It is impossible for man to save himself. He may deceive himself in regard to this matter, but he can not save himself. Christ's righteousness alone can avail for his salvation, and this is the gift of God. This is the wedding-garment in which you may appear as welcome guest at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let faith take hold of Christ without delay, and you will be a new creature in Jesus, a light to the world.
Christ is called "the Lord our righteousness;" and through faith each one should say, "The Lord my righteousness." When faith lays hold upon this gift of God, the praise of God will be upon our lips, and we shall be able to say to others, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." We shall then be able to tell the lost concerning the plan of salvation,—that while the world was lying under the curse of sin, the Lord presented terms of mercy to the fallen and hopeless sinner, and revealed the value and meaning of His grace. Grace is unmerited favor. The angels, who know nothing of sin, do not understand what it is to have grace exercised toward them; but our sinfulness calls for the exercise of grace from a merciful God. It was grace that sent our Saviour to seek us as wanderers and bring us back to the fold.
Recognizing Your Need
Have you a sense of want in your soul? Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Then this is an evidence that Christ has wrought upon your heart, and created this sense of need, in order that He may be sought after to do those things for you through the endowment of His Holy Spirit which it is impossible for you to do for yourself. The Lord specifies no conditions except that you hunger for His mercy, desiring His counsel, and long for His love. "Ask!" The asking makes it manifest that you realize your necessity; and if you ask in faith, you will receive. The Lord has pledged His word, and it can not fail. That you feel and know that you are a sinner, is sufficient argument in asking for His mercy and compassion. The condition upon which you may come to God, is not that you shall be holy, but that you shall ask God to cleanse you from all sin and purify you from all iniquity. Then why wait longer? Why not take God at His word, and say:
"Here, Lord, I give myself to Thee,
'Tis all that I can do"?
If Satan comes to cast his shadow between you and God, accusing you of sin, tempting you to distrust God and doubt His mercy, say: "I can not allow my weakness to come between me and God; for His is my strength. My sins, which are many, are laid upon Jesus, my divine Substitute and Sacrifice.
"Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling."
No man can look within himself and find anything in his character that will recommend him to God, or make his acceptance sure. It is only through Jesus, whom the Father gave for the life of the world, that the sinner may find access to God. Jesus alone is our Redeemer, our Advocate and Mediator; in Him is our only hope for pardon, peace, and righteousness. It is by virtue of the blood of Christ that the sin-stricken soul can be restored to soundness. Christ is the fragrance, the holy incense which makes your petition acceptable to the Father. Then can you not say:
"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come"?
Simply Accepting
Coming to Christ does not require severe mental effort and agony; it is simply accepting the terms of salvation that God has made plain in His Word. The blessing is free to all. The invitation is: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? harken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."
Then come, and seek, and find. The reservoir of power is open, full and free. Come with humble hearts, not thinking that you must do some good work to merit the favor of God, or that you must make yourself better before you can come to Christ. You are powerless to do good, and can not better your condition. Apart from Christ we have no merit, no righteousness. Our sinfulness, our weakness, our human imperfection, make it impossible that we should appear before God unless we are clothed in Christ's spotless righteousness. We are to be found in Him not having our own righteousness, but the righteousness which is in Christ. Then in the name that is above every name, the only name given among men whereby men can be saved, claim the promise of God, saying: "Lord, forgive my sin; I put my hands into Thy hand for help, and I must have it, or perish. I now believe." The Saviour says to the repenting sinner: "No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me;" "and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." "I am thy salvation."
Saving Faith
When you respond to the drawing of Christ, and join yourself to Him, you manifest saving faith. To talk of religious things in a casual way, to pray for spiritual blessings without real soul hunger and living faith, avails little. The wondering crowd that pressed close about Jesus, realized no accession of vital power from the contact. But when the poor, suffering woman, who for twelve years had been an invalid, in her great need put forth her hand and touched the hem of His garment, she felt the healing virtue. Hers was the touch of faith, and Christ recognized that touch. He knew that virtue had gone out from Him; and turning about in the throng, He asked, "Who touched Me?" Surprised at such a question, the disciples answered, "Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me?" And Jesus said, "Somebody hath touched Me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me." And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before Him, she declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately. And He said unto her, "Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." The faith which avails to bring us in vital contact with Christ, expresses on our part supreme preference, perfect reliance, entire consecration. This faith works by love and purifies the soul. It works in the life of the follower of Christ true obedience to God's commandments; for love to God and love to man will be the result of vital connection with Christ. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."
