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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

GIFT OF
The General Convention of

The Christian Church

COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY PROVIDENCE LITHOGRAPH CO.

Time's First Morning

Garden Spots

IN

The Old Testament

'Thou shalt be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose waters fail not."

BY
REV. J. PRESSLEY BARRETT, D. D.
Author of "Facing The Truth", "Fruit-Bearing
Truths'/Centennial of Religious Journalism",
"Modern Light- Bearers", "Camping
Along The Master's Trail", and
"Forty Years on the Firing Line"

DAYTON, OHIO
The CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
1915

DEDICATION
To Father and Mother,
John and Mary Barrett,
who so truly and faithful
ly directed their children
in the ways of right living,
and who, though long since
gone to their eternal home,
are none the less grateful
ly and affectionately re
membered by the
AUTHOR.
DA

Copyright, 1915, by
The Christian Publishing Association,
Dayton, Ohio.

GARDEN SPOTS.
I. The Story of Time's First Morn
ing  9
II. A Wonderful Garden Story  21
III. Fussing Over Cleaning Out Old
Wells  33
IV. Sounding the Key-note of the
Christian Life . . .'  47
V. Hiding in a Cleft of the Rock . . 63
VI. Crossing the Brook at Sunrise. . 79
VII. No Cradle Rocking in the Pulpit 93
VIII. A Revolution Extraordinary .... Ill
IX. A Miraculous Mode of Communi
cation  125
X. The Believer's Unseen Body
guard  141
XI. God Bids Hezekiah Good-bye .... 153
XII. Covered With Silver and Gold. . 169
XIII. Without Visions of Truth the
People Perish  183
XIV. Wait— It Will Surely Come  199
XV. A Fourfold View of Christ and
His Church as Foreshadowed in
Old Testament Parables  215

BY THE GARDEN GATE.
When I was a boy, living on the farm in
Virginia, we richly fertilized small plats of
ground for gardening — we called them "garden
spots." Ordinary soil was good enough for
corn and cotton, but for vegetables, small
fruits, and flowers, we must have soil of
extraordinary richness. To this day — fifty
years later — the fertility of these "spots"
abides. This is a little parable, intimating the rela
tion of the believer to his Bible — -the great.
Book is adapted to the needs of Christians,
but within its lids are many rich spots, all
abloom with truth, exhaling the sweetness of
heaven on earth. Around these we linger and
feast. We are told that the Bible has 32,000
promises — oases of blessing, along the pilgrim
way. We can present only a few of these
in this book, but enough we trust to stimulate
the hungry to search the Bible for larger sup
plies of soul-food.
Modern scholars think the old Bible writers
were ignorant of astronomy and other sciences,
and they may have been, except when they
were under divine illumination from above.
Hipparchus, 150 years before Christ, said he
had counted the stars — that there were only
1,022. Ptolemy, who lived in the second cen
tury after Christ, differed from Hipparchus,

saying there were 1,026 stars in the midnight
sky. Jeremiah, who lived more than 600 years
before Christ, knew more than these men. He
said "the hosts (stars) of heaven were innum
erable." See Jer. 33 : 22. No doubt Hippar
chus and Ptolemy said that Jeremiah's was
one of the mistakes of inspiration, but when
Galileo turned the telescope about 1,500 years
later on the heavens, then for the first time
men began to grasp the truth that Jeremiah
was right when he compared the countless
stars with the sands of the seashore. In the
early part of the nineteenth century, when
Lord Rosse trained the great mirror of his
telescope upon the sky at night, its first sweep
of the heavens revealed the presence of 400,
100,000 stars in the sky. Herschel was so
astonished that he called the great multitude
"'glittering dust, scattered on the black back
ground of the heavens." Who taught Jeremiah
the science of astronomy, so long before that
science was known to astronomers themselves?
Jeremiah's teacher, the Lord, was far ahead
of the scientists, and withal far more accurate.
He was not mistaken, but the scientists were.
Oh, let us cling to the old Book to the end —
it is God's thought-granary, from which He
feeds His people on the Bread of Heaven.
"Holy Bible, Book Divine,
Precious treasure, thou art mine !"
J. P. B.
Dayton, Ohio, Dec. 1, 1915.

Last eve I paused beside a blacksmith's
door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper
chime;
Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old hammers worn with beating,
years of time.
"How many anvils have you had?"
said I,
"To wear and batter all these ham
mers so?"
"Just one," said he, and then with
twinkling eye,
"The anvil wears the hammers out,
you know."
"And so," I thought, "The Anvil of
God's Word
For ages skeptic blows have beat
upon,
Yet, though the noise of falling blows
was heard,
The Anvil is unharmed, the hammer's
GONE."
—Anonymous .

THE STORY OF TIME'S FIRST
MORNING.
"Twilight is the foregleam of coming glory."
If you were standing in the great
Yerkes Observatory at Lake Geneva, you
might see the operator, sitting quietly
in his chair. He has the great telescope
so under his control that he seems to be
doing almost nothing. Observe the
movement of his hand. He touches a
button, and the huge dome begins to
revolve. He touches another button,
and the whole floor rises noiselessly. He
touches still another, and the gigantic
tube begins to turn slowly till it points
to a star in the heavens. The operator
touches another button and sets a clock
to work in conformity to the apparent
movement of the star. One mind is
directing the whole affair! How won
derful, and yet how simple to as many
as understand the science of astronomy !
This is but an insignificant picture of
another, and a far greater work

GARDEN SPOTS IN
wrought by One who was and is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all
that we ask or think.
Imparting Life
In Gen. 1 : 2, we read —
"And the Spirit of God moved (brooded)
upon the face of the waters."
The creative act of God had thrown
a great mass of chaotic matter into
space — it was void, without form, with
out life, and without beauty — a mere
fruitless existence, floating in darkness,
and apparently without a purpose. This
is the beginning of what is now the
earth, and to us the world in which
we live, so full of life and beauty and
blessing. We are told that the Spirit of God
moved, or brooded, upon the waters. Do
you get the thought? The mother hen
broods over her eggs till she has
imparted her own life to them and has
brought forth new life in her young.
This graphically portrays the real idea
of the Spirit brooding over the waters.
As the patient brooding of the mother
hen brings forth new life, so the brood- 10

THE OLD TESTAMENT
ing of the Spirit over this mass of
chaotic matter imparted life to this
beginning of creation in a most wonder
ful way, unfolding the greatest pano
rama upon which men have ever looked,
and the work is yet in process, unfold
ing the glories of the heavens and the
earth. As the sunshine gives growth
to vegetation and brings forth the fruit,
so the Spirit in the divine life fashions
us after the life of Christ.
Changes Wrought
Let us look upon the scene as it
developed in the beginning. As the
brooding of the Spirit imparted life to
this mass of matter in chaos, results
began to come as follows :
Light flashed upon the darkness of the
earth. Light separated, or drove the dark
ness away.
The firmament in its beauty and glory
came forth and the waters were divided
from the waters — above and below the
firmament. The waters were separated from the
land.u

GARDEN SPOTS IN
The earth was fructified and yielded a
marvelous fruitage to meet the needs of
the forthcoming human family.
The sea was fructified, being made to
abound hi precious stones and living
creatures for the use of man.
Man was brought forth, last, but not
least, in the creation, being richly
endowed with rare physical, intellectual,
moral, and spiritual gifts from the hand
of the Creator. The Idea Illustrated
In all of these beneficent acts of God,
we behold a very marked illustration.
The work of the Spirit upon the mate
rial matter, giving it life, utility, and
beauty, is prophetic of what He will do
in the development and fruitfulness of
man. This work of the Spirit but
illustrates His work in giving life to
man, in developing his moral and spirit
ual character, restoring to man his
likeness to God.
Let us see if this is correct. In what
sense is there a likeness between matter
in chaos and man in sin? 12

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Matter had a simple existence, with
out life, without form, without beauty,
and without fruitfulness. So man was
dead in trespasses and in sin, having not
the fear of God before him.
As matter had existence, but not
life, so the unregenerate man has an
existence, but not the life of God — he is
void and empty, not at all occupied with
the thoughts of God, but delighting in
sin. Without Life: Without Light
Matter existed without life and with
out light. So did man. He may enjoy
human wisdom, but in sin he knows
nothing of the true light of God. As
the Spirit found the world void and
empty, giving no glory to God, so the
same Spirit finds unrenewed man
enveloped in darkness and dead in sin,
not at all concerned for the glory of
God. Out of that chaotic matter the Spirit
has made this beautiful and fruit
ful world, filling it with wealth and
untold blessing. In this He reveals to
us what He can do for man, redeemed
13

GARDEN SPOTS IN
from sin and made a member of the
family of God — endowing him with rare
and high gifts and imparting to him the
very life of God, till lifted out of sin, he
shall be restored to his Adamic beauty
and given the largest field of usefulness
in the service of God. He put the
chaotic matter at its best, making it
beautiful and fruitful. Shall we believe
that the Spirit will do less for us, being
created in the likeness of God, but
cheated out of it by the cunning of
Satan? Shall we not share as largely
in the Spirit's bounty, we who have
been made in the likeness of the Creator
Himself, as did the mass of chaotic
matter of which the Spirit has made
this beautiful world, filled with the
bounty of the seas, the wealth of the
earth, and the glory of the heavens —
will He do less for man than He did
for this mass of unformed matter that
cannot share in the bliss of eternal life?
Nay, God has redeemed man and called
him to a larger and a higher life, in
which he may become a worker together
with God, and to life in Christ. 14

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Parallelism in the Work of the Spirit
The work of the Spirit in the physical
world is surpassed only by His work in
the realms of spiritual life. We may
trace the parallelism of the Spirit's
work in the two spheres.
In the physical world the Spirit first
gave light to drive away darkness.
What He did for matter He may do for
man. Then He imparted life and made
the world fruitful. Even so in the
spiritual life, man is given light which
brings in him conviction of sin and
repentance. In this separation justifi
cation is God's gift, which prepares man
for this new life in Christ. With the
gift of the regenerated life comes the
making of the inner life fruitful and
the bestowment of power for service.
This leads to the consecration of the life
to God, in which are developed all the
graces of the Spirit, reaching full
fruition. Thus the chaos of matter was organ
ized, given shape and beauty, and made
fruitful. So the life of man, redeemed
by Jesus Christ, is wonderfully saved
is

GARDEN SPOTS IN
and made the servant of God. Spir
itually speaking, the unsaved man is a
chaotic mass, without the life of God,
without beauty, without light, without
fruitfulness ; in God's sight a mere mass
of worthlessness. The life thus saved
becomes, under the brooding of the
Spirit, the beautiful, the illuminated,
the enriched, the finished temple of God.
Under the gift and work of the Spirit
the life of man has been fitly shaped and
fashioned till it has become a habitation
of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2 : 19-
22). A wonderful thought, indeed!
God's Willingness
As we see it, God worked in the
creation of the world His wonders
through the Spirit, giving light and
shape, beauty and finish, power and
fruitfulness, that He might convince
fallen man of His willingness and
ability to do the greater thing of rescu
ing man from sin and bringing his life
back into harmony with the Creator.
If God, through the Spirit, could do the
one, He most certainly can do the other
— He most certainly has done it, and will 16

THE OLD TESTAMENT
do it again, day by day, till the last
believing and trusting soul has been
lifted from the depths of sin to the
heights of life in Christ Jesus. If you
desire a picture of what we shall be,
when we have been transformed fully
by grace and made like Christ, then look
at the mass of dead matter, without
shape and without beauty ; without
power and without fruitfulness, as it
lay out in the darkness of the beginning,
and then turn and look at the beautiful
world in which you are now living, so
full of every good thing. The former
was developed into the latter by the
brooding of the Spirit. Think of that
and then think of yourself as dead in
trespasses and sins, without God and
without hope in the world, and be
assured of the ever-living fact that God
has made us a thousand times more
precious than material matter, and
therefore there can be no doubt that He
will do infinitely more for our salvation
and perfection in Christ, than He ever

17

GARDEN SPOTS IN
did for nature. With such a view before
us, no passing cloud should obscure the
sun of our joy and hope in Christ.
"All Thy works with joy surround Thee,
Earth and Heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee —
Center of unbroken praise!
Field and forest, valley and 'mountain,
Blooming meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain,
Call us to rejoice in Thee."

18

COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY PROVIDENCI

God's Covenant "With Noah

Self-indulgence is the besetting sin of
the times; but if you long to be a strong,
athletic Christian, you must count the
cost and renounce the things of the
flesh. It will cost you the pulling up of
some old favorite sins by the roots and
the cutting loose from some entangling
alliances, and some sharp conflicts with
the tempter; it will cost you the sub
mitting of your will to the will of
Christ; but you gain more than you ever
gave up. — Theodore L. Cuyler.

A WONDERFUL GARDEN STORY.
"In the garden of the heart God's flowers
grow." Around the word garden cluster many
beautiful ideas. Every land and every
language has added to the scope of the
meaning of the word, till it is associated
with rich beauty and rare fragrance.
The garden is a productive spot. Its
flowers are beautiful, and its fruits are
rich. "Thus beauty here is like to that above,
And loveliness leads up to perfect love."
Men have spent time and money try
ing to locate the exact spot of the Gar
den in Eden, to describe its situation,
to determine its fruits, and to learn its
full history. It might be well to learn
these things, but something else is more
timely and far more valuable to God's
people, viz. : To search out and know
its significance in human history — what
it means in the thought of God and what
it means for us.
21

GARDEN SPOTS IN
If we may be so fortunate as to make
this discovery, we shall be more highly
blessed than all those who have claimed
to determine the location of the garden,
its fruits and its wealth. Let us begin
at the beginning and so seek in a simple
way to ascertain its meaning. The first
words concerning it we find in Gen.
2:8— "And the Lord God planted a garden east
ward in Eden; and there He put the man
whom He had formed."
Placed by the Lord
As the creative hand of God made one
thing after another, He put each in the
place for which it had been made. The
planting of this garden was a part of
the creative plan. Man was placed in it
to serve a high and holy purpose.
Then may we ask, What was the Gar
den in Eden ? Attempts to answer that
question have awakened much contro
versy. We call it the Garden of Eden,
but the Bible calls it the Garden in
Eden. Our task is not so much to dis
cover what the Garden in Eden was, as
what is its meaning to us. To do that,
we must find the key-thought, and that 22

THE OLD TESTAMENT
I think we may find in verse nine of
chapter two, which reads:
"And out of the ground made the Lord God
to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,
and good for food; the tree of life also in the
midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge
of good and evil."
The Significance of the Tree of Life
Beyond all question the Tree of Life
had a spiritual significance. If this be
true, and we believe it is, then we have
caught the thread which may lead us
to the fountain-head and to a full expla
nation, not so much of what the Gar
den in Eden was, as what its meaning
is — now as then. If the tree of knowl
edge of good and evil is spiritual in
character, then we may safely conclude
that the garden is a symbol of the
Church in the world.
One essential fact of the garden was
its productiveness. This seems to have
been its chief characteristic. It pro
duced every tree and fruit and flower
that could contribute to the comfort of
man and to his pleasure. Symbolically
this is a beautiful setting forth of God's
conception of what His Church should
23

GARDEN SPOTS IN
be to the human family — productive of
nourishment for the spiritual life of
man. He likens His Church to a garden
because the language describing it and
the thought it presents can be easily
and readily understood by men and
women. The first thing to attract our atten
tion among the trees of the garden is
the Tree of Life. Near by was the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, and then
scattered around were all manner of
trees, each bearing its fruits in its sea
son. And what is the Tree of Life ? It
is the source of all life. To this thought
one explanation seems sufficient — the
Tree of Life is the symbol of God. As
this tree was in the midst of the garden,
so God has declared that He dwells in
the midst of His people. Zech. 2 : 10, 11.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
And what is this tree? It is Divine
Truth, likened to a tree, bearing the
virtues and graces of the divine life. To
eat of these would be to make one wise,
but this wisdom would expose its pos
sessor to sin and death, It was to save 24

THE OLD TESTAMENT
man from such a calamity that God
"gave the command :
"Ye shall not eat of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil."
Not to eat of that tree meant inno-
cency and freedom from moral respon
sibility. To eat of it meant an open
way to knowledge, and to sin and death.
The beasts of the field did not eat of
it, and they remain innocent to this day,
but man ate of it and came to know
good and evil, and sinned. In the day
he sinned, he died to God and holiness.
It was in this moment of spiritual
calamity that God offered to redeem
man from the curse of sin. In the face
of sin, God's goodness gave man
another chance, the right to choose
between right and wrong, opening the
way to life in Christ. Though man had
fallen in the way of death, yet God
turned him into the way of life. Is it
not a thousand times better to suffer
from sin with the privilege to be
redeemed by the blood of Christ, being
made heirs of God and joint-heirs with
Christ to an everlasting inheritance
25

GARDEN SPOTS IN
that can never fade away, than to be
as innocent as the beasts of the field,
and with all as ignorant and helpless as
they? Then was not sin a blessing to
man? A thousand times, NO! It was
a curse, but because of God's great love
for man, He turned the curse into a
blessing by giving man the privilege of
salvation from sin through Christ.
Having thus started man on the way to
life, He assigned to him the duty of
keeping and dressing the Garden in
Eden, but keeping and dressing the
garden would not make it fruitful. God
met this lack in man's ability by send
ing forth a great river to water the
garden. Gen. 2 : 10-14.
"From the throne flows a wondrous stream,
On its waters the love lights gleam;
God the Father His mercy shows.
By the river which ever flows.
Flow on River of Eden, fair and bright,
Ever bearing a message from the throne of
light."
Starting in Eden as one great river,
it divided into four streams. This river
is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Its four
branches indicate, as I think, the four- 26

THE OLD TESTAMENT
fold work of the Spirit of God in the
Church. The first branch of the river was
called Pison, indicating that it was full
and rushing. This characteristic of the
Spirit appeared on the day of Pentecost.
See Acts 2 : 2.
The second branch of this river was
called Gihon, indicating rapid move
ment; not merely power, but power
filled with life. This characteristic
appeared also on the day of Pentecost,
when three thousand men and women
were saved in a single day under the
power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2 : 41.
The third branch of this river was
called Hiddekel, indicating the swift-fly
ing arrows of truth in the gospel age of
salvation, as inaugurated on the day of
Pentecost, when the power of the Holy
Spirit came upon the multitudes, bring
ing them to repentance and life in
Christ. See Acts 2 : 43, 44.
The fourth river was called Euphra
tes, suggesting the fruitfulness the river
would give to the garden, as indicated
in Acts 2 : 46, 47.

GARDEN SPOTS IN
The River Is a Symbol
It is therefore clear that these rivers
may symbolize the work of the Holy
Spirit in this fourfold application.
This is foreshadowed in John 7 : 37-39,
where the work of the Spirit is likened
to the outflowing of a river, enriching
and giving great fruitfulness to all
within its reach. It was so regarded
long before its actual manifestation on
the Day of Pentecost, as you may see
by turning to Ezekiel 47, where the
river flowing from under the house,
eastward, by the south side of the altar,
became a swelling stream flowing in
great fulness, and rapidly, toward and
through the Dead Sea, giving life to
everything its waters touched. What a
symbol of the Holy Spirit, flowing
through the Church and giving power
and fruitfulness to its life and its
activities !
This great work was exemplified in
the early Pentecost of the Church. Jeru
salem was a dry and thirsty land,
giving forth practically no life nor
fruit, but when it was watered as a gar- 28

THE OLD TESTAMENT
den by this fourfold river, then new life
and rich fruitage were brought forth in
abundance — a beautiful symbol of the
Church of Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
like a great river, sweeping through its
every nook and corner, making it blos
som as the rose and fruit as the valley
of Eschol. As this mighty spiritual
river filled the Dead Sea with life, and
sweeping through the valley of dry
bones, made them to live again, so if
God's people to-day could be persuaded
to wait in "the upper room" till
the outpouring of this mighty river
might be again given to the Church of
Christ, again should we see the dead
made alive and even the dry bones of
a formal and stilted body of believers
should be made to live again and in
great power glorify God among men. If
the professed Church is ever to be
made "alive in Christ, some means must
be found by which she can be brought
to realize her need of this mighty on-
flowing river of the Spirit of God, and
be induced to wait in "the upper room"

GARDEN SPOTS IN
till she receive her Pentecost, as did the
early Church.
The Garden in Eden a Prophecy
We may not so certainly understand
just what the Garden in Eden was, nor
where it was located, but one thing
seems quite sure, viz. : It is a prophecy
and a picture of the Church of Christ,
bearing the precious fruits of the Spirit,
being watered by the outflowing river
of the Holy Ghost, marvelously adding
to the glory of God in the full estab
lishment of the kingdom of Christ
among men, and for their salvation.
In God's Garden, the Church, watered
by this River, which grows deeper and
wider, as it flows, imparting life and
thrift and fruitage to every plant, to
every believer living in its stimulating
waters —
"The lily white that bloometh there is purity;
The fragrant violet is surnamed humility;
The lovely damask rose is here called patience ;
The rich and cheerful marigold is obedience;
But one there is that bears a crown the rest
above,
A crown imperial, and this flower is holy
LOVE!"

so

COPYRIGHT, 1S01, BY PROVIDENCE LITHOGRAPH CO.
In the Garden

"It is not so much where you are as
what you are that makes your heaven.
The bright, cheery soul who lives the
life of trust sees only the sunny side
of everything, and has learned to
endure cheerfully and with a bright
face where everything looks dark."

