To derive blessing, in a practical way, from the study of prophecy, one must enter into it in a right
spirit; even the spirit of Him who wept over Jerusalem, when contemplating its fixed and settled
doom. The end of this present evil age, out of which we have been rescued by Jesus giving
Himself for our sins, according to the will of God and our Father, is fearfully portrayed in the
scripture of truth. To study this profitably, there is needed a preparation of soul. Intensive study
of the final development of evil often tends to self-complacency, harshness of judgment or legality.

The great professing body of Christendom is to be cut off because it has not continued in the
goodness of God. The safeguard of Christians, therefore, is continuance in the goodness of God.
Then they are able to exercise spiritual discernment as to the principles of evil, and to find that
there is nothing manifested in the close, the beginning of which is not marked by the Holy Ghost
as already working when there was apostolic power both to discern the evil and to provide the
safeguard. When the apostle Paul opens to Timothy the perils of the last days, he solemnly charges
him before God and the Lord Jesus Christ to "preach the word," "do the work of an evangelist."
The apostle Peter closes the exposure of the awful ungodliness of the last days, with this
safeguard:"grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." And
Jude, testifying of the fearful manifestation of evil in turning the grace of God into lasciviousness,
thus guards the saints:"But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life." Now, all these forms of evil are viewed by the Holy Ghost from the
place of that blessed grace in which God had set the Church; and, therefore, to see them aright
we must get into that place, and then we shall be able to detect in many more trivial evils the same
principles working, the fruit of which will fully ripen in the actual close.

The prophets of old were protesters against the corruptions of their day; but we see from the
sacred Word that they needed previous discipline of God in their own souls, lest they should
protest with any measure of self-complacency; also that they might fully justify God in His
judgment on the evil. The vision of the glory of Jesus to Isaiah made the prophet feel that he
himself was a man of unclean lips, and that he dwelt in the midst of a people of unclean lips. He
would not have been a suited instrument to go and blind his countrymen, had he felt himself better
than they were. The prophet must feel that he, himself, was simply spared by the grace of God,
and as deserving of the judgment as his countrymen. It was needed for Daniel, the "greatly
beloved," to have his comeliness turned into corruption, that he might understand what should
befall his people in the latter day. Ezekiel and Hosea had to go through most painful and revolting
discipline, in order to lead Israel into a realization of the baseness into which they had sunk in the
estimation of God.

It may, indeed, now be God’s method to discipline His servants by special circumstances, in order
to train them to study the future "aright. But the special, peculiar training is a conscience exercised
before God. It is the habit of the soul which leads it into the presence of God in order to judge
things there. "The spiritual man judgeth all things." And however fearful may be the crisis of evil,
the soul exercised before God can discern in itself principles which, if unrestrained by the grace
of God, would lead to it. Hence the soul becomes more rooted in grace; experiences more

consciously what a debtor it is to grace. And, in this manner, the firmest protest against evil
becomes linked with personal lowliness. And while there is increasing thankfulness for the
promise of being kept from the hour of temptation, which is to try all that dwell upon the earth,
there is real self-judgment of the evil principles which are to be manifested in the crisis, and
sympathy and intercession for those who are blindly helping it on.

I believe the way of God to enable us to meet the growing evil of the last day is practically to
unfold to us the deeper resources of His grace because the study of evil by itself is most injurious
to the soul. The recognition of the faithfulness of God, of the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost
in the Church, and of the untouched blessings of the Church, in Christ, notwithstanding all which
has failed here, will lead us further outside the camp to Jesus, bearing His reproach. And thus
shall we be in principle, in position, and in spirit, enabled to take our place in "the wilderness,"
and from thence to learn the "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," and at the same time to take our place
on "a great and high mountain," thence to survey the graces and glories of "the bride, the Lamb’s
wife."

This is the plain word of God to all, without exception, who come to Christ; who believe in Him.
Having been brought to see our need as sinners, and to trust in Jesus, we enjoy the full blessing
of God. "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Faith believes it just because God says
it, and the feelings follow. The good news fills the soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
When self has been silenced, and the word of God allowed its right place in the heart, the believer
enters in measure into the very joys of heaven. The precious word of God will not be truer there.
Therefore, we ought to know our blessing now as perfectly, though not so fully, as we shall when,
enthroned and crowned in glory.

