BIBLE DOCTRINE 
 
 Bebotton 
 
 BOWMAN 
 
tihvaxy of Che theological ^eminarjp 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Rufus K. LeFevre 
 
 '5X7^7 S' 
 
Cl)e Bible 
 ^ottxim of Detjotton 
 
Clje a)etootional Series; 
 
 The Christian's Power . . . F. P. Rosselot 
 
 Bible Study and Devotion . H. A. Thompson 
 
 Prayer, a Means of Spiritual Growth . . 
 
 N. E. Cornetet 
 
 Selections from Madame Guyon's Work on 
 
 Devotion D. D. Loiuery 
 
 Love As a Motive M. B. Spayd 
 
 Sorrow; Its Worth, Its Cure . J. A. Haavkins 
 
 Bible Doctrine of Devotion . E. S. Boivman 
 
 Christ Our Devotional Example . IF. J. Zuck 
 
 The Holy Spirit in the Devout Life 
 
 /. L. Kephart 
 
 Conduct ; Its Relation to the Devotional 
 
 Life J. T. Spangler 
 
 Each i6mo, Cloth Fifty Cents 
 
 W. R. Funk. Agent DAYTON. OHIO 
 
Clje M 
 Boctrine ot Bebotton 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD S. BOWMAN, A.M. 
 
 ^ 
 
 UNITED BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE 
 
 W. R. FUNK, uieent DAYTON. OHIO 
 
0>pyright, 190U, by 
 United Brethren 
 Publishing Botue 
 Dayton Ohio 
 
So flDne 
 
 WHOSE CONSTANT DEVOTION BBIGHTKN3 
 
 AND SWEETENS EVERY TASK 
 
 WHOSE DEVOUT I^IFE IS A BI>ESSED INSPIRATION 
 
 ^P iFaitf)fuI mite 
 
 THIS LITTLE BOOK IS TENDERLY DEDICATED 
 BY 
 
 The Author 
 
 1^ 
 
Contents 
 
 Contentg 
 
 Introduction 
 I Jesus' Devotion to the Father 
 II Hindrances to the devotional Life 
 
 III Fellowship with God 
 
 IV The Yielded Life 
 V Service for God 
 
 VI The Blessed Hope ; or, Devotion to Our Comino 
 Lord 
 
antroDuction 
 
 This little book is written by re- 
 quest. It is for Christians, and seeks 
 to emphasize the scriptural teaching of 
 devotion. By devotion, we mean the 
 right attitude of the whole life toward 
 God. To those who have put the cross 
 between themselves and their sins and 
 are now living on the Godward side 
 of the cross, it aims, by calling atten- 
 tion to a number of passages of scrip- 
 ture, to lengthen, broaden, heighten, 
 and deepen the spiritual life. Its 
 claim is not that of unfolding doctrine, 
 but inspiring devotion — the devotion 
 of the whole life to Him whose we are 
 and whom we serve. 
 
 The author once heard, on the same 
 day, two distinguished, representative 
 men. After hearing them, he asked 
 himself the question, What have they 
 inspired in me? After hearing the 
 first, he said, "I want to be a better 
 preacher." After hearing the other, he 
 said, "I want to be a better Christian." 
 
 7 
 
Jnttotiuction 
 
 Other books may inspire other things, 
 but it is the earnest prayer of the au- 
 thor that this little volume may inspire 
 all who read it to say, ^^I icant to he a 
 better Christian/' May God grant that 
 it may be a blessing. 
 
 Edward S. Bowman. 
 Harrishitrg^ Pennsylvania^ 190), 
 
"I am come down from heaven, not to do mine 
 own will, but the will of him that sent me." — ■ 
 Jesus. 
 
 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased." — The Father, 
 
THE BIBLE DOCTRINE 
 OF DEVOTION 
 
 I 
 
 3Iei8us!' Demotion to tU JFatfict 
 
 "Such was thy truth, and such thy zeal, 
 Such deference to thy Father's will ; 
 Such love and meekness so divine 
 I would transcribe and make them mine." 
 
 One cannot be a careful reader of 
 the Gospels without being impressed 
 with the perfect devotion of the Son to 
 the Father. In all his speaking to his 
 Father or about him, he never uses a 
 name which denotes his "creative 
 power or omnipotent dignity." In his 
 most solemn and priestly prayer he ad- 
 dresses God, not as the "One that in- 
 habiteth the universe," or the "Infinite 
 and Eternal One," but, "O Righteous 
 Father," "O Holy Father." 
 
 "The word ^Father,'" says one, 
 "which Jesus uses in speaking to or of 
 God, is the final and most perfect name 
 11 
 
%it 3ib\t SDocttim ot SDtbotfon 
 
 which has come to us from the revela- 
 tion of the Old and New Testaments. 
 Every other thought of God expressed 
 in title or name is contained within 
 this final word, ^Father.' Let us never 
 imagine that God, in endeavoring to 
 teach us a truth concerning himself, 
 has borrowed one of our names. It has 
 too often been said that God bent over 
 us and took out of our life the great 
 word father,' that he might teach us 
 something of what he is. The essential 
 truth is that God is the Father, not a 
 father; not one born of our poor hu- 
 man realizations of fatherhood, but the 
 one who is revealing to us what a fa- 
 ther should be." Jesus has given to us 
 the best and highest revelation of God, 
 in that he has revealed through his per- 
 fect sonship the Father. Man has dis- 
 covered in God infinite wisdom and 
 power, but the love of the Father, which 
 is back of all else, is more precious 
 than either ; this the Son has revealed, 
 who came from the heart of the Fa- 
 ther. "No man hath seen God at any 
 
 12 
 
2t0n0' apebotfon to tit jpatStt 
 
 time; the only begotten Son, which is 
 in the bosom of the Father, he hath de- 
 clared him'' (John 1:18). 
 
 Jesus has given us, in himself, not 
 only the example of a life in its rela- 
 tion with men, — teaching us how to 
 live before the world, — but he has 
 given us the example of a life in rela- 
 tion to the Father. His was a life of 
 perfect devotion, unswerving loyalty, 
 and absolute obedience. 
 
 THE father's testimony. 
 
 The Gospels record only a few times 
 when the Father speaks audibly from 
 the heavens. Each time it is the ap- 
 proval of the Father testifying to the 
 devotion of the Son. The first is on 
 the occasion of his baptism. Jesus 
 seeks baptism from John, but John, 
 recognizing his superior, refuses him, 
 saying, ^'I have need to be baptized of 
 thee." At the Master's further request, 
 John administers the sacrament. Im- 
 mediately there follow two supernat- 
 ural indications that Jesus in his moral 
 
 13 
 
Wit 3ihlt SDocttine of SDebotfon 
 
 nature needed no such rites: the one 
 is the descending upon him of the Holy 
 Spirit in the form of a dove, the other 
 is the voice of the Father speaking from 
 heaven, saying, "This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased" 
 ( Matthew 3:17). What this voice may 
 have meant to the others who may have 
 heard it, we do not know ; but to John 
 it was a message of tremendous impor- 
 tance, modifying his mission and re- 
 vealing the Messiah. To Jesus it was 
 the familiar voice of the Father, attest- 
 ing his devotion. 
 
 The voice again is heard approv- 
 ingly. It is on the Mount of Transfig- 
 uration. A cloud overshadows the dis- 
 ciples and the Father speaks of the 
 Son, saying, "This is my beloved Son : 
 hear ye' him'' (Mark 9: 7, R. V.). The 
 Father makes the devoted Son the au- 
 thoritative teacher — "hear ye him." 
 He comes to both teach and enable 
 them to do the will of God. 
 
 Again, Jesus is speaking of his de- 
 mise. Devotedly turning his face heav- 
 
 14 
 
3le0U!ai* SDrtotton to tit ifatjet 
 
 enward and addressing the Father, he 
 says: ^Tather, glorify thy name. 
 Then came there a voice from heaven, 
 saying, I have both glorified it, and will 
 glorify it again'' (John 12:28). The 
 people who stood by heard the voice, 
 but thought it thundered. To Jesus it 
 was the familiar voice of the Father. 
 Dear reader, are you so devoted to him 
 that when he speaks you recognize his 
 voice? 
 
 The Father further testifies to the 
 devotion of the Son in that he sent 
 him into the world to accomplish the 
 greatest work ever undertaken by 
 God — the redemption of the world. 
 His mission, therefore, was a greater 
 attestation of his devotion than the ut- 
 terance of the voice either on the occa- 
 sion of his baptism or his transfigura- 
 tion. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF OTHERS. 
 
 Those among whom Jesus lived, and 
 for whom he labored, testify to his 
 never-tiring and loyal devotion to his 
 
 13 
 
%^t J&iblt SDocttine ot SDrtotion 
 
 Father. They at once recognize in him 
 a power which is more than natural. 
 By his wonderful words and w^orks 
 they place him at once above all other 
 men and account for it only through 
 his perfect access to God. After an- 
 nouncing the principles of the kingdom 
 he came to establish, recorded in the 
 Sermon on the Mount, "the people were 
 astonished at his doctrine: for he 
 taught them as one having authority, 
 and not as the scribes" (Matthew 7: 
 28, 29). When Jesus gave the invita- 
 tion and promise on the great day of 
 the feast (John 7:37), many of the 
 people said, "Of a truth this is the 
 Prophet.'' Still others said, "This is 
 the Christ.'' At once they associate 
 him with God. 
 
 Those who w^ere not jealous of him 
 recognized his true relation to the 
 Father. One of the Jews, a Pharisee, 
 a ruler, a teacher in Israel, came to 
 him and said, "Rabbi, we know that 
 thou art a teacher come from God ; for 
 no man can do these miracles that thou 
 
 16 
 
ie^ujEi' SDetotiott to tit iFatJet 
 
 doest, except God be with him^' (John 
 3:2). 
 
 The disciples who were intimatelj^ 
 associated with him in his life and min- 
 istry, observing his devotion to the Fa- 
 ther, are not silent. Upon one occasion 
 Jesus said to them, "Whom do men 
 say that I the Son of man am?" They 
 told him that some say John the Bap- 
 tist, Isaiah, or Jeremiah. But when 
 he said, "Whom say ye that I am?'' 
 Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the living God.'' 
 
 When we desire instruction, we 
 would have it at the hand of one who 
 is a master in the thing itself. The dis- 
 ciples had heard Jesus pray to the Fa- 
 ther; better still, had seen his prayer- 
 life. They saw how devoted he was and 
 that to every request there came the 
 answer, so they came to him and said, 
 "Lord, teach us to pray." 
 
 The multitude of curious people were 
 trying, in one way and another, to ac- 
 count for the strange manifestations 
 on the day of Pentecost. After they 
 
 2 17 
 
^aCJt IBihlt SDocttfiu of SD^totian 
 
 had said it was due to one thing, and 
 then another, Peter arose and told 
 them that this which they both saw and 
 heard was due to the exaltation of 
 Jesus at the right hand of the Father ; 
 which the Father did because of the 
 unfailing obedience of the Son to the 
 will of God. 
 
 THE CLAIM OF JESUS. 
 
 The key-note of Jesus' life was 
 sounded by himself when he said, "I 
 came down from heaven, not to do mine 
 own will, but the will of him that sent 
 me" (John 6:38). That to which 
 Jesus constantly laid claim while upon 
 earth was his doing the will of the 
 Father. When he prayed he always 
 conditioned it upon his Father's will. 
 When requested by his disciples to eat 
 after a weary journey, he said, "My 
 meat is to do the will of him that sent 
 me" (John 4:34). Long ages before 
 his birth the prophet said of him, "Lo, 
 I come to do thy will, O God." The 
 will of God is supreme, and he would 
 
 18 
 
'it&W SDebotion to tje jFatJet 
 
 have all render absolute obedience to 
 it. "In heaven the angels find their 
 highest blessedness in doing God's will. 
 For this man was created with a free 
 will, in order that he might have the 
 power to choose, and of his own accord 
 do the will of God. Deceived by the 
 devil, man committed the great sin of 
 rather doing his own will than God's 
 will. Jesus became man to bring us 
 back to the blessedness of doing the 
 will of God." 
 
