It is a wonderfully blessed thing to be able to say, "I have found
an object which perfectly satisfies my heart— I have found Christ

It is a wonderfully blessed
thing to be able to say, "I have found an object which perfectly satisfies
my heart— I have found Christ." It is this which gives true elevation
above the world. It renders us thoroughly independent of the resources upon
which the unconverted heart ever relies. It gives settled rest. It
imparts a calmness and quietness to the spirit which the world cannot
comprehend. The poor votary of the world may think the life of the true
Christian a very slow, dull, stupid affair indeed. He may marvel how such an
one can manage to get on without what he calls amusement, recreation, and
pleasure:no theaters, no balls or parties, no concerts, no cards, races or
clubs.

 

To deprive the unconverted man
of such things would almost drive him to despair or lunacy; but the Christian
does not want such things and would not have them. They would be a perfect
weariness to him. We speak, of course, of the true Christian, of one who is not
merely a Christian in name, but in reality. Alas! alas! many profess to be
Christians and take very high ground in their profession, who are,
nevertheless, to be found mixed up in all the vain and frivolous pursuits of
the men of this world. They may be seen at the communion-table on the Lord’s
day and at a theater or a concert on Monday. They may be found assaying to take
part in some one or other of the many branches of Christian work on Sunday, and
during the week you may see them in the ballroom, at the races, or some such
scene of folly and vanity.

 

It is very evident that such
persons know nothing of Christ as an object for the heart. Indeed, it is very
questionable how any one with a single spark of divine life in the soul can
find pleasure in the wretched pursuits of a godless world. The true and earnest
Christian turns away from such things—turns away instinctively; and this, not
merely because of the positive wrong and evil of them—though most surely he feels
them to be wrong and evil—but because he has no taste for them, and because he
has found something infinitely superior, something which perfectly satisfies
all the desires of the new nature. Could we imagine an angel from heaven taking
pleasure at a ball, a theater, or a racecourse? The bare thought is supremely
ridiculous. All such scenes are perfectly foreign to a heavenly being.

 

And what is a Christian? He is a
heavenly man; he is a partaker of the divine nature. He is dead to the world,
dead to sin; alive to God. He has not a single link with the world:
he belongs to heaven. He is no more of the world than Christ his Lord. Could
Christ take part in the amusements, gaieties, and follies of the world? The
very idea were blasphemy. Well, then, what of the Christian? Is he to be found
where his Lord could not be? Can he consistently take part in things which he
knows in his heart are contrary to Christ? Can he go into places and scenes and
circumstances in which, he must admit, his Saviour and Lord can take no part?
Can he go and have fellowship with a world which hates the One to whom he
professes to owe everything?

 

It may perhaps seem to some of
our readers that we are taking too high ground. We would ask such what ground
we are to take—surely, Christian ground, if we are Christians. Well, then, if
we are to take Christian ground, how are we to know what that ground really is?
Assuredly, from the New Testament. And what does it teach? Does it afford any
warrant for the Christian to mix himself, in any shape or form, with the
amusements and vain pursuits of this present evil world? Let us hearken to the
weighty words of our blessed Lord in John 17. Let us hear from His lips the
truth as to our portion, our position, and our path in this world. He says, addressing
the Father, "I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not
that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep
them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through Thy truth:Thy Word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into
the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (vv. 14-18).

 

Is it possible to conceive a
closer measure of identification than that set before us in these words? Twice
in this brief passage, our Lord declares that we are not of the world, even as
He is not. What has our blessed Lord to do with the world? Nothing. The world
has utterly rejected Him and cast Him out. It nailed Him to a shameful cross,
between two malefactors. The world lies as fully and as freshly under the
charge of all this as though the act of the crucifixion took place yesterday,
at the very center of civilization, and with the unanimous consent of all.
There is not so much as a single moral link between Christ and the world. Yea,
the world is stained with His murder and will have to answer to God for the
crime.

 

How solemn is this! What a
serious consideration for Christians! We are passing through a world that
crucified our Lord and Master, and He declares that we are not of that world,
even as He is not of it. Hence it follows that in so far as we have any
fellowship with the world, we are false to Christ. What should we think of a
wife who could sit and laugh and joke with a set of men who had murdered her
husband? Yet this is precisely what professing Christians do when they mix
themselves up with this present evil world, and make themselves part and parcel
of it.