Before this happy condition of soul is enjoyed, self, or the flesh, must be judged, broken, and
mortified. This needed work of self-judgment must begin with conversion, and never cease while
we are here. It is founded on the work of the cross. There God judged the sin of our nature, and
our many actual sins (Rom. 8:3; Heb. 9:28; I Pet. 2:24). We should have the same thoughts of
sin and self, and Christ and the cross, as He has.

FRAGMENT
The sense that we are nothing makes us glad to forget ourselves, and then it is that Christ becomes
everything to the soul.

Ques.:Who were the Sadducees?

Ans.:This smallest of all the Jewish sects derives its . name from its founder, Sadoc or Sedoc
(justice), who lived more than 250 years before Christ. The members of this party were chiefly
confined to the wealthy and governing classes. They possessed little or no influence amongst the
people generally, for they never courted the lower classes as did the Pharisees. Caiaphas and
others of the priestly party were of this sect, and they seemed on several occasions to have gained
the upper hand over their rivals the Pharisees, in guiding the ecclesiastical affairs of the nation
(Acts 5:17). The opposition of the Pharisees to Christ was mainly directed against His holy,
spotless life; while that of the Sadducees attacked His teaching or doctrine.

The life of the Lord was the best exposure of Pharisaical hypocrisy; while the resurrection of the
Lord was equally destructive of the Sadducean system. The Lord again and again confronts the
Pharisees; the Apostles repeatedly confront the Sadducees in the Acts. The leaven (evil) of the
Sadducees was bad doctrine, which is briefly summed up in Acts 23:8:"For the Sadducees say
that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit." The denial of these truths led to the denial
of many others.

(See Jan. 1965 Ques. and Ans. for "Who were the Pharisees?")

"Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord . . . Divers
weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good" (Prov. 20:10,23).

To those who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone_who have gone "forth …
unto him without the camp" (Heb. 13:13)_how familiar is the Scripture so often quoted, "holiness
becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever" (Psa. 93:5)!

We rightly own that separation from evil there must be among those so gathered_who, though
only a tiny part of that "holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:21), would seek to carry out the
principles suited to such a place of privilege as "an habitation of God" (Eph. 2:22). "The most
High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, . . . what house will ye build
me? saith the Lord:or what is the place of my rest" (Acts 7:48,49)? Yet to this very place of
blessing and privilege has He called His people! (See I Pet. 2:5 and I Cor. 3:16).

Now, to this truth we hold tenaciously; and against all parleying with evil, we are ready to quote
the above Scripture:"holiness becometh thine house, O Lord for ever." But is the church the
temple of God any more really than is the individual saint, in whom the Spirit of God dwells (I
Cor. 6:19)? Do we quote the above verse with equal zeal as to our individual responsibilities?

We see saints who put us to shame in the consecration and yielding of their bodies to God (Rom.
12:1), yet who know absolutely nothing of church truth, or of God’s will as to worship. Will their
individual devotedness excuse them for passing over the equally plain Scriptures as to separation
from evil collectively? He that said the one said the other also (See James 2:11).

We pity them for their ignorance of truth; but, on the other hand, will the fact of our seeking
separation from evil ecclesiastically count with the Lord if we are not also seeking to "purify
ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear" (II Cor. 7:1,
J.N.D. Trans.)?

He asks, "Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights
(Micah 6:11}? Though we may thus be deceiving ourselves, "a just weight and balance are the
Lord’s (Prov. 16:11).

There are saints in confusion ecclesiastically, who nevertheless set Him apart in their hearts and
in practical ways; and there are saints separate from evil ecclesiastically, who, for example,
harbor an unforgiving spirit, or withhold from the Lord His rightful portion of their income, or
are careless as to maintaining personal holiness. At the same time, they criticize those who do not
"see separation." They themselves are deluded!

It is this sort of false balancing by which Satan is deceiving us, and which is eating away the vitals
of spiritual life among us. Was it for the disciples only, or for us also that the Lord said, "Beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees"? Satan allows others to be right individually, if he can keep them
leavened ecclesiastically. Similarly, he will let us be right ecclesiastically, if he can deceive us by

leavening our individual walk. In like manner, he will let others be most loving, if they can be
kept leavened with false doctrine as to Christ; while we may be sound in doctrine, for all Satan
cares, just so he can succeed in getting us to lose the balance as to love. Are we ignorant of his
devices?

