"Be content with such things as you have." Heb. 13:5
fixes the bounds of our habitation.
medium. Envy no longer your neighbor's choicer territory.
restricted, garden-plot. It may have neither vines nor
olives. It may be devoid of floral wealth. It may be
possessed of nothing but the commonest plants.
have staked and fenced out for you. I have not made
vineyard you do keep. You can serve Me and glorify Me
with the one entrusted talent, as well as with the ten.
Beware of wasted moments!
The marvels and triumphs of the printing-press have
now made accessible to peasant and laborer, the
wondrous blessing of
Christian literature! Neither
Croesus nor Plato—the two old-world representatives
of wealth and thought—had a library to compare with
what is readily available to us.
Let the young especially prize this splendid inheritance,
making it alike a privilege and obligation to devote some
hours to reading and garnering mental stores. Let them
beware of wasted moments—golden
ingots—too often
mortgaged to . . .
sloth,
frivolity,
idleness,
voluptuous ease and
degrading passion.
"
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Eph. 5:16
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eternal pleasures
"You have made known to me the path of life; You
will fill me with joy in Your presence, with
eternal
pleasures at Your right hand." Psalm 16:11
Why walk through life with an aspect of sadness, as
if religion and gloom are identical? Every true believer
should have in this world, his foretastes of coming bliss.
Sips, at the Fountain
here.
There, "
eternal pleasures."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My creation!
How
the love of nature survives and lingers despite of
the decrepitude of age, growing indeed stronger as years
advance, and taking no heed of the dimming eye!
It recalls the testimony of a gentle poet—"It seems to
me, the world was never so beautiful as now, when I
am about to leave it."
"Be glad; rejoice forever in
My creation!"
Isaiah 65:18
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That demon scramble for riches!
That demon scramble for riches!
Generally
speaking, "Meaningless! Meaningless!" is the
disappointed confession when the hoarded
wealth is secured!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Little more than a creed of sanctified
selfishness
It is a poor religion—
little more than a
creed of
sanctified selfishness—which regards salvation mainly
as an escape from divine punishment, and the assured
getting into heaven at last.
True religion is an active, transforming principle. Salvation
is a present triumph over the forces of evil and powers of
temptation. It aspires after obedience to the divine will—
assimilation to the divine image and character in its truth
and purity and love.
Yes, that is a stinted utilitarian faith—the faith of the Koran
rather than of the Gospel—whose hopes and prospective
blessedness are all for an eternal sensual paradise.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Flaws on the sculptor's white marble
Listen to the bell,
warning off submerged rocks and
perilous whirlpools. Beware of tampering with the fine
edge of
conscience, and blunting moral perceptions.
These are like the
flaws on the sculptor's
white
marble—scars which cannot be easily erased.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The irreparable past
Do not mope with morbid spirit over
the
irreparable
past, but gird yourself with heroic resolution for a
future in which lost hours and lost opportunities may
yet be redeemed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A November drizzle
A November drizzle is often the
cause of soul-depression.
Do not treat spiritually what, in a thousand cases, is purely
physical. Take the most brilliant of our flowers out of the
sunshine and set them to confront the east wind. They
will be certain to mope. There is an amazing harmony
and analogy between the natural and the spiritual.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ignoble wounds in life's battle?
"I will forgive their wickedness and will remember
their sins no more!" Hebrews 8:12
Who among us, in the retrospect of existence, have
not the memories of unworthy
thought and unworthy
deed, it may even be of
ignoble
wounds, in life's
battle? What of that? Are we for a moment to allow
these sins, grievous as they may be, to create an
insuperable, impassable gulf between us and the
Great Forgiver? Thoughts, far more merciful than
our own, are expressed and reiterated in the divine
words, "I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sins no more!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
An instinctive love of the beautiful
Happy those who have
an instinctive love of
the beautiful
—the beautiful in nature, the beautiful in grace; and far
transcending these, the beautiful in Him who was Himself
incarnated Beauty—the chief among ten thousand, the
Altogether Lovely one!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A chequered life
Each of our lives is a plan of God. Let us be thankful for
the thought that our own plans—crude, faulty, mistaken,
sometimes sinful—are not infrequently counteracted and
superseded by His. "For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of
evil, to give you an expected end" Jeremiah 29:11
Often in the retrospect of
a chequered life
is the glad
and grateful avowal made, and the Psalmist's experience
endorsed, "He led them forth also by the right way, that
they might go to a city of habitation." Psalm 107:7
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If the golden prize has eluded our grasp
God is a God of equity. He will exact according to what
a man has, not according to what he has not. He will not
look for figs or grapes where He has only given common
herbs. He will not expect pounds where He has only given
pence—talents where He has only given mites. If we have
little—limited and restricted means and opportunities—let
us remember it is because He has withheld more.
