THERE is a peace born of God. It is a condition, not a feeling or fancy. It comes because the soul is yielded wholly to God. The arms of its warfare are grounded, and the government of heaven is acknowledged. In that comes peace, harmony with God. The erstwhile rebellious soul may not be able at once to adjust itself to the new condition; it is a learner. It almost at times mistakes the discords of evil for the concords of good, and conscience is troubled. But peace abides. The soul knows that it has surrendered to all that it sees and knows of God, and in Him it rests as a weary bird from her wanderings. Winds may blow, storms may howl, sickness and pain and even death may come; the peace abides, and
Tested by the Law
By Mrs. E. G. White
By Mrs. E. G. White
“THOU shalt have no other gods before Me.” Lucifer disputed the justice of this requirement in heaven, and thought its existence altogether unnecessary. He said in his heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” He had been made beautiful, he had been highly exalted in heaven, and his heart was lifted up because of his beauty; he had corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness. Of him it had been said:
“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold. . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” “Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, tho thou set thine heart as the heart of God: . . . I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. . . . I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”
Description and Character of Satan
Under the symbol of the king of Tyrus, the Scriptures give us a description of the character and destiny of the first great rebel against the law of God. He who knows the end from the beginning, had His laws and commandments before the world was created; and Satan chose to question His claims before the angels of heaven, because the law set forth the Omnipotent as the only true and living God, and forbade the worship of any other being. The authority of God was backed up by the requirements of His law, which was to hold jurisdiction over all created intelligences. The will of God was to be recognized in His requirements, and acknowledged as supreme in the heavenly universe.
It is the prerogative of God alone to prescribe the duty of men and angels. The will of God is a perfect will, and must be obeyed as it is set forth in His holy law, because every requirement is just, and is set forth by infinite wisdom. The law of God should be obeyed even tho there were no authority to enforce it, and no rewards for its obedience. The highest interests of men and angels are conserved in obeying the law of God. God’s will expressed in His law is the supreme will, and no invention, no device of men, can take its place. Obedience to the commandments of men instead of to the commandments of God will be as abomination in the sight of God; for what God requires is essential to the highest good of His subjects, and is therefore essential for the glory of God.
Through the obedience of His commandments it is the purpose of God to remove from the heart every species of selfishness. He would barricade the soul from all indulgence in perverted appetites, and expel from the heart all rebellion and ingratitude. Can it be possible that any of us should wish that God would abolish His commandments, when it is for our happiness and life to obey them?
What blessing or advantage would man gain by doing away with the commandments of God? Were he to abolish the first commandment, the authority of God would not stand as supreme, as the authority of the only true and living God. What advantage would accrue to man should he gain reputation, learning, wealth, and honor, and yet be one who, while receiving benefits from God every hour, ignored God, and did not conform his practical life to the precepts of Jehovah? Knowledge, power, education, reputation, or wealth is not to be permitted to come in between the soul and God. The Lord must hold the first place in our affections; 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.” God gave His Son to the world in order that men might be redeemed from transgression and sin.
Every Power under Control
Through faith in Christ as our personal Saviour, we receive moral power by which we may surrender every faculty to the service of God. With a full sense of our obligation to God, we may devote every entrusted ability to the service of Christ, and bring every power under the control of the will of God. In doing the will of God, we are assured of developing characters after the divine similitude.
Religion is a practical matter, and calls for a daily devoting of all we have and are to God. All worldly business is to be done as a part of religion, and is to redound to the honor and glory of God. Every amusement is to be considered in this light, and it is to be regarded as injurious or useful only as it respects the glory of God. If those who would indulge in amusements can find commands whereby they may be justified in them as doing the will of God, they will be justified in believing that they are promoting the glory of God and the good of society. We are required to render perfect obedience to the rule laid down by the apostle, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” He who ever keeps this rule in view, and lives according to its requirement, will form a character after the divine likeness; for in this way men will become holy, blameless, and without rebuke.
All Heaven Watching
We are living under the scrutiny of the whole heavenly host, and the angels are watching to see whether we improve the opportunity to do good to all men, and especially to those that are of the household of faith. To love God supremely and to love our neighbor as ourselves, will require from us to be continually in the spirit of humble prayer, relying alone upon God for our sufficiency. The only character that is of value in the sight of God is that character which is free from every taint of selfishness. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” Selfish living, indulgence in self-gratification, will bring no true happiness in this life, and give no hope of a future, immortal life. But to him who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seeks for glory, honor, and immortality, God will render eternal life.
