Now is our opportunity for exercising ourselves in divine requirements. When Christ is in the earth, our one-time thirsty sister will not need a cup of cold water at our hands, our one-time ill-cladæ sister will not need our clothing. Too late will it be for our perishing neighbour to hear the gospel message from our lips. The door is open to us in these matters whilst Christ tarries. Woe unto us if we are not now busying ourselves in his concerns. We shall find to our cost that he who has opened so that no man can shut, will, in the day of his coming, shut so that no man can open. --C.H.J.

The Master Is Come and Calleth for Thee

When Christ sends for us , very likely the message will come by the hands of an angelic visitor. The angels have always been used in times past in the furtherance of divine arrangements. They had much to do with the first advent of Christ, with his birth, his sufferings and his resurrection. And we know that at his second appearing he will be accompanied by a multitude of them. Now this may happen any day. Supposing you are sitting quietly by the fireside at night, with labours of the day completed, and you think of going to bed; how shall you feel if all of a sudden a beautiful and dignified visitor presented himself, with the intimation that "the Master is come and calleth for thee?" it will all depend upon the disposal you have been making of your time and your money and your strength. What sort of a day have you been spending? You have been exceedingly troubled, and taken up with business or the house. You have been in a ferment of discontent. You have been very angry with somebody. You have neglected your reading. You thought something else more important than the meeting. You have not been thinking about Christ at all; have not been doing anything for him - how shall you feel? Very much abashed, very much frightened, paralysed with consternation.

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But let us suppose the case stands the other way. You are depressed with sorrow. You have had a hard fight. You have been harassed in a variety of ways; but you have done your duty You have snatched your reading amidst the pressure of lifeÍs duties; you have given your countenance to the work done for Christ. You have preferred his assemblies to private or worldly pleasure. You have done what you could to promote his service in the proclamation of the Truth, the visitation and comfort of the lambs of his flock, and in the relief of his poor. You are sad with sadness the world does not understand. You are grieved at the triumph of Christ's enemies, the faithlessness and unconcern of those who profess his Name, or it may be at your own shortcomings hindering you in the race. The pressure of the individual circumstances bow you down. Your pocket may be empty, because of what you considered it your duty to do. In tears, you pour out your complaint before God, and that messenger comes to you. How shall you feel? You shall feel as no language can express; you will not be filled with ecstasy, because the judgment has to pass before you know your lot; but you will feel a calm relief from the knowledge that there is nothing in the present state worth living for; and that your inmost desires and highest aspirations are towards the things that are of God. Joy (mixed with fear) will fill your heart, to know that God has taken the work in hand Himself.

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You go to the judgment-seat, and whom do you meet there? Why, the man, who, above all others, has been for a life-time the cherished ideal of your heart, an ideal implanted there by the Truth, and which has been growing sharper in outline, clearer to the affections, more real to the assurance and consciousness as years roll by. You see him after who m your soul longs in whom you have confided all your hope, and for whom you have risked all your interests. Shall you be afraid now? You will tremble, because a righteous man has a deep sense of the greatness and holiness of God. You will feel in that great presence like Daniel in the presence of the angel. But listen, "Oh man, greatly beloved, be strong, and be of good courage". Who would not labour for such a result? It is not too late for us to mend, to become devoted, to throw our soul into the things that belong to Christ. We may rest assured of this, that any man or woman who simply tinkers at Christ's work, who simply complements the Truth with a nominal adhesion, who is a mere patron of the Truth, who does not feel it a privilege of the highest kind to lay themselves on the altar of its service, aye, beneath the wheels of its chariot, if needs be, to be crushed in its onward progress, will be rejected. "if any man love father, mother, sister or brother, house or land more than me, he is not worthy of me."-- R.R.

Christ is ~ Coming

HE day is breaking. If it takes a long time to break and is slow in coming, we must remember the day is long that is coming, and that if the night of sorrows reigneth, the dawn shall give us light. The darkness is not so deep as it was fifty years ago. The pitch blackness has given way to something like a twilight in which the forms of the mountains are dimly visible against the sky. The eastern horizon slowly lightens and suffuses with the blush of coming dawn. Soon the actual light will brighten all the air and gild the mountain tops. Soon a glorious shaft will strike athwart our somberness and tell the awakening world that the sun at last has risen and ascends the morning sky. R. Roberts

Shall we Fear to Meet Him?

