Preface

We sincerely pray that the reading of this booklet will be helpful to many. We trust that a thirst will be created in many hearts for a greater fullness of the divine life. Christian reader, these are days of coldness, lukewarmness, indifference, carelessness. Have a care. Keep your soul full of life. Keep filled with the Spirit. Pray in the Spirit. Beware of coldness in prayer. Such praying is dangerous. It can result only in starvation of the soul.

Yours for the fullness of heavenly life,
Charles E. Orr

Heavenly Living

“The Topmost Round in the Ladder of Life.”

This was the subject three young ladies were discussing one afternoon. One of them thought if she could become a world renowned painter that she would reach, what she thought to be the topmost round in life’s ladder. The second aspired to become a great educator. The third thought she could be the greatest blessing to man by becoming a politician, therefore, she thought of entering the world of politics.

An old man who was passing by was asked by the young ladies what he thought to be the topmost round in the ladder of life. Taking a small well-worn book from his pocket, he read these words, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”* (Colossians 3:17) He explained to them that “name” meant nature or character. “Therefore, whatever else you may do in life,” said the aged man, “you have not reached the true standard of life except you do those things in the nature, or character of Jesus.”

The young ladies exclaimed in one breath, “It is impossible to live such a life. Only angels live in such a way.”

This little book proposes to speak to you, gentle reader, about that which these young ladies thought to be impossible. To do all our deeds and speak all our words in the nature or character of Jesus is to live heavenly. These short messages are brought to you to show you that such a life can be lived on the earth, to tell you how it can be done, and also to tell you why it should be done.

We are called to heavenliness of life. None have attained to the true standard of life who do not live heavenly. It is God’s ideal life for man. In His sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke these words, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”* (Matthew 7:21) Nothing but doing the will of God entitles man to heaven, and whosoever does His will lives heavenly. In teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus said, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”* (Matthew 6:9-10) When the will of God is done in earth as it is in heaven, then earth becomes counterpart of heaven. Wherever you see anyone doing the will of God, there you will behold an heavenly life. It is thought by some Christian professors that the will of God cannot be done on earth. They say we cannot even know the will of God. If you will read this little book carefully and prayerfully, you will learn how to know the will of God and also how to do it. There is a precious secret in knowing the will of God. It is said that “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.”* (Psalm 25:14) And again, “His secret is with the righteous.”* (Proverbs 3:32) Yes, it is given to us to know the will of God and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. There is a close fellowship between Christ and His trusting child. There is a most intimate and blessed communion.

There is a hallowed place of prayer;
Wondrous things to me unfold;
My blessed Savior meets me there
And whispers secrets to my soul.

It is as easy to know the will of God as it is for the bird to know how to build its nest. Further on, we will have more to say about this. Paul, in writing a letter to Titus, his own son after the common faith, said, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”* (Titus 2:11-12) To have these words fulfilled in our life is to live heavenly. Grace is a teacher come from God. It teaches man how to live. We have been told that grace means favor, and so it does, but that is not its primary meaning. Grace primarily means, “that which brings joy to another.” The night in which the Savior was born, an angel announced, “I bring you good tidings of great joy.”* (Luke 2:10) Then immediately, a multitude of the heavenly host shouted, “On earth peace, good will toward men.”* (Luke 2:14) The bringing of great joy to man was God’s good will to man. Grace means favor, but such favor as brings gladness to the heart of man. This grace that brings joy to the life of man teaches him of a life that corresponds with joy. Joy is found only in heavenly living. In no other plane of life will man find joy.

If all who profess to be Christians would live soberly, righteously, and godly, they would win the world for Christ in a short time. A heathen said to a missionary, “We are finding you out. You are not as good as your Book. We like your Book, but you do not live like your Book reads. If you would live like your Book reads, you would conquer India for Jesus in five years.” Amid the cares of everyday life, do you live like the Book reads? The Book tells us that we should live godly in this world, or in this life. To live godly is to live like God.

Let me tell you a story. It is only a story of my own imagination, but it may give you a serious thought. Suppose the planet Mars is inhabited by people of like nature to us. They have moving pictures there as men have here. One theatrical man hears of the life of Jesus. He hears of it being the most wonderful life ever lived. He wishes to get that life on his films that he may play it out in his picture house. But he is told that the life of Jesus is a Spirit life, and he has no camera that will photograph a spirit. But he is also told that there is a people on the planet Earth who live the life of Jesus in the flesh, and if he will send his photographer to Earth and take a picture of the daily life of these people, he will have the life of Jesus.

Now we wish to ask you if you are ready to sit for the picture? Suppose you can’t get your automobile started, or the bread burns, or the clothesline breaks, or the baby is cross, or someone tells a falsehood on you, are you ready to have your picture taken and write under it, “Christlike”?

In speaking of the great salvation of God through His abundant mercy and love, Paul said, “And hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”* (Ephesians 2:6) Through the saving grace of God, man is raised up to an heavenly place in Christ. In chapter one Paul tells that God will bless us “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”* (Ephesians 1:3) Many are praying for spiritual blessings. Such blessings fall only in heavenly places. Man will have all the spiritual blessings his soul demands if he will but live in an heavenly place. Now man can live in an heavenly place for the grace of God in salvation raises him up to an heavenly place. The only kind of life people live in an heavenly place is an heavenly life. You cannot live a sinful, worldly life in an heavenly place.

A holy life is a convincing proof of the reality of the Christian religion and the truthfulness of the Bible. A God-filled life is a strong magnet drawing men into companionship with Jesus. If a holy life does not draw men to God, it is because they are of such a nature as to gravitate only toward the world. There are powers in a godly life that distinguishes it from all other life. A holy life is an index finger pointing the way to God. A life free from sin speaks out the story of redeeming grace to other lives. If we carry holy principles with us in the world, the world will be hallowed by us. Those who work in flower fields carry the fragrance on their clothes. There is no sweeter music in the world or in heaven than those psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs sung out of hearts filled with the love of heaven. It is not for artistic music that the world is thirsting; it is the music sung in the lives of holy men and women. Fill your soul, O saint of God, in the place of secret prayer, with the music of the celestial world, and then go out, and sing it into the hearts of men. Nothing will gladden the world like this. The world of men is weary with a religion that is worldly. “Away with the plays, pictures, classical music, programs, socials,” they cry, “give us a religion that has come from heaven and lifts men up to an heavenly place and to holiness of life.” The world is looking for men who walk with God.

We can live heavenly here amid the duties of every day life. We can have the stamp of holiness on every word we speak and every deed we do. By living much in the presence of Christ, the bloom of Christ will tint every act of life. By the assimilation of Christ, in the hour of quiet meditation, we become molded into His image, and we can then stamp that image upon the world. If we would impress the world with heaven, we must bear the impress of heaven.

“I hear my Savior saying,
‘I’ll never leave thee now,
If thou wilt bear My image
Upon thy heart and brow.’ ”*

God has a place for each of us. If we will find this place and fill it as He intends, our life will turn the thoughts of men from earthly to heavenly things. A Christian lady for days nursed a poor, sick, fallen girl. One day as the girl was recovering health, the lady said to her, “Do you ever have thoughts of God?” The girl, looking into her face replied, “I cannot help but have thoughts of God since I knew you.”

It is a blessed privilege to so live that we can bring thoughts of God to the minds of others. I would rather cause one man to think of God than have the wealth of the wealthiest man. A man said to his wife, “When I am tried and tempted to speak hastily and crossly, if you will keep sweet, it will help me to get the victory.” It is no small thing in the eyes of heaven to keep so mild, gentle and calm in a time of domestic tempest as to bring a quietness, a calmness into the life of some tried one.

There is a small marble slab, marking the grave of a child in a southern hillside cemetery, on which are engraven the words, “It is easy to live right when she was with us.” The words were the remark of one of the playmates of the deceased child, as the little body was being lowered into the grave.

Is there a soul so dead that does not thrill with an emotion at the thought of being able to make it easier for another to live right? Let us invest so heavily in the stock of grace that we may be able, by our heavenly life, to help others to live heavenly. Such investment will pay well in the day of eternity. It is a great privilege to be in the niche God has for us in the world of life. It is a wonderful thing to have a little spot in the great vineyard of the Lord assigned to our care and keeping. Let us keep it clean. It may not be a very large spot. It may not reach many miles from our cottage door, but small though it be, let’s keep it clean and beautiful. There is a wondrous reflex action in it. We grow into the image of the work we do from the heart. If we have an ideal life before us and we work to that ideal, we will have that ideal stamped in our character. As we work to brighten our corner, we will grow to be brighter.

We have seen the motto, “Take the world as you find it.” We would like to place another by the side of this, “But do not leave it as you found it.” An heavenly life in the world leaves its imprint upon the world. With whatsoever sort of life you touch the world, that is the stamp you will leave upon it. The old miller left some of the flourdust, with which his clothes were covered, upon everyone he touched. If we talk with someone for a few moments and do not leave something of heaven upon them, it is because we are not close enough to heaven or close enough to them, and possibly both.

A small dark spot on a snow-white cloth will attract more attention than all the snowy whiteness. Let us beware then to keep our lives unspotted. The finer the music, the greater the risk and the more noticeable the discord. The higher profession of religion we make, the greater the reproach of an unworthy deed. God made us for work and not for idleness. He has given us material which we are to work into the fabric of our lives, and the very material given us to rear a palace beautiful unto the Lord will become a stumbling block both for ourselves and others if we do not use it.

The lives we live do not die with us. They will go on preaching long after the grass is waving over our tomb. It is a serious thought. This is an age of lightness of thought respecting eternal things. It is an age in which there is much calculated to relieve men of the feeling of responsibility of life. It is a serious thing to live. Better never to have lived at all than to fail of doing our duty in life. No tears of our after life can wash out a deed that has been done. Jesus can forgive, but the deed still lives.

The son of a wealthy man was standing scratching the glass of a show-window with the diamond in his ring.

“Don’t do that,” said a ragged newsboy.

