p. 7 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 8. (2/20/1907)

CONSCIENCE AND ITS PLACE

By Prof. J. A. L. DERBY

In Three Parts: “Conscience;” “Cause of Unbelief;” “Thinketh No Evil.”

I. CONSCIENCE.

THE word “conscience” does not appear in the Old Testament; it is found thirty times in the New. The former fact illustrates how God can do His work in man, or any other work, for that matter, by means for which man has no name, or different names. There can be no question, especially when we read such records as the thirty-eighth and fifty-first Psalms, that conscience was quite as active under the old dispensation as under the new.

This conclusion is likewise reenforced by a study of the basis of conscience. Conscience is universal, and, therefore, has a universal foundation. A brief consideration of this strange power of the mind may not be useless.

Conscience Is Primarily a Feeling.

It is uniform thruout the human race. But what do we mean by uniform?—That it tells all men what actions or thoughts are right in themselves—objectively? Not at all. One man bows down to an idol, or subjects himself to a penance; the Hindu mother throws her child to crocodiles; the suttee burns herself on her husband’s pyre; the devotee of Juggernaut is crushed beneath the wheels of his car; the devout Catholic prays to the virgin Mary: all are results of conscience, or may be. On the other hand, the consciences of others lead them to abhor all the actions just mentioned. Yet the function of conscience was and is uniform in all. It is the same in one particular, and one only—it commands to do right. But what is right it does not and can not of itself determine. Why?—Because it is a feeling and not intellect. It gets its information from the latter. It makes its decisions in accordance with what by the aid of our evidence we judge to be right or wrong. What we think to be right may be diametrically contrary to the will of God, as the actions noted above, yet conscience will command us to do them if they constitute all the light we have. If we know no better, this powerful monitor gives us no alternative. Thus we are brought to the important question,

Is It Right to Disregard Conscience?

Must the heathen perform his barbarous and often cruel rites? He has no guide but conscience, and this says, “Do it or sin.” As surely as conscience is the highest monitor he knows, so surely must sin lie at his door unless he obey. What? Offer human sacrifice, perhaps, or sin?—Ay, so great is his need of Gospel light. This is not a mere logical dilemma; it is the teaching of Scripture. Let us study the whole matter as the Bible reveals it.

Love

is the essence of all God has commanded. Matt. 22:34-40. In this scripture love to God and love to man are not two different things; they are simply two different manifestations of the same thing. The reduction to a single principle is further made in the Golden Rule: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Here love to man is made the sole test. The reason is that no one can love his fellow men unless he does love God. Love of God is immortal in love of man. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John 4:20. “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10.

But what is love?—It is self-surrender for the service of universal well-being. This is what it is, tho the few that follow its law have ever defined it. Definition is practically quite unnecessary.

Now it is certain that even the heathen have the light of this law. To this Paul refers in Rom. 2:14, 15: “For when the Gentiles, which have not the [written] law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the [written] law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.”

Of course the heathen know not the details of this law. They do not, for instance, know that the observance of the seventh day is required by it. All they have is the intent of the law—its principle or essence—love, in the sense of an impulse toward justice and kindness. Thus God has “left not Himself without a witness.” In other words, God has placed in every man a sense of the eternal fitness of what reason approves.

Conscience Enforces Reason.

It is the feeling that the reasonable is right. It is a sense of oughtness, which arises in connection with what our best judgment affirms to be proper in thought, word, or action. In our dealings with our fellow men it comes in a dumb appeal to put ourselves in our neighbor’s place and see how we should like the treatment we accord him. It is not strange, therefore, that Confucius, or any other thoughtful pagan philosopher, should discover the golden rule.

It is this living up to one’s light that Paul is talking about in Romans 14. The chapter is too long to be discussed here in detail, but all who have puzzled over it will be glad for this suggestion, and will turn and read it anew. Charity on the part of those that are broadly informed toward those that are less enlightened is the essence of the chapter. All any man can do is to live in accordance with the evidence he has. To do otherwise is to throw the whole mental and spiritual life into anarchy.