 

It will perhaps be asked, "What
are we to do? Are we to go out of the world?" By no means. Our Lord
expressly says, "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the
world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." In it but not of
it, is the true principle for the Christian. To use a figure, the Christian in
the world is like a diver. He is in the midst of an element which would destroy
him, were he not protected from its action and sustained by unbroken
communication with the scene above.

 

And what is the Christian to do
in the world? What is his mission? Here it is:"As Thou has sent Me into
the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." And again in
John 20:21, "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you."

 

Such is the Christian’s mission.
He is not to shut himself within the walls of a monastery or convent.
Christianity does not consist of joining a brotherhood or a sisterhood. Nothing
of the kind. We are called to move up and down in the varied relations of life
and to act in our divinely; appointed spheres, to the glory of God. It is not a
question of what we are doing, but of how we do it. All depends upon the object
which governs our hearts. If Christ be the commanding and absorbing object of
the heart, all will be right; if He be not, nothing is right. Two persons may
sit down at the same table to eat:the one eats to gratify his appetite; the
other eats to the glory of God—eats simply to keep his body in proper working
order as God’s vessel, the temple of the Holy Ghost, the instrument for
Christ’s service.

 

So in everything. It is our
sweet privilege to set the Lord always before us. He is our model. As He was
sent into the world, so are we. What did He come to do? To glorify God. How did
He live? By the Father. "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by
the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me" (John 6:57).

 

This makes it all so simple.
Christ is the standard and touchstone for everything. It is no longer a
question of mere right and wrong according to human rules; it is simply a
question of what is worthy of Christ. Would He do this or that? Would He go
here or there? "He left us an example, that we should follow His steps";
and most assuredly we should not go where we cannot trace His blessed
footsteps. If we go hither and thither to please ourselves, we are not treading
in His steps, and we cannot expect to enjoy His blessed presence.

 

Christian reader, here lies the
real secret of the whole matter. The grand question is just this:Is Christ my
one object? What am I living for? Can I say, "The life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself
for me"? Nothing less than this is worthy of a Christian. It is a poor miserable
thing to be content with being saved and then to go on with the world and live
for self-pleasing and self-interest— to accept salvation as the fruit of
Christ’s toil and passion and then live at a distance from Him. What should we
think of a child who cared only about the good things provided by his father’s
hand and never sought his father’s company—yea, preferred the company of
strangers? We should justly despise him; but how much more despicable is the
Christian who owes his present and his eternal all to the work of Christ and
yet is content to live at a cold distance from His blessed Person, caring not
for the furtherance of His cause—the promotion of His glory!

 

What raised the wondrous thought

What raised the wondrous
thought?

Or who did it suggest?
"That we, the Church, to glory brought,

Should WITH the Son be
blest."

O God, the thought was Thine!

(Thine only it could be)

Fruit of the wisdom, love
divine,

Peculiar unto Thee.

 

For, sure, no other mind,

For thoughts so bold, so free,

Greatness or strength, could
ever find;

Thine only it could be.

 

The motives, too, Thine own,

The plan, the counsel, Thine!

Made for Thy Son, bone of His
bone,

In glory bright to shine.

 

O God, with great delight

Thy wondrous thought we see,

Upon His throne, in glory
bright,

The bride of Christ shall be.

 

Sealed with the Holy Ghost,

We triumph in that love,

Thy wondrous thought has made
our boast,

"Glory
WITH Christ above."

In the first epistle to the Thessalonians we have in the last chapter
very important instruction given to the saints

In the first epistle to the
Thessalonians we have in the last chapter very important instruction given to
the saints. They, like the Corinthians, are an instance of a young church. They
were told to know those that labored among them. Hence all this may be where
there are no elders. Thus in 1 Thessalonians 5:12,13 the apostle writes,
"We beseech you? brethren, to know them which labor among you,
and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly
in love for their work’s sake." The presence of elders is not requisite in
order to have and to own those who are over us in the Lord, There is much of
importance for us now in that Scripture, for we have elders no more than they.
I think we ought to lay its exhortations to heart. There are, within and
without, not a few ill-instructed souls who hold the notion that, unless there
be official appointment, they cannot have anybody over them in the Lord. This
is all a mistake. No doubt, when a man was officially appointed, there was a
definite guarantee in the face of the church given by an apostle or an apostolic
man; and there was thereby no little weight given to those who were thus
appointed. Such a sanction had great and just value in the church, and would be
of consequence among the unruly. But, none the less, God knew how to provide
instruction for assemblies where there was not yet official oversight. How
merciful for times like the present when, for want of apostles, there could be
no elders!