Faith does not make void the law; and tho there are persons who insist that through faith in Christ they are freed from obligation to keep the law, yet the teaching of prophets and apostles contradicts their position. “Faith without works [obedience] is dead.” Men’s characters are estimated according to their works. James says, “Show me thy faith without thy works [if it were possible], and I will show thee my faith by my works.” Faith in the great plan of redemption, without corresponding works, is not reckoned as faith. Christ our Redeemer did not suffer the penalty of the law for our sins in order to give to man another trial,7to provide for him another probation, and allot to him another opportunity of proving loyal to the authority of God. Every soul is to be tested, for he is held responsible for obedience to the divine law; and altho Christ has died for man's transgression, those who continue in disobedience will suffer the penalty of their sin. The condition upon which man will be offered the benefits of salvation is repentance toward God, because of transgression of His holy law, and faith in Christ, by which he receives power from on high to become an obedient subject of the government of God. Those who would be saved must take Christ as their personal Saviour, and become not only hearers, but doers of His words. "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."
Reflections
By Clara Edna Rosencrans
By Clara Edna Rosencrans
As I crossed the bridge one morning,
In the dusk of the early dawn,
E'er the sun had sent his warming rays
Athwart the upland lawn,
And the damp, cold breath of the frost king
Sent a chill to my finger-tips,
And the icy touch of his fingers
Lay in stiffness on my lips,
The twinkling stars looked downward
To the river's unquiet breast,
Shining and shimmering darkly,
In a sort of weird unrest,
With a mocking scintillation,
Like some village far away,
Or mirage leading the traveler
From the beaten track astray.
The radiance was imperfect,
The brightness was but cold,
And it seemed to my inward vision
A wondrous truth to hold.
Ah, me! as the Lord looks downward
On the tide of the world's unrest,
As the stars were mirrored dimly
In the river's darkling breast,
Shine we not with as poor a radiance,
With as sickly and pale a glow,
As the stars that cast their shadows
In the Gasconade below?
We are but poor reflectors,
And we shame our Saviour's love.
We are but the pale, cold shadows
Of the Star that shines above.
Could the river rest calm and quiet,
Like the pool or the wayside well,
What a glowing, perfect image
Could the cool, clear waters tell!
And if we could but be quiet,
And let His love shine in
To the pool of our lives, so darkened
With unrest of sorrow and sin—
Could we pause for one little moment
In our turbid onward rush,
Could we feel in our inmost being
The stillness and the hush—
Then we might reflect the image
Of the glorious "Morning Star."
No broken, imperfect glimmer
Would the perfect image mar.
Lord, quiet these restless currents
To flow deep, hidden, and still.
So shall we reflect Thine image,
And do Thy perfect will.
Mountain Grove, Missouri.
Departing and Being with Christ
By W. H. Littlejohn
Or the Apostle Paul's Desire to Be Translated
By W. H. Littlejohn
(Continued from last week)
THUS far in this article, the writer has occupied himself with a presentation of what he believes to be a correct interpretation of Phil. 1:23, 24. Now let us determine whether the view controverted in this connection is as free from difficulties as the one which the reader has been invited to accept. That it is not, he will certainly discover before we proceed far. If the signification of the word "depart" in the phrase, "having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better," is that of dying, the passage, paraphrased to meet the view in question, would run like this: "Having a desire to die, and, through death, to be with Christ; for it is very far better." Right here a very pertinent inquiry comes in; that is, Better than what? The only reply to this interrogatory is, Better than either living or dying. But observe the fact that what the apostle desired, included both dying and being with Christ, according to the view considered.
Now to go back a step in the argument. What had the apostle said, just above, he was in a strait or in perplexity about? The answer is, Two things; that is, living and dying. Verse 20. What did he say furthermore with regard to those two things? Here is his language: "Then what I shall choose I wot not." Verse 22, R.V. Is there anything equivocal about this statement?—Certainly there is not. Admit this, and then, if our friends be correct, Paul, in verse 22, did not know which he would prefer, to live or to die; whereas in verse 23 he declares that it would be very far better to depart (die) than to live. Should any one reply that the "very far better" relates to being with Christ and not to death, I answer that as Paul could have had no question about his own salvation in the end, therefore if death to him was so closely connected with salvation and going to heaven as our friends claim that it was, then they can not be separated in the passage before us. This being true, and it being also true that Paul knew as well, when he wrote verse 22, what death would introduce him to, as he did when he wrote verse 23, how could he say, in the one case, that he did not know which to choose between, life or death, and in the other case, that he would choose death, because that would be "very far better" than life?
