Elijah's "Weak Spot."

        After Elijah's victorious day on Mount Carmel, it seems very strange to find him running from Jezebel and crouching under a desert shrub wishing to die. Elijah's weak spot was his stomach. While Elijah was hungry and tired he was subject to the "blues," and a woman with a bad tongue in her head and a vicious temper could make him run like a whipped cur. The Lord knew this, and so he fed Elijah and gave him a chance to rest, and then he was as good as new. He went back again to make and unmake kings with all the courage of other days. When you are tempted to panic, find out where the weak spot is. Perhaps you have malaria, or dyspepsia, or liver complaint. Many a weak body has put to rout a strong soul. Be gentle to people tempted in that way - as God is.

• The Man Elijah
• Engaging with God: A Forray into Prayer and Spiritual Warfare
• Elijah Prophet of Courage (pdf)

Vanished Doubts

The power of worship to banish and dissipate the doubts and fears that beset our minds and hearts is beautifully described by Longfellow:

And when the solemn and deep church bell
Entreats the soul to pray,
The midnight phantoms feel the spell,
The shadows sweep away.

Down the broad Vale of Tears afar
The spectral camp is fled;
Faith shineth as a morning star,
Our ghastly fears are dead. 

"Say I Won't"

Seizing Opportunity

        A plain wreath of oak leaves was sent through the English consul in Berlin in the hope that it might find a place on Mr Gladstone's coffin. The sender was a Berlin shoemaker who owed his success in business to the "Grand Old Man." About twenty years ago this shoemaker came to London and established a small workshop, but in spite of industry and strict attention to business he continued so poor that he had not even enough money to buy leather for work which had been ordered. One day he was in the whispering gallery in St. Paul's cathedral with his betrothed bride, to whom he confided the sad condition of his affairs, and the impossibility of their marriage. The young girl gave him all her small savings, with which he went next day to purchase the required leather, without, however, knowing that he was followed by a gentleman commissioned to make inquiries about him. The shoemaker was not a little surprised when the leather merchant told him that he was willing to open a small account with him. In this way did fortune begin to smile upon him, and soon, to his great astonishment, he received orders from the wealthiest circle in London society, and his business became so well established that he was able to marry and have a comfortable home of his own. He was known in London for years as the "Parliament Shoemaker," but only when, to please his German wife, he left London for Berlin, did the leather merchant tell him that he owed his " credit account " to none other than Mr. Gladstone. The Prime Minister had been in the whispering gallery when the poor shoemaker had been telling his betrothed of his poverty, and owing to the peculiar acoustics of the gallery had heard every word that had been said. This story suggests not only how Mr. Gladstone's wide-reaching influence was helped by his seizing upon the smallest opportunities to do good, but also that the house of God is always a whispering gallery; and tho no prime minister of earth may hear us as we breathe out our sorrows there, the Prime Minister of heaven will never fail to hear and heed. 

"There Was Jesus."

Finding God Through Man

James Russell Lowell, speaking of what the poet ought to be in the future, gives a description that could with little change apply for what every Christian ought to be; for surely every disciple of Jesus should be one

Who feels that God and heaven's great deeps are nearer
Him to whose heart his fellow man is nigh,
Who doth not hold his soul's own freedom dearer
Than that of all his brethren low or high;
Who to the right can feel himself the truer
For being gently patient with the wrong,
Who sees a brother in the evil-doer,
And finds in Love the heart's-blood of his song.

Forgiveness of The Transgressor:

• The Positive Power of Forgiveness
• God's Forgiveness of Sins is Total
• Forgiveness Through Christ's Blood
• Forgiveness: Transformation In Love
• Forgiveness of Injuries

The Importance Of Time

Many people live as tho they were to live forever, or had so many lives on earth that they could afford to throw one away. But that we have only one life here, and, therefore, every moment is of critical importance, Bonar, the great hymn-writer, has beautifully expressed:

Not many lives, but only one, have we,
One, only one;
How sacred should that one life ever be,
That narrow span.
Day after day filled up with blessed toil,
Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil.

More About The Hymn Writer, Bonar:

• Today in 1808 - Horatius Bonar Born
• The Life and Hymns of Horatius Bonar
• Behind the Hymn: A Look at Horatius Bonar
• Ecclesiastes 8:6 "For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him."

God Gives Us A New Chance

Ella Higginson, under the title "When the Birds Go North Again," sings a pretty little song of hope, illustrating the goodness of God in giving to the saddest heart a new chance for blessing and achievements.

Oh, every year hath its winter,
And every year hath its rain -
But a day is always coming
When the birds go north again;

When new leaves swell in the forest,
And grass springs green on the plain,
And the alder's veins turn crimson‚-
And the birds go north again.

Oh, every heart hath its sorrow,
And every heart hath its pain -
But a day is always coming
When the birds go north again.

'Tis the sweetest thing to remember
If courage be on the wane,
When the cold, dark days are over -
Why, the birds go north again.

Love or Legality

 A certain old merchant told me a very interesting story about his son. He has only one boy, and when he became of age the father called him into his counting-room and said: "Now, Fritz, you are twenty-one, and I have made up my mind to take you into the firm with me." Fritz seemed very much pleased at this announcement. "Yes," said the father, "I have determined that I will give you outright one-third interest in my entire business." At this further announcement Fritz beamed with. joy. "But,'' said the father, "if I am to take you into partnership, we must, of course, have a regular business arrangement, just the same as if we were not related. I have drawn up a little contract here, in which I have set the limit of the amount that each one will be permitted to draw from the business. You will notice that I have placed your limit at two hundred dollars a month." At this announcement the countenance of young Fritz fell. He thought it over for a few minutes, and then he said: " Father, I think I would rather be your son than your partner. You have never denied me anything in my life that I have asked for. If I wanted a hundred or a thousand dollars, you have never refused me. Let things go on just as they are. You shall own it all, and I will be your son." The old man chuckled a good deal over the shrewdness of the lad. The Christian's relation to God is like that. Our morality is not a mere legal thing, but we are his sons; and when we give up our hearts to him in loving sonship, giving him our service for love's sweet sake, he will give us a blank check that will more than cover all our needs.