Nothing but the balance of the truth will avail us. Throughout all Scripture there is ever a
remarkable balance. The sword of the Spirit is two-edged; i.e., it cuts this side and that side _
not two-pointed, as some would explain it, cutting the one who uses it as well as the one against
whom it is used. This is not the figure, though it is true that the one who uses it must first have
felt its power.

The Spirit’s leading in the assembly (I Cor. 12:8,11) is insisted on as all-important _ and rightly
so; but does Scripture speak of His leading in the assembly any more than it indicates that
individual believers are to be "led of the Spirit" in their daily lives? Here is another instance of
divers balances, yet we look down on saints in "the systems of men" who countenance a "one-
man-ministry,” but seek to follow the Spirit’s leading in their daily path.

Likewise, the Lordship of Christ must be owned absolutely in the assembly if there is to be
blessing; yet, as soon as ths meeting is over, how many of us speak as though we might say with
the wicked, "our lips are our own:who is lord over us" (Psa. 12:4)? Alas, how often is this true
of us all through the week! Many of us deplore this in ourselves and others, and yet, alas, forget
again! How many more seem only to play with the truth! But such trifling with the truth is only
self-deception, and Satan is at the bottom of it.

The Lord is near. Is it not high time to awake to these things, for "divers weights are an
abomination unto the Lord"? This is not true in business matters only, but in spiritual things as
well. Shall we go on wondering why the meetings are cold, and why we are not used to deliver
our brethren? We are deceiving ourselves, as in the days of the judges when idols could be
allowed individually and in a whole tribe; yet, at the same time, pious phrases employed, such as
"before the Lord is your way" (Judg. 18:6). "The children of Dan set up the graven image … all
the time that the house of God was in Shiloh" (Judg. 18:30,31), for "there was no king in Israel,"
though the Lord was King in Jeshurun.

Now, of the children of faith, it is said, "ye are the temple of the living God" (H Cor. 6:16). But
it is sure that what gives all the value to the house is the One who dwells in it. Yet we sometimes
hear more of the body than we do of the Head; we hear the church spoken of as "the mystery,"
whereas Scripture says:"This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church"
(Eph. 5:32); "this mystery . . . which is Christ in you" (Col. 1:27); "Christ is all and in all" (Col.
3:11). So preoccupied are saints with the church, that if some are asked "What is the mystery?"
they immediately answer, "The church." We might as well say that God’s institution of union
(Gen. 2:24, Eph. 5:31) was Eve! In Gen. 5:2, we read that God "called their name Adam"; "so
also is the Christ" (I Cor. 12:12).

It is most blessed and helpful to trace through the Word of God the perfect balance of truth. It has
often been said that nearly all error is based on one side of truth. Take the truth as to the Person

of the Son of God. He is God and Man. Leave out either, and fatal error is the result. So, with
the Spirit and the Word:leave out either and again you have error. Likewise, concerning that
which God has revealed as to Himself:"God is light" and "God is love." To omit either fact
would be ignorance of God and blinding error. Again, at the cross, "Mercy and truth are met
together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psa. 85:10).

So it is in the epistle of John. Who, reading there, can separate the truth as to Christ’s Person and
love to the brethren? They are inseparably joined and perfectly balanced, as are "grace and truth"
in the Lord Jesus Himself. As to our path, how we need the balance! It is "watch and pray." It has
been said that one of these without the other is mockery on the one hand, and presumption on the
other.

We read of all that "Jesus began both to do and to teach" (Acts 1:1). For us, the Scripture balance
is:"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine" (I Tim. 4:16).

May the Lord stir up our spirits in His mercy (even now _ as dawn is nearing) by His Spirit’s
power through the Word.

We feel our space too precious to drag our readers through the filth and details of the moral
upheaval of this and other nations of the so-called "free-world." We need not defile our readers
with stories of sin that others seem dedicated to publish. Yet, we are alarmed at the spread of these
things! Even the casual reader scanning the journals of Christendom cannot help but be appalled
at conditions today. College campuses, where the young from many homes are sent to acquire an
education to equip them better for the years ahead, are being converted into laboratories for
experiments in sin in this pseudo-scientific age. But, be not alarmed! At these same institutions
they are being soundly indoctrinated in the fatuous lie of evolution that out of all these deplorable
conditions man is evolving into something higher and better.