What, then, when we feel that the evidence is not complete? “He that doubteth is damned if he eat.” Conscience must always have the benefit of the doubt. He that doubteth is condemned if he do any doubtful thing.

This chapter is especially interesting because of its unique implied definition of faith. “He that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Here “faith” can mean nothing but full, free, and perfect conviction, in view of all the information, evidence, light, attainable. The question is not, Can the thing be proved to be wrong? but, Are you clearly convinced that it is right? Conviction is an affair of evidence, which no doubt may be even a divinely-given impression. But religion of impression is too likely to be religion of emotion, and is an exceedingly dangerous sort. But conviction, of whatever sort, is an affair of evidence; evidence is an affair of reason and judgment; reason and judgment are an affair of honesty of heart, love of truth, sincerity of purpose. There is no escape from the conclusion that a man must, from the moral standpoint, do what his conscience demands, even tho it be murder. To state it with the bold, blunt addition of this last clause quite shocks one’s first ideas; but if we content ourselves with the “glittering generality” of the first clause, omitting the specific illustration, we shall command undivided assent. Still the illustration in no way changes the principle. “Whatsoever is not of faith [any failure to live up to one’s light] is sin.”

Let us notice this principle in connection with Paul’s experience. Paul was simply following his “good conscience” when he consented unto the death of the early Christians, giving his vote in favor of it, and holding the raiment of those that stoned the first martyr. There has been much misunderstanding of the apostle’s case. It has been thought that the words addressed to him at the time of the celestial vision on the way to Damascus referred to Paul’s conscience: “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” The simple fact is, this has no reference to Paul’s conscience at all. Years after this we hear him saying, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” This was not an oratorical or rhetorical trick. It was the plain truth. Paul never allowed himself to have a bad conscience even when he “persecuted this way unto the death.” He was always perfectly honest and sincere. But he was so encased in his shell of bigotry that God Himself could crack it only with a revelation.

“‘To kick against the goad’ (Revised Version) does not imply, or remotely suggest the presence in his mind of compunction or inward opposition to the work in which he was engaged. It was a proverbial expression, signifying that he was embarked in a futile enterprise, one that would not avail to crush the cause of Christ, but would, the longer he persevered in it, harm himself the more. The metaphor was taken from the conflict

of oxen with the driver behind them, and their vain attempt to resist him by kicking against the goad.”—G. P. Fisher, “Manual of Christian Evidences,” p. 100.

Paul lived always up to all his light, for he labored always to have a “conscience void of offense.” His murdering of Christians was pardoned, “because,” as he declares, “I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” 1 Tim. 1:13. It may be that such works as Paul wrought are included in the kind mentioned in 1 Cor. 3:15: “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” But to decide that is not the present purpose.

Now while it is certain one is morally obliged to follow his light,—which depends on his information,—no matter what it requires, there is the further certainty that God will not long leave in ignorance of His will one who is honestly living up to his opportunities. Let a man live in densest heathenism, slavishly offering service to his fetish, if he honestly strive to live up to the best he knows, God has pledged Himself to see to it that such a one shall be led into a knowledge of Christian truth. 2 Chron. 16:9. The fact probably is, however, that with no other incentive than an ill-informed conscience, the motives for right-doing are too weak to be the actuating motive of very many of the heathen. The real inspiration of heathen rites seems to be fear. Heb. 2:14, 15.

We are not, therefore, relieved of our responsibility toward the heathen. A proper understanding of the subject of conscience accentuates that responsibility. How happy and how thankful to us an honest-hearted pagan would be if we were the means of delivering him from the bondage of his superstitions! But, after all, what is the difference between such a one, living up to the best he knows, and a civilized Christian? Just a difference in information, merely a question of degree. Who knows but in God’s sight we are as imperfect as is the heathen in ours? And yet both may be equally accepted. “To his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand,” notwithstanding his lack of information and his “weak” conscience.