• Who are the sons and daughters of God?
• Sons and Daughters
• The Children Clip Art Index

Hollow At The Heart

        In Baltimore one Sunday morning, as the people were going to church, a telegraph-pole, large and strong and round, looking as stalwart as any other in the line, suddenly did a strange thing. It never would have been heard of except for that queer happening. Without any warning, like a great, strong man struck down by an unseen bullet, the pole groaned, and then, with a snapping, tearing, grinding sound, the upper portion fell to the street, leaving about twenty-five feet standing. The people looked on and wondered. A crowd soon gathered, marveling at what should have caused such a catastrophe. There was no hurricane, not even a brisk breeze, and surely not enough to sever such a pole as that, which had weathered so many storms. Just then a small boy began to climb the stump that was left, to investigate. When he reached the top, he found that right where the pole had broken was a scooped-out place where a pair of woodpeckers had cut out their nest, and there in the nest was a poor little woodpecker frightened half to death. Unnoticed, but steadily, stroke after stroke, the birds had dug their way back into the heart of the great, strong telegraph pole, until they had sapped its strength. Sometimes a man comes crashing down in the city. His outer life has seemed strong and round and respectable. People have believed in him and trusted him, but he suddenly comes down in his ruin. The whole world marvels at it; but after a little it is discovered that some secret sin had eaten into his heart, and the strength of the man's life was gone, tho he looked to the world as strong as ever. Look out for the secret sin! 

• Are Christians Like Woodpeckers?
• The Proud Woodpecker
• Praying like Woodpeckers
• The Bishop and The Birds

"The Way of The Cross Leads Home" by Charles H. Gabriel

        Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (August 18, 1856, Wilton, Iowa – September 14, 1932, Hollywood, California) was a writer of gospel songs and composer of gospel tunes. He is said to have written and/or composed between 7,000 and 8,000 songs, many of which are available in 21st century hymnals. He used several pseudonyms, including Charlotte G. Homer, H. A. Henry, and S. B. Jackson.

       Charles Hutchinson Gabriel was born in Wilton, Muscatine County, Iowa, and raised on a farm. His father led singing schools in their home, and young Charles developed an interest in music. It is said that he taught himself to play the family's reed organ. Even though he never had any formal training in music, he began to travel and lead his own singing schools in various locations around the age of 17.

       His musical talent was well recognized in his boyhood home of Wilton. There is one folklore story, that the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilton (Pastor Pollock or McAulay) once saw Gabriel walking in town early in the week. He asked Gabriel if he knew a good song to go along with his sermon. The pastor shared the sermon topic and by the end of the week the boy had written a song for that Sunday, words and music. The Rev. N. A. McAulay was a pastor at the Wilton church for many years, and it is also said that young Gabriel wrote the music for one of McAulay's songs. The song, "How Could it Be," was later published in Songs for Service, edited by Gabriel, with the music being credited to "Charles H. Marsh," possibly one of Gabriel's pseudonyms.

       Eventually he served as music director at Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, San Francisco, California (1890-2). While working at Grace Church, he was asked to write a song for a mission celebration. He wrote "Send the Light," which became his first commercial song. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, and in 1912 he began working with Homer Rodeheaver's publishing company.

       Gabriel was married twice, first to Fannie Woodhouse, which ended in divorce, and later to Amelia Moore. One child was born to each marriage.

       He died in Hollywood, California. Gabriel wrote an autobiography titled Sixty Years of Gospel Song (Chicago, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, undated). Read more . . .

"The Way of the Cross Leads Home" sung by Cleveland Baptist

 Church, Sunday night, April 16th, 2006. See words below.

I must needs go home by the way of the cross

There's no other way but this

I shall ne'er get sight of the gates of light

If the way of the cross I miss

Chorus:

The way of the cross leads home

The way of the cross leads home

It is sweet to know as I onward go

The way of the cross leads home

Then I bid farewell to the way of the world

To walk in it nevermore

For my Lord says 'Come' and I seek my home

Where He waits at the open door

"Farther Along" Hymn by Who?

        "Farther Along" is a Southern Gospel song published by the Stamps-Baxter Music Company. The lyrics to the song were written in 1911 by Rev. W. A. Fletcher, an itinerant preacher, while he was traveling to the Indian Territories by train. Fletcher was feeling depressed because his wife, Catherine Louise Emmett Fletcher of Cleburne, Texas, was expecting their first-born child in a few weeks and he wouldn't be present for the occasion. He felt that his priorities were with his ministry in the Indian Territories and wrote the lyrics to reflect his frame of mind at the time. Sitting next to him on the train was J. R. Baxter, a gospel music promoter who was quite taken with the lyrics that Fletcher was writing and offered him $2.00 for them. Mr. Baxter subsequently had them put to music and the song has been quite popular in the gospel music arena ever since.

       The song deals with a Christian's dismay at the apparent prosperity of the wicked, when contrasted with the suffering of the righteous. The repeated theme is that, "farther along" (in Heaven, perhaps), the truth will be revealed.
       The song was copyrighted in 1937, as part of the Starlit Crown collection, and was renewed in 1965. It is often erroneously thought of as a folk hymn or as being in the Public Domain.

"Farther Along" sung by Willie Nelson 
is one of the loveliest renditions at YouTube

Willie Hugh Nelson, born April 29, 1933, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Read more . . .

• Farther Along Controversy

"Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" by John Greenleaf Whittier

        John Greenleaf Adams 1810 – 1897 was co-editor with Dr. E.H. Chapin of the Universalist Hymns for Christian Devotion and alone for the Gospel Psalmist, 1861. Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he married twice and had two sons and one daughter. He was ordained in 1833 in Rumney, New Hampshire. Although rarely used outside his denomination, best known of his hymns are "Heaven is here, its hymns of gladness" and God's angels; not only on high to they sing." Read more . . .

