September, 1942
THE KIJYG’.S BUS I NESS
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said, “sit loose to things of earth,” seeing they, may have to leave them at any moment to meet the.Lord Jesus in the air. As this old World ripens for judgment, let Us comfort one another with the anticipation of the shout and the trump and the voice. 5. As a Soint (5:23). Here the believer is brought before us as a holy one. and complete sanc tification is the application P a u l makes as he again stresses the com ing arrival of Christ. What a fitting climax this is for His advent Epistle! Paul calls the saint to be saintly in life. He must .be separated from sin, and dedicated to the service of the Lord. The question, then, o f para mount importance is: When Jesus comes, will He be -pleased with the holiness of my life, the simplicity of my obedience, and the faithfulness of my service? It is .as- though Paul were saying: “May the God of peace consecrate you through and through! Spirit, soul, and body, may you be kept without break Or blame, till the arrival of Jesus Christ.” Without break! With out blame!. Here are two. suggestive thoughts., “Without break” can indi cate our Godward ¡relationship. There must be, no break, no rupture in our communion. We must strive after un broken fellowship with the Lord. “Without- blame” can cover our man- ward relationship. Fellowship,- con duct, testimony must be in full har mony \vith our profession of holiness. The last Bible/ portrait of the be loved “Doctor” Luke becomes the opening scene of this volume which has been called worthily, “the book of the year for children.” The scene is that in •which the Apostle Paul urges, T i m o t h y to “come before winter,”: and the author—with un usual deftness and power Uses this circumstance and others like it to urge upon her. young readers the necessity of coming to the Lord Jesus Christ in their youth, “before winter.” There follows a group of narratives from the' Gospel according to Luke, told in picture language which a child can understand .and in which the adult reader will find great de light. The actual words of Scripture are -used extensively. The writing throbs with interest and spiritual power, . Homés, 'Sunday-schools, and libraries should make -large use of this volume. 183 pages. Loizeaux Come Before Winter By Janie Lancaster McMinn
We must be “consecrated through and through.” If the believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is not to hang his head in shame and Self-reproach as the Mas ter asks questions of his secret soul, then every part of his complex nature must be, saijctified as His: coming draws near. With such a blessed; hope in view, he must be more holy. And what God commands,-He graciously supplies. He calls us -to be, wholly sanctified, ^and “faithful is he who calleth you/ who also will do'. it” (5:24)r No w o n d e r St. Augustine prayed, “Give what Thou commandest -r-then command what Thou wilt.” ,- Masillon reminds us that “in the days of primitive Christianity it. would have been deemed a kind of apostasy not to sigh for the return of the Lord.’’; Grattan Guinness says: “It cannot be denied .that for .three centuries the church held the >doctrine of the pre- millennial coming of Christ. I think I have gone through all the writings of the Fathers for t h r e e centuries pretty carefully, and I do not know an exception unless it be Origen, the only early writer vyho was often heter odox.’,’ If, then, the Apostles and Fathers used,the coming of Christ as an in centive to holy living and diligent la bor, is it not .time? for the church to return ,to the" truth so prominent in their writings and witness? May grace lje ours to hail the Dawn as those who are fully right with God and with our fellow men! Bros., New York, N. Y. Cloth. Price $1.25. Talking Object Lessons By Elmer Wilder With an introduction by the Chris tian cartoonist, E. J. Pace, this book presents fifty-five o b j e c t sermons, each one illustrated with; a drawing of thé objects to be used in connec tion with the lesson. Dr. Wilder has written a number of other books of object talks, and he provides a weekly object lesson for use in Connection with the International Lesson Com mentary in THE. KING’S BUSINESS. All his writings for children are per vaded with the evangelical spirit. They teacji the meaning of the great foundation truths of the Word of God in a way readily grasped by boys and girls. Workers With children will welcome this new .volume. 121 pages. •Zondervan Pub. House, Grand Rapids, Mich. Cloth.. Price $1.00.
IN VIEW OF CHRIST’S COMING [Continued from Page 351]: the growth and glow of love is not being experienced by the Lord’s peo ple generally. Love’s fruit is frosted; Paul prays that the Thessalonians might love one another, in a superla tive degree. He desired them to over flow in love. As- ¡we 'get nearer the return of Christ, it would seem as if. the devil is more active in drying up the spring of love among professing Christians. We sing about knowing each other better wheh the mists have rolled away, but why should we wait until the future for this happy recog nition? We must endeavor to - know each other better here and now. In this Epistle, Paul urges the Thes salonians to greet one another with a holy kiss, which was in that day a way of expressing love. A revival of love among God’s people, in view of Christ’s ’ coming,. Would make for a mighty ingathering of lost souls., “By this shall all men know that' ye are my disciples,-if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). 4. As a Sufferer (4:13-18). Here the believer is portrayed as the weeping one, and comfort, in view of the separations of life, is-stressed. The Thessalonians were t r o u b l e d over those who had died. Having been but recently converted from their heathen ism, they were still haunted by the pagan ideas of the future. A heathen inscription discovered in Thessalonica reads: “After death no reviving, After the grave no meeting again.” Paul sends this letter assuring trou bled hearts about the heavenly felic ity and future resurrection of their believing dead. All who died in Christ are “with Christ,” and will return with Him to assume glorified bodies. Thus it is that, all the Sorrows, sufferings, and separations are placed alongside of “the blessed hope,” and are thereby robbed of their sting. We continually need the comfort of Paul’s advent truth. Amid the partings and farewells of life, so common in times of brutal war, we do not sorrow as others who have no;, hope. Though weeping over those who have left us, we do not weep for them. We know that a blissful reunion awaits ’the Lord’s people. “Some from earth, from glory some, Severed only till He come!” ' Alas, secular life today is almost as hopeless -as the paganism Paul cor rected. The multitudes have their at tention fixed on the present world, and they studiously avoid all distrac tion that would make the future real to them. Determined to have' a good tiahe now, they are willing to risk their chances in the world to come; The saints of God, as some one has
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