At the close of a gospel meeting one evening, a timid old lady felt that she ought to speak to a
couple of young men about their souls, but it was some time before she could find courage to do
it. She had been a believer from her childhood, but she was so reserved and naturally quiet, that
she shrank from doing anything that would bring her into the slightest prominence.

Finally, however, she made the effort, and trembling, she went to the young men and begged them
to turn to the Lord. Her nervousness made her talk to them in such an odd and hesitating way that
both of them laughed in her face and made no reply. This so humiliated her that she began to cry,
and returned to her seat, telling herself that she would never again attempt to speak with people
about their souls. She would leave that work to preachers and others who were gifted that way!

Now it happened that the two young men to whom she had spoken shared the same bedroom in
the house where they boarded. During that night one of them was awakened by hearing his friend
groaning, as if in great pain.

"What is the matter?" he asked.

"Oh," replied the other, "I am disgusted with myself for the way in which I treated that good old
lady. It was a hard thing for her to come and speak to us, and I hate myself for laughing in her
face as I did. I wouldn’t like anyone to act that way to my mother. She wanted to do me good, and
I should at least have been polite to her."

The other young man agreed with all of this, and seemed to feel it as much as the first. In a little
while they were both under deep conviction of sin. They knelt down by their beds and began to
pray. Before morning they were both soundly converted.

One of the two became a preacher. The other is today a successful business man in the town where
he was converted, and is an earnest, devoted Christian.

All this came about through God’s blessing as the result of a feeble effort of a timid woman, who
was laughed at in her first attempt to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit and say a word for
Christ.

FRAGMENT
Speak just a word for Jesus,
Why should you doubt or fear?
Surely His love will bless it;
Someone will gladly hear.
K.O.B.

"God our Saviour . . . will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the
truth." (I Timothy 2:4).

"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (II Timothy 3:7).

"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God:I speak this to
your shame." (I Corinthians 15:34).

"And he that doubteth is damned [condemned, JND] if he eat, because he eateth not of faith:for
whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Romans 14:23).

It is evident from the scriptures that there is a great difference in the condition of the assembly in
its beginning and manner in reception (Acts 2:41-47), and that condition of the assembly described
by the Apostle Paul in n Timothy 2:16-22. This latter condition brought forth special instructions
from the Lord Jesus through the Apostle Paul to His people as to how to act in the matter of
fellowship and reception in view of the mixed, defiled conditions existing.

As we approach our first scripture, I Timothy 2:4, the apostle would make known the heart and
desire of our blessed God, "who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth", and as the Apostle Peter would tell us, "there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Surely this would lead us on to Colossians
1:10:"that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God."

In our second scripture, n Timothy 3:7, the Apostle Paul would inform us that there are some who
are "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Perhaps we wonder,
"Why is this?" With an open Bible in their hands, should they not know? We are sorrowfully
persuaded that many are not interested enough to know. But worse still, there are some in
Christendom taking the place of ministers, who having a large knowledge of the truth, FAIL to
act, themselves, on the instructions given by the Apostle Paul, and so are powerless to instruct
others and lead them aright.

Does not this state amongst the Lord’s people help to maintain the abnormal condition described
in our first paragraph? Oh! do WE love the Lord Jesus and His truth enough, and really love His
dear people enough to tell them of the way He would have them go?

In view of these abnormal conditions amongst God’s people, do we not need to give heed to the
Apostle Paul’s instructions to us in our third scripture, II Corinthians 15:34? Oh, "some have not
the knowledge of God." When a person expresses desire to be in fellowship with us at the Lord’s
Table, are we acting righteously and are we not sinning if we do not make known to this person
"the knowledge of God" in reference to our subject of "reception"? Are we not responsible to
make known to this person (after we are sure that the person who is seeking fellowship is
personally saved) the awful, immoral, unspiritual, and unrighteous associations believers may be

found in, as in I Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, with the Lord’s instructions as to what
to do about it in the same chapters; also the iniquitous conditions described in n Timothy 2:16-22,
with instructions what to do about it in verses 19-22, same chapter?

