BEFORE our first parents were driven from the Garden of Eden, the Lord in His mercy promised redemption. In that promise Satan heard his own doom: “I will put enmity between thee [the serpent, the representative of Satan] and the woman [humanity], and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” Gen. 3:15.
That enmity has been manifest thru all the ages. The seed of the woman have been persecuted and afflicted; thousands upon thousands—millions—have been put to death; righteous Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Christ;—all these witnessed for God in the earth, were true seed of the woman.
In Christ indeed was met the very fulness of the seed of the woman; and in Him was demonstrated the divine love and justice of God. He lived the perfect life; and tho sealed in a Roman tomb, that Sinless One could not be holden of death, but rose again, and ascended to heaven. There He pleads the cause of His children before the throne of God.
Then, “when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the Man Child.” Rev. 12:13. After Christ was caught up to heaven, thru pagan Rome the first persecution came; then came the persecutions of the apostate church, papal Rome, the Dark Ages witnessing for centuries the inhuman atrocities, all in the name of religion; and later still, the hand of apostate Protestantism was raised against the humble followers of the Lamb, who, tho in the minority, stood for purity of life and worship. And thus closes the controversy: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.
But what shall be the outcome of this great controversy? God has said to the great apostate: “I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and 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.” Eze. 28:17-19.
Malachi wrote (chapter 4:1): “For behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud [who was prouder than was Lucifer?], yea, and all that do wickedly [and he is the prince of evil-doers], shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root [Satan] nor branch [his followers].” “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” Rev. 20:10.
This will be “in the sight of all them that behold” him, and in that destruction the universe will see only the justice of God. Had He destroyed Lucifer at the first, the sinless dwellers of God’s kingdom might have been led to believe that Lucifer had a right to stand with God, or even above Him, in government; but after all the centuries of the demonstration of the character of Satan, not one in all the universe will question. Then will the serpent’s head be wounded, and earth and heaven will be forever free from the blight of sin.
MAX HILL.
One Only.
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
By Llewellyn A. Morrison.
(“One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” 1 Cor. 8: 6.)
ALL matter is leavened by motive,
With perfect profusion inwrought,
While purpose, platonic and votive,
Indwelleth in being and thought;
Within at the core of all wholeness,
Where Fate doth her riddles decide,
Designer of symbol and fulness,
Doth Christ, the Creator, abide.
The seasons display His devotion
To Beauty’s beneficent skill,
While magnitude, measure, and motion
Are sanctified seers of His will;
The fervor of summer He sendeth
All florulent forms to improve,
And light, an evangel, He lendeth
To publish His bountiful love.
Where Color, her harmonies blending,
Delighteth to charm and refine,
And Fragrance, on incense ascending,
Ariseth from meadow and vine;
In music, Love’s royal rendition,
Expressing to throne and to thrall
The pleasure of God, in volition,
He dwelleth, the Essence of all.
Yet these are but frenular fringes
Of garments enrobing the great:
From under Divineness impinges,
While mortals like mendicants wait;
All creeds and conceptions in-biding;
The pulse of all pureness, His tryst;
Life’s tone as its genesis guiding—
The heart of it all is the Christ.
If all things are from Him and by Him
They for Him and to Him obtain,
By inherent grace glorify Him
Each one in its sphere and domain;
For, born of His word and begotten
Of love, in His image they are;
Death-ransomed, stain-cleansed, and blood-boughten,
Their trueness no traitor may mar.
Nay, more! If the Christ is the Center
And Source of creation intact,
And each of His attributes enter
Its structure in spirit and fact,
Then who but the Christ is there in it
As Master and Builder to bind?
The Christ is its Sum—the Infinite
And it is the mood of His mind.
New York City.
Divine Love and Human Kindness
“SOMETIME, in nearly every life nature inspires a supreme love for some one friend; just to prove to thoughtfulness our possibilities of scattering equal bliss in ten thousand directions when filled with divine love.”
