that, if I am out-and-out for Christ, they will shun and avoid me." Now, what does God say to such an one? "Walk before Me, and be thou perfect." Another says, "Lord, I will follow Thee; but I am not willing to give up one thing. In the first place, I am not sure that there is any harm in it." Has anyone asked you to give it up? "No," you say; "but I have not felt comfortable about it." Then it may be the Lord is dealing with you about it. And God bids you lay aside not only sins, but every weight, in running the race set before you. It may not be a sin; but is it a weight? Is it hindering your progress, or marring your influence? If so, that settles the point. You must let it go. Then, after all, ofttimes it is not the thing itself that stands in the way, but the act of clinging to it. Sometimes God puts His finger upon some object very dear to you to bring you out into a sphere of greater usefulness. Look at Abraham and Isaac. I do not read that Abraham idolized his son; but the time came when God said, "I want you to give Me your son, your only son Isaac, to offer him up as a burnt offering." What did Abraham do? At once he responded to God's call, and gave him to the Lord; but the Lord gave him back again to Abraham. And so God may be putting His finger upon something in which there is neither any harm nor any hindrance, neither a sin, nor a weight, in order that you may consecrate your will to Him. Yield it to the Lord and He will bless you with the abundance of peace. Once more-another says, "Lord I will follow Thee, but I am afraid that I shall be called to suffer." This is to have hard thoughts of God. You think that, if you put yourself wholly into His hands He will be cruel! Why, He is your Father. Whatsoever is loving and tender in an earthly parent is just a faint reflection of the infinite love that dwells in our Father in heaven. Secondly, let there be no distrust. God wants you to give yourself to Him that He might fulfil His good pleasure in you, that His will may be done in you. His will is your truest happiness. Let us say, "Lord, take me, and do Thy will in me; use me as Thou wilt." What God requires is that you should be at His disposal, without any conditions. Lastly, let there be no delay. Some here may be saying, "When I get to my room I will give myself wholly to the Lord." Nay, let it be NOW. A few moments may be sufficient. Just look up into His face, and say, "Yes, Lord, yes, I will go all lengths with Thee-and now-Here I am." "I see now," said one, not long since, "the secret of abundance; the secret of always having a full supply. It is simply to live in the land, for my Father says, "Dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." It is in the land the "abundance" is to be found. Simply abide there. Abide in Him, in whom all fulness dwells, and you will have enough and to spare. Yield yourself to Him now for this; give yourself to Him without reserve, generously, cheerfully, promptly, and then the Lord, will undertake to meet all your need, and you shall know what it is, day by day, and right on to the end, to live in the ABUNDANCE OF PEACE. "NOW YE ARE CLEAN." WE are afraid because we do not know His mind, nor apprehend where He means this cleanness to be. We would place it in Heaven, and He speaks of it on earth; we would have it as a consummation, and He makes it the commence ment-the very first step in sanctification, in real Christian life and living, but a preparation for Pentecost, though we should have written it possible only of ages after. Shall we wonder at such an absence of the Spirit of God, of the spirit of fulness, and power, and discernment, in the children of God, when most of us are cavilling at the very threshold of it all over questions which must be answered-rather truths which should be accepted--before any Pentecostal tide of blessing can flow in. Take a well-known instance "written for our learning," upon whom the ends of the world are come-" the priests went into the inner parts of the House of the Lord to cleanse, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the Temple of the Lord" (2 Chron. xxix. 16). Then, and not till then, they were in a position to "serve "—to "minister" to "worship," "minister" to "worship," to offer the burntoffering upon the altar. Cleansing is the very beginning; the very first thing-till He can say of us, "Now ye are clean," where can we be in the path of mighty works He has prepared for us to walk in? Surely standing at the gate, barely having entered into life, and without knowledge concerning the eternal purposes He had willed to carry out "by His Church "-(Eph. iii. 10)—so wondrously transformed into a "co-worker" with Deity (2 Cor. vi. 1). Oh, how long He waits, and how His heart must yearn over us, sorrowing with a depth of grief which He only can know, who only can count the cost of what we are losing by our