Jesus says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." Can we conceive of a more intimate relation than this implies? The fibers of the branch are identical with those of the vine. The communication of life, strength, and nourishment from the trunk to the branches is unobstructed and constant. The root sends its nourishment through the branches. Such is the believer's relation to Christ, if he abides in Christ and draws his nourishment from Him. But this spiritual relation between Christ and the soul can be established only through the exercise of personal faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him;" for it is faith that connects us with the power of heaven, and brings us strength for coping with the powers of darkness. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Faith familiarizes the soul with the existence and presence of God; and, living with an eye single to the glory of God, more and more we discern the beauty of His character, the excellence of His grace. Our souls become strong in spiritual power; for we are breathing the atmosphere of heaven, and realizing that God is at our right hand, that we shall not be moved. We are rising above the world, beholding Him who is the Chief among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely, and by beholding we are to become changed into His image.
The Quiet Living for God
By C. Pelmulder
By C. Pelmulder
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. Rev. 14: 13.
We mourn the death of those whose lives are ending
Upon the forefront of the battle-ground,
Boldly the triumphs of the cross extending,
And build a monument beside their mound.
Yet oftentimes nobler one has lived in quiet,
As wild flowers bloom where silent waters lave,
Whose life was only known to those near by it,
While oft no slab e'en marks the lonely grave.
Somehow the life of one sincerely living
The Christ-life here, midst enemies and friends—
The life of kindness, charity, and giving—
Is missed most sadly when, alas, it ends.
They're laid away, their life and labors ended;
And tho upon no stately shaft expressed,
Their works with others' lives have so been blended
That these do follow them, altho they rest.
XXXIII. The Babylonian System
WE have learned in past studies that the Papacy in its connection with worldly powers is only a phase of that system of union of Church and State which began with Babylon of old. Behind it all is Satan, the deceiver, accuser, and adversary. He has deceived the nations and people into believing that this system, in some of its forms, was necessary to salvation, to the maintenance of good order in society, to the perpetuation of civil government, to the preservation of religion in the earth. He has carried on this work of deception in every age, through the great and popular but apostate religious bodies. These religious bodies have always in the beginning of their history known the truth, but in departing from the truth and righteousness of God by faith have persistently united with the powers of earth, in order to enforce religious dogmas by law. Through them Satan has always accused those who protested against this great prevailing system of religion, and the accusations have always ended in persecution, unless God interposed. And through this great system, with its various phases, has he always opposed the simple, but if received by faith, all-effectual truth of God's free Gospel of grace.
The System One
We speak of "system" in the singular; for the system is one, tho the phases of that system are many. There are gods many and lords many in various phases of the system; but all are founded upon, and all exist by virtue of, the principle of self-salvation apart from God. It is but the repetition, in various forms, of the old Babylonian cry, "Go to, let US build US a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let US make US a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Gen. 11:4. Both ideas — salvation of soul and earthly preservation — are contained in the purpose expressed; but the doers of it all are the WE, the US. And so their monuments tell us they named the city and the tower BAB-IL, "The Gate of God," or "The Gate of Heaven;" but God called it just what it truly was, is, and always shall be, "Babel," confusion. In every phase of the system, from Babylon of old to the present time, is echoed and re-echoed the ambition of Babylon's king of her ages, Lucifer, the once day-star of God: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: . . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be LIKE the MOST HIGH." (Isa. 14:13, 14.) This is the spirit of Satan, and this is the spirit which has been manifest in all the phases of the great Babylonian system. Jesus Christ came as a teacher from God, assuming no power to rule, dictate, oppress, judge, or condemn those who did not agree with His teachings. He was the Master of humility and meekness, and they clothed Him as garments. His ministers were not to be "lords over God's heritage, but ensamples to the flock." They did not possess dominion over faith, but were helpers of the joy of all who believed. But in every phase of the Babylonian, or satanic, system of religion, there has been manifest in creed, in arbitrary decrees, in religious dogmas, in State law, in a multitude of forms, the principle of religion by dictation, by law, by force.