SHALL we fear to confront Christ? lt is possible to do so unnecessarily. It has been argued that the uncertainty of Christ's verdict, coupled with the terrible pictures which the Scriptures give of the rejected, warrant fear. This is an unfortunate mistake. It is far from Christ's wish that we should dread his presence. Bible revelation is intended to inspire earnest, truth-loving men with confidence. Let us look at a few of the many beautiful Bible promises and assurances: "They shall never perish", "They shall be mine", "Shall change our vile bodies", "When he shall appear we shall be like him." "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory". Of what value are such promises and assurances if the friends of Christ are going to shiver at the prospect of seeing him? As to uncertainty concerning the judgment verdict, this is a fault resting with ourselves, and

is remediable. If it is a question of not knowing whether we keep all Christ's commandments, then let us give greater study to the book of his law. Is it anxiety lest we keep not sufficiently these commandments? Let us set the mind at rest by remembering that Christ will cast off no one whose life is characterised by a desire to know and to do his will, however feeble and imperfect the result. It is only the idle, non-effort-making, willful sinner that the Scriptures deprive of hope. Let us cheer up in the matter of the coming of Christ. To the humble and fearful heart Gad says: "Be strong, fear not." Misgiving means lass of strength, strength which no one can afford to lose in the struggle for life. -- A.T.J.

The Glorious Light

THE glorious Light that will first be seen shining above the holy city Jerusalem will reach to earth's remotest bounds, until the earth will shine with His glory (Ezek. 43:2). What a most delightful prospect! Who could help rejoicing in the Truth? "Light indeed is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart" (Psa. 97:11). And having this desirable consummation in view, "let us cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light." Let us "walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8), having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness ... for we have been called out of darkness into His marvellous light. (1 Pet. 2:9).

Least Expected

The Judge of the earth is coming,

For the night is nearly spent;

And long hath the cry been given,

To the sons of men "repent"!

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He'lI come when he's least expected,

When there's mirth on every side;

When the merchant plies his business,

And the bridegroom woos his bride.

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When the world, in scorn, is pointing

To the few who watch and wait,

There's a sudden start of terror For

the Judge is at the gate.

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Oh! the Lord is coming quickly,

Though the slumbers grow more deep,

Of the careless world thatÍs lying

In a drunken, dreamy sleep.

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And swift will be the awakening,

In an hour they thought secure;

For the vintage now is ripening,

And the harvest day is sure.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

THEY who are truly "watching and keeping their garments" are blessed in that they see "the Sign of the Son of Man in the heaven," by which they are warned to trim their lamps with "the knowledge of the Deity's will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding," that, when his arrival is announced, they may go forth to meet him with all confidence and joy. They are "blessed" in being able thus to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, in the wilderness of Teman; but more blessed still will they be when the account they are able truthfully to render of themselves is accepted and approved; and they are pronounced by the Judge to be the blessed of his Father (Matt. 25:34); and are exalted to be sharers with him in his joy - Matt. 25:21. In this exaltation they will have attained to that perfect blessedness to which they were called in the gospel of invitation to "the marriage supper of the Lamb". They are "blessed and holy:" not blessed only, but holy likewise. "Be ye holy in all manner of conduct: because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." This was their character in the days of their flesh. As such they are the Tree of Life, and the Great City, the holy Jerusalem, into which they have entered, and whose name is written upon each - Rev. 3:12. The door is yet open to all who aspire to so great and exalted a destiny; as it is written in Rev. 22:14, "Blessed they who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." -- J. Thomas

The Resurrection Tree

The naked, sleeping almond tree

With dark limbs spread

Against swift wind clouds riding free

High overhead,

Speaks of the wintry night of death

In earth's full womb,

Where saints devoid of living breath

Sleep in the tomb.

