NOW is the time that Jesus is fitting up His jewels. For many long centuries He has been engaged in this important and glorious work. But probation will soon cease. The fitting-up time will soon be forever past. Hasten, O sinner, to heed His invitation to repent and be converted, that the dear Lord may begin at once His blessed work of refining and polishing you to shine as a jewel in His soon-coming kingdom.
Making up His Jewels.
When Malachi wrote his prophecy, the day was still future when Jesus would make up His jewels. But that day has come. The Judgment is passing, and by that investigative judgment above, the jewels of Christ are being made up. At the same time the last of the number, 144,000, are being both fitted up and made up. From the gates of paradise lost, down to the end of probation, the names of all who have offered themselves as living sacrifices, to be fitted for Christ’s kingdom, have their names recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Now this book is under final examination in the Judgment. O, how solemn the hour! As the names are called, if Jesus, our Advocate there, is silent, then the decision will be, “Blot out the name from the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Then all the sins of those persons in the other book are left standing against them. They made shipwreck of faith, were not overcomers, turned away from the Lord, and hence they were never fitted up.
Another name is called. Jesus at once confesses that name before His Father and all the holy angels. In confessing that name, He need only say “MINE.” For does not the Lord say through Malachi, “They shall be Mine . . . in that day when I make up My jewels”? Mal. 3:17.
Dear reader, when our names are called up there, will the blessed Jesus, with archangel voice, say, “MINE”? If so, then the decision, the irreversible, eternal decision, will be, Blot out their sins, but leave their names stand in the Book of Life. In that solemn hour, when my name is called, I would give more to have Jesus say, “Mine,” than for ten thousand worlds like this. To make sure of His claiming us then, we must become His now,—body, soul, and spirit; His altogether, all the time, everywhere. If we are wholly His now, and to the end, He will surely own us in that day when He makes up His jewels.
Waking up His Jewels.
When the period of fitting up and making up His jewels is concluded, then Jesus will come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him. And when He cometh, He will wake up His jewels. The millions then sleeping, whose names are left in the Book of Life, will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will awake and sing. From that sleep, none ever wake to weep.
Finishing up His Jewels.
We speak of certain persons, as jewels, but we do not mean that they are beautiful, or perfect in health and form. In spirit and character they are jewels. So we may be the fitted-up and made-up jewels of Christ here in this world, before He comes in glory. We may possess the mind, character, and spirit, of the lovely Jesus. All such, in the resurrection, will be jewels of the Lord, then to be finished up. That finishing up will consist of a marvelous change, not in spirit or character, but in the glorious setting of that character of jewel. Jesus, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, by the word of His power, will change our vile, mortal, corruptible bodies, to bodies fashioned like unto His own glorious body. And in that glorious setting, the saints of the Most High will shine as jewels in the kingdom of glory.
Gathering up His Jewels.
When all His jewels are thus completed, then the lovely Jesus will send His angels with a great sound of trumpet, to gather up His jewels. They will be gathered up to Him in the air. He will then look upon the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. And the jewels will all be satisfied. And who can measure the length and breadth, the height and depth of that satisfaction?
It will be internal, external, and eternal satisfaction, filled with every good thing. Then Jesus will sing in the midst of His jewels, and all His jewels will shout a chorus of joy. O! I want to hear Jesus sing then, and I want to join in the chorus of everlasting joy.
Taking up His Jewels.
Then Jesus, with all His holy angels, in the chariots of glory, will take up His jewels to the Holy City, the Paradise of God, the place prepared for them above. Into the New Jerusalem, the King of Glory will have an abundant entrance, together with7all His jewels. They will thus come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. O! what will it be to be there? The half has never yet been told; the half can never be told. No pen or tongue can describe, no mortal mind can conceive, the surpassing glory of the home the Lord is preparing for those who love Him.
H. A. St. John.
Act Well in the Moment
ACT well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity.—Lavater.
A Little Act for the Master.
By Anon.
An earnest Christian woman once learned that a young girl, a comparative stranger to her, was undergoing a great temptation. In her eagerness to help her to resist evil, she sought the luncheon-room where the tempted girl would spend a part of her noon hour. Uncertain what steps to take, she looked helplessly at the stranger until she was passing from the room. Then, impulsively, she reached over to her, and pinned a rose on her dress. The next day the wearer of the flower sought her. “Yesterday I was severely tempted,” she said. “You came at just the right time. That rose helped me to win the victory.”—Anon.
Homeward Bound.
By Delvin Rees Buckner
By Delvin Rees Buckner.