Thus summarizing, we conclude:

That conscience must always be obeyed.
That actions we think right will depend upon our information.
That we feel we ought to do things which are in reality wrong.
That a dishonest (wicked) heart is responsible for an unenlightened conscience.
That, in view of all this, there is laid upon us the most solemn responsibility to grow, not only in grace but in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as exhorted by the apostle Peter, in the last verse of his second epistle.
That the word of God should be our constant study and meditation.
That since conscience must work with such material as it has, and the heathen have practically no proper material, we are under obligation to supply them with the motives, inspiration, enlightenment, and help, afforded by the Bible.

SUBMISSION TO THE SIN-CONDEMNING WORD VERSUS CEREMONIALISM.

By W. A. Alway

THERE has ever been a tendency on the part of mankind to trust in the performance of a succession of set ceremonies or church rites for salvation, rather than the constant inflow of the divine life by a sincere submission to the full demands of the sin-condemning word of God. Read Isa. 1:11-18.

It is so much more in harmony with the dictates of the fleshly desires than to surrender the cherished appetites and lusts of the flesh everywhere required by the word of God. 1 John 2:15-17; Gal. 5:24. If, for example, the impure, blasphemous, or intemperate man can feel assured that thru submission to the set forms of the Gospel, administered by one who has, thru some equally legal method, obtained unrestricted authority to execute these saving rites, he may secure absolution from the guilt and penalties of his sins, he is inclined to choose it as a possible means of escape from the necessity of the daily crucifixion of these propensities. For, if it be conceded that to certain men has been delegated unlimited authority to administer certain ordinances possessing inherent saving power, it is clear that when these ordinances have been administered by these men, then salvation is insured to the sinner. And when all these ceremonies have been fully performed, then salvation has been fully realized, and since salvation is in, and realized thru, the ceremony, it necessarily follows that he who believes that will ever point to their performance as the witness of his acceptance with God.

When Only Ordinances Are of Worth.

Is it, therefore, conclusive evidence that I am right with God, or that I am accepted by Him as His child, because I am able to point to a complete round of church rites which I have performed, even tho they are in exact accord with the Scriptures, and administered by one whom I believe to be sent of God? I fully believe it is not; for it is not in the performance of a few selected ceremonies, even tho they are right, that I obtain life, but by submission to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Ordinances have no saving value only as they become the test of the submission of the soul to the sovereign word of God. The Gospel ceremonies are given not to be the end of obedience, but as the beginning of a life of obedience. They stand as a public testimony that I have renounced the "hidden works of darkness," and have been renewed in the spirit of true holiness unto the "obedience of faith," not in respect to a few rites of the church only, but in the forsaking of the world with its sinful lusts. With the poet I will say:

“Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my life, my soul, my all.”

Divinely-Appointed Ceremonies

are of great importance when used as their Author intended, but when magnified to take the place of the “weightier matters” of the law, they become a snare to the soul. Ceremonial obedience, so far from being the test of a godly life, is itself dependent upon the conformation of moral rectitude in the life, in order to save it from the stigma of hypocrisy. A man may submit to all the ordinances of the Gospel from insincere or selfish motives, but no man can choose the pathway of daily crucifixion to self with its fascinating lusts, pleasures, and affections and not possess a true allegiance to God.

Mere Form an Abomination.

In Isa. 1:11-18 we have a graphic portrayal of ceremonial righteousness without this accompanying proof of its genuineness. Altho all these forms and ceremonies in which Israel was participating were divinely appointed, yet Jehovah declares them all to be an abomination to Him, which could not be endured. Said He, “Your hands are full of blood,” and with all their ceremonial exactness they were moral lepers, whose defilement could alone be washed away by living faith and submission to the precious promise, “Tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Verse 18.