Protestants in Every Age
"Protestants" is doubtless too narrow a term. Not only have there been faithful servants of God in all ages who have protested against the Babylonian religion of self-salvation, of union of Church and State, of force, but they have held high in their own lives the principles of righteousness and truth. In Israel's day the prophets of God lifted true voices amid the prevailing babel of false worship. When the captivity and travail of the church began in Babylon, Daniel and the three Hebrew children were lights in the center of earth's empire. Faithful servants of God existed in the Medo-Persian and Grecian phases of the system. During the time that Satan was using Pagan Rome, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the apostles lifted the clearest light of all the centuries; its blazing beams showing the errors of all the mysteries of iniquity in past and future, and revealing clearly the only way of salvation — personal faith in God through Jesus Christ, with the Scriptures the one divine rule of faith, the true church of Christ those who are CALLED OUT according to the Gospel, obedient to every known ray of light and precept of truth.
During the reign of the fifth head, the Papacy, God had also His faithful witnesses, some with less, some with more light, in the unnaturally darker ages of superstition which followed the Gospel morning. Many of those who protested and held aloft the torch of truth, confirmed their testimony with their life. The darkness increased, the light grew more dim, the darker ages grew more dark, till in the fifteenth century was born the "Morning Star of the Reformation," John of Wyclif. Following came John Huss and Jerome of Prague. Wyclif escaped death by martyrdom; but, to show the persistent deception and bitterness of the Papacy, his body was exhumed and burned after death. Huss and Jerome were burned at the stake. A century later the Protestant Reformation burst forth, based on true Gospel principles. They are thus stated by D'Aubigné:
The principles contained in this celebrated protest of the 19th of April, 1529, constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith; the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the other is the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these two abuses, Protestantism sets up above the magistrate the power of conscience; and above the visible church the power of the Word of God. It declines, in the first place, the civil power in divine things, and says with the apostles and prophets, We must obey God rather than man. In presence of Charles the Fifth it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes further; it lays down the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God.
Here were again set forth the principles of Jesus Christ: The Word of God as the rule of faith, and personal, individual faith in that Word the means of salvation; and that over these the civil magistrate had no control, and with them no civil ruler as such had anything to do.
Fall of the Papacy
In 1798 the papal head of the great Babylonian system fell under the deadly wound. Rev. 13:3, 10. Its power to persecute, to lord it over the faith and worship of men, was taken away in the controlling kingdoms of earth. The Papacy has not since possessed that power, tho still demanding it. Her enemies declare that she will never again possess that power. She is honored, perhaps, as never before as an ecclesiastical power; but she does not control the nations nor command them under the temporal pains and penalties due to heretics. But has the beast ceased to exist? — In the papal phase, under control of the papal head, yes; but as an existing, continuing system to the end, in the light of prophecy, no. The principles as embodied in the system continue operative; the form in which they are manifest, changes. The underlying principle in Pagan Rome is the same; it is that of self-salvation, a religion of force; but the forms are widely different, hence they are denoted by different heads.
The Sixth Head
Satan, the originator and king of the system, used his masterpiece, the Papacy, after Pagan Rome, to 1798. When the Papacy passed away, another phase took its place. It no longer had one centralized head at Rome; but a phase of Church-and-State governments, similar in form to each other, followed. In the papal system the Church was dominant, the State subservient. In the phase which followed, manifest in the Church-and-State governments of Europe, the State was dominant, a modification of the pagan idea among Christian peoples. This phase of the system is so well set forth by Bryce that we quote:
The principles which had led the Protestants to sever themselves from the Roman Church should have taught them to bear with the opinions of others, and warned them from the attempt to connect agreement in doctrine or manner of worship with the necessary forms of civil government. Still7less ought they to have enforced that agreement by civil penalties; for faith, upon their own showing, had no value save when it was freely given. . . .
But whether it was that men only half saw what they had done, or that, finding it hard enough to un-rivet priestly fetters, they welcomed all the aid a temporal prince could give; the result was that religion, or, rather, religious creeds, began to be involved with politics more closely than had ever been the case before. Through the greater part of Christendom wars of religion raged for a century or more, and down to our own days feelings of theological antipathy continue to affect the relations of the powers of Europe. In almost every country the form of doctrine which triumphed associated itself with the State, and maintained the despotic system of the Middle Ages, while it forsook the grounds on which that system had been based.