 

It will be noticed that the
Corinthian assembly abounded in gift, though elders are seen nowhere among
them. The Thessalonians do not appear to have possessed the same variety of
outward power, and again elders or bishops are never hinted at. Yet at Corinth the household of Stephanas devoted themselves regularly to the service of the
saints; and the apostle beseeches the brethren to "submit [themselves]
unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us and laboreth" (1 Cor.
16:16). The Thessalonians he entreats to know those who labored among them, and
presided in the Lord, and admonished them. Evidently this did not depend upon
their being apostolically appointed, which could hardly have been in their
circumstances as the assembly there was newly formed. It is founded upon that
which after all is intrinsically better if we must be content with one blessing
out of two. Surely, if it comes to be a question between real spiritual power
and outward office, no Christian ought to hesitate between them. To have the
power and the office combined is no doubt the best of all, when the Lord is
pleased to give both. But. in those early days we see that individuals were
often and rightly engaged in the work of the Lord before there could be the
seal of an apostle, as it were, affixed; such the apostle encouraged and
commends earnestly to the love and esteem of the saints before and independently
of that seal. How precious that we can fall back on this principle now!

 

Even at Corinth and
Thessalonica, then, those were raised up in the midst of the saints who showed
spiritual ability in guiding and directing others. That was the work of those
to whom one epistle exhorted subjection (1 Cor. 16:16) and whom the other
epistle commended as "over them in the Lord" (I Thess. 5:12). Such
men as these did not labor only, because some might be actively engaged in the
Lord’s work who might not be over others in the Lord, But these manifested
power to meet difficulties in the church, and to battle with that which was
ensnaring souls, and so to guide and encourage the weak and baffle the efforts
of the enemy. They were not afraid to trust the Lord in times of trial and
danger, and therefore the Lord used them, giving them power to discern and
courage to act upon what they did discern. This was part of what fitted them to
take the lead in the Lord. There were such at Thessalonica as well as at Corinth, and yet there is not the slightest intimation that they were regularly installed
as elders. On the contrary there is the strongest evidence that elders as yet
had not been constituted in either place. The regular practice was to appoint
elders after a certain time; indeed it could only be when the apostles came
around, or sent an authorized delegate to choose fit persons and clothe them
before the church with a title which none but the bad would dispute.

 

Need I observe how God has been
graciously providing for the needs of His children? I would draw attention to
His far-reaching wisdom in meeting the difficulties of the day, when a valid
authority to ordain as the apostles did is not left on the earth. Not that His
children are left without help; they have the same Lord and the same ever
present Spirit. Hence there is no need for some change or new invention to meet
the difficulties of the day, but the return in faith to what was and is the
will of the Lord; and this with intelligence of the actual state of the church
and the feelings which become it.

 

FRAGMENT
Although Timothy and Titus were instrumental in appointing elders as overseers,
due to their youth (1 Tim. 4:12, Titus 2:6,7) they did not meet the
qualifications themselves. Also being bachelors they did not have the
opportunity to first demonstrate their governing abilities in the home scene.
(See 1 Tim. 3:4,5.) This in no way reflects on their piety or faithfulness. It
rather emphasizes the necessity to demonstrate certain natural abilities
together with age, before being entrusted with comparable functions in the
local assembly. As we ponder this subject, we would urge a holy caution to any
who would presume to appoint elder brethren as bishops or deacons or assign any
to that place by a majority ballot. Yet, we do confess the need of proper and
able handling of the money and physical properties of assemblies together with
oversight in other matters. We would therefore urge that men, qualified
according to Scripture, readily and willingly assume these functions wherever
the Lord has placed them. May it not be out of constraint as forced upon them
nor for filthy lucre’s sake but, for the Lord’s sake, in happy service rendered
to Himself. May He also stir the hearts of others to recognize these and co-operate
in their work.

Daniel 4

Daniel 4

 

The present is a moment of great
significance in the world’s history. We often speak of other days as having
been strongly characterized by great importance in the progress of the way of
man and in the unfolding of the purposes of God. Were we in the position to
look at them rightly, the present would be seen as equal to any of them in
importance and meaning.

           

Man is preparing that great
exhibition of himself whereby the whole world is to be ensnared and deceived to
its final, utter ruin. Many situations have already resembled in miniature such
a condition, and nothing has escaped the snare but the man of God led by the
Spirit through the spacious and commanding delusion.