If the
golden prize has eluded our grasp, it is because He saw
we would be better without it. His gifts and benefactions
are many and diversified. Let it be our endeavor to be
"good stewards" to the extent of our responsibilities.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The world's joys
"Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again." John 4:13
The world's joys are fitful,
uncertain, precarious—brooks
which dry in their channels—their silver ripple ceases often
just when they are most needed.
Gospel streams provided for the refreshment of God's
pilgrims, are, on the other hand, fed from the eternal
glaciers—the hills of heaven. They are fullest when all
others are emptiest.
"He will refresh her as
a river in the desert and as the cool
shadow of a large rock in a hot and weary land." Isaiah 32:2
"I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs
within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of
water, and the parched ground into springs. I will even
make a way in the wilderness, and
rivers in the desert."
Isaiah 41:18-19
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
An Infinite Friend
How it would, with us, hallow every season of
prosperity; how it would take the sting from every
season of sorrow, and the bitterness from every
trial, to have at all times the sublime consciousness
that
an infinite Friend is with us
who joys with us in
all our joys, and metes out for us all our woes!
"Be sure of this:
I am with you always, even
to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The sweetest of life's curfew chimes
The sweetest of life's curfew chimes
is the
closing one—"To depart and to be with Christ."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It is a sad thing
It is a sad thing when lives and
friendships once
in harmony become sundered—drifting from their
old sacred moorings—the little breach gradually,
but fatally, widening, until it is irreparable.
"Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, just as God through Christ has
forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The uncaging of the spirit
At death there is no interruption in the continuity
of life. It is simply
the uncaging of the
spirit to
permit its free, unhampered soarings. There is a
wonderful comfort and significance in the words
of Christ, "I assure you, anyone who obeys My
teaching will never die!" John 8:51
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The distinctive message of the Gospels
God's love of the loveless is the
distinctive
message of the Gospels.
"When we were still
powerless, Christ died
for the
ungodly." Romans 5:6
"While we were still
sinners, Christ died
for us." Romans 5:8
"For if, when we were God's
enemies, we were
reconciled to him through the death of his Son."
Romans 5:10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yes, you are in a mazy labyrinth
"My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of
suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want
your will, not mine." Matthew 26:39
Yes, you are in a mazy labyrinth.
But keep
fast hold of the thread—the golden thread of
your Divine Father's love. Thus will you, in due
time, come forth to breathe again the fresh
air, and welcome the blue sky of heaven!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He died fighting for His enemies!
What a contrast between the unselfish consecration
of Jesus in His great work and ministry on earth, an
the selfishness and self-seeking so often characteristic
of the race for whom He died!
There are many in this world, embarked in gigantic
enterprises. Stand in one of our busiest thoroughfares;
see the crowd hurrying past, each with deep-furrowed
lines of care on his brow. These are builders; not builders
in stone or steel, but figuratively rearing some huge
pyramid with unremitting labor.
One is toiling at the Pyramid of
Riches—tier on tier
riveted with silver and golden clamps.
Another is engrossed with the Pyramid of
Ambition—
heedless of the intervening work that he may reach
more speedily the coveted summit, and crown it with
Fame blowing her bronze trumpet.
Another is busy at some
Intellectual Pyramid (choicest
of all), raising piles of mental treasure—laborious thought.
How few among these could say with an honest heart,
"I have no ulterior motive in all my labors. I have no
selfish interests to subserve—I am doing it all, neither
for the good of myself nor my family, but for others."
It would be a happier world if the use and design of our
pyramids had not been like those of Egypt—built to glorify
himself while living, and to cover his dust after death.
Different, how different, was the retrospect of Jesus!
"Christ pleased not Himself." Unselfishness in its noblest
type and form was the characteristic of His Redemption.
>From the infancy in Bethlehem's cradle, to the expiring
prayer on the bitter tree, all was
the purest unselfishness
of a loving heart. "He saved others, Himself He would not
save!" On His cross was engraved, not the superscription
of earth's boasted heroes—"He died fighting for His
friends";
but, "
He died fighting for His enemies!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Temptation
Temptation may be biding its time for the unguarded
moment. Do with it as you would do with the place you
know to be haunted by ravenous beasts of prey—"Avoid
it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way."
Proverbs 4:15
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Absolute and flawless perfection!
