An Appeal

“AM so glad to hear you know the Lord, and are living for Him," said a preacher of the gospel to a young girl, not long since.
“It will be a star in your crown," she answered.
“I did not save you; the Lord did it all. He is our Saviour," replied he.
This young girl for some time had felt herself to be a lost sinner, needing a Saviour, and it was whilst this servant of God was unfolding the way of salvation through the finished work of Christ, and speaking, too, of God's wondrous love in giving Jesus to die for us, that she was enabled to trust Him with her whole heart.
Some time afterward the conversation related took place, and the preacher rejoiced to find the Lord had used him to carry the word of life to this immortal soul.
Dear young girls, do let one of yourselves beg of you to trust the Lord. If it gives such joy to a fellow creature when a sinner is saved, how much greater the joy of the Lord Himself when anyone of us just lays hold of Him, and of His promise—"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out"! And what joy there is in the soul of the one who is saved Then life becomes a new thing—we have new things to live for: "To me to live is Christ," said St. Paul.
An unbeliever cannot live for the Lord, or please Him; but, having believed in Him, it is our greatest joy to love, serve, and follow Him, till He shall come and take us to be with Himself forever. N. N.
Scenes From the History of the Early Christians
"Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him,”
LET us place ourselves once more in thought in the Holy City, about a year after the ascension of our Lord. Jerusalem is now full of the disciples of Christ; multitudes of men and women assemble constantly in Solomon's porch, a place which was perhaps counted sacred, as a relic of the old Temple; but if we were to inquire for the Christians in the city, we should be met only by looks of wonderment; the followers of Jesus of Nazareth did not yet bear that name. It is early, and the threefold blast of the priests' trumpets, as they called morning prayer, has but just died away, the smoke of the morning sacrifice is still lingering about the courts of the Temple, as we take our way through the narrow streets, meeting men of many nations and languages and varied dress. In whichever direction we walk, the same beautiful object fixes our eyes, for above the city of God rises the Temple,
“... a mountain of white marble, steeped
In light, like floating gold.”
As the day advances we are aware that something unusual is taking place. A crowd is gathered near a building not far from the Temple courts. They speak in eager, indignant tones, and as we draw nearer we catch the word "blasphemy," often repeated.
If we ask the cause of this stir and excitement, we shall receive different answers. An Essene, as he gathers the flowing folds of his white robe more closely round him lest he be defiled by our touch, will tell us that the members of the Sanhedrin are met to-day in the council-chamber to try a Hellenist who has spoken against the Temple, and the law which Jehovah the God of Israel gave to His people. That white hall is the council-chamber, and there it will go hard with the one who has that day to answer for himself before the high priest and the judges. The high priest is of the sect of the Sadducees—they who say there is no resurrection. He will find no mercy at their hands. The accused does not belong to the holy city, there is something foreign about his speech and ways; but he was a good man; he did great wonders and miracles among the people, he cared for the poor and the widow. He spoke of Jesus of Nazareth, saying that He whom they crucified, liveth.
Can we not picture to ourselves the disciples of Jesus, saying, "The Lord told us so. He told us that we should be delivered up to the councils, and scourged in the synagogues. It is well. Let each of us be even as His apostles, who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name. ‘It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord "? And we can see the vehement gestures of many who, pointing to the glittering heights of the Temple, exclaim of the accused," He hath not ceased to speak blasphemous words against this holy place.”
Within that council-chamber, the trial proceeds. The court is specially convened to try those who are accused of any offense against the law or the religious customs of the Jews. The high priest sits in the chief place, and around the hall, in a half-circle, are ranged the members of the court, chief priests, elders, lawyers and scribes, to the number of seventy, as judges.
Before them the Hellenist, Stephen, stands alone, confronted by those who have been brought forward as witnesses against him. His accusers charge him vehemently, and again we hear the words, "blasphemy," "this holy place," "the law;"—the accusation is summed up in one sentence: "We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.”
Then, as the high priest puts the question, "Are these things so?" every eye in the assembly is fixed upon the prisoner. Surely, as he stands alone before them, the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon him, for his face seems, even to the eyes of those judges, like the face of an angel.
Let us watch their faces as he speaks. As he begins his narrative of God's dealings with His chosen people, and the familiar names "Abraham," "Joseph," "David," fall upon their ears, the assembly listens with a smile of approval. But the smile fades and the brows darken as, after speaking of the house which Solomon built for the God of Jacob, he goes on to say, "Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." Then, passing from those who were, in their rejection and their glory, but types of Christ, he speaks of how their fathers had persecuted the prophets, and slain those who spoke before of the coming of that righteous One, of whom they had been the betrayers and murderers, and they forget all else in their blind fury against the accused who has dared to accuse them—the chief priests and scribes, the teachers of the nation—in such words as these, "Ye have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”
The angel-light upon his face awes them no longer, and in bitter rage they gnash on him with their teeth.
But to Stephen, as, full of the Holy Ghost, he looks up steadfastly into heaven, a far different scene is opened. The council-chamber, the witnesses, the angry judges, all disappear, and in triumphant language he tells what has been revealed to him by that steadfast gaze.
“Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.”
With loud cries the judges rush upon him, stopping their ears from hearing such blasphemous words; they drag him from the council-chamber and through the narrow, crowded streets until the place is reached outside the city gates where the blasphemer is to be stoned.
According to the law, those who have borne witness against him are to cast the first stones. Throwing off their long upper garments, they lay them at the feet of a young man, who was afterward to say—speaking to that same Jesus whom Stephen had just seen in the glory of God—"When the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him." Yes, Saul the persecutor, who did so much evil to the Lord's saints in Jerusalem, is there. He has seen that heavenly light on Stephen's face; he has heard the words in which Christ's martyr gives up his spirit to the Lord Jesus; he has seen him kneel amid the cry and tumult and deadly volley of stones falling like hail around him, and, ere he calmly falls asleep, pray for his persecutors that the sin of his death be not laid to their charge.
That heavenly light which transfigured the martyr's face is to shine again before the eyes of Saul of Tarsus, but the time has not yet come. As the disciples of the Baptist took up his headless body and buried it, and went and told Jesus, so we imagine devout men gathering the mangled remains of the martyr Stephen, and, with great lamentation, bearing him upon an open bier to his burial. We see them lay him in some garden or cave, or rock-hewn sepulcher. We know not how far their spirits, little instructed as yet in what was subsequently revealed as to the blessedness of those who depart to he with Christ, can rejoice over the brother who has gone before them into the presence of the Lord, but we may be sure that He who once on the midnight sea came to His disciples in their storm-driven boat, saying to them those words of cheer, "It is I; be not afraid," is very near to His own as they stand around the grave of Stephen. Very near them, too, as they return to meet the full tide of persecution, which his death seems to roll in upon them.
Surely we may believe that there were many nameless martyrs in Jerusalem during that terrible time when Saul "made havoc of the church," entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison. We know, from his own lips, that he persecuted "unto the death" the disciples of Christ, besides punishing them in the synagogues and shutting them up in prison, and trying to compel them to blaspheme His Name; for he verily thought with himself, in this time of his ignorance and unbelief, that he "ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." He had not yet heard that voice from heaven which said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?.. I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest.”
Bible Subjects: Reconciliation
WE read in Col. 1 of reconciliation, present, and to come. The believer is already reconciled to God (ver. 21); the things in heaven and earth will be (ver. 20).
In our natural state, as born into the world, we are in ourselves alienated from God; moreover, we were actively enemies to Him in our minds by our wicked works. Both in our fallen nature, which is sin, and in the activities of our sinful nature, we are at enmity to God. Indeed, the very seat of man's intellectual power is the citadel of his hostility to God—heart, will, understanding, all are opposed to God. Yet God Himself, in His infinite grace, has effected the reconciliation of His people to Himself: "You hath He reconciled." God has now brought us into friendship with Himself. The work of the cross of God's Son alone meets God's judgment of what we are in the flesh, and thereby God brings us into absolute reconciliation with Himself.
This reconciliation is the believer's present portion. The grand purpose of the gracious work of Christ for us on the cross will be seen in the day to come, when He will present us to God, holy, blameless, and irreproachable; but not even then will the reconciliation be more perfect than now! When we have no sinful nature left, and when our bodies will be bodies of glory like Christ's, the reconciliation will be no more absolute or perfect than now, though we have the flesh in us, and are constantly doing that which is blamable and reproachable; for the basis of the reconciliation is the death of Christ.
The future reconciliation refers to "all things... whether things in earth, or things in heaven." Christ's glory will be seen in His bringing close to God the things which were in themselves afar off. We but little consider the far-reaching value of the blood of Christ, and how that blood-shedding will bring to Him glory on glory. Observe, the things under the earth, the infernal things, will not be reconciled. Every knee shall bow to Christ Jesus the Lord; but, while all must submit to His authority, things in earth and in heaven only shall be reconciled to God. There is present reconciliation for sinners now through grace, but no future reconciliation for such as in this life refuse God's grace.
Again in Rom. 5 we read of reconciliation as present: —"Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation" (ver. 11) (not atonement). We have now received. Well, indeed then, may we joy in God Himself, who is our God, the source of all our marvelous privileges and the fountain of our blessings. We joy in Him through our Lord Jesus Christ, for He has revealed God to us, and He has died to bring us to God, and through Him all the blessings flow to us.
If the death of God's Son has changed us over from being enemies to God, "much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (ver. 10). His death has effected the wondrous state of friendship which is ours by grace; and now that He who died for us lives for us, much more shall we be saved by His life. Christ is a mighty Saviour; He was crucified through weakness, but the weakness is now exchanged for power. Ours in a pilgrimage to heaven: we are failing and often sinning on the road; we need His power saving us every step of the way. Our souls, thank God, are saved, and our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus, but such frail and sinning creatures as we are stand in daily need of the might of the living Lord Jesus Christ to bring us all the journey along. And as surely as He has died for us, and as surely as He will present us before His God holy and blameless, so surely will He save us all the way homewards.
