evil, and heathen in their gross and awful darkness. He who knows God's will and dares to remain upon the road of danger, must fight in his own strength against the powers of sin that drag him down, because he lives in disobedience to the Lord's commands, and fails to climb the higher fence into the sunny land of spiritual blessing, protection and safety. The higher fence along the south to be mounted, is the standard of the cross ; to accept the blessed Saviour of the world as your Saviour ; and the southern country is the standard of the life that is hid with Christ in God, basking in the pavilion of His presence, beneath the sunshine of His love. You may find God's offered mercy for the obedient in Jeremiah iii., 12-18. The awful fruits of disobedience is not only found in the Bible, and seen in the vision, but reaped by millions of victims daily, because they wander into sin.. God commanded His servant (Jeremiah iii., 12.) saying: "Go and proclaim these words toward the -i8i north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord ; and p will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever." They were driven away because they would not obey the voice of the Lord. 14 " Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord ; for I am married unto you : and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Z-* >J i'^'st-'-S ion. Israel had wandered in disobedience from God and wa? cast off as a corrupt and heathen nation. The whole world, both Jew and Gentile, were one in the sight of God ; one body of sin unto death, excepting a few, " two of a family and one of a nation," who were united by love unto God, who would hear and obey His commands and live. It was so when Jesus came and called His people from the cold north world of sin, for they followed Him against the foe, and crossed the line over the walls of difficulties into the new kingdom of love, light and blessing which He has set up I but the majority did not enter in; they went only as " two of a family and one of a nation," and the Lord gave them Pastors according to His own heart, and fed them with knowledge and understanding- :■■ ■:' ■ '-• . : • - ' ■■-, v.. ' :i# .- 16. "And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith -182 — the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord : neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more." And it has come to pass; for the kingdom has multiplied aud we see no more the ark of the coven- enant of the Lord. Those things aje forgotten and are done no more. 17. I At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord ; and all the nations shall be gath*- ered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem : neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart." And we call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all nations are gathering unto it, to the name of the Lord, serving and praising God. Israel is no longer merely the name of a people mixed with saints and sinners, for none but they who love and serve the Lord can enter into His most perfect rest. 18. " In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers." And now the time has come when all nations are uniting, and coming together out of the land of the north, in every part of the world, unto the New Jerusalem, the City of our God. Romans viii., 33. " Who shall lay any thing to - 183 - the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth." 34. "Who is he that condcmneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." 35. " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword ? 1 36. I As it is written, For "thy sake we are killed all the day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 37. " Nay, in all these things we are. more than conquerors through him that loved us." 38. I For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come," 39. I Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." SATANIC POWER ftJATAN'S privilege, as the prince of the powers of darkness, to tempt and draw men to hell is limited by eternal laws, which he cannot break, in keeping souls from God. " And the Lord said unto satan behold all that he hath is in-thy power only upon himself put not forth thine hand."—Job i., 12. I Behold he is in thine hand ; but save his life."— Job ii., 6. Although satan is limited in his.power over you, you are not limited, but are permitted to follow and serve him to the extent of your own will. If you willingly place your hand within satan's grasp, he, your arched enemy, is permitted to lead you through the very gates of hell, because you close your ears to mercy's warning voice. This subject was selected through the key of communication with the Lord. I expected to explain some important point of doctrine ; or to write on wars, floods, and pestilence. I asked the Father, in the Saviour's name, to show me by a vision—if it was His _;i '. - 185 - . t will—the nature of that which I should write. I was shown that same night, five different stages of a sinner's life Under satanic power. First, the moral man and the beginner in early youth seeking after the vain pleasures of sin'. Second, the established deep-dyed sinner. Third, the sinner guilty' and ashamed before God. Fourth, the sinner seeking for light. Fifth, the sinner seeing himself lost, helpless, and in satan's power, but lying at the mercy seat for the great physician's cure. The first seemed to represent the prodigal spending his substance in riotous living. We had met for a season of mirth at a gayly spread banquet. There were guests both old and young. Sometimes all were full of pleasure ; sometimes dull and sad. There was a change. Some began to want for the richness of the past scene, I, with others, went after something else. I knew not what. Soon we reached the second stage, which represented the established sinner. We wandered among rocks and hills, surrounded by walls so high that they seemed to shut out the very light of Heaven. All seemed dark and dead. No living thing existed there, except beings like ourselves. We heard the rumbling of distant thunder drawing near—peal after peal, the lightning flashed and the place