It was thus that there arose national churches, which were to be to the several Protestant countries of Europe that which the Church Catholic had been to the world at large; churches, that is to say, each of which was to be coextensive with its respective State, was to enjoy landed wealth and exclusive political privilege, and was to be armed with coercive powers against recusants.
Not Protestant Governments
This is the condition of the European world, where has existed the empire of the great beast power, from which empire has gone forth the law to the rest of the world. It was the same system, but a different phase. The sixth head of that fearful system of government is the present phase of Church-and-State governments existing among the nations of Europe, the horns of the beast, the most influential of which profess to be Protestant. But if these governments were truly Protestant they would not persecute. No church which holds to the principle of Protestantism will in any way unite with the civil power, or solicit aid from the civil power, or permit the civil magistrate to interfere in matters of religion. Her rule will be the Bible and the Bible alone, with no mixture of tradition. Her power will be in the Spirit of God, the life of Christianity. Her means of propagating her belief will be by persuasion and teaching. All recusants and enemies she will in love commend to the mercy and wisdom of God. And when the Protestant churches or any Protestant church turns from these principles to accept of tradition and human creed, she brings confusion instead of power, and becomes a part of Babylon, because molded by the principles of Babylon. Her creed may be called "The Gate of God," but God calls it Confusion. And when she unites with the State, to seek to enforce or better to maintain that creed, she commits fornication with the kings of the earth, and is a part of the Babylonian family. She is no longer Protestant. She may have true Protestants and Christians in her fold, but all such God will call out. So the Papacy has had within her fold in all ages true Christians, living up to all the light they possessed; but they were Christians not because of the papal system, but in spite of it. Germany, England, France, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden are NOT Protestant governments or nations in the sense of being Christian. They may be called Protestant and Christian; there are Christians in them; but the system of government is not Christian, but Babylonian — simply another phase in the great system of which Lucifer was the inventor, Babylon was the head, and the Papacy the masterpiece.
Legitimate Earthly Government
By this we do not refer to the legitimate rule and sphere of these governments and all civil governments; for civil government is ordained of God. But we refer to the union of Church and State, or religion enforced by law, which is the characteristic of all these powers. When this Church-and-State principle is developed into law, it always leads to persecution for conscience' sake. In the hands of conscientious devotees it must prosecute and persecute dissenters. And this has been the case in all these countries. The persecutions under "good Queen Bess" were as truly of satanic origin as were those under "bloody Mary." The name does not alter the fact; the CHARACTER of a government determines its author. In a general way "the powers that be are ordained of God," but not to take God's place. Nebuchadnezzar, the heathen King of Babylon, God calls "My servant" (Jer. 27: 5-8; Dan. 2: 37); but when he aspired to take God's place, to direct and control worship, to punish those who would not worship as he decreed, God humbled him and proud Babylon with him (Daniel, chapters 3, 4). And so in all ages the dominant ruling powers of earth are God's servants to restrain evil and prevent incivility, but not to aid religion or to coerce conscience in any way. And when the powers of Europe revolted against the tyranny of the Vatican authority, they again justified it all by perpetuating the Church-and-State system in another form. It matters not how good the men, how mild the system at first, it logically and inevitably leads to evil. The first step means the second, and the second the third, until the last step is taken, and Jesus Christ is again mocked, maltreated, and put to death in the persons of His saints.
Thus far we have the following heads to the great Babylonian system: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Pagan Rome, Papal Rome, Pago-Protestant Governments of Europe. The future heads will be considered in our next.
The Day of Pentecost
By W. M. Healey
By W. M. Healey
THE Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured upon the disciples at Jerusalem, and great power was given them to preach the Gospel, was a wonderful day in the history of the church.
The advocates of Sunday observance often point to the Day of Pentecost for a reason why the first day of the week should be kept sacredly as a Sabbath. They argue something like this: (1) The Holy Spirit fell with great power on the church on the Day of Pentecost. (2) This Pentecost came on the first day of the week. Conclusion: The first day of the week should be kept as a day of rest and worship.