 During his whole life upon the earth, 
 Jesus never lost sight of the fact that 
 he was here, sent of the Father to ful- 
 fill the Father's mission. In all he said 
 or did he never laid claim to his inde- 
 pendence. So devoted was he to the 
 Father that he would not even lay 
 claim to his own teaching or the words 
 he spoke. He performed untold mir- 
 acles, and the multitudes followed to 
 see him manifest his power. The law- 
 yers and doctors were confounded by 
 his wisdom, and the people astonished 
 at his wonderful works, yet he would 
 
 19 
 
^Jt "Bihlz SDocttine of SDebotion 
 
 say, "I do nothing of myself; but as 
 my Father hath taught me, I speak 
 these things. And he that sent me is 
 with me; the Father hath not left me 
 alone; for I do always those things 
 that please him'' (John 8 : 28, 29) . In 
 all he said and did he continually laid 
 claim to his devotion to the Father, 
 using repeatedly the expression, "The 
 Father hath sent me." It will repay 
 you to see how frequently he used this 
 expression, as he spoke about his mis- 
 sion, ever striving to make the people 
 see that he did not act independently, 
 but always on behalf of the Father, to 
 whom his life was most loyally devoted. 
 (John 5:24, 30, 37, 38; 6:38, 39, 40, 
 44; 7:16, 28, 29, 33; 8: 16, 18, 26, 29, 
 42; 9:4; 11:42; 12:44, 45, 49; 13:20; 
 14:24; 15:21; 17:8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 
 20:21.) 
 
 Not only did Jesus claim that he was 
 sent of God, and that he always did his 
 will, but he claimed such devotion that 
 he could say that he and the Father 
 were one. In his priestly prayer (John 
 
 20 
 
Jit^tx^' SDebotion to tje jFatlier 
 
 17) he repeatedly addressed the Father 
 in claims of oneness with him, 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS' LIFE. 
 
 The attitude of Jesus' life was a con- 
 tinuous testimony of his devotion to 
 the Father. Find him where you will 
 and he is in the perfect will of God. 
 Nothing turns him aside from it, no, 
 not even death itself. How significant 
 of his devotion to the Father are his 
 first and last recorded words, before 
 his death : "Wist ye not that I must 
 be about my Father's business?'- (Luke 
 2 : 49 ) . "It is finished" ( John 19:30). 
 From first to last his life is in perfect 
 harmony with the key-note — "I came 
 down from heaven, not to do mine own 
 will, but the will of him that sent me.'^ 
 He is always conscious of the nearness 
 of the Father, and accustomed to 
 speaking to him as to one of his dis- 
 ciples standing by. 
 
 Robert E. Speer, in his book, "The 
 Man Christ Jesus," writing of His 
 prayerfulness, says: "In all the exi- 
 
 21 
 
^it "Bihlt SDoctrfiu ot SDebotion 
 
 gencies of his life he turned to the 
 strength of prayer's fellowship in- 
 stinctively. The great events of his 
 life were preceded by prayer ; such mir- 
 acles as his w^alking on the sea and 
 stilling the tempest (Matthew 14:23- 
 85), feeding the four thousand (Mat- 
 thew 15:36), healing the lunatic boy 
 (Mark 9:14-29), raising Lazarus 
 (John 11:41, 42), feeding the five 
 thousand (John 6 : 11) ; such outgoings 
 of power as his upholding Peter upon 
 the sea, and the healing of multitudes 
 ;at Gennesaret (Matthew 14 : 23, 31-36). 
 The people connected his prayers with 
 helpful influences, and brought little 
 children to him, "that he should lay 
 his hands on them and pray" ( Matthew 
 19:13, K. y.). The choice of the 
 Twelve and the Sermon on the Mount 
 were preceded by a night of prayer 
 (Luke 6 : 12, 13), and Peter's great con- 
 fession was made after the disciples 
 had seen Jesus engaged in prayer alone 
 (Luke 9: 18, 20)/ The transfiguration 
 
 22 
 
3[e0tt0* SDebotfon to tje iFatJer 
 
 was a phenomenon of prayer (Luke 9: 
 28-36)/' 
 
 Jesus not only preceded the great 
 events of his life with prayer, but he 
 followed them as well with communion 
 with his Father. He lived continually 
 beneath the shadow of the cross, and 
 when the time came for him to be of- 
 fered up, he did not turn aside, but 
 '^stedfastly set his face to go to Jeru- 
 salem" (Luke 9:51). He would not 
 let even death separate him from the 
 Father, for before expiring he said, 
 ^^Father, into thy hands I commend my 
 spirit'' (Luke 23: 46). 
 
 What could be the aim of a life of 
 such wonderful devotion to God? Was 
 it for fame or praise he lived? 
 
 Nay, for me he lived, 
 
 For me his blood was spilt. 
 
 Let his life teach us like devotion to 
 the Father and loving sacrifice for 
 others. 
 
 **And now what more shall I say? Do I need here 
 To draw the lesson of this life, or say 
 More than these few words? 
 The vine from every living limb bleeds wine ; 
 
 23 
 
^^t 3ihlt SDocttine ot SDebotion 
 
 Is it the poorer for that spirit shed? 
 
 The drunkard and the wanton drink thereof, 
 
 Are they the richer for that gift's excess? 
 
 Measure thy life by loss instead of gain ; 
 
 Not by the wine drunk, but the wine poured forth; 
 
 For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice, 
 
 And whoso suffers most hath most to give." 
 
 24 
 
j^inUrancefi; to 
 tl)e SDetjottonal 3tife 
 
'One look at that pale, suffering face 
 Will make us feel the deep disgrace 
 
 Of weakness. 
 We shall be sifted till the strength 
 Of self-conceit be changed at length 
 
 To meekness. 
 
 'Wounds of the soul, though healed, will ache; 
 The reddening scars remain, and make 
 
 Confession ; 
 Lost innocence returns no more ; 
 We are not what we were before 
 
 Trangression. 
 
 'But noble souls, through dust and heat. 
 Rise from disaster and defeat 
 
 The stronger, 
 And, conscious still of the divine 
 Within them, lie on earth supine 
 
 No longer." 
 
 26 
 
l^mtitanceie^ to tit 2Dftiotional %ite 
 
 II 
 ^tnDrances to tbt Deuotiotial Mtt 
 
 "We rise by the things that are under our feet ; 
 By what we have mastered of good or gain ; 
 By the pride deposed, and the passion slain, 
 And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet." 
 
 The Word of God is full of precious 
 promises, which, in the lives of many 
 Christians, are never realized. It 
 speaks of God keeping the believer in 
 perfect peace. It promises a power to 
 enable him to overcome the world. It 
 assures him that his life may be made 
 one of joy unspeakable. It offers him 
 an unerring guide. It promises a 
 friend and companion more faithful 
 than a brother. 
 
 John MacNeil, in "The Spirit-Filled 
 Life," says: "On every hand a lack of 
 something is being felt and expressed 
 by God's people. Their Christian ex- 
 perience is not what they expected it 
 
 27 
 
^it 3ihlt SDocttfnt o£ SDtbotfott 
 
 would be. Instead of expected victory, 
 it is oft-recurring, dreaded defeat; in- 
 stead of soul satisfaction, it is soul 
 hunger ; instead of deep, abiding heart- 
 rest, it is disquiet and discontent; in- 
 stead of advancing, it is losing ground. 
 Is this all Christ meant when he said, 
 <Come unto me'? Is this life of con- 
 stant disappointment the normal life 
 of the Bible Christian? To these sad 
 questionings the divine Word answers 
 with an emphatic *No,' and the testi- 
 mony of an ever-increasing number of 
 God's children answers, *No.' " 
 
 Many Christians are like the chil- 
 dren of Israel on their way to Canaan ; 
 stopping short of the land of promise, 
 they said the promise could never be 
 realized. "Yea, they despised the 
 pleasant land; they believed not his 
 word; but murmured in their tents, 
 and hearkened not unto the voice of the 
 Lord'' (Psalm 106:24, 25). Every 
 Christian has known or heard of those 
 in whom God has wrought mightily, 
 both in the pulling down of the strong- 
 
 28 
 
I^intitanceief to t^t SDel3ot(onal JLitt 
 
 holds of Satan, and a life of peace hid 
 with Christ in God; yet many must 
 confess that there have been no tides of 
 joy flowing like a river through their 
 famishing souls, or waves of spiritual 
 power for the combatting of sin within 
 or without. Where is the trouble? It 
 surely cannot be with God or his Word, 
 for he is not slack concerning his prom- 
 ises, for his word is yea and amen to 
 those who believe. If there is disap- 
 pointment and failure, it is with man, 
 for God is willing to do for any one to- 
 day what he did for Otterbein or Fin- 
 ney or Edwards or Paul. If the fault 
 lies on the human side, what is it? 
 Shall we not search for it, and by God's 
 help find it, and put it away? God is 
 wonderfully solicitous that our lives 
 should be intensely devotional, that we 
 may get the most from him, and that 
 he may do the most through us. 
 
 In entering upon this study of the 
 things which hinder the devotional life, 
 can all say with David, "Search me, O 
 God, and know my heart; try me, and 
 
 29 
 
%fie 3iblt SDocttfne ot SDebotion 
 
 know my thoughts : and see if there be 
 any wicked way in me, and lead me in 
 the way everlasting" ( Psalm 139 : 23, 
 24)? After the divine search-light is 
 turned on, and the thing which hinders 
 is revealed, can we say, "Purge me with 
 hyssop, and I shall be clean ; wash me, 
 and I shall be whiter than snow'^ 
 (Psalm 51: 7)? 
 
 Present known sin in the life of the 
 believer hinders the devotional life. 
 "Behold, the Lord's hand is not short- 
 ened, that it cannot save; neither his 
 ear heavy, that it cannot hear : but your 
 iniquities have separated between you 
 and your God, and your sins have hid 
 his face from you, that he will not hear. 
 For your hands are defiled with blood, 
 and your fingers with iniquity; your 
 lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath 
 muttered perverseness" ( Isaiah 59 : 1- 
 3). The children of Israel realized 
 that the Lord was not doing many 
 mighty works in and through them, 
 and they were seeking to know the 
 cause. He told them that his hand was 
 
 30 
 
l&(nlitance0 to tit SDebotional JLitt 
 
 not shortened that he could not save, 
 and that his ear was not heavy that he 
 could not hear. He said, "Don't look 
 to me for the cause, don't blame me 
 for the trouble; the fault is not with 
 me; look to yourselves." He says to 
 those who would charge the fault to 
 him: ^^Yoiir iniquities have separated 
 between you and me; your sins have 
 hid my face from you, that I will not 
 hear; your hands are defiled with 
 blood ; your fingers with iniquity ; your 
 lips have spoken lies; your tongues 
 have muttered perverseness,'' What a 
 charge ! When God shows us our sins 
 let us "own up." Do not answer back 
 as did the people to whom Malachi 
 wrote. God charged them with most 
 serious offenses, and they denied every 
 one of them. He said, "Your priests 
 have despised my name" ; and they said, 
 ^^ Wherein have we despised thy name?" 
 He said, "Ye offered polluted bread 
 upon mine altar"; and they said, 
 ^^Wherein have we polluted thee?" He 
 said, "Ye have wearied the Lord with 
 
 31 
 
%it 1&ih\e SDoctrine ot SDebotion 
 
 your words" ; and they said, ^^Wherein 
 have we wearied him?" He said, "Ye 
 have robbed me"; and they said, 
 ^'Wherein have we robbed thee?" He 
 said, "Your words have been stout 
 against me"; and they said, ^'Wherein 
 have we spoken against thee?" 
 
 Many lives are hindered from ad- 
 vancement and strength in true devo- 
 tion by the sins they are not willing to 
 give up. Doctor Torrey, in one of his 
 stirring addresses, said: "How many 
 men and women of ability and promise 
 there are in the church of whom we ex- 
 pect great things, but they always dis- 
 appoint us. They never go on. They 
 are forever coming up to a certain 
 point, but there they stop. The work 
 of God in their souls that you expected 
 is not wrought. What is the matter? 
 Sin, sin, sin. Oh, if you would have a 
 mighty work of God in your own soul, 
 search your heart to-day; and if God 
 shows you some sin, give it up, no mat- 
 ter if it is like tearing out your heart- 
 
 32 
 
l^intirance^ to t^t jDebotional JLite 
 
 strings. It hinders a mighty work of 
 God in your soul." 
 
 Another of the hindrances to the de- 
 votional life is unconfessed sin. "He 
 that covereth his sins shall not pros- 
 per: but whoso confesseth and forsak- 
 eth them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 
 28: 13). There may be in the life sins 
 committed long ago, and because you 
 have nearly forgotten them, you are led 
 to think that God has forgotten; but 
 he has not. You have been trying to 
 cover it over and over with forgetful- 
 ness, but remember it cannot be hid 
 from the eye that never sleeps. Go 
 make confession first to God, for it may 
 be that to him alone you need to con- 
 fess. If you have wronged your fellow- 
 man, — taking advantage of him in 
 some business transaction, or told a lie 
 that has worked his ruin, or circulated 
 a slanderous report which has damaged 
 his character, — go to him and make an 
 honest confession. If your sin was of 
 a public character, then public confes- 
 sion should be made. Your life can 
 
 3 33 
 
%it 3itlt SDocttitu ot SDetotton 
 
 never be truly happy and filled with 
 power until the sin which hinders is 
 confessed. Man may not forgive you, 
 but if you are sincere, and have done 
 your best in making restitution, God 
 will. 
 
