"Therefore," says the apostle, "your boasting is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened. For also our passover, Christ, was sacrificed. Wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. " (Ver. 6-8).

There cannot be a more serious principle for the practical and public walk of the church. Evil is here presented under the symbol of leaven. Not only may it exist among saints, but its nature is to work, spread, and assimilate the mass to itself. The apostle insists that it shall never be tolerated. Here it is moral evil, in Galatians doctrinal; and of the two the latter is the more insidious, because more specious, it does not shock the conscience so immediately, or strongly, if at all. To the natural mind evil doctrine is but a difference of opinion, and the generous heart shrinks from proscribing a man for an opinion however erroneous. The church stands on wholly different ground, because it stands in Christ on high and has the Holy Ghost dwelling in it here below. No assembly can guarantee itself against the entrance of evil, but every assembly of God is bound not to tolerate it. When evil is known, the church is bound to put it away. Elsewhere we may find details in dealing with it. There are those who may be specially fitted not only to discern but to apply moral power, and they are responsible to act faithfully to Christ whose the church is. It is no question where known evil is persisted in, of exercising compassion, still less of cloaking it. This would be connivance with Satan against the Lord, and the ruin, not only of the individual already ensnared, but of the assembly.

When the assembly knows evil, and either forbears to judge through indifference, or (still worse) refuses it when appealed to according to the Word of God, it is playing false to the name of the Lord, and can no longer be regarded as God’s assembly after adequate means to arouse have failed.

I should greatly be grieved if "brethren" ceased to be an evangelizing company of Christians. Indeed, they would fade in their own spiritual standing, and probably get sectarian – not in theory, but in practice, because the enlarging principle of love would not be there. Thank God, it is not yet so. But grace alone can maintain the testimony. I confess I feel a sort of envy of those whom God has called to evangelize. My want of courage keeps me humble, but it would be better to be humble without it. But our part is to be where God calls us, and I trust I am ready to feed, if it is given me, the weakest of the flock, and count it a privilege. To souls getting peace and liberty, God has blessed me, but comparatively little in awakening, though He has also, where I have served in this way.

At the beginning, brethren were engaged (and pretty much alone) in the roughest evangelizing_-fairs, markets, regattas, and everywhere in the open air. Gatherings grew up, and the care of them became needful, though evangelizing went on and was blessed_and in a measure is, in many places. Others since have occupied the field who are really their followers under God. If even contention mix itself with us, if Christ be preached we ought to rejoice. ‘

But the care of the scattered gatherings is most precious work, not altogether neglected, but the laborers are few. There is no reason why_should not one exercise this local care for a time, and there is large room for it. If God still calls him to evangelize, he will find the craving after souls forcing him out to that work. At all times, we have to as Paul, says to Timothy, "do the work of an evangelist." Those nearer the state of the unconverted are often more apt for it. This may be imperfection, but so it is; and if they don’t go on, they grow little, and meet little the spiritual wants of these last days. Evangelizing in Christendom is different from evangelizing in heathenism. In Christendom it is necessarily separative, and hence the need of wisdom in that work; but sorry indeed should I be if it were given up. There is joy and gladness in conversions, even in heaven. But making a fuss about them, and writing up the people, I dread. God indeed bears with many things; still the feebleness of the work is felt afterwards. … I am the Lord’s servant, desiring only His will; when my work is finished, there it ends, and He will gather His own people, in which I shall rejoice in that day.

The Lord be with you and keep you near Him_humble and serving; and get more of Him than you spend in service.

"The elders which are among you I exhort, who also am an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed…….. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1st Peter 5:1-4

It is striking that here what is spoken of is not a "crown of righteousness" simply, but a "crown of glory." Righteousness shall have its own reward, but the outflow of heart towards His people, a spirit of self-sacrifice for the blessing of those so dear to Him, must receive "a crown of glory" at His hands.

The next words show that it is, after all, not an official eldership that the apostle is thinking of here, for he now turns to the younger in contrast to these, and bids them be subject unto the elder; that is, they are of course to consider their years, and what it has furnished to them and above all the ministry to which they see them devoted.

Such love carries with it true wisdom, and he who is fully devoted to the need of the saints cannot really fail to find for himself in this way the blessing of it; but all the saints are to be subject one to another. They are to gird themselves with humility in this way, humility being that which will keep everything rightly adjusted, as the girdle the robe, and which would thus enable for such activity as all are called to; for humility is a grand help against all that would search out any remnant of pride in us.

"God resisteth the proud," adds the apostle, "but giveth grace unto the humble." They were therefore to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God that He might exalt them in due time. Against the might of His hand, who can exalt himself? But He Himself is waiting and desiring to be able to exalt those who will not suffer from it; and upon such an One we may cast all our care, for He careth for us.