• Works by John Greenleaf Adams at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Greenleaf Adams at Internet Archive
• Personal papers of John Greenleaf Adams are in the Andover-Harvard Theological Library at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"The Choir of the Abbey School, Tewkesbury sing my absolutely favorite hymn, Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind to Sir Charles Hubert Hasting Parry's wonderful tune "Repton". The pictures are of various English cathedrals and abbeys where this hymn will have been sung many times, starting and ending with Tewkesbury Abbey."

Where to Find Safety Zones

       In great crisis, the memory of the word of some wise and gracious teacher often comes to our rescue, and the new and bewildering experience in which we stand assumes a familiar and orderly aspect. We are set free from fear and panic and enabled to act with sanity and wisdom. For those whose memory is full of the words of Christ, there is strength in all life's emergencies.

• Safe In Jesus
• "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" 
• Salvation from the Storm

"I Surrender All" by Judson W. Van DeVenter

        "I Surrender All" is a Christian hymn, with words written by American art teacher and musician Judson W. Van DeVenter (1855–1939), who subsequently became a music minister and evangelist. It was put to music by Winfield S. Weeden (1847–1908), and published in 1896.

Van DeVenter said of the inspiration for the text:

"For some time, I had struggled between developing my talents in the field of art and going into full-time evangelistic work. At last the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life. I became an evangelist and discovered down deep in my soul a talent hitherto unknown to me. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, He caused me to sing.^"

       Judson Van DeVenter was born on a farm in Michigan in 1855. Following graduation from Hillsdale College, he became an art teacher and supervisor of art in the public schools of Sharon, Pennsylvania. He was, in addition, an accomplished musician, singer, and composer. Van DeVenter was also an active layman in his Methodist Episcopal Church, involved in the church's evangelistic meetings. Recognizing his talent for the ministry, friends urged him to give up teaching and become an evangelist. Van DeVenter wavered for five years between becoming a recognized artist or devoting himself to ministry. Finally, he surrendered his life to Christian service, and wrote the text of the hymn while conducting a meeting at the Ohio home of noted evangelist George Sebring.

       Following his decision to surrender his life to the Divine, Van DeVenter traveled throughout the United States, England, and Scotland, doing evangelistic work. Winfield S. Weeden, his associate and singer, assisted him for many years. Toward the end of his life, Van DeVenter moved to Florida, and was professor of hymnology at the Florida Bible Institute for four years in the 1920s. After his retirement, he remained involved in speaking and in religious gatherings. Van DeVenter published more than 60 hymns in his lifetime, but "I Surrender All" is his most famous.

       "I Surrender All" was put to music by Weeden, and first published in 1896 in Gospel Songs of Grace and Glory, a collection of old and new hymns by various hymnists, compiled by Weeden, Van DeVenter, and Leonard Weaver, and published by Sebring Publishing Co. The following year, Van DeVenter and Weeden also published their jointly written gospel hymn "Sunlight". Weeden, born in Ohio in 1847, taught in singing schools prior to becoming an evangelist, and was a noted song leader and vocalist. Weeden published many hymns in several volumes, including The Peacemaker (1894), Songs of the Peacemaker (1895), and Songs of Sovereign Grace (1897). His tombstone is inscribed with the title of this hymn, "I Surrender All". Read more . . .

• The Story Behind The Song - "I Surrender All"

       "Music video by Bill & Gloria Gaither performing I Surrender All (feat. The Isaacs) [Live]. (P) (C) 2012 Spring House Music Group. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws. Manufactured by EMI Christian Music Group."

"Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet" by William Howard Doane

        William Howard Doane was born in Preston, Connecticut on February 3, 1832; died in South Orange, New Jersey on December 23, 1915. He was an industrialist who composed Christian hymn tunes. He held patents on wood-working machinery and in 1861 became President of J. A. Fay and Company. In religious work he headed the Ohio Baptist Convention Ministers Aid Society for the Midwest. In 1875 he received his doctorate in music from Denison University. In his musical career he edited forty-three collections of hymns and composed hundreds of hymns. He also composed the music to several hymns by Fanny Crosby.

• Free scores by William Howard Doane in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores at the Mutopia Project

Words and music by Wayne Goodine
From the album I Will Give You Glory
Soloist Bethany Goodine
Copyright 1984 New Spring Publishing
(admin. by BMG Chrysalis, New York, NY) / ASCAP

"Seven Last Words of Christ" by Theodore Dubois

        François-Clément Théodore Dubois, born 24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924, was a French composer, organist and music teacher.

       paroles du Christ ("The Seven Last Words of Christ" [1867]), which continues to be given an occasional airing; his Toccata in G (1889), for the organ, is a recital staple, by no means solely in France. The rest of his large output has almost entirely disappeared from view. He has had a more lasting influence in teaching, with his theoretical works Traité de contrepoint et de fugue (on counterpoint and fugue) and Traité d'harmonie théorique et pratique (on harmony) still being sometimes used today. Read more . . .

• Festival Théodore Dubois and official art | Palazzetto Bru Zane Venice
• Free scores by Théodore Dubois at the International Music Score Library Project
• Theodore Dubois Chamber Music sound-bites from several works and short biography
• Free scores by Théodore Dubois in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

To purchase this program: http://thejoyofmusic.org/dvd-eastermu... program #9202. Excerpts of Diane Bish conducting "The Seven Last Words of Christ" by Theodore Dubois at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Above is the 1st Word by:

• Jeffrey Price: Tenor
• Stephen King: Baritone
• Nicholas Bowden: Organist
• Coral Ridge Concert Choir
• Gold Coast Symphony

Search For More Uplifting Words:

• Uplifting Words from The Christian Clip Art Review 
• Read Daily Bible Promises
• Even The Birds Have Blessings
• Refresh Your Art Designs
• Study Christian Grace
• See What's In The Scripture

"Praise Him, Praise Him" by Alfred H. Ackley

 