So, the person desiring fellowship should be somewhat advised of some of the awful conditions
in Christendom, and that unless he permanently separates from these conditions, he would be
practically leavened or defiled and so defile us if he were received) into fellowship with
us,_unless he honestly judged and separated from that which the scriptures tell him to separate
from. Thereby both the person seeking fellowship and the assembly would be working out the
scriptural warning, "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (I Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9).

Coming to our fourth scripture, Romans 14:23, we are confronted with our great responsibility
not to stumble a person who desires to have fellowship with us, but is not really ready to take the
step in faith. It is possible that in our over-zealousness or lack of care (which is really a lack of
true love both to the Lord Jesus and to the one seeking fellowship), to hasten the one to take the
step which as yet he has not faith for. This may happen by our not properly advising the one
seeking fellowship as to what the Lord Jesus expects of His children (2 Timothy 2:19) on account
of the conditions, afore stated, in Christendom. Thus we may contribute to his stumbling by
helping him to act not in faith and so cause him to sin, which is very serious.

All of the foregoing may seem like a long, drawn out affair_but it is not. Surely there has been
some conversation ^with the one in the assembly who has been contacted by the one outside,
desiring fellowship, and when the person desires to come in, these things can be reasonably talked
over in one-half to one hour’s time. It is not necessary to explain every division amongst God’s
people. One illustration may be all that is necessary. In the case of one recently converted, in his
fresh new found Love_his Saviour, he is more easily teachable and more apt to respond to the
desires of the Lord Jesus _that he should "depart from iniquity."

May our God and Father and our Lord Jesus bless these few remarks on our responsibilities
connected with reception.

In Exodus 30:34-38, God gives us an account of the sweet incense. There were to be four
ingredients in its composition, each of them in themselves being "sweet spices"_"stacte, onycha,
galbanum, and pure frankincense." The peculiar and aromatic properties of each of these it may
be impossible for us to express; but the moral virtue and value of each, when "tempered together"
after the art of the apothecary, according to Divine instruction, it would be impossible to miss.
Never had there been anything like it before "to smell thereto". Never has there been anything like
it since, until the blessed Lord came into the scene and brought into actuality in His own Peerless
Person that unique fragrance to God which the sweet incense typically set forth in the days when
He was foreshadowing that beloved Son in the tabernacle of old.

That it must have been something beyond measure delightful to God goes without saying, seeing
it was that which God chose to set forth the fragrance of the moral glories of His Son, and
intensified by the action of fire (judgment); and that of which each ingredient was absolutely
perfect.

Moreover, the cloud formed in the holiest of all on the day of atonement, by the incense put on
the burning coals of fire in the censer (Lev. 16:12,13), was not formed to envelop the high priest,
though doubtless it did so, but "that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat." It was God’s
provision to surround Himself with that which typically portrayed the intense satisfaction and
delight which God found in the moral fragrance of the Person of His beloved Son, and doubtless
through which He viewed the high priest when he entered to make propitiation by blood.

Nor was this action of the high priest with the incense in Leviticus 16 the making atonement,
though intimately connected with that work. It was a setting forth of the first and greatest of all
lessons for sinful creatures to learn_namely, that the Person of Christ comes first, before all else,
even before His infinitely precious work.

How needful to grasp it, and own it with worship-ping hearts! The Person of Christ upholds His
cross, as the cross upholds the Person who hung on it. Touch that glorious Person in anyway sq
as to detract from or tarnish the glory of what He is in Himself as the "pure and holy" One, like
the incense, and His work is valueless, and we lose the Saviour, the beloved Son, Jehovah’s
Fellow, and leave ourselves helpless and hopelessly lost souls! God preserve us all in this respect!

As before remarked, the "sweet incense" in itself sets forth the moral fragrance of the Person of
Christ. And in its connection with the burning coals in the censer on the day of atonement, it is
seen intensified by contact with fire (judgment); and forming the cloud with which Jehovah
surrounded Himself on His throne.