(Extract from "Numerical Bible," 1st Epistle of Peter.)

"And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, we have sinned:do Thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto Thee; deliver us only, we pray Thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord:and His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel."

What touching words! What tenderness! What deep compassion! How such a statement lets us into the profound depths of the heart of God! The misery of His people moved the loving heart of Jehovah.

The very faintest and earliest symptoms of brokenness and contrition, on the part of Israel, met with a ready and gracious response, on the part of Israel’s God. It mattered not how far they had wandered, how deeply they had sunk, or how grievously they had sinned; God was ever ready to welcome the feeblest breathing of a broken heart.

The springs of divine mercy and compassion are absolutely inexhaustible. The ocean of His love is boundless and unfathomable; and hence, the very moment His people take the place of confession, He enters the place of forgiveness.

He delights to pardon, according to the largeness of His heart, and according to the glory of His own Name. He finds peculiar joy in blotting out transgressions, in healing, in restoring, and blessing, in a manner worthy of Himself.

This glorious truth shines in the history of Israel; it shines in the history of the church; and it shines in the history of every individual believer.

(From "Gideon and His Companions".)

Had God left Israel to choose their path from Egypt to Canaan, they would, we may rest assured, never have chosen the way He led them. But it was His way, the right, the only right way _ a slow, tedious journey of forty years, suited to the slow, fleshly hearts of a people who required all this time, with its numerous lessons, to learn how evil they were, and how good, and patient, and holy, was their God.

And all this is a life-picture of what the history of every child of God is:a lovely beginning, full of new affections and joys; a song of praises, as the Red Sea of judgment delivers us forever from the bondage of Egypt; a delightful sense of His tabernacling Presence; and then weary marches, long and trying stops, where progress seems at an end; and even backward journeys, as if to make their hearts hopeless.

All this is to learn self, and grow sick enough of it to find that "Christ is all." What an important end this must have, to call out such dealings of our God and Father with us!

May we be in communion with Him, and thus learn our lesson in such a way as to reap at the end all He would have us reap!

(From ‘Help and Food’)

FRAGMENT "They forgot God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea….They despised the pleasant land, they believed not His word."

FRAGMENT ‘How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. "

FRAGMENT The ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them:but the transgressor shall fail therein."

(In view of the fact that at the present moment there are those who are carrying on great campaigns for healing and miracles and spectacular displays of power, it has been felt. that the following article, written over sixty years ago, might be well worth considering.)

"Newspaper reports speak of a great prophet which has risen up in Denver, Colo.; they say crowds are after him; that he heals their sick, showing mighty signs of supernatural power.

Supposing all this to be true, and no delusion or deception in it, let the Christian ever remember the warning that God has given us in His Word:If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof He spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams:for the Lord your God proveth you, to know ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’ (Deut. 13)

It is plain from this passage that mere supernatural power is not enough to prove that a man’s mission is of God. It may indeed be allowed of God to test the people who profess to be His, whether or no they will be loyal enough to Him to enquire into the doctrine of the wonder worker. What place had Jehovah in this man’s doctrine? and now we ask, what place has Christ?

Let none be surprised if workers of real signs and wonders arise here and there. The devil has much more power than men; his object is nothing less than to supplant Christ, and as the end draws near he cannot fail to put forth all his energies to reach his object; he will almost succeed; his supreme effort will produce "Antichrist." (1 John 2:18), who "doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by those miracles which he had power to do."(Revelation 13:13-14).

"What think ye of Christ?" must therefore be the final, crucial test if we seek and desire to know the mind of God as to anything that rises up _ that which alone can carry us safely through the "perilous times" of the end. And this is the more needful as many affect a growing disregard for doctrine. Little matter what a man holds, they say, as long as he does good among his fellows. But the chief mark of the power of the Spirit in a man is when he lives of "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them I never knew you:depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. 7:23-24)

Every saint who walks with God meanwhile and judges intelligently of the growing miseries of Christendom, not to speak of the world at large and of man, has love for the appearing of the Lord, as the time when He shall be exalted and we are to reign with Him, the power of Satan being publicly and effectually expelled from the earth.

"Paul admonished…, and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul." Acts 27:11

Everything possible was done to save the ship, but in vain. . . .Carried by the tempest they are cast on the island of Malta. But what is important for us is the position which the apostle occupies. All hope of escape is gone. But God now interposes, and by the means of a revelation made to Paul, revives the failing courage of the sufferers. . ..

The presence of God, and the divine knowledge he had received of what was to happen, had gained for him the confidence of all. . . .

Their salvation was to depend on God, and this had to be owned.. .. All the work had to be performed by God.