“I guess I will do as I please,” replied the young man.

“But you can’t rub it out,” answered the boy.

The deeds of life are difficult to efface.

There is an heavenly way marked out for the people of God. It was marked out by the life of Jesus. The way He trod is the heavenly way. God wants us at our best. It is our privilege, as Christians, to reveal Christ to men. God calls us to holiness of life. “Be ye holy; for I am holy.”* (1 Peter 1:16) “Be ye holy in all manner of living.”* (1 Peter 1:15)ASV Holy living is heavenly living. Jesus has come to give us life (John 10:10); “He that hath the Son hath life.”* (1 John 5:12) The life that Jesus came to give us is heavenly life. We can have it in its fullness, and when we have it, we can and will live it. Just as it takes time and effort to keep in strong physical life, so it will take time and effort to keep in strong spiritual life.

Take time, yes, take time
To ponder on the path of life that Jesus trod:
Take time, yes, take time
To steep your soul in long deep thoughts of God.

The following verses should be our daily testimony:

I am walking each day in an heavenly way
How e’er strait and narrow it be;
To me it is clear, and I love it so dear,
For Jesus is walking with me.

To me He is fair, naught with Him can compare,
The truest, the noblest, the best;
His love I can feel, to me He is real,
As gently I lie on His breast.

Though dark be the day, light lies on my way,
My pathway of life I can see;
I walk without fear, for my Savior is near,
His great loving hand leadeth me.

I am kept by His power, therefore reigning each hour,
Over all the dominion of sin:
To the world I am dead, by the Spirit I’m led,
Along an heavenly way with Him.

Earthly things are behind, I am armed with Christ’s mind,
I am happy as I can be;
I am running the race, locked in His embrace,
“And this is like heaven to me.”

No thirst for life’s pleasure, nor thought for earth’s treasure,
I live for a home o’er the sea;
With Christ I am walking, with Him I am talking,
This is pleasure, and treasure to me.

My pathway grows brighter, my heart’s growing lighter
As hourly I’m nearing the goal:
My joys are increasing, I’m waiting releasing,
To soar to the home of my soul.

The Heavenly Birth

One evening, after preaching on the subject of the heavenly life, a gentleman said to me, “I have been a member of a church for thirty years; I have had pastors capable of giving instructions in the divine life, and I have tried to live a Christian life, but have utterly failed; can you tell me the cause of my failure?” We told him that we thought we could. We asked him if a fig tree could bear olive berries? He replied, “I get your meaning. Is it possible I have been trying to live a life I did not possess?” That was his trouble, and it has been the trouble with many another. You cannot live an heavenly life if you do not possess the life. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”* (John 3:7) We have a number of different translations of the New Testament in our library, and for the words, “born again,” as given in our common version, they all read, “born from above.” To be born from above is to have an heavenly birth. Man becomes a Christian in no other way than that of being born from above. Birth means life, and since this birth is from above, the Christian’s life is of heavenly origin. This birth brings man into an heavenly state on earth, enables him to live an heavenly life, and entitles him to an eternal heaven beyond this life. There can be no more important theme in the Bible. There are many sincere people who do not understand the nature of the new birth and the life that is to follow. We hope to bring them help. There are a few questions often asked which we will try to answer.

1. How can a man be born again? This was Nicodemus’ question.
2. Why does a man need to be born again?
3. What is needful for man to do that he might be born again?
4. What are the results of the heavenly birth in the life of man?

To answer these questions fully would require more space than we can give, but we will give enough to start you on the way to the truth of the subject, and you can go the rest of the way.

1. How can a man be born again?

We do not mean to tell you in what manner the work is done. No one knows this. We know that it is done and that it is done by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. These are the agencies at work in effecting the new birth, but we do not know how they work. Peter says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”* (1 Peter 1:23) James says, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.”* (James 1:18) The word of God planted in the heart springs into life just as the seed planted in the ground, warmed by the sunshine, springs into life. But the seed needs moisture, heat, light, etc., that it may germinate. So the Word of God needs the germinating power of the Holy Spirit. The wire is said to be but a change of nature also, a change from bad principles to good principles. It is not a change in action, such as to discontinue to go to the theater, and to go to some religious service. It is not the change from bad words to good words. It is not to supplant cursing by praises to God. These are only the effects of being born again and not the work itself. Now it is true that man can leave off many bad deeds and take up the doing of good ones and yet not be a Christian. The doing of some good deeds is not necessarily heavenly living. Heavenly living comes only from heavenly life, and heavenly life comes only from being born again, and this is a change, not of action, but from death unto life. Being born again is to be resurrected from a state of death to that of life. It is to be translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Christ. It is a change whereby man becomes a new creature. He is a new creation. Old things pass away, and all things become new, and all these new things are of God. The Bible becomes a new book, Jesus becomes a new Christ, love is new, joy is new, the world is a new realm of light and beauty, it is childhood innocence, joy and gladness in an heavenly life. This can be wrought in the life of man only by the Word and Spirit of God.

2. Why does man need to be born again?

Is there not some other way? Is this absolutely necessary? Would Jesus, who loved man so well as to die for him, have said, “Ye must, and except you do, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,” if it had not been a positive necessity? Whenever anyone argues for some other way than an actual birth from heaven to become a Christian, he is pleading—it may be consciously or unconsciously; nevertheless, he is pleading for a looseness, a liberty in life that is below the standard of Bible living. Heaven is a fixed state of holiness. Man is in sin, and consequently in a state of death. He must have his sins forgiven, he must pass from death unto life, he must pass from a state or guiltiness to a state of innocence, he must pass from a state of sinfulness unto a state of holiness or he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. It is a fixed law. The reason why man must be born again is, then, because he cannot enter heaven without it.

Another reason is because he can never receive the things of God. If God should take him into heaven without being made a new creature he could not receive the things of heaven. Listen, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”* (1 Corinthians 1:41) Man is a natural man until he is born again. When he is born again he is born of the supernatural power and he becomes supernatural or spiritual. Without this heaven could not be heaven to him. He could no more be able to receive the things of heaven than a dark body is to receive light, nor more able to enjoy heaven than a deaf man to enjoy music, or the blind man to enjoy the beauty of the flower. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us [those who have been born again] by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”* (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

Men are traveling all over the world to see and enjoy wondrous scenes of the material world. They are utterly unable to conceive of the beauties, the glories, the wonders, God has for those who have been born again except they have this experience. The heavenly birth brings man into a world of beauty, of light, of grandeur, of wonder, that fills him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Praise the Lord. The Spirit of God brings up the deep and wondrous things of God and reveals them unto the spiritual. There can be no thirsting for such scenes as are displayed in the theater when man once gets a vision of the unfading glories in the kingdom of heaven through the new birth. There are other reasons why man should be born again, but we must pass on.

3. What is needful for man to do that he might he born again?

Some will tell us that all has been done, that there is nothing for man to do. This is a serious mistake. There is something for man to do. He must believe on Jesus Christ. The Philippian jailor asked what he should do to be saved. He was not told there was nothing for him to do. He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”* (1 John 5:1) A census officer called upon a Christian with a form to be filled up, the latter gave him the family Bible in which were recorded the names of the various members of the family. After looking down the list of names, the officer said, “I do not understand this; here is the name of Samuel T. who was born in 1890, and in 1920 was born again. I do not know how to make this entry.” Reader, could you have explained the point from a personal experience?

The believing that is spoken of in our last quoted text is more than intellectual belief. It is to believe with the heart. Now, it is true that none can believe from the heart that Jesus is the Christ except they forsake all for Christ. “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”* (Luke 14:33) said Jesus. Do not attempt to believe on Jesus except you have forsaken all to follow Him. He must have all your heart. A dying king said to his dutiful servant, “Go tell the dead, I come.” The servant understanding he could not go tell the dead the king was coming except he die, therefore he fell upon his sword and died. We cannot go tell the dead in sin that Jesus has come to give life except we die to all that is in sin.

To enter into heavenly life man must receive Jesus. This he can and must do. “He came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”* (John 1:12-13) The caterpillar, as it lies in the cocoon, seems to be in a state of death, yet it is capable, under proper conditions to receive something outside of itself, and receiving this, is converted into a butterfly. The soul of man, dead in sin, is capable under proper conditions to receive Jesus Christ, and as it receives Him, it is born of God.

4. The results in life of man having been born again?

He has victory over the world. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.”* (1 John 5:4) It is not that we go out of the world, it is not that we cannot be citizens of the world, it is not that we cannot do business with the world, but that we have overcome the world. Those born of God live above the world. When the world of mankind speaks evil of you, neglects you, persecutes you, insults you, misrepresents you, despises you, you have victory. You have victory over the charms and allurements of the world. They have no power over you. They do not have your love; they do not engage your mind. The loss of all things earthly, the most adverse circumstances of life, cannot disturb you. Things to eat, things to wear, nor any earthly thing causes you any anxiety. You have victory over the world. This world is not your lord and master. You do not have to bow down to this world for anything. You are a child of God. Your heavenly Father careth for you. God will see that this world serves you in all that you need while you are here in it. You are not to trouble your mind a moment about any earthly thing. This is victory.

Man born of God has victory over the flesh. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”* (Romans 8:1) “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”* (Romans 8:5) Victory over the flesh; we have a beautiful and forceful example of it in the life of Jesus when He refused to turn stones to bread. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.”* (Galatians 5:24) “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”* () One said he did not understand what it meant to live after the flesh and to mortify the deeds of the body. He was advised to search and seek for an understanding, for it is a most serious matter. If a man’s physical life depended upon his knowing and doing a certain thing, he would put forth much effort to know and do that thing. Did you ever read your Bible carefully and prayerfully that you might have a clear and concise, connected view of its hallowed teaching with respect to not living after the flesh? To have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you must walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh (Romans 8:9).