Men, wise in their own conceits, are becoming bolder by the day to throw off the "yoke of
religion" and discard and blaspheme the Scriptures of Truth. They are pulling up the anchor of
the ship of a "Bible-influenced" society and are going to be tossed about by the waves of the
unleashed human nature. We are careful to speak of this country, not as a Christian nation but
rather, as "Bible-influenced." Mild though that influence may seem, we lament to see it lessened
to the point of discard.

The Apostle Peter writes of those who "if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and
overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning" (II Peter 2:20). He is not
referring here to the disobedient Christian nor does this "knowledge" imply salvation. Rather, it
is as stated, that some have escaped the pollutions and degradations to which fallen man has
descended _ not through honest conversion, but simply through the knowledge of the "way of
righteousness" (n Peter 2:21). It is this knowledge of the way of righteousness that we see being
abandoned, as apostasy on a grand scale now pervades Christendom.

The "new morality" is but a cloak to call wickedness "morality" when the divine Standard for
marking out that "way of righteousness" is discredited and the depths of degradation are mistaken
for the higher planes to which mankind is supposedly evolving. Under the misguided influence
of this "new morality" people are in danger of falling not into love, but into sin. This confusion
between love and lust is perilous. God says that "when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin:
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:15). "Woe unto them that call evil
good, and good evil" (Isa. 5:20).

The Word of God shows instances of moral wickedness assuming greater proportions as the truth
of God is given up. Eli’s sons were involved in horrible immoralities at the very door of the
tabernacle where God dwelt with His people. Is it any wonder that the glory departed? Israel’s
history of departures from the Lord to follow the idolatries of the heathen was almost always
accompanied by moral wickedness and atrocities. The whole course of the Gentile nations is
summed up in Romans 1:"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
. . . Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, . .
. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. . . . And even as they did not like to retain

God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Rom. 1:21-28). Thus we see
the downward plunge of man.

With the spread of Christian truth came the re-enlightenment of the reprobate mind of fallen man.
This "knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" and "the way of righteousness" as Peter
speaks, blessed though they be, do not necessarily involve salvation. However, the gospel believed
goes much further, imparting life and light as well as pardon, peace, and the crowning blessing
of the indwelling Spirit of God. But when even this is rejected, grace is despised or turned into
lasciviousness; and the heart becomes, as some have termed it, "gospel-hardened." What can there
be but a "certain fearful looking for of judgment"! This latter end is far worse!

In the New Testament we read of the true Church as a chaste virgin; espoused to Christ (II Cor.
11:2). Yet, when the professing church is viewed with its ranks swelled with unbelievers (the true
saints having been previously raptured to glory), God calls her "THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS"
(Rev. 17:5). Again, immorality is the consequence and type of spiritual evil. So, we are not to be
surprised at the present course of evil, the "mystery of iniquity" already at work _ "the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience" (H Thess. 2:7; Eph. 2:2).

The gospel of God’s grace has delivered the believer from these things. "But we are bound to give
thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (II Thess. 2:13).
"And such were some of you:but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11). "But, beloved, we are
persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak" (Heb.
6:9).

The believer in the Lord Jesus, who trembles at His Word and accepts no other standard as the
guide for faith and practice, is bound to reject this "new morality" and "with purpose of heart .
. . cleave unto the Lord." God commands us, "Flee fornication," and adds, "Every sin that a man
doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body" (I Cor.
6:18). Such is the double evil described by God. Since our bodies are the temples of the Holy
Ghost, and we are not even our own, we are further exhorted to glorify Him in our bodies, for
we are bought with the price of the precious blood of Christ.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassion of God, to present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, (which is) your intelligent service. And be not conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of (your) mind, that ye may prove what (is) the
good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:1,2,).

"What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God" (II Pet. 3:11,12)!

The term "Man-child" signifying the One who is to "rule all nations with a rod of iron" embraces
both Christ and the Church; the interval from His ascension to that of hers not being looked upon
as time, and both taken as one event, of which His was "the first fruits."

The portion of the Church is to reign over the nations in His heavenly glory when the earth will
be brought into ordered subjection in the "administration of the fullness of times" (the millennial
kingdom).

"Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" says the apostle. This is, then, the portion
of the Church. But she has a sweeter portion than that of judging the nations; she has the
Bridegroom Himself as her heart’s portion_"the bright and morning star."