Why Men Stray from God.
By T. E. Bowen
GOD, in setting forth the reasons for His rejection of Jerusalem—or His people Israel, Jerusalem being a figure used to represent all Israel—thru the prophet Zephaniah says: “She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.” Zeph. 3:2.
In these few brief sentences, the Lord gives the reasons for destroying ancient Jerusalem, and shows why it is that men living in any age fail to obtain everlasting life. No one desires to be lost. In nearly every heart a desire lingers that sometime, somehow, the life may be yielded to God so that He may save the soul. And yet many fail to realize that this very desirable result depends upon their own action now.
Where the Choice Is Made.
Let us go over the text again carefully, noticing how much is stated in these very comprehensive words.
“She obeyed not the voice.” Then there was a voice, speaking plainly to the conscience, appealing to the heart, setting forth what ought to be done. And who has not heard this voice of God? It may be, as in the case of Jerusalem, that a prophet’s voice has been heard audibly. But where this has never been experienced, that still, small voice of the Spirit of God has spoken into every ear in entreaty, “Do not do this;” “Go not there;” “Come this way;” “Do this which you know to be right.” No one can deny having heard this voice. Was the voice obeyed? You know and God knows. And it was right here, perhaps, when no human eye saw, that the battle was either won or lost. It was at this point where you chose either the right or wrong way. If the wrong choice was made, there is no alternative but to go right back over the road to this point where the first wrong step was taken, and there enter the path God made plain to you at the time to be the way of life for your feet.
Where Sin Begins.
“She received not correction.” To be corrected means more than to be told that we are in the wrong. Some one who is wiser than we to correct us must not only point out our error, but show us the right thing to do. To not receive correction implies that the correction was offered, but rejected. This reveals deliberate choice of that known to be error. Here sin begins. At this point God must impute to the transgressor the guilt of sin; for the individual has been shown the better way, yet refused—refused to be corrected by the Lord who loves him.
Unbelief.
“She trusted not in the Lord.” Every one will trust in somebody. Some trust in their riches, some trust in an earthly king or ruler, others in great standing armies, for protection, while many trust in themselves. The enemy of the soul cares very little what the object of trust is, so long as men put not their trust in God. Paul wrote, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.”
Notice the natural departure from God. First, not harkening unto the voice of God, by His word and Spirit. Secondly, refusing to be corrected and placed in the right way. Next, trusting in some earthly power in which there is no help, thus placing in the heart’s affection a false god, one besides the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. Hear the words of the Lord to the man who has reached this stage of departing from his God: “Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert [observe the comparison carefully], and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.”
Results of Faith.
Contrasting with him who trusts in flesh the man putting his trust in the Lord, we read: “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Jer. 17:5-8.
How apt is the instruction of the wise man to us all, when he counsels us to “trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."
Departing from God.
“She drew not near to her God.” Having exalted in the heart’s affections self, setting aside the Lord, it is but natural to not draw near unto Jesus, who is meek and lowly in heart, to learn of Him as did Mary of old. But in such a time as this, when evil is pressing in like a flood, there is no safety for him who expects to obtain everlasting life but to press close to the Saviour of men, the One who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
God entreats us to listen to and obey His voice; gladly to receive the correction needed to escape evil and death; implicitly to trust every interest of the life into His tender and safe keeping; and in true heart-service draw near unto Him. And why not? Is it not for our highest good, and for the soul’s highest interest, to do so? Surely every candid mind can return but the one answer. May God grant we shall do what our hearts admit is the only right thing to do, and do it now, while salvation is offered.
T. E. BOWEN.
Our Bible Reading
By H.
The Course of Sin.
1. How is love to God manifested?
"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My word." John 14:23.
2. What is disobedience?
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
3. What is the result of obedience or disobedience?
"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if ye will harken unto the commandment of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day; and the curse, if ye shall not harken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God." Deut. 11:26-28.