"
One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from
sinners, exalted above the heavens." Hebrews 7:26
When one sees, so often and so painfully, the shortcomings
and imperfections of the best of people—how far they fall
beneath even their own aspirations—irresolution and
inconsistency, indolence, self-seeking, and vainglory in
some; lack of patience, lack of courtesy, lack of zeal, lack
of love and sympathy in others; in a word, the too evident
traces of fallible and fallen human nature—how it magnifies
the
absolute and flawless perfection
of the Great Master!
As we all thus mourn, too truly and self-consciously, our
defects and
deficiencies, our
blots and
failures—what a
wonderfully inspiring thought is that given by John, that the
day is coming when perfection shall be attained! "Yes, dear
friends, we are already God's children, and
we can't even
imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we
do know that when He comes
we will be like Him!" 1 John 3:2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Personal tastes
How varied are the types and temperaments of the
human family—from the nervous to the lethargic!
Let us make ample allowances for those not cast
in the same mold as ourselves, and kindly recognize
those who may not share
our personal
tastes and
sympathies.
This lesson is embraced in the Apostle's widely
inclusive exhortation, "Finally, all of you, live in
harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love
as brothers, be compassionate and humble."
1 Peter 3:8
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fascinating dreams
Many of the world's old religions and philosophies
are
fascinating dreams, brilliant
coruscations, beautiful
webs of thought, which the best intellect and purest
devotion had laboriously spun. We dare not depreciate
them. But there is only one philosophy that is from God.
"The wisdom of God is wiser than men."
Greece had her Mysteries, with their esoteric doctrines.
But these could shed no real ray of light on the awful
problems of life and of the future. The longed-for
"mystery hidden from ages and generations" was fully
revealed and manifested in the person and words of
Incarnate Wisdom—"I came that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly.":
"Don't let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy
and high-sounding nonsense that come from human
thinking and from the evil powers of this world, and
not from Christ." Colossians 2:8
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Love-shafts
God's words are not bolts of volcanic fire, but
golden arrows—
love-shafts from the
quiver of
His promises.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What is the lesson?
Unexpected calamity, sudden death, as we have
seen this week within palace walls, comes often
like an lightening-bolt from the calm blue of the
heavens; or like the earthquake shock when all
is lapsed in security, when birds are singing and
fields are waving with plenty.
What is the lesson?
"Prepare to meet your God!" Amos 4:12
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I have no key to God's hieroglyphics
"There are secret things that belong to the
Lord our God." Deut. 29:29
You say, "Interpret the mystery." I
have no key
to God's hieroglyphics now. Eternity will read
and decipher all.
"For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways and My
thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Wounds from a friend
"Wounds from a friend can be
trusted, but
an enemy multiplies kisses." Proverbs 27:6
The true friend is not the honeyed flatterer. He
who possesses the hall-mark of that noblest of
relationships is rather the confidential adviser,
or, it may be, the faithful censor, who, with
delicate tact and yet bold freedom, can point out
the peril or shortcoming to which we ourselves are
blind—the undiscovered weak joint in the armor.
Inestimable is the worth of such outspoken,
unselfish, trusted sincerity; faithful the wounds
of such friends.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Serfdom and beggardom to Satan?
You have often seen, in the sky of opening summer,
the struggle between sun and cloud. One or other
comes off at last victorious. Is it to be
sun or cloud
with you? Is the higher or lower nature to conquer?
Is it to be the ground turned into a crop of noxious
weed—the thorn and the thistle? or that which gives
birth to fragrant flower and golden grain? Is the
future to be purity or passion, loyalty to God or
serfdom and beggardom to Satan?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Child of sickness and pain!
Child of sickness and pain!
whose eyes for long
weeks have been unable to endure the garish
sunlight, by whose sleepless pillow the dim lamp
has been flickering with weary monotony, be still!
God has His own methods of mysterious dealing
and discipline. He can make that chamber of
suffering a Bethel. A ladder is ofttimes there
set between earth and heaven, traversed by the
angels Faith, Resignation, Hope, and Peace.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A lurking assassin
Envy is the basest of human passions. It might well
be impersonated as
a lurking assassin,
dagger in hand,
haunting the darkest chambers of the soul; disguised,
too, with iron mask, to conceal, as best it may, its own
vile features and malignant thoughts.
The Bible speaks of
envy as one of a dastard, unlovely
triad—"
envyings, murders, drunkenness."
It is a miniature hell wherever the foul fiend of
envy has
been allowed to intrude. Hence no nobler moral victory,
yet no more difficult one can there be, than exorcizing
this demon of the abyss, tortured and maddened by the
sight of goodness it cannot reach, its impotence to tear
the wreath honorably won from brows better and worthier
than its own, and turn it into ashes.