FUSSING OVER CLEANING OUT
OLD WELLS.
"The mouth of a righteous man is a well
of life."
There are few things in family life
more valuable than a good supply of
pure water. In our country and day a
good supply of water for family use is
not highly prized, and for the reason
that we have an abundance at our com
mand in any place we may go. It was
not that way in the East, at least in
some parts it was not. Water was
scarce and hard to get. I heard a mis
sionary from Arabia once say when he
came to the United States on a fur
lough, that every time he saw a person
take a drink of water and then throw
away what was left, he felt like saying :
"Oh, don't do it!" In Arabia, he said,
they would not throw away a drop if
they could avoid it, because water was
so scarce and so hard to get.
This gives us some estimate of the
value placed upon a good well in that
33

GARDEN SPOTS IN
country. Till this day they seek to save
every water supply possible, and hence
we read in Gen. 26 : 18 —
"And Isaac digged again the wells of water,
which they had digged in the days of Abraham
his father; for the Philistines had stopped
them after the death of Abraham: and he
called their names after the names by which
his father had called them."
The Work of An Enemy
It was after the death of Abraham
that the Philistines destroyed these
wells, so that later when Isaac came to
look after his father's property, he
found no water. He began to hunt for
the old wells which his father used, only
to find that an enemy had filled them up
and destroyed their value. This opened
Isaac's eyes to the fact that his father's
enemies were still abroad in the land.
At once he began to open and to clean
out the old wells for a water supply. He
seemed never for a moment to have
thought of any lack of property rights
there, as it was his father's land, and
therefore his father's wells. He put his
men to work, cleaning out those old
wells. The first one undertaken was 84

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Esek, that was the name Abraham gave
to the well in his day. Isaac still called
it Esek. To his surprise, he had not
completed the work of cleaning it out,
when he found the herdmen of Gerar
raising serious objections to his rights.
They said it was theirs, and at once
began to contend. Esek means strife. Do
not forget that, as we may have need to
remember it.
The Principle of Non-Resistance
What do you suppose Isaac did?
Why, as strange as it may seem, he
refused to contend with them and
simply moved on to the next old well,
and at once began to clean it out. The
name of that well was Sitnah, meaning
hatred. Isaac had not much more than
got to work, in cleaning out Sitnah,
before the herdmen of Gerar again
appeared, objecting to his cleaning it out.
Some people do not like to have things
clean about them, anyway. These
Gerarites seemed determined that Isaac
should have no good water in that land.
They simply held on and objected to his
cleaning out Sitnah.
35

GARDEN SPOTS IN
Again, we find Isaac a peace-lover,
and so, rather than have a fuss over the
well, he instructed his men to pull up
and move on. He led the way and left
Sitnah to his enemies, rather than strive
against them. He soon came to another
old well which had been the property
of his father. Here he again began to
clean out and make ready for using the
water. This time, to his joy, the Gerar
ites did not bother him. Of course, he
expected them, .as they had striven
against him at both Esek and Sitnah,
but they did not come, and he called the
name of the third well Rehoboth, for he
said: "For now the Lord hath made room for us,
and we shall be fruitful in the land."
But one well was not enough to meet
his needs, and so he soon moved on to
Beer-sheba, and there the Lord
appeared to him and said:
"I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear
not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee,
and multiply thy seed for my servant, Abra
ham's sake." 36

THE OLD TESTAMENT
A Mark of God's Favor
This was such a mark of God's pleas
ure in Isaac that at once he built an
altar there and called upon the name of
the Lord, and there he pitched his tent,
and there the servants of Isaac began
to dig a well. They felt that a brighter
day was dawning upon them, especially
as their enemies had quit following and
contending against them. At last Isaac
felt that he could settle down in peace
and be happy. But it was with Isaac as
it has been with many others, he was
measuring his joy all too soon, for be
fore the well was completed, behold here
came Abimelech and Phicol, the chief
captain of his army. Of course, their
appearance disturbed him not a little.
He supposed they were intending to
push him to some other place. Twice
he had given up his wells for the sake
of peace, and now they are coming
again. He went out to meet them, and
as they came together, Isaac said :
"Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate
me, and have sent me away from you?"
37

GARDEN SPOTS IN
Greatly Surprised
Their answer gave Isaac the surprise
of his life, for Abimelech answered :
"We saw certainly that the Lord was with
thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath
betwixt us and thee, and let us make a cove
nant with thee — That thou wilt do us no hurt,
as we have not touched thee, and as we have
done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent
thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed
of the Lord!"
Then they ate together, and the men
were gone, and Isaac was feeling just
fine, for his enemies had become his
friends, having made a covenant with
him to give him no more trouble. Just
about the time the men left, Isaac's
well-diggers came in and reported that
they had "found water," and they called
the place Shebah, the well of an oath,
referring possibly to the treaty Abim
elech made with Abraham on or near
that spot almost a hundred years ago.
This is a most interesting incident
and it may be worth while to give time
to its study. Let us first note the facts
and then see what they teach us:
Isaac, though living long before the
time of Christ, yet possessed His Spirit

THE OLD TESTAMENT
— he would not contend for what might
be his legal rights. Rather than con
tend, he moved on to look for another
well, where he could get water, though
in doing so, he suffered great incon
venience for himself and family, besides
he lost all of the work his men had done
in cleaning out the well. This had been
twice repeated, but still Isaac's patience
held out.
Then the Lord rewarded him with a
well without contention, and gave him
great fruitfulness in all of his work, a
very striking evidence that Isaac was
not losing as much as on the surface he
seemed to be. This is a great lesson for
us all. When we please the Lord in
dealing with our fellows, we are told
that He makes even our enemies to be
at peace with usj If we obey the Lord
and maintain His Spirit, there is noth
ing left to the Lord but to make good
His promises, and He will do it invari
ably. An Altar Unto- the Lord
In recognition of God's goodness to
him, Isaac built an altar unto the Lord
39

GARDEN SPOTS IN
and his servants digged another well.
As the king went out one way, Isaac's
servants came in another, saying:
"We have found water, and they called that
well Shebah."
This incident gives us a sort of spir
itual diagram of the true conduct of a
Christian under great provocation „at
the hand of an enemy, closing with
blessing and victory for the man who
conforms conspientiously to the Word
of God. Notice how silent Isaac remained
when Abimelech intimated that he
needed this covenant to keep Isaac
from hurting him (see verse 29) . The
truth is, Isaac had acted on the prin
ciple which Jesus later gave to the
world, viz. :
"But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil :
but whosoever shall smite you on the one cheek,
turn to him the other also."
Peace Methods Prevail
Isaac did it, and Abimelech was com
pletely routed by peace methods, a far
greater victory than if Isaac had mur
dered every one of them outright. How
good if all Christians would thus act

THE OLD TESTAMENT
under trial at the hands of an enemy!
With God's love as a real basis for such
conduct, the last enemy of righteousness
would flee, leaving us in full possession
of our rights, with no one to molest or
make us afraid. God's way is always
the wise and good way !
Abraham's old wells were filled up by
enemies. Isaac went bravely to work to
clean them out. He worked by peace
methods and gained a blessed victory —
had more water than he knew need for
— and God made his enemies to become
his friends. How wonderful is the
triumph of the right in its results !
In most of the Christian homes of
to-day, no doubt, there are some wells
which have been filled up. As sources of
refreshing, a great loss has been sus
tained, and the need of the hour is to
clean out those old wells, and so let the
pure, living waters flow for the spirit
ual refreshing of the inmates and neigh
bors. Never mind as to enemies — God
will take care of you.
"No matter what may be the test —
God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast —
God will take care of you."
41

GARDEN SPOTS IN
A Choked Heart Means no Service
To-day many a heart is all choked up
with the devil's debris. No service for
God and the right — that is the result.
Better imitate Isaac and get to work to
clean out the old wells.
There are the old wells of a once
rich spiritual life in a loving heart,
but now they are no longer use
ful, no longer refreshing— they are
choked up! An enemy hath done
this! Let us build an altar unto the
Lord! Let us get to work and clean
out the old well of love, now filled
with malice, or choked up with ill-will
or worldliness or vain ambitions — how
filthy is the heart, if poisoned with these
things ! No wonder God cannot use us in
His service with our hearts filled with
the devil's debris. Let us .clean out and
clean up, and give God a good, clean life,
inside and out, in which His Spirit may
dwell, and through which He may work,
for the saving of the people and for the
building up of His Church! Do your
enemies hinder you ? Do as Isaac did —
maintain the Spirit of Christ and clean 42

THE OLD TESTAMENT
out all these old wells and so give God a
clean and beautiful and sweet life in
which to live and work. Then, through
you, He will silence your enemies, turn
ing their ways unto the Lord and win
ning the blessing and riches of grace
both for yourself and for them.
"Flow down, thou stream of life divine,
Thy quickening love deliver;
Oh, flow throughout this soul of mine —
Forever and forever!"

Let us commit ourselves to that
unsleeping love and wisdom and power.
He will go with us all the way through
— not alone to the end of life, but to
the end that lies beyond the end. There
will be our final going out, our exodus,
and our final coming in, our home-com
ing. And there is nothing that lies
between you and the threshold, of that
heavenly home that need ever fill you
with dismay if God be with you. — John
McNeill.

The Tabernacle

Yes, the spirit and heart of anxiety
is the denial for the time being, or the
forgetting, of God. Therefore its cure,
our deliverance, comes with calling Him
to our remembrance, that is, with
prayer. ¦ What does one wish, when one
is harassed and anxious, but to feel that
he and all that is really of value to him
are in good hands, for they are in God's
hands ? And how can that feeling come
to me and stay with me when things
seem contrary in the world and in my
lot, except by drawing near to God in
Jesus Christ, and bethinking myself
that He who spared not His own Son,
but freely gave Him up for us all, will
not fail us in our day of need, or, if He
seem to fail us, it is that He is prepar
ing for us some greater good, and pre
paring us to receive it? — John A.
Hutton.

SOUNDING THE KEY-NOTE OF
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
"As the Lord commanded, so did he."
Is it hard to do that? It is
and it is not. Paradoxical as that
answer may seem to be, neverthe
less, it is true. TJnder the Spirit's
power obedience is easy, but in
man's strength it is difficult, if not
impossible. Obedience is the foundation
of both service and sacrifice. If a serv
ant obey not, his service will offend
the master. Obedience is emphasized
throughout the Scriptures. Even Noah,
in building the ark and filling it with
two of every kind, was most careful to
follow instructions given him. In Gen.
6 : 22, we read :
"Thus did Noah; according to all that God
commanded him; so did he."
So this preacher of righteousness set
the key-note of the obedient and conse
crated life. He was careful to do all of
his work as God had commanded. We
shall find the great leaders in the work
47

GARDEN SPOTS IN
of God were always careful to do the
Lord's work as He had commanded.
Abraham was true to the same key-note.
In Gen. 12 : 4, it is written :
"So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken
to him." At first thought it might seem that
Abraham's task was an easy one, but it
was not. It required heroic faith to
obey. God told him to get up and depart
from his father's house and to go unto
a land which the Lord would show him.
Prompt Obedience
Without hesitation and without com
plaint our hero obeyed and went out,
not knowing whither he was going, only
knowing that God had spoken and that
he was obeying :
"Faith is a grasping of Almighty power ;
The hand of man laid on the arm . of God —
The grand and blessed hour in which the
things impossible to me i
Become the possible, 0 Lord, through Thee."
Again, as if Abram had not been fully
tested, the Lord gave him another call,
more trying even than the first — it was
a call to offer up his son, Isaac, but
having learned obedience in the begin-

THE OLD TESTAMENT
ning, he found it comparatively easy to
offer his son. In Genesis 22 : 3, we read :
"And Abraham arose up early in the morn
ing  and went into a place of which God
had told him and there made ready to offer
his only son."
This was the climax test of his faith,
but he did not falter till God bade him
stay his hand. Thus through exact
obedience Abraham has become the hero
of faith to all the ages following his day.
But the trial of Abraham's faith was
not sufficient for the trial of faith in the
ages to follow, and so we find that the
great leaders among the people of God
have been tested each in his own day.
The Artisan Must Obey
In Exodus 36 : 1, we see this same
exact obedience was required not only
of leaders, but of laborers as well, as
when we read :
"Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and
every wise hearted man, in whom the Lord
put wisdom and understanding to know how
to work all manner of work for the service of
the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord
had commanded."
Here we see two men engaged in
building the tabernacle — doing the man-
49

GARDEN SPOTS IN
ual work — and we observe that they are
just as careful to do their work as God
had commanded them, as had been Noah
and Abraham in their labors. From
this we get the thought that all kinds of
work that are good and serviceable to
men should be done as the Lord has
commanded it.
Moses Was Careful to Obey
Again we find Moses, the great law
giver, was just as careful to do his work
•as the Lord commanded as were any
others already mentioned. In Exodus
40 : 16, we read :
"Thus did Moses: according to all that the
Lord commanded him, so did he."
We are thus brought face to face with
the care with which these servants did
the work to which God had called them.
Moses displays great anxiety in making
his report as to how he had built the
tabernacle. For at least eight times
within a few verses he stops to say that
he did the work as the Lord had com
manded him. Thus showing that Moses
felt that God's approval and blessing 60

THE OLD TESTAMENT
upon his work depended upon an
exact conformity to the directions which
God had given him, and so, as he
reported to the Lord the various stages
of the work, he stopped and emphasized
the fact that he had done it as the Lord
had commanded. Not only did the Lord
ask for exact obedience on the part of
leaders and skilled workmen, but of the
masses, for in Numbers 9 : 23 we read :
"At the commandment of the Lord they
rested in the tents, and at the commandment
of the Lord they journeyed: they kept the
charge of the Lord, at the commandment of
the Lord by the hand of Moses."
A Chosen Leader
Here we learn also that God often
speaks to the masses through a chosen
' leader, as He did in this case through
Moses. Notwithstanding the command
was given at second hand, the children
of Israel were very careful to rest when
God said rest, and to journey when He
said journey.
We get another remarkable instance
of God commanding even a leader
through another leader. In Joshua
11: 15 it is said:
51

GARDEN SPOTS IN
"As the Lord commanded Moses his servant,
so did Moses command Joshua, and so did
Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the
Lord commanded Moses."
Evidently both Moses and Joshua
were more concerned about obeying God
exactly than either of them was to be
his "own boss and to do as he pleased."
In this day many a leader will refuse
to take orders from another leader, feel
ing that to do so would be humiliating
to his own dignity. It was not so with
Joshua, for when Moses told Joshua
what the Lord had told him to have
Joshua do, Joshua left nothing undone,
but obeyed fully.
Evidently exact obedience is the
Christian's stronghold upon God. If
one dares to obey God, he thereby takes
a claim upon the Almighty Himself
for approval. In doing as commanded,
there is no ground and no room for com
plaint of any kind.
The King Must Obey
Even kings found this to be true in
reigning over their people. In 2 Kings
18 : 6, we have an instance of this sort,
for of Hezekiah it was said : 52

THE OLD TESTAMENT
"For he clave to the Lord, and departed
not from following him, but kept his command
ments, which the Lord commanded Moses."
Thus we see that Hezekiah was glad
to obey the Lord through the commands
He gave to Moses, although it was about
seven hundred years after the death of
Moses when he thus rendered full
obedience. Notice the emphatic lan
guage used of Hezekiah — he clave to the
Lord, showing the zeal of his heart and
the intensity of his purpose to be
obedient, and well he might, for the
divine approval depended upon his
prompt obedience. We get another
illustration of exact obedience in the
words of Ezra (7: 23) where it is said:
"Whatsoever is commanded by the God of
heaven, let it be diligently done for the house
of the God of heaven: for why should there
be wrath against the realm of the king and his
sons?" In that statement we have several
emphatic ideas :
1. That Ezra held that anything
that God commanded should be done,
not only as God commanded it, but that
it should be diligently done, showing
conclusively that Ezra had a high
53

GARDEN SPOTS IN
appreciation of the advantages of exact
obedience. 2. We see from the latter part of the
verse that Ezra understood that dis
obedience would bring the wrath of God
against the kingdoih. A Mistaken Idea
Too many of us excuse ourselves from
exact obedience by thinking that our
way is as good as any, but the old-time
servants of God did not so understand
it. They felt, and rightly so, that God
had authority to command and there
fore it was their business to obey.
There were some in olden times who
even dared to disobey God, but they paid
for it by sacrificing their own lives to
their disobedience.
We have a conspicuous example of the
destruction wrought by disobedience in
the case of Nadab and Abihu. In
Leviticus 10 : 1, 2, the case is stated
thus :
"And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,
took either of them his censer, and put fire
therein, and put incense thereon, and offered
strange fire before the Lord, which he com
manded them not, and there went out fire from 54

THE OLD TESTAMENT
the Lord, and devoured them, and they died
before the Lord." God's Displeasure
In this incident we cannot mistake
the displeasure of God toward disobedi
ence. No doubt many of us are tempted
to think that that was done for some
cause unknown to us in that far distant
day, — that it cannot apply to the matter
of obedience on the part of God's chil
dren in this day of the twentieth
century, and yet we know that God is
the same, that truth is the same, that
obedience is the same, that punishment
is the same, and the displeasure of God
against all those who dishonor Him
must be the same, and if this be true,
as doubtless it is, then it becomes the
ordinary men and women, the church
members of this day, to be very careful
in all their services to do things which
God commands them to do, according to
His commandments. The examples of
Nadab and Abihu are by no means the
only examples of the displeasure of God
as shown against disobedience. Many
others in various ages of the world hav

GARDEN SPOTS IN
suffered dreadfully through disobedi
ence to the commands of God.
The Decline of the Church and Its Cause
We hear much in this day of light of
a decline of the Church, of the worldly
church members, of their ignorance of
the Bible and of the faithlessness of
men and women who profess to follow
Jesus. Is it too much to assume that all
this is but the fruitage of the careless
ness and indifference of the people of
this age in not exactly obeying God?
Almost every denomination of Chris-
; ans in the United States, and other
countries as well, has been on the-
decline for several years, according to
the statistics which are given as author
itative. Will any man dare to say that
this condition of the people of God, at
this time, is not due largely to the
unfaithfulness of the Church and her
ministers in not obeying exactly the
commands of the Lord ?
Take as an illustration the matter of
the financial support of the Church.
God has explicitly and emphatically
given direction by which money shall be 56

THE OLD TESTAMENT
contributed for the support of His work.
It is always to be a free-will offering,
and yet in the face of this plain com
mand, given over and over through the
Scriptures, we find many church people
who delight to forsake the Lord's way ;
and doing so, they invent some way of
their own to put the Church into the
money-making business by socials, by
fairs, by ice cream festivals, by bazaars,
and a great many other things, wherein
the Church is made to assume the posi
tion of a dependent, begging the world
to come in and buy at fabulous prices,
to replenish the treasury of the Church.
Can there be any wonder that God
Almighty has seen fit to withhold pros
perity from His Church under such
rank disobedience as this indicates? •
No Authority for Indirect Methods
If there is a line, or a word, taken in
its true sense from Genesis to Revela
tion, which authorizes God's people to
raise money for the support of His
cause in any of these ways, other than
by the free-will offering, we have never
found it^-have you ?
57

GARDEN SPOTS IN
Through the Scriptures God speaks
expressly, commending to us the giving
of tithes, of the free-will offering, that
His house may be supplied with all its
needs, financially, and yet thousands of
men and women, whose names are
enrolled upon the Church book, are
daring to disobey God's plain command
and institute these other doubtful and
untrue methods for supporting the
cause of Christ. We are told that
Abraham gave tithes of all he possessed,
and Solomon, the wise man, said :
"There is that scattereth and yet increaseth,
and there is that withholdeth more than is
meet, but it tendeth to poverty."
Then, as if emphasizing that thought,
bi! Jurther said:
"The liberal soul shall be made fat and he
that watereth shall be watered also himself."
Shall We Put God to the Test?
Malachi brought a great message to
Israel, bearing on this thought. God
desired him to say to his people :
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house, and
prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of
hosts, if I will not open you the windows of 58

THE OLD T'ESTAMENT
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it." — Mai.
Nor is the New Testament lacking in
instructions upon this very thought. In
1 Cor. 16 : 2, we read :
"Upon the first day of the week let every
one of you lay by him in store, as God hath
prospered him, that there be no gatherings
when I come."
Again Jesus lays special emphasis
upon this thought, as in Luke 6 : 38,
when He says :
"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
measure, pressed down, and shaken together,
and running over, shall men give into your
bosom. For with the same measure that ye
mete, withal it shall be measured to you
again." If the Church had the courage and the
faith to step out upon that promise and
obey God, not only in giving of their
money, but in giving of their time, and
their talents, and their influence, to the
cause of Christ, the Church would see
such a day of prosperity as it has never
known in all its modern history. We
find it hard to raise sufficient money for
the support of. the cause, and largely
because we do not obey God. God's bless-
59

GARDEN SPOTS IN
ing on what we have will multiply and
make it ample to meet the needs of our
selves and of the cause of Christ as well,
if we obey Him.
An Abundance Was Given
We have a remarkable incident, illus
trating this very fact, as given in
Exodus 36 : 3, 4, 5. You may readily
recall the circumstance. God had told
Moses to call upon the people for an
offering for the building of the taber
nacle. The offering was not to be gotten
from an oyster supper, or a necktie
party, or a bazaar, or an ice cream
social, but the money was to be given by
the people of God, freely given as God
had commanded. The result was won
derful. Gifts came in such abundance
that it was necessary to send and
request the people to stop giving, having
received enough and more. Human
methods never bring such results, but
God's way brings these results. Alas,
for the folly of man's way as against
God's. What shall be the way of your
service — God's way, or your own? 60

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The Test op Abraham's Faith
Suppose we endeavor to translate
the Christ of the past into the Christ
of the present; the Christ 6f theology
into the Christ of ethics; the Christ of
ritual into the Christ of practice; the
Christ of the Church into the Christ of
the kingdom; the Christ of yesterday
into the Christ of to-day; the Christ of
to-day into the Christ of to-morrow. —
George Dana Boardman.