When Christ asks for the heathen (that is, the nations), according to the second Psalm, He will
have the Church safely in the glory; and she will be joint-heir with Him, the bride of the Lamb.

Many passages might be cited in the Old Testament which show that where Christ is spoken of,
there the Church is included as seen in Him.

She herself is never spoken of.

She was hidden in God’s own counsels.

This is "the mystery" (Eph. 5:32) which, until it was revealed by Paul, was "kept secret" _ "was
not made known" _ "hid in God." (See Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:5-9; Col. 1:26)

Thus, when passages in the Old Testament true only of Him are imported into the New Testament,
we find them applied to the Church, as, for instance, this second Psalm.

We may compare, with this thought in our minds, Isa. 49:6, where it applies to Christ only, with
Acts 13:47, appropriated by Paul in the New Testament for the Church.

Also Isa. 50:8,9, where Christ is before the mind of the Spirit, is comparable to Rom. 8:33,34,
which is the portion of the saints. Compare also Isa. 49:8 with 2 Cor. 6:2; and Eph. 6:13-17 with
Isa. 59:17, etc.

This will help us in understanding these "unsearchable riches of Christ."

How sweet, then, after we read of Him in the Old Testament, to find the Church’s portion, as
united to Him, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, by the Spirit sent down at Pentecost!

The enemy hates the Word of God throughout, but certain portions in particular. Any Scripture
which he singles out for special attack is thus identified as very precious for the saints. Genesis
3 is such a chapter. Why should he hate it so?

1. Because it accounts for conditions in human society and in creation, thus distinguishing between
that which the wise and beneficent Creator produced and that which sin wrought. Any soul,
exercised as to the present unhappy state of creation, and of man in particular, finding and
accepting this divinely given explanation of the cause, thus will be turned to Him in whom alone
is the remedy, and away from all the theories of men which leave their adherents still under the
power of Satan.

2. Because this chapter exposes the enemy in the very midst of his destructive activities. It shows
us his motives, his methods, his helplessness and silence in the presence of God the Judge, and
his ultimate overthrow in the conflict with the Seed.

Satan wishes to work undetected, but this inspired record will not permit it. He does not desire
to be known his wicked ways, the sad results to which they lead for his deluded followers, and
especially his sure defeat at the hands of the Lord.

3. Because here our God is seen in His sufficiency, working deliverance where sin has wrought
ruin; as the Investigator of sin, bringing everything to light; as the Judge of sin, pronouncing with
finality as to its consequences on earth, even as He will at the great white throne concerning its
eternal outcome; and as the Savior of sinners, clothing the guilty pair with the garment of His own
providing and fixing the believing heart upon Him who was to die (and has died) upon the cross.

For these, and many other precious things in the chapter, we should be profoundly thankful. Let
us not neglect this important portion. As it is much hated, let it also be much loved.

EXTRACT
The devil does not select an ignorant or immoral man to make his grand and special attack upon
the Bible, for he knows full well that the former could not speak, and the latter would not get a
hearing; but he craftily takes up some amiable, benevolent, and popular person _ some one of
blameless morals _ a laborious student, a profound scholar, a deep and original thinker. Thus he
throws dust in the eyes of the simple, the unlearned and the unwary.

"If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then
live" (Ezek. 33:10)? If they are upon us, how can we live? "For mine iniquities are … as a heavy
burden; they are too heavy for me." "The burden of them is intolerable." It is the burden itself
which cannot be borne; no one could bear his own iniquity without being sunk lower and lower,
and at last to hell, by it. It is only not felt WHEN the very elasticity of sin within us keeps us from
feeling the weight of the sin upon us, or when
the whole burden, our absolutely intolerable burden, is known to be laid upon another.

If this burden be upon us, we cannot walk in newness of life, we cannot run in the way of His
commandments, we cannot arise and shine for His glory.

"If"! But is it?

It is written:"The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." On Jesus it has been laid; on Him
who alone could bear the intolerable burden. Therefore it is not upon His justified ones who
accept Him as their Sin-bearer.

This burden is never divided. He took it all; every item, every detail of it. The scape-goat bore
"upon him" all their iniquities.