trembled. I saw that the walls around were heated almost to a glow, and seemed to know that we were victims in a monster furnace—a home of death—and were m 186 — m anxious to get out, but saw no way. Someone led a few of us to where we, by ascending a platform, were enabled to escape. One at first refused to step on it, but at last we all ventured ; then we travelled on a long platform, but the way was easier than before. So it is in serving God. Every step towards the right makes the next one easier. The way was changed. We were no longer seeking the pleasures of what we could see, but wera eagerly marching on to the third stage of the vision. Following some guide, we reached a path leading through a garden to a large house surrounded by a plantation of fruit trees. We halted at the gate and did not like to enter, but were finally persuaded to do so. As we approached the house, some of the inmates, who were quite superior to us, came out to receive us. We were ashamed and guilty- I kept looking at myself and found that I wore the garments of a wild Indian :—a dirty grey blanket and other things to correspond. The vision changed just here and I experienced another stage. I was sitting by the fire upon the hearth in a large empty room adjoining the main building. A lady came to me, who told me of a physician who was- in the next room that had promised her some money on account of some cases of small pox with which she had in some way been connected. I could not understand just what she meant. She said that she was waiting and kept pointing to the door opening into the apartment where — 187 — he was. Not understanding just what she meant, I at last requested her to open the door, which she did, and went in as I thought on my behalf—like Moses who interceded for the Israelites before God. Soon I experienced the last stage of the vision. I was lying helpless upon the hearth in charge of a doctor, who was cleansing my mouth with a long iron instrument. My throat was like an open sepulchre. My garments were foul. I was diseased and putrified all through and yet did not know it until the very last. The vision I am certain was in answer to my prayer. It showed the devil's power to draw a sinner down to hell, and then stop him from returning back to God. It showed the empty folly of a life of sin and the bitter fruit it yields. If showed the blindness of the dead in sin and the great responsibility of those who should lead them from a lingering endless death. It showed the awakening influence of the fire of love, and that the heart's door must be opened only at the sinner's own request. It also showed the dreadful vileness of the nature of the sin disease, which blights the soul and renders man helpless, completely undone, and unable to save himself from the devil's grasp. The mightiest influence of satanic power, which God permits the devil to exert, is not sufficient to force the weakest sinner to remain in sin against his own will. The deadliest seeds which satan plants, are de- — 188 posited in the garden of innocence, the soil of early youth. Go into the home, the school, or wherever the young are forming their characters for life, and you will see, if you look with the eyes of understanding; that seeds of both good and evil are being sown among them ; that some receive the good seed while others receive the bad. The seeds of faith and charity are from God and reflects His nature in His children. The seeds of deceit, selfishness and hate are from satan and reflect his nature in his victims. Each seed represents a tree of living character, the fruit of which is good or evil, and mu»t render the soil a living paradise, or a dark and dismal home where devils rule. Woe unto the parents who allow satanic power to mould the natdre and stamp the character of children in their care. Woe unto the parents who fail to do their part, by not saving their children from their deadly foe. Each little soul has communication with the powers of Heaven or the powers of hell. The guardians are responsible for the connection of the, wires over which the child holds communication. If you give a child the glittering wires which convey the elements of hell, the nature of the child will correspond with the things of hell, because the petrifiying influence of satanic power will be conveyed to bind the soul in living cords of sin. The victim will be rendered low and grovelling in his aims, with a selfish pride, ashamed to do the right; a guilty nature-^? £g lsQy gl the nature which rejects the Saviour's love. Protect the child from evil, by placing in his hands those wires which convey the love of God from Calvary's cross into the soul, and it will form the nature which accepts the Saviour's mercy and receives His pardon and eternal life : the nature and life of God ; a love that elevates ; a peace that ennobles ; a knowledge of innocence, which does away with pride and guilt; a: faith, a hope and a charity, which will reflect the image and character of God. The -man or woman who does not seek to know and do the will of God, as written in His word and in his works, is not fit to be a guardian over, children. You may prove this by following but the life and character of the child who is raised under the influence of parents who are degraded and low in character; who rob, drink and gamble ; who fight and curse, and whose child like the guardians grows under-satanic pow'er into the nature of a demon. You may prove it aJso by the child of luxury, whose parents, seek the wealth and pleasures of the w orld ; whose life is moral, but whose religion is a form; who do not follow after righteousness and are not particular to act the truth before their boy ; who use deception, which he knows to be a lie in form, if not in word ; who promise punishment for wrong, but seldom fulfil their promise ; who give him his own way and indulge his every wish. The child acts mean to a companion, and his parents think him — 190 ^- smart. So parents often give these glittering wires of death and do not see the influence of satanic power which they convey until the very soul of their offspring is bound with the cords of hell. They