 

In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream there
was a tree, the height of which reached unto heaven and the sight to the end of
all the earth, whose leaves were fair and whose fruit was much. The beasts of
the field had shadow under it; the birds of the air dwelt in the boughs of it;
and all flesh fed on it. It was the admiration and boast of all; their desire
was towards it; the heart of the man who planted it considered it his glory and
joy. "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" said King
Nebuchadnezzar.

 

Before long, heaven visited Babylon. The Watcher and the Holy One came down, as the Lord Himself had done in the
earlier days of Babel and Sodom, and inspected this tree of wondrous growth.
With Him it was no object of admiration or worship. He was not moved to desire
its beauty. In His thoughts it was not a tree good for food, or pleasant to the
eye, or desirable for any end, as it was in the thoughts of all flesh. He
looked on this tree as a thing ripe for judgment and said, "Hew down the
tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his
fruit" (v.14).

 

How solemn that in this time of
universal exaltation, when the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and
all flesh were glorying in the grandeur of the tree, heaven was dooming it to
destruction. But Daniel was one among men in that day who had the mind of
heaven, the mind of the Watcher and the Holy One (v.13) respecting this tree.
The saint on the earth can have the mind of heaven. All flesh may feed on that
which faith or the mind of Christ in us sees under the sure judgment of God.

 

This is so; and may we
experience it! But moral danger and temptation beset our hearts. "That
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God"
(Luke 16:15). Even Samuel when Eliab, David’s oldest brother, stood before him
said "Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him" (1 Sam. 16:6). But
Samuel looked where the Lord did not look. He eyed the countenance of the man
and the height of his stature while the Lord eyed the heart. We too are in
danger (in these days of both religious and secular attractions) of mistaking
Eliab for the Lord’s anointed. Paul was held in some contempt at Corinth because of his "bodily presence" which was "weak." He was no
Eliab. He was unimpressive in outward appearance and even the disciples at Corinth were beguiled away from him. (See 1 Sam. 16:7 and 2 Cor. 10:7.) ,

 

All this is a warning to us in
this solemn and significant day when man’s exaltation of himself is growing
rapidly, and things are judged by the mind of man and in their bearing on the
advancement of the world.

Again, when the disciples
admired the buildings of the temple, we have another occasion of the rebuke
which the mind of man met from the mind of God. One of the Lord’s disciples
said unto Him, "Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are
here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings?
there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown
down" (Mark 13:1,2). The erring judgment of man spends its delight and
wonder on what the righteous judgment of God has already solemnly renounced. The
Lord was as the Watcher and the Holy One of the prophet, delivering the
sentence of heaven upon the boast and pride of the heart of man. Has not this a
voice in the ear of this present generation?

 

The incident which above all has
my attention at this time is that in Luke 19, in which the multitude are
following the Lord on His way from Jericho to Jerusalem. We are there told of
them that "they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately
appear" (v.11). This tells us again of the expectation of man’s heart. The
people judged that the present scene, the world as in man’s hands, could get
its sanction from God. They thought the Kingdom would be set up at once. But
this can never be. Christ cannot adopt man’s world. Through repentance and
faith, man must take up with Christ’s world and not think that Christ can take
up with his. The Kingdom cannot come till judgment shall clear the scene of
man’s iniquities and pollutions. But this is not what man calculates on at all.
He judges that the kingdom may immediately appear without any purifying or
change. All that is lacking is a little more progress, and the kingdom will be
fit for God’s adoption. This is the mind of this present generation—like those
who, in this chapter in Luke, "thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear." Things are so advanced, so refined, so cultivated by a
multitude of fresh moral, religious, and scientific energies that under the
success and progress of such energies the world will satisfy Christ in a very
little while. But no, it is man’s world still, and this will never do for
Christ. You may sweep and garnish the house, but it is the house of the old
owner still. For all the pains spent upon it, it is only the more fitted for
the old owner’s designs, and not one single bit more suited to God’s great and
glorious purposes.

 

Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. But He finds there a field of thorns and briars; there were moneychangers and
sellers of doves in the temple of God. The house of prayer was a den of
thieves. The rulers, chief priests, and scribes were seeking to destroy the
Just One. The religion of the place was chief in the offence. Jesus wept over
it. Instead of all being ready for the immediate appearing of the Kingdom, all
was ready for judgment. And thus the city, as Jesus said, was soon to be
intrenched, encompassed, and laid even with the ground instead of being the
habitation of glory and the witness of the Kingdom of God. "That which is
highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." Jesus, as a
Holy One and a Watcher, again on this occasion as in Matthew 24:1,2, inspected
the fair tree of man’s worship and joy and in spirit said, "Hew down the
tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his
fruit."