HIDING IN A CLEFT OF THE ROCK.
"In Christ the Riven Eock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand."
In all human experience there is noth
ing more interesting than a soul bur
dened and agonizing in prayer. In the
Scriptures we have many examples.
Moses is a type of a praying man. He
was seeking to prevail with God in be
half of his back-slidden people. Judg
ing from his language, the word bur
dened scarcely indicates the intensity of
his agony.
While Moses was in the mount with
God, Israel had gone into idolatry —
worshiping a calf of gold. When this
fact was made known to him, he was
astounded beyond measure. But he was
a courageous soul. In the face of such
terrible spiritual disaster he refused to
give up his people, and continued to
plead for their forgiveness. That was
heroism in prayer. In Exodus 32 : 32,
Moses rises to the sublime height of
entire self-effacement, asking God to

GARDEN SPOTS IN
forgive the sins of his people and de
claring that if He would not do that, he
himself desired to be blotted out of the
book which God had written. Instead of
forgiveness, the Lord sent a plague upon
them, and refused to go with them to
the land that was flowing with milk and
honey. Under this refusal to go with
them Moses was stirred mightily. Then
he prayed, possibly as never before. He
sought a closer walk with God and a ful
ler and freer communion with Him. He
did not, as Moses hoped He would, flood
him with His overwhelming presence in
a moment. God saw it was better to give
Moses a smaller view of Himself, and
therefore the Lord said unto him :
"Behold, there is a place by me, and thou
shalt stand upon a rock; and it shall come to
pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will
put thee in a clift* of the rock, and will cover
thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will
take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my
back parts: but my face shall not be seen."
— Exodus 33:21-23. Talking With God
We know something of this wonder
ful conversation between Moses and

* Clift is the old form of our English word cleft
— an opening: or place of safety. 64

THE OLD TESTAMENT
God. The man of weakness pleads with
the God of strength. Moses said,
"You say, Bring up this people, that you
know me by name, that I have found grace
in Thy sight. Then, if so, show me Thy way
and remember this nation is Thy people."
In answer to this earnest plea, God
said to Moses,
"My presence shall go with thee, and I will
give thee rest."
Here, again, we see Moses rising to
his best, as he declares,
"If Thy presence go not with us, carry us up
not hence."
From this it seems that God's pres
ence is the infallible evidence of His fav
or to them that fear Him.
It was in answer to this prayer that
the Lord said:
"I will do this thing also that thou hast
spoken, for thou hast found grace in my
sight." Moses was in a great struggle with
the Almighty. His hunger knew no
bounds. He was reaching out after
God, and his cry was —
"I beseech thee, show me thy glory."
We are tempted to ask ourselves, Had
not Moses seen the glory of the Lord
65

GARDEN SPOTS IN
over and over? No doubt he had, but
the greater the burden that rested upon
him the greater became his desire
to see the glory of God, which
would be commensurate with the de
sire of his longing heart. Had he not
seen the Lord's glory when He descend
ed upon the mount as in fire (Ex. 19:
18) ? Had he not also seen His glory
when He went up into the cloud on the
mount (Ex. 24:18)?
Whetting the Appetite
It is said the increase of appetite doth
grow by what it feeds upon. That is
a secret in the Christian life which
many have not learned. Feeding upon
God's thoughts whets the spiritual appe-.
tite to an intensity of desire which no
ordinary force can resist. It was so with
Moses. He had been feeding upon the
glories of God, and the more he fed, the
more he wished to feed. Hence, after
beholding many of the wonderful dis
plays of God's power, we find him again
crying out, "Show me Thy glory."
It was in answer to this marvelous
prayer of Moses that the Lord said, "I 66

THE OLD TESTAMENT
will make all my goodness to pass be
fore thee," and then the Lord tells him
how He will do all this for him. God
condescends to reason with Moses, say
ing:
"Thou canst not see my face, for there shall
no man see me and live."
Then the Lord said to him :
"Behold, there is a place by me and thou
shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to
pass that while my glory passeth by that I will
put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover
thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will
take away my hand, and thou shalt see my
back parts : but my face shall not be seen."
What a marvelous favor the urgency
of Moses' prayer had gained for himself.
"There is a place by me, and thou shalt
stand upon a rock!"
What safety is implied, what glory is
promised, standing upon a rock by the
side of Almighty God! No wonder
Moses was a great leader — since God not
only went with him, but stood by him.
In a Cleft in the Rock
This leads us to consider the wonder
ful promise which God here made to
Moses.67

GARDEN SPOTS IN
I. God's place for His people — by
Him, in a Cleft in a Rock.
What infinite blessing and honor thus
given to man — to the soul which, being
athirst for God, refuses to be satisfied
without His great fulness. Christ is
often spoken of as a Rock, and He ever
lives at the right hand of God, and
hence, the real meaning is that the place
of God's people is in Christ Jesus. In
Christ we see enough of His glory to
whet the appetite for more and more,
till the soul aflame with holy love will
reach up unto Him and be satisfied.
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee."
Thus we are brought to see enough of
His glory to satisfy the longing heart.
It is only in this way that the Christian
enjoys a continual unfolding of the in
ner glory which is ever creating a keen
er appetite — it can be satisfied only in
Christ Jesus.
Sin and Unbelief Stumbling-Stones
II. In giving His people a place by
Himself, God gives a rock-bottom foun
dation for their faith.

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Sin and unbelief caused God to refuse
His presence and rest to Israel. But
Moses' faith and yearning desire
brought from God a promise of a yet
fuller revelation of the glory of heaven,
but these will never be given to the peo
ple of God, except as they stand by Him
in the Roek, Christ Jesus.
It is no wonder that many professing
Christians do not enjoy the Christian
life. It is no wonder that they fall into
temptation and make shipwreck of the
faith — living far off from God, it cannot
be otherwise. Here Moses teaches us
a lesson which we cannot neglect, except
at the peril of our personal peace and
happiness. III. // we would know God and en
joy His presence and see His glory, we
must be hid in the Cleft in the Rock.
And what is this Rock? It is Christ.
Then the Cleft in the Rock must be the
riven side of Jesus. To know this Cleft
and to make it our refuge is the only
explanation of the peace and joy of the
believer in the midst of the disappoint
ments and trials of life. To be hid in
69

GARDEN SPOTS IN
this Rock is full of meaning: 1. It
means as our days so shall be our
strength. 2. It means trials and pov
erty are God's method of polishing the
inner life, bringing it to its best. 3. It
means pain and disappointment are but
divine chastenings, preparing the soul
for a larger life and a better service in
the kingdom of God.
The Way to the Larger Glory
If we may take up the history of the
eminent saints of God in every age of
the Church, we shall see that they have
passed through these trials in coming to
a revelation of the larger glory of His
presence. IV. In this Cleft the believer is given
a protecting shield.
It was given to Moses; it was God's
own hand placed over his eyes that he
might not be overwhelmed with the ful
ness of God's presence. In other words,
He was giving Moses all that he was
able to receive. This protecting shield
indicates God's purpose to protect us,
not only from evil, but from the over
whelming fulness of Himself, seeing in 70

THE OLD TESTAMENT
our weakness we cannot endure the full
glory of heaven. We cannot bear to
see the noonday's sun in all its splendor
with the natural eye, but with a piece
of smoked glass the natural eye may be
hold its beauty and glory. This may be
the explanation of the fact that real
Christians can endure so much suffer
ing, so much trial, so much disappoint
ment, so much humiliation, and yet live.
This may be the explanation of the fact
that so many heroes of the faith have
been able to face death and to go down
under the executioner's hand and yet
without fear. This may be the explana
tion of the fact that the timid and
shrinking women of the Christian faith
have passed over the river, shouting the
glory of God, fearing nothing. Feast
ing upon God, His strength becomes our
strength. This is the only possible ex
planation of the heroism and endurance
of many of the saints who have passed
on before, and it will be the hope of as
many as shall follow.
71

GARDEN SPOTS IN
Resting in the Cleft of the Rock
V. Resting in this Cleft of the Rock
and under the presence of this protect
ing hand, Jesus manifests Himself to us
according to our desire, and our capac
ity to receive.
This glorious life is not for men and
women who live in a backslidden con
dition, who do not pray, who do not
believe God, and who do not wait upon
Him. The heart with the one burning desire
to know God shall be given entrance into
the fuller glory of the divine life. It
is true, when Moses said, "I beseech
Thee, show me Thy glory," God said,
"No man can see me and live." That
may mean that no man can see God and
live the selfish life. It is related of one
of the old saints, that when hungering
Mid thirsting after God, he read this
statement which God made to Moses,
and when he realized its meaning, he
said, "Then let me die." That is the
kind of longing that will win the pres
ence of the Lord. The death of the 72

THE OLD TESTAMENT
self -life must precede the fullest revela
tion of the inner glory.
Waiting Before the Lord
This waiting upon God is not child's
play. It means earnest seeking; it
means agonizing in prayer; it means
waiting before God for the enduement
of the Spirit. He who is so busy with
this life and its affairs that he can give
only a few minutes for waiting before
God, cannot receive this fuller revela
tion of the divine presence — cannot
know of the peace and joy which flood
the soul of him who is standing in the
Cleft of the Rock, that he may see God
by the eye of faith. Spending a mo
ment in prayer by the bedside night and
morning is better than nothing of the
kind, but that will never bring the vis
ions of God to the soul.
We may learn a lesson of great value
to the Christian if we will but recall
the fact that Moses was on the mount
for six days before the Lord spoke to
him. Think of it, six days waiting for
God to speak — six days pleading for the
73

GARDEN SPOTS IN
revelation of His presence, for the ful
ness of His joy! Contrast the ordinary
believer spending two minutes in the
morning and two minutes in the eve
ning by his bedside in prayer, with
Moses' six days on the mountain top
waiting for God, and we shall see
clearly why it is that so few ever pass
through these larger experiences of the
divine life. Many of us fail in life as
Christians, because we wait so little up
on God. Well did Isaiah say (40:31) :
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall re
new their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be
weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Why We Know so Little of God
We know so little of God, not because
we have not the opportunity to know
Him, but because we wait in His pres
ence so little.
In Exodus 24 : 15-18, we read :
"And Moses went up into the mount, and a
cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the
Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud
covered it six days: and the seventh day He
called unto Moses out of the midst of the
cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord
was like devouring fire on the top of the mount
in the eyes of the children of Israel. And 74

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and
gat him up into the mount: and Moses was
in the mount forty days and forty nights."
From this experience of Moses, we
may learn that revelations of this kind
come to only two classes :
First. To praying people — those who
wait on the Lord, not for two minutes,
not for five minutes, not for an hour, not
for a day, but till He comes — till the
answer is given.
Second. Only to praying people who
get acquainted with God through a care
ful study of His Word. This is the way
of victory in the Christian life. It is
not by any power or might of our own,
but by the power of God manifested in
us, as before Him we yield ourselves to
His spirit. Not Displeasure But Development
We must not construe the hardships
and trials and sorrows and disappoint
ments as marks of God's displeasure
against us, but rather as a method of
treatment and development for the
trusting soul. *

* See Hebrews 12 : 6-11.
75

GARDEN SPOTS IN
In South America we are told there
is a flower which can be seen only when
the wind blows severely. How like true
piety in the believer ! Some of us never
show the beauty of the Lord's presence
until under the tests of the winds of
temptation and trial and disappoint
ment and sorrow — then the beauty of
the flower of our faith and love and
hope is seen. Life's burdens often show
the beauty of human character. It is
God's way, and that is enough. Under
God
'"Tis sorrow builds the shining ladder up,
Whose golden rounds are our calamities,
Whereon our firm feet planting, nearer God
The spirit climbs, and hath its eyes unsealed."

COPYRIGHT, 1901. 8Y PROVIDENCE LITHOGRAPH CO.

The Call op Moses

When taking a journey by train, we
are not required to understand the work
ing of its engine. It suffices that those
whose business it is to control the
machinery should be able to manipulate
it. And so, on the journey of life,, it
is not necessary for us to be able to
grasp the mysteries of God in order to
serve Him by loving our neighbors, and
contributing our small share toward
making the world what he would have it
be. — Olive Linnell.

CROSSING THE BROOK AT
SUNRISE.
"Then His truth broke like a flood."
Few of nature's scenes are more
inviting and pleasing than a glorious
sunrise. Who ever saw a sunrise at sea
but to remember it as one of the most
magnificent displays of glory upon
which his eyes ever looked? Who ever
ascended to the mountain top of some
Himalayan range to see the sun rise
from the very depths of infinite space,
but that he came down with a concep
tion of glory of which he had never
before dreamed — and ever after his soul
was ravished with the richness and
splendor of that glorious morning? But
there is a sunrise in the heart that sur
passes all of nature's glories, and leaves
an impress upon the man within, never
to be forgotten. It was this sort of a
sunrise that Jacob beheld in the morn
ing of the greatest crisis of his life. We
read of it in Gen. 32 : 31—
79

GARDEN SPOTS IN
"And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose
upon him."
A study of this most interesting event
in the life of one of the most interesting
men, named in all the annals of history,
may afford us a season of refreshing as
we journey along the pilgrim way of
life. Crossing the Jabbok
There had been an old grudge
between the two brothers since the day
when Jacob robbed his brother Esau. of
his birthright. They had been long
separated ! Alas, what pain wrong-doing
has brought to human hearts! Now,
after years of separation, they are about
to meet again. Jacob seems greatly dis
turbed. Sin in a man's life is always
a disturbing element. Jacob is dis
tressed because he fears the anger of
his brother. Hoping to appease Esau's
anger, he sends a valuable present on
ahead. It is the night before, their
expected meeting was likely to come the
next morning. That night he was to
cross over Jabbok. 80

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Alone With God
He sent his family over the brook in
advance of his own coming. Jacob
wished to be alone. Most men do when
they are earnestly seeking to get right
with God and their fellows whom they
have wronged. It was a moment of"
heart-searching. He was feeling his
way back to God in the darkness. He
was reaching out, if perchance, he might
find God and get reconciliation with his
brother. As he prayed he realized the
presence of a man as one wrestling with
him. It was a moment of supreme test
ing, although Jacob held his own well
till toward the breaking of the coming
day, when the angel saw that he was
not prevailing against Jacob. Jacob
was strong and full of resistance. Then
the angel touched the hollow of his thigh
and put his limb out of joint, but Jacob
yet refused to let him go. True, he was
wounded, but he was full of courage,
and when the angel pleaded to be
allowed to go, Jacob declared he would
not let him go except he should first
bless him.
81

GARDEN SPOTS IN
A Significant Change
Then the angel wished to know his
name. "Jacob," was the prompt answer.
Then the mysterious stranger said :
"Thy name shall be called no more Jacob,
but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power
"with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
Then Jacob wished to know his name,
but the angel said,
"Wherefore dost thou ask after my name?"
At that moment Jacob received the
blessing for which he was seeking. He
was in ecstasy! His soul was reveling
in glory. God had spoken and the light
had dawned. At once Jacob called the
name of that place Penuel, for he said,
"I have seen God face to face and my
life is preserved." Though he had not
yet met Esau, he had the answer — the
assurance that Esau should not destroy
his life. No wonder Jacob was in
ecstasy! And just as he was saying the
words, we are told that he passed over
Penuel and the rising sun burst upon
his vision in all of its glory, a beautiful 82

THE OLD TESTAMENT
symbol of the rising of the light divine
in his own heart.
A Marvel of Glory— Face to Face With God!
What marvels of glory burst upon
his vision as he moved on to
meet and reconcile his offended brother !
Many another man might have the sun
rise in his soul, if like Jacob, he would
earnestly and truly seek reconciliation
with the persons he has wronged. God
help us all to do this good work, if
indeed it to-day remains undone. It is
the price of peace — the peace which
passeth understanding.
In the journey of Jacob from the
home of Laban to meet his brother Esau
he passed through mental cyclones, not
one, but many. That journey in some
striking way illustrates the journey of
all men who from the scenes of wrong
doing go out to seek after God, and as
such it may become an instructive lesson
for us all. Pausing Along the Way
In the journey Jacob had vfour noted
stopping-places. We might call them
stations along the way. If we mistake
83

GARDEN SPOTS IN
not, each station has its lessons for all
who inquire after God.
Bethel was the first station.
It was the place of awakening.
Jacob had dealt severely with Esau.
The act had involved himself in sin.
From this he must be delivered, and to
this end God met him at Bethel in a
dream, and in that dream there were
such manifestations of the divine pres
ence as to awaken the transgressor —
he began to see himself as guilty of the
sin of supplanting his brother. God
was dealing with him, and so positively
that Jacob knew it. When he awoke the
impressions of the dream were so deep
and positive that he found himself
saying —
"Surely the Lord was in this place and I
knew it not."
After a moment's reflection, he said
to himself — .
"How dreadful is this place! This is none
other but the house of God, and this is the
gate of heaven,"
and he called the place Bethel, for there
he had been awakened to a sense of his
sins.

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Mahanaim was the second station.
It was the place where he met the
angels, or the messengers. Here they
both camped. Hence it was the place of
the two camps. In this incident is
embodied a very beautiful thought.
Jacob having started on a journey in
the right direction, God sent the angels
to him, indicating the divine support in
his effort now to make the wrongs of
the past right. This thought is con
firmed from another standpoint in the
instance of the temptation of Jesus.
After Jesus had withstood the tempter
under the test of great hunger, the devil
left him, and then the angels came and
ministered unto him. So it seems in
every noble effort to withstand wrong,
we have the support of God. What an
inspiration to the weary and burdened
ones in their search for God! Every
soul sincerely returning to God by for
saking the sins of the past comes to
Mahanaim in his journey — the place
where divine support is given, enabling
the penitent one to continue the upward
and onward journey toward God.
85

GARDEN SPOTS IN
Jabbok was the third station.
Jabbok means the flowing brook, a
beautiful symbol of the work of regen
eration in which the sins of the penitent
are washed away. He is cleansed and
so comes nearer to God, even the near
ness of partaking of the divine nature
(See 1 Peter 1:4). It was here at the
flowing brook of Jabbok that the great
struggle took place between Jacob and
the angel. It was here that Jacob
prevailed and got for himself a new life
and a new name. From this place of
a struggle Jacob arose in the early
morning and bravely continued his jour
ney, seeking to meet his brother Esau,
and as he journeyed he came to —
Penuel, ' the fourth station in this
journey. Here he saw God face to face, and as
he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon
him, flooding his way with the glory of
its light. How beautifully like the
coming of the light to the soul which
has left all to follow Jesus. It is the
rising of the Sun of Righteousness,
coming in all of His glory to give a glad

THE OLD TESTAMENT
welcome to the wanderer as he comes
back to the Father.
This fourth station in the journey of
Jacob is as far ahead of Jabbok as was
that place ahead of Mahanaim, or as
Mahanaim was ahead of Bethel. It is
the outline of a progressive experience
in which the seeking soul is led nearer
and yet nearer to God, till at the last
station he is flooded with the light of
•God — it is Sunrise in the Heart
Many have deceived themselves by
supposing that they could make this
journey without stopping at each
station — that they could go on to Penuel,
to the' sunrise in the heart as the first
and only station, but not so. God has
lessons for the penitent to learn at
Bethel, and till these are learned he is
not prepared for the teaching which
awaits him at Mahanaim. He must
take his lessons only where they are
given and where he is best qualified to
receive them. It was so with Jacob.
At Bethel he was awakened to see
his true situation before God. At
87

GARDEN SPOTS IN
Mahanaim he was shown the power of
God to give him support as he pressed
on to the light. At Jabbok he was
taught the mystery of the new life. Till
this moment he had not been prepared
to know the meaning of Jabbok. The
lessons at Bethel and at Mahanaim were
necessary to the understanding of the
truth given him at Jabbok, just as the
lesson at Jabbok prepared him to
receive the instruction God had for him
at Penuel. Having received the light in
each progressive step, he was now ready
for the rising of the sun, for the flooding
of his soul with the light of God in
which he might go on and on, doing the
will of God, to the end of his life. If
Jacob had never made an effort to
be at peace with his brother, this fulness
of light he would never have received,
and Jacob at best would have remained
Jacob, the supplanter, ever contending
for place and power among men.
Onward and Upward
Having yielded to the call of God, he
was led onward and upward from glory
to glory, till standing in the full blaze 88

THE OLD TESTAMENT
of victory he was "face to face with
God," the highest achievement known to
man in the earthly life.
"Lord, lead me on to higher ground,
Oh, lift me up, and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven's table-land;
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."
Are you seeking to have the sun rise
in your heart? Then follow God's
leading through Bethel (awakening) ;
through Mahanaim (meeting the mesr
sengers of truth) ; and over Jabbok
(flowing, cleansing), where the most
momentous event in your life will come
(the fight of faith), where, prevailing
with God as Jacob did, you may pass
over the spiritual Jabbok and at Penuel
greet the rising of your spiritual sun,
and in the light thus given, see God face
to face — it will be the coming of the
fulness of the new life in Christ. If the
believer is to come into possession of
this exalted life, then he must have the
praying* spirit as did Jacob, when he "
resolutely said to the angel, with whom
he wrestled :
"I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."
89

/ have thought, I am a creature of a
day, passing through life as an arrow
through the air. I am a spirit come
from God, just hovering over the great
gulf, till a few moments hence I am no
more seen. I drop into an unchange
able eternity. I want to know one
thing — the way to heaven, how to land
on that happy shore. God Himself has
condescended to teach the way; for this
very end He came from heaven. He
hath written it down in a Book! O give
me that Book! At any price, give me
that Book of God! I have it: here is
knowledge enough for me. Let me be a
man of one book. — John Wesley.

