say, MESSAGES OF PEACE FOR THE Why "bright, beautiful" thing for Himself? selfish towards God; willing that He should have Children's Column. THE FIRST THING TO DO.* 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 "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 come, or would you have spared them? I think you 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 "Seek ye first the kingdon of God and His righteousness"-Matt. vi. 33. 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. THE JOY OF OBEDIENCE. one. For if you are really seeking Him first, and wanting THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD THE most of all to please Him, you will be ready to give BASIS OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY. up your way to somebody else, and you will be Even those who hold most firmly to a faith in known soon as the little peace-maker; and I cannot the Resurrection are tempted to regard it as a doctrine tell you how very glad your own heart will be all rather than as a fact, as an article of belief rather the time, for Jesus Himself will teach you that, than as a sensible ground of hope. Gradually we “ All joys go less, have been led to dissociate faith in the resurThan the one joy of doing kindnesses." rection of the body from the actual Resurrection And not “In keeping of them there is great reward” (Ps. of Christ, which is the earnest of it. ” xix. 11). Perhaps you do not think this is a pro- Christian creed the purely philosophic conception unfrequently we substitute for the fulness of the mise at all, but I think when you have read a little of an immortality of the soul, which destroys, as we further you will see that it really is a very sweet At least, I hope so. If God had promised shall see hereafter, the idea of the continuance of you a reward as the result of keeping His words, our distinct personal existence. But according to the divine instinct of the first age, the message of you think you could have understood that quite well. But, dear child, what He says to you is some the Resurrection sums up in one fact the teaching thing even better than that would be. He promises of the Gospel. It is the one central link between the seen and the unseen. We cannot allow our you a reward in the very act of obeying Him. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus without getting a thoughts to be vague or undecided upon it with reward all the way along, as well as at the end, and impunity. We must place it in the very front of this makes God's service such a happy one. In His our confession, with all that it includes, or we must word you are taught that blessedness, or true happi- be prepared to lay aside the Christian name. Even ness, depends not on the sort of place you live in, in its ethical aspect Christianity does not offer a nor on any of the things that surround you, but on system of morality, but a universal principle of what you are. Lazarus, you know, a poor sick morality which springs out of the Resurrection. beggar though he was, was far happier than the man The elements of dogina and morality are indeed who had plenty of servants and everything luxurious inseparably united in the Resurrection of Christ; about him. And you, dear child, will be happy if for the same fact which reveals the glory of the you are good; unhappy, if you are naughty. Is it not Lord, reveals at the same the destiny of man and kind of the dear Lord to have joined these two the permanence of all that goes to make up the things—obedience to His words, and real true happi- fulness of human life. If the Resurrection be not — ness—so closely that nobody can ever separate true, the basis of Christian morality, no less than them? Obedience to Jesus means unselfishness, the basis of Christian theology, is gone. and The you can never do an unselfish thing, no matter if it issue cannot be stated too broadly. We are not be so tiny that no one else thinks about it, without Christians unless we are clear in our confession on getting His glad smile of approval. He will take this point. To preach the fact of Resurrection was care to let you know He is pleased, and His appro- the first function of the Evangelists ; to embody bation will be worth more to you than the best the doctrine of the Resurrection is the great office prize you ever brought home from school for good rection is the task not of one age only, but of all. of the Church; to learn the meaning of the Resurconduct. Will you give ready, swift obedience to Yet there seem to be times when the truth has a all God says to you in His holy word, and by the special significance : times, like our own, when the teaching of His Holy Spirit? In little things as spirit of material progress tends to confine the well as great ones ? If you try to do this always, thoughts of men within the limits of its own domain; when we are in constant danger of forgetyou will find you are happier day by day, and you ting the larger relationships of human existence, will prove for yourself that these words are just as because we find within us and around us enough to true ard beautiful as they can be. “In keeping of distract and occupy our thoughts; when the sense them ” — God's commandments — "there is great of the infinite vastness (so to speak) of our present reward." finite being turns the soul away from its natural aspirations towards the absolute and the unseen.Canon Westcot, Jesus with all their heart, they are saved; and not mind their feelings." "Aud does He not say to you, 'Fear thou