We will take the liberty of quoting from a very old book published in London, England:

Through these lips and eyes, and so on, we are continually exercising an influence on all with whom we come in contact. Now, the question is, what is the nature of that influence? Dear friends, if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, it will be a revelation of Christ. Our lives will be a constant epiphany. In these bodies, we should carry about the marks of the Lord Jesus. The tone of our voice, the line of our conduct, the look in our eyes, everything about us will speak of Christ. I do not think it a light thing, dear friend, that so many who name the name of Christ adopt a light, rattling, worldly manner, to emulate the manners of the world. These bodies of ours are the veils which conceal the things unseen, the things of the spiritual world, from our present sensible, experience. Strip off these bodies, and in a moment, we are landed in the presence of invisible realities. If it were not for the veil which now for a time overshadows us, it would be impossible for us to fulfill the work of our probation. At the same time, however, it will be the great effort of the foe of God and man to employ this bodily organism as a means of deadening our spiritual sensibilities.

It is this last sentence that we especially desire you to give serious thought. Indulgence of the flesh dulls the sensibilities of the soul. There are only comparatively few saints that can come into the presence of God and talk heart to heart with Him, that can feel His presence, that can see the realities of the unseen world, that have any particular realization of Christ through the spiritual senses. It is all because they live too much after the flesh. Many have to acknowledge that their private devotions are not satisfactory. They do not talk to God face to face as they believe is their privilege. It is because the veil of flesh is too thick. They are in too direct communication with the world. They mind earthly things too much. Their life is a feasting rather than a fasting. Their life is a self-indulgence rather than a self-sacrifice.

Recently, I was invited to listen over the radio to a sermon that was being preached. I tried to tune in for the sermon, but I could not get out of tune with another station where they were broadcasting something about a prize fight. I could hear in one sentence something about the Lord Jesus, but the next sentence was about the boxing match. I could get nothing satisfactory out of the sermon because I could not get out of tune with the boxing match. Some people have this trouble in their spiritual life. They do not get into satisfactory communication with heaven, and it is because their connection with the world is not wholly cut off.

Another result of having been born into heavenly life is victory over the devil. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.”* (1 John 5:18) The Christian’s privilege is to triumph over Satan at all times. When the seventy that Jesus sent out to preach returned, they were rejoicing because the devils were subject to them. Jesus told them He would give them power to tread on scorpions and serpents and give them power over all the power of the enemy. “[But] in this rejoice not,” he said, “but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”* (Luke 10:20) When your name is written in heaven, you are invested with power and victory over Satan. When your name is written in heaven, you are related to heaven, and all heaven has power over the devil. Satan sways his power only over those who are in sin. Every soul that comes to Jesus is liberated from Satan and given power over him.

Still another result in the lives of those who have been regenerated is that they have victory over sin. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.”* (1 John 3:9) “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not.”* (1 John 5:18) There is no sin in a heavenly life. Adam was driven out of Eden when he sinned. Those who are born of God live heavenly, consequently live sinless lives. They walk with God. They live in obedience to the Word of God. They have been delivered out of the hand of the enemy; therefore, they serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness all their life long (Luke 1:74-75).

The Price Paid for Heavenly Living

Man is under gravest obligation to live a heavenly life because of the price paid in order that he might live it. When a mother makes a great sacrifice to save her daughter from the ways of sin, it lays a great responsibility upon her. The apostle tells us that we are “bought with a price: therefore,”—the word therefore means for this reason, or, since this is a fact, we are under certain obligations. “Therefore,” says he, “glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”* (1 Corinthians 6:20) Since we are bought with a price—a great price, we are under obligation to live to the glory of God, for it was to this end that we were purchased. Man usually feels under greater obligation to take care of valuable property that belongs to another than he does if it belongs to himself. And the greater the price paid, the greater the sense of responsibility. If a man would but fully realize that he belongs exclusively to God, this would move him to greater carefulness in life. Also it will bring to him a feeling of security, knowing that God will care for His own. A colored brother was heard to pray one time, when in a strong temptation, “Now help, Massa, for Your property is in danger.” It is blessed to realize in the hour of temptation that we are the Lord’s and to realize how dear we are to Him. Surely we will feel secure in His keeping.

Mrs. Hannah Whitall Smith tells a story that well illustrates the responsibility of ownership. She says that while traveling in the south, she met a lady who told her that she had occasion one time to give her slave a piece of work to do which required him to stand outside the window on a plank, that was held steadily by someone sitting on the end on the inside.

“The man was a little afraid, but said, ‘Missus, if you will set on the end of the plank yourself, then I’ll do the work.’

“I replied, ‘Won’t it do if your wife will sit on the plank? Mandy will not let it fall.’

“ ‘No, Missus,’ he answered, ‘I won’t trust Mandy. She is only my wife, and she may forget and get up, but you are my Missus, and I belong to you, and of course, you will keep me safe.’ ”

God never sends us out on any duty without the promise of keeping us while doing that duty. God’s promise is the plank. This plank rests on His faithfulness. We need not fear to walk out upon it, knowing God is on the other end and will bear us up.

One Scripture text above others impresses me with the fact of our valuableness and dearness to God: “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all.”* (John 10:29) Now from this text you have always, no doubt, thought that Jesus was speaking of the greatness of the Father. That is the thought given us by the common version. But other translations give us a different thought which is the true thought in the mind of Jesus. The marginal reading of the revised version is, “That which my Father hath given unto me is greater than all.” The 20th Century reads, “What my Father has entrusted to me is more than all else.” Rotherham says, “As for my Father, what He has given me is a greater thing than all.” Weymouth translates it, “What my Father has given to me is more precious than all beside.” These versions give us the thought of Christ. Those whom the Father had given Him were more precious, were dearer to Him than all else. In His prayer to the Father, He gives us an intimation of how dear those whom the Father had given Him were to Him. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me.”* (John 17:6) We can see here something of the joy of His soul as He speaks of those whom the Father had given Him. Dear reader, are you one of them? Have you been given by the Father to Jesus? Just as the father gives his daughter to be the bride of the bridegroom, has the Father given you to be the bride of Christ? Are you wedded to Him? Then do your whole duty by walking worthy of such a Lover. Again in this prayer, He said, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition,”* (John 17:12) meaning Judas. Of course He weeps over the one that was lost. He has had to weep many times because of someone being lost from the fold. It may be that someone who reads these lines was once safe within the fold, but has strayed away. If so, can you behold the Savior weeping for you? “His great, loving heart beats in pity for thee.”* Return, oh, return to Him now.

I can see a little company in some inner circle, separated from the world, with Jesus in their midst. They are His portion. The Father hath given them unto Him and He hath kept them. They are more to Him than all else besides. I can now feel something of the love He has for them. While He was with them in the world, He kept them in the Father’s name, but He says, “Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.”* (John 17:11) While He was with that little inner circle in the world, He kept them, but now He has gone, and there is still a little company all His own left in the world. How are they going to be kept? Hear Him—“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me.”* (John 17:11) He is at the right hand of the Father today, just now, praying for that little company of consecrated ones whom the Father hath given to Him and who are most precious unto Him.

He knows His own. He has placed a few marks upon them. In my boyhood days, I have seen my father marking his sheep that he might know them. Jesus knows His own by the marks they bear. Here are a few of His marks. “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”* (John 17:14) If you are one of those separated ones, the world hates you. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”* (John 15:18-19) Is there a gulf fixed between you and the world? The great gulf that was fixed between the rich man in hell and Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom was not created after death, but existed while Lazarus lay at the rich man’s gate. If there is not a great gulf fixed between you and the world in this life, there will be none in the world to come. Doubtless there are many who walked apart from the world at one time who are now going arm in arm with the world. Being hated by the world is one of the certain marks of being of that inner circle of Christ’s beloved ones.

Then there is another mark. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.”* (John 6:37) These words may have a much deeper meaning than we may at first think. No one comes to Jesus that does not forsake all else besides. Here we learn that it is only those who have forsaken all and come to Jesus who are given to Jesus by the Father. Those who come to Jesus no longer look upon themselves or anything they may possess as being their own. The one chief cause of so many powerless lives is because of lack of supreme devotion and an entire consecration to God. We have heard people sing:

“Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.”*

and then walk in ways of their own. Do you not think that the feet of many would point differently than they do if they were wholly directed by the Lord? They would carry them to the bedside of the sick, to the prison cell, to the house of sorrow, to the place of prayer, instead of to the places where the flesh find indulgence. If feet were “swift and beautiful” for the Lord, no doubt there would be more empty arm chairs and vacant pleasant firesides on prayer-meeting evenings and more empty beds on early Sunday mornings.

“Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages for Thee.”

This is really true in the life of those who have come to Jesus and are all His own. In such a case, there are no whisperings, tale-bearings, backbitings, jestings, light, frivolous, shallow expressions.

“Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.”

This is a true and beautiful conception. The soul of man can become so consonant with heaven as to receive the impulses of God’s love. The migrating fowl receives an impulse of a genial southern clime. In obedience to the impulse, it spreads its wings and flies away. The soul of man receives an impulse of God’s love. In loving obedience to this impulse, man moves about in the accomplishment of God’s perfect will. We wonder if all who sing these words are really moved by heavenly impulses. To be thus moved is the secret of heavenly living. They whose souls have been so perfectly pitched to the key of God’s will that they can receive the most delicate impulses, and obey them, live the most heavenly life. This is a mark of being one of that little company that is so precious to Christ. They are unknown, rejected, despised by the world, but they have come to Jesus and by the power of re-creation have been brought into such an affinity with Him as to be able to taste of the delicious delicacies of heaven and enjoy all the blessedness of a spiritual union with Christ. What care they for earth’s sweets! They have meat to eat the world knows not of.