 "Next in merit to not sinning is con- 
 fessing sin. The three hardest words 
 in the English language are, ^I was mis- 
 taken.' Frederick the Great wrote ta 
 the senate, ^I have just lost a great bat- 
 tle, and it was entirely my own fault.'^ 
 Goldsmith said, ^This confession dis- 
 played more greatness than all his vic- 
 tories.' Bacon said, *I do plainly and 
 ingenuously confess that I am guilty 
 of corruption, and so renounce all de- 
 fense. I beseech your lordship to be 
 merciful to a broken reed.' " 
 
 Giving preeminence to the self-life 
 hinders the devotional life. "If any 
 man will come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross, and fol- 
 low me" (Matthew 16:24). God al- 
 ways wants to do more for us than we 
 believe. We want God's power in our 
 
 84 
 
l^intirancegs to tSe SDebational fLitt 
 
 lives, but we want it our way instead 
 of his way. Like Jacob, wanting to 
 overcome the angel, while the angel 
 wanted to overcome him. In the aver- 
 age Christian there is a constant con- 
 flict being waged between the flesh and 
 the Spirit, and too often we give our 
 influence on the side of the flesh be- 
 cause it is constantly clamoring for 
 gratification, and its gratification is 
 often pleasant. But to the one who 
 will yield to the Spirit, and deny the 
 flesh, keep it in subjection, yea, even 
 mortify it, there will be no condemna- 
 tion. "To be carnally minded is death ; 
 but to be spiritually minded is life and 
 peace" (Romans S:6). 
 
 Paul, writing to the Corinthian 
 Christians, speaks of their carnality 
 hindering their spiritual development. 
 "And I, brethren, could not speak unto 
 you as unto spiritual, but as unto car- 
 nal, even as unto babes in Christ. I 
 have fed you with milk, and not witH 
 meat : for hitherto ye were not able to 
 bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 
 
 35 
 
%it 3ihlt SDoctriiu of SDetotion 
 
 For ye are yet carnar^ ( I. Corinthians 
 3:1-3). The carnal state is a state of 
 prolonged infancy. A babe nourished 
 on milk at one year is perfectly proper, 
 but a babe at twenty years nourished 
 on milk is a calamity. Such were the 
 Christians (spiritually) at Corinth. 
 How is it with you? 
 
 The carnal state is also a state which 
 incapacitates the soul for spiritual 
 truth and exercise. Instead of being 
 themselves teachers, they have need of 
 some one teaching them. ( Hebrews 5 : 
 12-14.) The carnal state is also a state 
 of failure. There is little victory over 
 sin. We may be set on making our 
 life holy, and our life victorious, but 
 if we are under the dominion of the 
 flesh-life there can be no glorious vic- 
 tory. "Do w^e not find Christians who 
 in some respects have a good measure 
 of the grace of God, and yet have never 
 really conquered their temper, and so 
 when another says a sharp thing to 
 them they give a sharp reply? How 
 many Christians there are who have 
 
 36 
 
l^tntjrance^ to tit Btbotioml %iU 
 
 never learned to love as God wants 
 them to love, to love the unlovable? 
 What is this but that they are yet in 
 the carnal state? In them the flesh has 
 more power than the Spirit." 
 
 Jesus once sat at a well and there 
 came a woman to draw water. When 
 he asked her for a drink, she thought 
 it strange that he being a Jew should 
 ask drink from a woman of Samaria. 
 He told her if she knew who was speak- 
 ing she would have asked drink of him, 
 and he would have given her living 
 w^ater. He showed her that the water 
 she had was unsatisfying and she 
 would thirst again and have to come 
 hither to draw; and that he had water 
 to give which if she drank she would 
 never thirst again, neither come hither 
 to draw; but that the water he would 
 give would be in her a well of living 
 water, springing up continually. As 
 soon as she learned this she said, eager- 
 ly, ^^Sir, give me this water, that I 
 thirst not, neither come hither to 
 draw" (eTohn 4:15). Jesus said, 
 
 37 
 
%it Bible SDocttine of SDtbotion 
 
 "Wait; before you can receive this 
 water, there is something in your life 
 that must be made right. 'Go, call thy 
 husband.' '' So with the child of God 
 who would live a truly devout life. Be- 
 fore he can have the best gifts Heaven 
 can bestow, he must be prepared to re- 
 ceive them. 
 
 Dear reader, is present actual sin- 
 ning in the way? Then stop it. Is 
 there some unconfessed sin you have 
 been covering? Then confess and for- 
 sake it. Is there a continual seeking to 
 gratify the carnal life and living under 
 the dominion of self? Then deny thy- 
 self, and take up thy cross and follow 
 Jesus. 
 
iTellotDfiljip tottl) <t5oD 
 
*I would converse with thee from day to day, 
 With heart intent on what thou hast to say, 
 And through my pilgrim-walk, whate'er befall. 
 Consult with thee, O Lord, about it all. 
 Since thou art willing thus to condescend 
 To be my intimate, familiar friend, 
 Oh, let me to the great occasion rise. 
 And count thy friendship life's most glorious 
 prize." 
 
 40 
 
JFellotojaffiip toitfi (Bod 
 
 III 
 
 "Just to listen and to stay 
 
 Where you cannot miss His voice. 
 This is all ; and thus to-day, 
 Communing, you shall rejoice." 
 
 In saving a soul from the guilt of 
 sin, God does not abandon it to live as 
 best it can the life he requires. We are 
 given the power whereby we may live 
 the truly devout life, as truly as we 
 have been ransomed from the guilt of 
 sin. (Romans 5:10.) The redeemed 
 soul has been brought into the most 
 blessed relations with Christ and the 
 Father. We are no more strangers and 
 foreigners, but fellow-citizens. ( Ephe- 
 sians 2 : 19 ; I. John 3:1; Romans 8 : 
 14-17.) 'As redeemed sons and daugh- 
 ters of God, we are taken into partner- 
 ship with him. (I. Corinthians 3:9.) 
 Such privileges and relationships re- 
 
 41 
 
^^t 15ihlt SDocttfttt ot SDtbotion 
 
 quire that we be in the closest commun- 
 ion and fellowship with him. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. 
 Uttered or unexpressed ; 
 The motion of a hidden fire 
 That trembles in the breast. 
 
 "Praj^er is the burden of a sigh, 
 The falling of a tear, 
 The upward glancing of an eye, 
 When none but God is near. 
 
 "Prayer is the simplest form of speech 
 That infant lips can try ; 
 Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach 
 The Majesty on high. 
 
 "Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
 The Christian's native air ; 
 His watchword at the gates of death ; 
 He enters heaven with prayer." 
 
 We must ever remember that prayer 
 rises far above the mere reciting of 
 words. The rhetorical form may be 
 ever so beautiful, and the thing desired 
 requested in the most fitting petition, 
 but if our soul does not breathe 
 through it, it is not prayer. "God does 
 not listen for words ; he wants to hear 
 me." Prayer is the breathing God- 
 ward our desires. We may be helped 
 to a proper understanding of what 
 
 42 
 
JFdIotQ06ip Mti dSoU 
 
 prayer is from some who have not only; 
 written about it, but who have had ex- 
 perience in the thing itself : 
 
 "Prayer is an acknowledgment of 
 our dependence upon God and his all- 
 sufficiency to supply our needs. 
 Prayer, in its very nature, is an expres- 
 sion of want and an earnest desire for 
 help. God only is independent; man 
 is dependent in the broadest sense. 
 Prayer, therefore, is the weak looking 
 to the strong for strength ; it is the ig- 
 norant looking to the wise for wis- 
 dom." — Weaver. 
 
 "Prayer pulls the rope below and the 
 great bell rings above in the ears of 
 God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for 
 they pray so languidly; others give an 
 occasional pluck at the rope; but he 
 who wins with Heaven is the man who 
 grasps the rope boldly, and pulls con- 
 tinuously, with all his might." — Spur- 
 geon. 
 
 "The spiritual life with its growth 
 depends in great measure on prayer. 
 According as I pray much or little, 
 
 43 
 
%it 3ihlt SDocttiiu of SDebotion 
 
 pray with pleasure or as a duty, pray 
 according to the Word of God or my 
 own inclinations, will my life flourish 
 or decay." — Miirray. 
 
 "Prayer is the lifting up of the heart 
 to God; all words of prayer without 
 this are mere hypocrisy." — Wesley. 
 
 "Prayer willingly flyeth incessant 
 Twixt the earth and the sky, the carrier-pigeon of 
 heaven." — Bishop Tegner. 
 
 Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler says : "The 
 last hour I spent with my beloved 
 friend Spurgeon was spent at family 
 worship. After I had concluded my 
 prayer, he chimed in with a most won- 
 derfully simple, fervent, artless con- 
 verse with God ; it was like the reverent 
 talk of a child with the best of fathers. 
 After I heard that marvelous prayer, I 
 said to myself, ^Now I know the secret 
 hiding-place of Spurgeon's power.' " 
 
 Were we to consider what has been 
 wrought by the prayers of believing 
 saints, there would be no end of writ- 
 ing. The divine Word is full of prayers 
 and accounts of what they have 
 
 44 
 
JFdIoto0]6i{i Mti (Boti 
 
 wrought. Volumes have been written 
 enumerating some of the wonderful 
 works of grace, the marvelous cures of 
 many sick, and the maintenance of 
 charitable institutions, wrought in an- 
 swer to prayer. 
 
 What does the Word of God say con- 
 cerning this phase of our devotional 
 life? First of all, we have the example 
 of Jesus. ( Mark 1:35.) Again we see 
 him sending the multitudes away that 
 he might go apart awhile and pray. 
 Would you have power with God, then 
 study Christ's prayer recorded in the 
 seventeenth chapter of John, and pray 
 in the spirit of resignation, as he 
 prayed. Do you ask the Great Teacher 
 himself to teach you to pray? I fear 
 that too often we read hooks that we 
 may know how to pray, instead of ask- 
 ing Him to whom the apostles spoke 
 when they said, "Lord, teach us to 
 pray" (Luke 11:1). 
 
 "0 thou by whom we come to God, 
 The Life, the Truth, the Way! 
 The path of prayer thyself hath trod ; 
 Lord, teach us how to pray." 
 45 
 
%^t 3ihlt SDoctrine ot SDebotion 
 
 Our Master has made praying as sim- 
 ple as it is possible to be made. He 
 said, "Ask," "seek," "knock," and gave 
 US promise of fulfillment. (Matthew 
 7 : 7, 8. ) He has further given us in- 
 struction in that he said, "When thou 
 prayest, enter into thy closet, and 
 when thou hast shut thy door, pray to 
 thy Father which is in secret ; and thy 
 Father which seeth in secret shall re- 
 ward thee openly" { Matthew 6:6). In 
 this he has suggested (as some one has 
 said) the period, place, privacy, per- 
 sons, and promise in prayer: "Period 
 for prayer — Vhen thou prayest.' Place 
 for prayer — ^enter into thy closet.' 
 Privacy of prayer — ^shut thy door.' 
 Persons in prayer — 'pray to thy Fa- 
 ther.' Promise for prayer — ^he shall 
 reward thee.' " 
 
 Jesus has instructed us as well 
 how not to pray, as how to pray. 
 ( Matthew 6:7.) Let us live in the at- 
 mosphere of prayer continually, for we 
 are taught that "men ought always to 
 pray." 
 
 46 
 
jfdIotQ0gip \x>itfl (I5oti 
 
 Some who will read these lines are 
 fathers. Can your children say of you 
 what the great missionary, John G. 
 Paton, said of his father? "If there is 
 any blessing in my life, it is due to my 
 father. Three times a day we passed 
 the little closet where my father was 
 before God. We went on tiptoe, lest 
 we should disturb him. We knew that 
 the high priest of the family was stand- 
 ing in the holy of holies." Lord, teach 
 us such devotion to thee as that. 
 
 ALONE WITH GOD. 
 
 This is such a busy age that we 
 scarcely take time to think. When 
 Frances R. Havergal was asked why 
 the church did not accomplish more, 
 she replied, "It is because Christians 
 do not spend enough time alone with 
 God." A prize was once offered to the 
 individual who would rule the largest 
 number of microscopic lines in the 
 space of an inch. Many tried for the 
 prize, but the successful contestant was 
 one who took his work and went alone 
 
 47 
 
^it 3iblt SDocttitu ot SDtbotion 
 
 in the solitude of a mountain, where, 
 away from the noise and the confusion 
 of the busy world, he could give his 
 time to the work in hand with nothing 
 to distract. Might we not be able to 
 rule some of the finer and more delicate 
 lines in our Christian character if we 
 spent more time alone with God? 
 