O, WHAT a joy it is for us to know
That Christ our Lord prepares a home above,
A home where all is happiness and love,
Free from the sorrows on our earth below;
A place where Death will lose his power to sting,
For where our Lord is, Death will never be.
There we shall live through all eternity
Secure within the shadow of His wing.
Our Saviour has not told us yet the hour;
We do not even know the year, nor day,
When we shall hear the trumpet’s piercing sound,
And all the dead in Christ will rise with power.
But this we know: that there is short delay,
And that we even now are homeward bound.
Ambato, Ecuador.
Soul Tonics.
By FRANCES E. BOLTON
“Do good unto all.” “The tender mercies of the Lord are over all.”
It does one good to do somebody good, No matter how slight the act, To have kind thought flow in and flow out, And have love for each soul in fact. To have the smile in the heart the while It radiates o’er the face, And to be and feel the word ideal, Gives life a most beautiful grace.
Just a piece of pie to some bright-eyed boy A cookie from some one’s store, With the smile and word, and the love that stirred Are forgotten, Ah! nevermore. As our Lord divine made the water wine, So the cup of cold water given In the name of love, counts as wine above, And is so set down in heaven.
With one in joy, be it girl or boy, Or artless child at play, Or maid or youth in the dew of truth, To be with him blythe and gay, To look with grace on some dear old face, And join in innocent mood, With bird, beast, man, if you really can, O, how it will do you good!
Or if ’tis woe brings its sorrow so To a face and form you know, And you feel the tears for his weary years Rise up from your soul below, If you take his hand or only stand With a prayer for his better rue, The overflow that’s consoling Will bring back its wave to you.
It does one good to do somebody good,— The catch of a thought together; For a treasure given accounts to seven, When held by two souls in tether. The exchanging glance of some sweet, quaint chance, Soul’s prayer or a hymn’s communion, Becomes a token whose wealth’s unspoken, And binds in a holy union.
The heroic deed is in life, not creed, The emergency day is now. It is love that’s test of the great and blest, And the hand on an aching brow May transmit more merit than kings inherit, Have influence sweet and broad, While the world’s applause for some creed-bound cause Be as dim in the courts of God.
So cast aside self’s cold, hard pride, That seeks for good to own, Let out the strife for the gain of life, And lie like a pipe to the throne Where the river of love glides swift and smooth, And channel you full to the need. To the greatest and least be a king and priest, Ah! how it will do you good!
FRANCES E. BOLTON.
The Resurrection.
By J. C. Armstrong
When, and by Whom?
HAVING seen that after death there is no returning, let us ask another Bible question found in Job 14:14: “If a man die, shall he live again?” A transference from death to life needs a resurrection. Hence the answer in the same verse: “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”
How is this change to take place, and when?—“Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands.” Verses 14, 15.
Through whom is the hope of the resurrection?—Through Christ.1 Cor. 15:21, 22. “Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus.” 2 Cor. 4:14. That Christ was the One of whom Job was speaking when he said, “Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee,” is evident from 1 Thess. 4:15, where we find the call of Christ spoken of: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” This is the time of the Lord’s return, as is plain from 1 Cor. 15:23: “Afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming.”—J. C. Armstrong.
Signs of His Coming—Spiritual Apathy.
1. How are conditions in the last days described by the apostle?
“Know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be LOVERS OF SELF, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
2. Among whom are these eighteen sins to be found?
“Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; holding a FORM of GODLINESS, but having DENIED the POWER thereof.” Verse 5.
3. What is one evidence that this condition now exists?
The efforts of the church to secure religious legislation. Having lost the power of God in the preaching of the Gospel, “persuading” men as the apostle Paul admonished, they turn to the state for aid.
4. What will be the standards of worldly latter-day teachers?
“The time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.
5. What does Jesus say of this time?
“And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.” Matt. 24:12.
NOTE.—The world has always done wickedly. The perilous times come when the church joins the world; when the abounding iniquity gets into the church, so that the many who have once loved God have grown cold in love and service.
6. What is one form of error to which they will turn?
“The Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Tim. 4:1.
7. How is this being fulfilled now?
More and more the churches are neglecting evangelical work, many times utterly repudiating the principles of the Gospel. In the place of the Gospel, there is a turning to the doctrines of socialism, spiritism, occultism, psychic phenomena, etc., all of which center in man as the source of salvation. Most of these cults claim communion with the dead in some form, a system of worship described and expressly forbidden by the Scriptures, as shown by the following:
“Turn ye not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor unto the wizards; seek them not out, to be defiled by them.” Lev. 19:31.