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But soon the songbirds' melody

Proclaiming spring,

Awakes the sleeping almond tree

And blossoming,

it deeply breathes crisp fragrant sir,

And leaves appear.

Soon petals fall from blossom fair

The fruit is near.

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Bare almond tree, the first of trees

To hear the sound

Of herald spirit in the breeze,

And in the ground,

Speaks of the day when from the dust

Each sleeping saint

Wiii rise - the faithless and the just

Fearless or faint

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Spring comes, and nature's lessons tell

That longing Bride

That her beloved soon will quell,

Death's constant tide.

"Come forth, my love, my sister spouse,"

His voice is dear,

"A gem to grace my Father's House

The day is near."

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Each day i look for swelling bud,

As winter dies,

For first faint pink of almond bud

'Gainst azure skies.

lt tells me to await my Lord.

So eagerly,

And rip'ning fruit will health afford

Eternally.

Sis. B. Flint.

Every resurrected saint will be a dewdrop Sparkling in the star-like glory of a divine refraction Eureka

Immortality

GLORIOUS indeed will it be, with unlimited

strength and perfect capacity for the appreciation

of what is truly good, to traverse

earth's delightful regions, and look with immortal

eyes upon her emerald pastures, far spreading

woodlands and her lichen and heather-clad

hills, interspersed with vine or ivy-covered cottages, where

the happy, peaceful inhabitants may sit under the shade of

their own vine or willow, and none shall dare to make them

afraid.

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How sweet to roam the flowery lanes in company with

those who have learned to know the Lord, and can sing the

new song, and to commune one with another of the goodness

of our God, His wonderful condescension, tender

mercies, and loving-kindnesses! In His holy presence there

will be fullness of joy, and at His right hand pleasures for

evermore.

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Oh! to pass through the fair fields of waving, golden

corn; to see the clean, healthy cattle, the noble beasts

whose ferocity has all vanished, for the little children may

caress them unharmed. When the countenance of youth

and age wears a look of gladness and deep satisfaction,

and every one speaks in honour of the Immortal King.

Think of the stern, silent grandeur of the great mountains

standing out boldly against the azure sunlit skies, in contrast

to the rich, peaceful vales below, in verdure clad, and

ringing again with the music of bright plumaged, happy

birds, while here and there we catch the glitter of clear,

silvery streams, which water the valleys as they guide onward

to the sea.

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Think, too, of the lovely glens and dales, and the

craggy rocks over which the sparkling foaming torrent

leaps and bounds. What an inexhaustible wealth of beauty

lies around such regions, even at present. Can we imagine

the picture when, "Instead of the thorn shall come up the

fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle

tree, and the wilderness, and the solitary or parched land,

shall be glad: and the desert shall rejoice and blossam as

the rose"; when the eyes of the blind shall be open and the

deaf made to hear, the dumb are able to sing, and the lame

leap as a hart; when in the wilderness waters break out and

streams in the desert, and the glowing sand becomes a

pool, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.

Alice Hopkins

The Marriage of the Lamb

A time of great glory is destined to open out upon the world, in which the Lord will be honoured before all. There will be a grand union of the members of the bride, glorious friendships reforged, grand hopes realised, and a wonderful union established between the Lord Jesus and his associates. The bitterness of the present will no longer remain, the difficulties and trials of the current age will give place to the gladness of the future, "for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready."

A Foretase of the Future

"Great and marvellous thy works, O Yahweh Elohim

almighty;

Just and true thy ways, O King of the Saints;

Who shall not tear thee, O Yahweh, and glorify thy Name?

For thou only art absolutely pure:

For all the nations shall come, and do homage before thee;

Because thy righteous judgments have been made manifest."