not, for I am with thee: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee ?' Can't you take His word for it?" The Lord instantly blessed this reply to the troubled pastor; his heart truly "burned" within him, and he went on his way rejoicing. It is possible our eyes are often "holden," and our trust in His word put to the test; but, however dark our path or sad our hearts may be, Jesus Himself is with us, and we shall surely rejoice, sooner or latter. We are so ignorant and slow to believe; often, it may be, so perplexed and cast down and sunk in dispondency, that we need the teaching and the comfort He alone can give. And, just as it was with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, so it is with us. He Himself takes our difficulties and our despondency in hand, and brings about the gladness and the praise. Mark the emphasis, "Jesus Himself." The Lord, early that morning, might lave instructed one of the angels, whom He left at the sepulchre, to be in the way to Emmaus at a certain hour of the evening, join the two disciples, enter into conversation with them, and minister instruction and consolation to them. But no; "I will go Myself" was His loving 1eзolve. So He came Himself. And, whatever may be true of the ministry of the angels (and much is true of it; for "are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Falvation ?") we may be always sure of this: Jesus will certainly manifest Himself to us, especially under circum. stances of more than ordinary need. And oh, while we are thankful for all that the angels do for us, we want Himself. The other night the " suffering" member of our Union, for whom we all have often prayed, drew near the "dark valley." A life of loving service was about to close. The weary one would soon be at rest for ever. A warning word had been spoken to her family, preparing them for a (physi. cally) painful departure. It was now, evidently, at hand. The sun had set, and the twilight deepened into the dark shades of night, when her only child, seated beside her bed, sang her to sleep with the long-familiar words "Jesu, lover of my soul," &c. Presently the child retired to rest; and, through the long night, another watched the peaceful sleeper. By-and-by, as the early dawn began, the breathing gently ceased; and, without even so much as a sigh, the tired sufferer passed away to her home in the radiant land— 1. TEXT: “Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them" the land of everlasting day! He Himself went with her (Luke xxiv. 15). "Happy disciples," some one perhaps exclaims, "to have Jesus Himself thus coming to them in their hour of perplexity, grief, and trouble; no wonder they were effectually comforted." Yes, theirs was a high privilege, resulting in most precious benefit and blessing. It is also ours. One day, years ago, a pastor, in deep distress, called upon one of the lay members of His flock to tell him his grief. After some conversation, the pastor said, "But I would not care for my trouble" (his health had given way through over. work) "if only He were with me." But, is He not with you?" "I cannot feel that He is." "Feel! What do you say to anxious souls, when they say they do not feel saved?" "Ob, I tell them to take His word for it, that, believing in through that dark valley, and all was well! Jesus says to us: "Lo, I (Myself!) am with you all the days *-all the way. Let not your heart be troubled." 2. FULL CONSECRATION: HE COMES. Jesus comes! O blessed thought, * πάσας τάς ἡμέρας. † “Alway" Sax. eal weg., i.e., all (the) way. (d) Parochial Missions held this day. That many souls may be saved. Bible Study. THE RESURRECTION. If the Cross was the dividing line between the two eternities--the past and the future-the Resurrection was the dawn of that period wherein "All things have become new" (2 Cor. v. 17). The first Creation came through the utterance of the Divine Command-" He spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast" (Ps. xxxiii. 9). The Second, or New Creation, came through the Death and Resurrection of the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. xv. 45-47). All things are become New indeed-from the new birth of the believer in the Lord Jesus, to the restoration of Creation in the New Heavens and the New Earth. Resurrection is stamped upon them all. The subject is great-surpassing all others in its greatness and glory, and can only be treated of in small sections of detail in order to be fully understood. Let us briefly look at it now as it concerns us here while we remain on earth. 1. Righteousness is not only restored to us by the Resurrection of our Lord, but comes to us in a form and perfection that satisfies the penetrating gaze of God Himself (Rom. iv. 25). In Rom iii. 19-31, the character of that Righteousness is fully unfolded to us. It is perfect and complete-the Righteousness of God-accepted and proved by the Resurrection. The claims that our Lord put forth during His ministry, though repeatedly (e) Meetings held this day for the promotion of Holiness testified to, were ratified by His Resurrection. amongst God's people. REQUESTS: Pray for "The conversion of my sister's husband; and that she may be sustained in her heavy trial-Jesus knows all." "The restoration of a dear sister's eyesight, if His will; and that she may be enabled to rejoice in Christ Jesus." "Deliverance from irritability and temper-my besetting sins." Declared to be the Son of God with power, by the Resurrection from the dead (Rom. i. 4). 