"From
envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness,
Lord, deliver us!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Foul fiends or beneficent angels?
Words are impalpable couriers of good or evil.
They may be
foul fiends or beneficent
angels.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The prayer of Agur
There is a true and deep philosophy in
the
prayer
of Agur—"Give me neither poverty nor riches! Give
me just enough to satisfy my needs." Proverbs 30:8
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The soul's best music
"From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for
your help." Psalm 130:1
It seems contradiction and paradox, but
the
soul's
best music often comes from a broken harp, its best
incense from the broken vase of alabaster.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Every turn in the pilgrimage path!
"Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord;
point out the right road for me to follow." Ps. 25:4
Unfold and interpret for me every turn in
the
pilgrimage path!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Running out like the grains in a
sand-glass
What! these hours of a limited, vanishing existence
running out like the grains in a sand-glass,
and nothing
yet done for Christ or those for whom Christ died!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There are many loveless things in the
world
There are many loveless things in the
world, but few
more so than that of unkindness—the gall and wormwood
of injured and unrequited friendship, a cold cynicism the
recompense of beneficent deed or generous gift.
How easy, how gracious, on the other hand, is "that most
excellent gift of love!" While it "seeks not its own," it is
a deposit paid back in compound interest. No other forces
of the soul can compensate for the lack of love. Amiability
and courtesy, benevolence and sympathy, outlive the more
heroic virtues.
"In her tongue is the law of kindness." Proverbs 31:26
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The soul's hardest lesson
"Not my will, but Your will," is
the soul's
hardest lesson; and, when learned, it is
its highest achievement.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kind words and holy deeds
I like to think of the perpetuity of moral and spiritual
influences. Kind words and holy deeds
cannot perish.
Goodness is indestructible. That man you speak of died
twenty years ago. No! he still lives in the hearts of
those his character brightened and refined!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing but a gentle, sympathetic soul
Let none say, "There is no work for me to do, in my
limited and restricted sphere. I cannot aspire to a
position of conspicuous usefulness. I am no Asahel,
swift-footed in the race. I am dwarfed in means,
destitute of all claims to intellect. I am but a
common soldier in the great army—a mere hewer
of wood and drawer of water."
Accept the assigned position. Never despise nor
minimize "the power of littles." Do what you can.
God asks no more, and expects no more. With Him,
lowly work is worship. Only, what you do, do it
heartily, cheerfully. Be not repelled by the smallness
and insignificance of the mite you cast into the treasury.
You can teach a child its letters. You can read to a poor
invalid. You can carry a ray of sunshine with you into the
hospital ward. You can send a posy of violets or rosebuds
to the bedside of the invalid. You can give a word of heart
cheer to the struggling youth, and aid him in entering the
stern battle of life. You can indite a letter of wise counsel
and warning to the tempted child of poverty, and help to
fetch back the prodigal from his or her wanderings.
You can do the most Godlike and Christlike thing in the
world—that which needs neither purse nor learning—
nothing but a gentle, sympathetic soul.
In ministering
to the broken and lacerated heart, torn, it may be, with
bereavement too deep for tears, you can give "beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment
of praise for a spirit of heaviness."
"Who has despised the day of small things?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
True, genuine friendship
"A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17
You cannot force a half-hearted friendship into life.
Where there is incongruity of character, feeling, and
ways, let it simply lapse into acquaintanceship; and
if even this be an effort, let it, without either violence
or discourtesy, die a natural death.
True, genuine friendship must not
only be spontaneous,
but, to be lasting, it must be based on congeniality of
tastes, pursuits, interests, as well as on affection.
"There is a Friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Proverbs 18:24
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You hypocrites!
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
you
hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and
dish,
but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and
dish, and then the outside also will be clean."
Matthew 23:25-26
The Jerusalem Pharisee is not extinct. He has his
true representative and descendant in our time. He
still in spirit makes broad his phylactery. He has his
trumpet sounded before him. He has his unctuous
shibboleths. He is punctilious in creed and tradition.
He refuses to speak to a Samaritan.
Yet that man's inner life and home, as was the case
with his ancient prototype, confute and confound his
pretensions. There, he is often cold, cynical, selfish,
moody, morose, imperious. He would keep all the
world right, but he is himself like the sepulchers he
whitewashes. It is outer garnish and no more. God
save the Church, from such a travesty as this! Oh
for genuine, transparent, unmistakable reality!