4. Having sinned, what course must man take?
"Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy God." Jer. 3:12, 13.
5. What promise is made to the repentant?
"If the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his transgressions that he hath committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live." Eze. 18:21, 22.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.
6. If the sinner does not repent, what is the result?
"I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity." Isa. 13:11.
7. How is the punishment of the sinner determined?
"We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God." "Each one of us shall give account of himself to God." Rom. 14:10, 12.
"God shall judge the secrets of men." Rom. 2:16.
8. What provision has God made for judgment?
"He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He hath ordained." Acts 17:31.
"Jehovah sitteth as king forever:
He hath prepared His throne for judgment; And He will judge the world in righteousness." Ps. 9:7, 8.
9. When will that day be?
When He comes, "for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He will judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth." Ps. 96:13.
10. By what will the sinner be judged?
"As many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law." "God shall judge the secrets of men, . . . by Jesus Christ." Rom. 2:12, 16.
"I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20:12.
11. What is the final punishment of sinners?
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:20.
"Fire came down out of heaven and devoured them." "If any man was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire." "This is the second death." Rev. 20:9, 15, 14.
12. In view of all this, what is man's duty?
"Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13.
"So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." James 2:12. H.
In What Is Your Hope?
IT is a mighty message with which the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah closes. After a description of the destruction of earth's grandest empire, the question is asked, "What then shall one answer the messengers of the nation?" The answer is:
"THAT JEHOVAH HATH FOUNDED ZION, AND IN HER SHALL THE AFFLICTED OF THE PEOPLE TAKE REFUGE."
The counterpart of this message is found in the third chapter of Jeremiah, the twenty-third verse:
"TRULY IN VAIN IS SALVATION HOPED FOR FROM THE HILLS, AND FROM THE MULTITUDE OF MOUNTAINS: TRULY IN THE LORD OUR GOD IS THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL."
The former words were spoken to those to whom had been shown, at least to some extent, how frail are all human structures of shelter or refuge. Mighty, war-panoplied Assyria was to fall; Egypt, Philistia, Media, Babylon, "the glory of kingdoms," should fall, and be broken, and not rise again. Where would humanity find refuge?
The message of Jeremiah was spoken to a back-slidden people, to a people who had been seeking for salvation and refuge among the nations.
Once the people of these nations knew God. They worshiped the Creator of heaven and earth. But they perverted His worship. "They glorified Him not as God," "but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened." They deified man and human passions. Seeing these passions in the beasts, they deified the beasts as the representatives of God, till they worshiped "all kinds of four-footed beasts and creeping things," and reveled in "abominable idolatries." See Rom. 1: 20-27.
All these false gods and false theologies were perversions of the true.
To these false gods they erected altars on every high hill and mountain, and under green trees. All these altars and places of worship God commanded His people utterly to destroy. However great or costly or elaborate, they were not to be spared. As valuable assets or works of art they were not to be preserved. Neither could they be converted to temples for the worship of Jehovah. His people were not even to seem to be worshiping at the heathen altars.
But when Israel became backslidden, she first built altars unto Jehovah upon the high places. Thus she became associated with false worship, and accustomed her children to look upon it leniently, and upon the heathen worshipers with charity. Then came fellowship. Then altars were builded to Milcom and Chemosh, and Baal, and Ashtoreth, and a multitude of gods, till at last altars to false gods were erected in the very house of Jehovah. We need only to read Jeremiah 2 and 3 to learn how far this backsliding had gone. Looking to the hills and to the mountains for help was looking to the worship of, and hoping for help from, false gods. Read Ps. 121: 1 as Boothroyd has it:
"Shall I raise mine eyes to the hills?
Shall help thence come to me?
My help cometh from Jehovah,
Who made the heavens and the earth."
When Jesus Christ ascended on high, He left His church, for the great needy world, a pure Gospel, so simple that a child could grasp its saving truth; great and mighty in its power to save, broad based in Him who created heaven and earth.