 **Take time to be holy ; speak oft with thy Lord ; 
 Abide in him always, and feed on his Word." 
 
 Let us learn some biblical lessons on 
 devotion from some who have been 
 alone with God. 
 
 Alone with God, Moses gets God's 
 plan for his life. (Exodus 3:1-14.) 
 Moses had for forty years tried life in 
 Egypt, largely in the court of Pharaoh. 
 Then he tried the life of a shepherd. 
 Still this was not God's plan for him. 
 One day an ordinary bush by the way- 
 side was all aglow, and he said, "I will 
 turn aside and see what this strange 
 sight is." God was in it, and spake to 
 him out of the bush and gave him his 
 plan for his life. Oh, if we were not so 
 busy and would turn aside more to be 
 
 48 
 
jfdloto^l^tp toit]^ dSoti 
 
 alone with God, we, like Moses, might 
 hear him give to us some great com- 
 mission, or change for our blessing and 
 his glory the plan of our life. Dear 
 young reader, are you anxious what 
 shall be your calling, or to what you 
 shall give your life? Do not choose 
 anything until you have gone alone 
 often with God and asked him about it. 
 You may feel like Moses and say, 
 ^^Lord, who am I that I should do this? 
 I am not able." But if he has marked 
 out your path, he will say to you, as 
 he said to Moses, "I will go with thee." 
 Alone with God, Abraham is tested. 
 (Genesis 12: 1-12.) On Mount Moriah 
 God proves him. Up until God asked 
 him to sacrifice Isaac, his life had been 
 one of successive separations. He was 
 called upon to leave Ur, then Haran, 
 then Egypt, and next Lot. Was not 
 this sufficient? Why must he separate 
 himself from Isaac in this cruel way? 
 The rest he could understand ; this was 
 mysterious. How could God fulfill his 
 promise if Isaac were slain? But, 
 
 4 49 
 
<3t8e 3ibU SDocttftu ot SDttiotton 
 
 thought he, why do I reason thus? 
 God has commanded ; I must obey. He 
 prepares for the journey to Mount 
 Moriah. The servants and asses are 
 left at the foot of the mount. Abra- 
 ham, with his treasure, ascended the 
 mountain to be alone with God. The 
 altar is made, the wood is placed, and 
 the son is put upon it. The hand hold- 
 ing the knife is raised ; then God says, 
 "It is enough, Abraham." He stood 
 the test. Nothing, not even his only 
 son, could stand between him and his 
 obedience to God. 
 
 "The dearest idol I have known, 
 Whate'er that idol be, 
 Help me to tear it from thy throne 
 And worship only thee." 
 
 God wants the first place in our 
 lives, and therefore would have us will- 
 ing to yield up anything for him. Does 
 God call you to a life of separation, go 
 alone and ask him to help you to yield. 
 
 Alone with God, Jacob is prepared 
 to meet his angry brother. (Genesis 
 32:22-30.) Jacob and his brother 
 
 50 
 
iFelloto^fiip toitS (Boti 
 
 Esau became estranged, and the former 
 had to leave the country. After years 
 of absence, he returns with his family 
 and cattle. His brother learning of it 
 gathers together four hundred men, 
 and goes to meet him, not on the most 
 friendly terms. Something must be 
 done. Jacob is not able in his own 
 strength to meet his angry brother and 
 prevail over him. He sends his family 
 and all he has over the brook and 
 spends the night alone with the angel 
 of God. The night is one of struggling. 
 Jacob, wanting strength with which to 
 meet his brother, seeks to prevail over 
 the angel. At last the dawn ap- 
 proaches, and the angel must go, so he 
 cripples Jacob. Jacob, however, ob- 
 tains the blessing — not as many a 
 preacher has mistakenly preached, and 
 many a worker has advised a seeking 
 soul at the altar of prayer, by wrestling 
 and overcoming, but by confessing and 
 yielding. The angel asked him his 
 name, and he said, "Jacob," which 
 means a cheat, a supplanter. This he 
 
 51 
 
^it TBihlt SDDCttfiu 0t 2Debotion 
 
 was, and before he could obtain the 
 blessing he must confess to God. This 
 he did in humility and weeping. 
 ( Hosea 12 : 4. ) Now his name is 
 changed and he is made a prince. Now 
 he has power. Now he can meet Esau. 
 O child of God, are jou contending 
 with your Master? know that by so do- 
 ing you will obtain nothing. The only 
 way to prevail with God is to submit 
 to him. God wants to gain the victory 
 over us only that he may hand it back 
 to us in power for service. 
 
 How did the brothers meet the next 
 day? Not in battle, as they expected. 
 *^4nd Esau ran to meet him, and em- 
 braced him, and fell on his neck, and 
 kissed him: and they wept'' (Genesis 
 33:4). All praise to His name, for 
 while Jacob was alone with God seek- 
 ing preparation to meet his angry 
 brother, God was preparing Esau's 
 heart for the meeting, also. 
 
 A friend of mine had been having 
 trouble in getting along with his ten- 
 ant on his farm, and there had been un- 
 
 52 
 
ifeIl0tD0f)(p toitS (I5oti 
 
 kind words spoken on both sides. The 
 time came when the landlord must give 
 the tenant notice to vacate. He 
 dreaded the ordeal, for he knew the 
 spirit of the man. I advised him to 
 spend some time alone with God about 
 it, as Jacob did. He did so, and, 
 strange to say, — no, not strange, for it 
 is the way God always helps when we 
 go alone to him, — the transaction of 
 the next day had in it nothing of un- 
 pleasantness whatever. 
 
 Alone with God we find comfort and 
 encouragement when discouraged and 
 disheartened. In I. Kings 19 : 1-14, 
 !Ahab the king told Jezebel what Elijah 
 had done, and she threatened his life, 
 and he fled a day's journey into the 
 wilderness, and there, lying down un- 
 der a juniper-tree, he asked God to let 
 him die. Weary, worn, and disheart- 
 ened, he thought death was the best 
 thing God could give him; but God 
 knew what was best ; so he gave him a 
 good night's sleep and a refreshing 
 breakfast, in the strength of which he 
 
 53 
 
CJe 3ihlt SDocttiiu of SDebotton 
 
 went a forty days' and nights' journey 
 to Horeb, the mount of God, where he 
 lodged in a cave. "And the word of 
 the Lord came to him, and he said unto 
 him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 
 And he said, I have been very jealous 
 for the Lord God of hosts : for the chil- 
 dren of Israel have forsaken thy cov- 
 enant, thrown down thine altars, and 
 slain thy prophets with the sword ; and 
 I, even I only, am left; and they seek 
 my life, to take it away" ( I. Kings 19 : 
 9, 10). The Lord placed him on the 
 mountain and then he passed by in a 
 great, destroying wind, and in an earth- 
 quake, and in a fire, and showed Elijah 
 his power. When Elijah stood at the 
 entrance to the cave, the Lord said to 
 him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?'' 
 And he said, "I have been very jealous 
 for the Lord God of hosts : because the 
 children of Israel have forsaken thy 
 covenant, thrown down thine altars, 
 and slain thy prophets with the sword ; 
 and I, even I only, am left; and they 
 seek my life, to take it away." Where- 
 
 54 
 
Jfell0\))0|lip bits CSoti 
 
 upon the Lord said to him, "Elijah, 
 don^t be so discouraged, for your work 
 is not nearly completed. You are to 
 anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, 
 and Jehu to be king over Israel, and 
 Elisha thou shall anoint to be prophet 
 in thy stead. And then do not think 
 you are the only one I have left, for ^I 
 have left me seven thousand in Israel, 
 all the knees which have not bowed 
 unto Baal, and every mouth which hath 
 not kissed him' " (I. Kings 19 : 18). So 
 the old prophet set about the work of 
 the Lord and took on a new lease of 
 life. Dear reader, are you ever discour- 
 aged and disheartened? do you ever get 
 a spell of "the blues"? Then get alone 
 with God and talk it over with him. 
 
 "A little talk with Jesus 
 Makes it right, all right." 
 
 Or, are you, a member of the church, 
 somewhat inclined to taking a pessi- 
 mistic view of things? Instead of com- 
 plaining and sighing for the "good old 
 times,'' 
 
 "Take it to the Lord in prayer." 
 55 
 
'atfie ©ibie SDocttitu ot SDebotfon 
 
 At last the Lord sees that Elijah's 
 work on earth is done, and so he says 
 to him, "Elijah, you remember that re- 
 quest you made of me under the juni- 
 per-tree." He answers, "Yes, Lord, 
 that I might die." "Well, Elijah, it 
 shall never be granted; I have some- 
 thing better for you [how he always 
 exceeds our requests]. Get ready, for 
 soon my chariots and horsemen will be 
 along." The old prophet prepares for 
 the translation, and after a while they 
 come and he steps in and off they go 
 in a whirlwind. As they near the celes- 
 tial city they hear music and the pearly 
 gates swing ajar and a band of angels 
 come to welcome them. Then methinks 
 I hear, as some one has said, the old 
 prophet of God say to the horsemen,. 
 "This beats dying under a juniper-tree^ 
 don't it?" 
 
 COMMUNION. 
 
 Communion is fellowship with God. 
 The proper understanding of the word 
 is, what we have in common with an- 
 other. In the commonly accepted un- 
 
 56 
 
iFeIIotP0]gip toitlg (EdU 
 
 derstanding of prayer, we speak occa- 
 sionally to God and ask him for the 
 things we desire. In communion the 
 soul not only comes into occasional 
 touch with the Divine, but is in un- 
 broken, uninterrupted communion or 
 fellowship with him. *'He that dwell- 
 eth in the secret place of the most 
 High shall abide under the shadow of 
 the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1). 
 
 Doctor Kingsbury beautifully says: 
 "What we know of communion with 
 our fellow-men will help to make clear 
 the idea of communion with God. 
 There are those among men with whom 
 we come in contact, with whom we have 
 little especially in common. Our occu- 
 pations, our tastes, our ambitions do 
 not run along the same lines. On the 
 other hand, there are those with whose 
 tastes, whose pursuits, whose mental 
 and moral characteristics, we are in 
 complete sympathy. With such we 
 have communion because of these many 
 things which we have in common. So 
 when we have a sense of God's presence 
 
 57 
 
^I6t 3itlt SDoctrine o( SDebotion 
 
 in all that pertains to our spiritual be- 
 ing, when our views of his greatness 
 and goodness and holiness are right, 
 when we realize his claims upon our 
 love and service, then there are things 
 in common between us, and we can, and 
 instinctively do, enter into communion 
 with him. We enjoy the same things 
 which he enjoys. We think his 
 thoughts after him. We are impelled 
 to try to do those things which shall 
 build up his kingdom. We love him 
 with all tenderness. We rejoice in the 
 sense of his friendship." 
 
 It is not enough to get alone with 
 God and then pour out to him our grief 
 and sorrow. We may speak to him and 
 it becomes a blessed joy, but we must 
 know that deeper joy which follows 
 when we abide with him alone in si- 
 lence. David had learned this secret 
 of great joy in devotion, as we observe 
 the reading of the margin of these 
 verses: "Be silent to the Lord, and 
 wait patiently for him" (Psalm 37: 7). 
 ^^Truly my soul is silent upon God; 
 
 58 
 
Sfttto^^iip toitlft dBoH 
 
 from him cometh my salvation'^ 
 (Psalm 62:1). "My soul, be thou 
 silent unto God, for my expectation is 
 from him^' (Psalm 62:5). The secret 
 of true devotion to, and abiding in 
 Christ is our being able to be quiet 
 with him. Until we have learned the 
 secret of quiet communion with the 
 Father through the Spirit we have not 
 learned the divine art of reading God's 
 Word or enjoying prayer. "Under a 
 sense of divine nearness, the soul, feel- 
 ing how self is always ready to assert 
 itself, and intrude even into the holiest 
 of all with its thoughts and efforts, 
 yields itself in a quiet act of self-sur- 
 render to the teaching and working of 
 the Divine Spirit. It is still and waits 
 in holy silence, until all is calm and 
 ready to receive the revelation of the 
 divine will and presence. Its reading 
 and prayer then become a waiting on 
 God with ear and heart open and 
 purged to receive fully only what he 
 says." 
 
 Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, D. D., in 
 
 59 
 
^ie 3ible S>otttim o( SDebotion 
 
 one of his addresses, says: ^^In everj^ 
 life there ought to be time for the prac- 
 tice of fellowship with God. Here is 
 one peril of the age. Oh, this rushing, 
 restless, feverish age! It is one of the 
 greatest perils that threatens the min- 
 ister in this day, the peril of having 
 no time for cultivation of fellowship 
 with God. We are swept off our feet 
 by the rush of our work, carried along 
 from day to day, tumbling like a turbid 
 stream, and there is no restfulness, no 
 practice of fellowship, no time for it. 
 Time for everything else, but not for 
 that, and everything is weakened for 
 lack of it. Oh, we need time for quiet, 
 actual communion and fellowship with 
 God." 
 
 60 
 
Cl)e ^lelUeD 5Life 
 
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
 of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacri- 
 fice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your rea- 
 sonable service" (Romans 12: 1). 
 
 ''Consecration'* is a blessed word, but people 
 seem to have an idea that consecration means 
 coming every now and then to give ourselves up to 
 God anew. We cannot consecrate and reconse- 
 crate. The word that helps me most is abandon- 
 ment. It indicates my falling back upon God.— 
 Geo. H. C. Macgreggor. 
 
 62 
 
•BDJf Sielntti JLitt 
 
 IV 
 
 €lit gielDeD Mt 
 
 **THere is a holier, sweeter rest 
 
 Than the lulling rest from pain; 
 A richer calm than that which sleep 
 
 Sheds over heart and brain. 
 It is the sou Is surrendered choice. 
 
 The settling of the will, 
 Lying down calmly at His feet, 
 
 His purpose to fulfill." 
 
 Many who lay claim to a devout life 
 have yielded only their sins to Christ. 
 The thought of living a life absolutely 
 yielded to God, or wholly surrendered 
 to the will of Christ, has never serious- 
 ly entered their mind. We dare not 
 content ourselves with the thought that 
 all Christ meant to accomplish for us 
 in the gift of himself on the cross was 
 to save our souls from hell. True, he 
 saves us from the guilt of sin, but he 
 also offers deliverance from the power 
 of sin. He would have us live in lov- 
 ing, loyal obedience to the Holy Spirit 
 
%lit l&iblt SDocttme ot SDetiotion 
 
 dwelling within us. We would not dis- 
 pute with those who ask, "Have ye re- 
 ceived the Holy Ghost since ye be- 
 lieved?'' (Acts 19:2), and from it 
 teach that the Holy Spirit is only re- 
 ceived subsequent to conversion. 
 
 Paul most clearly teaches that in the 
 dispensation of the Spirit, the Holy 
 Spirit enters the believer and takes his 
 abode in him at regeneration. Because 
 the apostle found those who had "not 
 so much as heard whether there be 
 any Holy Ghost'' (Acts 19:2), he 
 questions at once whether they are 
 Christ's disciples. He at once discov- 
 ers the trouble. They are John's dis- 
 ciples. As soon as he preaches Christ 
 crucified unto them, they believe, and 
 are baptized and receive the Holy 
 Ghost. The apostle clearly teaches 
 that "if any man have not the spirit of 
 Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8: 
 9). At regeneration the Spirit enters, 
 and it may be possible that some 
 are not as fully conscious of his 
 presence as subsequently, when in the 
 
 64 
 
^it gieintn mtt 
 
 light of further revealed truth they are 
 led to a definite act of consecration, 
 when the Spirit takes fuller possession 
 of them. 
 
 All have not had the same experi- 
 ence. Many Christians, I dare say, 
 have been conscious of nothing beyond 
 the consciousness of sins forgiven. 
 Others have subsequently, in an act of 
 consecration, been "filled with the 
 Spirit.'^ Others have repeatedly, as 
 more light has been received, yielded 
 themselves more fully to God, and have 
 enjoyed the presence of the Spirit in 
 greater manifestation. The Scriptures 
 clearly teach that the attitude of the 
 devout life toward God should contin- 
 ually be Spirit-filled. The command 
 is, "Be filled with the Spirit'' (Ephe- 
 sians 5:18). "God's commands are 
 his enablings.'^ We believe it to be the 
 mind of the Spirit, and the definite 
 teaching of the Word of God, that each 
 regenerate life should be a life abso- 
 lutely yielded to Jesus Christ, and kept 
 yielded ever afterwards. It is true 
 
 5 65 
 
CSe TBible SDotttim ot SDebotion 
 
 that as we grow in the Christian life 
 we discover many things we can no 
 longer consistently do, which before 
 were never questioned. Increased 
 knowledge of the Word of God, and 
 closely following the Spirit^s leading^ 
 will reveal to us many things not yet 
 surrendered. 
 
 Rev. P. B. Meyer puts it this way: 
 "The wife sweeps the room in the early 
 morning and dusts the furniture. 
 Toward the middle of the forenoon she 
 discovers, by the increased light, there 
 is some dust which escaped her notice, 
 so she removes it. Later still, at noon- 
 day, the bright sun shining through 
 the windows reveals more dust which 
 the former dustings did not remove." 
 So in the devotional life. 'Ki conver- 
 sion we give ourselves and all we have 
 to the Lord, the best we know how. 
 Later the Spirit reveals to us some- 
 thing which formerly we never thought 
 to be wrong, and then that is yielded 
 to God. So, whether at conversion or 
 subsequently, we consecrate or surren- 
 
 CG 
 
^I&e gielDtti ILitt 
 
 der ourselves to the Lord, our whole 
 life should be yielded to God. A full 
 appreciation of the Christian life from 
 this view-point will greatly help to cor- 
 rect our mistaken understanding of 
 consecration — "a word that is very 
 common and popular ; much more com- 
 mon and popular, it is feared, than the 
 thing itself." 
 
 Consecration is one of the greatest 
 words of the Bible, yet I feel it has been 
 greatly abused. Much so, by the so- 
 called monthly consecration meetings 
 of our Young People's societies. When 
 we consecrate ourselves to God we give 
 to him. We are then to reckon our- 
 selves as his. Not taking back the gift 
 and using it for a month as our own, 
 and then taking the same gift to the 
 Lord and reconsecrating (?) it. There 
 lies before me on my desk a pocket Tes- 
 tament, the gift of my beloved wife, on 
 the fly-leaf of which she wrote, "The 
 Lord has given you yourself, what will 
 you do with the gift?" That book is 
 mine, she so regards it, and so do I. 
 
 67 
 
%it 3ihU SDoctthu of SDebotion 
 
 She does not come to me every few days 
 and take that Testament in hand and 
 say, "Here, Edward, I want to give you 
 this Testament." That would be ab- 
 surd. 
 
 The claim of Christ to all of the life 
 of every one who would be his child 
 is not unreasonable. He has redeemed 
 us with his own precious blood, and 
 offers to every one a life of rich bless- 
 ing if we yield ourselves absolutely to 
 him. He knows what is best for us. 
 He knows perfectly the life we should 
 live. Why not let him have full pos- 
 session and say with Paul, "I have been 
 crucified with Christ; yet I live; and 
 yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in 
 me: and that life which I now live in 
 the flesh I live in faith, the faith which 
 is in the Son of God, who loved me, and 
 gave himself for me" (Galatians 2: 20, 
 R. v.). 
 
 "Now, Lord, I would be thine alone; 
 Come, take possession of thine own, 
 
 For thou hast set me free ; 
 Released from Satan's hard commatad, 
 See all my powers in waiting stand, 
 
 To be employed by thee." 
 
 68 
 
%it gieltieti JCite 
 
 OUR SUBSTANCE. 
 
 In the truest sense, man can be the 
 absolute owner of nothing. Of the 
 material wealth of the world he 
 brought nothing with him when he was 
 born, and when the spirit leaves the 
 body he takes nothing with him. 
 ^^Naked came I out of my mother's 
 womb, and naked shall I return 
 thither'' (Job 1:21). See what the 
 Word teaches as to who is the proprie- 
 tor of all things: Deuteronomy 10: 
 U ; Psalm 24 : 1 ; I. Chronicles 29 : 11, 
 12; Psalm 50:10, 12; Exodus 9:29; 
 Haggai 2 : 8. 
 
 "There is no truly Christian man 
 who keeps an unconverted pocketbook. 
 God's universal law of unselfish service 
 is as supreme in the domain of material 
 possessions — in the realm of that 
 wealth which extends a man's power 
 ^to bring things to pass' — as it is in 
 any other department of man's possible 
 efforts." If we are wholly yielded to 
 the Lord, then all we have is his, and 
 
^it 15Mt SDoctrfne ot SDtbotfon 
 
 we are only his stewards. The truly; 
 devout man of God will not simply re- 
 gard a part of his income as belonging 
 to the Lord, and that he should give 
 liberally of it to his cause, but he will 
 regard the obtaining of it all and the 
 proper spending and retaining portions 
 of it in accordance with the divine will. 
 "When we give ourselves to the Lord 
 Jesus by an everlasting covenant, he 
 admits us into a wonderfully endearing 
 copartnership, a sort of sacred stoek 
 company or firm of which the Father 
 and Son are senior partners. Into this 
 copartnership Jesus puts all he is and 
 all he has, and we put in all we have 
 and all we are, the combined stock to 
 be used as the needs of the firm re- 
 quire." Have we such a conception of 
 the yielded life? Lord, help us! 
 
 "When I went into the ministry," 
 says Doctor Schauffler, "as soon as I 
 had any money of my own I said, ^O 
 Lord, one-tenth shall be thine'; and I 
 thought I was doing all I ought to do 
 when I said that. I preached that, and 
 
 70 
 
mt mtm\} jLitt 
 
 have practiced that all my life; but, 
 dear me! that is a small thing. One- 
 tenth is what Jacob gave, and are we 
 not better than Jacob? However, I 
 met a consecrated Christian woman 
 once in New York and asked her about 
 this matter of money. She said, ^I used 
 to give one-tenth, but I have got beyond 
 that ; and now I ask the Lord, for every 
 dollar that I have. Lord what shall I 
 do with that dollar?' I dropped my 
 tenth like a hot iron that day, and I 
 will never again take it up. Again, 
 there is a larger liberty than that of 
 one-tenth, and that is the liberty of all 
 ^od calls for. Sometimes he will call 
 for a fifth. Give it. Sometimes he will 
 call for a quarter. Give it. Whatever 
 he calls for, give it. The gold and the 
 silver are not mine; they are his. 
 When he who is the owner of it calls 
 for it, give it; don't hold it. Oh, we 
 need a change of view on this matter of 
 money. We need to realize honestly 
 and truly that it is more blessed to give 
 than to receive." 
 
 71 
 
Wbt Bible S>otttim ot S>tbotion 
 
 "All I have I give to Jesus; 
 It belongs to him." 
 
 OUR BODIES. 
 
 The yielded life includes a yielded 
 body. Many Christians have never re- 
 garded their bodies as the Lord's. 
 They have been very religious (?) in 
 spirit, but very sinful in body. Hear 
 what the apostle teaches: "Know ye 
 not that your body is a temple of the 
 Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye 
 have from God? and ye are not your 
 own ; for ye were bought with a price ; 
 glorify God therefore in your body" 
 (I. Corinthians 6: 19, 20, R. V.). Be- 
 fore saying this he said, "Know ye not 
 that your bodies are members of 
 Christ?" (v. 15, R. V.). "There are 
 two things," says Dr. K, T. Pierson, 
 "which pertain to the ownership of a 
 bouse : the first is the purchafimfj of it, 
 and the second is the inJiahifing of it. 
 In this case, the owner is God, and he 
 has paid his price for the house, and 
 then he moves into the house, and 
 claims it as the occupant, so that there 
 
 72 
 
mt gWtieti %ite 
 
 is no disputing his ownership. The 
 body of the believer is the house of God, 
 for he purchased the believer's body 
 and soul, and then the Holy Ghost 
 moved in and took possession. And 
 you are to think, not of your soul, 
 mind, heart, will, and conscience only, 
 as God's house, but of your body as his 
 temple." 
 
 The beauty and force of the Scrip- 
 tures are often marred by the breaks 
 made by the division into chapters. 
 We should never read the last verses 
 of chapter six of II. Corinthians with- 
 out reading the first verse of chapter 
 seven. "Come ye out from among 
 them, and be ye separate, saith the 
 Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and 
 I will receive you, and will be to you 
 a Father, and ye shall be to me sons 
 and daughters, saith the Lord Al- 
 mighty. Having therefore these prom- 
 ises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves 
 from all defilement of flesh and spirit, 
 perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 
 Here we are taught to cleanse ourselves 
 
 73 
 
%it T5ihle JDoctrfiu ot SDebotion 
 
 from all filthiness of the flesh, and yield 
 a clean, pure body unto the Lord. Mr. 
 Moody used to say, "God does not re- 
 quire golden vessels, neither does he 
 seek for silver ones, but he must have 
 clean ones." 
 