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WHEN the judgment is over; then the Millennial

Day of Christ will have come: the strong nations,

recently so terribly rebuked, will be

awaiting their conqueror's law; and the Saints

resting from their judicial military labors, are

henceforth blessed with the peaceable and glorious

possession of the kingdom, without a disturbing element

within or from without, to ruffle the glassy sea, over which

is extended, for a thousand years, their righteous and

almighty rule. Then their wars shall have ceased to the

ends of the earth (Psa. 66 and 67), and they are exalted over

the subject nations; then the new law will be proclaimed

from Zion and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem Micah

4:2. By this law, "a New Heaven, and a New Earth" is

created, in which Jerusalem is created a rejoicing, and her

people a joy. Israel is admitted into the bond of the covenant,

the truth and the mercy sworn to their fathers Abraham

and Jacob from the days of old. Henceforth the voice

of weeping will be heard no more in Jerusalem, nor the

voice of crying. Long life will bless her citizens, whose lives

shall be enduring as a tree; and they shall long enjoy the

work of their hands. Peace will be extended to her like a

river, and the glory of the nations like a flowing stream. The

Bride the Lamb's wife will be there, as the Queen arrayed in

the gold of Ophir, whose beauty will be greatly desired by

the King, and her favor entreated by the rich among the

peoples - Mic. 7:20; Isa. 65:17-24; Psa. 66.

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Such will be the blessedness of the Firstborn of the

nations. The brilliant and precious living stones of fair

colors, the immortal constituents of the Bride, will be

kings and priests in all the earth. The nations, freed from

the dominion of thieves and robbers, and enlightened in

the truth, which they will heartily believe, will be permitted

to enter into the covenant of the Most Holy; and thus to be

joined to Yahweh, and to become his people in fellowship

with Israel. One economy, or administration, will rule the

world in righteousness, all of whose nations, being justified

by faith, will be blessed in and with faithful Abraham,

as the gospel of the kingdom preached to him has long

declared. There will then exist a world of enlightened nations,

ruled by the one body in perfect harmony with the

truth, or word then proclaimed from Jerusalem. -- J. Thomas

Eurkea

A People Prepare for the Lord

BEINGæ destitute of all true riches and good things by nature, our benevolent Creator has offered us "glory, honour, incorruptibility, and eternal life," with an "inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that shall never fade away" He invites us in the Gospel to become heirs of these things; and, by our future conduet, to prove ourselves worthy to possess them. Would you not be arrayed in splendour which will excel the glory of the Sun? Would you not be exalted to the dignity of associate kings with the

glorious monarch of the Future Age? Would you not be

invested with an incorruptible life, that you may eternally

enjoy "the inheritance in the light" which is to be revealed

at the appearing of the "bright and morning star"? Let,

then, the dispositions of the ancient Christians be revived

in us, their descendants; and let us forsake our disobedience,

and return to the wisdom of just persons; and thus

the Truth will make of us "a people prepared for the Lord."

J. Thomas

The Glorious Consummation

BEHOLD, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land" (Isa. 32:1-2). Those whose characters shall be able to stand the test of trial, are addressed in these words: "Look upon Zion, the city of solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down: not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams" (Isa. 33:20-21). "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of Elohim, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved; God shall help her and that right early. The heathen (or nations), raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted." When these prophetic utterances shall be fulfilled, then, in the fullness of that glorious manifestation, of the Name, Yahweh Elohim will appear these words: "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Se/ah" (Psa. 46:11). "The Lord reigneth: let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubim; let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion: he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and terrible name: for it is holy" (Psa. 99:1-3).-- Sis. E. Lasius

For Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised, he

also is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the people are idols, but Yahweh

made the heavens.

Glory and honour are in His presence, strength and

gladness are in His place.

Give unto Yahweh, ye kindred of the people give unto

Yahweh glory and strength.

Give unto Yahweh the glory due unto His Name:

bring an offering, and come before Him: worship

Yahweh in the beauty of holiness.

Fear before Him, all the earth: the world also shall be

stable, that it be not moved.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice and

let men sa yamong the nations, Yahweh reigneth.

Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof let the fields

rejoice, and all that is therein.

Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence

of Yahweh because He cometh to judge the

earth.

O give thanks unto Yahweh for He is good; for His

mercy endureth for ever.

And say ye, Save us O Elohim of our salvation, and

gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen,

that we may give thanks to Thy holy name and glory

in Thy praise.

Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel for ever and ever.

1 Chron. 16:25-36

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SELAH

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