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
you
hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which
look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are
full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
In the same way, on the outside you appear to
people as righteous but on the inside you are full
of hypocrisy and wickedness." Matthew 23:27-28
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Truth that leads to godliness
"The knowledge of the truth that leads to
godliness."
Titus 1:1
Doctrine is nothing, dissociated from deed.
Abstract truth is poor, compared to living principle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The tiny glowworm and the shining star
The eye of the Almighty takes in at a glance—
the tiny glowworm and the shining star,
the blade of grass and the towering Alp.
"He covers the heavens with clouds, provides
rain for the earth, and makes the green grass
grow in mountain pastures." Psalm 147:8
"He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name." Psalm 147:4
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Remove the Bible from school and
university
God help this nation if it be drifting to secularism! Our
people may be made giants in intellect; but severed
from the religious element, divorced from religious training,
the chances are they may become demons in depravity!
Where, moreover, are remedy and panacea to be found
for the anguished heart in its time of sorrow?
Philosophy and science, noble factors as they are, can
never heal the wounds of humanity, erase the furrows
from the woe-worn brow, or light up the shadows of the
final valley. They can never curb the madness of the
nations, subjugate the demon of war, and "ring in the
thousand years of peace."
Remove the Bible from school and
university, and
in that saddest of battles, the struggle of conflicting
principles, where the godless and Christless creed is
the triumphant one, there can be nothing but the
death-knell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This spirit from the pit
How SELF in its protean shapes—
self-will,
self-seeking,
self-elation,
self-assertion,
leaves its dents and stains on the shield of faith!
Happy the day when this spirit from the pit
shall
be exorcized forever!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Old Testament history
Taking the Old Testament history
alone, how suggestive
are its names and memories of the Christian's varied and
chequered experience!
Here is his Bethel—the rough, stony pillow of hardship
and suffering; but it is at the base of a heavenly ladder,
passing up and down which are angels of consolation.
Here is a Marah—the bitter pool of sorrow,
but wherein the divine healing Tree is cast.
Here are Palms and Wells of Elim, symbolic
both of shadow and refreshment in pursuing
life's wilderness march.
Here he has reached Rephidim, also with its double
emblem and significance; the combination of the two
factors in the believer's life—the active and the passive
—work and prayer—Joshua fighting in the valley; Moses,
Aaron, and Hur in supplication on the mountain summit.
Here is the gloomy border-river; but through its flood
the true Ark of the Covenant precedes the hosts of Israel,
conducting in safety to the land of promise.
We can write over all, "They shall abundantly utter the
memory of Your great goodness." The last of these
memories is sung in heaven—"They went through the
flood on foot—there did we rejoice in Him!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Living sacrifices
The Christian's heart should be a holy altar, and his
life a living sacrifice.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing
to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." Romans 12:1
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The house collapsed, and all your
children are dead!
"Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the desert and
hit the house on all sides. The house
collapsed, and all
your children are dead!" Job 1:19
The wind is often contrary, and God means it to be so.
"He let loose the east wind from the heavens and
led forth the south wind by His power." Psalm 78:26
"He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He
sends the lightning with the rain and releases
the wind from His storehouses." Psalm 135:7
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The grandest picture in the Gospels
The grandest picture in the Gospels—let
us hang it up
on our deathbeds—is the father clasping the prodigal
and welcoming him home.
"And while he was still a long distance away, his father
saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran
to his son, embraced him, and kissed him." Luke 15:20
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The loveliest plants of the Gospel
The loveliest plants of the Gospel
grow in the valley
of humility.
"Be completely humble and gentle." Ephesians 4:2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Little sympathies and little kindnesses
We need not always be on the outlook to do great
services. Little sympathies and little
kindnesses are
always possible.
"Since God chose you to be the holy people whom He
loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted
mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."
Col. 3:12
"Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of
sympathy toward each other, loving one another
with tender hearts and humble minds." 1 Peter 3:8
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Amid the discords and disharmonies of
life
Amid the discords and disharmonies of life,
the fitfulness of human friendships,
the wreck of fond hopes,
the havoc of death and the grave,
we can cling with unfaltering confidence to
the fidelity of God. Here is safe anchorage
that defies all storms.
"All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful."
Psalm 25:10
"Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the
heavens; Your faithfulness reaches beyond
the clouds." Psalm 36:5
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The gauntest of all gaunt spectres
The gauntest of all gaunt spectres
is that of cold
ingratitude and unrequited love—sacred altars of
friendship turned into a pile of dead ashes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A series of strange surprises
"Why, you do not even know what will happen
tomorrow!" James 4:14
Life consists of a series
of strange surprises—a
constantly shifting complex succession changes.