Tommy Walker (EG, Vocal), Sam Beumier (Bass), Bryan Taylor (Drums), Ryan Jones (E.G.), Jacob Park (E.G.), Alex Espinoza (Keys), Linda McCrary Fisher (Vocal), Jewl Anguay Carney (Vocal) sing "Praise Him, Praise Him"

       Tommy Walker is an American worship leader, composer of contemporary worship music, recording artist and author. Since 1990, he has been the worship leader at Christian Assembly, a church affiliated with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Los Angeles, California. Some of Walker's most well-known songs are “No Greater Love,” “Mourning Into Dancing,” “He Knows My Name", and “That’s Why We Praise Him.”
       In addition to his responsibilities as a church leader, he has taken the "CA Worship Band" on numerous overseas trips, including several trips to Southeast Asia and the Philippines. He has worked alongside Franklin Graham, Greg Laurie, Jack Hayford, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren and at Promise Keepers events. Read more . . .

Praise Worthy Graphics from The Christian Clip Art Review:

• Praise Him With a Harp and Lyre
• A Hymn of Praise!
• Get Your "Air Guitars" Here! 

"Day By Day" by Composer Oscar Ahnfelt

        Oscar Ahnfelt (1813–1882) was a Swedish singer, composer and music publisher. He composed the music for many of Lina Sandell's hymns. He was a pietist, who traveled all over Scandinavia, playing his 10-string guitar and singing her lyrics. The state church authorities did not like pietistic hymns and, anticipating a royal injunction against the singing of Sandell's songs, ordered Ahnfelt to sing them before King Karl XV. But after hearing them, the King announced to Ahnfelt, "You may sing as much as you desire in both of my kingdoms." Ahnfelt sang them so much that Sandell wrote, "Ahnfelt has sung my songs into the hearts of the people."

       Sandell - Ahnfelt hymns have spread throughout the world. Two of the best-known ones in English are Children of the Heavenly Father (Tryggare kan ingen vara) and Day by day (Blott en dag).

       Jenny Lind, known worldwide as the "Swedish Nightingale", was also a pietist and popularized Sandell's hymns in America and wherever she sang. She additionally helped finance Ahnfelt's Andeliga Sånger (Sacred Songs), first published in 1850.

       Ahnfelt died October 22, 1882 in Karlshamn, Blekinge. He is buried in Hvilans Kyrkogård (Hvilans Cemetery) in Karlshamn.

• The Story Behind "Day by Day"

"Amazing hymn, shows us not to worry, trust in the Lord.
Vibrant photos and lyrics. Take life day by day."

"Nearer My God to Thee" by Mrs Sarah Flower Adams

       This language was the heart-utterance of Mrs. Sarah Flower Adams, daughter of Benjamin Flower, writer for The Cambridge Intelligencer, and wife of William B. Adams, an eminent engineer, and also a contributor to some of the principal newspapers and reviews.

      She was born February 22, 1805 and mother is described as a lady of talent, as was her elder sister Eliza, who was also an authoress.

      She was noted in early life for the taste she manifested for literature, and in maturer years, for great zeal and earnestness in her religious life, which is said to have produced a deep impression on those who met with her. Mr. Miller says: "The prayer of her own hymn, 'Nearer, my God, to Thee,' had been answered in her own experience. Her literary tastes extended in various directions. She contributed prose and poetry to the periodicals, and her art-criticisms were valued. She also wrote a Catechism for children, entitled 'The Flock at the Fountain' (1845 ). It is Unitarian in its sentiment, and is interspersed with hymns. She also wrote a dramatic poem, in five acts, on the martyrdom of ' Vivia Perpetua.' This was dedicated to her sister, in some touching verses. Her sister died of a pulmonary complaint in 1847, and attention to her in her affliction enfeebled her own health, and she also gradually wore away, 'almost her last breath bursting into unconscious song.'" Thus illustrating the last stanza:

"Sun, moon, and stars forgot,

Upward I fly,

Still all my son: shall be.

Nearer, my God, to Thee."

      She died August 13, 1849, eight years after the issue of her popular hymn, and was buried in Essex, England. Rev. Edwin M. Long

"Anna Weatherup sings a classic hymn, Nearer My God to Thee - performed live in the studio with String Quartet. She talks about how this and other hymns, such as Amazing Grace, hold such meaning and emotion. Orchestral arrangements by Daniel Brinsmead."

Words and Music by Anna Weatherup
Piano - Daniel Brinsmead
1st Violin - Rebecca Smith
2nd Violin - Tobias Chisnall
Viola - Alexina Hawkins
Cello - Matthew Lovett

Recorded live on July 12, 2011 at Psalter Studios, Sydney.

© Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved Psalter Music
psaltermusic.com

The Figure of Christ

Monsignor Bonomelli, in a letter read at the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, June, 1910, said:

       Jesus has, in reality, not vanished either from history, or from the life of Christianity. He lives at all times in millions of souls. He is enthroned as King in all hearts. The figure of Christ has not the cold splendor of a distant star, but the warmth of a heart which is near us, a flame burning in the soul of believers and keeping alive their con- sciences. Putting aside certain opinions, which, honored at the moment, may possibly be abandoned to-morrow, criticism had hoped to effect a complete demolition of the conception of Christ, but what criticism really demolished was merely irrelevant matter. The figure of Christ, after all the onslaughts of criticism, now stands forth more pure and divine than ever and compels our adoration. 

• Christ Lives In Me by George Toews
• Christ Lives In Me
• What Is Love?

 Rend Collective - Christ Lives In Me (Audio)

Show Heavenly Powers

       "And the angel said: Lift up now thine eyes, for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. Genesis 31:12

In the scriptures we have frequent notice of spiritual intelligences, existing in another state of being, and constituting a celestial family, or hierarchy, over which Jehovah presides. The Bible does not, however, treat of this matter professedly, and as a doctrine of religion, but merely adverts to it incidentally as a fact, without furnishing any details to gratify curiosity. It speaks of no obligations of ours to these spirits, and of no duties to be performed towards them. A belief in the existence of such beings is not, therefore, an essential article of religion, any more than a belief that there are other worlds besides our own; but such a belief serves to enlarge our ideas of the works of God, and to illustrate the greatness of his power and wisdom.  Kitto.