Let us briefly glance at what is said of these ingredients which God calls "sweet spices" (Exodus
30:34; 37:27). They were not to be taken at random and used indiscriminately simply because
each was "sweet". No; each was to be carefully measured and weighed_"Of each there shall be
a like weight". Human wisdom had no say in this matter. God was setting forth what was to be
for His pleasure, not for man’s! Then these "pure and holy" ingredients had to be "tempered

together," not merely put together in a vessel, but mixed_blended together. Then some of it had
to be "beaten very small," and set aside for use, as we see in Lev. 16:12,13. Thus it was to be a
"pure and holy" and "most holy" perfume.

All these details as to the composition and compounding of the incense are exceedingly precious,
and reveal to us in typical language the absolute perfection in every minute particular and detail
of that which was to set forth the moral fragrance of Him who was then to come, and whom,
when He came and was manifested, God called "My beloved Son in whom I have found My
delight" (Matthew 3:17).

What He was in Himself could only be known to God:"No man knoweth the Son but the Father."
But He has taken these ways to picture it out to us, in order to increase our delight in His Son
likewise. "Sweet spices" _"of a like weight"_no one spice predominating over another, each
equally perfect. "Tempered together"_ blended so perfectly that no one overpowered the rest.
"Beaten small"_so that the smallest particles, produced by "beating" (suffering) and blending,
expressed the perfection of the whole.

In speaking of Leviticus 16, where we see the use the "sweet incense" was put to, a brother used
to say, "It takes a cloud to meet a cloud." How true this is. In that chapter we see God hidden in
His glory cloud (verse 2), and prohibiting man from rashly meeting his doom by entering His holy
presence except in His prescribed way. Man, in his sinful state, is utterly unable to be in the
presence of God except on the ground of atonement. But who can tell how God will be
approached? or what He requires in order to approach Him? Only God Himself could make that
known, and that He has done in this beautiful chapter. At present, however, I must confine myself
to the first lesson.

What then was the first thing to be done after the victims were selected? What could meet the
glory cloud but the incense cloud! And thus we see, as already noticed, God setting the first lesson
and typifying the moral fragrance of the Person of His beloved Son who was to be Offerer,
Offering, and High Priest, and make propitiation by blood; the only One who, because of who and
what He is in Himself, could at any time, and all times, stand in the presence of that glory-cloud,
and therefore was fitted to do all else that was needful for God and man.

But what a cloud was that incense cloud! See that high priest a» he passes within the vail into the
immediate presence of God enthroned in His cloud on the mercy seat! Slowly he enters with the
censer of burning coals hanging on his finger, and both hands full of sweet incense. Then he sets
it down and empties his hands of the incense on to the burning coals; immediately it ignites and
sends forth its cloud of aromatic fragrance; thus, and there,, and then surrounding the throne of
Jehovah and giving satisfaction and joy to His heart, speaking as it did, and as only He then could
understand, of the perfections of His Son. God, in His holiness in the cloud, was met by the
purity, and holiness, and preciousness of Christ seen in the incense cloud. What a wonderful
thought! Now, for us, we can sing:

The veil is rent, our souls draw near
Unto a throne of grace:

The merits of the Lord appear,
They fill the holy place.

Blessed be God it is so, and our hearts know it and respond to it in holy and happy worship, based
of course, not merely on what Christ is, but what He has done in His blood-shedding and death
on the cross.

David had some faint idea of the value of incense to God when he prayed "Let my prayer be set
forth before Thee as incense" (Psalm 141:2). Moses and Aaron too knew its value when Aaron
put it in the censer and ran among the rebels and made atonement for them and thus stayed the
plague (Numbers 16:46-48). It will have its place once more when God is again dealing with His
earthly people after the removal of the church to heaven; and thus we see in Rev. 8, the angel with
the golden censer and much incense given to him to offer with the prayers of the afflicted and
suffering saints in that day. How precious this is! God, even then, still seen to be the Hearer and
Answerer of prayer, and the prayers rising up to Him mingled with the sweet perfume of the
incense.