 The temptations of the flesh are nu- 
 merous and severe, yet if we consider 
 ourselves wholly the Lord's, we yield 
 to him instead of the tempter. The old 
 colored man had the right idea, who, 
 when tempted, always said : "O Lord, 
 I 'se your property, and the debbel is 
 a-prowlin' 'round. Lord, take care ob 
 your own." With all, it is not the easi- 
 est thing to keep the flesh in subjection 
 to the spirit. Even Paul recognized 
 that it took some effort. He said, "I 
 keep under my body, and bring it into 
 subjection" (I. Corinthians 9:27). A" 
 Sunday-school teacher was talking 
 about this verse to her class and asked 
 them how Saint Paul kept his body 
 under. One bright little girl answered, 
 "Please, teacher, by keeping the soul 
 on top." If you would keep the body 
 
 74 
 
mt giellieti JLitt 
 
 yielded to God, or held in subjection 
 to sin, you must keep the soul on top. 
 If you would not fulfill the lusts of the 
 flesh, you must walk in the Spirit. You 
 must live in constant touch with the 
 power which enables you to live the 
 life hid with Christ in God. Kev. Evan 
 H. Hopkins, in one of his Keswick ad- 
 dresses, said : "You cannot say good-hy 
 to the death of Christ. No, it is be- 
 cause there is that within us to the 
 last which makes it possible for us to 
 go back to the old life, that it is neces- 
 sary for us to have the power of his 
 death perpetually in the very center of 
 our being. It is this power which sets 
 us free from the old life." 
 
 OUR WILLS. 
 
 The will is supreme in man. This is 
 the throne, and possibly the most diffi- 
 cult to yield to another. Have you 
 learned to say with David, "I delight 
 to do thy will, O my God" (Psalm 40: 
 8) ? If so, then you know what it is to 
 give up your plans and purposes and 
 
 75 
 
^HHt Bible Botttim ot SDebotion 
 
 hopes and merge them all into the 
 plans and purposes of God. Fenelon 
 has rightly said, "Pure religion resides 
 in the will alone." Many have unmis- 
 takably thought that the life hid with 
 Christ is the one that is lived in the 
 emotions. Thus many people have 
 based their standing in God on their 
 feelings. A careful searching of the 
 Scriptures will reveal the fact that 
 when they speak of the "heart" they 
 do not refer so much to the seat of the 
 emotions as the will^ the throne, the 
 center of the man. "The will," says 
 Hannah Smith, "is the governing power 
 in man's nature ; if the will is set right, 
 all the rest of the nature must come 
 into harmony. By the will I do not 
 mean the wish of the man, or even his 
 purpose, but the deliberate choice, the 
 deciding power, the king, to which all 
 that is in the man must yield obedi- 
 ence.'' In another chapter we have 
 called attention to the devotion of 
 Jesus to the will of the Father. Our 
 wills must be yielded to Christ as his 
 
 76 
 
mt gfelneti Jiitt 
 
 was to the Father. " ^Have this mind 
 in you which was in Christ Jesus/ and 
 then you can do whatever you are a 
 mind to." 
 
 The Old Testament is full of striking 
 illustrations of the thought of absolute 
 surrender. In I. Kings 20 : 1-4, we 
 read, "And Ben-hadad the king of Syria 
 gathered all his host together: and 
 there were thirty and two kings with 
 him, and horses, and chariots: and he 
 went up and besieged Samaria, and 
 warred against it. And he sent mes- 
 sengers to Ahab king of Israel into the 
 city, and said unto him, Thus saith 
 Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is 
 mine ; thy wives also and thy children, 
 even the goodliest, are mine. And the 
 king of Israel answered and said. My 
 lord, O king, according to thy saying, 
 I am thine, and all that I have." God 
 asks of us an absolute surrender. Can 
 we reply as Ahab did to his superior? 
 Joshua's surrender to the man with 
 the drawn sword is another example 
 for us. 
 
^fie Mhlt SDocttine ot SDebotton 
 
 Doubtless many feel led to yield their 
 wills to God, yet they dread to abandon 
 their wills entirely, for fear that God 
 may make them do something disagree- 
 able. God is not less considerate of 
 his children than an earthly parent is 
 of his own, and what father would con- 
 spire to make his child do all the dis- 
 agreeable things he could think of be- 
 cause the child had promised to do 
 whatever the parent willed? God, in- 
 asking that our wills be yielded to him, 
 could have no evil design. If we would 
 but believe we might know he asks it 
 for our good and happiness. Dr. J. 
 Wilbur Chapman illustrates this point 
 with this touching story. He says: 
 "God asks only for our wills, and he is 
 a happy man who reaches the place 
 where he holds back nothing from 
 God. A celebrated bishop of the 
 Church of England had made a com- 
 plete sacrifice of everything in his life 
 except his affection for his wife. She 
 was an invalid, and he felt that he 
 could not yield her up, she had been so 
 
 78 
 
%iz giellteti JLitz 
 
 long upon his heart. Both husband 
 and wife were passing through the 
 severest spiritual struggle, and one day 
 the good bishop reached the place 
 where he said that he could give up his 
 wife to Christ. With tear- wet cheek he 
 came into her room to tell her that he 
 had gained the victory only to be met 
 with the response that she, too, had 
 crossed the line and had yielded every- 
 thing to Christ. During the night she 
 died, after her lingering illness; and, 
 strange as it may seem, and yet not 
 strange, when they rapped at the door 
 of the bishop, his heart, too, had ceased 
 to beat, and he, too, stood in the pres- 
 ence of God. God only wanted their 
 wills ; and, when they had been yielded 
 to him, he would not allow them to be 
 separated even for a minute of time, 
 and he bound them together for an un- 
 ending eternity.'' 
 
 A beautiful story is told of two great 
 generals in the American Civil War. 
 During General Sherman's last cam- 
 paign in the South, certain changes in 
 
 79 
 
%it "Bihlt aPocttfiu ot SDebotfott 
 
 commanders were made. General 
 Howard was placed at the head of a 
 certain division. Soon after this the 
 war closed, and there was to be a grand 
 review of the army at Washington. 
 The night before the review, Sherman 
 sent for Howard and said, "The polit- 
 ical friends of the officer yon succeeded 
 are determined that he shall ride at the 
 head of the corps, and I want you to 
 help me out." 
 
 "It is my command,'' said Howard, 
 "and I am entitled to ride at its head." 
 
 "Of course you are," replied Sher- 
 man. "You led the men through 
 Georgia and the Carolinas; but, How- 
 ard, you are a Christian, and can stand 
 the disappointment." 
 
 "If you put it on that ground," said 
 Howard, "there is but one answer : Let 
 him ride at the head of the corps." 
 
 "Yes, let him have the honor," said 
 Sherman, "but you will report to me 
 at nine o'clock and will ride by my side 
 at the head of the army." 
 
 Howard protested, but the command- 
 so 
 
U6e ffitldeti JLitt 
 
 er's orders were positive. So, that day, 
 in the grand review, the man who had 
 yielded his rights had a place of higher 
 honor at the head of the whole army. 
 So will it be with every child of God 
 who will yield absolutely his life to 
 Christ. Let every Christian sincerely 
 say: 
 
 "Laid on thine altar, O my Lord divine, 
 
 Accept this gift to-day, for Jesus' sake. 
 I have no jewels to adorn thy shrine, 
 
 Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make ; 
 But here I bring within my trembling hand 
 
 This icill of mine, a thing that seemeth small, 
 And thou alone, O Lord, canst understand 
 
 How, when I yield thee this, I yield my all. 
 
 *'Take it, O Father, ere my courage fail. 
 
 And merge it so in thine own will, that, e'en 
 If in some desperate hour my cries prevail, 
 
 And thou give back my gift, it may have been 
 So changed, so purified, so fair have grown,^ 
 
 So one with thee, so filled with peace divine, 
 I may not know or feel it as my own. 
 
 But, gaining back my will, may find it thine.*' 
 
 81 
 
^erijice for <15ot> 
 
"Think not if thou art not called 
 To work in mission fields 
 Of some far distant clime, 
 That thine is no grand mission. 
 Every deed that comes to thee, 
 In God's appointed time, 
 Is just the greatest deed that thine can be, 
 Since God's high will appointed it to thee.* 
 
 "No service in itself is small, 
 Nor great, though earth it fill ; 
 But that is small which seeks its own 
 And great which seeks God's will." 
 
 84 
 
&erbice tot (Bod 
 
 V 
 ©ettoice for (SJoD 
 
 **So live, so act that every hour 
 May die as dies the natural flower; 
 That every word and every deed 
 May bear within itself the seed 
 Of future good in future need." 
 
 Every devout life should be lived for 
 '^the glory of God and the salvation of 
 men." Our blessed Savior, who lived 
 a life of unvarying devotion to the Fa- 
 ther, said, "As thou hast sent me into 
 the world, even so have I also sent them 
 into the world" (John 17:18). His 
 devotion to the Father consisted in his 
 devotion to the work which the Father 
 sent him to do. Our devotion to Jesus 
 will be measured by our devotion to 
 the work which he has given us to ac- 
 complish. In this respect, the Father 
 expected from the Son no greater faith- 
 fulness than the Son expects from us. 
 If we earnestly desire to follow the ex- 
 
 85 
 
%^t Mbit SDoctriiu of SDetJotion 
 
 ample and teaching of the Master, then 
 we shall be anxious to render faithful 
 service in his name. Let no one be 
 discouraged because he cannot render 
 some great service, for faithfulness 
 does not consist in doing great things. 
 The humble child of God who gives a 
 cup of cold water in his name may be 
 doing just as faithful service as he who 
 preaches a sermon or leads a soul to 
 Christ. Some one has said that be- 
 tween the great things we cannot do 
 and the little things we will not do, the 
 likelihood is that we shall not do any- 
 thing. 
 
 The faithful child of God, who is 
 seeking light from the Scriptures as to 
 the devotional life, cannot help but 
 realize that in order to maintain a 
 truly devotional spirit he must give 
 himself to service. We dare not open 
 our natures Godward and then keep 
 tHem^ closed man ward. We cannot 
 truly stretch out our one hand toward 
 God if we do not stretch out the other 
 toward our fellow-man. If we want to 
 
 86 
 
&ttbitt tot dSoti 
 
 fully enjoy that which we receive from 
 God, and be enriched by it, we must 
 pass it on to others for their enjoyment 
 and the enriching of their lives. Our 
 attention has been called to the same 
 thought when we think of the Sea of 
 Galilee and the Dead Sea. The beau- 
 tiful Sea of Galilee, nestling among 
 the hills, is attractive and filled with, 
 and surrounded by life, because it has 
 a hand with which it pours out the 
 Jordan for the enriching of the coun- 
 try below, as well as a hand with which 
 it receives the Jordan from above. 
 How different the Dead Sea! No life 
 in it. No life about it. Why? Be- 
 cause it has a hand with which it re- 
 ceives the Jordan, but no hand to give 
 it out. Did not Jesus teach that he 
 who would save his life must be willing 
 to lose it? "He that loseth his life for 
 my sake shall find it" (Matthew 10: 
 39). 
 
 We may ask, What is service? In a 
 word it has been answered : "It is put- 
 ting Christianity to work. It is 'doing 
 
 87 
 
%it 3iblt SDottrine ot SDebotfon 
 
 good' to our fellow-man in our Ke- 
 deemer's name and for his sake.'' In 
 his "Studies for Personal Workers," 
 Howard Agnew Johnston says: "The 
 man who takes Christ for his Savior 
 must also take Christ for his Master, 
 to make Christ's purpose his purpose. 
 But Christ's purpose is to serve. It 
 w^as the law of his life on earth, and 
 continues to be in heaven. He 'came 
 not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
 ister, and to give his life a ransom for 
 many' (Mark 10:45). Every man re- 
 deemed by Christ from the slavery of 
 sin belongs in very truth to Christ. 
 His one aim should be to do all in his 
 power toward paying the great debt 
 he owes to Christ. But this means to 
 serve Christ in Christ's way, and he 
 has made that way plain. We serve 
 him by denying self, as he did, and by 
 seeking to save others, as he did. But 
 with the true Christian this is not done 
 simply from a sense of obligation. He 
 has caught a vision of Christ's wonder- 
 ful love, which explains Calvary, and 
 
 88 
 
&ttbitt tot (Bod 
 
 he has learned to love the Christ-life 
 above every other. Hence for him sal- 
 vation does not simply mean service, 
 for life meant some kind of service be- 
 fore. Salvation now means the loving 
 service of Christ." 
 