slowness to believe, our petty frivolity, our paltry littleness-occupying ourselves with atoms of time; regardless, even ignorant, of the very things to fulfil which we are called into spiritual life, with our hands hanging down and feeble knees, instead of our loins girded, our lamps burning, and being like unto men and women who wait for their Lord. After the cleansing, the "burnt-offering began." Very few of us have literally got to this. It means death; it means being consumed, and being consumed by a living fire. And here we shrink back, shrink from contact with the burning flame. Human nature will always count the cost; and how often souls come up to this very point and then deliberately turn back. They will not lie down helpless, bound, all that they are and have on the altar to be burnt up! No wonder, you say. Listen! "And when (Heb. "in the time ") the burnt-offering began the song of the Lord began also." If we have not taken that step of utter self-abandonment, if we have not laid there on the altar helpless, that all our self-life may be consumed, our desires, our reputation, our very influence for God; we know nothing; nothing of the liberty of a slave of Jehovah, therefore nothing of the power of a child of a King, and nothing of the joy of that song of the Lord. But if we have! He is stooping low to rejoice over such a soul with exceeding joy, to delight in it, as He rests now in His love, to joy over it even as He says "with singing." The song of the Lord begins. Is it not worth while at any cost to wake such a song as that, to have the Christ "resting" over you "satisfied"? Even though the cords of love are closer drawn, which bind your broken will and dying life to His bleeding heart and eternal glory. Do not misunderstand me. I know there is a sense in which Christ only is the burnt-offering well pleasing to God; I know it is the altar alone which sanctifies the gift. But though we are dead in Christ to sin and self, there is often a very literal working out of the injunction to "mortify our members," simply for or because "we died,”—a practical fulfilling of that is true of us in Christ. And there are things about which our will often makes a stand before we yield, and often we turn back for years wandering, instead of going forward. You know I speak the truth. How often God in His faithfulness flashes some new light upon us, and we are untrue to it, untrue to God, and every ray of light that reaches us which we do not follow leaves us in deeper darkness than before. How do I know it is so? I will tell you. When a soul thus abandons itself to the will of God, with no other thought or care beyond complying with that will at whatever cost, beyond hearing and doing it, with no longer a question "do I like it," "am I able," or anything else with self or "I" in it, simply following and obeying, if it be to dust a room or win a city, then-what then? The power of the Living God, the fire of the Eternal Spirit, comes down upon that soul, not only consuming but re-creating; where was the earthly, infusing the heavenly, where there was the human, bestowing the divine, so that whithersover that soul shall go; as with the "double torrent of living water Life shall come. That is how I know, for there are not many who thus bring nought but the Spirit of Life and the fire of the Holy Ghost wherever they go. There are some, but you can number them by units, yet such would the Lord make every member of His body the Church! Just to be this I am yearning, yearning-are not some of you? But oh, where are we? Afraid almost of being "clean," till then how can He make us a power in the earth? how much further off being filled with God! Yet We mourn the "mighty works," and we do not take the first step! I will just pass on to you what some one said to me the other day, it has not left me since, uttered by one wonderfully filled with the Spirit of God; it made me tremble, lest reading my half-heartedness, the doubt should ever be realised. It was this "You know the way; WILL BE TRUE TO GOD." I WONDER IF YOU In other words. Afraid under any circumstances for any consideration to grieve the Spirit of God, even though He may lead you into what will cost you everything you hold most dear, and make you the offscouring of the world-" a spectacle unto the sake, will you be still going forward leaving results world, and angels, and men," a fool for Christ's to God? This is being true to God, and nothing less than this! But it means also power with God and with glorified WITH GOD in the world to come! men to prevail in this present world, and being I wonder how many of You know the way. you will be true to God? CRAYFORD RECORDS. APRIL 18TH. BY MISS NUGENT. "Unto HIM shall the gathering of the people be." Wherever that is true, there must be blessing; wherever that is true, there must be rest-the deep rest of repose in the of His