If both premises were true, there is nothing in them to warrant the conclusion — absolutely nothing. There is no mention of the first day of the week, or of any day of rest. It is not said that when the first day of the week was fully come, but "when the Day of Pentecost was fully come." The whole account is about the Pentecost, and what occurred on the Day of Pentecost, and not what took place on any day of the week.
The disciples had been in Jerusalem about ten days from the ascension of Christ, waiting for the fulfilment of His promise and instruction, to remain at Jerusalem until they should receive power from the Father, and the Holy Ghost should be given them. There had already been one first day of the week passed while they were waiting, and no demonstration of power or glory occurred; and if the first day had become a day of rest and worship, it was just as much so on that first one in Jerusalem as it was on the second one.
The power was to enable them to carry the Gospel to all the world, and not to fit them for Sunday observance. Had it been simply a first-day blessing, to honor that day, it would have been removed (like the Sunday clothes) when the day was past, and restored to the church again on the next Sunday.
The Day of Pentecost did not come on any particular day of the week, but was reckoned from other feasts. In the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus is given a list of feasts that came once a year, with their sacred or sabbath days, which the thirty-eighth verse says are "beside the Sabbaths of the Lord;" that is, they have no connection with His regular weekly memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath.
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day [of the seven days' feast] ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Lev. 23:5-8.
The next day after this day of holy convocation, or sabbath of the feast, they were to wave the sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest. Verse 11.
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering: seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat-offering unto the Lord. Lev. 23:15, 16.
That Jesus was crucified on Friday is proved from the fact that it was the preparation day. Luke 23:54. The Passover had been eaten the day before, or on Thursday. Therefore the day of the crucifixion, Friday, must have been the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the day when the sheaf of the first-fruits was waved before the Lord, and a day observed as a festival sabbath. From the morrow after this sabbath they were to reckon fifty days to the Pentecost. On this occasion that "morrow after" would come on the seventh-day Sabbath, and one week would bring them to the next Friday night, the second week would end Friday night, and so on for seven weeks. Forty-nine days would end the seventh Friday night, and one day more added to make the fifty would bring the Pentecost on the weekly seventh-day Sabbath.
That the reckoning was from the ceremonial sabbath, and not from the weekly Sabbath, is proved by the statement that it was to count "from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering" (Lev. 23:15), which we have seen was the day after the ceremonial sabbath of the feast of unleavened bread. Then if any day was to be signally honored by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it was the seventh and not the first day of the week.
The Gift of the Holy Spirit
IF YE THEN, BEING EVIL, KNOW HOW TO GIVE GOOD GIFTS UNTO YOUR CHILDREN: HOW MUCH MORE SHALL YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THEM THAT ASK HIM? Luke 11: 13.
Decorative Divider
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The Atonement of Christ
By Bush
WHATEVER be the frame of our minds, and whatever service we render unto God, we are invariably to fix our thoughts on the atonement of Christ as the only means whereby our persons or our services can find acceptance with God.—Bush.
Offered Through the Eternal Spirit
By William Covert
The Birth and the Name
It is written that Christ “through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” Heb. 9: 14. In this statement is wrapped up the thought, that the eternal Spirit was the chief medium of His mighty power, and the agency of all that pertained to His sacrificial offering. And these propositions are verified by the history that has been made in His birth, His life, His death, and His living again. The entire sequel of His career, as far as it appears in the records made, shows that the power of omnipotence was directing all that was done.
How He Came
Speaking of the prospect and accomplishment of His human genesis, the angel of annunciation said to the virgin that was to give Him birth, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, . . . therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Read Luke 1: 26-35.
And this announcement agrees with the prediction of that prophet that had said, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isa. 7: 14.
The Name
The name “Immanuel,” as applied to the Child, was a symbol of the divine power He would have to deliver man from the adversary. It signified that the promised One would be possessed of Deity, and so it was interpreted as “God with us.” Matt. 1: 23. His birth is also typical of the spiritual birth for man. By incarnation, divinity can take possession of humanity, and thereby bring deliverance from the adversary. In this way we have God with us. Thus can human weakness become connected with divine strength, and by this invisible union a mighty deliverance will come.