There is yet one other mark we will mention. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”* (John 10:27) He does not say, “My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me,” but He inserts the clause, “I know them.” This is the secret of their following Him. He does not say, “My sheep hear my voice, and they know me and follow me.” They follow Him when He calls because He knows them. There are many, He says, who call Him Lord and who may do some very great things, but He never knew them; they are not following Him (Matthew 7:22-23). “To know” means to be united with, as branch is with vine, to have fellowship with, to have life flowing into life; it is love reciprocating love; it is heart beating with heart. Those whom Jesus knows, obey His call, not of compulsion, not for the green pastures, not for any personal advantage, not for fear of hell, but because of an inward attracting force, a constraining power, the controlling influence of Christ’s life and love. Paul said, “the love of Christ constraineth [me].”* (2 Corinthians 5:14) He felt the impulse of that love so strongly that it moved him to action. He obeyed that mighty impulse though it led him into great suffering in the flesh. This is true of God’s sheep. They do not follow for fleshly gratification, or personal advantage, the praise of men, or for filthy lucre, but they obey that impulse as readily when it leads through the shadow as when it leads through the sunshine.

The voice of Jesus acts upon the heart of a true Christian similar to the action of the sun’s rays upon vegetation in the springtime of the year. The rays of the sun call to the flowers and grasses, and they spring up at their call. God, in creation of the plant, placed something in its nature that caused it to move when receiving the impulses of the sun’s rays. This is a parable. It is a type of the relationship between the normal Christian’s soul and Christ. The Christian obeys the voice of Jesus out of a law of love. Love is the fulfilling of the law. There is a law between the plant and the sun. Something, we may call it instinct, causes it to obey that law. There is a law between the Christian soul and Christ. There is something in that soul that moves it to obey the law. It is love. Thus love is the fulfilling of the law. There is something in the plant that begins to stir and beat. It is an impulse given by the warm rays of the sun. In the Christian heart there is something beating. It is the impulse given by the love of Jesus. Someone may say that we are to obey Christ from choice, from the power of the will. This is true, but where is the will that will move toward Christ except it is given impulses by the love of Christ? Love is the stimulant of the will. We love Christ because He first loved us. The sinner must see and feel the impulses of God’s love before he will ever will to come unto Him. This is why no one can come to Christ except the Father draw him (John 6:44).

Just at this writing, a lady came into my study. She told me she had but recently read an illustrative story. It was the story of a pair of robins who willfully refused to obey the impulse of the Southland. “The journey was too long; there was danger of the fowler’s gun; we may find nothing to meet our needs on the way.” Thus they reasoned. They sought to invent a tiny stove which they could place in their nest to keep them warm; thus all the wearisomeness and dangers of the long journey to the south and back would be spared them. How fittingly this represents man. The way to the bosom of God—the Southland of the soul—is too strait and narrow. There are too many hardships to undergo, too much suffering to be borne. There is the practice of too much self-denial, there is too little of the smiles and applause of the world. We will invent ways and methods of our own. We will create an easier way to the sunlit lands of peace and heaven than that way by the cross of Jesus.

That little company that the Father, God, gave to Jesus is that little company that has come to Him by the way of the cross. It is the cross that fits man for the bosom of the Father, for the companionship of the Son. On the cross where Jesus died, we behold the manifestation of the love of God. We can receive the impulses of that love only by the way of the cross. It is the cross that brings us in tune with heaven. The Christian glories in the cross. It is by the cross he is separated from the world with all its attending wretchedness, fretfulness, anxieties, discontentments, and disappointments. It is by the cross he is brought into communication with heaven, with all its joys and blessedness. He feels the impulses of the great Southland, and someday the prison doors of the body will open, and he will fly away. Heaven has come to his soul now. Someday he will go to heaven. If you want to get Detroit, tune in on WXYZ. If you want to get heaven, tune in on the CROSS.

You can have your Christian instincts deepened at the cross. You do not need to seek a monastery, or make long pilgrimages to the Holy Land, or take a long course in college to get inborn within your soul intuitions of heaven. Make your pilgrimage to the cross of Christ. If you desire a greater knowledge of the glory world, to get a clearer vision of the face of Jesus, to hear more distinctively messages from heaven, to feel more perceptively the warm, soft, exhilarating breezes from the Southland, hold one hour’s converse with the Son of God at the cross. It is there that your life will become impregnated with the sweet, joyous fragrance of the heavenly graces, and your soul so transfigured by the beauty of holiness, that saintliness will beam out through every feature, and as you go out among men, attending to the duties of life, heavenliness will be stamped on every act. The price paid for your heavenly living was at the cross. It is only at the cross that the price—the life-blood of Jesus—can be appropriated by the soul, and man become the ownership of Christ and thereby enabled to glorify God in his body and spirit which are God’s.

I am thinking of heaven tonight,
Of a mansion prepared there for me,
Where Jesus, my Savior now dwells,
And where I, some glad day, shall be.

I’m thinking of Christ on the cross,
Of the blood that now makes me whole;
The death of the Crucified One
Was the wonderful price for my soul.

I’ll love Him all the days of my life,
His praise I will ever proclaim;
I will serve Him through calm and strife,
And live to honor His name.

Heavenly Harmony

To live heavenly there must be harmony with heaven. Enoch walked with God because he was in harmony with God. Two cannot walk together except there be agreement. Except we get into harmony with heaven here on earth, we will never get to heaven. Man will go to that place of eternity which he has walked in agreement with while here on earth. Every man is choosing his life’s walk each day. He can walk in righteousness, or he can walk in sin. He can walk in the way that leads to heaven or the way that leads to hell. Man, in choosing his life’s walk each day, is choosing his eternal destiny.

In the beginning, God made the world so that it blended perfectly with heaven. There was no discord between heaven and earth. Discord means death. Harmony with heaven is life, life eternal. For there to be a discord between the soul and God is for that soul to be fretful, uneasy, restless. The fish that is out of harmony with the sea is restless. The bird that is out of harmony with the air is restless. The soul that is out of harmony with Christ is restless. The ocean says to the fish, “Come back into harmony with me, and you shall find rest.” The air says to the restless bird, “Come back into harmony with me, and you shall find rest.” Jesus says to the weary, restless, discontented traveler along life’s way, “Come unto me…. and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”* (Matthew 11:28-29) There is sweet soul rest in Jesus.

“My soul in trouble roamed
Upon a weary plain,
And ever restless, longed
A perfect bliss to gain.

“I bore within my breast
A deep and painful void,
I wanted inward rest,
And peace that would abide.

“All in this world is dross;
Its pleasures soon decay;
Its honors prove a snare;
Its treasures fly away.

Refrain:

“I have found it, Lord, in Thee
An everlasting store
Of comfort, joy, and bliss to me:
How can I wish for more?”*

There was a day when there was no discord between earth and heaven. God came and talked with man as he walked with Him in the garden. Angels passed back and forth. But because of sin coming into the world, this harmonious union of man with God and heaven was interrupted. Man’s heart no longer beat in unison with the heart of God. Jesus came to harmonize the soul of man with God. That chord that was broken and lost out of man’s soul because of disobedience is found and taken up by Christ and again connected, so that in Him man is again brought into communion with heaven. We see a lonely widow in her cabin home wrestling with God in prayer. A great burden for a world lost in sin lay upon her soul. Why did she have this burden? It was because her soul blended with heaven. She was so in contact with God that she could feel what He felt. The burden of His heart for a lost world had rolled upon her own heart. Do you have the burden for souls lost in sin that you should have? Do you oftentimes feel that you must see souls saved, or you cannot live? Do you have such a burden for souls that it moves you to deep, earnest, agonizing prayer? Alas, how many professors of the Christian religion are going on in their merriment, their frivolity, their gaiety, when they should be carrying the weight of a lost world on their hearts.

Heavenly-Mindedness

Spiritual-mindedness is equal with heavenly-mindedness. To have a spiritual mind is to have a heavenly mind. “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.”* (Romans 8:6) The writer of the Philippian letter said, “Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus.”* (Philippians 2:5) Jesus was heavenly-minded. He minded not fleshly things. While on earth, He lived more in heaven, in thought, than He did on earth. This is true of all who live heavenly or who possess the mind of Christ.

Jesus had a correct view of human life. He knew how to meet all of life’s problems. He had the knowledge and the power to solve all of life’s difficulties. We are to yoke up with Him, and meet life with Him. Yoked with Jesus is the only triumphant way of meeting and bearing the burdens of life. When we have Christ’s mind, we can know Christ’s ways and can turn things of life to our use as He did. He knew how to make use of everything in life to aid Him on in His life’s work. So we, armed with the mind of Jesus, hold the secret of using everything that comes to us in such a manner as to help us on in the heavenly way. We hold the secret of having affliction to work out for us an exceeding, eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).

When having the mind of Jesus, we learn that difficulties, hardships, obstacles, afflictions, and persecutions are to be woven into the fiber of our character and make us more like Him. When we meet the scoffings, the buffetings, the threatenings as He met them, we grow into His beautiful likeness. The purpose of God in allowing afflictions to come upon His children is to make them more heavenly. The divine nature is developed in us under the chastening rod. When we have the mind of Jesus, and it is fully operating in us, everything in life takes its proper place. We see things as they are and for the purposes they were intended. We walk above earthly things. We are in bondage to nothing on earth, not even to death. The grave has lost its victory. We stand a conqueror over all the world. We are reigning in this life. The world lies subject at our feet. We triumph in the same way that Jesus triumphed. In Colossians are these wonderful words, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphed over them in it.”* (Colossians 2:15) “It” here means the cross. They who nailed Him to the cross thought they were triumphing over Jesus, but they were only nailing an end to the old law system and working for Him the very thing He came to earth for. He made a show of the persecuting powers openly by making them His conquests. They did for Him that which heaven planned from the foundation of the world and made Him the Savior of the world. By this, He worked out the glorious plan of salvation, and through this, He will enjoy the fellowship and companionship of the redeemed throughout all eternity. When men, even though it be by persecuting us, help us to the very position we desire, we triumph over them in the thing they have done.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” There is a great depth of meaning in these words. It is a great thing to have them true in us. To have the mind of Christ relates us to Him and heaven in a very close tie. The more we are in the same mind with our fellow man, the closer the bond of union between us. All who have the mind of Jesus are like-minded with each other. When we have His mind, the bond of union between Him and us is closer than any blood relation. The marriage relation is closer than blood relation, therefore a man is to leave his blood relation and cleave to his wife. When we are married to Christ in the Spirit, we are enjoying the closest possible union with Him.