To answer this query satisfactorily is utterly impossible to those who believe that the word "depart" in verse 23 refers to natural death. An inconsistency so great as this, must destroy any theory in which it appears. Assuredly it would not be safe to reason that the great apostle in one breath teaches that he does not know which to choose between, life or death, and in the next breath declares that dying was much to be preferred to living. Not only would such a view of the passage make the apostle contradict himself in the brief space of two verses of Philippians 1, but it would also array him squarely against what he has said in other places. Read, for example, these verses: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tab-
ernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." 2 Cor. 5:1-4.
"Unclothed" Merely to Die
All are agreed that the words, "If our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved," refer to physical death. All are agreed also that the word "unclothed," found in verse 4, means nothing more and nothing less than death. Now mark what the apostle says about being unclothed.
Here it is: "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." Verse 4. Can any candid man deny, in view of the general agreement spoken of above, that Paul meant to be understood as distinctly saying in verse 4 that he did not wish to be unclothed, or, in other words, to die?—Most certainly not. But if this be true, and if, as claimed, he did in Phil. 1:23 teach that it was better to die than to live, then we have Paul against Paul on the subject of the comparative desirability of life and death.
If you would escape from a tangle so confusing and so damaging as this to the reputation of the great apostle, adopt the following conclusion, and all is clear: In Phil. 1:23, 24, the apostle was talking about immediate translation; whereas in 2 Cor. 5:1-4, he was contrasting life in the present state with death in the light in which it is portrayed in the Scriptures, namely, as a dreamless sleep between the demise of the individual and the coming of Christ. The reasoning of Paul in 2 Cor. 5:1-4 might be paraphrased as follows: "We do not wish to be unclothed, or die and pass into the condition in which naturally we are to remain between death and the resurrection. We would prefer to live rather than to have such an experience, because life is better than nonentity. What we long for is to have mortality swallowed up of life and be clothed upon by our body which is from heaven." This, as previously declared, is in perfect harmony with Phil. 1:23, 24, as the latter passage, like that found in 2 Cor. 5:1-4, teaches that the thing to be desired was not death, but translation to heaven, after experiencing that change in physical conditions through which all must pass before they are translated.
Tested by Two Methods
It remains now to test the theory of interpretation urged in this article by two methods; namely, the use of the word analuo in the New Testament, and the doctrine of the latter respecting the state or condition into which the saints will enter at death. This will now be done in the order in which these methods are laid down above.
So far as the writer has been able to discover, analuo as a verb is employed but twice in the New Testament; while analusis, a noun from the same root, occurs but once. Already one of the instances in which a form of the verb is employed—that is, Phil. 1:23—has been quite fully discussed. In that discussion, it was assumed that in the expression, "having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better," the word "depart," as it appears in our translation, is to be taken in its literal sense, that is, that of leaving one place or condition in order to reach another place or condition. In other words, when Paul wrote that he had a desire to depart and be with Christ, he meant to convey the impression that he longed to go to Christ through immediate and direct translation into the presence of his Lord by the power of the Spirit of God. That such an understanding of the word "depart" is authorized by the signification of the verb analuo in the original Greek, can not be successfully denied; and the connection in which the passage stands,8renders it certain that this is the only sense in which the apostle designed that it should be understood, as otherwise he would be represented as first declaring that he knew not which he would choose, life or death, and then afterward stating in substance that to die was the thing which he very much desired.
The second instance in which a form of the verb analuo appears, is found in these words: 'And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding.' Luke 12: 36. It is generally agreed that the return from the wedding mentioned in the foregoing, will be fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to this world to redeem His people. That His return will be literal and visible, and that death will be in no wise connected with it, the intelligent student of the Scriptures will admit without hesitation. In Luke 12: 36, therefore, the word analusei, which is one of the forms of the verb analuo, is properly translated 'return.' In such a return, the idea of motion from the place of departure to that of destination is clearly implied. This fact proves that while analuo or its derivatives may sometimes be employed in a figurative sense to indicate death, it was properly applied in a literal sense to the passage of living men, in the use of the ordinary methods, from one place to another. The text therefore justifies that interpretation of Phil. 1: 23, 24 which represents the apostle as there expressing a desire to be translated directly into the presence of his Lord, provided it can not be shown that he used the word analusei — translated 'depart' — in a purely figurative sense. That he did not thus employ that term, the writer has shown conclusively by an examination of the statements standing in the connection.