But that church failed to learn the lesson handed down from the olden days. Men came in teaching perverse things, and drew away disciples after them. Acts 20: 29, 30. Sound doctrine was not endured. Philosophic fables perverted the truth. Teachers with "itching ears" erected their metaphorical high places, and sought to mingle the simple Gospel with heathen mysteries. Heathen temples became "Christian" cathedrals. Heathen days and feasts were named "Christian." Division was sown. Church and state with decree and anathema, with inquisition and torture, sought to compel unity and prevent the harvest. But division grew, till to-day the multiplied philosophies and cults can scarcely find high places for their altars, all erected to the perversion of Christian truth.
The artist has well represented them in our cover cartoon. All in a sense appeal to human elements. All minister, as did the perverted worships of old, to the carnal human idea of self-salvation. To the high places of all, jubilant throngs as well as longing hearts are thronging, and all to be disappointed when the judgment line of God shall measure character, and His righteousness shall be the test; when the overflowing hail of just wrath shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the mountains shall crumble at His presence.
No wonder that Jeremiah wept as he saw his people seeking salvation at the altars of perverted truth. Great wonder that now there are not a multitude of Jeremiahs and Ezekiels sighing and crying at the perversions of God's truth and the multitude of altars erected to those perversions, to human sophistry, to speculative philosophy, to the glory of man.
O reader, turn from all of these to the sure word of God, to the Gospel of God's comfort. True it is that it lays all the glory of man in the dust, and pleads, "Fear God and give glory to Him," "and worship Him that made heaven and earth." Rev. 14: 7. It assures us that "all flesh is grass," all the glory of man "is as the flower of grass," but God by the simple power of His Gospel will save humanity (Isa. 40: 1-10), His plan will give no glory to human devices, but it will invest the believer with eternal glory. "Truly in vain is the help that is hoped for from the hills and noisy throng on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel."
There are hearts longing for rest in these days of uncertainty. There are painful, toilsome feet plodding the weary ways to these hill altars, who have sought rest and found it not. We invite them to the simple Gospel of Christ. Come to Him in all the ugliness of sin, in all the nakedness of self-renunciation, and let Him cleanse and heal and clothe. His salvation is more joyful here than any earth can give or promise, and it reaches beyond all the perversions of good, beyond all the hopelessness of human helping, to the glorious eternal land and city of light and love. "Jehovah hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of His people take refuge." Tell the glad tidings.
Studies in Romans
The Grafting in of the Gentiles.
THE eleventh chapter of Romans tells the real philosophy of the falling away of the Jewish nation and the accepting of the Gentile nations instead. Each statement of the chapter should be studied closely; while the entire chapter is quoted below for the convenience of the reader in studying it, yet we can find space to notice only a part of its wealth of truth.
"I say then, Did God cast off His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God did not cast off His people which He foreknew. Or know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he pleadeth with God against Israel: Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, they have digged down Thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened: according as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day. And David saith,
"Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
And a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them:
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see,
And bow Thou down their back always.
"I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Now if their fall is9the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them. For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? And if the first-fruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive-tree; glory not over the branches; but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will He spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive-tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive-tree?
"As touching the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of. For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy. For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all.
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and thru Him, and unto Him, are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Rom. 11:1-36.
The first verses state that God did not cast off His people, for Paul himself was an Israelite, and he had not been cast off. And all that Paul enjoyed of the Christian life could have been the portion of every other person living in his day if he had simply followed Paul's course in accepting it. God did not cast away His people. Our Father holds to and saves every one who will allow Him to do so. If any are cast away, it is of their own choice. They cast themselves away.
The apostle calls attention to the mistake that Elijah made in thinking that he was the only one left in his day who had not given himself to idolatry. But the Lord showed the prophet that there were thousands who were true to Him. And in this time it is not for us to think that there are none besides us that are true to God. We know not till the harvest is gathered into the heavenly garner who are the ones who are really true to the moral law of Jehovah.