Think of every separate sin_each that has weighed down our conscience_every separate
transgression of our most careless moments, added to the unknown weight of forgotten sins of our
whole life, and all this laid upon Jesus, instead of upon us. The sins of a day are often a burden
indeed, but we are told in another type, "I have laid upon thee the YEARS of their iniquity."
Think of the years of our iniquity being upon Jesus. Multiply this by the unknown but equally
intolerable sin-burdens of all His people, and remember that "the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all," and then think what the strength of His enduring love must be which thus bare
"the sins of many."

Think of His bearing them "in his own, body on the tree," in that flesh and blood of which He
took part, with all its sensitiveness, because He would be made like unto His brethren in all things;
realize that this "bearing" was entirely suffering (for He "suffered for sins"); and then praise the
love which has not left "our sins upon us."

We cannot lay them upon Him. Jehovah has done that already, and "his work is perfect."
"Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it." "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all." "He hath done this." We have only to look up and see Him bearing the iniquity for us.
To put it still more simply, we have only to believe that the Lord has really done what He says
He has done.

Can we doubt the Father’s love to us, when we think what it must have cost Him to lay that
crushing weight on His dear Son, sparing Him not, that He might spare US instead?

The Son accepted the awful burden, but it was the Father’s hand which laid it upon Him. It was
death to Him, that there might be life to us. How the thought of our sins being "laid on him,"
should draw out our love! "He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."

"On Thee the Lord
My mighty sins hath laid,
And against Thee Jehovah’s sword
Flashed forth its fiery blade.
The stroke of justice fell on Thee,
That it might never fall on me."

But in this new, forgiven life, there must be growth; the command is, "desire the sincere milk of
the word, that ye may grow thereby." Real desire must prove itself by action. By the Word we
shall grow in the knowledge of Christ. How do we come to know more of anyone whom, having
not seen, we love? Is it not by reading and hearing what he has said and written and done? How
are we to know more of Jesus ‘Christ if we are not taking the trouble to know more of His Word?

It says, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in ALL the scriptures
the things concerning himself." Let us ask that the Holy Spirit may take of these things of Jesus
and show them unto us, that we may grow in "the knowledge of the Son of God."

"The words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life" _ quickening and life-giving
words. We want to be permeated with them; we want them to dwell in us richly. Jesus Himself
has given us this quick and powerful Word of God, and our responsibility is tremendous. He has
told us distinctly what to do with it; He has said, "Search the scriptures"! Now, are we substituting
a word of our own, and merely reading them? He did not say, "Read them," but "Search." The
devil is very fond of persuading us that we have "no leisure so much as to eat," when it is a
question of Bible study.

We are solemnly responsible for the mental influences under which we place ourselves. "Take
heed what ye hear" must include take heed what ye read. "Lead us not into temptation" is "vain
repetition" when we walk straight into it.

"Let me, then, be always growing,
Never, never standing still,
Listening, learning, better knowing
Thee, and Thy most blessed will;
That the Master’s eye may trace,
Day by day, my growth in grace."

A doctor was once asked by a patient who had met with a serious accident:"Doctor, how long
will I have to lie here?" The answer, "Only a day at a time," taught the patient a precious lesson.

The same lesson God taught His people, and the people of all ages since, through the method of
His provision for Israel during their wilderness journey:"The day’s portion in
its day"(Exodus 16:4, marg.). Day by day the manna fell, enough for each day, and no more and
no less.

So God promises us_not "as thy weeks," or "as thy months," but_"as thy days, so shall thy
strength be" (Deut. 33:25). And that means Monday’s grace for Monday, and Tuesday’s grace
for Tuesday, and so on through the week. Why, then, borrow trouble for the future? We are
especially told by the Lord, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow:for the morrow shall take
thought for the things of itself" (Matt. 6:34). The true rule_the life of faith_is to live by the day,
to live a life of trust.

The law of divine grace is "Sufficient unto the day." The law of divine deliverance is, "A very
present help." The law of divine guidance is, "Step by step."

One who carries a light on a dark road at night sees only a step before him. If he takes that step
he carries the light forward and that makes another step plain. After awhile he reaches his
destination in safety without once stepping into darkness. The whole way was made light to him,
though only a single step of it was made plain at one time. This is the method of God’s
guidance_one step at a time.

It is a blessed secret, this living by the day. Anyone can carry his burden, however heavy, till
nighttime. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. And in the strength of God,
anyone can live trustingly, lovingly, and purely till the sun goes down.

"Day by day the manna fell;
Oh! to learn this lesson well."

"The inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16).