Departed This Life
The third and last text to be examined is found in 2 Tim. 4: 6: 'For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.' The original word here translated 'departure' is analuseos, and is not a verb, but a noun. Evidently Paul is here writing about his approaching martyrdom. 'I am now ready,' he says, 'to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.' Manifestly, the words 'offered' and 'departure' relate to the same event, that is, the death of the apostle. Here, then, we have a figurative use of the noun analusis by which it is applied to death. A similar use of the word 'depart' is common in our day. It is often remarked, for example, that such an individual 'departed this life' at such a date and under such circumstances. These words are not employed with reference to the state or condition into which he passes at death, but simply to the experience of death itself. The atheist as well as the devout Christian could use this expression with propriety. All that Paul meant was that he was about to die, or depart from this life — an event for which he was fully prepared. It should be remarked right here, however, that so good an authority as the Englishman's Greek New Testament substitutes the word 'release' for 'departure' in 2 Tim. 4: 6. Here is the passage as given in that rendering: 'For I am already being poured out, and the time of my release is come.'
Rotherham's translation differs but little from the foregoing, and is as follows: 'For I am forthwith to be poured out, and the season of my release is at hand.' If these renderings are admissible — which they unquestionably are, since 'release' is one of the definitions of analusis — the apostle refers to his martyrdom, which was to be an event in the near future, as a release decreed by the divine Being, whereby all of his sufferings would be ended. Whether
such a release or departure would be the means of ushering him immediately into the presence of his Saviour, as argued by some of those who reason that Paul's desire to depart, as mentioned in Phil. 1: 23, 24, was based on his own convictions that death would introduce him immediately into the presence of Christ, will be considered next week.
(Concluded next week)
On the Massacre in Piedmont
By John Milton
(The Sonnet to the Waldenses)
Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept Thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones,
Forget not; in Thy book record their groans
Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learned Thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian wo.
— John Milton.
Man's Only Hope as a Sinner
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
“WELL, what are we going to do?” clamor a multitude of sad and eager voices. “You have taken away a hope that was very precious to us,—a hope which had its foundation in the teachings of a godly and beloved father and a sainted mother. You have taken away one prop after another; and even tho it has been done by the keen edge of the ‘sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,’ still our hearts seem broken and undone and bleeding. Is not a false hope better than none? Is death the end of all? Have you no hope to offer us, to fill the desolate void in our hearts?”
Yes, yes; thank God, He has given us a hope big with immortality and eternal life; a hope which is both sure and steadfast; a hope which is anchored within the veil; a hope which is so bright, so real, that we can almost catch the scent of the roses in the gardens of our God, and so firm that all the powers of earth or hell can not shake it, for it is founded upon the rock of eternal truth.
“But how can you take comfort in the thought that the dead are unconscious in the grave?” some one still inquires.
Comfort in Believing God
My friend, I take comfort in believing God. Do not you? I am confident of His ability to do just right, and that everything He does is just right.
Some one has very aptly said that “one truth is worth a thousand errors, tho they be hoary with age.” It will do us no good to believe a lie; and the more pleasing the falsehood, the more insidious and dangerous it is.
Well, then, what is the blessed hope which I bring you,—the precious truth which I ask you to receive? I answer, Jesus Christ, and a resurrection from the dead.
Shout it, O ye living creatures about the throne of the Eternal! Shout it, heaven and earth and sea and sky, until the powers of darkness tremble, and until “leviathan the piercing serpent” shall discern in it a prophecy of his own everlasting downfall, when the words concerning him shall be fulfilled, “Never shalt thou be any more”!
This blessed truth makes a Saviour very necessary, for it establishes the truth of two propositions: first, that we are absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ to give us, through faith in Him, that which we do not possess of ourselves, namely, immortality; and, second, that the dead must have a resurrection of the body. It is our only hope. And this is made possible by virtue of Christ's resurrection.
What the Immortality of the Soul Involves
Is it not plain that if man possessed an immortal, undying soul by nature, he would not then be dependent upon Jesus Christ for eternal life? Listen to the blessed words of inspiration: “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.”