Nothing so sure as the unexpected.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What is earth's greatest joy and
privilege?
"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. "Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are
gone and that her sins are pardoned." Isaiah 40:1-2
What is earth's greatest joy and privilege? It is to
bring a ray of comfort to the broken heart.
"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort
others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give
them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Cor. 1:4
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The old, the weak, the decrepit, the
bedridden
How prone we are presumptuously to calculate on the
continuance of life! "My pulse is vigorous. My eye is
undimmed. My natural strength is unabated. The race
is to the swift—I am one of them. The battle is to the
strong—I am one of them. The old, the weak,
the
decrepit, the bedridden, will and must before long
be swept down like the seared leaves of autumn. But
I am as a green fir tree. The spring's verdure is only
now clothing me. The summer's zephyrs have yet to
fan me. The autumn skies have yet to canopy me. The
axe may be laid to the root of others, but I shall bring
forth fruit in old age—I shall be fat and flourishing. The
morrow shall be as today, and much more abundant!"
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go
to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business
and make money." Why, you do not even know what will
happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that
appears for a little while and then vanishes! James 4:13-14
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I will go home to my Father
"I will go home to my Father."
Luke 15:18
In your moments of deepest darkness and alienation,
never lose sight of the truth that God is your Father.
The prodigal, in his season of dejection and despair,
speaks of his "Father" still.
"I will go home to my Father."
Luke 15:18
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trust God in little things
Those who trust God in little things
are often answered
by Him in great things. "Trust in the Lord with all your
heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek
His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Praise Him, all you twinkling stars!
"Praise Him, all you twinkling stars!"
Psalm 148:3
These myriad stars in their luster, have been spoken
of in poetry as "sparks from God's anvil." There is a
defect in the figure. Sparks, brilliant as they are, are
momentary, evanescent scintillations—a flash of atoms,
which die in the darkness and are seen no more.
The starry host of heaven are glorious worlds, which move,
not capriciously, but in obedience to great cosmic laws—
tenants of a realm, not of confusion, but of design and
order. Let science speak of this as "laws of nature." Call,
rather, these thronged illimitable spaces—the domain of
a thinking, living, intelligent Creator and Sustainer; replete
with evidences of His sovereignty and omnipotence.
No modern speculations, be what they may, can ever dim
the brilliancy of those gems in the Almighty's diadem!
"Praise Him, all you twinkling stars!"
Psalm 148:3
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And he went outside and wept bitterly!
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night,
before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
"No!" Peter insisted. "Not even if I have to die with
you! I will never deny you!" Matthew 26:34-35
Look at Peter! Who stronger than he? the honored and
trusted Companion of Incarnate Love, filled with sincere
loyalty to the gracious Master. "What! others may deny
You, but I—never! Never shall 'traitor' be branded on
my brow, or the guilty denial tremble on my lips!"
See, before long, the presumptuous boaster in an
anguish of remorseful tears, a moral and spiritual
shipwreck. "How the mighty have fallen!"
"And he went outside and wept bitterly!"
Luke 22:62
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What will heaven be
What will heaven be, but the
development of present
character? "He who is righteous let him be righteous
still" Revelation 22:11
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Helping struggling souls in the battle
of life
We wish that ministers of Christ, who wield the marvelous
power of the pulpit, instead of pursuing, Sunday after Sunday,
the round of purely doctrinal sermons, would understand the
necessity of sympathetically helping
struggling souls in the
battle of life; teaching them how to fight the good fight
of
faith when the hour of conflict comes. The Sunday discourse
ought to impart strength and heart-cheer to the combatants,
young and old, in the spiritual arena.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Like a bird parting with its wings
To neglect prayer is like a bird parting with
its wings.
"Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and
a thankful heart." Colossians 4:2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The gates of death
To the true Christian, the gates of death
open up the magnificent vistas of eternity.
"Write this down: Blessed are those who die
in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit,
they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from
all their toils and trials!" Revelation 14:13
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Commonplace, everyday experiences
"The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who
trusts in Him." Psalm 32:10
God is with His people, not only in the crisis-hours
and great emergencies of life, but in its
commonplace,
everyday experiences.
"Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds and protects His people, both now
and forever." Psalm 125:2
"And surely I am with you always, to the very end
of the age." Matthew 28:20
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It is not the cuckoo-cry of alarmists
It is not the cuckoo-cry of alarmists
when we say
that our age seems to emphasize the warning words,
"In the last days perilous times shall come."