Has not all this a voice for our
ears in this generation? My soul is deeply assured that Christ is the Watcher
of all the progress, boasted toils, and successes of this present hour. He that
sits in the heavens has different thoughts than men vainly imagine. He is not
about to sanction, but to judge the world in this its day of loftiest
advancement and exaltation.

 

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God

"Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)

 

The
common interpretation of John 3:5 which connects it with Christian baptism not
only alters the meaning of the passage, but involves a very glaring anachronism
in that Christian baptism had not yet been instituted. It appears from the 12th
verse that the doctrine pertaining to "earthly things" applies to the
Kingdom as known to Israel. And from verse 10 we learn that the Lord’s word
ought to have been understood by a Jewish rabbi; i.e., that it was truth
contained in the Old Testament Scriptures. The well-taught scribe would at once
have turned to Ezekiel’s prophecy, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon
you, and ye shall be clean:… and I will put My spirit within you." If
Nicodemus missed the reference at first, the words that follow, "The wind
bloweth where it listeth,…" might well afford the clue to the passage on
which they are so plainly based:"Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live" (Ezek. 36:25-27; 37:9). The
"clean water" alludes, of course, to the rite of the red heifer
established in Numbers 19. Nicodemus claimed his place within the Kingdom by
virtue of his nationality, as Israel might have done had it been faithful. But
because of the carnal and apostate condition of the nation, this claim showed
thorough ignorance not only of the things of God but also of the plain teaching
of the Scriptures. No one could have any part in the Kingdom without the
cleansing typified by the water of purification and the regeneration promised
in Ezekiel’s prophecy. The reference in the Nicodemus sermon is to that rite
and to that promise and not, I need scarcely add, to a dogma (baptism) which
the Church in its apostasy based upon a false interpretation of this very
passage. And if, without this new birth from God, the Jew, even on his high
platform of privilege and covenant, could not receive his promised blessings,
how doubly true must be the word to us, "Ye must be born again.

The Bible records "it came to pass in those days, that there went
out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed
[enrolled]" (Luke 2:1)

The Bible records "it came
to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that
all the world should be taxed [enrolled]" (Luke 2:1). This was not a
taxation as we commonly term it today; it was an enrollment or census. In that
day "all went to be taxed [enrolled], everyone into his own city"
(Luke 2:3). Thus our God worked providentially, causing Joseph and Mary to go
to Bethlehem so that our Saviour would be born there, according to prophetic
utterance (Micah 5:2).

 

In these days our
"Caesar" does not require the long trek back to the site of our birth
or hometown, but he does feel the need to number the people each decade. Our
next scheduled census is to be in 1970. We noted recently that

Ross
Eckler, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, announced the 1970 census may
include questions about religious belief. He reported Roman Catholic and
Protestant groups have requested such questions; Jews and Christian Scientists
are opposed.

            United
Evangelical Action, June 1966

           

While we believe it is beyond
the proper scope of government to make inquiry in religious matters, we do not
align ourselves with those who oppose. Some discussion of this matter is in
order.

 

Earlier this century the U.S.
Census Bureau published a Census of Religious Bodies (now out of print). As
best we can gather, the various religious bodies co-operated and submitted
statistics of the gatherings they represented to the Census Bureau. The reports
began with a historical summary and background of the particular religious body
and continued by tabulating various local churches, the population of each
divided into age groups of both men and women, and the geographical divisions.
The financial picture was also volunteered in great detail. Statements as to
ownership of edifices, the indebtedness thereon, and expenditures per year
(which approximated the annual total of weekly collections) were divulged. The
Census Bureau issued these statistics in 1906, 1916, 1926, and 1936. We know of
no successful attempt since then to re-collect and publish such information.

 

We were greatly chagrined to
find that certain Christian publishing houses had co-operated with the Census
Bureau and volunteered such information in great detail for large numbers of
Christians gathered professedly unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Although they were professedly unnamed and gathered as such, they were listed
under a heading which categorized them among the many sects of Christendom.
Only the fine print seemed to make some slight distinction. To the common shame
of all of these Christians, they were grouped into numerical divisions and
cataloged with their differences displayed before all.

 

Now if the 1970 Census does include
questions about religious beliefs or identification with religious bodies, we
wonder what restraint our Christian readers will exhibit. Will they assume an
unscriptural sectarian name so that the census will put them in a separate
category? Or will they be content to be simply Christians refusing all other
distinctions?