COPYRIGHT, 1901. BY PROVIDENCE LITHOGRAPH CO.
Jacob at Bethel

The "common things" of life are all so
dear —
A half-blown rose may brighten a day,
Much more the word of cheer you
remembered to say,
One look, with all one look may mean
Of love and hope, deep-felt and not
unseen —
It fills with wine the cup of the soul,
In its struggle to live — and live to
life's goal.
To be, means most to trust, not fear,
For recompense in life's "little things"
so dear. — Mary Ettah Calhoun.

NO CRADLE ROCKING IN THE
PULPIT.
"An Ehud inspires a Shamgar."
The Prophet Ezekiel speaks of men
who daub a wall with untempered mor
tar. The reference is undoubtedly to
men who are unfaithful as teachers of
truth and righteousness. Untempered
mortar! That will not hold when the
storm tests it. It was a criticism of
the preachers of his day. The question
now is, not what the prophets of old
did, but what are we doing to-day to
merit such criticism? Do we not bring
this criticism upon ourselves by the
preaching we give to the people? Do
our sermons lack in virility of gospel
truth? Are we afraid to declare the
whole counsel of God? Afraid, lest we
offend some leading member of the
church we are serving? Did you ever
think of it as a fact in your ministry,
if we avoid offending a man, who is liv
ing in sin, that we shall thereby offend
God and so imperil our own salvation,
93

GARDEN SPOTS IN
as well as that of the men and women to
whom we preach ? This tendency is not
only human, it is awfully human, and
a shame to the ministry. If we have
•not backbone enough to declare to the
people their sins, let us quit the minis
try and go to plowing corn. Of all men
among men, the minister needs to be
the gentlest, the truest, the most
humble, the most faithful, and at the
same time, the most courageous. He
needs to realize that his message is not
a lullaby, that it is not designed to rock
people to sleep, but rather to arouse
them and to bring them- out of the
sleep of sin to real life in Christ. If the
minister understands his business, he
knows that he has a message from God
to sinful men — men who stand in
danger of the judgment. So instead of
seeking to let men down in an easy way,
he needs to face them with their sins,
as did Nathan, the prophet, when he
faced David with the great sin of his
life. That is the way to bring men to
repentance and to life in Christ. We
can never do it by whitewashing a
man's conscience — never! 94

THE OLD TESTAMENT
No Weakling Can Serve
In no age of the world has God sent
His message to men through one who
was possessed of a man-fearing spirit.
He cannot use a coward to fight sin !
God wants a man who is daring enough
to obey — to do what He tells him to do,
one who will dare to make His "message
clear and plain to sinful men."
One of the bravest of God's messen
gers of the long ago may serve as a
good example for us of to-day. In the
days of Israel, God's people went into
sin, and as a rebuke to them, He per
mitted Eglon, a king of a neighboring
nation, to place them in bondage. After
eighteen long years of subjugation, they
repented of their sins and cried to God
for deliverance. To deliver them, He
must remove Eglon, their oppressor,
but to do this He must have a man
who was not afraid to do His bidding.
For this purpose He raised up Ehud,
a left-handed man, to be His special
messenger to Eglon. He gave him a
message to this king, and so impressed
Ehud with the responsibility of that
95

GARDEN SPOTS IN
message that he felt he must deliver it,
though he well knew to do so might
mean the loss of his own life. Under
this impulse he went to Eglon, king of
Moab, but his first visit did not seem
to accomplish its purpose, but nothing
daunted, he returned, and going alone,
except he had the presence of God with
him, he went directly into the presence
of the king, and said to him : *
"I have a message from God unto thee."
At once the king commanded his
attendants to retire, and when the two
were alone, face to face, Ehud drew
from under his raiment over his right
thigh, a dagger and stabbed to death
the king who for eighteen long years
had kept the people of God in bondage.
Then he retired, locking the door behind
him, and escaped. The Word tells us
that Ehud was raised up for this very
purpose. It seems that the average
man is not equal to the great tasks of
God, and so He raises up special men
for deeds of -daring. 96

THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Called Man Is Equipped
A man thus called to do the Lord's
work is equipped from on high, and
will dare to do whatever God may com
mand. Herein we get a great lesson
for the ministry of the twentieth
century. God cannot, and will not, use
a man in the ministry who is afraid to
tell the truth as God may direct him to
do. God cannot and will not use a man
who seeks to rock the people to sleep
with a soothing message, when the call
is to do great things for God in awaken
ing the people to a sense of their sins.
Then a man who has a message from
God cannot afford to rock the cradle.
He needs rather, like Ehud, to declare
that he has a message from God for the
people, and then deliver it, leaving the
matter of what is to follow in the hands
of God — knowing that He will take care
of His own.
In studying Ehud's message and act,
let us bring it to bear upon our own life-
work as ministers.
Observe the nature of the message
Ehud gave.
97

GARDEN SPOTS IN
It was a message of life and death —
to the king it was a message of death,
because he had grievously sinned
against the people of God. From a
spiritual point of view, that is the
nature of the message God sends
through us to-day. It is a matter of life
and death. Its rejection is followed by
death. No greater responsibility was
ever laid upon the heart of man than
such a message to a disobedient and
gainsaying people.
Observe the preparation of the mes
senger sent of God.
There was no man qualified to fill the
place. Because of this God raised up
Ehud. The first thing Ehud did was to
prepare himself for his work.
God had made him left-handed, con
trary to what most men would have sup
posed a necessity. Then Ehud made a
dagger, and concealing it under his gar
ment on his right side, he went to the
king. No Rocking of the Cradle in the Pulpit
Ehud studied the situation, after
which he sent his men away ; and, alone,

THE OLD TESTAMENT
he went into the presence of the king.
Being left-handed, he had buckled the
dagger on his right thigh. Ehud did
not go to King Eglon with the thought
of rocking him to sleep as a babe in his
cradle. He had no lullaby for that king.
He appeared in his presence, and said :
"I have a message from God unto thee."
And at once Eglon, King of Moab,
was slain and Israel was delivered from
the power of her enemies. No weakling
could have been used to do such work.
It took a man who had been called and
qualified, a man who was brave, even
daring, a man who preferred to be
faithful to every other privilege — he
went into the presence of the king and
delivered his message.
Observe the character of the message.
It was the most terrible of all
messages, that of death. A great
sin had been committed. Israel had
been in bondage for eighteen years.
Eglon would not let up in his persecu
tion of the people of God. In this
moment of desperation, Israel cried

GARDEN SPOTS IN
unto God for deliverance, and God was
ready, for He had prepared Ehud, and
as God's messenger, Ehud strikes
Israel's oppressor down.
A Message of Holy Daring
The minister's should always be a
message of holy daring, and it should
be faithfully delivered. Let not the
minister fear the face of man. Not
only his own welfare, but the welfare
of the people is wrapped up in his faith
fulness to his trust. Under these cir
cumstances the man who seeks to "rock
the cradle" in the pulpit is a traitor to
G<d. The fate of Eglon is warning to
wrong-doers. God's care over Israel is' but His
promise to His people for all lands and
for all ages.. To the people who cry to
God in deepest sincerity there shall
come deliverance. He will not suffer
His enemies to destroy them. If need
be, the message shall be a message of
death, rather than leave His dependent
ones in the hands of their persecutors.
The wicked man is as truly in the hands 100

THE OLD TESTAMENT
of God and at His mercy as any other.
Let the minister learn from Ehud's suc
cess that God is with him whom He has
sent. Never mind as to the difficulty in
the way; never mind as to the danger
by which he is surrounded, only let him
be sure that he has a message from God,
and then be faithful in delivering it,
for God will not let a message He sends
return unto Him void. It must accom
plish that for which He has sent it.
Observe the boldness of Ehud.
He went in open day into the king's
home, where he was surrounded by his
attendants. With such a terrible mis
sion he stood in the king's presence with
none to support him except the God who
sent him. He knew if he failed, death
would be his only portion, and,
hampered, as he was, he moved forward
with the courage of a Spartan, delivered
his message, and did his work. That
was no "rocking the cradle," it was no
"lullaby song," it was not the perform
ance of a weakling. It was the work
of one commissioned from heaven.
101

GARDEN SPOTS IN
Was It Murder or More?
But did not Ehud murder Eglon?
Some so regard it, but it was more than
murder — it was the vengeance of God
against a man who had dared to oppress
His people. It was more — it was the
answer of God to an oppressed people
who had cried mightily unto Him for
deliverance. It was simply the execu
tion of an old and hardened criminal,
one who, though often reproved, had
stiffened his neck and hardened his
heart, refusing to obey God — he was
suddenly destroyed. Eglon had been
found guilty, and Ehud was God's mes
senger to execute the penalty. Even so
in the work of the Christian ministry!
Sometimes ministers are judged to
be harsh messengers, are denounced
because of their message, are refused
i 'cognition because of their faithful
ness! But the man who stands true to
God, and the highest and best interest
of His people, must deliver the message
God has given him, no matter what the
consequences may be. This principle
has been often illustrated. We find its 102

THE OLD TESTAMENT
execution upon Cain, upon the people
in the time of Noah, upon Pharaoh,
upon Ahab, upon Solomon, upon Bel-
shazzar, upon Herod ; everywhere, when
men refuse to yield to God, death is the
penalty. Though the message be one of
terror, the minister dare not fail, for
when the minister fails to do God's bid
ding, then he involves himself in the
same penalty and loses all. To-day
there is a message from God for the
people.
It Is a Question of Faithfulness
The ministry is charged with the
solemn duty of faithfully delivering
that message. The question for every
individual who thus bears the message
of God is one of faithfulness. He must
deliver the message and leave the result
with God. The minister stands with
Ehud and declares to the people :
"I have a message from God unto thee."
Do you ask what is the message of
the minister to the people in this the
twentieth century?
I answer —
103

GARDEN SPOTS IN
A Message of Repentance and Recon
ciliation. It seems almost as if repentance has
gone out of fashion in human society,
even largely so in the Church, but it is
ever the warning message from heaven.
The message of Jesus Christ Himself
comes thundering down through the
ages to men and women everywhere :
"Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand."
He emphasizes the importance of this
message, when He says :
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish." The importance of this message of
repentance cannot be overestimated, for
if there be no repentance, there will be
no forgiveness, and if there be no for
giveness, there can be no salvation.
How terrible is the responsibility of
being such a messenger! How fearful
will be the punishment meted out to the
man who accepts the place of God's
messenger and then proves untrue to it !
"We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye recon
ciled to God." 104

THE OLD TESTAMENT
That was the plea of Paul. It is the
plea of the minister, as he gives this
message to the lost in every age. Paul
assured the people in his day that God
is in Christ reconciling the world unto
Himself. If the ministry shall be
unfaithful to this message, then recon
ciliation cannot be effected, and both
minister and people will come under
the judgment of God. It is not a lullaby
message. The minister has not time to
"rock the cradle," that he may put
people to sleep in their sins. His is a
different work. The people must be
awakened. They must be made to
realize the enormity of sin and the
coming of a fearful judgment to them
who believe not the gospel.
The Urgency of the Minister's Plea
Let the minister cry :
.V
"This is the message that I bring,
A message angels fain would sing:
'Oh, be ye reconciled to God!' "
A Message of Faith.
It is seemingly coming to pass in this
day of "intellectualism" that men
assume to depend upon what they
105

GARDEN SPOTS IN
know, rather than upon what they
believe — rather than upon their faith
in God. We are more ready in many
instances to believe man than to believe
God. Forget not this is the Word of
God,
"Believe on Him that sent me."
Christian faith is the father of more
victories than all human learning has
yet produced, apart from divine power.
It has reached down to the depths of
human society, and it has lifted the
lowest heavenward, under the trans
forming grace of God.
"He that believeth gn me shall Tiave ever
lasting life."
Salvation itself is dependent on our
faith. By faith the walls of Jericho
fell, and by faith the powers of sin are
broken and the victory of grace is given.
A Message of Appeal Unto God.
We do not hear much of this crying
unto God for deliverance from sin. In
olden time men cried:
"What must I do to be saved?" 106

THE OLD TESTAMENT
It was the power of the preached
Word that made sinners quake and
tremble. That power fully manifested
among men will bring crime to an end.
When men feel the power of God upon
them, when they are made to see them
selves as lost sinners, there is no trouble
about getting them to cry unto God for
deliverance. When Israel had been
eighteen years in bondage to Eglon,
their cry was mighty before God, Ehud
was sent, and Israel was speedily deliv
ered from her enemies.
A Message of Service and Love.
The minister's message in this twen
tieth century to men and women who
have been brought into the light of God,
is a message of service and of love, as
well as warning. Jesus said :
"If any man will serve me, him will my
Father honor."
That is a great promise and a great
reward offered. These are the facts of
the minister's message to men to-day.
Some men like to be "rocked to sleep"
in their sins by a "milk-and-water"
message, which means nothing, but the
107

GARDEN SPOTS IN
man who truly realizes what his situa
tion is, as he stands in the depths of sin,
will not wish any such gush of mean
ingless words — he wants the plain
message of God that he may believe and
live forever.
The True Minister a Man of Courage
Of all men the minister must be a
man of courage, or his will become the
message of a weakling, and under
such preaching the people will perish,
and the minister will be responsible.
Oh, brother minister, dare you take
a stand — dare you say, and mean it, by
God's grace, —
"I will dare to be a Daniel,
I will dare to stand alone!
I will dare to have a message —
I will dare to make it known!"

108

YRIGHTEO 1905 BY PROVIOEHCE LITHOGRAPH CO.

No Uncertain Sound

Wouldst thou have thy life the brighter?
Make another's burden lighter.
Wouldst thou know the joy of living ?
Find it by the grace of giving.
Wouldst thou precious seeds be sowing ?
Blossoms bloom, thou still unknowing.
Wouldst thou golden grain be reaping?
Trust the harvest to God's keeping.
Wouldst thou lose all fear of dying?
Each day live — on Him relying.
— Helen Elizabeth Coolidge.

A REVOLUTION EXTRAORDINARY.
"Thou shalt be turned into another man."
It is a great day in Israel — a crisis is
upon their government. They have been
ruled by the judges — judges given of
God. But the day has come when
human nature clamors to be heard —
asserts itself above the command of
God. Israel is calling for a king to rule
over them. God has forewarned them
of what their demand would mean to
them. He has told them of the evils of
monarchy, but they said, "We want a
king; we want to be like other people."
At last He yielded to the extent of per
mitting them to have a king, and Saul
was chosen. The hour for his anointing
as king has come. Samuel is making
ready for the imposing ceremony.
Turning to Saul, he said :
"And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon
thee. . . iand thou shalt be turned into another
man." So much for the beginning of the
kingdom of Israel. Its history is
in

GARDEN SPOTS IN
familiar to Bible readers — there is no
need to follow the details.
Two things are emphatic in the nar
rative :
First, Saul's preparation for his
service as king could never have been
complete till the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him.
Second, When the Spirit of the Lord
came upon him, Samuel said Saul
should be turned into another man — he
would no more be the Saul of the past,
but a new Saul, qualified of God and
sent to do a specific work.
The Spirit Changes the Man
Let us notice upon what the prepara
tion of Saul depended — the coming of
the Spirit of God upon him. Let us also
notice the effect — Saul became another
man. Is there not a hint here of the
coming of men and women to the day of
their anointing, when they shall receive
power from God and be changed from
the carnal to the spiritual man?
Saul was coming to a new kingdom.
He was to be king. He was to rule for
the good of the people and for the glory 112

THE OLD TESTAMENT
of Jehovah. The parallel appears when
we think of men and women coming to
God as His servants to receive the
divine anointing in the kingdom of the
spiritual life. Here a true servant finds
the realm of his largest usefulness and
of his highest joys.
The changing of a life into another
life is of the highest importance to
every individual. Saul must have this
change wrought of the Spirit of God,
before he could become the Lord's
servant in this new sphere. It is just
as true of men and women to-day that
before they can enter upon the largest
sphere of God's service, they must be
endued with power from on high, the
Spirit of the Lord must come upon
them, changing them from a cold-
hearted life to a life warm and glowing
with the life of Christ.
A Radical Difference
Let us observe that when a man is
changed, spiritually, he becomes a new
man. Character in the new man is
radically different from character in the
old man. This wonderful work is
113

GARDEN SPOTS IN
wrought of God that men may come
into possession of the larger gifts of the
Spirit. It is nothing less than a change
to what we know as the higher life.
This is what was meant when it is 'said
that Saul should be changed into
another man, for we read in verse nine
that God gave him another heart. After
all, the heart-life is the main issue in
this probationary state. If the heart is
changed, the life is changed. If the
heart be not changed, no matter how
much profession of change there may
be, there will be no change of life.
Sometimes men are led to profess a
change of heart when nothing has been
done for them. That is always disas
trous. A false profession can never lay
a sure foundation. An impure heart
offers inducements for the indwelling
presence of the wicked one, just as a
pure heart becomes the abiding-place of
the Spirit. There is all the difference
possible between the heart that is filled
with the Spirit and the heart that is
either empty, or in possession of the
wicked one. 114

THE OLD TESTAMENT
May Not Cast Out Evil Return?
Some man asked Mr. Moody once if
when the house was cleansed — Matt.
12 : 43-50 — there was not a chance for
the wicked one to return and again
occupy it. Mr. Moody said, "It is pos
sible, for if you send the devil out by a
mere pledge, or by a resolution in your
own strength, he will come back. He
will come to the front door and say, 'Is
there anybody inside ?' If no answer is
given him, he will then go around to
the back door and cry, 'Is there anybody
inside?' If silence is still the answer,
he knows that Christ is not there. Then
he will smash the door open and walk
in through all your resolutions, bring
ing seven devils with him, and each
worse than himself, and he will fill your
heart with the riot of sin. On the other
hand, if the heart has been truly
cleansed by the power of God, and
Christ has come in to live there, then
when the devil asks, 'Is anybody inside?'
Christ will say, 'I am here/ and the
power of His presence will drive the
wicked one away, and the pursued soul
will have victory over the tempter."
115

GARDEN SPOTS TN
Deliverance and Dedication
But some men will say, "How can this
all be done?" To the blind this seems
impossible, but to one whose eyes have
been opened to see the truth in its
beauty, it is plain enough that this won
derful change of the heart is wrought
by the Spirit of God, and the new man
thus formed is mighty, not in himself,
but through God, to the pulling down
of the Stronghold of sin. The incoming
of ;the new life means specially two
things to every believer — deliverance
from the self -life and the dedication of
the new life to God. Some people-shrink
from this abandonment of the self-life,
and some people fear to dedicate them
selves Wholly to the serviee of God, but
these things only indicate the continued
presence of the evil one, rather than the
fulness of the divine life. Deliverance
from the power of sin and dedication of
the whole life to God— these are the
urgent needs of the life of the believer.
This thought rested heavily upon the
mind of 'Paul when he said:
"I "beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God that ye present your bodies 116

THE OLD TESTAMENT
a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service."
The fruit of such deliverance from
selfishness and such dedication to God
is non-conformity to the world. Rather
it means a transforming and a renew
ing of the man for the largest service,
according to the perfect will of God.
The Gain of the New Life
But some men will say, What is the
gain from passing from the old life to
the new? There is much every way.
The new man gains a new life.
The new life gains a new capacity. The
new capacity is endowed with new
power. The new power works in a new
sphere and does a new service, which
brings forth a greatly enlarged fruitful
ness in the kingdom of God.
It may be said that while this is pos
sibly true of Saul and other great men,
it cannot be true of the ordinary men
and women of our day. That is wrong.
God's gifts are for the common people,
just in proportion as they will qualify
themselves to receive them. True, in
the text it was for a king, but remember
117

GARDEN SPOTS IN
that when the old man is made new in
Christ he comes to possess a kingly
character and therefore is entitled to
the very best gifts of our heavenly
Father. Certainly Peter understood it in this
way, for in his First Epistle (2:9) ht
says:
"But we are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light: which in time past were not
a people, but are now the people of God : which
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy." A Kingly Character
What a change the grace of God thus
works! Every man who is truly
changed by the Spirit becomes not only
kingly in character, but he enters into
a royal priesthood for the service of
God. This but brings out the idea,
already suggested, that when men are
changed by the power of God, they
cease to be of the old nature and become
kings and priests unto God. Surely a
royal priesthood must have some refer
ence to a kingly life. The true Christian 118

THE OLD TESTAMENT
has a kingly life, because it is made
after the pattern of the King of kings
and Lord of Lords. Nor is Peter alone
in this estimate of the kingly qualities
of the Christian life: John also takes
a similar view, as we find by reference
to Revelation 5 : 9, 10, where, in speak
ing of the work of the redeemed, he
says: "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy- to take the book, and to open il.c
seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
and hast made us unto our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
Reigning With Christ
What does he mean by reigning on
the earth with Him? We are to inherit
kingdoms. What would a kingdom be
without a king? Blessed thought, we
are to reign with Christ!
The anointing of Saul was but the
preparation for the larger service to
which God had called him. In this is
indicated to us the thought that we, too,
are called to a new kingdom, to a new
spiritual life, in which great service is
119

GARDEN SPOTS IN
demanded, and for which we must be
anointed of God.
The liberty of the spirit-endowed man
is the most priceless inheritance of the
sons of light. It sets us free from the
bondage of the law, and the ways of
sinful man, setting us at liberty to do
the will of God. George MacDonald
said:
"So long as God's will is our law, we are
slaves, but when God's will becomes our will,
duty becomes pleasure, and service a delight."
Surely this is a glorious liberty of the
sons of God. One Thing Is Settled
One thing is settled, we must be born
¦gain, we must become new men under
'he Spirit. Then we must be endued
with the spirit of service. So Jesus
Himself taught. See John 7 : 38, 39.
There are many good things in the lives
of men. A creed, morality, culture,
good works, even worship and good feel
ing, but none of these can make us
Christians. They are, in so far as
genuine, the outgrowth of the Christ
within. They speak of a work that 120

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Jesus has done within. Christianity is
the process of a new birth. We are
born out of the world of flesh into the
kingdom of the Spirit. With the new
birth all these things contribute to the
development of this life, but without the
new birth all these are failures, for we
cannot pass into the spiritual life,
except as God changes the natural man
into the spiritual.
"A dear one in heaven thy heart yearns to see,
At the beautiful gate may be watching for
thee;
Then list to the note of this solemn refrain,
'Ye must be born again.' "

121

Each day a clean white page, and we
are artists whose duty it is to put some
thing beautiful on the pages one by one;
or we are historians, and must give to
the page some record of work or duties
or victory to enshrine and carry away.
— Phillips Brooks.