feed his mind with novels, light and trifling, exciting and profane. In early youth, the actions of his nature fill their hearts with sorrow and dim their eyes with tears. Once the parents were anxious that he might become a polished gentleman of worldly fame, but were ashamed to tell him of the love of God. They did not I seek first the kingdom of Heaven," but of earth ; they did not strive to cultivate his nature in righteousness. Now their only hope is that he may be simply worthy to be called a man. They spared the rod in childhood and failed to obtain obedience ; he is not ashamed of evil conduct, and does not fail to blight the lives of father and mother and rend their hearts by his low, selfish tyranny. This is not the case BfereJy with one or two families, but it is the bitter experience of tens of thousands. Satan plants the bitter seeds of death early in the heart, which grow into the most deadly vines of his own nature, which can be destroyed only by the sprinkling blood from off the altar of atonement, through the grace and love of God. Give your child freedom in all things, to satisfy the lusts of his own nature—all that his heart desires—and you place in his hands the glittering wires that connect his soul with hell and guides the — 191 — helm that runs the vessel into the harbour of destruction. Through this influence the thrones of earth, in ages past, have been occupied by living monsters who held the sceptres of tyrants ; despotic monarchs, whose hands were red with the blood of their fellow- men, whom they burned at the stake, thrust through with daggers, or mangled to death in some brutal form ; just to rob them of their possessions. Here we find the fruits of satanic influence ripened from childhood into the devil's own nature—men changed into demons. The influence of love—conveyed on the wires of righteousness through the cross, which unites the soul with God—ripens into a heavenly nature of love, like Christ, the ever living pattern to draw mankind to the Father. John vi., 45, " It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." There are but few persons who know how to culti- tivate the nature of a child, to make its character noble, who do their duty in accordance with the responsibility which diat knowledge brings. Many Christians, and even ministers—trusting too much to their own everyday conversations and sermons from the pulpit—miss the marie, lose their influence and fail to improve the nature of their children. They do not take time for a daily t confidential, friendly talk, to teach them the way of righteousness ; to point them — 192 — to- the Saviour and the love of God ; to teach them of the works of God and God's eternal justice ; and so win their affections and cultivate their character. The youth must sometimes mingle with those whose influence is degrading ; and, unless his guardians have hold upon his affections and the principles of uprightness have been instilled into his nature and he is daily kept by the influence of their counsel, he will go astrayj The Saviour commanded His disciples to. feed His sheep and His lambs. If you feed a child with wisdom and a proper training he will dwell in the courts of the Lord. I was shown in avision in connection with this lesson of- progressive sin under satanic power, a wanderer, whose soul was death through sin, his body poison 3d by liquor and weakened with debauchery. His friends had deserted him, his wealth was gone, his body bloated and weak. He wandered from place to place a beggar and sought for a home of shelter and rest but.found none. Since childhood he had wandered from God, primarily through the sins of his parents who had failed to use the influence necessary to keep him in the path of righteousness." He represents the child who was permitted to rest beneath the influence of satanic power until he arrived at manhood, to drink the bitter dregs of death as countless thousands have already done. I saw, also, a woman and some well- dresbed,noble-loaking children—travellers—who came — 193 — to a place that was guarded on the north side by high hills that were almost perpendicular. Steps lead up toward the top in many places. At the end of each there was a place decorated and made to look as if people were living there. Just here the woman went on ahead, and left the children to amuse themselves as they chose. Soon some of them commenced to climb the steps. As many as attempted were lost, or fell before they reached the top, arid were nearly killed. The woman came back too late to endeavor to rescue them from their perilous condition : some were lost and others nearly dead. Then the vision was ended. Its meaning still remains and points every reader to the great necessity of guarding well the life of every child against satanic power. Thousands in the journey of life have been carefully watched and guarded against all danger until thoy reached the cold chilly mountains of sin, where they were confronted with the great problems of the issues of life. Then they were left withou the influence of the guardian to teach them the way of righteousness and point them to the Saviour. They were left to climb the hills of sin to the yawning precipice above the gates of hell, or walk along the narrow path that leads to God. Left without the blessing of a loving guide. The child who enjoys the privilege of a friendly confiding talk with his parents, or guardiaris, every day ; to whom he can tell all his — 194 — cares and troubles, hopes and pleasures, and receives in return the advice of loving friends, becomes attach- ed to them with ties of strong affection, and his obedience is prompt, because prompted by love. His comrades tempt him to play the truant, but he never plays it ; he is asked to smoke, and coaxed to take his first glass of liquor, but never yields ; for he has learned the ways of wisdom, and escapes the tempter's snare. He is invited to the ball and theatre, by (in his estimation) the fairest of all girls—the one he loves— and before he answers " No," he seeks advice. Perhaps he is shown the effects of attending those places through some young man of his acquaintance, who