Many other thoughts will doubtless connect themselves with it in the minds of thoughtful readers
of their Bibles. The Lord give each one of us in a fuller and deeper way to enter into His thoughts
about the Son of His love in every way in which He has been pleased to make them known.

"Be ye thankful" (Col. 3:15). When you find one professing to be a Christian yet having no spirit
of praise and thanksgiving, you have to conclude either that the person is not a believer at all, or
that he has made little progress. Thanksgiving to God is spoken of more than 125 times in the
Bible, and we cannot obey His Word without giving of thanks. Christian life is largely devoted
to prayer and thanksgiving, if it is what it should be. We might go so far as to say that if a person
is a real Christian, prayer and thanksgiving will certainly form a part of the life. The Christian
loves prayer, loves to thank God for the blessings received. Cold, hard duty has nothing to do
with thanking the One we love more than all else for what He has given and is giving to us.

Thanksgiving is a sure sign of happiness. The Christian is happy because he has salvation from
sin, has the presence and guidance of Christ, and has the Spirit of God dwelling within. When you
think of what it means to have Christ dwelling within, you do not wonder at the words, "I have
Christ, what want I more?" To have Him as Saviour, as our Sin-bearer, our Redeemer, to have
Him for all things, what can we want more? Day by day He is giving us life, food, shelter, a
degree of health, and so much besides. Every good and perfect gift is from Him, and such gifts
will bring out our thanks, unless we are very thoughtless.

To be thankful is to live with thanksgiving in our hearts, and often expressed in words, perhaps
silent words in the heart, but the thankfulness dwells within. "Be ye thankful," means a state of
mind and heart, our attitude towards God. It does not mean that we give thanks for some great
gift, though we always have the gifts of Christ and the Holy Spirit to be thankful for. It means
realizing more and more of the goodness of God, and how He gives us all things richly to enjoy.
How great an advance it is to learn to be "giving thanks always for all things to God and the
Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20).

Think what this means; "giving thanks always for all things." There are many times we are
thankful when some great blessing comes to us. There are great gifts we are sure to be thankful
for, but here it is expressly declared that the believer in Christ is to be "giving thanks always,"
and in so doing there would of necessity be thanksgiving for all things. This is the proper, normal
feature of the Christian life; this is one of the crowning blessings of the Spirit of God dwelling
within us. See how it makes one an overcomer to be always giving thanks for whatever comes to
us. It means that we know God controls all persons and all things. It means receiving all that
comes to us as coming from Him. Good things certainly do not come from our enemies, human
or satanic. And the bad things are made to work together for good to us. That is victory. It is what
God gives us to realize. It is not dead philosophy, or any kind of philosophical reasoning, which
is all that they of the world have for comfort. It is not only a teaching, a doctrine, an abstract truth
which the child of God has; he has a Person, the Son of God, the Man Christ Jesus to be thankful
for, to give thanks to.

This is the wonder of God’s salvation; we are brought to know a Person to Whom we can give
thanks and for Whom we can be thankful. We read of Him in Scrip-tare, learn its teaching
concerning Him, what He is to us, what He has done, is doing and will do for us; and it is all
something to thank God for, to have Christ call us His brethren, and to learn to thank Him for

coming into the world for us, bearing our sins on that cross of agony and shame, dying for
sinners, rising for them, and now making intercession for them. What truths to be thankful for!
They are precious realities, events which really took place, and upon them is founded our present
and eternal blessing.

Scripture places before mankind that which differs from all man-made religions; it gives man a
Person to love and praise and the work of that Person to be thankful for. Search, if you will, all
the chronicles of all the religions of mankind and see if in any of them you find a divine Person
who is both God and Man, to love, to praise, to thank for being the Sin-bearer for men. Christ
is all this and more. He is a perfect Saviour. Think of what it means to have all our sins gone
forever, blotted out by the work of Christ, a new nature given; light, and life, and love, and hope
given in place of the darkness of the world, with an eternity of joy after this life.