So with the Pharisees in the time of Christ. They were exceedingly particular in respect to ceremonial purity. Circumcision, divers washings,—all that God Himself had required, with a multitude of ceremonies of their own devising,—these external signs of their relationship to God they observed with great care. When pressed hard by the burning messages of reproof for sin and moral weakness from the lips of Christ, they would point to their fleshly relation to Abraham. Did they not bear in their flesh the unmistakable evidence that they were his children, and therefore were not “in bondage to any man.”

Dear reader, if you have ever been tempted to hide a deformed life of moral weakness behind this fig-leaf of ceremonial righteousness or church membership, then mark well the reply of Christ: “If ye were Abraham’s children,

Ye Would Do the Works

of Abraham; but now ye seek to kill Me; . . . this did not Abraham. . . . Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” John 8:39-44.

“He that committeth sin is of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.

The Seal that Guards

the unfailing foundation of the kingdom of God is composed of two parts. 2 Tim 2:19. The first infallible evidence is “the Lord knoweth them that are His.” This is the Lord’s part. Man has ever been desirous of knowing and doing that which it is the Lord’s prerogative to know and do. In attempting to decide this difficult question and make it possible for man to know who are the Lord’s, men have often transferred the primary proof of man’s relation to God from an internal to an external basis, from the spiritual and moral which is measured by the motives of the soul and known only to God, to the ceremonial which is incorrectly measured by the exactness of outward forms. This perversion of God’s arrangement was well illustrated in the Jewish nation at the time of Christ. They had transformed the fleshly rite or ceremony of circumcision given to Abraham as an outward sign or seal of the righteousness which he already had, yet being not circumcised (Rom. 4:9-11), into that very righteousness itself. They then proceeded to condemn as dogs all outside of the ceremonial line.

But Paul makes clear how impotent was their trust in circumcision while lacking that inward conformity to the moral precepts of God, when he said: “For circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law; but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision [or God-appointed ceremonies] is made uncircumcision.” Thus it is clearly seen that divinely-appointed ceremonies are valuable only as they are the external witnesses of a life in harmony with the character of God or His divine law.

This brings us to the second or

Man's Part of the Seal,

by which we may be confident that “the foundation of God standeth sure.” If I were to ask one who relies upon a code of set ceremonies how he knows that he is in the only right way of salvation, I would doubtless receive the following answer: “Why, I don’t believe, I simply know that I am in the right way; for I have been baptized by one holding the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood, and have had hands laid on me for the reception of the Holy Ghost.” But I do not find this evidence as a part of the seal described by Paul. “Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” The evidence, dear reader, of your union with a sin-hating God is the willingness on your part to separate from the revealed sins of your life. Are you in secret league with self, pride, lust, avarice, blasphemy, worldly pleasure? Would it take almost the crash of doom to shake you loose from the lusts of this world? If so, then, tho you were baptized a thousand times by an angel from heaven, yet would your iniquity remain in its deepest crimson dye.

GOD KNOWS.

By A. J. McDougall

I WILL not murmur when small things go wrong, When plans of mine, long cherished, weaken, fall; When hushed upon my lips is life’s glad song! When joys long sought have vanished past recall— God knows—God knows.

I will not weakly weep the hours away, Tho Marah’s waters flow around my feet, Tho life’s fair sky be shadowed leaden gray, Tho rue be mine instead of roses sweet— God knows—God knows.

I will not drop from weary hands, toil-worn, The task unfinished, tho a burden sore; Tho earth’s fair pleasures from my grasp be torn, Tho sorrow’s keenest pain my cup brim o’er— God knows—God knows. —A. J. McDougall.

THE GREAT SALVATION

By Geo. W. Reaser

By GEO. W. REASER.

THE WORLD TO COME.

Hope of a Permanent Gain.