We get a glimpse into the mind of Christ in His prayer life. His life was a busy one, ministering to the needs of man, but He found time to be alone with the Father. He would leave the crowded plain for the mountainside, and there He would spend a time, sometimes all night, in communion with God. Beware, O child of God, lest the busy cares of life take you too much away from the secret place of prayer. If you would get on well in the heavenly life, you must have sometime each day for holy thought and converse with Christ. You must not only seek the place of prayer, but also pray in the Spirit. When we pray in the Spirit, there will be visions of God, tastes of God, joys of the Lord, and a growing into the likeness of God. Alas, how many cold, formal, lifeless, joyless prayers!

When we have the mind of Jesus, doing the will of God is the dominating idea of our life. Self-denial, and sacrifice will have a large place in our life. What changes do you think would come into the world’s life if all professing Christians were wholly operated by the mind of Jesus? Would there be any change in your thought, your speech, your acts, your habits, if your life were actively influenced by the mind of Jesus? “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ.”

The Heavenly Workman

“Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”* (Psalm 37:5) Martin Luther tells the story of a severe contest between the Duke of Saxony and a certain bishop. The Duke of Saxony prepared to go to war with the bishop. But before he ventured on war, he thought to send a spy into the bishop’s home to learn what the bishop thought about war with the duke. The spy obtained admittance into the presence of the bishop. He asked the bishop what he would do in case the duke brought war against him. The bishop answered, “I will feed my flock; I will visit the sick; I will go about doing the will of God and leave the matter of war with Him for He fighteth my battles for me.” The spy returned to the duke and reported what the bishop said. “Then,” said the duke, “let him take up arms against him who will, but I will not.”

If we will commit our way to God, He will bring the right thing to pass. The spider casts out her slender thread to the breeze hoping it will find a place somewhere to fasten. Commit your way to God; trust in Him, and He will bring to pass that which is best for you.

This text of scripture has a beautiful rendering by Young. “Roll upon Jehovah, thy way: trust upon him: and he worketh.” When we commit our way to God, then He will go to work in our behalf. He can never work things out for good to those who do not commit all things unto Him. God will do for us that which we are unable to do, if we will give the work to Him. Alas, how many toiling, struggling, weary ones, who might have rest from their toil if they would cast their burden on the Lord.

You say you are meeting with so many perplexing things and difficulties you do not see how you are ever going to work them out. Do not work them out. They will wear you out while you are trying to work them out. Roll them upon Jehovah, and He will work them out for you.

Learning How to Sing

It is the Christian’s privilege to always have a song in his soul. James tells us that if any are merry, let them sing psalms; if they be afflicted, let them pray. The thought is that if the afflicted—troubled—will pray, they will soon become merry, and then, they can sing psalms.

We have heard of a bird that will never learn to sing while in the light. The owner must keep the cage darkened that it may be taught to sing. The Lord must sometimes bring us into the dark that we may learn to sing. Some of the sweetest songs this world ever heard were learned in the dark. The richest of Paul’s epistles was written in the darkness of the prison cell. Pilgrim’s Progress was born in the soul of the imprisoned Bunyan.

The growing grass emits no fragrance, but who has not scented the fragrance of the new-mown hay?

The roses from which we get our attar of roses have to be picked in the darkest hours of the night. They lose forty percent of their fragrance in the light.

Be not discouraged, tempted one,
Nor think it a hard thing;
God is darkening your cage
To teach you how to sing.

Some souls somewhere are sinking low,
God sees and feels their plight,
He speaks, “Go sing the song to them
I gave you in the night.”

The Heavenly Adjustment

The writer of the Hebrew letter says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will.”* (Hebrews 13:20-21) How our hearts long to do His will perfectly! This text teaches us that we can do it. It is done by the power of God working in us. The very same power that raised Jesus from the dead will raise our souls up unto life and such strong life that we can do the will of God.

We are told that in the original the word, perfect, as here used, means to adjust, to put in joint, to bring into articulate union. It is a surgical word and means the putting into place of a dislocated member of the body. God, by His power, can set members in His body that have been a long time out of joint. He can bring into articulate union with Himself those who have been out of adjustment. Certainly the operation will be more or less painful, and the longer out of joint, the greater the pain of adjustment.

When in proper place, all works in perfect harmony. The will of man cannot be wrought out through a member of His body that is out of joint. If God is finding it difficult to work out His will through you, very likely it is because you are not perfectly adjusted.

This same apostle says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly.”* (Ephesians 5:15) We have the word circumspect but one other time in the Bible: “And in all things I have said unto you, be circumspect.”* (Exodus 23:13) It means to walk carefully in all the will and word of God. The rendering of Ephesians 5:15 is, “Beware of inaccuracies.” Accurate living will be impossible except there be perfect adjustment. When we are perfectly hinged with God, then He will direct our steps.

Heavenly Inspiration

This is one of the most beautiful, and deepest themes of the Bible. Nothing, to our thought, expresses a closer, or even so close, an union between God and man. It is so deep and high that some close their eyes in unbelief when you speak of man being inspired of God. They are ready to admit that the writers of the New Testament were inspired of God, but no others have been but them. Just as distinct an inspiration from God is necessary to the preaching of the Bible as there was to the writing. God does not inspire all men to do the same work, but no one can do God’s work except he be inspired. Bezaleel could never have constructed the tabernacle except he had been inspired of God (Exodus 35:30-35). Bezaleel means “in the shadow of God.” Just as your shadow, in its movements, follows your movements, so Bezaleel followed the impulses, or the inbreathing of God. The word inspiration means inbreathing. The poet states a fact when he says, “By His breath I live and move.”* In the creation of man, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The spirit of man was formed by the inbreathing of God as the body was formed from the dust of the ground. Surely Genesis 2:7 teaches this. It was by God’s breathing into man that the soul was created, just as out of the dust, the body was created. Jesus breathed upon His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”* (John 20:22) The Holy Spirit came like a wind from heaven. The Bible tells us, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”* (John 3:8) The Spirit teaches man all things. This teaching is nothing less than inspiration or the inbreathing of God. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.”* (John 6:44) This drawing is the inspiration of God. God draws by breathing in a man a feeling, a thought of coming to Jesus. Such thoughts and feelings have come to all men. We call it the Spirit’s wooing, the Father’s drawing, and so it is, and means the Father’s inspiration or inbreathing. The Holy Spirit is to dwell in us, walk in us, witness in our hearts.

We are led by the Spirit. Did you ever consider what it meant to be led by the Spirit? The bird is led to build its nest, the spider to weave its web, the migrating fowl to fly southward in autumn and northward in the spring. These are all taught of God. We call this instinct. Man is to be taught the ways of life, to have his steps ordered by the Lord, to have his way directed, to do all in the name of Jesus, by the inspiration of God as the bird is led by instinct. Philip was spoken unto by the Spirit and told to join himself to the Ethiopian’s chariot. Then it is said that the Spirit caught Philip away so the Ethiopian saw him no more, and Philip was found at Azotus (Acts 8:39-40). We are not to understand that the Spirit carried Philip over hill top and tree top, but that the Spirit led Philip to go to Azotus after baptizing the Ethiopian. See Acts 8:26-40. The Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”* (Acts 13:2) Paul thought to go to a certain place but the Spirit suffered him not (Acts 16:7). How is this being spoken unto and led by the Spirit to be wrought out in our life? Or is it to be supposed that man today cannot be spoken unto and led by the Spirit as men were in those early days of Christianity? Please ponder these words, and they will teach you a deep lesson. “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”* (Job 32:8) It is by the inspiration, or the inbreathing, of God in the spirit of man that man has understanding of God and of all the ways of life.

In a preceding chapter, we spoke of saying more about how to know the will of God. Here is the precious secret. Man can know the will of God by the inbreathing of God in his spirit. As the bird is given understanding by instinct, so man can have understanding by the inspiration of the Almighty. The bird receives impulses from the southland, man receives impulses from God.

“Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.”*

We can be moved by the impulse of the southland. If not, why not? Just as the crystal can be radiated by light, so the spirit of man can be permeated and enlightened by the inbreathing of the Almighty.

The writer has made his mistakes in life, not because of a lack of sincerity, but because of obeying other impulses rather than the impulse of God. Because man is in the flesh, he is liable to other influences; he is a creature subject to other impulses, but is it not his privilege to live so near to God and be so filled by the Spirit that Jesus Christ will be the controlling influence in his life? Humanity is weak, yes, very weak, and the more we live in our humanity, the weaker we will be, but the more we live by the power of God, the stronger we will be. The reason Paul gloried in tribulations was because they caused him to live less in his humanity and more in God. He says, “When I am weak, then am I strong.”* (2 Corinthians 12:10) By this, he means when it is less “I” that lives and more that Christ lives in me, then I am strong. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”* (Philippians 4:13) While our mistakes and weaknesses have been serious enough, we are not ready to admit that this is inevitable. We are encouraged to believe the lessons we have learned will prove sufficient to enable us to move more perfectly “at the impulse of His love” the remaining days of life.

Some may think that we get a great portion of our knowledge of God’s will through His Word. This is very true, but except the word of God comes as an inspiration to our hearts, we will get no understanding of His thoughts toward us. The word of God is Spirit, and it is life (John 6:63). Man cannot know God’s will simply through his intelligence or human wisdom. The preaching of the Word of God is foolishness to the worldly wise. It is when the Word of God is preached in the Spirit or read in the Spirit that it comes as an inspiration from heaven; then, we know God’s will through His Word.