2. But not righteousness only but holiness-the renewal and gift of life in all its purity-comes through the Resurrection. In the passage above (Rom. i. 4), it is “ According to the Spirit of holiness" that He was declared to be the Son of God: a phrase of almost unfathomable depth both We get a "My eldest son, that he may become, out and out, All in its application to Him and to us. for Jesus.' " glimpse of how grand was the purpose of God— not only to pardon and make acceptable but to restore to His image. Holiness! All its meaning, all its development, all its power, is wrapped up in the Resurrection. By virtue of it we have been raised (Col. iii. 1-4), by it we live (Gal. ii. 20), by it our bodies shall receive their quickening (Rom. viii. 11) and the seal of holiness be for ever upon its true aspect—as a dead and condemned thingus (Rev. xx. 6; xxii. 4). and Satan as a conquered cnemy. It presents a 3. Closely connected with this is the beauty and resisting force to every power of evil and temptiglory which also come of the Resurrection of our tion, and keeps the soul in an attitude towards Christ Lord from the dead. The union of His people with of continual expectation and receptivity. It is the llimself is close and abiding. His first message to Life of Christ in all its power. All glory to the the disciples was, “Tell My brethren I ascend to Risen One! May the enjoyment of its experience, My Father and your Father, to My God and your dear reader, be an ever-increasing power in your life God” (John xx. 17). They are one for ever; and and mine. although the fulness of that union has yet to be 5. But there is gladness also in this Resurrection. manifested, some of its blessings are bestowed now. The Master felt it. “I have a baptism to be bap . As they are received they become the beauty and tised with, and how am I straitened till it be accomglory of the believer. In putting on Christ (Rom. plished ? ” (Luke xii. 50) was His statement before xiii. 14), in manifesting His life in our bodies His crucifixion. But when He had risen how (2 Cor. iv. 10), in worship (1 Chron. xvi. 29; Ps. joyous is His condition of mind ? “ All authority xxix. 2), and in praise (2 Chr. xx. 21). The is committed unto Me in heaven and in earth " holiness we are capable of receiving now is glory (Matt. xxviii. 18). “Go ye into all the world, and commenced; the glory we shall receive hereafter is preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. 15). holiness completed. Beauty, too-if beauty be the cternal joy which now was His, and which He is to He was beginning to feel the satisfaction of that manifestation of light and life-then is the measure share with all who trust Him. of holiness to which we are capable of attaining This gladness is ours, even as it was that of His here the greatest beauty we can possess. first disciples (John xx. 20; Luke xxiv. 52). The conflict was over; the victory won. Both reason 4. There is power in that Resurrection, too. It and faith call for rejoicing. A few more shadows, seems to be intimated to us that the Resurrection which but thinly veil His presence, and we shall see of our Lord was the greatest manifestation of God's Him as He is, and be like Him and with Him for power--if His power can be measured at all—that ever. has ever been put forth (Eph. i. 19-22). But the Let us stay our hearts on Him. IIe is the Resurpower of that Resurrection in its spiritual significance rection and the Life (John xi. 25). With His Love as our banner, and His Presence as our strength, we and strengtlı-spoken of afterwards—is that which shall come off more than conquerors even to the last exercised the thought and stimulated the hopes of (Rom. viii. 37). the Apostle very mightily (Phil. iii. 10). It is HENRY F. BOWKER. evident that Paul had grasped a thought which was too full for expression. In his long journeys Hotices of Baaks. traversing as he did the Roman world to proclaim the glad tidings of the Gospel-he had, both in his All of Blue. By Frank H. White. London: public ministrations as well as in his solitary com- Partridge. 6d. munings, many burning thoughts concerning that connection with his two other works, “ Christ in Mr. White's name is already so well known in life in Christ which it was his delight to tell of and the Tabernacle,” and “The Tabernacle and its to manifest. Of these the power of Christ's Resur- Vessels,” that any words from us by way of recomrection was ever uppermost. He felt it, but he mendation are scarcely necessary. The little book wanted to know more of it. It was never dissociated before us is a very valuable contribution to the from the person of his Master, for he prefaces this spiritual interpretation of the Types of the Mosaic Sanctuary. We are impressed with its deeply dedesire by, " that I may know Him.” What is this votional tone, its calm earnestness, and richness of power? It is a perpetually life-giving principle. thought, and very cordially commend it to our It is the death of self, and the life of the Spirit. It readers. is strength ministered by the Great Master to all Morning Sunshine. Thoughts for the Little Ones. who abide in Him day by day and hour by hour. It By L. A. D. T. Woolmer, 2, Castle Street, City Road, E.C. 9d. is joy and peace derived from the presence of the A charming book for children. The thoughts are Saviour, and an ever-recurring hope for the future. simple anul practical, iuud told with freshness in It enables those who enjoy it to view the world in an interesting style. (See extract in this number.) |