The conclusion, then, is not only fair, but absolutely unavoidable, that if we refuse to believe in Him, we shall perish, and shall not have everlasting life.
But how may we be certain that Christ will receive us? — Because He has bought us. I am sure, because He has said so. This is a matter upon which it will not do to make a mistake; therefore let us hear His words: “And, ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.”
O, let us deliver to Him His purchased possession — purchased at such infinite cost!
Is there, then, no other way by which we may have everlasting life? — Nay, verily. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
O, thank God, the Captain of man's salvation has been made “perfect through suffering”!
When the mighty dial of time pointed to the hour foretold by the prophets, a Babe was born — Son of the Highest — yet cradled in a manger, — a Babe upon whose9infant shoulders hung the destiny of a perishing world.
A score and a half years later, we see the mighty Nazarene at the Jordan, where He is publicly introduced to the world by the eternal Father.
His earth life was one of poverty and tears and sorrow. Yet multitudes hung upon His words of wisdom, and sought His touch of healing power. No disease was so loathsome, no malady so desperate, as to baffle His skill. The scaly skin of the leper became like the skin of a little child. The dull eye of the blind kindled into new life. The shriek of the demon-possessed was changed to the song of praise. The dark abode of the king of terrors echoed to His voice, and the dead walked forth clothed with the bloom of health.
But every leper healed, every paralytic cured, cost Him something. Every disease and every sin that oppressed the multitudes, fell with crushing weight upon the great, pitying heart of the Burden Bearer. He healed the sick? — Yes; but He paid the price. He raised the dead? — Yes; but He wept beforehand. He forgave sins? — Yes; but He bore them Himself. He cured the poor woman bent with infirmity and suffering? — Yes; but He declared, “I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me.”
What It Cost
Ah, it cost Him something! Aye, it cost Him grief and sorrow, and days and nights of weariness and anguish. It cost Him groans of agony. It cost Him blood. It cost Him a broken heart. But He paid the price. Ah, He Himself entered the dark valley of the shadow of death. He felt its gloom. Single-handed and alone, He met the dread foe, and vanquished him. And when He arose, a mighty victor over death and the grave, He brought with Him the massive keys of the prison-house. Glory be to God in the highest! The infinite debt of sin is paid — and we are free — you and I!
Can we trust Him to save us? Do you think we can? Can we trust to His mighty power to reach down into the dark and yawning sepulcher, and lay hold on us, and deliver us and our loved ones from the grim hand of Death? His love is stronger than death, and His power is infinite.
Return to Him His Own
Shall we deliver to Him His purchased possession — our poor, sinful heart? We shall never be able to save ourselves. Our most heroic efforts are futile. The grim destroyer is on our track. If we must lie down in death, whom shall we choose as our Saviour?
O, believe me: We have no life in ourselves. But “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then [and not till then] shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”
In conclusion, let us listen to the words of that grand old prophet-hero from the land of Uz. Job was sorely beset by Satan. He thought he must surely die. How did that saint of God regard the thought of death, and what was his hope? Did he expect to go at once to heaven, or to a place of darkness and silence?
“Let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of —” Where, Job? Answer me! I listen with bated breath to catch the inspired reply. Is it to a land of bliss and light, where thou mayest praise thy God, safe from these awful ills which are so distressing thee? — Not so! Afar down the ages sounds the mournful voice of the old hero: “I go . . . even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, . . . where the light is as darkness.”
But, thou sublimely patient man of God, hast thou no hope of life hereafter?
Like a refreshing breath from the gardens of Paradise comes the answer. Hear it, O ye dark places of the earth! There is hope for the dying sons of men. “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and tho after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
And this brings us to a consideration of the resurrection in our next.
For Thy Sake
[The following poem was found pasted on the fly-leaf of the Bible of the late lamented Dr. Camillus Bush.]
Just as I am, Thine own to be,
Friend of the young, who lovest me,
To consecrate myself to Thee,
O Jesus Christ, I come.
In the glad morning of my day,
My life to give, my vows to pay,
With no reserve and no delay,
With all my heart, I come.
I would live ever in the light;
I would work ever for the right;
I would serve Thee with all my might;
Therefore to Thee I come.
Just as I am, young, strong, and free,
To be the best that I can be,
For truth and righteousness and Thee,
Lord of my life, I come.