The angel that appeared to Joseph before the holy Child was born said, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1: 21. “Jesus” was His common name among men; the name that entered into the family record, and by which He was known and called in the home where He grew up. This name appears more than six hundred times in the Gospels and the book of Acts; while in the epistles it is, if used, in most instances associated with His official title as “Jesus Christ,” the “Lord Jesus Christ.” But the angel said the name “Jesus” was to be given Him, “for He shall save His people from their sins.”
His Royal Title
“Messiah” of the Old Testament and “Christ” in the New Testament is the official appellation of the Saviour. It denotes His kingly authority and mediatorial work as associate ruler with God. David, in prediction speaking for the Lord, said: “The rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed. . . . Yet have I set My King [anointed] upon My holy hill of Zion.” Ps. 2: 2, 6.
Of his position and priestly work upon the throne jointly with the Lord of Hosts the prophet Zechariah wrote, “Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord: . . . and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between Them both.” Chapter 6: 12, 13. This position and work make Him a royal priest and king. He is also called “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” (Rev. 19: 16); and He Himself has said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Matt. 28: 18. Yet the greatest name by which He is known is JESUS. Blessed name is this! He it is who saves, and He it is who keeps. His title as Lord and as King gives Him position and royal honors, but His blessed nature is that which makes Him dear to all. His sweet humility, His unselfish soul, His blessed gentleness, were characteristics that made Him great. “Thy gentleness hath made Me great.” Ps. 18: 35. “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” No height nor depth, neither title nor fame, can ever eclipse or dim the blessed name given by the angel before His humble appearance at Bethlehem. O, that wonderful greatness of humility born! That dignified gentleness through the eternal Spirit made Him strong. Our salvation is made sure through the reception of this same blessed greatness.
His name gives the believer access to God's grace and inheritance with the family of heaven. John 14: 13, 14; Eph. 3: 14, 15. It is the name in which man prays; and through this name the Father sends the eternal Spirit to comfort His children and to teach them all the lessons they should know. John 14: 26. They obtain by asking, and find by seeking. And all these things are done through the only name given under heaven whereby men can be saved; for there is salvation in no other name. Acts 4: 12.
Our Bible Reading
Man as a Sinner
NOTE.—Our last Bible reading was “Man as Created.” He came from the hands of his Creator a perfect physical being, a perfect mental machine, a perfect candidate for immortality. Had he proved faithful he would have formed an incorruptible character, and the incorruptible character would have demanded an immortal man; but he failed. The choice rested with him, and he made the wrong choice. Choosing righteousness, he would have chosen life; choosing his own way, which is always a perversion of God's way, he chose sin and death.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Rom. 7: 7.
The ten commandment law is the only law which declares, “Thou shalt not covet.”
3. When man sinned, to what did he become subject?
In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen. 2: 17.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Rom. 5: 12.
4. In what condition did this leave man?
Having no hope, and without God in the world. Eph. 2: 12.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Rom. 3: 23.
5. Is it not possible for man to help others to salvation?
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. Ps. 49: 7.
6. In what alone, then, is the hope of the sinner?
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3: 16.
The Bright Side
There is many a rest in the road of life,
If we only would stop to take it;
And many a tone from the better land,
If the querulous heart would wake it!
To the sunny soul that is full of hope,
And whose beautiful trust ne'er faileth,
The grass is green and the flowers are bright,
Tho the wintry storm prevaileth.
Better to hope tho the clouds hang low,
And to keep the eyes still lifted;
For the sweet blue sky will soon peep through,
When the ominous clouds are rifted.
There was never a night without a day,
Nor an evening without a morning;
And the darkest hour, as the proverb goes,
Is the hour before the dawning.
There is ever a gem in the path of life
Which we pass in our idle pleasure,
That is richer far than the jeweled crown
Or the miser's hoarded treasure:
It may be the love of a little child,
Or a mother's prayer to Heaven,
Or only a beggar's grateful thanks
For a cup of water given.
Better to weave in the web of life
A bright and golden filling,
And do God's will with a ready heart,
And hands that are swift and willing,
Than to snap the delicate, slender threads
Of our curious lives asunder,
And then blame Heaven for the tangled ends,
And sit and grieve and wonder.
— Anonymous.