Let me repeat what was said in a former chapter that it was a deep and beautiful conception of the poet who desired that her hands be moved at the impulse of God’s love. How many have sung these words, little realizing their depth of meaning. It was, however, a true conception, and one that was inspired by the inbreathing into the soul of the writer. It is in God that we live and move and have our being. There is a spirit in man, and his spirit can be indwelt by God’s Spirit so that man can receive impulses from God as truly as a receiving station can receive vibrations from a broadcasting station. We are surprised, astonished, amazed, at the wonders of radio, but the wonders of the communication of God’s will to the soul of man is still more wonderful, and blessed is the man who gets in such communication.

“My sheep hear my voice,” said Jesus, “and they follow me.”* (John 10:27) They will not follow a stranger. They are able to distinguish between the voice of Jesus and the voice of a stranger. Someone may ask if there is not great danger of mistaking the voice of a stranger for the voice of Jesus? Not necessarily. If we live in humble obedience to God’s word, pray as we should, keep filled with the Spirit, we can know when it is Jesus speaking and when it is a stranger. Are there any who are living thus close to God? Yes, a few we call to mind, a number, but especially are we reminded of a colored sister—she can scarcely read the Bible but can tell readily the voice of a stranger from the voice of Jesus. What is meant by hearing the voice of Jesus? It is the inspiration of God to the spirit of man giving him understanding. Many who were once walking in the beautiful light of God and had understanding of God’s will and way by His inbreathing with their spirit are now walking with the world and know not the voice of Jesus.

We have occasion again to give warning against minding the things of the flesh. Herein lies the Christian’s greatest danger. “Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”* (Romans 8:1) “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”* (Romans 8:13) There are men and ministers who years ago told me I was too zealous in giving warning against minding the things of the flesh, but these men today are living to the flesh, ministers greedy of filthy lucre, and blinded by worldliness. Listen to Peter’s solemn warning, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”* (1 Peter 2:11) The word beseech implies great earnestness because of grave danger. In the various translations, it is rendered, “appeal,” “urge,” “entreat,” “implore,” “warn,” etc. We are strangers in the world and not only strangers, but also are on a journey—we are strangers here in the world, just passing through it, and it is altogether out of place and unbecoming, and contrary to our heavenly nature to become attached to anything of earth. We beg of you to study the life of Jesus, and note how He went through this world. His life is the model life. Just a little undue attachment to any earthly thing will dull the soul’s sensibilities, until it cannot receive the impulses of God. The soul must be kept sensitive, by the Holy Spirit, to heavenly things to be able to receive impressions from the Lord. We speak kindly, and in sympathy with all, but we do fear that many a child of God is taking too much thought about earthly things, is striving to get around them something of this world to the neglect of their soul’s best interest, laboring to the neglect of prayer, spending money for things that are nice and convenient, humanly speaking, but could have been sacrificed for the helping of God’s cause and been far more pleasing to Him. You say you do not have the power in your life that you would like, you do not have the joy in prayer, God is not as real to you as you wish, you do not get the help in healing of your body as you believe to be your privilege, you do not have the unction of the Holy Spirit upon your soul in heavenly sweetness. It is because however unconscious of it you may be, you are too much in the flesh and not enough in the Spirit.

A word more in the conclusion of this chapter. In Isaiah are these words, “And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD.”* (Isaiah 11:3) These words were spoken of Jesus, but they are applicable to man filled with the Holy Spirit. It is our privilege to be of “quick understanding in the fear of the LORD,” by the inspiration of the Almighty. In the margin of the Bible, you will notice that instead of “understanding,” it is “scent” or “smell.” The things that are spoken of in verse two shall rest upon Jesus, and these shall make Him of quick scent. Now the spirit of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord will also rest upon every child of God that will come close to God, and they will make him quick-scented. There are depths in these words. It is our privilege to detect spiritual ill-odors. If you live in the impure air of an unventilated room, you cannot detect the foulness of the air, but if you will step outside and breathe the pure air of the outside world awhile and then step inside that room, you will scent the ill-odor. Those who live too much in the flesh and the love of earthly things cannot detect the deadly spiritual miasma that is lurking there, but if they would step into God and breathe for a time the atmosphere of heaven, and let Him breathe the Spirit in us, then we will be quick to scent the corruption of the decaying flesh. We need to live much in the Spirit and the fear of the Lord that we may be able to detect the ill-odor in some things. This thing seems to be necessary; this will be very convenient; this will be quite useful; I need this badly; this literature is harmless; this fellowship will not affect me; this amusement is innocent. And all the while, there is a smell of fleshliness about these things we have not been able to detect, and we wonder why we cannot understand God’s will more perfectly. If you will read Hebrews 5:12-14 you will learn that it is our privilege and duty to cultivate our spiritual senses to the degree that we can know what is good and what is evil. Because of the importance of this subject, we loathe to leave it. There are many other Bible examples and texts teaching us how to know the will of God by His inbreathing into our spirit, but we must, for want of space, conclude, praying that we all may so walk in the Spirit that the inspiration of the Almighty can give us understanding of His will.

He who teaches the spider how to build its trap and weave its web and teaches the bird how to rear its young, can teach us of His will and of His way. If we will walk in the Spirit, He will breathe upon us a knowledge of His will in all the details of life.

The Influence of a Heavenly Life

We are told that the weight of the atmosphere round about us is fourteen pounds to the square inch, yet none of us feel this pressure because it is pressing equally in all directions. Just so our lives are creating an atmosphere which is pressing with weight and fashioning those who come in contact with us. We are here in life but a short time, but our influence lives as long as time lasts.

A young man was converted. Soon after, he met with an accident which proved to be fatal in a few days. As he was dying, he said, “I am going to be with Jesus; I have made my escape from eternal death, but will you please bury the influence of my life in sin with me?” That, they could not do. “[Abel] being dead yet speaketh.”* (Hebrews 11:4)

A woman came into a room where there was a small company. She carried an alabaster box of precious ointment. She anointed the feet of one of the company, and the fragrance filled the room. This act stands as a memorial of her. Our lives should be an alabaster box out of which sweet odors are emitted.

The story is told of a little girl who stood on a summer’s evening looking intently and thoughtfully at the great bank of clouds piled like mountains of glory about the setting sun. “Mother, I wish I could be a painter,” said the child.

“Why?” asked the mother.

“Then I could help God paint the clouds and the sunsets.”

It was a strange fancy and a beautiful aspiration. We may do something far nobler than that. Our common work of everyday life can be done in such a heavenly way as will touch to hues of loveliness the lives of others. As the bright warm rays of the sun give the soft blush to the rose, and paint its petals in such beautiful colors, so the life filled with the love of Jesus will cheer and beautify the lives of others.

If you “want your life to tell for Jesus,” you must allow Jesus to dwell in you, controlling your will and all the powers of your life. When Christ is the controlling influence of your life, then, your life will tell for Him in the most glad and beautiful way. If you want to influence the world for Christ, your life must be influenced by Christ. If you want to move the world toward heaven, you must live heavenly. If you would bring thoughts of God to others, you must live in the thought of God. If you would feed others on the living bread, you must feed on that bread. If you would comfort others with the comfort of God, you must be comforted by God. If you would lift men to a higher life, you must live the higher life. You cannot move the world if your feet are planted on the world. Plant them in heaven, and then the world can be moved by you. If you would leave the impress of heaven on the lives of others, your life must bear the impress of heaven.

Every day we are scattering seeds of some sort, and these are falling into the lives of others. We have read of a sculptor who chiseled beautiful images in Italy, had them packed in straw, then moved to his home in Copenhagen. When the statues were unpacked, the straw was scattered about on the ground. The next summer, flowers from the garden of Italy were blooming in Copenhagen. You may scatter seeds of truth into other lives and have flowers from the kingdom of heaven growing where otherwise there would be bleakness and bareness. You may never be able to preach the gospel with the tongue of an angel, but you can translate the Bible into holiness of life that others may read it.

A certain minister asked a friend to carry a Bible to a man who seemed to be interested in Christianity.

“No,” remarked the friend, “he is not ready for the Bible yet.”

“I do not understand you,” replied the minister.

“It is too soon to take the Bible to him,” continued the friend.

“What do you mean?” asked the preacher.

“I mean this,” answered the friend, “he is not ready for the Bible. He cannot understand it. You are his Bible. He is watching you. If you fail Christ, then the Christian religion fails.”

There lives an old man today who tells that when a young man, he had desires to be a Christian, yet for certain reasons had resisted the grace of God. One night when in a strange city, he roomed in a hotel with a young man who was a stranger to him. Before retiring, this young man knelt down and silently prayed. “Though his prayer was in silence, it spoke loud to my soul. That noble example ennobled me. Half a century has rolled away, but that silent prayer still wields an influence over my life.” A life made lovely by contemplation of God will reflect the loveliness of God. A beautiful farm house has been built out of the boulders that lay scattered over the farm. You can take the unpromising things of life, the difficult and objectionable things, and transform them into beauty of character and life.

We are told that we should be an “example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”* (1 Timothy 4:12) We should think on these words. Is my life an example in all these respects? Are my words so seasoned with grace that they minister grace to the hearers? Do I so love God that my love provokes others to love? Is my faith an encouragement to the faith of others? Am I so spiritual that my life incites others to greater spirituality? Is my life so pure that it turns the thoughts of those who associate with me to things that are pure? The apostle said, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.”* (Philippians 3:17) “Copy me, brothers, one and all of you and notice those who live by the example you get from me.”—Moffat.

A cultured Chinese gentleman was one time given a copy of the New Testament by an American missionary with the request that he read and consider the question of becoming a Christian. The Chinese read the Gospels for the first time in his life. After a month or two of thought upon the subject, he returned the book to the missionary with the remark, “I have read your book with great interest. It is a great Book, and I am inclined to try its teachings: but according to this Book, you are not a Christian.” “Why so?” asked the missionary. “These writings state clearly the characteristics of a Christian. No one need be mistaken in them. I read that a Christian is a man who has no anxiety and worry and is to be a happy man. He is the one who knows that his God, who cares for the falling of the smallest bird, will surely care for him. This Book promises the gift of peace to its followers. Jesus promises that those who believe His words shall not be harmed by anything. If they drink any poisonous thing or are bitten by a poison reptile, it shall not hurt them. You are the most worried man I know. You have a thousand cares. You do not rely on the promises of your God when sick or in danger. There is a contradiction between your life and the Book.”