We are dismayed by the
impression many Christians entertain when they sign up a child for school
enrollment or enter a hospital for medical help. There is a feeling that the
forms requesting religious information require them to list themselves as other
than simply Christian. There is, however, no regulation, local or national,
requiring true followers of the Lord Jesus to take distinctive titles or align
themselves with any faction of Christendom. Would to God that all His own would
gather simply as in the days of the apostles, unto the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and refuse all names, whether in private conversation, application
forms, or national census.

           

It is said that such census
information is of great assistance to Christians showing them what portion of
the population they are reaching and whom they effectively serve. But it would
seem that the enemy may be laying a subtle snare enabling men to collect
information on the various Christian affiliations whereby to better lure
scattered sheep into the folds of that apostate "world church," now
so obviously forming.

 

Our hope is that the true Church
will be united and with her Lord in glory before the 1970 Census. Yea, even so
come, Lord Jesus! If in His longsuffering goodness He chooses to tarry longer,
how will you answer the census inquiries—and other information forms in the
meanwhile? We are not borrowing tomorrow’s trouble, for "sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof." But while others are proposing what to ask
us, may our hearts be all the more dedicated to honor the Lord and to "be
ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the
hope that is in [us] with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). The
"reason of the hope that is in [us]" is not our ecclesiastical
affiliation but the finished work of Christ, His blood shed for our sins, and
faith in His name. We look forward with joyful anticipation to that heavenly
census "in that day when I make up My jewels"—for "they shall be
mine, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3:17).

 

We seek, then, not a lobbying
voice in Washington to influence the census query, but an understanding of our
Lord’s will with the needed courage for faithful response.

 

"As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in
all learning and wisdom:and Daniel had understanding in all visions and
dreams" (Daniel 1:17)

"As for these four
children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom:and
Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams" (Daniel 1:17).
"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them
His covenant" (Psa. 25:14). This principle ever abides—it is seen in all
dispensations. It is first laid down by God Himself in the familiar words,
"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do . ..? For I know him, that
he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep
the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon
Abraham that which He hath spoken of him" (Gen. 18:17-19). It appears also
in the prayer of the apostle Paul for the Colossians, "That ye might be
filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding" (Col. 1:9). It is abundantly plain, in other words, that
God gave these four "children" (Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and
Azariah) knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom because of their
separation in heart and life from the defiling evils in Babylon. It is ever
true, that the nearer we are practically to the Lord, the more fully He
communicates His mind to us; and, mark, it is not only in what is generally
understood as "His mind," but it is in all learning and
wisdom. The students of modern days, even Christian students, are too often
betrayed into the thought that for the acquisition of human "learning and
wisdom" they are solely dependent upon their own industry and power. The
consequence is that the years of their student life are often marked by
spiritual declension, if not by open backsliding. The example of the four
"children" might well teach a different lesson.

 

Daniel is singled out from his
fellows, undoubtedly in view of his special work and mission, for we are told
that he had understanding in all visions and dreams. Thereby, too, we are
taught that in all the circumstances and experiences through which God leads
His people, He is forming them as vessels for His service. From the human
standpoint it was a calamity that had befallen Daniel. From God’s standpoint,
as is plainly revealed, this seeming calamity was but the instrumentality which
He had chosen to form Daniel for his mission to carry His testimony into the
court of the mighty Gentile monarch. This testimony concerned the powers which
He had allowed to supercede His own direct government of the earth through Israel and through Jerusalem as His dwelling-place and throne. It is faith alone that can rise up
beyond all secondary causes, connect everything with the hand of God, and at
the same time peacefully rest in Him, assured of His infinite wisdom and love,
and assured that the issue of all events will be according to His own perfect
will.

 

At the end of their training
period all the students were brought into the royal presence, and
Nebuchadnezzar himself examined the students of his college:he "communed
with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah:therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom
and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times
better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm"
(vv.19, 20). They might each have thus adopted the language of the Psalmist:
"Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies:for
they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers:for Thy
testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I
keep Thy precepts" (Psalm 119:98-100). Would that the lesson might be laid
to heart by all the young Christians of the present day!

 

FRAGMENT Some of the marks of
the power of the Holy Ghost in an assembly of saints gathered in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ are:worship, gifts developed, saints agreeing together
in the unity of the Spirit, earnestness, fervency, unselfishness, caring for
others, love to souls, fellowship in the gospel, and taking the place of rejection
with Christ.