If we follow the counsels of God through His word, we shall avoid many mistakes. He can save us still when we err, but it will be through suffering and loss.

Israel refused to ascend the hill of the Amorites, and had therefore to remain thirty-eight years in the desert. Numbers 13 and Deuteronomy 1:44.

Here, Paul’s companions would not listen to his words, which were those of God, and they lost everything, except life. Their deliverance, it is evident, came from God alone, and was affected for the honour of His servant, whose words they had despised. It is always important for us to ascertain the will of God before entering any untried path. If we are assured of this, the difficulties
will be only difficulties;, and the help of God is enough to overcome them. But if we are not sure about His will, then doubt and weakness arise in the heart, because faith to count on God for help is not there, since we are not certain that the path is according to His will……..

The ship is then run aground…, and while the fore part remains fast the stern is broken by the violence of the waves.

But God is faithful to His promise… The wisdom of man went for nothing in the deliverance of the crew and the others. All had to resign themselves to God for salvation; and they were saved.

(From "Meditations on the Acts of the Apostles.)

FRAGMENT
Fierce was the wild billow; dark was the night;
Oars labored heavily; foam glimmered white;
Mariners trembled; peril was nigh;
Then said the God of might, "Peace, it is I!"

Ridge of the mountain wave, lower thy crest!
Wail of Euroclydon, be thou at rest!
Peril there none can be, sorrow must fly,
Where saith the Light of light, "Peace, it is I!”

Jesus, Deliverer! come Thou to Me!
Soothe Thou my voyaging over life’s sea;
Bid me be quiet as the storm sweeps by,
Whisper, O Truth of truth. "Peace, it is I!"

Character is to a great extent formed by the books we read. The artificial culture of the day is destroying depth and force of character. Vile and pernicious literature is wrecking the morals of the country. Noble men and women, and a pure-minded people were more general in the past than now. Mind and character are formed by the literature of the day. As to choice of books, no fixed rule can be applied. History is always instructive. Science is dangerous when it is the product of unsanctified minds. Novels, works of fiction, and semi-infidel books should never be read by Christians. Religious novels are an abomination. Never read valueless books. Shun anything that is frivolous in character.

Above all, make the Bible your daily companion. The Bible will grow in interest the more you read it and study it. It is the sufficiency of the man of God. (2 Tim. 3:16,17) Have the Bible constantly beside you, in your pocket, or at hand for constant reference. The Bible will strengthen and guide you. It will support and cheer you in a lonely hour. It will impress certainly upon your life and actions. As you study the Word of God, it will enable you to worship in the holiest, and serve in the harvest field intelligently. It will set you head and shoulders above your comrades.

L. E. Kingham 4364 Zayante Road, Felton, C

The buoyancy of youth demands a certain amount of liberty, which, if kept within godly limits, and controlled by godly principles, is all right. For our own part we have no desire to visit exhibitions. We find Christ and His interests enough for us. Besides souls are perishing and eternity is nearing, and we have neither time nor inclination to mingle with the world in admiring its toys and sharing its pleasures. The youngest believer is made independent of the world. He has in himself a well of living water_ever sparkling, perennial, and springing up for his soul’s enjoyment. (John 4:14.) Instead, too, of the world ministering to our enjoyment, we minister to its need. "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water," (John 7:38)

QUITE SUDDENLY – it may be
At the turning of a lane,
Where I stand to watch a skylark
From out the swelling grain.
That the trump of God shall thrill me,
With its call so loud and clear.
And I’m called away to meet Him,
Whom of all I hold most dear.

QUITE SUDDENLY – it may be in His House
I bend my knee,
When the Kingly Voice, long-hoped for,
Comes at last to summon me;
And the fellowship of earth-life
That has seemed so passing sweet,
Proves nothing but the shadow
Of our meeting round His feet,

QUITE SUDDENLY – it may be
As I tread the busy street,
Strong to endure life’s stress and strain,
Its every call to meet,
That through the roar of traffic,
A trumpet, silvery clear,
Shall stir my startled senses
And proclaim His coming near.

QUITE SUDDENLY – it may be
As I lie in dreamless sleep,
God’s gift to many a sorrowing heart,
With no more tears to weep,
That a call shall break my slumber
And a Voice sound in my ear;
"Rise up, My love, and come away!
Behold, the Bridegroom’s here!"

How different are God’s thoughts and His ways from men’s. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55.-8.9).

Ever since Satan deceived Eve, and through her tempted Adam with the promise, "Ye shall be as gods," it has been the desire of men to exalt themselves. If a man is little in his own eyes he is despised by his fellows, for men think well of those who think well of themselves. That the meek shall inherit the earth is to most men a thing to mock at. But "The Lord lifteth up the meek" (Psa, ‘147:6). ‘"The meek will He guide in judgment:and the meek will He teach His way" (Psa. 25:9).