We are walking on a muffled volcano—faint mutterings
are heard in the hollow beneath our feet. Happy those
patriots, philanthropists, governments, that can wisely
read the signs of the times, help to open safety-valves
to prevent the sudden and, when it comes, uncontrollable
outburst—maddened forces direr than Nature's direst.
Strange that the jets of sulphurous smoke here and there
polluting the moral atmosphere carry with them so little
premonition. We seem to have no eye but for the green
grass, the enamel of flowers; smothering prophecies of
disaster. Other words of Scripture have a political as well
as a spiritual meaning—"When they are saying, Peace,
peace—then sudden destruction comes!"
Helpless seafarers! indulging in mirth and song, when
their ears should be open to the roar of the breakers!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That man only begins to live
That man only begins to live,
in whom self dies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Orthodoxy "falsely so called"
Let us beware of an orthodoxy "falsely so
called";
verbose and often pretentious—the orthodoxy of
upturned eye, and conventional phrase, and dead
dogma—the orthodoxy which is at no pains to be
authenticated by . . .
living faith,
loving word,
gentle deed,
generous service.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Home and rest in the ocean of Infinite
Love!
That mountain rivulet, released from the iron shackles
with which winter has bound it, goes onward, singing
in concord of sweet sounds, to the sea—its final goal
of rest. It owes its emancipation to the beams of the
sun of early spring.
Picture of the
Sun of Righteousness, shining on frigid
hearts, waking up slumbering forces, melting icy
indifference, reviving generous impulses, transforming
life into a joyous, beneficent stream, whose waters
find at last their haven—
home and rest in
the ocean
of Infinite Love!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Undying music
Posthumous influence! There can surely be nothing
more solemnizing than this—that a man may continue
to live on—no, does live on—asfter death, either as a
curse or a blessing! Happy those who survive to make
undying music in the world.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Through the agonies of great trial
"You, O God, have
purified us like silver
melted in a crucible." Psalm 66:10
As the olives must be
crushed for the oil to flow;
as the grapes must be
bruised in the wine-press
that the vats may be filled; as the
gold comes out
refined from the furnace—so,
through the
agonies
of great trial, the best Christian graces are
developed.
"I have refined you in the furnace of suffering."
Isaiah 48:10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Great Craftsman
God is permitting us to work the shuttles of life
apparently as we may. But He,
the Great
Craftsman,
in His own calm world, is supervising all.
"He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth." Daniel 4:35
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The sob of universal humanity
"I am the Lord who heals you." Exodus 15:26
Christ was the true Jehovah Rophi. What diverse
crowds flocked to this Divine Physician of old, and
"He healed them all"! No numbers baffled Him; no
variety bewildered Him. The inquiring
Nicodemus;
the rash
Peter, boisterous as the waves of the sea;
the loving and meditative, yet impulsive
John; the
strong-willed, skeptic
Thomas—each had a niche in
the Great Living Temple.
Penitents crept abashed to His feet, and wept out
their shame and sorrow.
Blind men on the wayside
called aloud for help.
Lepers in piteous tones—outcasts,
spurned and evaded by all others—claimed Him, and
found in Him a brother. Hearts crushed and broken with
bereavement were in His presence conscious of a
combined sympathy and power which dried their tears
and restored their "loved and lost."
There was thus response in His bosom to
the sob
of universal humanity. Every bird of weary wing and
wailing cry, abroad on earth's waste wilderness of
waters, "seeking rest and finding none," had shelter
and safety and peace in this Ark of God!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A wonderful satisfaction
There is
a wonderful satisfaction
in the consciousness
of one good deed done. How happily do you close your
eyes at night when you have helped during the day to
lift a load of sorrow, calm a palpitating heart, or heal
a wounded spirit! Such deeds are their own recompense
and their own reward.
"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least
of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me." Matthew 25:40
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The epitome of the Christian life
"Enoch walked with God"—
the epitome of
the
Christian life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Desolating bereavement
At the first moment of
desolating
bereavement,
the eye is too dimmed to see either God's wisdom
or love in the chastening. But the
ear of faith in due
time is enabled to catch the word and to cleave to
it—"Be still, and know that I am God!" Psalm 46:10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The raft of God's promises
Lashed, like the drowning mariner, to
the
raft
of God's promises, you will ride out the storm.
"Hold me up, and I shall be safe!" Ps. 119:117
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Gold, silver, jewels
Now anyone who builds on that foundation may
use
gold, silver, jewels." 1
Cor. 3:12
There is a variety of work, and of capacity for work,
in the Christian Church.