Ought not those to whom all this belongs be thankful? We love Christ now; we are going to love
Him much more when He has transferred us to the Glory at His coming and given us His own
likeness. We are now the children of God, on the way to receive an inheritance from and with
Christ our Lord. He is a King but not our King; He is our Lord and Saviour, and a part of His
will concerning us while we are here is that we should be thankful. Can we wonder that Christ
is called "His unspeakable Gift"? (According to the Greek text, "free Gift"). He is God’s Gift to
sinful men, women, children, given freely to all who will receive Him. There is nothing to pay;
Christ has paid all; nothing to do, as men count doing to gain salvation; Christ has done it all.

Christ receiveth sinners and sinners receive Christ. And as soon as a sinner receives Him, the life
of thanksgiving begins. One may lose the spirit of thankfulness, but it should be cherished. Many
forms of temptation and snares are avoided by always being thankful. We should often offer
thanks to God for this and that blessing. It opens our hearts to His great goodness when we often
praise Him for the gifts we enjoy. It is a banisher of depression and fear when we recount to Him
what He has done for us in the past, and think what He has promised to do, thanking Him for the
blessings we enjoy. "Count your many blessings, name them one by one." Looking on their
number, their greatness, their value, is it strange that God would have His children thankful?

FRAGMENT
(Let such thoughts exercise us at the meeting for breaking of bread. Then more will take part in
rising to say even simply:"We thank Thee, Lord, for suffering for us even unto death."

(We draw your attention to this pertinent article. If we forget that we carry within us the seeds of
the leavened and corrupt conditions of Christendom which we profess to have separated from
outwardly; if the overcoming within does not accompany the overcoming without, we need not
wonder at, our present lack of spiritual freshness, and zeal, and power and growth. Will we not
confess that such has been the case largely?

The writer points out what he considers the cause:"resting in present attainment." The effects are
further touched upon. Then, what is of greatest value, the means of deliverance from this, is ably
and simply presented. Ed.)

If we would get the Lord’s watchword, I believe it is, "To him that overcometh" (and that is
within), and if we would know what it is that is to be overcome, I believe it is indicated in that
word, "Thou hast left thy first lave." To suppose that we have not to overcome even within,
because we have taken a position of separation, even if it were separation sevenfold, would only
entirely betray us, and perhaps plunge us in the same corruption. If we then search from the Word
of God, what are the cause* and principles of corruption, what the preservative, I believe we shall
find them singularly simple.

Resting in present attainment, I believe we shall find to be the whole, that is, the general secret
of it.

Look at Israel, and how distinctly do we find it traced! In Deuteronomy 32, after all the marvelous
grace of_"He found him … in a waste howling wilderness, He led him about … made him to
suck honey out of the rock; butter of kine . . . and the pure blood of the grape"_how comes in
the corruption?

He rests self-complacently in the goodness of God to him, instead of resting on, and walking with
God Himself, as a present thing:"Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:thou art waxen fat, thou art
grown thick, thou art covered with fatness"; and, as a natural consequence, "he forsook God,
which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." That whole song is of the last
importance; it is, I think, God’s anatomy of man’s corruption.

We get, I think, the same account of the process, and God’s pain at this leaving of the first love,
in Jeremiah 2:2. "Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember
thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the
wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of
His increase. . . . Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in Me?" etc. He
reminds them of the desert land He led them through:"I brought you into a plentiful country, to
eat the fruit thereof, and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled My land, and made
My heritage an abomination (v.7)." "They have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and hewed
them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water (v.13)."

Turn now to the Gentile (Romans 11). Its snare would be, "Be not high-minded." In Revelation

2 we get Christ’s own delineation of the corruption. Every evil which you get in Thyatira, Sardis,
or Laodicea, has, I believe, its germ in that simple word at Ephesus "Thou hast left thy first love,"
amidst all the height, to which the Ephesian Epistle evidently shows God had brought them, and
Christ’s address bears witness to (v.2,3).

Surely, then, these things are written before us with a pencil _ of light; and it must be of no slight
importance to the saint to take heed to them. If we would get the preservative, "Christ’s love"
supplies one, and Philippians 3:13, another aspect:_ "Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended:but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things that are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded" (i.e. perfect in not being
perfect, but aiming at it). This, therefore, should be our spring, kept simple and fresh to the end.