Again we are told by the Book that we should “walk in wisdom toward them that are without.”* (Colossians 4:5) The love of souls will cause us to walk carefully lest someone be turned aside by some misstep of ours. Some things may be lawful for us, but are they expedient? (1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23). What influence will it have upon another? It is better to have a millstone tied to our necks and be cast into the sea than to cause a soul for whom Christ died to stumble. The more heavenly is our walk through life, the greater will be our influence for good. The more perfectly we imitate the life of Jesus in our life the greater blessing we will be to the world. If we take an opal in our hand and hold it tightly for a few moments, it will shine in brightest splendor. We can shine for God only as we lie in His bosom and receive the warmth of His love.

What is the stamp we are leaving on the world as we pass along? It is a stupendous fact that in our daily walk, we are leaving footprints on the sands of time to be read by men in the years to come. In a certain cemetery are three marble slabs. On one are the words, “He was a man of great learning.” On another were the words, “He was a lover of nature.” The third slab bore the words, “He walked with God.” What will they write on the slab that marks the place where my body lies waiting the resurrection call? Is the mind and character of God reflected upon the world by our lives? Do we live in such nearness to God that we imprint Him upon that with which we have to do? Is “Holiness to the Lord” written upon the acts of our life? There is an eloquence in a holy life. It speaks in tones not to be forgotten. There is music in them. Pure thoughts and deeds speaking through a righteous life touch the hearts of men and lift them up to something nobler in life.

The seraphims, as they flew, cried one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts.”* (Isaiah 6:3) The ambition of holy souls is to incite others to more grateful praise and a more intense love of God. From my bedchamber, in the early morning hour, I hear the cock’s clarion call, and then the welkin is made to ring from every quarter. One bird sets the whole community of fowldom to calling. Is your soul full of burning love to God? Then sing it out and awaken a song in the hearts of others.

Laying Up Treasures in Heaven

We have now come to speak of the most interesting and delightful phase of the Christian life. Nothing brings greater joy to the heart of a Christian than that of laying up treasures in heaven. He so loves and enjoys adding to his heavenly store that he is eagerly seizing upon every opportunity for the making of such addition. No miser ever counted his gold with such joy as the Christian reflects upon his riches in glory. But how different the nature of the joy. The one is “earthly, sensual, devilish,”* (James 3:15) while the other is heavenly. How sweet, how blessed the joy! No man in his earthly pursuits manifests such interest and eagerness as the saint in his heavenly pursuits. The Christians should have a thousand times more interest, and find a thousand times greater joy, in laying up treasures in heaven than ever man did in laying up earthly store, for heavenly riches are a thousand times and more of greater value than earthly goods.

A man said with seemingly great pleasure and satisfaction, “I am growing rich in stocks and bonds.” With what satisfaction the Christian says in his heart, “I am growing rich in heaven.” He who lies down upon his bed at night, knowing he has added a nice sum to his heavenly riches that day is far happier than the man who added a nice sum to his bank account. No earthly-minded man meditates with such complacency, in the waking hours of the night upon his bed, of earthly things as the saint finds in meditating upon heavenly things. Note the great delight the psalm singer found in meditating upon God in the night watches (Psalm 63:6). Is this the measure of our life and enjoyment? A man asked why he could not find greater delight in meditating on things above, and why he had such difficulty to have such meditation, and was troubled so with earthly thoughts. He was told that he did not have enough heart in heaven.

A very rich man died. One neighbor asked another how much the deceased had left behind. The answer was, “He has left all.” Sad indeed when a dying man is leaving all behind. Which would you rather be, Dives, leaving all behind, or Lazarus, going to all? If you say you would rather be like Lazarus, then let there be a daily proof of it in your life. Two men had lived beside each other for years. One was a man who sought and gained the riches of the world. The other was a man who sought the kingdom of God and His righteousness. These men were both brought down upon their dying beds the same week. When the rich man was spoken to concerning the future of himself and his neighbor, he said, “I am leaving my treasures, but my neighbor is going to his. Many times I thought him very unwise in giving so much in support of his religion, but when a man comes down on his dying bed, he can see the folly of storing up riches here. I am leaving all I have lived for. My neighbor is going to what he has lived for.” Why leave so much behind to be destroyed when this world is burning? Or why leave very much behind for others to use in serving sin? Will it not pay you in eternity to give your money to the cause of God rather than leave it for children to use in serving Satan?

Jesus tells us not to lay up our treasures on earth, but to lay them up in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). What Jesus tells us to do is the wisest thing to do. Some act like they thought they knew what was better for them more than Jesus did. The reason why it is better to lay up treasures in heaven than on earth is because “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”* (Matthew 6:21) Now it is most necessary to get your heart over into heaven, for no man ever went to heaven who did not get his heart over there before his departure from here. Laying up treasures in heaven fits man for heaven. Nothing more greatly ennobles and builds up his character. The laying up of treasures upon earth makes men earthly, while the laying of them up in heaven makes them heavenly. It is not what we make that makes us rich, but what we give. We are rich or poor, not according to what we have, but according to what we are. Do not turn to your bank account or your broad acres to see what you are worth. Look into your character. We say with emphasis that no man can build up a Christian character and not do all he can with his means to advance God’s cause.

Having the heart in heaven is the secret of living heavenly. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”* (Matthew 12:34) “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”* (Proverbs 4:23) Man lives out what is in the heart. To live heavenly, you must have heaven in your heart and your heart in heaven. We doubt if any other thing that God’s people are coming short of doing the whole will of God so much as in that of giving of their means to further His cause.

Did you ever study 2 Kings 12:4? Note the last clause of the verse. “The money that cometh into any man’s heart to bring into the house of the LORD.” This money was for the reconstruction of the temple. The tribute money the Israelite was obliged to give, but the money here spoken of was the money that he had in his heart to give. It was this money given out of the heart that was precious to God. Does it not come into your heart to bring some money into the house of God? It does if you have your heart in heaven. Do you always do as has been suggested to your heart? Does the suggestion come to give, but you allow the flesh to reason you out of what your heart wishes to do? Beware of refusing these generous impulses that come from heaven to your heart. To allow the flesh to reason you out of doing what the higher life of your soul suggested to you unfits you for heaven and for heavenly living.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth.” It is only by the aid of the Holy Spirit that we can grasp the full meaning of these words. Let us first of all, say a few words about what they do not mean. They do not mean that we should not be the legal owner of a single thing on earth. Such being the case, a man could never have anything to give. Neither does it mean that a man cannot have legal ownership of a considerable portion of this world’s goods; but it does mean that whatever a man may possess in a legal way he has to hold such, not as his own, but in trust for the Lord, so that if the Lord calls for the last penny, he will not go away sorrowful (Matthew 19:22). We hear people talking about dwelling deep in God and living close to Him. He who holds all his earthly possessions in such a manner that he can hear the faintest call of God for any part or all of it, and give it up to God with a willing and glad heart, dwells very near to the Lord. This is one of the best tests of nearness to God. When we dwell deep in God, whatever earthly store we hold in possession, we hold it not for its own sake, but because we are fully assured we can glorify God more by possessing it than by not possessing it. But how careful we need to be at this point lest the flesh deceive us. Have there not been those who have said, “I believe it is pleasing to God for me to possess this,” when it was only the flesh that is pleased. The flesh is a great reasoner. It can give a number of reasons why it is better that you have a $1,700 automobile than it is to have an $800 one, or that it is more glory to God that you have a $5,000 home than a $2,500 one. Now we are not saying that under no circumstances can a man have a $1,700 automobile or a $5,000 home, but we do say that it is the nature of the flesh to have a word in such matters, and to live where you will not listen to one word the flesh says, but to hear and do the perfect will of God in everything is a deep and close life with God and a beautiful and blessed one. One thing is certain, when we are enjoying such nearness to God, we will not be gathering earthly store around us and yet doing very little for the Lord. The Bible says that “God loveth a cheerful giver.”* (2 Corinthians 9:7) There is no better measure of man’s love to God than his giving. Those who love the Lord are known to be liberal givers. It is not how well read we are in the Scriptures, or how much we talk about religion, that is proof of our devotedness to God; it is what we are giving to God out of pure love to Him.

Some may want to know a little better how we can lay up treasures in heaven. There are many, many ways. We can speak of but a few. Every dime or dollar you give out of love to God is a treasure laid up in heaven. Just the extent of this treasure we do not know, but of this we are assured: every penny you give out of sincere love to God ennobles your soul and gives you a greater capacity for enjoying heaven. Herein is a great treasure. There is never a word spoken, nor a deed done that is lost. We are never the same after speaking a word or doing a deed. The words we speak and the deeds we do make us more or less like Christ, and fit or unfit us more for heaven. Listen to the words of Jesus, “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall no wise lose his reward.”* (Matthew 10:42) We repeat, we do not know the full extent of the reward, but it is true that the small acts of giving a cup of water in love is not lost upon the giver. It builds him up into manhood. You may say that the giving of a cup of water is a very trifling act. Do you remember the words of the famous painter? “Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.”1 Again Jesus says, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”* (Matthew 12:36) We are not the same after speaking an idle word, nor are we the same after giving a cup of cold water. The one makes us a little more like Christ, the other a little less like Him, and this much at least will be our gain or loss in the day of judgment.

