August 1927
497
T h e
K i n g ’ s
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green than it had known before. “Let us be, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, inasmuch as we know our labor is not in vain in the Lord.” And may the Lord give unto us the tongue of them that are taught, that we may be able to speak a word in season to them that are weary.”— (A radio talk given over K T B I.)
of purple flowers. Now comes the reaper and cuts to the ground this luxuriant growth of green, and soon it is carried away into barns, leaving the earth parched and burning under the mid-day sun. What a time of trial and testing to the stubble that is left. But soon the wel come clouds come rolling on and the life-giving rain comes down on the mown grass, bringing back a richer growth of
.m «is Thoughts On the Higher Life G leaned from D r . J . S tuart H olden
clear shining of the Light of the world. All that they declared was fulfilled in Him. Hence it was that in that hour on the mountain, while they faded from the view of the bewildered three, “Jesus only” remained. They, like their work and their authority, vanished from sight when they had handed on. to Christ its fulfilment as the last task of His life, to be accomplished only on Calvary. He remained, as He ever will, the solitary Lord of all power and worship. This then is the watchword of the present as well as the record of the past. To see “no man save Jesus only,” is the open secret of all assured salvation, of all abiding inspiration, of all adequate strength, and of all effective life and service. For indeed there is no other man beside H im ! Let us then daily climb up above the dust and din of earth into the mountain of prayer and fellowship where we can see Him clearly and apprehend Him increasingly. For the whole work of life lies beyond the foot of the hill. But its success is determined there. F or F rom . W ith in , O ut of the H eart of M e n , P roceed ................ M ark 21:22 . Of what sort is the effluence of our lives? This is the certain test': of the profession of our lips. For it reveals unerringly the hidden man of the heart, which is the real man in every one of us. This is the primary objective of all Christ’s teaching—to reveal men to them selves. His first work is always to create and quicken that self-consciousness without which there can never be any true consciousness of God. For it is only as the knowledge of indwelling sin becomes a pressing certainty that men incline toward submission to the saving and delivering power of the Lord. Habits and actions reveal disposition. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Crises, whether of good or evil opportunity, tio not make a man. They simply serve to disclose him. None of us is ever really surprised into any of the grosser forms of sin. Onlookers may be surprised at us, but we ourselves are not surprised. For we know full well the secret process which has long gone on. The final fall has been long delayed, it may b e; but it was all along inevitable. It is full of significance that the first of this terrifying catalogue of sins of which Christ* speaks is “evil thoughts.” In the thought-life every unholiness has its birth; and it is there that the control of Christ must be manifested if His salvation is to be effective in any life. He alone can keep our thoughts from ranging over forbidden fields, and inspire a love of “whatsoever things are pure, and lovely, and of good report,” which ensures our thinking of these things.............................
F ruits M eet for R epentance Matthew 3 :8. f H R IS T ’S herald leaves no room for doubt as to well to take earnest heed. Its penetrating declaration is that faith is a force making for entire righteousness of life, and that sincere repentance is to be attested by scrup ulous obedience to apprehended light. Approach to God is not to be made along a road of mere mental and emotional activity, but by the painful way of self-amendment. If men are to compass His altar, their hands must be washed in innocency. Fruitless repentance is simply faithless. Is this word not needed today ? Is there no danger of our becoming content with mere mental apprehensions of truth and duty without personal concern for matters of practical conduct ? Do we not often contradict our sacred profession by continued indulgence in things doubtful or even openly sinful? Is not this the charge brought too often with justification against Christians by the unbe lieving world? And does this fact not emphasize our individual responsibility to lay this word to heart? But while the fruit which is “meet for repentance” demands on our part honest labor for its cultivation, we must bear in mind that all such moral effort is in co-opera tion with the Divine forces of righteousness. Just as in nature the farmer labors at the soil, but it is the sun and shower and wind which make his work effective, so in the field of life and character. True repentance is the fruit of the Spirit. And yet the command to us is to “bring forth!” — o — No M an , S ave J esus O n ly Matthew 17:8. The Transfiguration was one of the great crises in Christ’s life. Up to that time He had been veiled and dis guised even to His closest followers. From henceforth the three who shared His nearest intimacy knew Him in an entirely new way as the Beloved Son of God. For there on the holy mount they saw Christ being strength ened for the final strife and sorrow by an altogether new assurance of the love of the Father. Moses and Elijah are the typical representatives of the Law and the Prophets. They stand for all the moral and spiritual truth which had illumined men and led them God- ward. previous to the coming of the Lord Christ. Their work was the foreglow of the dawn,- the promise of the
the character of Him Whom He proclaims, nor as to the nature of the claims He makes upon ™those to whom He comes as Saviour and Sov ereign. The message of John the Baptist is, in this respect, both a preparation and a prophecy, to which we, along with those who first heard it, do
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