neglects his duty, spends his money and looses his sleep night after night, who thus robs his system of health and his mind of a desire to study. That young man is poor, sickly and miserable, because he yielded to the tempter's snare at first and took the poisoned bait, which holds him at so great a cost. After looking such a cabe squarely in the face, the youth is ready to answer " No," even to the girl he loves the best. In early youth, he accepts Jesus Christ for his personal Saviour and not only obeys his parents, but renders an obedient trust to God, because his nature is pre-- pared to receive the love of God and his mind to understand the things of God. He realizes himself a sinner and asks for pardon, because he wants to be a Christian and have the peace of God. He. takes God 195 at His word and knows that he is pardoned, regardless of his feelings, because God says it is so. Soon he has the full assurance of the Saviour's love, and labours in the vineyard for the glory of the Lord and the good of his fellow-man. He meets with many kinds of wanderers from God, among the rest, is the educated infidel, by whose arguments he is baffled, not because of the truth, but the shrewdness by which it covers the truth. Although he knows what God has done for him, of the glorious change which God has wrought in him, he cannot express that knowledge in words sufficient to convince the sceptic, nor meet his studied theories. Therefore he is discouraged, but never falls, for he goes to the Lord and finds new strength. Perhaps the infidel has said that there is no God, and that all things came to exist by chance and were not created ; that evolution was a factor, but could not tell how, or show any foundation for his theory. He says that we must judge the past by the present evidences. With these statements by himself unanswered, the youth stands but a moment, then seeks the guiding hand of those who can lead him through the satanic mists of infidelity ; he finds some one who is better able to explain the works of God, called nature, and to expose the groundless theory of evolution. That friend begins, perhaps, to explain that we and our surroundings are the works of God and therefore God exists ; and that if we, as — 196 — the infidel says we must, judge the past by present evidences— On Saturday night I left off writing just here, wondering what I could write that would represent facts such as a father ought to teach his sons, in order to save them from the blighting influence of those learned, shrewd, sceptical infidels, who do not really believe their owrn statements. I asked the Lord to give me words to write and before the morning had dawned I saw a vision from which I awoke with these words fixed on my mind. " It is easier to have the false than the true theory. The false is connected with the imagination of the heart, which is continually wrong. Truth is built on facts. Buy the truth and sell it not." Those words were stamped upon the mind just I was waking. I cannot tell by what means, but I know that it was the influence of a power beyond my own—-words revealed instantly—bearing on the subject, for which I had asked for guidance to write. As the substance of a vision is of less importance than the lesson to be taken from it, I will leave the vision in the background and show more especially the fulness of its meaning as revealed to me. A ^tree with an apple, which came up through it and hung on a little stem through which it also came was shown through the vision as a miracle. Small birds, hens, and an ostrich, a sandy desert and eggs, were also brought before me. The words before mentioned — 197 — kept sounding in my mind and the fact came to me that if an egg comes from an ostrich, and an ostrich comes from an egg, one must have been created first in some other way,—and the questions came, Which was first ? and Who made it ? By studying these important questions according to an in.fidel's Own rule of judging the past by the present, we find that an ostrich comes from an egg—then the egg existed first; and if we judge the past by the present, we decide for a positive fact that no ostrich's egg could form of itself in the shifting sands in a short time, ready for hatching; and th it if the egg existed first, it was created in a different .way to the present form of being layed there ; and so there must have been a great breach in the theory of evolution, when the first eggs were made tu hatch hens aand rooster chicken. All would have to be accomplished in a few weeks, or the eggs would have been spoiled ; therefore, it is a fixed certainty that evolution had nothing to do with forming the first chicken. Not only is this fact established by the very nature of things ; but by the evolutionist's own statement. But, suppose he goes back on his own theory, and says that the first ostrich, or hen, did not come from an egg, but was evolved from something he does not know what; then I would like to know how a hen happened to be evolved the same time as the rooster, which are two distinct birds ? When and how did the great breach in the — 198 — system of the theory of evolution occur in changing the plan of the formation and birth of hens, roosters, and of all the other birds ? Is it reasonable to think that at one time they were brought into the world born like animals, and, by changing from one generation to another, each century they grew larger, until at last there was a full-sized hen ; that they then stopped suddenly and changed their natural process of life and commenced to be hatched from eggs ? The thing is ridiculous, and not worthy of a second thought from one whom God has blessed with common sense. Then it is very clear that.the theory of evolution had nothing to do with the creation. Further there must have been two formed at the same time : one to hatch a male bird and one a female bird. If you say the first generation of ostriches were born and not hatched, then there must have been a great breach in the theory of evolution when they commenced to be hatched. The thing is contrary to nature, and altogether ridiculous to those who know God as their Creator. The