"The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all
dead (or perhaps "all died," i.e., all believers died in, or with Him*):and that He died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them,
and rose again." This, I say, should be our motive, simple and fresh to the end. And then, as the
Apostle says, "forgetting those things which are behind." When this is not the case, when the soul
rests in attainments made, it becomes self-satisfied:it rests in the knowledge, perhaps, previously
heaped up, which, like the manna, only breeds worms, and becomes corrupt for want of being
gathered day by day. And I would remark that all knowledge of truth gathered beyond our present
communion, is not only not a blessing, but an injury. We can place no limit to the extent to which
the Lord may teach and lead us on, but when once knowledge becomes an object to me apart from
the Lord Himself, I may as well, and better, be employed about some other object.

*This is the writer’s view (Ed.).

The hardest conscience of all often to deal with and arouse, is that which knows everything. You
can tell them nothing new. Their previous knowledge without Communion, is like a foil put upon
"the sword of the Spirit," it makes it dull, ineffectual. Further, the being thus laden with vain
knowledge, makes the saint restless, like an overloaded stomach, that does not know what is the
matter with it. He has no longer an appetite for simple things. He must have something new and
overpowering, or something to meet his particular taste. Well does the wise man say, "The full
soul loatheth the honeycomb, whilst to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." Oftentimes
he mistakes this restlessness and dissatisfaction for spirituality, not knowing that the complaint is
in himself; he is not at the right point for satisfaction (John 6:35), and therefore dissatisfied with
everything and everyone.

May we not well look to our own hearts; how is it with ow hearts as to this? Are we as simple and
fresh as we once; were? The example of Ephesus is full to the point. May we then cultivate that
simple taste, cherishing, loving, and receiving all that is of God, be it weak or strong (for one may
err either way, Ex. 23:3-6). Let us love the whole Word of God, not forming to ourselves
particular tastes, and choosing particular parts, for "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine . . . that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished";
neither having particular tastes in the saints we select for intercourse_this leads to a clique and

self-righteousness, and one-sided Christian character:further, the doing diligently what we have
to do of worldly calling, the doing diligently whatsoever God enables us to do in any way of
spiritual service, not critically discussing about gifts; for real ability from God is gift.

"Preach the Word," says Paul to Timothy, "reprove, rebuke (2 Timothy 4:2), do the work of an
evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry" for the love of Christ, for the work of Christ. Do we
take as much delight in His Word, for its or His own sake, not for mere knowledge? Surely there
ought to be an appetite about this _"as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that
ye may" feed thereupon, and grow_and, in connection with that, putting away evil from our
hearts, for it is impossible to grow without that; "laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings" (I Peter 2).

I have endeavored to show then, that the root of all apostasy and corruption (and we know not to
what length that may go_the more has been the knowledge, joy, and devotedness, the deeper it
sinks when corrupted), is to be found in resting in present attainment/’ instead of being kept
freshly in the love of Christ.

Nothing is more healthful to one’s own soul than the carefully bearing forth of the Gospel,
publicly or privately. Distaste for that is a bad sign indeed. "He that watereth others, shall be
watered himself." Finally, the acknowledging of the poorness of our endeavors, and the
hopelessness of the ruin, which we still seek in grace to overcome, holding forth the word of
life_to wait for that which alone will put all right:that "blessed hope, and glorious appearing of
our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

And if our poor hearts at all feel that we have slipped back, and fallen under the power of this
corruption, 0 how blessedly still; does Christ meet us. "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in
the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed." To Him be
glory!

Faith never expects to learn deep lessons without deep difficulties, therefore she is not surprised
by strange and dark providences. How many are apt to say, "My temptation is peculiar," but we
should remember that it is the peculiar aggravations which make a trial effectual and should not
forget the word "There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." (I Cor.
10:13).