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

ONE of the chief inspiring motives to mankind to endure hardships, deprive themselves of comforts, luxuries, and congenial companionship for a period of time, is the hope of permanent gain in the end, both to themselves and to those who are dear to them. Many have imperiled their lives and toiled unceasingly, denying themselves all comforts, and even the essentials to healthful living; have exiled themselves from friends and fondest companions, in eager quest of golden treasure, that they might return and join their loved ones and enjoy the comforts and luxuries which wealth is able to secure.

"Gold many hunted—sweat and bled for gold; Waked all the night, and labored all the day."

Multitudes have boldly challenged death upon the battle-field, for the protection of their homes, the preservation of freedom and of happiness. Admitting the universal principle of present endurance of hardship for future weal, we find that this incentive enters into the experience of even the children of God. While it is true, and freely conceded, that the highest inspiring motive to live to the glory of God is love (prompted by the deepest sense of gratitude which it is possible for the human heart to experience), and from the desire to be right and do right for the pure love of that which is right; to be loyal to God because it is the essence of all right being and doing to be loyal to Him; to live by principle, because it is the only true ideal of living, and because anything short of this is injustice to our fellow mortals as well as to ourselves; yet the very fact of living in a world made imperfect by sin, where pain, death, destruction, sad partings, and tearful eyes are everywhere distressingly present, causes the human heart to reach out after, and to joyfully grasp

The Hope of a Better Condition.

a perfect world, a sinless, woless, painless, tearless, and, best of all, a deathless state. The natural desire of every heart is for a permanent home, a place of undisturbed peace, of alarmless safety, of unalloyed happiness, of unbroken friendships.

How forcefully is this thought expressed by the sacred writer, when he says: "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed [die], but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travailith in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope."

It is not death, the condition of being "unclothed," that the members of the human family long for, but, as long as we possess mortal flesh, subject to pain, sickness, sorrow, and death, there will be a natural longing to be "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven," to possess immortality.

The Blessed Hope.

It is probable that not a single member of the human family would endure the fierce struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, which, successfully fought, will insure to the victor eternal life, were it not for that "blessed hope," which is "an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast," and which also constitutes "the helmet of salvation." To this hope God has given all possible strength, being "willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, [He] confirmed it with an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."

To further assure us of the stability and eternal reality of this hope, which is made to us in and thru Christ, He has given us "the first-fruits of the Spirit," the earnest, pledge, or partial payment in advance, of the full possession. By this means we have a sweet foretaste of the things which "eye hath not seen," and of which "ear hath not heard," but which are reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by His power "thru faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." This hope will not vanish or fade away at the moment when we are ready to possess it,—as the entrancing lake continually recedes from the approach of the weary and thirsty desert traveler,—for it is incorruptible, a living reality.

Abraham and His Seed.

Many centuries ago, God made promise of all this to Abraham, who knew full well that its glorious fulfilment was not contemplated by the Giver in this present life, but nevertheless he received the promise, saw it afar off, embraced it, "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," and "confessed that he was a stranger and a pilgrim in the earth." All who wholly accept Christ are partakers with Abraham in this promise, for, says the Saviour, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Again it is written, "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." If God should bring "the father of the faithful" forth from the tomb, and not have this home, with its grand capital city, in readiness

for him and his "seed,"—thru Christ, —He would be ashamed to be called the God of Abraham; but no blush of shame will come to the face of the loving Father, "for He hath prepared for them a city."

This promise to Abraham embraced the whole earth, purified, cleansed from all sin, and redeemed from every effect of the curse, for it is written that "the promise" was "that he should be heir of the world." Instead of disappointing him and the redeemed who are heirs with him of the same promise, in any particular, in all respects, the actual possession of that which God has in store for His children will far transcend in beauty and glory our most vivid imaginations, and will exceed the utmost longings of the soul as the glory of the rising sun surpasses the shining of the silver moon. With all this in prospect, and fully assured to us by Him who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will," we can, with the apostle, safely "reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

His Coming and the Resurrection.