presence. power And it was true at the little Crayford gathering. It was 66 'unto Him." He was the first presence recognised, and we found it was so by the quiet peace of the room beforehand. No silence was called for, but there was silence, scarcely any talking, but rested and expectant waiting, one of the signs which is sure to follow when the name of the city is, "THE LORD IS THERE." It was such a markedly restful day, filled with "the dew of His blessing," that we feel as if it should be shared, at least in some degree, with those who could not be there. It was part of our host's loving and quickening words at the opening that we should take away as much as we could. For this was not like some gardens or feasts, where the permission was, "Eat as much as you like, but take none away," but a feast from which we were not only allowed, but charged to take away as much as we could, and to "Learn for the profit of others, to be distributed afterwards." The subject for the three meetings was a very wide one: Abundance of Peace, Abundance of Power, Abundance of Hope. Mr. Blackwood's opening words were an immediate recognition of the presence of the Lord Jesus, and that gave the tone to the whole one of solemnised gladness. Then came the kind words of welcome, spoken from the shadow of sorrow, making us all remember to ask that the Lord might make of this "cloud His chariot, wherein He should ride into deepest soul-recesses, and fill with His glory, His comfort, and His rest." Mr. Blackwood then said, "It is blessed to meet for communion with saints; but what I want, and what you want, is to have communion with God." And he closed with this, "It is a common saying when Parliament meets, to say that the House met for the dispatch of business. Let it be for 'business' that we meet now-definite business between God and our souls, and not merely the talk of the lips, which tendeth only to penury." The prayer and hymn which followed were in the same spirit of recognition of His presence, and then the first speaker opened the subject. It was enough to set every restless heart yearning for the abundance of peace, which was shown to be so full, so possible, and so present; and it did stir every already rested heart to deeper praise; that such "Peace is a Person," and that person the Eternal Saviour God, and therefore secure and abiding. (A full report of this Address will be found on page 89.) The after-discussion was very interesting, brisk, crisp, and short; several bringing out points we all want to remember. Mr. MOORE spoke of the double peace of Isa. xxvi. 3 (marg.), the peace of justification, and the peace of sanctification. Then he, too, reminded us that "Peace is a Person," saying, "I love to say to my soul that this man is the Peace when any Assyrians come into the land." It is so deep that outer troubles do not shake it. As one has said, “It is not the waters outside the vessel which sink her; what we have to dread is only that which gets within." Others, too, spoke of little things being brought under His rule, and how weighty cares--" Postoffice," or "Woolwich Arsenal"—could be calmly met when He was supreme. Mr. SHERBROOKE then brought up Isa. 1. 10, and Micah vii. 8, as cheer to faith, to trust on even when without realisation. To him they met the case of a fully obedient servant who was without realisation. Trust on, then, in the dark. Mr. HOPKINS said: Yes, if the darkness did not mean being shut out of communion with the Lord, but only the darkness of providential circumstances; and Mr. MOORE then quoted a saying of Dorothea Trudel, "We may sit in darkness, but take care that the darkness does not sit in us." Mr. SAVAGE then put the two songs together which were sung at the Lord's birth, and on His day of triumph: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace" the one, and "Peace in Heaven" in the other, showing peace made in heaven, and made known on earth; but the chief thought was glory to God. Let that be first with us, and peace shall follow. The closing words were from Mr. Fox, who said, "If we have peace, it will show itself in deep res', in behaviour, in look, and in speech. This is something much deeper than the enthusiasm which may be of the flesh. "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest," that is the rest of justification; then further, "Take my yoke, and ye shall find rest.” The whole secret is in being under Christ. There you self. He not only has power, but He gives power. Power to enter into sonship; power over evil. And when? In infirmities (2 Cor. xii. 9). Many try to escape from them; but if they did, they would escape from the power. It is in the crevices of the wounds and our weaknesses the Dove of God derocks the birds build; so in the crevices of our scends and makes a habitation for Himself. He has a fourfold power for each: to escape from yielding to temptation (1 Cor. x. 13), upwards, by prayer, if in no other way; to comprehend His love further, able to quench (Eph. vi. 13, 16). with all saints; to make you able to stand; and, is not anything which keeps a man in rest as being crowning in glory; able to succour when temptedunder Him, that is, under His will. His grand, then we must expect to be tempted; able to present majestic will is always calm, and if we are the little us faultless. In all, He keeps the power to Himvessel resting on it, we shall be at rest, and at peace. The reason why so many find it so difficult to keep up this rest is because they will not accept His will in common circumstances. Accept His will in all things, and shall have rest. You will find out that there is no such deep rest as that which can be enjoyed under tremendous pressure of care; the deepest rest is under the Cross, as He found when He said, in His grand calm, "The cup which MY Father hath given Me shall I not drink it?" He had said before, "Let this cup pass!" I do love my Lord for it. He is so human that He is not afraid of saying that there is a deep shadow on His path. We sometimes speak as if it were all un-blessed "togethers," crucified together, &c. Food broken sunshine; but the shadow may be the deeper is power; there must be a continual sacrament between God and the soul, or there can be no power sunshine, because we rest in His will. Accept His in the life. The Promise is power. Cash a promise, will as superior to our sunshine. my brother, if you are out of power. His presence Solitude is power. power. Will you follow me here? Remember Jacob "left alone," made Israel. Suffering is power. Yea, and defeat is power; like the failure of speaking at a meeting, which casts you at His feet, and you find out that there is power in humiliation. And I would add that death is power (John xii. 24): "If it die . . . . much fruit." Mr. BLACKWOOD then pressed upon us the question of our reason for wanting the abundance of peace; is it that we may work for Him better? Prayer then followed from several, of which this sentence sums all, "Reign Thou in us, and we shall then rest in Thee." The afternoon subject was "The Abundance of Power," a vast one indeed, and as Mr. Blackwood quoted word after word of Him who cannot lie, from Col. i. and Eph. i. and iii., &c., not only offering but pledging power to us, the thought came, Where shall we begin? How can we grasp and then the resting answer came, "If Peace is a Person, Power is a Person too!" and we have Him, we claim Him, and we count on opened eyes to see next how to use Him. It was Mr. Fox who opened the subject, starting from this ground, "This Man is the great Power of God." We shall have the address fully later, so only touch on it now. He divided it thus: the Source of Power, the Secret and the Signs of Power. He reminded us what a solemn thing Power was; that Power was purchased by blood. Pentecost was preceded by Calvary by only fifty days. Then came the sevenfold ability of God first. He alone able to open the book, and to loose the seals, and reveal the power and the Person within. Able to make all grace abound-not to store, but to spend; able to do exceeding abundantly, above our asking; able to subdue-then why not here and now? able to keep-but He cannot keep, unless we commit; able to save-from the conversion to the What is the secret of Power? Knowledge is power (Eph. i. 18). Union is power, sevenfold union of is The signs of power are that the man who has it is himself concealed, and only Christ is seen. He who has it is always saying "Come," like Jesus, always winning and pleading with others, by life and voice.. the Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost is compared to How may you know the man who is filled with water, and the man filled with Him is fertilising and refreshing; He is compared to wind, warm but powerful; to dew, falling silently, and covering that on which it falls. And is there anything of the Dove about you gentleness and submission one to another? And of fire? so that you can say, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up." God raised Jesus from the grave, exhausted, maimed, wounded, spent, all His blood poured out, yet in a few hours He raised Him a new man, unexhausted, complete. That is the power He has for us, and that is the measure of the power He will give us when we are wholly submitted to Him. Discussion followed shortly, and soon ended. "Power belongeth unto God," and "this God is our God!" Shall we join them together? Oh, let it be so with each one present! [The Addresses on the Abundance of Power, by Rev. C. A. Fox, and the Abundance of Hope, by Rev. E. W. Moore, we hope to publish in our next issue.