Our faith is greatly strengthened when we are brought to see that no one but God can help. No
wisdom but His can guide and no love but His can satisfy.

God has settled in Heaven certain trials of our faith which will as surely befall us as the crown of
glory be given us at Christ’s appearing. God’s purposes of grace are a golden chain, not a link
must be missing. When a trial comes upon me let me look upon it as sent for a peculiar blessing.
If I receive it thus I shall not consider "how heavy it is" nor ask "when will it be removed" but
"how much advantage shall I gain through it." How shall I turn it to the best account?

FRAGMENT
One important end of God in affliction is to fix the thoughts on Him. Though the Sabeans and
Chaldeans took away Job’s oxen and asses and camels, and murdered his servants, yet he said not
a word of their wicked robbery, but declared, "The Lord hath taken away." Perhaps a message
of deeper alarm never wrung a father’s heart, than that which Samuel bore to Eli. With one
thought the venerable man quieted himself:"It is the Lord:let Him do what seemeth Him good."

I write as a young man to young men. My object is two-fold. I desire to realize for myself and to
place before others something of the responsibilities and privileges of the Christian life.

We remember the day we were converted, how, in the early feelings of "first love" we determined
to be, and to do for God. Let us sit down now and ask ourselves, "Have we realized our
intentions? Have we been what God intended us to be?" Let us face the question squarely and
answer it honestly.

And if not, what has been the cause? Without doubt, it has been divided affections. Then it was
Christ alone; since then it has been, many a time and often, Christ and something else. What that
"something else" may have been, each one knows for himself. But it has meant loss of power. Six
times over it is said of Caleb, "He wholly followed the Lord"; and what a power he was, and what
a hero he became! (Joshua 14:6-15). Young men of Caleb’s type are wanted today as ever
_separated from the world_out and out for God_devoted to Christ_young men in whom the
Holy Spirit of God not only dwells, but RULES. These are a few of their needed characteristics.
Are they ours? If not, let us seek them and let us be in earnest. Let us weigh all our words and
actions in view of the judgment-seat of Christ and in the light of eternity.

What will this produce? A greater desire to be here for God, and a more genuine love for the Lord
Jesus Christ. Self and self-pleasing will be lost sight of, and we shall go out into the world with
a real desire to see souls saved, and blessed with the joy and peace that we ourselves possess. Oh!
my fellow young men, I am convinced God could do great things with us did we but let Him* Do
I speak to one who is yet undecided?

I beseech you to remain so no longer. Life is short and eternity very near. Enlist now under the
banner of the cross, and boldly own the Lord Jesus Christ as your Master and Lord. There is the
deepest possible joy in His company; there is the greatest possible reward in His service; and there
is in Him the highest possible ideal set before you to shape your life and actions by. "Choose you
this day whom ye will serve."

Call Thy people back, O Lord,
As in the early days,
When love was warm, and fresh, and bright,
When first we knew Thy grace;
When first Thy light broke through our night,
And set our hearts ablaze. Lord, call us back!

Call Thy people back, O Lord,
To that simplicity
Which marked Thy servants long ago;
Our yearning hearts would be
Full satisfied with Thee, although
The world against us be.
Lord, call us back!

From the many paths unmeet
Our wayward feet have trod,
From foolish words, and wilful ways,
Yea, turn us back, O God,
Afresh to taste Thy love and grace,
Else Thou must use Thy rod.
Lord, turn us back!

Call Thy loved ones back, O Lord,
From toilsome paths and steep;
From bearing burdens, all Thine own,
Which only make us weep,
The while we moan, and toil alone,
And only sorrow reap. Lord, call us back!

Call us back from hearts cast down,
And, oh, afresh inspire
Our souls to seek Thee more and more;
To burn with deep desire,
Till hearts o’erflow, and faces glow
With holy, ardent fire.
Lord, call us back!

Call us back to those sweet days
When hearts were knit as one,
When prayer was as the breath of life;
Ere we were so undone,
Ere souls were rife with endless strife;

For Jesus’ sake, Thy Son, Lord, call us back!
Broken is the remnant, Lord,

And difficult the day;
What shame and sorrow cover us,
Our tears oft dim the way;
The tide runs high, Thy coming’s nigh,
Our hearts are loath to stay;
Lord, take us home!