As we think of the wondrous favor into which the death of God's blessed Son has brought us, these words: "much more," relating to His saving power as the living Saviour; are exceedingly restful to our hearts. Let us seek a better acquaintance with our living Lord Jesus Christ; we may form some ideas of the value of His work, accomplished eighteen hundred years ago for us; but let every little apprehension given to us by the Holy Spirit of what that work is only lead us the more to delight in Himself, our living Lord.
Bible Lessons for the Little Ones
(Read John 3:13; Matt. 5:1-13; 11:28-30.)
PERHAPS some of you, dear children, may wonder why we have read the first of our verses, as it is not in the place where we are reading just now. The reason is, that we may remember who He is who spoke those beautiful words about the people who are "blessed" which you read afterward from our own gospel. You know that the Lord Jesus spoke those words to His disciples, as He sat on a hill, and taught them. He spoke to them about heaven. Have you ever thought how it was that the Lord Jesus could speak about that place? It was because He had been there. You could tell me all about your own home, because you know no other place so well. As the verse you read from the Gospel of John tells us, the Lord Jesus "came down from heaven.”
You know why the blessed Son of God came all that long journey from. His bright borne on high down to this world, so dark and so spoiled by sin. It was because
“He had a secret, dear to Him,
Which no one else could tell—
The secret of His Father's love,
Which He knew, oh, so well!”
In order that He might, in His life and by His death, tell that wonderful secret in this sad world, He was quite willing to come and live and die here. It is wonderful to think that there should ever have been in this world where we live every day some one who did not belong to it as we do, though He was born here, and grew up in a poor home with other children. The Lord Jesus was always a Stranger here, for He had come from heaven, and so when He spoke of heaven He spoke of the place He knew best. While He was here, in a place where the men and women, and even the little children as soon as they were old enough to choose their own way, had gone quite away from God, the Lord Jesus learned how sorrowful a place the world is—how unlike heaven it is. It often makes you sad just for a moment, when you run along the road with your hoop, and pass close by a poor, pale child, whose limbs are so bent that he cannot walk. Just for a moment, when you notice that blind man at the crossing, with his good dog, who holds out a brass cup for a penny, you think how sad it must be never to see the beautiful light, and the trees, and the people; but those sad thoughts do not stay long.
It grieved the Lord Jesus in a way we cannot understand to see all the sadness which He saw day by day, for He knew that sin had done it all. In heaven there is no sadness, nor sighing, nor any pain or sickness; but here the Lord Jesus met sorrow at every turn, and He was called the Man of Sorrows; He was "acquainted with grief," for He knew it well.
But while He was teaching His disciples on the mountain, He spoke not so much of sorrow as of happiness. Nine times He said "blessed," and that word means happy. He told His disciples what it is to be really happy, and while He told them that the "meek" people, and the "merciful" people, and those who are "pure in heart" are "blessed," He spoke of a blessedness which He knew ' for the Lord Jesus was Himself just what He spoke of in those nine verses beginning with "blessed," which many of you know by heart.
Suppose you were to pick up a stick of hawthorn, and cut off all the prickles, and smooth away the knotty places—you might say, "Look, I have made this crooked old stick almost straight; what a nice stick it is!" But if anyone put a perfectly straight stick down beside yours, you would see at once that it was crooked after all. What would make your stick, with which you had taken such pains, so crooked? The straight stick which was put beside it? No, you must think again, and you will see that the straight stick did not make yours crooked, but only showed, by being so straight, how crooked your stick was.
So when we read these words of the Lord Jesus, when we hear that He calls those who are meek "blessed," we know at once that those words cannot mean us, for we are not meek. Only He could say, as He did say in those verses which we read last, "I am meek and lowly in heart.”
You may try to be meek and gentle, because you know it is right, but it is just because you are not meek that you try to be so. The Lord Jesus always was meek; He never did anything just to please Himself, or because He had a right to do it. He who made everything and had a right to everything, was content with the very poorest things, if it was the will of God His Father. It is true of all the "blessed" things of which the Lord spoke—He was all of them; we are none of them.
Now let me hear you each repeat that beautiful verse which so many of you know so well; that verse in which the One who had not where to lay His head in this world yet calls to all who are weary, and bids them, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." We read these words of our Lord only in this gospel.
You all know what it is to be tired—even play tires one at last; but there is a worse way of being tired, which you know a little about even now; a sort of tiredness which comes much oftener, and lasts a much longer time as people grow older. There are few children who have not known what it is to be restless and unhappy, tired of themselves and of their own way, even when they had thought no way could be half so pleasant. This way of being tired needs the rest which only the Lord Jesus can give. He saw a great many people restless and miserable without knowing why; but He knew that it is sin that makes all the sorrow, and there were none of all the tired, sorrowful people around Him that day, to whom He would not have given rest, if only they would have come to Him.
Next time we shall read of one who had a very great trouble—a sore sickness which no doctor could cure, but who was cured at once when he came to the Lord. Remember, dear children, Jesus still says, to every one of you, "Come unto Me.”
"COME unto Me, and rest,"
Jesus the Saviour cried;
Come, children, to His loving breast,
For none were there denied.