"
Gold"—pure, noble-hearted and
open-handed men,
of position and influence, who use that influence for
the highest ends; holy in thought, word, and deed.
"
Silver"—True men, not so
talented, or wealthy, or
influential, but who do their part faithfully and
unostentatiously.
"
Jewels"—Those of special
gifts, brilliant attainments,
whose endowments of nature and grace are consecrated
to their great Lord.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The choicest of the Gospel's crown
jewels!
"My Father!" That is
the choicest of
the Gospel's
crown jewels!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The first deflection
The first deflection from
the path of virtue, or honor,
or duty—how prophetic of further doom and disaster!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What a temple for adoration and
praise!
Who does not esteem the manifold teachings of Nature?
Who does not love . . .
her forest haunts, tremulous with music;
her flowers, swinging their censers of incense;
the brooks and streams and birds her choristers;
the blue dome of heaven her magnificent canopy?
What a sanctuary of holy thought!
What a temple for adoration and praise!
"The heavens tell of the glory of God.
The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make Him known."
Psalm 19:1-2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The inheritance of the believer
The inheritance of the believer—
"All things are yours!" 1 Cor. 3:21
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The angels of affliction
From that dull, dead block of marble, there is evoked
by the artist's tools a form radiant with beauty.
The angels of affliction are
often God's best sculptors.
By their sharp chiselings, stroke after stroke, loveless
lives have been made lovely, common people have
become great, dead lives have been quickened into
the likeness of Christ—transformed into His image.
No! not, as we have said, "angels." The Lord of angels
delegates this work to no subordinates. And when the
shaping and molding and fashioning are completed, the
legend is inscribed—"Made perfect through suffering!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Our life-ministries
"Each with his assigned task." Mark 13:34
Never let us quarrel at the lowliness of our tasks or
the limitations of our life-ministries.
The still pond
does not complain because it has not the music and
ripple of the stream or the swell and surge of ocean.
It is content, in its simple way, to supply the needs
of the cottage home, or refresh the weary toiler in
the field, or give drink to the thirsty beggar.
The violet blushing unseen in the woods does not
envy the cedar with its evergreen foliage or the oak
with its giant limbs and mighty shadow. It is content
to occupy its assigned place, away, it may be, amid
the loneliness of forest aisles.
God has given to each of us our positions and appointed
our tasks—humble as well as conspicuous, lowly as well
as mighty. Little-hearts as well as Great-hearts are
"ministers of His to do His pleasure."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Habitually to realize
How it would soothe in trouble, nerve for duty, make
difficulties easy and crosses light, elevate above the
fretting anxieties of life and lead to calm unmurmuring
submission, were we able habitually to
realize, in all
its fullness, the assurance, "God is my Father, and I
am His child."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
War!
Happy the nations who are exempt from "the
grievousness of
war"—its inherent cruelty, its often demon
selfishness; who
are delivered from the tyranny of those who make the crouching
nations a perch for their ambition—dragging the innocent from
their ploughs and vineyards, their peaceful employments of life,
their intellectual avocations, their homes of affection, in
order
to reap a misnamed "glory" they seldom or never share, set in
deadly array against those towards whom they feel no hostility.
Never is responsibility greater than that of rulers who, in
wanton recklessness, nurture the war-spirit. "The roll of
conquering drum" is no music in the ears of the widow and
the orphan. Well may the cry ascend to heaven to exorcize
the foul fiend—the direst curse that can visit a country or
afflict humanity.
"Give peace in our time, O Lord!" The day will surely come
when, with sheathed sword and reversed spear, the prayer
will no longer be heard, because no longer needed, "Scatter
the nations who delight in war!" Psalm 68:30
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Demon or angel?
We are all sculptors, with the soft, pliant, formative clay
molding into shape our own futures—demon
or angel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the great game of existence
Sad the case of those who had the possibilities
of a good and useful existence, but have lived
fatally and hopelessly given up to . . .
sloth, or
flippant pleasure, or
engrossing selfishness.
Those fugitive, precious moments we are
forgetting and wasting, cannot be recovered.
In the great game of existence
many are staking
all and losing all—drifting to hopeless, irremediable
bankruptcy. That is a solemn word—a dreadful
truth—the irreparable past!
Death will dissolve many a 'fairy vision' that has lured
and charmed us. Death will sweep down many 'flimsy
cobwebs of earth' that we have laboriously weaved—
poor tawdry things we have so often clung to and
clutched!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
God's dealings
God's dealings are . . .
sometimes penal,
sometimes disciplinary,
most often remedial,
always loving.