same is true of hens and roosters, which come from eggs, and according to the theory of evolution have always come from eggs. I want to ask, Who made the first two eggs which must have been formed in a few hours and kept at a certain heat for days ; one made to hatch a rooster, the other a hen ? or, Who made the first hen and rooster, or any other bird ? — 199 — We find that the apple, in the vision, which came through the tree and formed into that fruit—like the egg of the ostrich—bears that particular seed or life germ ; therefore the tree grows from its own kind of seed ; and, if we judge the past by the present works of nature, which God has made, the first tree had no seed to grow from and was created by other means than that which man knows or has any trace of, unless he finds it in the boundless wisdom and power of Almighty God, who touches the dead clods of the elements and moulds them at His will into living monuments for His glory. While man has no evidence to prove that evolution has ever created a single thing at the beginning, we have proof by man's own testimony, not only that of the twelve Apostles, but hundreds who also ate of the elements which God touched by the power of His wisdom and formed into bread, by which the five thousand were fed. Jesus, in that miracle, not only created bread, but gave it to the people, that a part of it might become a part of their own bodies ; and many other mighty works also were performed by the Lord before the people. He who believes in evolution, as the creator of the works of God, does not believe in God, nor in the united testimony of his fellow-man, but trusts in the imaginations of his own heart, which is at enmity with God. God's ways, though mysterious to us, are always perfect ; therefore they who are at enmity with Him are wrong — 200 continually. | A man's heart deviseth his way : but the Lord directeth his steps." Prov. xvi., 9. If all the children of this generation had facts relative to God's works—similar to those given in connection with the vision—thoroughly stamped >upon their minds, the world wrould soon be'free from the blighting curse of sceptical infidelity. If I could give to the millions of this generation, who claim not Christ for their Saviour, my own experience, that they might know for themselves the fulness of the love and peace, which the presence of God brings into the soul; the wonderful things I have received through faith in communication with God ; and the marvellous change the new birth—not a fancied new birth, but the new birth —makes in a sinner's nature ; not the nature of the flesh but of the heart; then the world would serve the Lord. Then Paradise would practically be restored to earth, as it will be when the millenial dawn is fully ushered in, and the lion and the lamb shall lie down at peace together ; for satanic power will be bound by laws of righteousness. In order to save the nations most successfully from the deadly influence of satan, its children must be taught the ways of righteousness, the love and justice of God ; and the vile cruelty of sin ; then will they buy wisdom and sell it not. A LITTLE WHILE. A little while ! 'Tis ever drawing, nearer— The brighter downing of that glorious day. Blest Saviour, make our spirits' vision clearer, ^tnd guide, O guide us in the shining way. A little while, O blessed expectation ! For strength to run with patience, Lord we cry ; O hearts up leap in fond anticipation ; Our union with the Bridegroom draweth nigh. Select. Jude 19. , " These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." 20. § But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost," 21. | Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." '. ' . : Ijj 22. " And of some have compassion, making a difference : 23. | And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire ; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." • 24. I Now ijnto him that is able to keep you from. 202 falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." ' 2$. " To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." In the twenty-five verses of this epistle of Jude, there exists a great chasm fixed between the nature of those who live under satanic influences and those who hold the wires which convey the influences of the life of God into their lives. | But ye, beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith, pray- in the Holy Ghost." Prayer is the great cable of communication with Heaven, upon which to cling with the arms of faith and through which to eat of the hidden manna and imbibe the nature of Christ. The precious promise of our Heavenly Father is " ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you, seek and ye shall find." And multitudes have asked in faith, and, according to their faith, have received a fulness of the precious hidden manna, of a life hidden with Christ in God. But, alas, there is the other side of humanity: those who handle the wires of communication with the powers of satan and receive from him the very brimstone of his nature that will help to light the fires of death, which dieth not, whose nature, is described in this epistle. 16. I These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts ; and their mouth speaketh great — 203 — swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage." 17. " But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;" ' ; 18. " How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." There are two classes in this world, the living and the dead, having eternal life or having eternal death. Jesus said to His hearers—"«the time is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live,"—(John v., 25.) During the eighteen hundred and sixty-two years which have passed since those words were spoken, millions have heard that glorious call and have been raised to a newness of life, living members of the body of Christ on earth, whose souls were cleansed in the atoning blood, and robed in the beautiful garments of Christ's own nature. The great majority of those have left this earthly tabernacle, and, having passed from death unto life before the body died, were made through Christ to be partakers of the first resurrection ; and are therefore this day with Him in Paradise. Just here, you meet the most solemn of all important questions. You must face it ; or soon it will face you, when it is too late. Have you that life that is hid with Christ in God ; or the death with satan, that — 204 — ;fj£ never dies ? There are only two conditions—life or death. Which is yours? If you have not decided for* yourself, then satan is deciding the question for you, deciding that you shall be his victim of horrible torments, through all eternity. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked ; whosoever you choose to serve in this life, you must serve in the life beyond, because your nature will correspond to those by whom your soul is fed. Do not be deceived, but rest assured that if the nature of sin is not killed by the cleansing blood, you can never enter into the kingdom of Heaven. God has so loved you, that He has taken your nature of sin unto death, and died your death for you and for me. Whosoever will may receive His wonderful gift of freedom and life with God, because He was able to fulfil the law for you, and then raise Himself up. He has created a first resurrection, by which through the law, millions have received that gift. Have you received it ? It means to you everlasting riches and pleasure, and glory and honor and Paradise—an endless union with the family of God. It means the glorious privilege to grow in grace, in wisdom and in beauty for ever, in the presence of the Lord our God. It means all that is valuable to you. Is it true that you are slumbering away your life which might end to-morrow? Are you missing the only Perfect Gift that life is worth living for? If you are rejecting Christ, then you are missing positive- — 205 — ly the only riches for which life is truly worth living. If you reject the gift of life, you had better not have been born. But, if you have accepted Christ's atonement and* received the presence of the Holy Ghost, the love and fellowship of God, then you have a little foretaste of the joys of Paradise, and know that you are born of God. Your nature is changed, for now you love the brethren, and long to bring sinners to the Saviour. Your nature, once so cold and dead, now seeks to awaken others, that they too might find your precious Saviour. Through that longing in your nature, you know that you have a new nature, quickened by a living spark of the Spirit of the Lord, and you know that this living fire of love is from Him, for God is love. His very presence fills your soul with love. Having this fact—a living reality in your soul —that God who created you by the word of His power to live in this world as a mortal, has also recreated you, by the travail of His own soul unto death to be a saint—a member of His kingdom, a child of God, having the glorious promise of a home in Heaven. How careful should you be to live near the Saviour that He might use you in His vineyard in bringing others to the light, the cleansing fountain that they may be awakened also to ^eternal life and . with you enjoy the glorious blessings of the love of God. Saved from the diseases of the soul, the leprosy that unfits the soul for Heaven. Saved from sin's — 204 — degrading, hating nature and the darkness it brings upon the victims of its powers, and the horrors of an endless home with devils. It is worthy of all your keenest efforts, and of all the services of all your life —though you live a million centuries—to be the means of bringing one to Jesus Christ. To dwell with Him in His glorious pavilion for endless ages, for the end of the million centuries would certainly come. You will certainly be rewarded by the nature of your work of love ; built up in your own character and fitted for a higher mansion in His presence. " He doeth all things well." You will be rewarded by the uniting cords of love—the everlasting bands which unite his soul with yours—the soul of him jwhom you, through Christ, have brought to God. You will be rewarded by a victory over sin and hell, and satan's power—an endless victory. A crown of life will be received thr^pgh Christ by the one whom you have led to the precious, cleansing fountain. You will be rewarded in the presence of God and of the holy angels. I He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God and he shall be my son."—Rev. xxi., 7. I And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire : hating even the garment spotted bv the flesh." Jude 23. The meaning of the facts, in connection with this last verse cannot any more easily be understood by' man than can the endlessness of an endless eternity. The fire referred to is as endless as eternity in its du- — 207 — ration. The spots of the flesh are as endless as the fires which they create within the soul, whose garments are spotted with them ; and—because they are a living, growing nature, a part of the soul—they must exist with the soul. There is no way to change the nature of that disease excepting God's way. There is no physician who can cure the disease of the soul, excepting the Great Physician, who has satisfied the law's demands, and who can drive out the old nature by placing a new life within, and so create a saint for a mansion in the heavenly world. I And now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."