Imploring

GOD'S FINGERS
"During a revival service a man
prayed for the conversion of a neighbor
and said: 'O Lord, touch my neighbor
with Thy finger, with Thy finger, O
Lord.' Just then an inner voice said:
'You are God's finger. Did you ever
speak to your neighbor concerning his
soul's salvation? You go and touch the
man and your prayer shall be heard!'
The man arose. His conscience was
awakened and accused him. Almost a
lifetime had he lived near his neighbor,
and not once had he spoken to hint about
the need of regeneration. Hundreds of
opportunities came and went, but the
conversation at such times was not
about the one thing needful, but about
the weather, politics, crops, business,
etc. The first duty of a Christian, to
witness for Christ, was left unfulfilled.
How is it with you?"

A MIRACULOUS MODE OF
COMMUNICATION.
"The Lord made him understand."
Marvelous phenomena abound- every
where. Every age thinks the inventive
genius of man has reached its limit.
Almost a hundred years ago a Patent
Department official, thinking nothing
more would likely be invented, and
rather than have the department die on
his hands, resigned. If he could rise
from the grave and behold the wonders
of inventive genius since that day, he
would laugh at the fears which drove
him from office. Alas! How liable to
err is human judgment !
We have few greater wonders than
modern methods of communication.
Even in these there is rapid develop
ment and large gains. Our postal
service was once a wonder, as a means
of communication between men. This
was eclipsed by the Morse telegraph,
and later by the telephone, through
125

GARDEN SPOTS IN
which persons could converse for hun
dreds of miles. Then came Fessenden
and Marconi with their wireless tele
graphy, astounding the world by sending
messages great distances through the
air. Now even the wireless must take
a back seat, since the wireless telephone
has given man power to hear the human
voice at a distance of practically five
thousand miles. It Surpasses All Others
Truly the age rolls on, but wonders
do not cease, especially in the matter of
wonderful and rapid systems of com
munication among men. But in the
face of the wonders of modern com
munication there is an ancient method
which surpasses them all. • It is given
to us in Chron. 28: 19, which reads:
"All this, said David, the Lord made me
to understand in writing by His hand upon
me, even all the works of this pattern."
David was referring to the pattern
and specifications which God had given
him for building the temple. As a
method of communication it far sur
passes all human inventions. Indeed; 126

THE OLD TESTAMENT
that text is one of the most remarkable
passages in the Bible — it is an enigma
to all human comprehension.
Strange as it may seem, though God
gave David the pattern for building a
house of rest for the ark, yet because
he had been a man of war and blood
shed, he was not allowed to build — he
must needs turn the pattern and specifi
cations over to his son, Solomon, to do
the work. The text is David's explana
tion to Solomon, as to how he got these
— the Lord gave it to him by writing
with His hand upon David's body.
A Marvel of Marvels
We can believe in the sign alphabet,
as a means of communication between
the dumb; we can believe in the raised
letter for the blind; we can believe in
the call of signals, as between ships at
sea; we can believe in the practical
workings of the telegraph and of the
wireless, and in the wireless telephone,
but it staggers the faith of the average
man to be told that God gave David the
plans for that great building by writing
with His hand upon his mind and heart.
127

GARDEN SPOTS IN
How easy it is to believe in the ingenu
ity of man, and yet how hard, how diffi
cult, to grasp the thought of God and
accept it as truth ! The thought of that
text is worth careful study:
T. The Fact of God's Writing Upon the
Human Heart.
That God has a method of communi
cation with the believer, Christians
must admit. The thought may be a
mystery, but mysteries are facts, not
withstanding. God has a way of writ
ing upon the human mind which cannot
be questioned. Man is very dependent
on God for his understanding of all
moral and spiritual ideas. That God
can adapt His thought to our under
standing, either by the illumination of
the Word for us, or by the impressions
made upon us by His Spirit, may be
marvelous, but Christians cannot doubt
the fact.
II. How Is This Writing of God
'Wrought Upon the Mind and Heart
of Man?
David said God did it by His hand
upon him. This is adapting the thought 128

THE OLD TESTAMENT
of the invisible to the language of every
day usage, that we may the more readily
grasp the divine idea. Thus. God
enriches the mind and heart. To be
assured of God's presence, giving to us
His message, is the highest privilege of
the believer in the earthly life. It was
after this manner that He gave to David
the pattern of the temple — gave it in
writing upon his person by the divine
hand. Marvelous, but true !
Written With the Hand of God
As David understood this mystery,
the hand of God traeed the very letters
upon David's consciousness, spelling out
word by word God's specifications for
building the temple.
The very thought amazes us, but is
anything too hard for God? Did not
God write a message of warning upon
the walls of Belshazzar's palace? And
may He not just as easily and readily
write a message upon a human heart
which has been fully yielded to Him?
Do you ask why God did not write upon
Belshazzar's heart, instead of the walls
of the palace? Most likely because Bel-
129

GARDEN SPOTS IN
shazzar's heart was not only blind, but
hardened. A stone wall is as suscep
tible to an impression from God as is the
heart of a hardened and resisting
sinner. III. The Purpose of This Writing on
David's Person.
It was God's way of giving to him
plans and specifications for the temple,
making all so plain to him that he was
able, not only to carry the thought in
his own mind, but to give the pattern
God had given him, to his son, Solomon,
who should build the house instead of
David, his father. God not only spoke
to David, but to Solomon through his
father.IV. God's Design in Having His People
Understand Him.
An understanding of truth is the
foundation of all progress. If God
could not make man understand His
purpose, then all Christian progress
would cease. We know for every life
God has a work, and He is amply able
to qualify us to do it, if we are teach
able. Men question a fact so startling, 130

THE OLD TESTAMENT
and yet they are believing things day
by day which are more strange than
God's marvelous method of communica
tion with man. Man has shown ability
to instruct the lower order of animals.
The hog has been educated and so has
the horse; even birds of the air can be
taught by the skill and ability of man,
and yet man stumbles over the fact of
God's ability to impress the human
mind with His own thought.
Can Man Do More Than God?
Do you think a man can do more
in teaching and training a hog,
a dog, a bird, or even a horse,
than God can do in teaching a man
and making known to him His
plan for the salvation of the human
family? We are told that Luther Bur-
bank, the great California scientist, can
take a tree that has been going to the
bad for years, so that it has become
altogether ugly and noxious and worth
less, that he can take that tree and by
giving it the shock of a new force,
can break up its decline and its old
habits and turn its energies into new
131

GARDEN SPOTS IN
channels and bring it to new life and
make it a live and fruit-bearing tree.
Listen! If a man can do that, why
should it be thought a thing incredible
that God, the Creator of all things, can
break up the old sinful life of a man and
by imparting to him new and divine life
recreate in him the Christ life of right
eousness and holiness, and teach him
how to do the will of God among men?
Oh, Unbelief, in shame hide thy face
forever and let us be assured that noth
ing is too hard for the almighty hand of
God to do. The Believer's Teacher
Let us study this thought in its bear
ing upon the Christian's life and
service. What God did for David in
building the temple, He can do for us
in building the spiritual life. God told
David how to build the temple. He can
just as easily tell the believer how to
shape his life and make it a place for
the indwelling of the Spirit. Paul
teaches us that the believer is the temple
of the Holy Spirit. Is not this, then,
a sufficient guarantee that God gives us 132

THE OLD TESTAMENT
the pattern of the Christian life with
specific instruction as to how to build
it and maintain it? Does He not by the
impressions He makes upon us by His
Spirit really write upon our thought,
His wishes and purposes, as on a sheet
of paper? Of course, this work must
be done under specific conditions. The
paper on which the writing is made
must be of a quality well suited to
receive the impressions of the pen. You
cannot write on rough, spongy paper —
it will not receive the work of the pen.
Even so a heart rough in sin and hard
ened against God, cannot receive the
impressions the Spirit would write
thereon. Is this idea Scriptural ? Does
the New Testament anywhere hold up
such an idea ? Let us read 1 Corinthians
2 : 9, 10 :
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love
Him. But God hath revealed them unto us
by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God."
Do You See the Difference?
Thus the prepared heart may easily
receive a God-given message, while the
133

GARDEN SPOTS IN
unprepared heart cannot grasp it at all.
Man in sin is blind and deaf and unfeel
ing, not physically, but morally and
spiritually. He lives in a dungeon of
spiritual darkness. Without help there
is no chance to reach the light.
As illustrating in a somewhat remote
way God's dealings with His blinded
children, we may use Helen Kellar, who
was blind and deaf and dumb. She lived
in a dungeon of darkness, not of stone,
but of flesh. It did seem impossible to
help that helpless child, and yet God
planned the way to light for her, till
to-day Helen Kellar is a very bright
woman. Her early days were spent in
darkness because she could not com
municate with her fellows. She had
ability to think, but no way to give
expression to her thoughts. She tried
to make signals to those about her, but
she could get no response. Thus she
groped her way in her helplessness. In
her body was a beautiful life, but it was
shut up in darkness and silence, the
results of blindness, deafness, and
speechlessness. In the course of time 134

THE OLD TESTAMENT
God sent to Helen Kellar a teacher of
rare ability, skill, and patience. That
teacher discerned evidence of a beauti
ful life shut up in her afflicted body. He
used his best ability to reach her
imprisoned inner life. He made many
experiments by way of seeking to open
the doors of her life to outside thought.
In feeding her, he attempted to tell her
what it was she was eating. As she ate
an orange, he placed his fingers upon
her throat and her fingers upon his
throat, and by means of the finger
alphabet he spelled the word o-r-a-n-g-e.
When he gave her water to drink, he
did the same. One day he found her
suffering pain, and he wrote upon her
throat by his hand, "I love you." After
a while she made the same effort, and
said to him by her fingers on his hand,
"I love you." It was the dawning of
the light. The teacher saw victory
ahead and persevered, and Helen,
though blind, began to pick up new
rays of light, she began to see, if not
through the eye, yet through the mind.
Later, Helen passed into the care and
135

GARDEN SPOTS IN
under the instruction of a lady to whose
wisdom the world is a debtor. By the
means of her fingers on Helen's body
the new teacher told her of the beauti
ful worlds of sight and sound. She told
her that, notwithstanding to her it
seemed as if the world were darkness
and silence, yet it was full of beauty and
music. Helen was amazed and almost unbe
lieving, but the teacher said to her:
"Because you cannot see and hear,
you must not say there are no beautiful
sights and no enchanting music."
Meantime Helen was making great
progress in grasping the true situation
about her. One day Bishop Brooks
came to visit Helen. He said to her :
"God loves you."
By signal she replied :
"I know He does, I have felt Him
nigh, but didn't know who He was."
That day she gained her highest idea
of the God who made her. Though
blind and deaf and dumb, she went
speedily from one realm of knowledge
to another, and from one kingdom to
another, till through the writing of the

THE OLD TESTAMENT
finger upon her person by her teacher,
great windows of light were opened to
her darkened life. In this light she was
able to answer many questions. So she
went on from one subject to another
till her visit to the St. Louis Exposition,
when, by the marvelous gains she had,
made, she was able to write a glowing
account of her visit and what she saw !
Few women were able to write so
clearly and definitely of the Exposition
as did Helen Kellar — it was the outcome
of the writing of a finger upon her body.
Now Miss Kellar understands much of
the beauty of the stars, the mountains,
the landscape, the rivers, of music, of
art, of life, of time, and the coming
glory of eternity. Now she goes on catch
ing flashes of light and drinking of the
fountains of love — all made possible by
the writing with her teacher's finger
upon her body. Suppose she should now
tell of the joy that dwells in her being in
this glad moment of triumph, in this
victory of life and light, could she not
readily and gladly say with Paul —
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things
137

GARDEN SPOTS IN
which God hath prepared for them that love
Him, but God hath revealed them unto us (who
love Him) by His Spirit."
Light Dispels Darkness
That was a marvelous revelation
which is given to all believers who yield
themselves body, soul, and spirit to God.
If these glad floods of light were
given to Helen Kellar as she lived in
darkness by the writing of a man's hand
upon her body, why may not God in
His great power, goodness, and infinite
mercy, deal even more lavishly in giving
light to His benighted ones who seek
His face and live for Him? Why not?
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Surely not. Till God speaks, till He
writes with His finger upon the heart,
we are all as—
"An infant crying in the night —
An infant crying for the light —
And with no language but a cry!"

138

An Oriental Court Scene

The ever-varying beauty and loveli
ness of the landscape, the magnificence
of the sun, moon, and stars, and the
sky, in which they move, the grandeur
of the mountains and the majesty and
awe of the sea are all but evidences of
the Spirit's artistic hand in giving
shape and beauty to the creative work
of God. It is not too much fo say that
every object in nature, animate and
inanimate, which has been preserved in
form and color, as it came forth in the
beginning, is but an expression of the
Spirit's thought of the beauty of '
the divine life. If we stand in a-great art
gallery, we are bewildered with the evi
dences of artistic taste, but standing in
nature's hall of art, we are overwhelmed
with the glory of the Spirit's finished
work. All this is but the mirror of
God, reflecting His matchless work in
the redemption and salvation of man.
The glory of the spiritual is reflected
in the natural — and it is all a prophecy,
a veritable foretaste of the life which is
hid with Christ in God. — Kipyar.

THE BELIEVER'S UNSEEN BODY
GUARD.
"Flitting, flitting, ever near thee,
Sitting, sitting by thy side."
Have we not distorted ideas of the
angels? Who are they and what is their
mission? They are God's messengers
among men, ministering to the heirs of
salvation. Angels are interesting char
acters, not so much because of them
selves as because of the mission on
which they are sent and the work they
do— protecting God's people. In Ps.
. 34 : 7 we read :
"The angel of the Lord encampeth round
about them that fear Him, and delivereth
them." David was evidently face to face with
some great danger when he gave expres
sion to his confidence in the protection
of the hovering angel of the Lord. It
may have been when he was exposed to
the wrath of Saul in the cave of
Adullam. At any rate, he had been
graciously spared when in grave danger.

GARDEN SPOTS IN
With the wisdom of a sage he attributed
his safety to the presence and power of
the angel of the Lord. That belief had
long been common to the people of God.
Ruling Out the Angels
In these modern days the materialist
rules out the idea of protecting angels.
They no longer expect to see the
evidence of their presence, nor to hear
the rustle of their wings. Men and
women in their mad rush for modern
thought regard the talk of protecting
angels as superstition. They accept the
Sadducean teaching that there is no
spirit, nor angel, never mind what the
Bible may say. Paul was not a Sadducee.
Referring to the angels in Heb. 1 : 14, he
asks: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent
forth to minister for them who shall be heirs
of salvation?" A Strange Scene
Nor was this doctrine common only in
Bible times. In every age of the world,
which has been noted for its depth of
spiritual insight, God's people have been
believers in the protecting presence of
142

THE OLD TESTAMENT
the angels. The sainted Doddridge tells
of a remarkable dream he once had. He
seemed to be in the vestibule of heaven,
and while waiting for admittance, he
was in an ante-room. Certain pictures
on the walls seemed strangely familiar,
and so drew his close attention. He
found the pictures were representing
familiar incidents in his own life. One
showed him falling from a horse, and
just above him, as he went to the ground,
was an angel following him, and so on
through his life he saw picture after
picture, the angel being a close attend
ant, protecting and keeping him from
danger.
"A guardian angel o'er his life presiding,
Doubling his pleasure and his cares dividing."
Jesus believed and taught the pres
ence of the guardian angels in life. They
ministered to Him in the temptation.
(Matt. 4: 11) Besides, in referring to
children, He said :
"In heaven their angels do always behold the
face of my Father."— Matt. 18: 10.
Watching and Protecting
Both the Bible and human experience
confirm the thought of the angels of God
143

GARDEN SPOTS IN
watching over and protecting the people
of God in any time of peril. Some one
has said :
"If you woo the company of the angels in
your waking hours, they will be sure to come to
you in your sleep."
Merely camping about the believer
would not necessarily signify protection,
but when it is added, "and delivereth
them," then we get the definite idea of
their blessed ministry among men.
"How sweetly did they float upon the wings of
silence through the empty-vaulted night,
At every fall smoothing the raven down of
darkness till it smiled."
We therefore conclude that the work
of ministering angels is —
I. To Minister to the Needy.
Jesus knew of their ministry :
"And He was there in the wilderness forty
days tempted of Satan, and was with the wild
beasts, and the angels ministered unto Him."
—Mark 1: 13.
Who shall say that in the moment of
need or of peril, that the angel of the
Lord does not encamp about them that
fear Him? We may not always be con
scious of His presence, but He attends
us. 144

THE OLD TESTAMENT
"Sweet souls around us watch us still,
Press nearer to our side:
Into our thoughts, into our prayers,
With gentle helpings glide."
The mission of the angels is not to
all peoples, regardless of their relation
ship to God — they minister to them that
fear the Lord and strive to do His will —
heirs of salvation.
II. To Strengthen the Weak.
After long continued strain, Elijah
was about to give up. Just then the old
prophet heard a whisper — an angel
touched him and said : "Arise and. eat."
—1 Kings 19 : 5.
Making Our Enemies Weak
It was perhaps the weakest moment
in Elijah's ministry, but in that moment
an angel was at his side to strengthen
and help him. How wonderful is the
presence of the angels of God in the
moment of peril !
III. To Make Weak Our Enemies.
That angels should be sent to minis
ter to the servants of God when they
need to be protected and kept from dan
ger, seems a marvelous thing, but even
that seems not comparable to the more

GARDEN SPOTS IN
startling fact that the ministry of angels
includes the making of our enemies
weak and helpless, as has often been
demonstrated in the history of the
people of God. It was true with Daniel
in the lions' den when he declared:
"My God hath sent his angel and hath shut
the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me."
IV. To Deliver His People From the
Power of Their Enemies.
Even Lot, though he kept his eye very
largely upon business, yet when in peril,
angels came to his assistance.
"And when the morning arose, then the
angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy
wife and two daughters which are here, lest
thou be consumed in the iniquity of this city."
—Gen. 19 : 15. Pulled Out of the Fire
Lot was reluctant to give up his home
and his possessions. He hesitated, he
lingered, but in the midst of his halting,
the angels laid hold upon his hand, and
of the hand of his. wife and his two
daughters, the Lord being merciful unto
him, and they brought Kim forth, and
set him without the city.
"But all God's angels come to us disguised;
Sorrow and sickness, poverty and death, 146