But if God's angels are sent to "wait on them who are the heirs of salvation," and if they "encamp around them that fear Him," why may not angelic agencies have been acting in some mysterious manner upon us?  Swedenborg.

Which of the petty kings of earth

Can boast a guard like ours,

Encircled from our second birth

With all the heavenly powers?

Myriads of bright cherubic bands,

Sent by the King of Kings,

Rejoice to bear us in their hands,

And shade us with their wings.

Charles Wesley. 

Fruits of True Religion

       The first fruits of the gospel on mission fields are growing and ripening by the river of the water of life, day by day. No more weighty proof of the success of missions can be found than the transformation of individual character and the every-day life.

       One of the Chinese brethren is a ferryman, poor in money, but rich in faith. One evening he ferried a passenger over the river, who had a lot of things tied up in a cloth. After throwing the cash for his fare into the bottom of the boat, the man departed hurriedly. The Christian went to pick up the money, and found a pair of gold bracelets, worth $400, which the man had dropt. He tied up his boat and tried to find the man, but he was lost in the crowd. The boatman went home much troubled. According to Chinese law, he could keep them if unclaimed. After prayer, he decided to go to the chapel. The preacher heard the story. Said he: "Your passenger doubtless was a robber, and these things have been stolen. I will go with you to the mandarin, and we will give the bracelets up to him. A search will be made, and the owner found."

       This was done, and the mandarin' said: "Well, I have never seen or heard anything like this. Your religion must be a true religion, and your God a living God, thus to influence a poor man to give up wealth for conscience's sake."

• What Do People See in You? 
• What Does Godly Integrity Look Like?
  

Wait And See

Wait And See

by Marianne Farningham

Be not swift to be afraid;
Many a ghostly thing is laid
In the light from out the shade.
Wait and see.

Do not live your sorrows twice;
Fear is like a touch of ice;
Faith can kill it in a trice,
Wait and see.

Why expect the worst to come?
Pondered cares are troublesome,
Joy makes up a goodly sum,
Wait and see.

Better than your wildest dreams
Is God's light that for you gleams.
When the morning cloudy seems,
Wait and see.

Vision Of Jesus

       It was the vision of the Savior which transformed the whole being of Paul. And the apprehension of the person of the risen and ascended Son of God must forever change the one who has beheld Him.

• A Lesson From Paul On Transformation
• Paul's Transformation from GraceToYou 

       Sir David Brewster says, in his life of Sir Isaac Newton, that the great astronomer on a certain occasion gazed steadfastly with his naked eyes on the sun shining in his meridian splendor. As a consequence, the impression in the retina was so deep that for days he could not see anything with distinctness - turn which way he would, he constantly beheld the image of the sun. He shut himself up for days in a dark room, but even there he could clearly discern the golden halo of the light.

•  "The Great Eclipse"
• Is America's Great Eclipse a Sign From God?
• The Solar Eclipse
• Solar Eclipse
  

"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" sung by
 Loyiso Bala, Neville D and Ivan Siegelaar

Education

       A scientific man recently said, "You can not manufacture diamonds." To a certain extent this has been disputed, for another famous scientist claims that he has produced genuine diamonds, tho too minute to be of commercial value. In the pastoral epistles of Paul minute descriptions are given by the apostles concerning the true furnishing of the minister of Christ.

       The members of a congregation said of their new minister that they had got hold of "a gem of a pastor." No college had made him a gem, but it was equally true that the excellent curriculum through which he had passed in a theological institution had polished him. He was not mere ministerial paste, but being a rough diamond when he went in, those who trained him sent him out cut and polished. 

• Seminaries Don't Make Pastors. Churches Do.
• 10 Things Pastors Wish They Knew
• Training Pastors in Church

Nearness Distracting

       A visitor to Amsterdam, wishing to hear the wonderful music of the chimes of St. Nicholas, went up into the tower of the church to hear it. There he found a man with wooden gloves on his hands, pounding on a keyboard. All he could hear was the clanging of the keys when struck by the wooden gloves, and the harsh, deafening noise of the bells close over his head. He wondered why the people talked of the marvelous chimes of St. Nicholas. To his ear there was no music in them, nothing but terrible clatter and clanging. Yet all the while there floated out over and beyond the city the most entrancing music. Men in the fields paused in their work to listen, and were made glad. People in their homes and travelers on the highways were thrilled by the marvelous bell tones which fell from the tower.

There are many lives, which to those who dwell close beside them, seem to make no music; they pour out their strength in hard toil ; they are shut up in narrow spheres ; they dwell amid the noise and clatter of common task work; they think themselves that they are not of any use, that no blessing goes out from their life; they never dream that sweet music is made anywhere in the world by their noisy hammering. But out over the world, where the influence goes from their work and character, human lives are blest, and weary ones hear, with gladness, sweet, comforting music.

"Every week trumpeter Reinier Sijpkens, in his boat,
 and the church bells of the Oude Kerk play music together."

Discovering Genius

Two boys, mistreated by their employer, ran away, taking the road to Rome. They reached the Eternal City. Peter was taken as cook's boy in a cardinal's house, Michael could find nothing to do, so he almost despaired and almost starved. But he liked to visit the churches and gaze at the fine pictures therein.

Detail from The Creation of Adam,
portraying the creation of humankind by God

       Something stirred within him, and he took bits of charcoal and sketched pictures on the walls of Peter's attic room. One day the cardinal discovered them. The boys were frightened, and Michael declared that he would rub them all out. But he did not understand the cardinal, who was amazed at their accuracy and power. He took Michael to a drawing-master, and gave Peter a better position in his house. Michael worked diligently and became an enthusiast in his art.