 How many there are who have wrong 
 conceptions of religious duty. They 
 think that serving God consists in go- 
 ing to church once or twice on the Sab- 
 bath day and giving an occasional sum 
 to religious purposes. Is this service? 
 Is this all for which God gives the Holy 
 Spirit? This, man can do without the 
 Spirit. The Spirit is given to enable 
 him to do the otherwise impossible. 
 This is the service to which the Master 
 calls ; can we afford to be satisfied with 
 less? 
 
 Many have excused themselves from 
 definite service in the opinion that it 
 was to be done by those to whom 
 was imparted special gifts. "And he 
 gave some to be apostles; and some, 
 prophets; and some, evangelists; and 
 some, pastors and teachers ; for the per- 
 
 89 
 
Tlit JSiblt SDocttine ot SDtbotion 
 
 fecting of the saints, unto the work of 
 ministering, unto the building up of 
 the body of Christ" ( Ephesians 4 : 11, 
 12, R. v.). True, he has chosen some 
 to be apostles and prophets and evan- 
 gelists and pastors and teachers, not to 
 do all the work of serving or minister- 
 ing, but to teach or perfect the saints 
 for the work of ministering. Therefore 
 every saint — for every child of God is 
 so recognized in the Scriptures — is to 
 be a servant, ministering to others in 
 the building up of the body of Christ, 
 the church. 
 
 Our Master, whom we serve, has 
 said: "Ye are the light of the world. 
 . . . Even so let your light shine 
 before men, that they may see your 
 good works, and glorify your Father 
 which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14- 
 16, R. v.). God has wonderfully ex- 
 alted our service, in that he has dig- 
 nified our good works. Not only are 
 they to be a joy and blessing to our 
 lives, but, seen by others, they shall be 
 the instrument leading to their conver- 
 
 90 
 
feetbice for (Boti 
 
 sion and their glorifying our Father in 
 heaven. Every child of God should see 
 the tremendous importance Christ has 
 attached to our light-shining service. 
 *'As needful as that the sun shine 
 every day, yea, more so, is it that every 
 believer let his light shine before men. 
 For this we have been created anew in 
 Christ, to hold forth the Word of Life, 
 as lights in the world. Christ needs 
 you to let his light shine through you. 
 Perishing men around you need your 
 light, if they are to find their way to 
 God. God needs you to let his glory 
 be seen through you. As wholly as a 
 lamp is given up to lighting a room, 
 every believer ought to give himself up 
 to be the light of a dark w^orld.'^ 
 
 Dear reader, have you ever read the 
 Scriptures carefully with a view of as- 
 certaining the true mission of your 
 life? It is not merely to enjoy the 
 blessings of religion or preparing to 
 reach heaven; these are secondary. 
 The primary mission, that for which 
 we have been created in Christ Jesus, 
 
 91 
 
^fie 3iblt SDocttine of SDebotion 
 
 is service, "We are his workmanship, 
 created in Christ Jesus for good works, 
 which God afore prepared that we 
 should walk in them" (Ephesians 2: 
 10, R. V. ) . God has a plan for the life 
 of every one of his children. He has 
 prepared the plan. He has prepared 
 the works, and he also has created the 
 worker for carrying on his work. Dare 
 any child deny him the service which 
 he justly claims at his hand? 
 
 We are taught by the apostle Paul 
 that our service for the Lord is to be 
 abounding, ^^ Wherefore, my beloved 
 brethren, be ye stedfast, immoveable, 
 always abounding in the work of the 
 Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your 
 labour is not in vain in the Lord" (I. 
 Corinthians 15: 58). God is not satis- 
 fied with spasmodic or occasional serv- 
 ice. Sometimes we find those whose 
 service partakes of this nature. They 
 appear wonderfully active during a re- 
 vival season, but as soon as the revival 
 is over they sink back into inactivity. 
 Some one likens them to bits of paper 
 
 92 
 
fbttbitt tot (Boti 
 
 along a railroad track which are picked 
 up and carried along for a short while 
 by the air put in motion by a passing 
 train, but after a while settle down to 
 the same quietness which characterized 
 them before the train put them in mo- 
 tion, waiting for another passing train. 
 Paul says, we are always to abound in 
 the work of the Lord. What shall this 
 work be? Read the preceding verses 
 of the chapter. It is telling to others 
 of the risen Lord and proving the same 
 bv living before them the resurrected 
 life. 
 
 Our Heavenly Father is not satisfied 
 with half-hearted service. We are to 
 be enthusiastic — God in us. He wants 
 a people full of zeal in service. "Who 
 gave himself for us, that he might re- 
 deem us from all iniquity, and purify 
 unto himself a people for his own pos- 
 session, zealous of good works'^ (Titus 
 2 : 14, R. V. ) . A proper appreciation 
 of our redemption and purification 
 should set us on fire for God. If we 
 would be zealous in our Master's serv- 
 os 
 
%it 3ihlt SDocttine ot SDtbotion 
 
 ice, three things must inspire us: 
 First, a realization of the urgent and 
 vast need of service; second, we must 
 take great delight in it ; and, third, the 
 love of Christ must constrain us. The 
 child of God who is constrained by the 
 love of Christ, and sees the vast need of 
 the world, and then takes great delight 
 in doing his part will not need to be 
 urged to greater zeal in the Master's 
 cause. Then service will be a pleasure. 
 
 In closing this chapter on the doc- 
 trine of the devotion of service, let me 
 call attention to two great phases of 
 service — that of personal work and 
 Christian missions. 
 
 Men may talk all they please of So- 
 cial righteousness and great social re- 
 forms, yet social righteousness can 
 only be brought about by personal 
 righteousness. Only to the extent that 
 the hearts of individuals are regener- 
 ated will society be improved. Christ 
 dealt not with the masses and great 
 reform movements, but with individ- 
 uals. Our witnessing for Christ must 
 
 04 
 
&ctbitt tot (Boti 
 
 be a personal witness. "Scripture is 
 full of examples of those who told to 
 others what the Lord had done for 
 them, and who thus became a blessing 
 to them." Parents, the blessing of win- 
 ning your children to Christ should be 
 yours; do not transfer it to some one 
 else. Backed by your godly life it 
 should be the easiest thing in the world 
 to speak the loving personal word that 
 should win the heart of your child to 
 your Lord and Master. 
 
 Do not men in their intercourse with 
 men often speak about every subject 
 except that of their souPs salvation? 
 "Some years ago, a well-known Chris- 
 tian was stopped on the street by a 
 friend with the question, *Mr. R., how 
 long have we known each other?' 
 'About fifteen years,' was the reply. 
 'You claim to be a Christian.' 'Yes.* 
 'Well, do you believe I must accept 
 Jesus Christ if I am saved?' 'I do.' 
 'And do you care whether or not I am 
 saved?' 'Why, certainly!' 'Pardon 
 me, I do not wish to hurt you, but I 
 
 95 
 
<2E8e 3ihlt SDoctritu ot SDtbotion 
 
 do not believe it. Through these years 
 we have discussed all sorts of topics, 
 yet you have never uttered one word to 
 indicate to me that you cared about 
 my soul. If you had cared, you surely 
 would have spoken.' " 
 
 Perhaps some one who will read 
 these pages will desire to lead a life of 
 devoted service to the Master, especial- 
 ly in the work of personally leading 
 souls to him. To such we most heartily 
 recommend several little books which 
 have greatly blessed the writer : "Indi- 
 vidual Work for Individuals," Trum- 
 bull ; "Studies for Personal Workers,'' 
 Johnston; "Personal Work," Sayford; 
 "How to Bring Men to Christ," Torrey. 
 
 Every devoted follower of Jesus 
 Christ is a friend and promoter of 
 Christian missions. He cannot be oth- 
 erwise, since his Master gave as his 
 parting command, "Go ye into all the 
 world, and preach the gospel to every 
 creature" (Mark 16:15). The work 
 of Christian missions should be the 
 principal aim of the church on earth. 
 
 96 
 
&nWt tot (Boti 
 
 To the church, composed of individual 
 Christians, has been committed the gos- 
 pel — good news. We are under obliga- 
 tion both to God and the heathen world 
 to faithfully discharge the trust com- 
 mitted to us. If a person had left to 
 his executor a large sum of money to 
 be transferred to his children, and he 
 w^ere as recreant to the trust as the 
 church has been to the heathen, he 
 would be dealt with by the law. 
 
 We rejoice to note that there is 
 bright promise of more devotion to the 
 will of the Master in missionary serv- 
 ice. This is being manifested to-day 
 in what is known as "living-link 
 churches." Churches are adopting the 
 method of supporting their own mis- 
 sionary. The reflex influence of such 
 undertaking is felt in great blessing by 
 the church at home. In the Presbyte- 
 rian Church nearly four-fifths of their 
 missionaries are supported either by 
 local churches, societies, or individuals. 
 Robert E. Speer, a secretary of their 
 Missionary Board, says : "The support 
 
 7 97 
 
^it 3ibU SDocttfiu ot SDtbotion 
 
 of a missionary by a church has proven, 
 we think, on each side to be a great ad- 
 vantage. The church gives a great deal 
 more, and the missionary has the sense 
 of a prayerful and affectionate interest 
 which otherwise he might lack.'' 
 
 An increasing number of the 
 churches in the United Brethren de- 
 nomination are supporting their own 
 missionary, independently of the gen- 
 eral cause of missions. Rev. W. M. 
 Bell, D. D., the general Missionary 
 Secretary, says, *^Many congregations 
 are already rejoicing in the larger life 
 that has come to them since specific 
 missionary work has been undertaken." 
 
 Let every devoted servant of the Mas- 
 ter hear the last published words of 
 Dr. A. J. Gordon: "If we could only 
 come to this, that each church would 
 take up missionary work directly, mak- 
 ing the board its commission house for 
 the transaction of its business, its 
 banking house for the transmitting of 
 funds, and its Bible and publishing 
 house for supplying literature, who 
 
 98 
 
Settiice tot (BoH 
 
 doubts that we might do vastly more 
 than we are now doing? Let us be 
 afraid of lost missionary opportuni- 
 ties. The church which is not a mis- 
 sionary church will be a missing church 
 during the next fifty years. As minis- 
 ters and churches of Jesus Christ, our 
 self-preservation is conditioned on our 
 obedience to the great commission. 
 Now it is preach or perish, evangelize 
 or fossilize. Be a saving church with 
 girded loins and burning lamp, carry- 
 ing a lost world on the heart day and 
 night, or be a secularized church, lying 
 on the heart of this present evil worlds 
 and allow it to gird you and carry you 
 whithersoever it will. Which shall 
 it be?" 
 
 99 
 
Clje 
 Mtsstti i^ope; or, Deljo-^ 
 tion to €)ur Coming 3LorU 
 
'They tell me a solemn story, 
 
 But it is not sad to me, 
 For in its sweet enfoldings 
 
 The Savior's love I see ; 
 They say that at any moment 
 
 Upon mine ear may fall 
 The summons to leave our homestead, 
 
 To answer the Master's call. 
 
 'They say I may have no warning ; 
 
 I may not even hear 
 The rustling of his garments 
 
 As he softly draweth near; 
 Suddenly, and in a moment, 
 
 The Lord of life may come 
 To lift me up from this cloud-land 
 
 Into the light of home.'* 
 
 102 
 
%it IBIe^jS^eti l^ope 
 
 VI 
 
 HCbz T5le00eD l^ope; or, Demotion 
 to ©ur Coming ILorD 
 
 "Oh, the long, long night is passing, 
 And there cometh the golden day ; 
 I come to my own who love me, 
 To take them all away." 
 
 One of the most precious doctrines 
 in the Word of God, one which if prop- 
 erly understood would be the greatest 
 incentive to devotion, has been greatly 
 neglected because unscrupulous teach- 
 ers have brought it into disrepute by 
 fixing dates for our Lord's return. In 
 any attempt at fixing definite dates, 
 we are prying into the secret things 
 which belong to God alone. Jesus ex- 
 pressly said, "But of that day or that 
 hour knoweth no one, not even the 
 an2:els in heaven, neither the Son, but 
 the Father" (Mark 13:32, R. V.). 
 