—Jude 24. To Him, dear reader, let all the services of your life be given ; that at last you may have the glorious mansion prepared for you, made to suit the character of your being, where—knowing as you are known— you can better sing the praises of the King of Kingr. Do you not know some wanderer from God, rejecting the Saviour's love; some model sinner whose garments are spotted by the flesh, who believes that all the blessings he receives are gifts from his Creator, but never renders thanks to God, even for one single blessing, because he knows that the only kind of thanks which can reach God must come from a sincere, obedient heart. Someone who thinks that he is good enough, because his hands are not red with his — 2o8 — brother's blood, or his nature stained with guilt through the coveted goods of his neighbour, which he has stolen ; good enough because his nature is yet concealed—like the flower within the bud—in its satanic garments, and is not yet bloomed out into its real nature before the world. Someone to whom satan says " You are as good as lots who profess religion." One who does not know the difference between a pro- • fession of religion and sanctification unto God. If you do know such an one, dear fellow Christian it is your bounden duty before God to work and watch and fight and pray for his salvation ; striving with all your might to save with fear, pulling him out of the fire ; for if he is allowed to slumber beneath that deadly influence of satanic nature, until he is suddenly cut off from the earth, or even before, satan will unfold the garments and reveal his own image—the likeness of satan—in the nature of his suffering victim. Think of a loved on e being cradled in the arms of death by satan's power and prepared for eternal torments, being made a demon—to be tormented by the fiends whose hatred and vengeance is poured out upon each other through endless ages—and you not trying to save him; to awaken him that he might see the true nature of his mad folly, and escape from hell. Daniel xii., I. " And at that time shall Michael stand up, J:he great prince which standeth for the children of thy people : and there shall be a time of — 209 — trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." 2. " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." 3. " And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.'1 4. " But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to j the time of the end : many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." 5. I Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river." 6. I And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders ? " 7. I And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." P. 2IO 8. ii And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? | 9. I And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." > . : ... ., . . 10. " Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried ; but the wicked shall do wickedly : and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." 11. I And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." SB 12. "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." 13^1" But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." , "_■ ■ Five hundred and thirty-four years before Christ, the Lord spoke unto His servant Daniel and told him of the coming Saviour, and the mighty events to be accomplished for man and for the glory of God. The revelations as given to Daniel—so long before they were fulfilled, in reference to the things in connection with the above verses—are most wonderful, when compared with the fulness with which they have been fulfilled. J To study God's words without prejudice^ as given 211 to us through Daniel, and to catch fhe nature of their meaning in connection with their fulfilment, is to be able to read the words which were closed up and Sealed till the time of the end. Sealed to every one, even to Daniel himself, who heard but understood not, and was told, in reply to his question, to go his way, for the words were closed up and sealed till the time of the end." I. | And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people : and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time : and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." | And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people." Even at that very time, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, was standing in behalf of the people whose sacrifices were accepted through the great sacrifice of atonement to be made once for all. | And there shall be a time of trouble, such as there has not been since there was a nation." During the one thousand two hundred and ninety days of Christ's labor, the fiercest difficulties had to be faced and overcome in order that God's kingdom might be established. The religion of many of the people was but a form, void of the light and love of God, and gave them the cruel nature of demons. The great battle of sin and right- 212 — eousness was fought, and the glorious victory of man's redemption was won through Christ, who sets us free. There is deliverance from satan for every one who will accept, and receive the image of God stamped upon their nature. ute 2. I And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Many who slept in the dust of the earth should awake, and through Christ many have been raised and made partakers of the resurrection, some unto life everlasting and some unto shame and everlasting contempt. Which shall it be for me ? is a question which none should fail to ask their soul while searching their own heart. Which shall it be? Heaven and life and joy ; or hell and shame and death ? Will you be counted among the number, when Christ shall make up His jewels. Will you shine as the stars for ever and ever ? If you are serving the Lord, through love, and striving to turn many to righteousness, you may know that it is well with your soul ; but, if you are serving satan, be assured that you will have shame and everlasting contempt. 3. " And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Oh, how awful is his condition, who lives unconsciously the life of a hypocrite before the world ! Who — 213 — is saved like thesthief on the. cross, but has very little of the love of God in his soul, because he allows the world, the flesh, and the devil to trample upon the seed sown there. His life does not correspond with his profession, therefore he becomes the shame of the church, and a contemptible hypocrite to the world, because he is not careful to walk in close communion with the Lord. His spiritual influence is dead ; strangled to death by his actions." He may be saved, like the thief on the cross, but his life on earth is lost, and he may be saved, though as by fire I As the tree faUs, so it shall- lie." He that teaches, by words or b^ actions^ contrary to the word of God shall be the least in the kingdom of Heaven ; while they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. Are you a stumbling block to the samer or a hindrance to the seeking soul ? If you are, them awful is your condition, for your heart is divided and tainted by sin. Have you professed to haee Jesus Chris^j^&t because you wanted to, although you were not willing to give up all your sins., which you really love»jaaore tkarr righteousness ? If so, then your religion is but a form, a cloak, a counterfeit,, and you hase nothing but its forms, and the example. of your fellow Christians to guide you; aad,i therefore, you cannot stand, for yjsaut have not given up all to follow Ckrist You must turn from sir* and, trusting Jesus, fodJbw wherever He may lead. Your lilk will - 214 — then be grand and glorious, througli time, and all eternity. 