But this hope can not be realized by God’s people who are resting in their graves, awaiting the life-giving voice of the Son, without a general resurrection of the righteous; nor by the living saints who are to be translated without tasting death at the "revelation of Jesus Christ," without a reunion with their loved ones who are "sleeping in Jesus." Hence the hope of all the true Israel of God has always been centered in this glorious event,—the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the righteous dead—when that creative power will be exercised which formed man in the beginning, and by which both the resurrected and translated are immortalized. Concerning this living hope, I quote the following

Words of Inspiration:

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept."

"If a man die, shall he live again?"

"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."

"But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

"Jesus said unto her [Martha], I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in Me, tho he were dead, yet shall he live."

"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living."

"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death."

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction."

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

With the joyful estate of the redeemed in the "world to come" realized, the numerous words expressive of the ills, woes, and sorrows of humanity in this present life, will have no place in the vocabulary of heaven. They will have become forever obsolete with the passing of this vale of tears, for there sorrow will be turned into rejoicing, weeping into innocent mirth, anguish to gladness of heart, grief to fulness of joy, distress to happiness, tears to smiles. Loneliness here will be lost in blissful companionship there; weariness will be forgotten in sweet repose; broken hearts will be healed, no more to be pierced thru with many sorrows; the thirsty will slake their thirst at the river of life, flowing full, free, and refreshing from the throne; the hungry will partake of the tree of life and be satisfied.

MISSING THE MARK.

By New York Observer

SIN is the translation of a New Testament word signifying literally the missing of a mark. This suggests that other familiar word of Latin derivation, “transgression,” which denotes a stepping over a bound, or limit, somewhat in the manner of a trespasser.

It is perfectly evident that there is in the world a great deal of missing of the mark. The marks are of all kinds, and they are set by various hands, and for various purposes.

Man has his little marks everywhere. Many of these are the mere arbitrary chalk lines drawn here or there at the instance of an arbitrary whim, but some are goals and bounds set at the further end of life’s race-courses to incite the ardent runner to the utmost efforts to obtain the coveted prizes there bestowed. Many, alas! quite miss the mark in life, stumble and fall in the race, or wander off from the arena altogether. Failures are numerous, misfits are observable everywhere. Humanity finds difficulty in keeping itself up to regulation standard, even when the form is simply that of a social etiquette, a conventional morality, or of current ethics.

There is a mark which vastly transcends these petty by-laws and “do’s” and “don’t’s” of men, tho it may include some of them, and that is the law of a Sinaitic holiness, the pure prescription of the absolutely righteous commandment of Jehovah. When now it is man’s little mark that is missed, we call it “bad form,” or a “great mistake,” or perhaps a “misdemeanor,” which is the word of the statute books. But when it is God’s great mark of holiness that is missed, there is no term for it but that little, awful monosyllable, “sin,” compact with infinite terrors, fraught with endless consequences, which is the word of the Bible. Sin brings in the idea of a wrong committed against God, of an offense which is not a contempt of court in the earthly sense, but which strikes at Heaven, a crime against the Creator, a failure to attain the goal of that perfection on which God rightfully insists.

There are many earthly marks and standards of which, if a man fail, no great harm is done. The emphasis, after all, is not on man’s mark and man’s prize, but on God’s high, shining mark of holiness. None can afford to miss that mark. To miss that mark is sin. To continue to miss it is eternal condemnation.

No life can be a failure that meets the demands of the divine law thru the merits and grace of the Son of God, but human speech can not describe the terror of disappointment and remorse which is certain to pursue those who, in the presence of all God’s pleas and promises, deliberately and steadily miss the mark of His will.

Moreover, this terror deepens into keenest anguish as he who misses the mark of the divine will realizes that not only does God not will his failure, but, rather, desires his success in reaching the mark. Does God not indeed, stand ready to give him power to become a child of God? While it is true that God warned Israel that the sinning soul must die, He also told Israel, when he persisted in sinning, that he was self-destroyed.