 That he shall come, no sincere stu- 
 
 103 
 
Wbt T5iblt SDocttitu ot SDebotion 
 
 dent of the Word can question. When 
 he ascended from Olivet's brow, two 
 heavenly messengers said to his dis- 
 ciples, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand 
 ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, 
 which was received up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner 
 as ye beheld him going into heaven^^ 
 (Acts 1:11, R. v.). But can we be- 
 lieve these messengers? Let us see. It 
 was an angel that announced to Zach- 
 arias while he burned incense in the 
 temple, that his wife Elizabeth should 
 bear a son. (Luke 1 : 5-13. ) It was an 
 angel that made known unto Mary that 
 she should bear a child and that his 
 name should be called Jesus. (Luke 
 1:26-35.) It was an angel that an- 
 nounced to the shepherds on the hills 
 of Bethlehem, that there was born in 
 the city of David a Savior, which is 
 Christ the Lord. ( Luke 2 : 8-16. ) Two 
 angels spoke to Mary Magdalene that 
 first Easter morning at the empty sep- 
 ulcher and said, He is not here, for 
 he is risen, as he said. Come, see the 
 
 104 
 
^^t SU00eti l^opr 
 
 place where the Lord lay. (Matthew 
 28:1-6.) 
 
 If the angels who spoke to Zaeharias 
 and Mrty and the shepherds and Mary 
 Magdalene spoke the truth, dare we 
 doubt the heavenly messengers who 
 spoke to the disciples on the Mount of 
 Olives? Neither dare we doubt the 
 words of Jesus himself (John 14 : 1-3) ; 
 nor the apostles. 
 
 There are three great comings fore- 
 told in the Word of God : First, Christ 
 as the Savior of mankind ; second, the 
 descent of the Holy Spirit; and third, 
 the return of our Lord. Two of these 
 have already been fulfilled. What rea- 
 sonable interpretation of Scripture 
 will tolerate our saying that two of 
 these shall be literally fulfilled, and 
 the other, because it has not yet come 
 to pass, must therefore be spiritual? 
 There are only two hundred and sixty 
 chapters in the New Testament, and 
 the return of our Lord is mentioned, 
 either directly or indirectly, three hun- 
 dred times. The church to-day makes 
 
 105 
 
%it 3ihlt SDocttiiu 0t SDttJOtion 
 
 much over the subject of baptism, and 
 yet Paul, in his epistles, mentions it 
 thirteen times and speaks of our 
 Lord's coming over fifty times. 
 
 The greatest fact in history is that 
 Christ was on earth; the greatest fact 
 of the present is that Christ is in 
 heaven interceding at the right hand 
 of the Father ; the greatest event of the 
 future will be Christ's second coming. 
 Consider Christ's three appearings as 
 mentioned in the closing part of the 
 ninth chapter of Hebrews, "but now 
 once in the end of the age hath he 
 appeared to put away sin by the sacri- 
 fice of himself." "For Christ is not 
 entered into the holy places made with 
 hands, . . . but into heaven itself, 
 now to appear in the presence of God 
 for us." "And unto them that look for 
 him shall he appear the second time 
 without sin unto salvation." 
 
 When we meet at the table of the 
 Lord to partake of the elements of 
 Christ's broken body and shed blood 
 we are instructed to look both dacJc- 
 
 106 
 
^5t 3\t00tt^ l^ope 
 
 ward to the cross and forward to his 
 coming. (I. Corinthians 11:25, 26.) 
 The church to-day needs to look more 
 to Christ^s coming, but not less to the 
 cross. We should never get away from 
 Calvary, save as the building grows 
 from the foundation — "never resting 
 as heavily upon it as when farthest 
 from it." In an address delivered at 
 Northfield, Robert E. Speer said: "I 
 believe we need the hope of Christ's 
 coming to fortify our faith in the super- 
 natural, which cannot be kept alive by 
 any belief in supernatural occurrences 
 eighteen hundred years ago. We need 
 it to vivify and keep quick and active 
 our present Christian faith. It is so 
 easy for Christian faith to die away 
 into what is purely mental, what is me- 
 chanical, what is external. Men love 
 to have to do with a Christ of ancient 
 history, and they do not like to have 
 to do with a Christ of present life and 
 a Christ of coming judgment. People 
 would rather have Christ wandering 
 up and down through Palestine eigh- 
 
 107 
 
^^t 3itlt SDocttfn^ o( SDetJDttott 
 
 teen centuries past than testing their 
 present-day lives by the standard of 
 his own, or standing over them as the 
 judge already waiting at the door. The 
 element of expectation is essential to 
 life. We cannot retain pure and fresh 
 and quick our faith in the Christ who 
 died and rose again unless we believe 
 also in the Christ who is reigning now 
 and who is again to come." 
 
 Again and again the Scriptures refer 
 to our Lord's coming as a blessed hope, 
 "Faith looks upward, hope looks on- 
 ward." Oftentimes the soul is in the 
 throes of despair, and it is some blessed 
 hope that gives courage and deliver- 
 ance. More than fifty times when hope 
 is referred to in the Divine Word it 
 has distinct relation to blessings of the 
 future which are to crown the believer 
 at the glorious appearing of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 We might consider a few of these 
 with great encouragement and inspira- 
 tion to the devotional life: 
 
 108 
 
Wbt ©It^^eti l^ope 
 
 A BLESSED HOPE. 
 
 Paul, writing to Titus, calls atten- 
 tion to the epiphany of grace, and after 
 giving rules for holy living calls atten- 
 tion to the epiphany of glory. (Titus 
 2:11-13.) We miss one of the best 
 parts of this scripture if we stop at the 
 end of verse twelve, as we fear many 
 do. "We are not only taught to live 
 righteously, but to live looking/^ This 
 blessed hope refers to a happy inward 
 enjoyment entirely apart from exter- 
 nal environment. To the believer who 
 has such an unfailing, joyful anticipa- 
 tion within, the outward circumstances 
 of trial are regarded as "not worthy 
 to be compared with the glory which 
 shall be revealed to usward. For the 
 earnest expectation of the creation 
 waiteth for the revealing of the sons of 
 God" (Romans 8: 18, 19, R. V.). 
 
 A COMFORTING HOPE. 
 
 The ruthlessly severing of earthly 
 ties by the hand of death has often 
 plunged many a believing child of God 
 
 109 
 
into great sorrow. The thought of a 
 long separation from those we love has 
 caused the cup of many a life to over- 
 flow with grief. 
 
 "The blight of hope and happiness 
 
 Is felt when fond ones part, 
 
 And the bitter tear that flows is 
 
 The life-blood of the heart." 
 
 To such this hope comes with cheer 
 and comfort. Sorrowing ones, read 
 and reread the apostle's words written 
 to those who were akin to you in grief. 
 ( I. Thessalonians 4 : 13-17. ) That they 
 might mutually cheer each other, he 
 adds this verse, "Wherefore comfort 
 one another with these words" (I. 
 Thessalonians 4:18). Sorrowing one, 
 in Christ, has thy darling babe been 
 kissed out of thy sight, leaving your 
 heart empty and sad? Or is it a 
 mother, whose ever-gentle touch and 
 loving words are so greatly missed? Or 
 is it a companion, whose life was knit 
 with yours, 
 
 And rather than say good-by 
 You would yourself have died. 
 
 110 
 
^Iie J5lt00tti Iftope 
 
 Look up, sad one, for perhaps this 
 shall be the day when he shall come 
 and those "you 've lost awhile," you 
 soon shall meet. 
 
 A GLORIOUS HOPE. 
 
 Our bodies of humiliation and suffer- 
 ing at His coming are to be made con- 
 formable unto the body of his glory. 
 *^For our citizenship is in heaven ; from 
 whence also we wait for a Saviour, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion 
 anew the body of our humiliation, that 
 it may be conformed to the body of his 
 glory, according to the working where- 
 by he is able even to subject all things 
 unto himself" (Philippians 3:20, 21, 
 E. v.). Suddenly this mortal, now 
 groaning in the flesh, shall put on im- 
 mortality. Paul says, "We shall not 
 all sleep [die], but we shall all be 
 changed, in a moment, in the twinkling 
 of an eye, at the last trump; for the 
 trumpet shall sound, . . . and we 
 shall be changed" (T. Corinthians 15: 
 51, 52). To the afflicted, bedridden 
 
 saint this is a glorious hope. 
 Ill 
 
^1^^ 3ihlt SDocttttu ot SDebotlon 
 
 A PURIFYING HOPE. 
 
 There is no greater incentive to a 
 truly devout life in all the realm of 
 sacred teaching than the hope of 
 Christ's coming. 
 
 It is an incentive to purity of life. 
 ( I. John 3 : 1-3. ) Jesus said, "Blessed 
 are the pure in heart : for they shall see 
 God.'' Only the pure in heart can see 
 him. You might take a deaf man to 
 a great oratorio and he would not hear 
 a sound ; you might stand a blind man 
 with his face toward a glorious sunset 
 and he would not see a ray of light. 
 So an unregenerate or impure man 
 cannot see God. The soul that is lifted 
 up with the hope of seeing his Lord 
 will strive, by the power of the Spirit, 
 to purify himself as he is pure. He 
 will reason thus: The pure and holy 
 and just One is coming, for which 
 I am hoping, for I have set this hope 
 on him. I want to see him ; I want to 
 be like him; therefore I must be pure 
 as he is pure. 
 
 It is an incentive to righteousness. 
 
 112 
 
C6e 7dlt00tr} l^ope 
 
 (Titus 2; 11-13.) In verse twelve we 
 are taught to live righteously because 
 of the grace offered in Jesus Christ, 
 and because of the blessed hope — his 
 glorious appearing. Jesus, by his 
 death, would bring salvation to all 
 men. We have partaken of his grace, 
 thus enabling us to live the life in 
 which we deny ourselves all ungodli- 
 ness and worldly lusts, living soberly, 
 righteously, godly. The power which 
 enables such a life is the power of 
 grace; the incentive to such a life is 
 hope. Between these two we are taught 
 how to live in this present world. This 
 life in relation to ourselves is to be 
 sober — not overcome with wine or 
 pleasure or prosperity; in relation to 
 others it is to be righteous — not op- 
 pressing, not defrauding, helping; in 
 relation to God it is to be godly — de- 
 vout, reverential, obedient. My Lord 
 has died to enable and teach me thus 
 to live. He is coming and will see how^ 
 faithful I am; therefore I cannot be 
 satisfied at any moment with anything 
 
 8 113 
 
%^t ©ibit SDoctrfne ot SDebotion 
 
 short of what he rightly and justly 
 expects. 
 
 It is an incentive to a life of watch- 
 fulness. ( II. Peter 3 : 10-12. ) Because 
 we do not know when the thief may 
 come, we watch, we are read'y. But 
 His coming is not an event to be 
 dreaded as the breaking in of a thief, 
 but as to the uncertainty of time. Be- 
 cause of this the apostle asks what 
 manner of persons ought we to be in 
 holy living and godliness. We are 
 taught here as elsewhere, repeatedly, 
 to be on the lookout — "looking'' for His 
 coming. But to the apostle this would 
 not seem sufficient, for he further says 
 we should "earnestly desire" — the mar- 
 gin says, hastening the coming of the 
 day of the Lord. 
 
 It is an incentive to readiness. (I. 
 John 2:28.) When He comes in the 
 "bright light of his glory and purity, we 
 shall want to stand in his presence in 
 that boldness which always character- 
 izes the faithful and pure, who are 
 ready at any time to have the search- 
 
 114 
 
%^t 1Blt0&t^ ^oj^t 
 
 light turned on them. Those who are 
 not ready and are found in all manner 
 of wickedness, though they have been 
 numbered with our churches, shall be 
 ashamed before his presence. In the 
 margin we read, "Ashamed from his 
 presence." 
 
 It is an incentive to increased re- 
 ligious activity. It is amazing how^ a 
 due attention given to this doctrine has 
 increased the religious activity of 
 those who seek to do the will of God. 
 Nearly all of the evangelists of any 
 note have been greatly enthused with 
 this blessed hope, and under the in- 
 spiration it has given them, thousands 
 have been gathered to the bride of 
 Christ. The same glorious truth has 
 put a hitherto unknown earnestness 
 and zeal into many pastors and local 
 churches. No one can read "How 
 Christ Came to Church," by Dr. A. J. 
 Gordon, without recognizing the mar- 
 velous impetus given to the activities of 
 a local church when its pastor put him- 
 self and his church in the attitude of 
 
 115 
 
^ie 3iblt SDocttim ot SDtbotion 
 
 looking for their Lord's return. Those 
 who have gone to the mission-fields un- 
 der the inspiration of this uplifting 
 hope have toiled and labored with a 
 courage and an inspiration which has 
 simply worked wonders. 
 
 "... Unto you is given 
 To watch for the coming of His feet 
 Who is the glory of our blessed heaven. 
 The work and watching will be very sweet, 
 Even in an earthly home, 
 And in such an hour as you think not 
 He will come." 
 
 lie 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
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