       Michael's other name was Angelo. This was the humble beginning of the man who was a universal genius -- painter, architect, sculptor and poet.

• Visit the Sistine Chapel

50 Works by Michael Angelo

Light After Night

Mary Elliot interprets the moral cheer of recurring dawn in these musical lines:

Dawn of the red, red sun in a bleak, aban-

doned sky

That the moon has lately left and the stars

are fast forsaking--

The day is drawing the cloudy lids from his 

bloodshot eye,

And the world impatient stirs -- a tired old

sleeper, waking.

O most unwearying prophet, ever-returning

morn!

Thou giv'st new life to a world grown old,

and marred in making;

With ever an old faith lost, and ever a

pang new-born,

But ever a new, new hope to hearts that 

were well-nigh breaking. 

The Metropolitan. 1834

Heights

       The mind of Christ places and keeps us on the heights, lifting our consciousness from the seen to the unseen, and opening all our little restricted nature to the joyous rhythm of the universal life. What cowards we are when dominated by the seen. We dare not affirm anything beyond the reach of the eye, the sound of the ear, the touch of the finger-tips. But the beauties we see are only reflection of the beauties that are, like Pluto's artizans in the cave, catching only the reflected light from the realm above, the music we hear, the merest jingle of the melodies divine, the things we touch, the superficial, mechanical, material side of reality. Why can't we believe that the unseen things which can be detected from the heights are those that are worth while, because the abiding, the eternal? Only on the heights can we dominate bodily conditions. Robert MacDonald

Spiritual Nobility

A touching tribute to one of nature's noblewomen appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette:

She walks unnoticed in the street.

The casual eye

Sees nothing in her fair or sweet.

The world goes by

Unconscious that an angel's feet

Are passing nigh.

She little has of beauty's wealth,

Truth will allow;

Only her priceless youth and health,

Her broad, white brow;

Yet grows she on the heart by stealth,

I scarce know how.

She does a thousand kindly things

That no one knows.

A loving woman's heart she brings

to humans woes,

And to her face that sunlight clings

Where'er she goes.

And so she walks her quiet ways 

With that content 

That only comes to sinless days

And innocent.

A life devoid of fame or praise,

Yet nobly spent.

The Revelation In Us

"It pleased God to reveal His Son in me." Galatians 1:16

       There may be some question as to what is the strongest word in the English language. It is either "supreme" or "absolute." Both express power raised to the highest degree. There may be some question as to what is the sweetest word in our tongue. Is it "love" or "home" or "friendship" or "comfort"? There is not so much room to question what is the greatest word in our speech. Ask the jurist, the naturalist, the historian, the philosopher or the theologian, his great word, his incomparable word, and he will tell you it is truth.

       Jesus never said a nobler thing than when He declared, " Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free;" nor prayed a more exalted prayer than that John records: "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth." When He uttered that petition, He stood in full sight of two nations, one seeking the perfection of life through wisdom and beauty, the other bent upon the realization of power through conquest and through law. And, in view of these ideals, Jesus said, without apology to Athens or to Rome, "This is life eternal, to know God," said, in substance, "Life at its best, life on the highest plane and in the largest circle; life abundant, life deep and broad and high, belongs neither to the sage nor the artist; neither to the conqueror nor the king, but to the soul possessing, and possessed by truth."

       Truth is of various kinds as to its nature and as to the mode of its acquisition. There are truths that are self-evident. They need no proof, and, generally, proof is not called for. And, if it were, in many instances proof is most difficult. It is an abnormal, not to say subnormal, mind that requires demonstration of the self-evident. Two men were in argument. One said, "We seem not to agree on anything; let us see if we have any common standing-ground. You will admit, I suppose, that two and two are four? "The other replied, "I admit nothing. Two books and two pictures are neither four books nor four pictures. Your numeral adjectives must modify the same nouns!" Then said the first, "Will you admit that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points?" "No," said the skeptic, I will not; it is so in theory, but not invariably so in practice." The argument ended. It was collision with such a mind, perhaps, which led a French philosopher of the eighteenth century to remark that conversation with some people would be easier if it were not for the necessity of using words!

       With the self-evident truths of mathematics and physics most of us are fairly familiar. But with the axioms of ethics and of religion we are not so well acquainted. Consider one of the simplest axioms of ethics as regards property. It may be thus stated: No man ever enriched himself by defrauding another. The law says theft is wrong. This axiom declares it is futile. Some people do not believe it. They insist upon experiment, but in the end, the axiom is self-evidencing. There is one illuminating moment, soon or late, in the life of every unjust man when he sees things as they are, when it dawns -- or flashes -- upon him that possession and ownership are not synonymous terms, that he has been juggling with two and two, confusing straight lines and crooked, and when he pronounces upon himself the sentence he has yet to hear from the Throne of all Equities, "Thou fool!"

"The Light of the World" is an allegorical painting by
William Holman Hunt representing the figure of Jesus
preparing to knock on an overgrown and long-unopened
 door, illustrating Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the
 door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the
 door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
 he with Me". According to Hunt: "I painted the picture
 with what I thought, unworthy though I was, to be by
 Divine command, and not simply as a good Subject."
The door in the painting has no handle, and can
 therefore be opened only from the inside, representing
 "the obstinately shut mind". Hunt, 50 years after
painting it, felt he had to explain the symbolism.

       What are some of the axiomatic truths of religion? God, the soul, sin, salvation, prayer. These exist in some form in all religions. If religion be thought of as a picture, these are the primary colors; if as a building, these are the foundation. Our Scriptures never argue that there is a God, or that man is immortal, or that we need to be saved from sin, or that we ought to pray. This Book simply and grandly affirms these truths; but demonstration is not needed. All men believe in God -- all men always have believed in God -- at times. All men pray -- all men always have prayed -- at times. Which is to say, however mad we are, we do have our lucid intervals; however "blinded by the near," we have our moments of farsight; in the great crises of our lives we fall back upon the axioms of religion.

