Fruitful in every good work. — COL. i. 10. ACTION! - not that of the soldier fired with conquest, but of the merchantman, cool in brain, shrewd in judgment, augmenting invested capital. 66 Occupy do business herewith "till I come." The Christian life is a service of usefulness. Gratuitously, every believer receives his "pound," then comes responsibility! An orthodox creed and a passive life may join hands. The mere culture of moods does as little for the soul as for the stock-market. Saved by faith, we must live by works! Duty slurred over robs the gospel of its power and the disciple of his reward! To occupy, we must have knowledge. My successful business friend knows what he is about. He who negotiates for God must know God's word! Buoyant feelings are indispensable. The worried man falls out of the commercial arena. To win laurels in traffic, one must likewise curb his passions with bits of steel and reins of raw hide. "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself." We must die to the flesh to live to usefulness! Behold, moreover, the steadfastness of duty. "Occupy ' not till acclaim ceases or health loses its grip, but "till I come!" eth to the end shall be saved!" "He that endur Alfred H. Moment. Go, labor on, spend and be spent, Shall not the servant tread it still? H. BONAR. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. - JOHN V. 25. WHO carried from our homes. Their HO are the dead? Alas, we know but too well! Some dust lies beneath the grass and the flowers in the cemetery. Their images haunt tenderly our memories. Their influence is woven, in many a golden thread, into our characters and lives. But these are not "the dead" of whom our Lord here speaks. He has reference to those who are "dead while they live," "dead in trespasses and sins," who have no perception of, or love for, or interest in, spiritual things, who do not "live unto God." Even heathen have had some perception of the possibility of spiritual death, present as well as future. "What," said Socrates to his disciples, "what if some of those around us were already dead souls!" It is a terrible thought that even in the midst of the life and beauty of the world, over a vast multitude of souls "death reigns," and corruption is creeping. It may be that we ourselves are spiritually dead, or little better. But "the hour cometh," it is not far away, it "now is," for the dead to arise. Already it is the resurrection morn. Even now the Son of God is calling, and all around us men are coming to life. "Now is the day of salvation." "They who hear shall live." But how can the dead hear? Because he who speaks to Lazarus at the same time gives him the power to hear, and to obey, and to "come forth." O thou who art "the Resurrection and the Life," dispose us to hear thy voice and awake from spiritual death to life eternal ! John E. Todd. Oh, let the dead now hear thy voice! J. WESLEY (Translation). God was manifest in the flesh. — 1 TIM. iii. 16. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. — JOHN xiv. 10. HE words and works of Christ were the words and THEO of God. We need not wait to prove the his toric miracles which Christ wrought upon men's bodies. We have three greater miracles of his before us to-day, his matchless character, his matchless words, his matchless influence, the miracle of a character too unique to be invented, too pure and mighty to be human; the miracle of teachings that the world's wisest men have almost universally admitted to be not only unequalled, but unapproached; the miracle of an influence upon individuals and nations greater than has been exerted by any other person that ever walked the earth. These present, indisputable evidences show that Christ is able as well as willing to save me and to save the world. Christianity is a science, not a dream, because it is established in part, like law and history, upon abundant and reliable testimony; in part, like gravitation and the roundness of the earth upon a proved hypothesis that alone includes and harmonizes all the facts; in part, like medicine and chemistry, upon experiments and experience. No hypothesis but that of Christianity explains how an unlettered carpenter of Nazareth has become the best known, the most beloved, and the most obeyed of any being "that e'er wore earth about him." But there is yet stronger evidence in experience. "Come and see!" Wilber F. Crafts. Show us thyself, for seeing thee R. M. OFFord. Your labour is not in vain in the Lord. - I COR. XV. 58. Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. - MATT. XXV. 21. pal and constant. Goh OD has the highest possible claim to our services, and No peculiarity of natural endowment, great or small, nor diversity of opportunity or means of doing good, works any change in the matter of personal responsibility. All power and means of doing good are the gift of God, and to meet our obligations all must be consecrated to his services. Christ teaches us that the grandest possibilities are wrapped up in every human life; that by the right improvement of the talents given, be they ten or one, we shall by and by become rulers over many things and enter into the joy of our Lord; that constant devotion to God is the true philosophy of a successful life: "For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Happy then the man who recognizes the will of God as the rule of his every-day life. It may, it will, require sacrifice, possible suffering, and failure in many worldly enterprises and prospects, but fidelity to God is assured success. To the faithful servant of God triumph is not far off. To-day improve the talents given; to-morrow the Master will say, "Well done," for the "Judge standeth at the door." Math Staple Oh, may I, no longer dreaming, H. BONAR. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. ROMANS X. 4. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. MATT. v. 17, 18. HOW comforting are these words, which form a part of the the great principles of his kingdom! He founded redemption upon law as revealed to Moses and the prophets. Christianity thus stands upon the bed-rock of revelation as made before Christ; and the living Church, by its very existence, confirms every "jot and tittle" of the Old Testament. Law is love working out the eternal plan of God; its supreme, serene dominion over all things, material and spiritual, is the eternal repose of the universe. The gospel did indeed displace the types and shadows of the ceremonial only to reveal the grandeur of the moral law, as sunrise dispels the mists only to disclose more clearly the mountains, standing in all their rugged strength. There can in the nature of things be no redemption without law, no mercy without justice, no pardon without a stable throne; only a sound ship can save the wrecked. But Christ's expiatory death exalted the law. God incarnate added to it a glory impossible to be derived from the legal obedience or sufferings of mere creatures. The cross shows the granite foundations of the divine government in greater massiveness than they had before been seen. The heavenly hosts rejoice in obedience, as the planets in their swift courses. Grace and law are parts of the same complete sphere. All the redeemed sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Same 2. Boardman. But, fixed for everlasting years, SIR ROBERT GRANT. |