THE OLD TESTAMENT
One after other lift their frowning masks,
And we behold the Seraph's face beneath,
All radiant with the glory and the calm
Of having looked upon the front of God."
Did not the angels of God deliver Lot
almost under his protest? This
emphasizes in a marked way the
determined purpose of God to protect
the heirs of salvation. (Heb. 1 : 14)
Moses recounted the perils to which
Israel had been exposed, and made his
plea before God for help. At once
(Numbers 21:16), the answer was
given :
"And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard
our voice, and sent an angel, and has brought
us forth out of Egypt; and behold, we are at
Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border."
Life in the Border of the City
How beautiful the thought — life in
the very border of the city of God. By.
and by we shall go into that city and
occupy the place prepared for us by the
Lord Jesus Himself.
Not only was this teaching as to the
ministry of the angels believed by the
people of God, but some of the ancient
kings who knew but little of God came
to understand the truth.
147

GARDEN SPOTS IN
"Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said,
Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and
Abedmego, who hath sent his angel and deliv
ered his servants that trusted in Him." — Dan.
3:28. If the truth of the ministry of angels
needs to be established, it would seem
that Nebuchadnezzar's testimony added
to that of the Bible and the people of
God ought to be amply sufficient.
Although not an adherent of the teach
ings of God, Nebuchadnezzar was com-
, pelled to admit the truth of the ministry
of angels. If anything were lacking to
affirm the purpose of God to protect and
save His people from danger, we still
have Isaiah 63 : 9 :
"In all their afflictions, he was afflicted, and
the angel of his presence saved them; in his
love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he
bare them and carried them all the days of
old." A Blessed Relationship
This is one of the most remarkable
passages in the Old Testament. It rep
resents God in a relationship to His
people which mortals can hardly grasp.
God's marvelous way of linking Him
self to us in our troubles but intensifies 148

THE OLD TESTAMENT
the thought of the certainty of His help
in time of need.
The thought of being afflicted with
them seems quite beyond human com
prehension. This conception of God's
relation to His people is sustained in
the New Testament. In Acts 12 : 11, we
read: "And when Peter was come to himself, he
said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord
hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out
of the hand of Herod and from all the expecta
tion of the people of the Jews."
Peter understood his deliverance from
prison as the work of the angel of the
Lord. He had no doubt about it — "Now
I know of a surety that the Lord hath
sent his angel and hath delivered me."
The idea of personal protection is com
mon in human governments. Our Pres
ident rarely appears in public except
that he is watched and protected by the
Secret Service men. Even our Secretary
of State, on his pleasant visit to Panama,
was surrounded by these watchmen,
whose business was to protect him from
harm. When the Emperor of Germany
goes out, he is accompanied by a
mounted guard to protect him from his

GARDEN SPOTS IN
enemies. The Czar of Russia is also
protected in like manner, showing con
clusively that lives which are highly
prized by the people are also protected
by the people. The value of the life of
a king is the excuse for such protection
by the governments of earth. Then
what is the basis of the value which
heaven places upon the life of the chil
dren of God that He should send angels
to guard and protect them when in dan
ger ? John tells us in Rev. 1 : 6, we are
both kings and priests unto God. No
wonder the secret service angels of
heaven attend us and protect us !
Why Angels Minister
This may throw light upon God's
reason for sending angels to minister to
them who shall be heirs of salvation.
If so, it brings into the light the great
value God puts upon men and women
for whom His Son gave His life. He
would save from sin, from ruin, so He,
too, sends the angels from heaven, to
encamp round about His people and to
deliver them in any moment of peril.
Oh, let us sing :
"Praise God_ from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 160

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COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY PROVIDENCE LITKOORAPH 00.
Comforting the Believer
"Church of the living God,
Born of the Spirit's power,
This is the day of might,
This is the very hour;
Rise in the strength of Him,
Master of life and love;
Open the heart to take
Virtues that rise above
Common and earth-born things;
Virtues that have the breath
Of God and Heaven in them,
And fear not sin or death;
Spirit of power, we pray,
Breathe on our souls and give
Peace that Thy men may love;
Love that Thy world may live."

GOD BIDS HEZEKIAH GOOD-BYE.
"So he returned with shame of face to his
own land."
Strange things occur everywhere,
whether in science, philosophy, or relig
ion. Behind these strange things, how
ever, especially as they are related to
God in His government of men, we shall
always find a reason, at least when we
go far enough to sound these depths of
mystery. Human history marks God's
pathway through the ages. Each world
event indicates a stopping-place in the
work of His kingdom. Among the
strange things in the doings of God is
His dealing with His children. We have
a number of instances, illustrating this
fact, as in the case of His leading
Abraham out into a country of which
he knew nothing ; in permitting Isaac to
bless Jacob instead of Esau ; in having
Moses reared and trained in Pharaoh's
court; withholding for a time an
answer to David's prayer (See Psa.
51) ; in Peter's fall as the highway to
153

GARDEN SPOTS IN
his establishment in the Christian
faith; in sending John to the Isle of
Patmos, as a prisoner, that he might be
honored with a vision from Heaven, the
like of which no other human eye had
seen; in allowing Jacob to see so many
things as against him ; in allowing Jere
miah to go to prison; John the Baptist
to be beheaded; or John Bunyan to
spend twelve years in Bedford jail; or
John Huss to go to the stake, and the
thousands of other instances, in which
God's children have been led in a way
they knew not, but always for good in
the end. It is from this standpoint that
we invite you to join us in the study of
the most critical moment and event in
the life of Hezekiah, one of God's fav
ored sons, as when God bade him "good-
by" and left him to fight his own battles.
You may read of the incident' in 2
Chron. 32 : 31 :
"God left him, to try him, that he (Heze
kiah) might know all that was in his heart."
A Good King, But —
Hezekiah had the reputation of being
a good king, and of course, a good man. 154

THE OLD TESTAMENT
His history is interesting and highly
instructive, especially as it leads up to
the moment when God left him.
Hezekiah had become very rich — a
dangerous moment in any man's life.
He had great treasures of silver
and gold, precious stones, spices, and
jewels; a great abundance of corn and
wine and oil; great storehouses, stalls
for beasts, cotes for flocks, and we are
told that God gave him this great
wealth, but what did the king do with
his great wealth?
Hezekiah seemed to believe in doing
great things. We are told, in the chap
ter from which the text is taken, that
he stopped the upper watercourse of the
Gihon and, turning its flow, he brought
it straight down to the west side of the
city of David. In all of this great
undertaking his prosperity hardly had
bounds to it. With all this favor before
him, how could Hezekiah forget God?
A Great Shadow
But it happened with Hezekiah, as
with many others. In the day of his
greatest prosperity a great shadow
155

GARDEN SPOTS IN
came over his pathway. He was taken
very ill in the midst of all of his wealth
and greatness. Isaiah came to him with
a message from the Lord, saying :
"Set thine house in order: for thou shalt
die, and not live."
' The thought was crushing to the rich
king. He turned his face to the wall
and began to pray, weeping profusely.
At this juncture the Lord sent Isaiah to
Hezekiah with another message. It was
this: "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy
tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen
years." Then, as if to remove any possible
doubt that He would keep His promise,
He said :
"I will bring the shadows of the degrees on
the sun dial of Ahaz ten degrees backward,"
and Hezekiah was restored to health.
If ever there was a time for humility,
gratitude, and praise to God in the life
of Hezekiah, it must have been at this
moment. As he thought over the hours
of his extreme illness, he had a vivid
recollection of the fear which then
oppressed him. He describes it, saying :

THE OLD TESTAMENT
"Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter :
I did mourn as a dove."
A Great Deliverance
- And then, realizing his wonderful
deliverance, he cried out :
"What shall I say? He hath both spoken
unto me and himself hath done it."
The healing of Hezekiah had doubt
less attracted great attention far and
near. Among others who heard of the
great event was the king of Babylon.
His son, Merodach-baladan; sent Heze
kiah a letter, congratulating him on his
restoration to health, and at the same
time and by the same hand, he sent a
present to Hezekiah, who admitted that
he was glad of it. Being proud of his
wealth and fame, he opened all he had
to the messengers who brought the let
ter and the present from Babylon,
showing them all he had. Soon after
the messengers were gone, Isaiah came
to see Hezekiah. He asked him what
these men had said to him and from
whence they came. Hezekiah told him
without reservation that they came
from Babylon, but he did not tell him
what they said to him.

GARDEN SPOTS TN
A Startling Question
Isaiah had a mission to Hezekiah, and
his first question was,
"What have they seen in thy house?"
Hezekiah answered :
"All that is in my house have they seen:
there is nothing among my treasures that I
have not showed them."
The truth is, Hezekiah, in his great
desire to glorify himself in the sight of
the great men of Babylon, and to gain
their favor, had failed to glorify God
in the matter of his serious sickness
and his wonderful recovery. He had
shown the princes of Babylon every
thing he had, all of his treasures, all of
his greatness, and all of his glory, as a
king, and though the letter from Baby
lon had spoken of his illness, yet Heze
kiah, so carried away with his own
greatness and with the honor paid to
him by the Babylonish government, for
got to say a word of God's great good
ness to him in sparing his life and
restoring him to health. In other words,
selfishness had gotten the mastery of
the good king. It seems quite clear that
he had an overmastering desire to make 168

THE OLD TESTAMENT
a great impression upon the princes
from Babylon, with the probable
thought that he might make an alliance
with that government, which in case of
trouble with Assyria, or with some
other nation, would make him strong
unto victory. God had been his strength
in other days and his deliverer in the
time of need, but a little attention from
Babylon had seemed to induce him to
forget God. It was just here that came
in the incident of the text :
"God left him, to try him, that he (Heze
kiah) might know all that was in his heart."
The Purpose of God's Withdrawal
Most surely God left Hezekiah in the
hands of the wicked one that he might
be brought to see himself in the light
of Heaven — turned over to Satan that
he might be awakened and saved. Even
in turning the backslider q,yer to Satan
God shows His mercy. Not only is such
a course necessary for the salvation of
the backslidden, but quite as much so
to preserve them that are whole. The
poet had this in mind when he said,
"One sickly sheep infects the flock,
And poisons all the rest."
159

GARDEN SPOTS IN
No wonder Burns said :
"O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!"
' Beyond all question the most danger
ous thing in a man's life is heart-blind
ness — when he does not know himself,
does not know what is in his heart.
This was Hezekiah's condition, and it
seemed as if the only thing the Lord
could do to open his eyes was to leave
him for a time, that he might come to
know his real condition — to recognize
that he was indeed backslidden.
An Awful Moment
It is an awful moment when the Lord
must needs leave a man, leave him to
his choice and under the powers of
darkness, that he may be brought to
know what is in his own heart. This is
a vital matter. Heaven depends on it.
If a backslider is not brought to realize
his lost estate, that he has fallen from
grace, that he has turned against God,
he will be lost. It is with the thought
of awakening the man that God does
with many of us as He did with Heze
kiah — He leaves us, to try us, that we 160

THE OLD TESTAMENT
may come in the moment of trial to
know that we are lost and undone
through our own sin. Hezekiah must
be awakened, he must come to see him
self as he is, he must know what sin is
in his heart. Thus God's love for His
own is so great as to lead him even to
turn away from a straying one that He
may bring him back through repentance
and faith to the ways of truth and
righteousness. Indeed, Paul tells us in
1 Cor. 5 : 5, that it sometimes becomes
necessary to deliver a straying child
over to the devil for the destruction of
the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in
the day of the Lord Jesus. David was
once in such a condition. God, whom he
had offended, refused to answer his
prayer till he had been rescued from the
power of the wicked one — till he had
been brought to repentance. See Psa.
51. Men and women, dead in sin, must
be awakened, or they will never come to
life in righteousness, and with life they
are undone forever. No doubt, there
are thousands of church members
to-day who have fallen into sin, as had
David and Hezekiah. If the Lord
161

GARDEN SPOTS IN
should leave them as they are, they are
undone by sin. In many cases the Lord
awakens them to the awful reality of sin
by leaving the straying one to himself
for a time, that such an one may see
the awful truth that in the heart he is
backslidden. A Strange Word-Picture
In The Ancient Mariner there is one
of the strangest pictures. At first one
is tempted to feel that there is nothing
like it in all the world, but there is. Its
counterpart is often found in a church.
Coleridge, in one part of that wonderful
story, represents a ship at sea with the
seamen all dead, and yet rising up to
man the ship — there were dead men
lulling the ropes, dead men steering the
snip, dead men spreading the sails.
ifou may declare that was but a poetic
fancy, but I declare I have seen
churches that remind me of this strange
dream of the imagination. I have seen
men who seemed to be spiritually dead
in the pulpit, in the choir, among the
church officers, in the membership, the
deacons seemed dead, and often dead 162

THE OLD TESTAMENT
men and women seemed to be sitting in
the pews. Now what is the difference
between those two scenes? Only this,
one was a poet's picture, while the other
is so frequently a reality in many of our
churches. Do you ask, Why does
God leave us under such trying circum
stances ? It looks as if he sees it as His
only chance to reach us and bring us
back to our spiritual senses and to Him
self. He is not confined to any one way
of truly reaching us, but it seems to be
more often than otherwise by the way
of suffering that He brings us back.
Men and women are most commonly
reached by refining and purifying.
Hence we read in Mai. 3 : 3 —
"And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier
of silver: and He shall purify the sons of
Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness." Through the Purifying Fires
That reveals God's purpose in leaving
us to go through the purifying fires
alone. He seeks to bring us back to the
making of an offering unto the Lord of
the life in righteousness. Plenty of men

GARDEN SPOTS IN
and women make an offering unto the
Lord in sin, but such an offering cannot
be accepted. Hence the Lord leads us
through these fires of testing that we
may be led to forsake sin and come back
to a life of righteousness, where we may
make an acceptable offering of the life
we live unto the Lord. Even when He
delivers one over to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh (evil impulses)
He does it in love and for our highest
and best interests. Zechariah (13:9)
so presents the thought :
"And I will bring the third part through
the fire, and will refine them as silver is
refined, and will try them as gold is tried:
they shall call on my^ name, and I will hear
them; I will say, It is my people; and they
shall say, The Lord is my God."
In that passage is revealed to us just
what is accomplished by the refining
process. It brings us back into close
relationship with God. He declares
that when we have been tried, as gold is
tried, that then we may call upon Him
and He will hear. Th'en He will say:
"It is my people," and they shall say,
"The Lord is my God." Surely, the
refining process has worked our return 164

THE OLD TESTAMENT
unto the Lord in the little season when
He has withdrawn His face from us.
All this refining and testing process
is God's way to bring us back to the
truth and to the life which is in Christ.
God tried it on David, and it was a great
success. How do we know it was a
great success? Listen to David's own
testimony after he had passed through
it all, as brought out in Psa. 17 : 3 —
"Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast
visited me in the night; thou hast tried me,
and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that
my mouth shall not transgress."
"Thou Art the Man"
Oh, what a change since the day of
David's great sin! Then he shut his
eyes, went headlong to the murder of
Uriah. Then came Nathan and said to
him: "Thou art the man!" He was
condemned and miserable, and the Lord
let him alone for a time, till he had been
led through the fiery crucible in which
he was purified, till coming back to God
as in the fifty-first Psalm, he made
peace with God, and now that he is once
more God's servant, profiting by past
experiences, he determines by the grace

GARDEN SPOTS IN
of God that he will no more depart from
the way of righteousness, and now he
seems to rejoice in the fact that God has
tried him, has visited him in the night
arid has tried him thoroughly. Or, as
the Hebrew has it, thou hast smelted
me, meaning as gold ore is smelted to
separate the pure gold from the dross,
giving the pure gold its right value and
sending the dross to its place. So David
felt, and now he seems to triumph in
the thought that he is ready for God's
testing at any time and under any cir
cumstances. How wonderful are God's
ways of saving us from sin and from
ourselves!* How beautifully the poet
has seen it all !
"What! take it at adventure, and not try
What metal it is made of? No, not I.
Should I now lightly let it pass,
Take sullen lead for silver, sounding brass,
Instead of solid gold, alas!
What would become of it in the great day
Of making jewels — 'twould be cast away!"

* These are not two separate and distinct ways of
saving men — they are parts of one complete plan. Jesus
saves the unregenerate but penitent and believing soul
from the curse and guilt of sin by the shedding of His
own blood, making an atonement for sin. On the other
hand He uses the smelting process of human suffering to
bring back to Himself His straying and backslidden chil
dren, lest they should be overcome and swallowed up in
sin and death. He afflicts, not willingly, but rather than
have us lost forever, "For whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth."
— Heb. 12: 6. This treatment yields the peaceable fruits
of righteousness in the life of the afflicted and straying
child of God. 166

 COPVRIGHTED 1903 BY PROVIDENCE LITHOGRAPH CO 

Was Eujah Forsaken of God ?

THE WRONG LEARNING
"A man may know all about the rocks,
and his heart remain as hard as they;
he may know all about the winds, and
be the sport of passions as fierce as
they; he may know all about the stars.
and be as a meteor, whose end, after o
brief and brilliant career, is to bt
quenched in eternal night; he may know
all about the sea and his soul resemble
its troubled waters, which cannot rest.
"A man may know how to rule the
elements, yet not know how to rule his
own spirit; he may know how to turn
aside the flashing thunderbolt, but not
the wrath of God from his own guilty
head. He may have all the knoivledge
of a Newton, a Laplace, a Watt; he may
know many mysteries and understand
many hidden things, but if he has no
personal knowledge of the love of God,
brought near to sinful men in Christ,
what shall it avail ?"
"For what shad it profit a man, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his
own soul? or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?" —Mark 8:36, 37.

COVERED WITH SILVER AND
GOLD.
"A silver light illumes,
And gleams of verdant gold."
Contrasts are more or less striking
and interesting. We get a vision of the
ends of things. God is continually con
trasting the ends of human character;
the one is set over against the other,
that we may the more fully grasp the
meaning. One of these contrasts we
find in Psalm 68 : 13. It is full of
meaning. It reads :
"Though ye have lien among the pots, yet
shall ye be as the wings of the dove, covered
with silver and her feathers as yellow gold."
In this contrast we get a view of the
ends of human life — its beginning and
its finishing. It holds up to our view
a life in sin and a life in Christ; or,
rather, a life begun in sin and finished
in sin, and a life begun in sin and fin
ished in Christ. The central thought of
the text is the great transformation of
human character as wrought by the
169

GARDEN SPOTS IN
blood of Christ, under the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Transformation of Character
We do not need the proof from the
Scriptures as to the truthfulness of this
thought, for we have seen over and over
a person living in the blackness of sin,
transformed into the whiteness of the
righteousness of Christ — a literal trans
formation from the smut of sin to the
gold of a Christlike character. The text
itself is full of lights and shadows,
showing a life despoiled by sin, but
saved by grace. Such a study of the
divine life is well worthy of our most
prayerful thought.
I. Unregenerate Man Is Like a Dove
Among the Pots.
It is well known that the dove is one
of the most beautiful and one of the
most harmless of birds, and yet the
beauty of the bird may be greatly
spoiled by smut. It is a striking pre
sentation of the thought of sin working
ruin in a beautiful and pure life. Miss
Whateley, in her book, Ragged Life in
Egypt, tells us of the custom of the 170

THE OLD TESTAMENT
people and habit of birds which throws
light upon the strong imagery of the
text.
Defiled Things
In the East flat-roofed houses are
very common. The flat roof is used for
various purposes. It is a place of
storage for such articles as are not
desired to be seen by the visitor.
Among the things most frequently put
away after this manner are the pots and
articles defiled by use. 0£ course, in a
hot climate the birds seek relief from
the heat in the shadow of any object
within their reach. It was, therefore, a
common thing for doves and other birds
to find relief in midday by hiding
among the pots on the flat roofs of the
houses. Necessarily, though receiving
a kind of protection, the birds came out
with their beautiful plumage greatly
despoiled by smut from the pots among
which they had been resting. Then, in
the early evening, as they flew forth in
the light of the setting sun, their beauti
ful wings showed something of the tints
of both silver and gold, only these were

GARDEN SPOTS IN
soiled by the presence of smut. This
is used by the psalmist as a striking
illustration of the effects of men living
out of Christ in sin. The man who
takes refuge in sin is just as sure to be
soiled — morally and spiritually — as, are
the doves which take refuge from the
sun's heat by resting among the pots.
What is more beautiful than a clean
dove? On the other hand, what is more
repulsive than a dove covered with
smut? Here we get the contrast. A
pure human character is the most beau
tiful thing in the universe, and the most
repulsive is a life ruined by the filth
of sin. The Loss of Beauty
No bird can find rest among these
smutty vessels except at the loss of its
beauty, neither can a man trifle with
sin except at the cost of his own peace
and purity. The habits of the doves of
the East find a parallel in the habits of
men and women in all lands. Think
of a beautiful bird spotted with the
smut from the pots. Then think of men
whose lives have become spotted 172