       But, however great may be the number of self-evident truths of every kind, and however they may unconsciously underlie all our ordinary thinking, they are few, compared with that vast body of truths which are not self-evident, but are discoverable. They are benevolently few. It is good for us that most truths are concealed from view; that we must search for them, dig for them, climb for them; for the reward of the truth-seeker is not altogether in the truth he seeks, but as well in the process of discovery. He was wise who said,  'If the great God were to offer me the choice of two gifts, in one hand truth, and in the other the quest of truth, I should take this, not that."

       It is one of the glories of our age that there are increasing numbers of men who reckon not any sacrifice too costly, who count not their own lives dear to them, if by any means they may add to the world's storehouse of truth. There are men in this, and every university, who would much rather discover a new truth in their branch of science than to uncover a pot of gold.  ''Buy the truth and sell it not" is their motto, --obtain it at any price, part with it at no price. The particular truth discovered may not be applicable to life; it may not even be interesting to the world; but if it be truth, they have their reward.

       As a matter of fact, however, many of these discoveries are practicable. The scalpel, the crucible, the retort, the test tube, the microscope, -- these are the weapons with which, in laboratory and machine-shop, humanity's adventurous soldiers have pushed back the horizon of darkness and enlarged the sphere of light and learning and labor.

       Nor are investigation and research alien to the spirit of religion. Nature's laws are but the habits of God. Not alone the devout astronomer, but the devout chemist and the devout biologist and the devout machinist, may say, "O God, I think Thy thoughts after Thee!" Christianity with its dominant social doctrine of the largest possible development of the individual, its doctrine of the development of the individual through vital relationship to all other individuals, its doctrine that no one of us can be at his best until all others are at their best, -- such a Christianity is hospitable to every truth, friendly to every truth-seeker. Not alone the things that are, but the things that ought to be, are for us to meditate, -- ideal conditions of industry, of economics, of commerce, of society. Not alone whatsoever things are true," but "whatsoever things are equitable, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are beautiful, whatsoever things are well-spoken of," -- on them we are to think.

       But there are other truths which are neither axiomatic nor discoverable. They do not evidence themselves, nor do they lie at the end of any process of logic or research. They become known to us, if at all, only by revelation. They are of such a character as to defy analysis and exclude demonstration. But let us not think less of them on this account. There are intimate and far-reaching realms of life where there is no room for the analyst. Such are the realms of friendship and love and conscience and honour. The scientific investigator has no standing there. The pure materialist is helpless there. Falstaff is there with his yardstick measuring honor. See how he does it  "Can honor set to a leg ? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then ? No.

       What is honor ? A word. What is in that word honor? What is that honor? Air. . . . Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it ? No. Doth he hear it? No. 'Tis insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I'll none of it. Honor is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my catechism."

       Here also is another realm, as near to us as friendship and love, as dear to us as conscience and honor, yet equally far from ocular demonstration. It is the realm of faith. Of a truth in this realm Jesus spoke after Peter had confessed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" : " Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Of such a truth Paul spoke when he said, " This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

       Let pure reason deal with the fact of Jesus' advent, and it will say, " Jesus came to proclaim the love of God and to exemplify the ideal life." But let revelation speak, and lo I it says "Not alone to show how human is the heart of God and how divine may be the life of man, but to lift man up to God, came Jesus Christ from God."

       This is the truth worthy of all acceptation: Underneath are everlasting arms. Underneath what? Underneath our failures and our follies; underneath our weakness and weariness; underneath the problem of the purification, enlightenment and elevation of our lives. He lifts us. He lifts us out of ourselves, above ourselves, our selfish selves, our narrow selves, our little selves, our too-easily-satisfied selves, out of moral impotence, to freedom and power.

       An Oriental Christian pictured his deliverance thus: " I had fallen into a deep ditch from which I could not, unaided, escape. Confucius came, looked down on me, and said, "If you had obeyed my laws you would never have been in such a plight." Buddha came, looked down on me, and said, "Cease your struggling. Repress your desire to escape. Be calm and passionless; presently you will be indifferent to your fate." Another came, looked down on me, and said, "You are not in distress, --you merely think you are. You thought yourself into error; you must think yourself out." Then Jesus Christ came, and saw me, and pitied me, and stooped down and with His strong but tender Hand lifted me out of the pit. Do you wonder I follow Him?"

       This is the great truth of revelation. But it is not all of the truth. The further truth relates to the method of the revelation of God. Paul affirms, "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me." If there is any esoteric truth in Christianity -- any truth designed for the initiate only -- this is it. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him."

       Self-evident truths are perceived. Discovered truths are apprehended. Revealed truths are experienced. So this truth is not for the acute intellect, nor for the industrious mind, but for the open heart. This explains the saying, "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes."

       He who wrote this text to the Galatians, wrote to the Colossians,  'Christ in you (is) the hope of glory." And the Master Himself said something very like it to the Samaritan woman: "Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

       Power within, uprising and upbearing. Is there anything like it? Look at the mechanism of a canal-lock. From underneath floods of water pour into the basin, lifting its surface, and, incidentally, lifting all burdens that rest upon its surface to higher levels.

       There is a stanza in a recent poem, with which you are familiar, which derives its force from such a symbol:

" Like tides on a crescent sea-beach

When the moon is new and thin,

Into our hearts high yearnings

Come sweeping and surging in,--

Come from the Infinite Ocean

Whose rim no feet have trod:

Some of us call it longing,

And others call it God."

It is God, and the fact is He comes in with the longing. So said Jesus, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

       This is the blessed truth of the evangel. The Infinite seeks alliance with us. Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, seeks entrance not alone into our lives, but into our consciousness. He seeks it for our sakes. We shall never be all we may be until we are in union with Him. He seeks it for His own sake, for Jesus Christ can never be the Universal Savior He desires to be until all men everywhere are in union with Him.

       It is wonderful how a life may be filled and rounded by fellowship with one true friend, one great and loyal soul. Our personalities come to their best development through our friends, and their personalities reach their highest power through us.

