to the Gospel? To save stupid, sinful men and women from themselves, General Booth bought a wretched old theater in East London. Half- savedt?) people criticized him for it, but he went on, and through the Salvation Army thousands of souls have been won. In these latter days, our blessed Lord needs and deserves bond slaves who will go out into the needy places of earth and bring the lost ones to Him. T he S atisfaction of the B ond S lave The service rendered is constrained by the love of Christ, and the re deemed soul is not primarily in fluenced by any promise of reward. His eyes are upon the present with its opportunities. However, we are justified in calling attention to “the end, everlasting life.” Everlasting life is present as well as future. It begins with redemption. The re deemed soul will never die, as the unredeemed will. Death has no fears for him in the way it has for the unbeliever. Having been redeemed here, the Christian faces death as an opening door which will admit him to a better situation. That same door of death will open for Satan’s dupes, but for them, it will bring shame, punishment, and separation from life eternal. For them there await remorse and regrets, tears and anguish. But for the redeemed, the prospect is bright, for the Saviour awaits them with His “Well done . . . good and faithful servant . . . enter thou into the joy of thy lord”—the reward of faithfulness. It is joy here, joy there; it is reward here, reward there; it is with Christ here, with Christ there. “To Thee, Thou bleeding Lamb I all things owe; All that I have and am, and all I know. Is there on earth a closer bond than this, That my Beloved’s mine, And I am His?” Paul longed to be there; he tes tified: “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Phil. 1:23, 24). All souls on fire for God feel this way, and while they want to be with the Lord they also long to obey the Master’s call to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). What man could wish himself in glory when the whole world “lieth in the wicked one” ? How can one sit in comfort in Zion knowing that other souls are suffering through our neg lect? What think ye the Master will say when we see Him face to face? TH E K I N G S B U S I N E S S
Father, and we are freed 'chat we may become the willing bond slaves of God Himself through th« full re ception of His Son. T he S ervice of the F reed B ond S lavb “Ye became the bond slave of God." There is a definite difference between the servitude and the service of a bond slave. Servitude, though willingly performed through igno rance, is rendered to a ruthless mas ter; service, willingly performed through knowledge, is joyfully ac corded to a co-partner. The one is blind acquiescence, the other, under standing co-operation. The one is hateful, the other, loving service. The slave exchanges masters; he substitutes for a master vile, vicious and violent, One who is gracious, gentle and great. He willingly yields absolute possession to his new Mas ter. Everything now belongs to Christ and God—powers, personality and possessions. When Christ Waits Annie Johnson Flint What a wonderful thing is this That man may choose as he will To open the door and let Christ in, Or make Him wait at the sill! The sovereign Lord of the universe, Courteous, stands and knocks; He will not batter the shut door down Nor break: the bolts and locks. For man has the power of choice, He can liift the latch if he will; Theie is no knob on the outer side, And the Lord Christ waits at the sill. He patiently knocks and patiently waits For man to open the door; Beware the day when His patience ends, And the pierced Hand knocks no more! Copyrighted. Reprinted by permission, Evangelical Publishers, Toronto, Canada. We are not saved to rusticate or to fossilize. Redeemed souls are workers. General Booth said that we are saved to serve. A strange new dynamic enters the soul with salva tion and a divine restlessness for doing the work of the Kingdom pos sesses the life. . Are we so surrendered that every moment is used for our Master? Are we fully or only half saved? Do we care about souls still bound as once we were, or do we feel that it is their own fault if they will not listen
though our shackles have been broken, how often we wish that the Lord would allow us to start all over again! The new life in Christ is so satisfying that we would it had be gun sooner. But thousands have never heard of the new life, and they are dying under the spell of Satan. T he S everance of the B onds “Being made free from sin,” wrote the Apostle. Paul was free and he knew it. New ton, as he stood in his study, was free and he knew it. They knew that the spell had been broken, that Satan was no longer the master.of their lives. Much time and strength had been spent in his service for which they received nothing but pain. Now they knew what it was to re ceive something priceless that had cost them nothing. Yet they could not forget the price of their libera tion. “Not . . . with . . . silver and gold.” Abraham Lincoln liberated the Negro slaves by an awful sacrifice of blood and money, but a far greater liberation came to the people of God through “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19). The temptation was there, but the will to be fascinated by Satan had been removed. While the sinful things of the past may have been bewitching, they were the precursors of death. “The wages of sin is death.” The penalty was paid by the blessed Lord Jesus who was “made . . . sin for us, who knew no sin." Re deemed souls cannot forget their liberation, or their Liberator. In a moment of time, their load of sin, like that of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim, fell from their backs. As Charles Wesley says: “My chains fell off, my Heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.” Free! Free from the penalty, and, judging from the after life of these saints of God, apparently they were free as well from the power of sin. These last words are more easily written than experienced. Young be lievers -are deeply conscious of the power of beguilement. The conflict in the soul can be an agony. The yearning of the flesh cannot be over come in one’s own strength. We must pray for grace, because we cannot hope to succeed without it. It is Christ alone, crucified for the pen alty of sin, and risen for the justifi cation of the believer, who, in us, can give us freedom from the power of sin. There is no use in fighting by ourselves, but by contemplating Christ, and making room for Him in the life, victory is assured. We are made free by giving Christ freedom in our lives. We are delivered from the old bondage by receiving Him who is the willing bond slave of His
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