THE OLD TESTAMENT
by mixing in with idolatry, wrath,
malice, strife, uncleanness, evil-speak
ing, hatred, slander, and social impur
ity. No bird can live among the smutty
pots and keep itself unsoiled, neither can
any man give himself over to these sins
and maintain the beauty of Christian
character, of life in Christ. No man
can possibly live surrounded by sin,
apart from grace, and escape the taint
of these sins. The doves, though most
lovely and beautiful among birds, can
not maintain their beauty, living among
the pots, nor can men live in sin and
maintain the purity of heart and the
beauty of character to which they are
called in Christ.
II. The Unregenerate Man May Be
Transformed From the Smut of Sin to
the Purity of Grace.
The blood of Christ works out of
human character the stains of sin, and
it works in the beauty of the divine life,
transforming the life after the pattern
given in the garden. As the doves com
ing from the flat-roofed houses in the
East, stained by the smut from the pots,
173

GARDEN SPOTS IN
are transformed and made to shine in
the beauty of the sunshine reflected
upon them, even so men coming from
the haunts of sin, with ruined lives, with
a hopeless future, and coming into the
light of the Sun of Righteousness, are
redeemed and lifted up and made to
show forth the gold of a Christlike life.
How like the sunshine beautifying the
soiled doves is the imputed righteous
ness of Christ, making a sin-cursed life
resplendent with the beauty of the
divine nature !
No Love for Sin
No sin can be loved, or knowingly
served, and yet enjoy the fulness of the
Christ-life. When a man gives up his
sin and takes a stand for God and truth,
then the Sun of Righteousness makes
him to shine forth as one of the
redeemed of earth, a veritable child of
God ! How striking is the picture ! How
gracious is the thought ! How true are
the facts! With such a reality before
men, yet they choose to live among the
pots of sin, tarnishing character and

THE OLD TESTAMENT
marring beauty, till hope is blighted and
all is lost — lost forever !
Christ said, "Come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest." In every invitation
to sinful man, a movement on his part
must be required. He must come out
from sin. Like as the birds flying in
the light of the evening sun were made
beautiful by coming out from the
smutty pots into the light of the
sun, so may the lives of men and women
be transformed, changed from the smut
of sin to the brightness and beauty of
the Christ — be made to shine as though
there had not been the smut of sin.
Resistance of Unbelief
This is a great mystery. Many men
refuse to believe it. They refuse to
believe that in Jesus Christ there can
be this transformation of human char
acter. They are not slow to accept the
idea that by upright living in them
selves they may make the transforma
tion, lifting them out of sin and into
the light of a beautiful life. How easy
it is to be deceived, to believe an error,
175

GARDEN SPOTS IN
and how hard it is to be sure you are
right, to believe only the truth! Man
can believe in his power to lift himself
out of sin, and yet we know that all such
efforts are vain, failures all of them!
Whereas, on the other hand, men who
have forsaken sin and come to Christ
for the transforming power have been
made new creatures in Him. Strange,
indeed, it is that we have so much con
fidence in human strength, and so little
confidence in the strength of the divine
One. We can believe that clay and soot,
with sand and water, can make a mud
out of which the diamond is produced,
and yet we cannot believe the greater
truth that out of the smut of sin and
ruin, God can lift human character into
a likeness of Himself. Why is it that
we can believe the one so readily, and
cannot believe the other? The only
explanation of this failure to believe
God, while we believe so much in the
power of man, may be found in the
fact that our great adversary, the devil,
endeavors to set us against faith in
God, but does not care how much we 176

THE OLD TESTAMENT
believe of natural truth. God saves
through Jesus Christ, but natural truth
cannot lift a soul out of sin. Anything
to despite God — anything to take from
Him His glory, the devil will do, while
he cares not one thing as to what we
believe of truths which do not affect our
salvation from sin. It does seem that
any man who can believe that clay and
soot and sand and water can be brought
under any power that will transform
them into the diamond, ought to be able
to believe that the blood of Jesus Christ
can cleanse from all sin and make men
to be Christlike in their lives.
Reflected Beauty
The little dewdrop, catching the rays
from the sun, reflects the beauty and
glory of the sun — a reproduction in the
tiny dewdrop of yonder's great King of
Day. How was it done? The sun itself
cast its ray of light into the dewdrop,
and the dewdrop showed forth the glory
of the sun. We can believe that, but
when" we are asked to believe that the
light from the Sun of Righteousness can
come into human life and transform
177

GARDEN SPOTS IN
it from smut to gold, we stop and refuse
to believe it. No, if the King of Day
has power to reproduce himself in a
little dewdrop, surely the King of
Righteousness can reproduce in us the
likeness of Himself, and lead us forth
from the ugly stains of sin into the glor
ious light of the beauty of God.
In Holy Writ we are admonished
again and again to take heed what we
do, what we know. May that not also
include taking heed as to what we
believe? With many it seems easy to
believe if you see the moon in its first
quarter over your left shoulder, you will
be drenched with rain very soon, or if
a rabbit crosses the road ahead of you,
that you. are doomed to an early portion
of "bad luck," and a thousand other
such nonsensical things, but if asked to
believe that the blood of Jesus cleanses
from all sin, at once these men begin to
stumble — they cannot believe this amaz
ing fact. Why this difference? One
has nothing in it, the other has salva
tion for the lost wrapped up in its
hidden mystery. The natural man can 178

THE OLD TESTAMENT
believe a lie, but how hard for him to
believe the truth ! By the blood of Jesus
we may be changed from smut to gold
— from sin to righteousness.
"Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There's power in the blood,
Come for cleansing to Calvary's tide,
There's wonderful power in the blood."

179

The acts of your life are like straws
on a river. They show the course of
your life. Some streams flow so swiftly
that it is not necessary to throw objects
upon them to see their course; others
you must test in this way. Which way
is your life? Can it be decided by those
around you which way it is moving
without testing it? If not, you have
something to do. Do it. — W. W. Kap-
nick.

Elijah on Mount Carmel

PURITY OF HEART
The lighthouse-keeper's most difficult
task is making his glasses clear on
sleety nights when the ocean spray
freezes upon them. The ship is some
where off in the storm. The light is
clear within the tower. But if the glass
of the lantern is allowed to grow thick
with ice the light is dimmed as it pours
forth the sailor's help. Cleansing of
heart and life are necessary for clear
ness of vision in spiritual things. The
assurance of Christ is that the pure in
heart are happy, for they' shall see God.
The vision of divine life is not given to
eyes that are dimmed by gazing upon
unclean things. The thoughts of the
heart do not rise to God when they are
bowed to earth by the pressure of
impurity. The vision of God belongs to
those who have kept themselves apart
from evil for His sake. — Congregation-
alist.

WITHOUT VISIONS OF TRUTH
THE PEOPLE PERISH.
"Earth may give darkness,
But Heaven gives light."
In Bible times the vision was a chosen
means of communicating the thought of
God to His people. It was no uncommon
thing for God to speak to man, making
known to him His will in its bearing
upon his life and service. In modern
times the idea of a vision seems to have
fallen into disrepute. The man who
would now claim to be taught of God in
this way might be regarded as a fit sub
ject for the lunatic asylum, or be put
down as a decided ignoramus. It may
be well for us to remember, however,
that all modern ideas are not necessarily
correct, because modern. Let us not
forget that in spite of man's deprecia
tion of the old-time visions it is still true
that God can speak to man by visions.
We mean to say, if a man, who is
qualified to see visions, may be found,
God can speak through him now, as well

GARDEN SPOTS IN
as in ancient times. There is a sense in
which, visions are just as essential to-day
to the life of God's people, as they
ever were. We may, or may not, have
visions and dreams in the night-time,
but the spiritually prepared man may
have visions of truth given him in the
study of the Word, and in his hours of
meditation and prayer. Indeed, this is
essential to the Christian life, for with
out visions of truth men cannot live
spiritually. It was Solomon who said —
"Where there is no vision, the people perish,
but he that keepeth the law is happy." —
Proverbs 29: 18. Visions of Truth
Solomon had reference to visions of
truth, of God's thought, as a means of
nurturing and sustaining the divine
life. Life and its development in divine
things is dependent upon these visions
of truth. The mind of man may be as
truly impressed by the Spirit of God
to-day as in any age of the world, if
only the man's mind has been prepared
for this privilege.
In olden times God spoke by a vision
to Abraham, to Jacob, to Isaiah, to
184

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Ezekiel, to Habakkuk, to Daniel, and to
Mary, and others. In these visions, He
has seen fit to reveal His richest
thoughts, and His grandest purposes for
the human family. When there is no
vision the people perish. Sin may
obscure the vision until life is choked
out and men and women die from a lack
of truth. It was so in Noah's times;
sin so filled the hearts of the people that
they lost sight of truth, and they not
only perished in the flood, but perished
spiritually. In the days of Eli there
was no vision. People lost sight of the
reality of truth and went forth to serve
themselves after their own baser
natures. There was a time of 450 years
between the closing of the Old Testa
ment and the opening of the New, when
there was no vision. Men did not speak
for God, and the people went into dark
ness and sin. Men were so wrapped up
in the things of the flesh that they com
pletely lost visions of truth, and dark
ness reigned for hundreds of years.
Solomon says such an absence of truth
brings death to the people — a sort of a
185

GARDEN SPOTS IN
spiritual famine in which the souls of
men and women die for lack of suste
nance.
Casting off Restraint
The full meaning of the text comes out
more clearly in the Revised Version,
which says :
"Where there is no vision, the people cast
off restraint."
When men lose sight of divine truth,
they cast off restraint and rush headlong
into ruin.
Joseph Parker, the great London
preacher of the latter part of the nine
teenth century, gives a very full and
easy translation of this text, which is
yet more expressive. He says its mean
ing is this :
"Where there is no vision, the people go
wild." We talk much of modern conditions.
Is not the drift in human society to-day
found in a wild rush for amusement and
excitement, regardless of cost — a sure
indication that they have lost the vision
of truth? 186

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Present-day Blindness
It may be interesting and instructive
to inquire : What is the vision spoken of
in the text? The answer is vital in its
bearings upon the human heart. The
true answer is : A real vision is the out
come of communion with God, in which
we get His thought, illuminated by His
Spirit. Much of present-day blindness
on the part of intelligent, cultured
people is because they have no illumina
tion from the Spirit, and, therefore,
though they see the literary beauties of
the Word, they are unable to gain the
precious truth which leads to life in
Christ. But how may one expect to enjoy
these visions ? Most truly by communion
and fellowship with God. Truth creates
the vision, and through it we come to
know the thought and will of God. God
in us is the very foundation of visions of
truth. Indeed, without this illumina
tion, no man is wise enough to get a
vision from God. The young man at
Dothan was blinded so that he felt all
was hopeless. The old prophet prayed
187

GARDEN SPOTS IN
God to let him see the great hosts round
about them for their safety. His eyes
were opened and he saw God's hosts pro
tecting them. Even David prayed for
open eyes that he might see the truth,
that he might have visions of God, and
so live in the fulness of the divine life.
The disciples' eyes were holden * so
that they did not know Christ. And so
it has been with many professing Chris
tians — they have failed to grasp the
truth, and, as a result, they perish in
sin. A Famine of Truth
The truth of the text is demonstrated
in the history of God's people.
1. In the days of Eli we are told
that there was a scarcity of the Word
and no open vision.
The one was a result of the other.
Where the Word of God is well under
stood, there will be visions of truth. It
is also true that the people went wild in
the time of the Judges. Eli's sons were
not alone. The multitudes lost the

* Luke 24 : 16. 188

THE OLD TESTAMENT
power of a vision of truth, and they
went wild in sin. — 2 Sam. 3 : 11-14.
2. In the days of Asa, Israel had
long been without teaching.
The result was they forgot God, and,
forgetting God, they had no vision of
truth. l
3. In the days of Hosea, we are told
that God's people were destroyed for
lack of knowledge. 2
A thousand things are done in the
name of religion, and for no better
reason than ignorance. Ignorance is a
shame for any people who have access
to the Word of God.
Arguing Against the Message
4. In the days of Habakkuk, iniquity
abounded. The people went wild in sin. 3 The
old prophet was sent to give them warn
ing, but when he told them of their sins
and of coming judgments, they argued
against him, and refused to heed his
warning. There are certain conditions upon

1 2 Chron. 15: 3. 2 Hosea 4: 6. 3 Hab 1: 1-4.
189

GARDEN SPOTS IN
which rests the possibility of God's peo
ple enjoying these visions of truth.
(1) The prayerful life. Communion
with God is the open channel through
which visions of truth are given.
(2) ' The study of the Word of God
must be faithful and honest. We must
seek for all the fulness of God's light.4
(3) It is not enough to pray and to
read the Word. We must actually turn
away from all known sin.
Why Truth Grasps the Heart
Mark well this fact: When man, with
enthusiasm, takes hold of the truth, the
truth takes hold upon him, and the very
thoughts of God burst in upon his heart
and mind. — and beget a new life.
A man cannot have visions of things
about which he has no concern. If he
wishes a vision, revealing the thought
of God, his mind must be centered upon
the possibility. Columbus was the discov
erer of America, now one of the richest
and most progressive countries in the
world. But Columbus was a student of
geography — he was wrapped up in the
4 Ps. 36: 9. 190

THE OLD TESTAMENT
possibilities of finding unknown lands,
and as he studied, God gave him a vision
of this great country. With this vision
burning in his soul, he could not be at
rest. Though many disappointments
came to him, he pressed on, until, at
last, he discovered America. It is plain
enough to see that Columbus received a
vision of the new world because he had
prepared himself for it.
The Hungry Heart
This is a fair illustration of what may
come in the life and thought of any
Christian whose soul is stirred for the
deeper truths of God's Word, whose
heart is hungry for the fulness of His
love, and whose highest purpose is to
know and do God's will. Many of us are
looking for a vision in our ignorance.
Though we have the Word of God in our
homes, we do not study it. Are we wait
ing for an angel to come and point out to
us the riches of grace and the fulness of
life? Alas! Such an one will wait in
vain. If he would have visions of God,
he must know God's Word, he must have
communion with God, and he must have
191

GARDEN SPOTS IN
no other purpose in his heart than to do
God's will.
Unquestionably, the saddest aspect of
Christian truth to-day is the fact that
this kind of vision has so largely disap
peared, and the Church and her minis
try are seeking to live upon the husks
of truth — having lost her vision of real
truth in many important particulars.
Lost Truths
If I were asked to name some of these
lost truths, I would say :
The Church knows very little to-day,
apparently, of the bitterness of sin.
When men see their sins under the
power of the Spirit's illumination, they
will know the bitterness thereof. Our
need is a clear vision of the bitterness
of sin.
Again, the Church of to-day needs a
vision of her own spiritual impoverish
ment. She thinks she is rich, but she is
indeed poor. * She has houses and lands
and gold and silver, and great men and
women, but has she a clear vision of

Rev. 3 : 17, 18.

THE OLD TESTAMENT
God's revealed truth? Does she really
know how poor she is in God's sight?
Another truth which the Church has
lost in a large measure is the quickening
of the Spirit. Are we not trying to
make salvation largely an intellectual
matter to-day? It is true the intellect
has a great place in the visions God
gives to His people, but the Spirit must
quicken our thought, our imagination,
our wills, our consciences, and awaken
us to the real needs of the Christian life.
A twofold truth, which seems practic
ally lost to the Church to-day, is the
riches of grace, and the fruits of the
Spirit. A poverty-stricken soul cannot
bring forth large fruitage. Neither can
a heart, perishing for the want of a
vision of truth, grasp the great privi
leges which are in Christ Jesus.
Another vision that has been very
largely lost to the Church in recent
times is holiness of heart, without which
no man shall see God.t We are seeking
now the wholeness of the intellect — Its
supremacy, but the intellect is poverty-
f Heb. 12:14.
193

GARDEN SPOTS IN
stricken, no matter what its accomplish
ments, until it is supported by a heart
that is wholly given to God.
The Danger of Officialism
Even the ministry itself seems almost
unable to command these visions of
truth as gifts from God. We no longer
feel keenly the need, and, as a result, our
preaching is ofttimes fruitless, and the
people are perishing for the want of
truth. Sometimes the minister is
afflicted with heart-blindness. He can
not see because the vision has disap
peared — because of his failure to study
the full truths of God's Word.
Is not the affliction of the ministry
to-day officialism? We have come to
regard our work, not so much as a
calling as a profession, a matter of
the discharge of official duty. Love and
power seem to have gone out, and we are
at work simply as officials. In this
sense, officialism is a curse to the minis
try and a blight to the life of the Church.
It dishonors God and dwarfs the Church
of Christ. When there is no vision the
people cast off restraint — go wild in
194

THE OLD TESTAMENT
the enjoyment of the fleshly life. If the
ministry will call the Church to a pray
erful study of the Bible, to a life of
prayer, to the earnest service of God,
both the ministry and the Church may
yet see visions that shall bring life in
all its fulness — newness of life which
comes only from the life of God through
Christ.

195

A CHEERFUL HEART
" 'He that is of a cheerful heart hath a
continual feast.' .... Whether life to me
is good and joyous and worth while does
not depend half so much on what I have
in my pocket as it does upon what I
have in my heart  The problem of
living happily and satisfactorily is not
a problem of getting something, but a
problem of becoming something. Life
will take color and tone not from what
I have, but from what I am. There are
just as many people happy among those
who haven't very big bank accounts as
there are among the millionaires, just
as many who find life a feast among
those who eat very frugal fare as among
those who luxuriate in over abundance,"

Visions of Truth

HIS IMAGE
"Remember, you cannot see both sides
of the coin at once. When you are dis
couraged by the striving of the animal
nature, and utterly disgusted with your
self and hating yourself as wholly unre-
generate, the noblest exercise of your
mental faculty is to force yourself to
turn over the coin of yourself, and think
intensely into the other side. Say: 'But
I am the Lord's; His image is stamped
on me. His life is in me; His eternal
purpose is my perfection. My true ego
is His divine Spirit.' "

WAIT— IT WILL SURELY COME.
"And still from Him we turn away,
And fill our hearts with worthless things."
In the days of the long ago God often
made known His thoughts through
visions. To men and women whose
hearts and minds were prepared to
receive instruction, He spoke through
the supernatural. In this way He
rebuked sin and led His people to great
victories. God rebuked Aaron and
Miriam in a vision and taught Balaam
the folly of his rashness. It was in a
vision that He revealed to Isaiah the
depth of his uncleanness. In a similar
manner Paul was arrested, while perse
cuting the saints, and was converted.
In a vision Peter was taught to call not
that which God had cleansed common
or unclean. To John on the Island of
Patmos was given in a vision the great
est unfolding of human history in the
Church of Christ that any man ever
looked upon. These visions were always
important. Sometimes they indicated
199

GARDEN SPOTS IN
coming judgment, and sometimes, com
ing glory.
Waiting for the Vision
We read in Habakkuk 2 : 2, 3—
"And the Lord answered me, and said:
Write the vision, and make it plain upon
tables, that he may run that readeth it. For
the vision is yet for an appointed time, but
at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though
it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely
come, it will not tarry."
In modern times we have almost
ceased to look for the supernatural
vision. The intellectual glow of the
twentieth century seems to preclude the
thought of God speaking to His people
in this way. The change is in us, not in
the Lord. No doubt He would speak to
us now, if He could find the mind and,
heart ready to receive His instruction.
The unprepared mind and heart are as
surely shut to the visions of God as
were the closed receivers of the wireless
machine in mid-ocean on that fearful
night in April, 1912, when for lack of
a hearing ear the Titanic went to the
bottom of the ocean, carrying with it
1,600 souls. .200

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Signal Calls not Heard
On the ocean of time there have been
many wrecks — there was no open ear to
receive the signal calls, and all went
down in ruin. It was so in Judah's
history. In her sinful life God gave
her warning through Habakkuk, but
she was sin-deaf, she did not hear.
There was one open heart and mind to
receive it — it was Habakkuk. God had
told him to tell Judah that because of
her iniquity He would do a work
among them in their days, but they
would not believe it. Habakkuk's mes
sage to Judah was that He would raise
up that bitter and hasty nation, the
Chaldeans, that He would send them
marching through their land to possess
their dwelling-places, that they should
come in violence, leaving destruction in
their wake. Of course, Judah did not
like that message, but they laughed at
Habakkuk and called in question his
authority. It is implied that they
argued with the prophet to show that
there was nothing in his message — they
did not believe him at all. This mani-
201

GARDEN SPOTS IN
festation of unbelief and resistance sent
the old prophet to his place of prayer > as
we read in the beginning of the second
chapter, where he declared —
"I will stand upon my watch, and set me
upon the tower, and will watch to see what
He will say unto (in) me, and what I shall
answer when I am reproved"- — or argued with.
A Messenger of Mercy
Habakkuk came to them as a mes
senger of mercy to give them warning
and an opportunity to repent and so
escape the threatened judgments, the
invasion of the Chaldeans and the
destruction of their country, but Judah
would not believe — they spurned the*
messenger and his message, and con
tinued their carousals in sin.
Habakkuk offended the people by tell
ing them the truth. That has often
been the lot of the man sent to save.
People do not like to be rebuked, or
warned. They argued against Habak
kuk, utterly discrediting his message.
When they denounced him and would
not accept his message, the old prophet
said, "I know what I will do. I will
go up and enter into my watch-tower 202