It is instructive to see that in God’s plan for those He purposes to bless, humbling comes before exalting. Self exaltation is an abomination to Him. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (Jas. 4:6).

How plainly this is seen in God’s dealing with the children of Israel. When He would deliver them from bondage in Egypt and take them into the land He had promised to Abraham, He raised up Moses to be their leader. He moved the heart of an Egyptian princess to receive the babe of an Israelitish woman as her own son. The child grew to manhood, and for forty years was in the house of Pharaoh. Surely, he must have been tempted to seek his own exaltation, but God was watching over him for we read of him, "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward"(Heb. 11:24, 26).

No doubt men would think the schooling Moses had received an ideal training of a leader of men, for "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in word and in deeds" (Acts 7:22). But God must school him forty years in the land of Midian before he was fitted to lead the people of God. There he tended sheep, a humbling occupation for one who had been raised as an Egyptian prince, for shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians.

Moses learned well the lesson of humility, for it is recorded of him that he was the meekest man in all the earth. He was humbled that he might be exalted. He refused to be a prince in Egypt and was made a prince with God.

When the Lord would not go up to Canaan in the midst of His people because of their unbelief, Moses plead with Him, "If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." Communion with the Blesser was more to Moses than the blessing.

When God in discipline denied His servant the crowning glory of his life, to lead God’s people into the promised land, He took him up into mount Pisgah and there in blessed communion with Himself, He showed His servant all the land of Canaan. There Moses died and there the angel of the Lord buried him.

What a contrast was the history of the people he led. In the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy they were exhorted, "And thou shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider thine heart that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. …..Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might prove thee, to do thee good in thy latter end."

God suffered them to hunger and this proved what was in their hearts. They chose the flesh pots of Egypt rather than to suffer affliction with the people of God. He fed them with manna that He might make them know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. He would teach them their utter dependence upon Himself, but they would not learn His humbling lessons. They would not receive His words into their hearts. Their raiment did not wax old, nor their feet swell during the forty years of their wandering in the wilderness. But they would not learn to walk in His ways. They would not consider that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord their God chastened them. He would humble them that He might do them good at their latter end. But they rebelled against Him. They would not learn to trust Him or submit themselves under His mighty hand.

"He made known His Ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel" (Psa. 10):7). "With many of them God was not well pleased:for they were overthrown in the wilderness" (1 Cor. 10:5). "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples:and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come" (1 Cor. 10:11).

When the great Leader of Whom Moses was the type offered Himself as Israel’s King, He came meek and lowly. He had no need of humbling lessons, but, "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" (Phil. 2:8-10).

We are exhorted, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:Who, being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be grasped after to be equal with God:but made Himself of no reputation" (Phil. 2:7). We are called to follow Him in a lowly path of submission and dependence. .. Even as He humbled Himself, we are exhorted, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Pet. 5:6).

When, after His passion, the Lord expounded two of His disciples the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures, He said, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" We, too, have the promise, "If we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us:if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful:He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:11-13).

To quote another, "If we will accept of the path of sorrow and trial which the Lord gives us here, we shall escape the afflictions which are His judgments on the world, and which come on those who take their place with the world. Those who do not suffer for Christ, or with Christ, do not by their unfaithfulness escape suffering. They only suffer with the Egyptians.

"This is what divine love _ what He Who redeemed us to Himself says to us as His redeemed. Love itself cannot give us escape from the necessity of conforming to these conditions. It would not be love to do so. We shall find at last how in fact we have entered in this way _ as only by it we could enter _ into some of the deepest secrets of the heart of God. It is here in this scene of sin and sorrow that we are learning Christ_the Christ we are to enjoy forever. Even in the glory we could not learn what we learn here on earth. But to learn the Man of Sorrows, we must learn sorrow, which yet is lost in the infinite joy of being made like Him, and linked with Him, and in Him learning that which is to be our possession forever." *

ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD. (Rom. 8:28)

The plannings of My heart,
The thoughts I think toward thee,
Shall work for thine eternal good;
Leave thou the choice with Me.

"It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory:it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.”

FRAGMENT
O little bulb, uncouth, ragged and rusty brown.
Have you some dew of youth? a crimson gown?
"Plant me and see what I shall be:_
God’s fine surprise before your eyes!"

O fuzzy ugliness, poor helpless, crawling worm,
Can any loveliness be in that sluggish form?
"Hide me and see what I shall be:_
God’s bright surprise before your eyes!"

O body wearing out, a crumbling house of clay!
O agony of doubt, and darkness and dismay!
"Trust God and see what I shall be,
His best surprise before your eyes!"