       This is the secret of the Christian life, of the strongest and most radiant souls -- they heard the voice of a Divine Friend saying, "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man will hear My voice and open unto Me, I will come in and sup with him and he with Me." And they were not deaf to the Voice.

       A child once saw Holman Hunt's picture illustrating these words, -- a Kingly figure at the door, a lantern in His hand, the door vine-embowered, and after studying it, said, "I wonder if the door has been shut so long they can't open it?" Presently another solution, perhaps the true solution, occurred to him, and he said, "I know why He is standing there! They don't hear Him, -- they are living in the back of the house!"

       Whatever reason, or whatever notion serving as a reason, whatever pride, or prejudice, or preoccupation, or passion has closed our hearts to Him whose entrance into our affections waits upon our will, let us this day rise up and let Him in! Charles Carroll Albertson

Music video by Lauren Daigle performing
"Light Of The World." (C) 2013 Centricity Music

The Poverty Which Maketh Many Rich

      We sometimes come across passages in the Bible with statements that are antithetical and which seem really to contradict one another. One of these is found in 2 Cor. 6, 10: “As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” “How shall we explain this?” How can such a thing be possible?” you ask. Well, let us look into the matter a little. Let us take our dear Savior as an illustration. Surely, He could be said to be poor during His state of humiliation here on earth! His first days on earth were spent in a manger, for there was not room for Him — as it seemed, on account of His poverty — in the inn. Even after having taken up His Messianic calling, this poverty pursued Him. When, for instance, the representatives of the government asked of Him the tribute-money, the common treasury of Jesus and the little group of disciples was found to be empty, so that Peter must needs be sent to procure the necessary coin through a miracle that Jesus wrought. At another instance, Jesus Himself said: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head.”

      Yes, He was poor, and yet, did He not make many rich? Could we have asked the hungering multitude in the wilderness after they had filled, and the twelve basketfuls had been gathered of pieces left over from five loaves and two fishes; or the frightened disciples on the Sea of Galilee, whose lives had been saved by the stilling of the tempest; the widow of Nain, whose only son, having been dead, was returned to her living; Lazarus and his sisters after the former had been called forth out of the tomb, — their answer would surely have been in the affirmative. Again, the woman taken in sin to whom Jesus said: “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more;” the malefactor on the cross receiving the forgiveness of his sins and the assurance of a place with Christ and Paradise– in short, the multitude of weary and with sin heavy-laden souls, to each of whom Jesus spoke words of hope, of peace, of joy, saying: “Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee,” — could we have asked all these, they would surely have answered that Jesus had, in truth, made them “rich;” that there are no riches to be compared with those that we receive from Him, “who, though immeasurably rich, was made poor for our sakes.”

      But how shall we, who are poor, make many rich? By becoming truly “poor in spirit,” by realizing that we have, indeed, nothing in ourselves. When we have come to that point, realizing that we are poor and helpless, yea, destitute in ourselves, then the Lord can fill our hearts with “riches” that know no measure, with treasures that fade not away, “that neither moth nor rust can corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” From such a storehouse of real treasures we are then enabled, through the grace of God, to “make many rich.” Sermon by Rev. Carl J. Segerhammer.

More Sermons by Segerhammer:

• Perseverance Conquers or "perseverado vincit!"
• Springtime
• Behold, We Go Up To Jerusalem!
  

You Are God!

For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Psalm 86: 10

The Cross by John Donne

Since Christ embraced the Cross itself, dare I

His image, th’image of his Cross deny?

Would I have profit by the sacrifice,

And dare the chosen altar to despise?

It bore all other sins, but is it fit

That is should bear the sin of scorning it?

Who from the picture would avert his eye,

How would he fly his pains, who there did die?

From me, no pulpit, nor misgrounded law,

Nor scandal taken, shall this Cross withdraw,

It shall not, for it cannot; for, the loss

Of this Cross, were to me another cross;

Better were worse, for, no affliction,

No cross is so extreme, as to have none.

Who can blot out the Cross, which th’ instrument

Of God, dewed on me in the Sacrament?

Who can deny me power, and liberty

To stretch mine arms, and mine own cross to be?

Swim, and at every stroke, thou art thy cross,

The mast and yard make one, where seas to do toss.

Look down, thou spiest birds raised on crossed wings;

All the globe’s frame, and sphere’s, is nothing else

But the meridians crossing parallels.

Material crosses then, good physic be,

And yet spiritual have chief dignity.

These for extracted chemic medicine serve,

And cure much better, and as well preserve;

Then are you your own physic, or need none,

When stilled, or purged by tribulation.

For when that Cross ungrudged, unto you sticks,

Then are you to yourself, a crucifix.

As perchance, carvers do not faces make,

But that away, which hid them there, do take:

Let crosses, so, take what hid Christ in thee,

And be his image, or not his, but he.

But, as oft alchemists do coiners prove,

So may a self-despising, get self-love.

And then as worst surfeits, of best meats be,

So is pride, issued from humility,

For, ’tis no child, but monster; therefore cross

Your joy in crosses, else, ’tis double loss,

And cross thy senses, else, both they, and thou

Must perish soon, and to destruction bow.

For if the’eye seek good objects, and will take

No cross from bad, we cannot ‘scape a snake.

So with harsh, hard, sour, stinking, cross the rest,

Make them indifferent; call nothing best.

But most the eye needs crossing, that can roam,

And move; to th’ others th’ objects must come home.

And cross thy heart: for that in man alone

Points downwards, and hath palpitation.

Cross those dejections, when it downward trends,

And when it to forbidden heights pretends.

And as the brain through bony walls doth vent

By sutures, which a cross’s form present,

So when thy brain works, ere thou utter it,

Cross and correct concupiscence of wit.

Be covetous of crosses, let none fall.

Cross no man else, but cross thyself in all.

Then doth the Cross of Christ work fruitfully

Within our hearts, when we love harmlessly

That Cross’s pictures much, and with more care

That Cross’s children, which our crosses are.