God called out the Jewish nation to be a light to the rest of the world, but they had put their light under a bushel. They had hedged themselves in by barriers of exclusiveness until they thought that no other nation was fit to associate with them, and so the very light that God had given them had become darkness. The Spirit of Christ and of His work is a strong missionary spirit. And whenever one of His professed followers loses this missionary spirit, he has laid the corner-stone in the foundation of the structure of exclusiveness and hypocrisy that the Jews built about themselves.
God's promise to Abraham was, "In thee shall all the nations be blessed." Gal. 3:8. The Jews lost sight of this great commission to the world that God had given to Abraham, and hence they fell, and "by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles." But it is made plain that their fall was not necessary for the salvation of the Gentiles. For-"if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?" Verses 11, 12. God will save the Gentiles regardless of the falling away of the Jewish nation—regardless of the fact that they failed to perform the great commission that was committed to them thru Abraham. But how much broader and more glorious would have been this salvation if the Jews had fulfilled the infinite plan by doing their appointed work!
There is a disposition on the part of a great many to cast contempt upon the Jews. But such a course is forbidden to Christians as the following words show: "But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive-tree; glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee." The Gentile is grafted into the root "among" them; he does not supplant them.
"By their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith." Their own unbelief broke them off from God. The Gentile who has become connected with Christ stands in that position by the exercise of faith. And in view of this fact we have the exhortation: "Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will He spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell [behold His] severity; but toward thee [behold] God's goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." The tendency of mankind is to think that they hold special privileges because they have some peculiar endowments of birth or something of the kind. But these verses from God's Book show that He acts with absolute impartiality. He recognizes what men are, and not what their fathers were. The immediate sons of Abraham who committed the vile acts of the heathen around them were not considered in any more favorable light by the Lord than were the heathen themselves. It is not the usual thing for men to do in this way; but that is God's plan.
"And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive-tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive-tree?" There are two very important truths contained in this verse: God is yearning to graft the Jews in again into the place where they belong by nature of their relation to the original plan and promises that were given to their father Abraham. This truth is first stated, and then emphasized by stating it again in the form of a question. And then we have the further important truth that the Gentile is grafted into the tame olive-root contrary to the law of nature. In the natural world the fruit on the graft is always the same as the tree from which the scion was taken. But in this case the fruit is "contrary to nature,"—it is according to the root into which the graft is placed. Then the individual is grafted into the root so that he may bear the right kind of fruit, and not that he may improve the fruit that the root is already bearing.
This teaching of the apostle in the eleventh chapter of Romans, as in many other portions of the divine word, shows that God has just one plan of salvation. Both Jew and Gentile are to be saved thru the same Gospel. "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they that are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham." Gal. 3:8, 9. T.
Our Old Testament readings complete the book of Ecclesiastes and that of Canticles, or the Song of Solomon. The latter is variously interpreted by Biblical scholars. By many it is considered to be, in the warm, figurative language of the East, a parable of Christ and His church. If we could translate ourselves to the time when it was written, we would not find the objection to some of its imagery that is now offered.
In our New Testament reading we cover chapters 6 to 13 in Mark. If we can take time with our reading, it is well for us to compare the narrative of Christ's work with the parallel stories in the other gospels. As we read the lessons of life which our Lord has given to us, let us take them home to our own hearts. Are we sinful? He is just as willing to forgive us as He was those who came direct to Him. Are we sick? He is as willing to heal and restore as He was to give health to the leper and hearing to the deaf. Are we in trouble? He is the great Comforter.
All these various miracles which are recorded are only a small part of the number which were wrought by our Lord. These which are recorded are to give comfort to every class of people who may live upon the earth. Altho the entire Bible was written by Hebrews, it is not a book for the Hebrew people alone, but as truly for all outside of the Hebrew tribes. God is a God of all those who will seek Him.