With many dreams of fame and gold,
Success and joy to make me bold,
But dearer still my faith to hold,
For my whole life I come.
And for Thy sake to win renown,
And then to take my victor's crown,
And at Thy feet to cast it down,
O Master, Lord, I come.
In the Egret’s Nest
By Annie McQueen
The angel who numbers the birds for the
God of all things that be,
Had come afar from his journeying over the
land and the sea,
And he spake to the Lord of the sparrows:
“True was my count to-day,
Them that were slain I numbered, and the
sparrows that fell by the way;
And down in the reeds and water grass of
an island in the West,
I counted the young of an egret that
starved in the egret’s nest.
“And some they were slain that man might
live, for so hast Thou made the law;
And some for the lust of their shining
plumes; and all of them I saw,
And counted all whose songs were hushed
within their little throats—
The slain for the law of living, and the
slain for their shining coats.
True have I numbered them all, and the
smallest along with the rest—
The young that starved in the rushes, alone
in the egret’s nest!”
And the Lord of the little creatures, who
marks where His sparrows fall,
And in the hollow of His hand makes room
for the weak and the small—
The Father of the fatherless gave ear, and
He listened and heard,
And, behold, He has asked a question: “And
what of the mother bird?”
Now answer, you who wear the plumes that
were stripped from the mother breast;
Tell why the young of the egret starved,
alone in the egret’s nest!
—Annie McQueen, in the “Independent.”
Motives
By J. W. Lowe
In all the acts of your life, be sure that your motives are honest and right; for with reference to your motives will you be judged in the final reckoning.
If your motives are selfish and wrong in the doing of an act that in itself is good, even that act can not rightly be placed to your credit.
An act in itself wrong, ignorantly committed, but performed from purely honest and unselfish motives, is often a matter not chargeable to the individual’s account.
But there is a certainty of your being held responsible for your ignorance, when there has been an opportunity for your enlightenment.
The only safe course to pursue is to make every effort possible to become thoroly enlightened relative to your many duties, that you may avoid the necessity for making mistakes.
J. W. LOWE.
The Praying Engineer
By Congregationalist
ONE winter, several years ago, there was a great deal of religious interest in a certain Western town, and among those who joined the church was Allie Forsyth, a little fellow twelve years of age. His mother was a widow, and had removed, four years before, from their home in Vermont to this town in Wisconsin.
On the evening when he joined the church, Allie was sitting in the twilight with his mother, when presently she said to him:
“Allie, tell me what led you to want to be a Christian. Was it your home teachings, your lessons in Sunday-school, the regular preaching of the pastor, or has it all come through the influence of the revival meetings?”
Looking up into his mother’s face, he replied:
“Mama, it was none of these. But do you remember when we were coming from St. Albans to live here, that I wanted to go on the engine and ride with the engineer? You were afraid to let me till the conductor, whom you knew well, told you that the engineer was a remarkable man, and that I would be just as safe on the engine with him as in the parlor-car with you.”
His mother assured him that she remembered the circumstance very well.
“Then,” continued Allie, “you allowed me to ride on the engine, where I was to stay till you or the conductor came to me. When about ready to start from the station where I first got on the engine, the engineer knelt down for just a little bit, and then got up and started his locomotive.
“I asked him many questions about its different parts, and about the places and things which we passed by, and he was very patient in answering. Soon we stopped at another station, and he knelt down again just a moment before we started. As he did this often, I tried to see what he was doing, and, finally, after we had passed a good many stations, I made up my mind to ask him. He looked at me very earnestly, and said:
“‘My little lad, do you pray?’
“I replied: ‘O, yes, sir! I pray every morning and evening.’
“‘Well, my dear boy,’ said he, ‘God has allowed me to hold a very responsible place here. There are, perhaps, two hundred lives now on this train entrusted to my care. A little mistake on my part, a little failure to do all my duty, a little neglect, a little inattention to signals, might send all or many of these two hundred souls into eternity. So at every station, I kneel just a short while, and ask the Master to help me, and to keep from all harm, until I reach the next station, the many lives He has put into my hands. All the years I have been on this engine, He has helped me, and not a single human being of the thousands that have ridden on my train has been harmed. I have never had an accident.’
“I have never before mentioned what he said, but almost daily I have thought about him, and resolved that I would be a Christian too.”
For four years the life and words of this praying engineer had been constantly present with this lad, and became at length the means of leading him into a Christian life.