PEACE, PERFECT PEACE.

By Edward Henry Bickersteth

PEACE, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin! The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed? To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away? In Jesus’ keeping we are safe and they.

Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown? Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.

Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours? Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.

It is enough; earth’s struggles soon shall cease, And Jesus call us to heaven’s perfect peace. —E. H. Bickersteth.

OUR ADAPTABLE ENEMY.

SATAN is never fastidious. Any way of gaining his end is good enough for him. He is not particular how he enters your life, so long as he gets in. And he never lets his feelings stand in the way of his success. You may knock him down nine times, but he does not bear that up against you if you will let him score on the tenth. Indeed, one half suspects that the devil lets himself get beaten sometimes for the express purpose of throwing his man off his guard.

We are always in danger from him, and most of all after a victory. The gain of a whole series of victories may be wiped out for us by a single disastrous and unexpected defeat. The outlook would be a discouraging one, but for the fact that One is fighting on our side, with us and for us, who has never yet been defeated or even tricked by the devil, and who never will be. Only when we desert that Ally do we fall.—Selected.

"COME."

It is wonderful what a word or two can accomplish. I realized this as I heard of an old man, recently, who had a special liking for the word "Come." The reason was that this little word had led him to Christ.

It happened on this wise: He was but a child when he lost his parents. A kindly aunt adopted the little fellow, to bring him up, but she did not find the right way. On the Sabbath she would say to him, "John, go to meeting;" or when a missionary came and lectured about his work among the heathen, she said, "Go, and hear him."

But John usually felt no great desire to do so, and then she called him a wicked boy. Thus he grew up to manhood without any taste for the word of God.

But there came a change, when a faithful, godly wife—his Mary—stood by his side. How did it come about? In a very simple manner: When Sabbath came, Mary said to her John, "John, come, I would like to hear a sermon to-day; come along, I am sure you, too, will like it."

On Wednesday evening, she often said, "John, I see you are very tired, but to-night is prayer-meeting, how nice it would be for us to attend. Come, let us go; you will come back so refreshed." Or, at night, after the table had been cleared off, and John was sitting in his comfortable chair, she said, "Come, John, I have a very interesting book; if you would read to me out of it, I could sew while you read."

Occasionally she would hand him her Bible, which, at their wedding, they had received as a gift to be a friend upon their life's journey, saying to him, "Come, read a chapter." John usually could not resist the wishes of his Mary, and willingly did her the favor. One night, when John read in the Gospels the text, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor," etc., he called out: "Mary, the Bible is just like you, and you are like the Bible, and now I see it all, and feel that I can believe, and that I can love it from the heart."

"John, John, this makes me unspeakably happy," said Mary, arising, and throwing her arms about his neck. "But what do you mean when you say that I am like the Book, and that you see it all?"

"You see, Mary, you are not like my aunt who raised me. She always said, 'Go.' But you say, 'Come,' and the Bible says the same. Now I see it all. You have learned your 'Come' from the Bible. This is the reason I love it now."

"John," said Mary, with shining eyes, "this is not the only 'Come' in the Bible. Everywhere you will find 'Come.'"

Taking the Bible from his hand, she opened to Isaiah 1, and read, "Come now, and let us reason together." Further she read: "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."

In the Gospel, the Lord tells those that are bidden: "Come, for all things are now ready." From the last chapter of Revelation she read: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come." "But, John," she said, turning over the leaves, "here is the best 'Come' yet, which I like best of all; may it one day be said to us both: 'Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom.'"

Mary has long since been sleeping in the grave. As often as John reads in his beloved Bible the little word "Come," it seems to him as if he hears his Mary saying, "John, come," and to his child he does not say, "Go," but, "Come." Does not the cause of many a failure in Christian training lie in the fact that too much of the training has been with "Go," and too little with "Come"?—Christlicher Hausfreund.

Continue reading: OUR EYES AND THEIR PERILS