“When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.” Isa. 8:19, 20.
8. What great doctrine will be denied?
“In the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter 3:3, 4.
NOTE.—If such conditions as these scriptures described are to be signs of the second coming of Christ, there can be no question as to their application in the present day. Men deny the fundamental principles of the Gospel; they hold to the form and not to the power of godliness; every form of error is harbored in the professed church of Christ; scoffers in multitude sneeringly raise the question, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Little do they dream that their own words indicate that the time is near; that they in their very apostasy are witnesses to the coming of the Lord. “Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” Matt. 24:43, 44.
What to Do.
By Francis Wayland
If conscience convicts you of having acted wrongly,
1. Reflect upon the wrong, survey the obligations which you have violated, until you are sensible of your guilt.
2. Be willing to suffer the pains of conscience. They are the rebukes of a friend, and are designed to withhold you from the commission of wrong in future. Neither turn a neglectful ear to its monitions, nor drown its voice amid the bustle of business or the gaiety of pleasure.
3. Do not let the subject pass away from your thoughts, until you have come to a settled resolution, a resolution founded on moral disapprobation of the action, never to do so any more.
4. If restitution be in your power, make it, without hesitation, and do it immediately. The least that a man ought to be satisfied with, who has done wrong, is to repair the wrong as soon as it is possible.
5. As every act of wrong is a sin against God, seek, in humble penitence, His pardon, through the merits and intercession of His Son, Jesus Christ.
6. Remark the actions, or the courses of thinking, which were the occasions of leading you to do wrong. Be especially careful to avoid them in future. To this effect says President Edwards: “Resolved, That when I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray, with all my might, against the original of it.”
7. Do all this in humble dependence upon that merciful and everywhere present Being who is always ready to grant us all assistance necessary to keep His commandments, and who will never leave us, nor forsake us, if we put our trust in Him.—Francis Wayland, D.D.
Our Bible Band
Schedule for Week Ending March 20, 1909.
Morning
Evening
Su.
March
14
Deut.
23, 24, 25
Mark
14: 1-26
Mo.
“
15
“
26, 27
“
14: 27-53
Tu.
“
16
“
28, 29
“
14: 54-72
We.
“
17
“
30, 31
“
15: 1-25
Th.
“
18
“
32, 33, 34
“
15: 26-47
Fr.
“
19
Josh.
1, 2, 3
“
16
Sa.
“
20
“
4, 5, 6
Luke
1: 1-20
Suggestive Notes.
Our morning lessons begin with the 23d chapter of Deuteronomy; that and the three chapters following consist of a repetition of various laws regarding duties between man and man, and between man and God. Chapters 27 and 28 present before us the curses and blessings which would follow disobedience or obedience, and the prophecy of what would come upon the Jews and which did come upon them in consequence of their disobedience. Take one, for instance, the 37th verse: “And thou shalt become an astonishment: a proverb and a byword among all the peoples whither Jehovah shall lead thee away.” How true it has been! The Romans are predicted in verses 49-57.
Chapters 29, 30, and 31 contain further precepts, solemn injunctions, blessed promises, and Moses’ final charge to the priests and to Joshua. Two beautiful poems are given us in chapters 32 and 33; 34 records the death of Moses, the man of God.
The last two days of the week give us the first six chapters of the book of Joshua. Joshua was Moses’ servant, one of the two men who proved faithful with the spies; one who had swerved not to the right hand nor to the left during the forty years of temptations and wanderings; and God chooses him to be the leader, with the strongest kind of assurances to “be strong and of good courage.” The book deals with the entering into the promised land and the conquering of the wicked nations who were possessing it; tells us of the crossing of the Jordan; the presence of Michael, the Archangel, and the armies of God, and the throwing down of the walls of Jericho by the same invincible army,—a pledge to Israel that if they had been obedient to God, the same mighty power would have given them deliverance and victory every step of the way.
Our evening lessons begin with Mark 14, and close with Luke 1:20. They cover the last hours of Jesus, His crucifixion, His resurrection, with clear, definite particulars not given by the other evangelists. On our last evening of the week we begin Luke’s narrative of the early life of our Lord. Luke was a learned physician and a good Greek scholar. He was in a part of Paul’s travels his companion. His Gospel is primarily written to Theophilus (loved or love of God), and through him to all the world, presenting Jesus as a Saviour for all, and hence tracing His genealogy back to Adam. This Gospel was probably written about A.D. 63. It narrates many things not found in the other Gospels.
The Rest of the Sabbath.