4. I But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." The book was sealed until the time of the end, and no man could understand it until Christ, the Mighty Prince, the Son of God, broke the seal arid did away with the daily sacrifices of the old dispensation. 5. " Then I Daniel looked, and behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river." Th9 river which Daniel saw, represents the river of life, which flows from the throne of God. The man on this side of the river, meant the people before Christ; and the man on that side, meant the people after Christ. 7. I And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever thajt it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." We need not doubt the fact, that the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, who 2K held up both his hands unto Heaven, represented Christ, and that the " time, times, and a half time," was the last three and a half years of Christ's ministry, ' and when the forty days were accomplished after the resurrection—during which time the Lord visited and strengthened His people, and scattered them abroad filled with the power of the. Holy Ghost—then all of these things were finished. 10. I Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried ; but the wicked shall do wickedly : and none of the wicked shall understand ; but the wise shall understand." fflm Millions have been purified and made white, and tried since the Day of Pentecost. To-day the wicked do wickedly, and do not understand the Spirit, the love of God, or the plan of salvation ; because they are under the mists of satanic power. ii. | And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." 12. "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days | Just as soon as Christ commenced to teach the people, then there was no more need of the daily sacrifice, for Christ was | the light of the world." So that Jesus must have laboured for His Kingdom one thousand two hundred and ninety days against the 2l6 abominations of satanic powers that were raised against Him, before He said on the cross "it is finished." il Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh, to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days," which would be forty-five days after the resurrection and five days after the ascension, and must hasse been the Day of Pentecost for which the disciples wene waiting, and in which they received the blessing of the presence and the power of the Hbty Ghost. Then was the great mission d£ Christ, the kingdom of the Son of God, established in our behalf, and then was the end of the days when Daniel wouM stand in his lot. 13. "But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shafc rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." • -:|. - In this chapter we have clear evidence of the facty that God sees the future as you see the past, and the things that shall come to pass are known to Hiai thousands of years before. Therefore, in God's sight, they exist as realities, in the same way as that wnich you saw yesterday exist as a reality in your sight. If it were nofc so, then God could not have'given to Daniel this wonderful history of the coming Saviour. IN CONCLUSION. HAVE you carefully read each page of this book* and read it as a study, without a prejudice ? If you have, it must have left its footprints upon your soul, never to be erased ; which, if cherished, will help to form in you the nature of God's own glorious character, when you are born again. For that which has been, can never be as though it had not been, in forming character. Are you a sceptic ? Then Jesus has invited you to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Oh, will you not come and enter His great pavilion of love and peace, and everlasting glory ? Jesus is waiting yet. Will you not come ? Must you forever argue and live for the world and for satan, your deadliest enemy ? Against your Saviour and friend, Creator and God ? Can you rest without this question being settled ? Awful is your case, if you sleep beneath the venom of your foe. Are you a Christian—born of God—who has carefully read without a prejudice? Has not some living spark from off the altar, lit up J your — 218 — you shine more brightly the reflected light from the Cross, that others may look and live. Are you a worldling? One whose soul is wrapped in garments spotted by the flesh, who loves the way of evil better than that of righteousness ? You have not read carefully without a prejudice, because your heart is at enmity with God. You read the blessed Bible as a book for others and not exactly meant for you. You are therefore prejudiced in your own favor, and, though you wear the brightest character, you must walk in darkness, unless your soul is kindled with the life, and light and love of God. Although you have read beneath the shadow of this veil of prejudice, yet some living seeds of "ftre—the fire of Heaven—may linger in your soul and may it never cease to burn until the old nature is all consumed and you are born of God—a living burning flame of the fire of the love of God.—Amen. Trythall, City Printing Works, Vancouver, B.C.
BC Historical Books
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A marvellous experience. Containing light and food for Christians, sceptics, and worldlings Palmer, Henry Thomas 1893
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