-ED.] MESSAGES OF PEACE FOR THE AFFLICTED. MY DEAR M—————,-I have been feeling for you so much in your new sorrow; all the more because the dark thoughts seem to prevail over the bright ones. "Does it look like a Father's hand," you say, "that could take away so suddenly one So young, so bright, so necessary?" Yes, I think it does. I should rather say, "Could it have been any other hand but a Father's?" Honestly, in your heart, who do you think loved her most, or loved most those who were dear to her, you or God? Would you give up for their sakes what God gave up, and as freely as He gave it? You must see that His love is far deeper than yours, or than any earthly love could be. But you, with your love, if it had depended on you-if with one word you could have brought this bitter sorrow on them, or could just as easily have averted it-what would you have done? Would you have let the sorrow Why bright, beautiful thing for Himself? should we think it hard that He does not always take our worn-out, useless things, and leave to us and to others all the best? Do not let us be so selfish towards God; willing that He should have what we can do without-all our "cast-offs," but not willing to give to Him that which costs us anything. If He wants the "ass's colt," let Him have it; but if He claims the "alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious," do not let us say, "No, Lord, leave that to me; it is far too beautiful for Thee to take, or for me to give." Let us rather say, "Yea, let Him take all; for it is lawful for Him to do what He will with His own, and all His will is love." Children's Column. THE FIRST THING TO DO.* ness "-Matt. vi. 33. come, or would you have spared them? I think "Seek ye first the kingdon of God and His righteousyou would have let them off; and why? Just because your love is not deep enough nor strong FIRST, as to time. That is to say, while you are enough to do anything else. It is easy to pour gifts young "remember thy Creator." Think very much and joys on those we love even a little; it needs a of His goodness and His love, and of His claims very deep love to enable us to lay suffering upon the objects of our affection; and the more intense upon you, until you are led by the Holy Spirit to the suffering, the more love it needs to enable us to give your heart and the whole of your life to Him. impose it. No love short of Divine love could be Before anything else, dear child, you are to seek this strong enough to cause such acute apparently most important thing (that is why it is to come first), unnecessary"- -sorrow as that of which you write. to have God's forgiveness of your sins, so that you Only God could bear to do it; and a God of such infinite tenderness as ours, who is "afflicted in all may have His Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, the afflictions" of His children, could never do it if filling it with holy peace and joy. Have you been His love were any less than it is, or if He did not seeking it thus? see, as we cannot, the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" which is to be the result, and which makes it worth while for Him to send sorrow, even at the risk of being misunderstood and of having the reality of His love called in question. Do not try to "smother your feelings." God sees them; so, why seek to hide them? How much more satisfactory it would be, both to Him and to you, that He should know all your hard thoughts of Him by your own confession, rather than by His searching only. It is hard in any case to be misunderstood by those we love; but how much harder it is if we hear indirectly of wrong thoughts that are being entertained of us, than if those who entertain them come straight to us and tell us themselves how they have doubted us. Go and tell Him about it; "pour out your heart before Him;" "tell Him all the worst." Perhaps He will explain what you cannot understand; at any rate, it will be better to "have it out" with Him. That is why "it burns; " it is all kept back. It is like "when I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long." Why should not God sometimes take a Then you are to seek it first by giving it the first place always. "It will please Jesus." "I don't think God will like it." Thoughts like these are to guide your actions. Not just now and then, you know, but every day, and all the day. You see this spirit consecrates all you do; it hallows the tiniest bit of work. What is done for Jesus is sure to be well done. Lessons will be always well learnt, and house work done pleasantly and cheerfully, if you do all "unto Him." You could not bear to do a bit of work badly for Him, dear child, and your games and holidays will be brighter and more joyous if you take care to have Jesus always "in the midst." Always in everything, seeking Him first. Will you do this to-day? His presence is the one thing often wanting to crown your enjoyment, to hinder little jars, and to make things go smoothly. * Extract from "Morning Sunshine: Thoughts for the Little Ones." By L. A. D. |