THE rest of the holy Sabbath is not mere cessation from physical labor. “God is Spirit.” “His law is spiritual.” His rest was spiritual rest, refreshing and delightful. Ex. 31: 17. He sanctifies and blesses by placing within the thing sanctified His own presence. 2 Cor. 3: 16, 17. So the hallowed bread—the showbread—was literally the bread of the presence. Christ was the angel of God’s presence, because God was in Him. So the Sabbath is “the holy of the Lord” (Isa. 58: 13), “holy to the Lord.” (Ex. 31: 15). The rest of the Sabbath is, therefore, spiritual rest, the rest of Christ’s presence in the Sabbath, which faith alone appropriates.
Men came in contact with Christ, but saw and knew only the Man Jesus. But faith saw in Him the Lord of life, and drew from Him life-giving virtue. Many come in contact with the Sabbath; they see in it but a day as other days, or a day of casual rest, but faith sees in it the sign of the ever-living Creator and Redeemer, finds in it the presence of Christ, and appropriates the blessing God has promised. This is the rest of the holy Sabbath to the Lord. Then indeed is it “a delight.”
Let Us Be Vigilant.
By Editor
It has been often and well said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” It is true. Once knowing and enjoying liberty, remembering the price which was paid for it, and believing that it is forever established in fundamental and statute law, men become careless. Some judicial prejudice of a high court perverts both constitution and law; and we have had altogether too much of judge-made law during the last few years. Class and religious legislation creep in, and are thought harmless. But it is the thin end of the entering wedge. Our late struggle in California over the Sunday amendment before the Assembly is a case in point. The measure was declared by its framers, proponents, supporters, to be purely civil, to have nothing of religion in it. Some of them grew indignant when we declared that it was religious, that it was a demand for civil enactment to support a religious institution. The chief advocate of the measure in the Assembly, the one who introduced the proposed amendment, frankly acknowledged that the measure was religious, that its purpose was to enforce the command of God, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” We have then in that effort not only an attempt at religious legislation, but an attempt to make the state an interpreter of the law of God. What will our contemporaries now say who declared that the measure was not religious?
It ought to have been evident on the face of it that the object aimed at was religious; for the one great force behind all the Sabbath-law or Sunday-law agitation is the religious bodies, and in order to make their agitation effective, they have confederated together for that purpose. This has been done in the National Reform Movement, in the American Sabbath Union, and now in the Federation of Protestant Churches.
It is still well for us never to forget just what we were told by Congress in 1829 on this same Sabbath question. Petitions poured in from every side from religious bodies asking that the Sunday mails be closed. In answer to those petitions the report which Congress adopted declares: “Extensive religious combinations to effect a political object are always dangerous. The first effort of the kind calls for the establishment of a principle which would lay the foundation for dangerous innovations upon the spirit of the Constitution; upon the religious rights of the citizens. If adopted, it may be justly apprehended that the future measures of the government will be strongly marked, if not eventually controlled, by the same influence. All religious despotism commences by combination and influence, and when that influence begins to operate upon the political institutions of a country, the civil power soon bends under it, and the catastrophe of other nations furnishes an awful warning of the consequence.” “If the principle is once established that religion or religious observances shall be interwoven with our legislative acts, we must pursue it to the ultimatum.” The enactment of a Sunday law is the establishment of a vicious principle, which, if developed and perpetuated, would eventually ruin both church and state and destroy the liberties of the people. Let California abjure it forever.
Is It Going Down or Up?
IT matters which way. Sometimes the path of good and the path of evil run parallel, cross, wind about, run parallel again, diverge; yet are they endlessly separate, for in one the course is downward to the pit of destruction; the other is upward to glory; and while they run parallel, as they seem to, the passengers in one are downward bound, moved by selfishness, while the others “walk upward glancing,” actuated by unselfish devotion to some holy work.
It is said of Asa, king of Judah, that in the latter years of his reign he “was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great, yet in his disease he sought not to Jehovah, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died.” 2 Chron. 16: 12, 13.
Now, this is not written to condemn the physicians, for they are a useful profession, and fill an honored and useful place. The record shows us that Asa was going downward when he turned away from Jehovah, who had wrought so mightily for him, to the help of man. He turned from the ever-living fountains of Lebanon to the cisterns of men. He turned from the God, who had marvelously rescued and saved him, to men whose power was at the best all too limited. In Asa’s attitude itself there was darkness, defeat, death.
Another could have sought the physicians and found relief, but his way would be upward. An angel of glory on the downward road holds within himself the seeds of death. The Christian pathway lies all the way up the hill to clearer light and glorious dawn, and never-ending existence.