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." (Psalm 126:5,6).

David tells us in this Psalm that a sower is a reaper. But he also tells us that a weeping sower will
"doubtless" be a rejoicing reaper. What an encouragement is this to patient sowing, even when
there is no apparent result.

The Lord our Saviour was a sower, and above all a weeper. As He stood on Mount Olivet and
reviewed the scene of His labors, the pent-up tears flowed as He uttered that sorrowful lament
over Jerusalem, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke 19:42). But He still went on
sowing. In the deep love of His heart He gave His life for that rebellious nation, and His reaping
time will doubtless come when "all Israel shall be saved:as it is written, There shall come out of
Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:for this is My covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sins." (Rom. 11:26).

Paul, too, was a weeper. His epistles tell us of the agonies he went through for perishing sinners
(Rom. 9:2) and backsliding saints (Gal. 4:19). He wept bitter tears (Phil. 3:18), but he well knew
that "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

In fact, one of the things he looked forward to in the day of the kingdom was the joy of the reaper.
He could speak of the Thessalonians as being his joy and crown of rejoicing when the Lord should
come. He urged the saints at Corinth to be "steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know," said he, "that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." a Cor.
15:58).

Are you a worker in the Lord’s vineyard_perhaps a Sunday-school teacher with a very unruly
class? Well, don’t give it up. Pray about the children; study the Word of God, to have something
to give to them, and remember the word "doubtless."

Perhaps you distribute tracts. You have left the silent messengers at houses where they have little
desire to receive them, and you cannot speak of a single conversion from all your work. Don’t
forget the "doubtless." It is written for your encouragement. About twenty years ago a gospel
book was written. It had lain on somebody’s shelf most of that time. At last it was taken to a
hospital. God used that book to save a soul!

Or do you preach in the open air when you can; go from door to door with the Word? You labor
hard to reach souls; your desires are sincere; and yet you see no fruit. Remember our word
"doubtless." A servant of Christ went out to a foreign country. His deep desire for precious souls
to be saved had led him there. He labored for many years, and before he saw any fruit the natives
took his life. Another servant went to labor on the same island. In a short time many had turned
to the Lord. Will not sower and reaper rejoice together by and by?

It may be you are neither teacher, preacher, nor evangelist. Still you feel that you must do
something to make known God’s great salvation. You live in a home where some or all are
unconverted, or you know someone at work whose soul you earnestly desire to be saved. You
have often prayed for your family, often spoken to the one you are working with, but only get
ridicule in return. You are becoming discouraged, and feel you must give up. Remember the word
"doubtless," and faith will be strengthened.

Now it does not always follow that in this world the weeping sower will be the rejoicing reaper,
but there is no doubt that the deeper our desires, and the more earnest our efforts for the blessing
of others, the greater will be our joy in that glorious day when both sower and reaper will rejoice
together.

People sometimes say that a Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is useless if God does not
give the increase. True, but the Scripture says Paul planted, Apollos watered, and "God gave the
increase." He did not withhold it. Now sowing is hard work, needing much patient care. Then do
not let us be disheartened. May the compassion of God and the deep need of lost souls so fill our
hearts that, like Jeremiah of old, we may weep in secret for them, and seek in public to reach
them. May we so catch our Master’s spirit that we may indeed become sowers. This we can all
be in our measure. We are to cast our bread upon the waters; after many days it shall be found.

If anyone is tempted to give up some service for Christ, no matter how insignificant in the eyes
of men, don’t do so. Read and pray over Psalm 126 and I Cor. 15:58 until the word "doubtless,"
and "your labor is not in vain," stir you to more unceasing effort. If you are growing weary, read
Galatians 6:9:"Let us not be weary in well doing:for in due season we shall reap, if we faint
not." So we must not give up, but labor on in dependence upon our Master in heaven. The result
is sure, and we shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us.