Sin and Love.

Sin put into man's heart the thought Sin and Love. of man becoming God into God's heart the thought of God becoming man. Man's thought culminates in the coming Antichrist- "the man of sin . . . the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God," whose end is to be "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

God's thought ends in Christ, who, after having humbled Himself down, down to death, even the death of the cross, returns upon "a white horse . . . His eyes as a flame of fire, and on His head many crowns . . . and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies of heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. . . . And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OP LORDS."

Reader, it is better to be filled with God's thought than with man's, even if it bring present humiliation and suffering.

"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God." John 11:4.

Yet, Lazarus did die. What then does the Lord mean to convey in that expression? It is this:The dying of Lazarus was not simply to end his life here, but for a special purpose, that of proving that Christ was the resurrection as well as the life; that at His presence not only death cannot take place, but the dead must rise. None died in His presence during His ministry here, and the dead to whom He drew near came to life again. He is both the resurrection and the life, and all His dead saints have this special honor put upon them, that they will manifest both these glories of our Saviour, whilst those living at the time of His coming again will only manifest one. It was well worth the pain of going through death therefore.

"The word of God is quick and powerful." Heb. 4:12.

"I cannot better compare the state I have been in since I left the path of truth and rectitude than to that of the hell-fire which awaits the unrepentant. Every time I opened the Bible, it condemned me. Not even a few verses could I read without coming upon something which threw my soul into torment. The last thing was a psalm which I was asked to read. Two verses in the middle of it smote me in such a fashion that I could not proceed. I ceased altogether to open the book, and even avoided the places where it was used. "

Such was the language recently of one who was unburdening his soul, and seeking afresh the face of God. As we listened to it all, the thought came forcibly to mind, What other book in all the world could do this ? What other book is thus alive, and able to speak with power irresistible to the inmost parts of man's moral being ? It is the word of the living God, which in the end will break the man who refuses to bend to it in the beginning.

But it does vastly more:When it has subjected the will, it blesses, cheers, feeds the soul; it tranquilizes it, fills it with holy peace, and sets it aglow with love and hope.

O Book of books, before which all other books must bow, either as the angels of light or as the demons of darkness, before the throne of its Author!