Every soul we can help get saved will be a treasure laid up in heaven. We will not only have the joy of seeing a soul brought home to heaven through our effort, but the helping of a soul also lifts us up into a higher life. Every word of praise and thanksgiving to God, every loving thought of Him is laying up treasure in heaven. Every act of sacrifice or self-denial out of love to Christ is adding to our treasure store in the glory world. Oh, how busy we ought to be laying up treasures in heaven! Every act of true worship to God is a treasure in heaven. Whatever thought or word, or deed, or song, or sermon, or prayer or sacrifice, or self-denial, that makes us a little more like Jesus, and makes our life on earth a little more heavenly, is a treasure laid up in heaven. Look and see how busy men are laying up treasures on earth. Let us, as citizens in the kingdom of God, be many times more busy laying up treasures in heaven. Let us follow in the footsteps of Jesus who “went about doing good.”* () The laying of a flower on the casket of some departed one may gain for us a slight reward in the great judgment day, but the giving of a helping hand while living will gain for us a far greater reward. Some years ago when the waters we were passing through were quite deep, and we felt the need of a cheering word or a prayer from one loving heart, we wrote the following lines:

Hast thou any flowers for me?
Wilt thou kindly let them be
Given ere death be-dews my brow?
Wait not, give them to me now.

While in life’s eventful day
Tried and weary grows the way,
When in dark and lonely hour,
Give me then the cheering flower.

Hast thou kind words to impart,
Words that lift the fainting heart?
Speak ere Death’s hand on me lay;
Speak those kind words now—today.

Kind words are but empty breath
To the heart that’s still in death;
When life’s load is hard to bear
Let me then the kind words hear.

Hast thou sunlit smiles to give,
Smiles that make us want to live?
E’er I cross death’s sullen stream
On me let those bright smiles beam.

Smiles, whate’er their power to save,
Cannot penetrate the grave.
Ere I reach life’s ending mile,
Give to me the sunlit smile.

Prayer can stay the trembling knee,
If thou hast but one for me,
Let it be offered today,
Ere the life-light fades away.

When my soul ascends the air,
I no more shall need your prayer;
Prayers today can change our state,
Tomorrow’s prayers may be too late.

The Heavenly Observatory

In different parts of the country, there are buildings called observatories which are fitted up for astronomical research. In these observatories, men study the movement of the heavenly bodies. It may not have been your privilege to have visited one of these. Some parts of the country are very unfit for such observations of the heavens because of so much fog. In some places, there is not more than one-half dozen nights in the year without fog. It is for these reasons that observatories are usually on an elevation.

There are spiritual elevations from which it is our privilege to have a vision of heavenly things. This is necessary to living a heavenly life. Man will not live any higher than his vision of life. The more we see of heavenly things, the more heavenly we can live. Oh, let us live in a heavenly place! Let us live above the fogs of worldliness and human passion.

Not only are observatories on an elevation, but they stand apart by themselves. Jesus took Peter, James, and John “into an high mountain apart.”* (Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:2) This is very significant. They are not only on an elevation, but they were also apart from a world of unbelief and sin. Elevation and separateness are the two things necessary for spiritual vision. It is interesting to study the instances recorded in the Bible where God took men into a mountain apart to give them a view of the realities of the unseen world. Seeing the unseen is our privilege, but we must get up above and apart from earthly things. It was when Moses was brought to the mountain of God, in the backside of the desert, that he saw the burning bush, and felt that he was treading on holy ground (Exodus 3:1-5). If you would feel the hallowedness of God’s presence, you must get into spiritual heights alone with Him. Peter, James, and John in a high mountain apart saw the transfiguration of Jesus. It is only in such a spiritual elevation, and apartness, that we can have visions of Christ in His beauty. God took Moses apart from the others of Israel into a mountain to talk with him and give him the law for the ruling of Israel. It is only from some heavenly height alone with Jesus that we can get His view point of life. We were asked by a certain one if it was wrong to go to a certain amusement. We replied, “If you will go apart with Jesus into the mount and get a vision of Him transfigured in His holiness, you will not need to ask me such a question.” There are those who have dwelt in the spiritual heights and seen glories and beauties of the Christian life, but have come down to the plane of earthliness and have lost their vision. The people perish where there is no vision (Proverbs 29:18). There is no sadder sight than that of seeing those who have had joyous contemplations of heavenly beauties and seen Jesus in His loveliness, now trying to satisfy their hearts with the works of art and human inventions.

Dear child of God, Jesus will take you often into some higher mountain apart and there will reveal Himself to you if He can only get you to leave the busy cares of life long enough. It may be that many of us would see more of the beauty of the Lord and be fashioned more into His likeness, if we would go with Him oftener and tarry with Him longer in the mount of prayer. The poet sang,

“I am dwelling on the mountain,
Where the golden sunlight gleams
O’er a land whose wondrous beauty
Far exceeds my fondest dreams.”*

And we would add,

I am in the mount with Jesus,
Dwelling in a heav’nly place;
Here I would abide forever,
To behold His beauteous face.

Come with us into this mount where the “golden sunlight gleams,” and there let Jesus reveal to you the wondrous beauty of His character, and you too will find it “good… to be here.”* (Matthew 17:4; Mark 9:5; Luke 9:33) You will feel like tabernacling there forever. Alas, how few of mankind find the great and satisfying joy of being apart with Jesus in the mount of prayer. Too many find greater pleasure in beholding pictures on the screen than they do in beholding “wondrous things out of [His] law.”* (Psalm 119:18) It is to be feared that many of Christ’s own “little flock”* (Luke 12:32) do not repair to the mountain retreat as often as they should, and many times when there, do not tarry long enough to get a distinctive view of the heavenly life. They get one little glimpse of the beauty of the Lord and then run away to their earthly concerns, and Jesus is left to grieve over the disappointment of not having time to unfold to them some of the loveliness of heavenly things. Eye hath not seen the things God has to show those who live in the Spirit. It takes not only an unveiling of the face, but it also takes long looking to behold the glory of the Lord, and get it imaged in the soul. A distinctive view of the lovely face of Jesus is not to be gained in a passing glance. Time is required. In the work of photographing Christ in the heart, there needs be a “time exposure.”

You may have seen those pictures where a number of faces were more than half hidden among the branches of a leafless tree. You would have to hold the picture in a certain position and look a long time to see all the faces. You will need a certain attitude of heart, and look a long time if you would get a clear view of the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. It takes a practiced eye to see all the beauty of the landscape or of the sunset. The trained eye of the landscape painter can see beauties that the untrained eye cannot see. To many, there is no beauty in Jesus that they may admire Him (Isaiah 53:2). Is He the fairest of ten thousand to your soul and the one altogether lovely? How often do you get such a delightful view of the beautiful life of Christ in the secret place of prayer that you feel like staying there all the days of your life to behold the wondrous beauty? When we see the time that is spent and the money that is expended, the far distant journeys men are taking to see the works of art and the wonders of nature, merely to excite the emotions of their sensous life, do we not feel ashamed we are spending so little time and effort to behold the wonders of the spiritual life which excite, into the highest state of ecstacy, the emotions of the soul. To see God and the wonders of His grace, there needs to be the open eye. “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”* (Psalm 119:18) The open eye is what is needed. We do not need to pray the Lord to give us eyes, but to open the ones He has given us.

The holiness of Jesus is the blooming sort. It flowers out in goodness and in deeds of love. We need the open eye that we might see the bloom. It is to be feared that the holiness of some is the cold, lifeless, unblooming kind. It is because they do not see anything more in the life of Jesus. On a shelf in my study is a bouquet of artificial roses. They are quite beautiful, but they lack the blush of life. Let us not be satisfied with a staid, formal holiness, but seek a holiness that has the bloom of Christ upon it. To have this, we must repair to the heavenly observatory and in the Spirit get a vision of that bloom as it is upon the life of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the telescope that brings heavenly things close to our view. God need not create a well of water for thirsting, weeping Hagar and her dying son. He need only to open her eyes to see the one already created. God has in the spiritual realm everything to satisfy the soul of man. All man needs is eyes open to see. Tears blinded Hagar’s eyes so she could not see (Genesis 21). Mourning over the loss of earthly goods or over unfavorable circumstances has prevented many a soul from seeing the blessings of the Lord. When we are losing property, and men are misrepresenting us, and we have been neglected by those we love, we need to get up into the heavenly observatory and there behold everything working for our good. It is indeed a heavenly sight and one that will gladden the heart when all else will fail.

The “horses and chariots of fire”* (2 Kings 6:17) were around about Elisha in the mount, but the servant did not see them and he was afraid. He did not see them because his eyes were closed. Elisha prayed that his eyes might be opened. Then he saw, and his fears were gone. Trembling, fearing child of God, there is an angel of God in every trial and unfavorable circumstance of life. Get up into a spiritual elevation, and you will see.

There is a reason for not seeing more than we do. It is because there is some object obstructing our view. It takes a very small thing in the eye to shut out the light of heaven. Just a very small object held close to the eye will hide a whole landscape from view. Sometimes when preaching, we write the word, “GOD” in sight of the congregation and then ask how many can see the word. They all hold up their hands. Then we place a dollar bill over the word and ask how many can see it. No hands are up. A dollar has gotten between them and “God.” This is why many do not see more of the glories of salvation. Something of the world is between them and God.

A father said to his son, just married, that he could select any two acres on the farm he wished to build for himself and his young bride. The son selected two acres on a hill which was the most unfertile spot on the farm. The father asked him why he did not select two acres of fertile land in the lower land. The son replied, “From this hill, I can always have your home in view. I can see the lights in the window by night and the smoke curling from the chimney by day. I do not want to build where I cannot see your home.” Alas, how many are building on the lowland! How many are pitching their tent “toward Sodom”* (Genesis 13:12)! Beloved, if you value your soul’s eternal prosperity and a heavenly life on earth, never construct anything in this world that hides heaven from your view. Be careful where you build. Jesus unrolled the true path of life behind Him in His journey through life among men. Keep your eye opened straight on this path and walk daily in it, and the glories of heaven will ever be bursting on your sight.

Closing

Now we must close. We must tell you goodbye. If the Holy Spirit has taken any word of this booklet and made it a blessing to you, we are thankful. We hope someday, when God wills, to meet you again in a second message, and while sitting with you in a heavenly place speak with you about some of the beautifying conceptions some of the Bible writers had of God from their heavenly observatory.