THE OLD TESTAMENT
and there I will tell the Lord how they
have rejected His message of warning,
and ridiculed His messenger." In a very
short time he got an answer. The Lord
said —
"Write the vision, and make it plain upon
tables, that he may run that readeth it, for
the vision is yet for an appointed time, but
at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though
it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely
come, it will not tarry." — Hab. 2:2, 3.
Listening to the Inner Voice
A very beautiful thought is wrapped
up in the first verse of the second chap
ter. When the prophet went up into
his watch-tower, he said : "I will watch
to see what He will say unto me." The
English translation leaves the idea
partly hidden, but the Hebrew brings
it out. The prophet really said, "I will
watch to see what He will say, not unto
me," but in me. He knew what it was
to receive a message for others. He
also knew what it was to receive a mes
sage for himself — inner communion
with God, a veritable heart-message.
No man ever lost finally by being true
to God. Judah would not hear Habak
kuk, but God heard him and rewarded
203

GARDEN SPOTS IN
his faithfulness by giving him a vision
of one of the greatest truths ever made
known to man — a great comfort to the
burdened prophet. We find the vision
stated in plain language in verse four.
"The just shall live by faith" — a
blessed hope for all Christendom. It
was given almost seven hundred years
before it was fulfilled in the coming of
Christ. Judah sought to dishonor
Habakkuk by rejecting his message, but
God exceedingly honored him, approv
ing his faithfulness and his courage by
giving him a vision of a most precious
truth — salvation by faith.
Distant, but Coming
God urged the prophet to wait for the
vision. He said it is distant, but it will
come at the appointed time. The vision
was undoubtedly of the coming Christ
and the salvation He was to bring.
Here again our English translation
leaves a great truth obscured, to say the
least, declaring simply that "the just
shall live by faith," but the Hebrew
declares that by faith we shall live
eternally — that is, in Jesus Christ. 204

THE OLD TESTAMENT
While the vision was distant, the
prophet was fully assured that it would
come on time, speaking, proclaiming a
great message to men, the real import
of which is largely lost in our English
translation, but in the Hebrew the word
speak shines with divine splendor. It
literally means one breathing or pant-,
ing, indicating one with an important
message, delayed, but hurrying to make
time, lest it come too late to serve its
great purpose — panting for breath as
from a long run.
Waiting and Praying
There is another important thought
which appears only dimly in our
English — the prophet was ordered to
wait for the appointed time. That
implies waiting in prayer — praying to
be kept in harmony with God's thought
and purpose, ready to receive the vision
when given. Marconi's transmitter will
not give a message to a receiver which
is not adjusted to the transmitter. So
waiting for the vision means waiting in
prayer, in touch with the Spirit, quali
fied to receive the great truth, THE
205

GARDEN SPOTS IN
JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. The
lack of harmony between man and God
arises from two sources. They are :
1. The Weakness, Ignorance, and
Indifference of Man. These hinder a
living union between the heart and God.
2. The Devil, the Hinderer, Makes
Every Possible Delay in Giving the
Message of Truth. Satan a Hinderer
This fact seems clearly set forth in
the tenth chapter of Daniel, where the
messenger who was sent by the Prince
of the kingdom of Persia was delayed
for twenty-one days, but when he did
"arrive, the first thing he did was to
assure Daniel that his prayer had been
heard from the first day that he set his
heart to understand, chastening himself
before God, and that though delayed,
the answer was sure from the start.
That Satan hinders God's messengers
seems to be amply supported by the best
evidence. Paul told the Thessalonian
church that he would have come to them
once and again, had not Satan hindered
him. We know that Satan resisted 206

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Joshua as he stood before the Lord.
Then, too, Paul declared that he was not
fighting with flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Knowing so well what
all this resistance meant, Paul urged
God's people not to cast away their con
fidence under trial — that after we have
done the will of God, we may receive
the reward. On the other hand, if we
lose our confidence under trial, we
destroy our own faith, the only channel
through which God may come to us.
Instead of giving up under trial, we
need to betake ourselves to our place of
prayer, as Habakkuk did, to see what
He will say in us, as to His will and
purpose. We need, when under trial,
to talk with God, and this we cannot do
to advantage in the hurly-burly of
human society. We need to be alone
with God in the hour of trial.
Why the Answer Is Delayed
Is there delay in God's answer to
your prayers? Do not faint — remem-
207

GARDEN SPOTS IN
ber that God's answer is on the way. The
messenger may be delayed, but he will
come, panting as one hurried in a race,
showing God's purpose to meet us as
soon as we are ready to receive. Satan
may hinder, but he cannot prevent,
answer to prayer. The devil is mighty,
but God is all MIGHTY. Let us consider
the significance of this vision to the
Church of Christ away off here in the
twentieth century of the Christian Era.
Habakkuk in his thought that God
would speak in him clearly points to the
inner consciousness under divine com
munication — a privilege which was to
accompany the giving of the vision of
living by faith. Jesus evidently had
such a thought in mind when He said :
"He that loveth me shall be loved of my
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him."
Love has three links, one for the
Father, one for His Son, one for man.
A little later Jesus also declared :
"And the glory which Thou gavest me I
have given them."

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Manifestation of the Divine Presence
What is this manifestation but the
consciousness of fellowship with Him,
and what is this glory which He had
with the Father, but the inner revela
tions of divine truth, given to believers
for inner enrichment by faith? In this
manifestation of the divine Presence
the believer finds spiritual enlargement
and gets a clearer insight into truths of
the inner life, after the divine pattern
— a life each one must get and main
tain for himself through communion
with God.
It is easy to give up seeking the riches
of grace, but if we are to get the vision,
there must be no let-up till we find the
fulness of blessing.
Astronomers have discovered worlds
out in space. They did that with the
telescope, but the telescope is super
seded — another method now leads the
astronomer out into the fields of light —
the use of the camera. Photographic
films are exposed to the starlight of the
heavens through the darkness of the
night, when the very space of worlds is
209

GARDEN SPOTS IN
photographed, revealing the presence
and splendors of the infinite spaces
of the universe — worlds beyond are
brought very nigh.
In the Realms of Spiritual Light
This wonderful discovery has its
counterpart in the realms of spiritual
light. Using the telescope of his intel
lect, man has surveyed the fields of
divine truth, finding here and there a
world lighted. Let him cease from man,
and looking beyond, let him grasp the
light which the Spirit offers.
The believer who will open his heart
and mind in the darkness of this world
to the incoming light of the Holy Spirit
shall receive such revelations of divine
truth as shall qualify him to enter into
the fulness of life in Christ. Paul
explained what this means when he said
only the Spirit-taught person can
understand Spirit-taught truths.
The very name of Habakkuk hints at
the method of making these larger gains
in the divine life. His name means
"the strong embrace of God." What a
picture of the true Christian life — 210

THE OLD TESTAMENT
caught up into the strong embrace of
God and kept for service or for sacri
fice! Let us, when passing through
hard places, go into the watch-tower,
the secret place of prayer, and there,
in the strong embrace of God, wait to
see what He will say in us, as indicat
ing His will concerning us. Here let us
rest in faith.

211

GOD UNDERSTANDS
"It is so sweet to know,
When we are tired and when the hand
of pain
Lies on our hearts, and when we look in
vain
For human comfort, that the heart di
vine
Still understands these cares, both yours
and mine:
"Not only understands, but, day by day,
Lives with us while we tread the earthly
way;
Bears with us all our weariness, and
feels
The shadows of the faintest cloud that
steals
Across our sunshine; ever learns again
The depth and bitterness of human
pain.
"There is no 'sorrow that He will not
share,
No cross, no burden, for our hearts to
bear
Without His help, no care of ours too
small
To cast on Jesus: let us tell Him all —
Lay at His feet the story of pur woes;
And in His sympathy find sweet repose."

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The Ck)MiNG of Light
TWO PRAYERS
"One cried in earnest, pleading prayer:
'Lord, take the burdens from my
heart;
Lift from my brow its croivn of. care,
Take from the rose its stinging smart.
Choose not the lonely, rugged way
By dark Gethsemane for me;
But lead me gently, day by day,
In pleasant pathways up to Thee!'
"Another voiced his soul in prayer:
'Lord, take no burdens that are best;
For while my brow is worn with care,
My spirit finds in Thee sweet rest.
Some souls but dimly see the light,
Let me their loving helper be;
And give me strength to climb the
height
That leads at last to love and Thee!'
"One lost his burdens, and repined
In idleness, unloved, and unsought,
And learned the rose with thorn en
twined
Is sweeter than to cherish naught.
One found in duty highest meed,
While unseen angels near him trod;
An almoner for souls in need,
He passed through human love to
God."

A FOURFOLD VIEW OF CHRIST
AND HIS CHURCH AS FORE
SHADOWED IN OLD TES
TAMENT PARABLES.
"As the light of the morning, even a morning
without clouds."
While the Old Testament deals
largely with the people of God before
Christ was manifested in the flesh, yet
through types and shadows and mir
acles and parables, it has much to say
of His coming and of the work of His
Church. In this way we get early fore-
gleams of the coming light of the Chris
tian Dispensation.
Indeed, prophetic utterances were
largely devoted to the character of
Christ and His Church. Throughout'
the Old Testament we find here a type
and there a shadow, here a parable and
there a miracle, each in its own peculiar
way revealing the Son of God going
forth to war in the Church as His
chariot of conquest. Let us look into
215

GARDEN SPOTS IN
a few of these, as more clearly showing
the mission of the Church and the scope
of its great work.
A Child's Wise Answer
A child was asked, What is a parable?
She answered : "A parable is an earthly
story with a heavenly meaning."
That answer is full of thought. A
theologian might not accept it, but it is
doubtful if he could give a better
answer. Turning to our task, let us
study —
I. The Lost Equipment.
"And the iron did swim." — 2 Kings 6: 6.
God Himself did not despise the day
of small things, neither should His
people. We have the bursting bud, the
opening bloom, the growing, and then
the ripening, fruit.
Elisha and his disciples had made a
beginning for a school of the prophets.
Of course it was crude, but it was the
center of their activities and the scene
of their growth. Their numbers had
increased till the enlargement of their
plant became a necessity. Some of the 216

THE OLD TESTAMENT
students, appreciating the need of
larger quarters, said to Elisha :
"Behold the place where we dwell with thee
is too strait (small) for us. Let us go, we
pray thee, unto Jordan and take thence every
man a beam, and let us make a place where
we may dwell." — 2 Kings 6 : 12.
Elisha, recognizing the need, readily
agreed to the proposition, and went
with the young men in search of the
timber. By the Jordan, they began fell
ing trees for the enlargement of the
school building. In a short time one of
the young men quit work, not of choice,
but because he had lost his equipment —
his axe-head came off and fell into the
water beyond his reach. He cried out :
"Alas, master, for it was borrowed!"
Recovering the Lost Equipment
Elisha asked the young man to point
out to him the place where the axe-
head sunk into the water. He did so.
Then the old prophet cut a stick and
cast it into the water where the axe had
fallen. Immediately "the iron did
swim," and as it came in sight the
prophet said to the young man : "Take
it up to thee !"
217.

GARDEN SPOTS IN
The young man put out his hand,
took the swimming iron, delighted with
its restoration. In the first place, the
axe was borrowed ; in the second place,
without it he could not fell trees for the
new school-building. No wonder he was
distressed, for without his equipment he
was useless. From this incident we
may learn a practical lesson in Chris
tian service, viz. :
The swimming iron is expressive of
the character and work of the minister
and the Church among men.
The restoration of the borrowed axe
to the young laborer was clearly a mir
acle God worked through the prophet.
No human agency can make iron swim.
This incident gives us a striking por
trait of the individual, equipped and
not equipped, for service. Though it
was a borrowed one, yet while the young
man had his axe, he was equipped for
the work in hand, but when the axe
went to the bottom of the Jordan, the
young workman could not longer work.
Think of a man trying to fell a tree with
an axe-handle — absurd, but no more so
218

THE OLD TESTAMENT
than is a Christian at work, trying to
lead men to Christ for salvation, while
he himself has not the gift of the Holy
Spirit. The axe was no more necessary
to the success of the young man's labors
than is the gift of the Spirit for the real
success of the Christian worker in win
ning souls to Christ.
The Daring of Unbelief Is Amazing!
In an effort to dispense with the mirac
ulous, some men have dared to say that
Elisha pushed a piece of wood under
neath the axe-head and so lifted it out
of the water. Another class of would-
be critics declares that Elisha thrust a
stick in the hole in the axe-head and so
pulled it out. How puerile ! If there had
been no miracle in it all, the incident
would never have come to us as of any
consequence. Alas, for man's unbelief !
How humiliating it is to see a man crit
icising his Maker! It would be just as
sensible to deny that the heat of the sun
has anything to do with the germina
tion of life in a seed, as to deny miracles
as the legitimate outcome of the power
of God.
219

GARDEN SPOTS IN
A Borrowed Axe
The borrowed axe is suggestive. The
lost axe is distressing. The recovered
axe is an intimation of new service, and
therefore a new joy in the life. Is not
the Christian's equipment for service
always borrowed? May it not be lost?
In that event, he is as helpless as was
the young man without his axe. As the
young man's equipment was loaned to
him for service, so is the Christian's
equipment — the gift of the Spirit —
loaned to him as an enduement for
service. The young man's loss ended
his usefulness. It is every whit as true
of the Christian in service — he can
serve successfully only so long as he is
under the power of the Spirit. The loss
of the Spirit is the loss of usefulness.
Christ confirms this view, for He said :
"Without me ye can do nothing."
The young man did not try to cut
another beam after he had lost his axe
— how could he? In this he showed
good sense. A blessing indeed would it
be, if when we lose our divine equip
ment we would spend no more time in
220

THE OLD TESTAMENT
an effort to do the work, but rather give
the whole attention to regaining our
equipment, as this young man did.
Sad, Indeed!
What is sadder than to see a preacher
trying to preach the gospel when his
power is gone — when the Holy Spirit
has been grieved to the point of leaving
the preacher to struggle alone? It is
only a poor excuse for trying to render
an impossible service. We doubt not it
makes the devil and all of his imps
laugh to see such an effort. The devil
never fears the Christian who labors
without his equipment, the gift of the
Spirit. May the success of the young
man with his axe, and his failure with
out it, ever be a reminder to the Chris
tian worker of the certainty of failure,
if his equipment is lost. The secret of
the success of the new building for
Elisha's college was in the fact that
they followed God and obeyed Him —
that is always the secret of true success
in the Church.
221

GARDEN SPOTS IN
II. The Flowing and Deepening
River.
"And everything shall live whither the river
cometh."— Ezek. 47:9.
Ezekiel's vision of the holy waters!
How marvelous ! What a picture of the
Holy Spirit flowing through the Church
to the ends of the earth, giving life to
everything it touches. Issuing from
beneath the temple eastward, deepening
and spreading as it flowed, the waters
became a river that could not be passed
over — a river to swim in, picturing
blessed revelry in the fulness of the
Spirit-filled life.
A deep and overflowing river is
expressive of the fulness and power of
the spiritual life of the Church of
Christ. The River Lined With Fruit-bearing Trees
Looking to the banks of the river,
Ezekiel saw them lined with trees, bear
ing fruit for food and leaves for
medicine. The river itself was life-
giving — everything it touched lived,
just as vegetation lives where the
stream of water spreads — so spiritually, 222

THE OLD TESTAMENT
whatever is touched by the River of God
lives and flourishes and blooms and
fruits. This river flowed through a dry
country, but it put everything to its best
— new life, new foliage, new fruitage,
and a wonderful harvest ! Not only did
the river flow through a dry country,
but it flowed into a sea of death. Noth
ing could live in the Dead Sea, but the
emptying of these waters into that hole
of poison, healed its waters, and forth
with fish lived in its depths. What a
picture the Dead Sea gives us ! Full of
death by its own strength, meantime the
river Jordan was pouring its fresh
waters into its great basin, as if to
destroy its death-dealing power by
constantly flooding it with fresh water,
but in vain! And yet the moment the
holy waters began to pour into its
depths, that moment its deadly waters
were healed, and whatever sought to
make a home therein found, not death,
as heretofore, but life and growth and
fruitfulness.
223

GARDEN SPOTS IN
A Symbol of a Dead Church
What a picture of a ,dead church was
the Dead Sea! Human goodness is
poured into the dead church, much as
the Jordan poured its fresh waters into
this sea of death, only to find nothing
had been accomplished — t he fresh
waters speedily became salty and no
fruit, but death, appeared. When the
river of holy waters began to pour into
the Dead Sea, its waters were healed. So
when the River of God begins to pour
its living waters into a dead church,
forthwith it begins to live and pour out
its blessings upon humanity. Only the
power of God can turn death into life,
and only He can make life as a fruitful
vine. Again this Dead Sea is a fit symbol of
the world, dead in trespasses and sin.
The river Jordan pouring its waters
into its depths may represent the
teachers, philosophers, philanthropists,
humanitarianists, and merchant princes
who pour their treasures into the lap
of human want, but spiritually in vain !
All of these combined cannot give life
224

THE OLD TESTAMENT
to the great sea of humanity — cannot
bring the much-sought-f or uplift of men
and women to this living life. It takes
the power of God to accomplish such an
end — when He sends the holy waters to
flood the dry and perishing peoples,
then everything these waters touch,
lives, buds, leaves, blooms, and fruits,
all bringing a glorious harvest in the
salvation of the lost.
A Symbol of a Spreading Gospel
Note also the rapid increase in the
depth and breadth of the river.
First it rose to the ankles, then to the
knees, then to the loins, and then it was
a river that one could not pass over,
so deep and wide. A beautiful symbol
of the River of God as the Gospel
Stream, flowing from nation to nation
till it reaches the ends of the world, and
the beauty of its power is the fact that
wherever it touches, life is imparted,
and men and women come to know the
Lord. How wonderful has been the
progress of this mighty onflowmg
river ! Ezekiel's vision, beginning ankle
deep, swept on and on, deepening and
225

GARDEN SPOTS IN
broadening, till one could not pass over
it, but could swim in it. Beginning
anew in the days of Christ with a few
unlearned fishermen, this marvelous
stream swept on beyond the Jews and
took in the Gentiles, then through Asia
Minor, Greece, the continents of
Europe, the isles of the sea, and the
western world, and now its tide is
returning and spreading, through mis
sionary effort, in Palestine, in China, in
Africa, in India, and in South America,
and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
It is the glorious gift of the glorious
Christ to a fallen world !
III. In the Enclosed Garden and
the Sealed Fountain.
"A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse;
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." — Song of
Solomon 4: 12.
The tender lover, speaking of his bride-
elect, compares her to a closed garden,
to a sealed fountain! How expressive
are these comparisons! They present
at once the ideal of the true Church —
the enclosed garden keeps all enemies
away from the tender and beautiful
plants and flowers. The sealed foun-

THE OLD TESTAMENT
tain is the symbol of purity within, no
poison, no filth can enter there to spoil
its sweetness!
The enclosed garden is expressive of
the separated life of the Church and
the sealed fountain of its purity in
doctrine and practice.
Shielded From the Blight of Sin
We are here taught in these figures
that God puts Himself round about His
people to preserve their character,
beauty, and fruitfulness from the
blighting touch of sin. Elsewhere He
represents Himself as a wall of fire,
protecting His own from the curse of
sin. Satan must not be allowed the
privilege of the garden, or the sealed
fountain. Each of these figures seems
to stand out, and in a way that cannot
be misunderstood, proclaiming the sep
aration of the Church from the unholy
and impure things of the world.
Again, keeping up the figure of the
garden, the Lover tells His Bride of the
plenty that shall crown her life —
"Thy plants are as an orchard of pome
granates, with pleasant fruits." — Song of Solo
mon 4: 13.
227

GARDEN SPOTS IN
How beautiful are these figures!
How expressive of the blood-bought
relationship of the Church to her Lord !
The Church is a spiritual garden, nour
ishing tender plants, and bringing forth
the sweetest flowers and richest fruits
of the divine life. The Church can
never be all of this till she is separated
from the world — the Spirit of our God
must enclose her as a fence encloses a
garden, or as a wall, the" fountain, keep
ing her from mingling in the ways of
death and spiritual ruin. Enclosed,
sealed by the Spirit, the Church is at
once a mighty power in the hands of
our God, but exposed to the invasion of
the world with its poison and ruin, she
is helpless and undone !
IV. In the Candlestick All op
Gold.
"Behold a candlestick all of gold." — Zech.
4:2. How beautiful are the thoughts of
God! How expressive is the language
of inspiration ! Every type, figure, par
able, and symbol seems to overflow with
the fulness of God, and yet these are 228

THE OLD TESTAMENT
given to us so simply that the finite
mind may grasp them under the illumi
nation of the Spirit. Every word of
God seems weighted with precious
thought — food for the hungry soul. ^
The candlestick all of gold is expres
sive of the character and service of the
Church in its highest state of spiritual
development in the earthly life.
Light Givers
The candlestick all of gold is expres
sive of the light-giving character of
Christ as He stands in the midst of His
Church, leading the way to its highest
state of spiritual development.
In Zechariah's vision of the candle
stick there was no alloy — it was all of
gold, giving out the pure light as from
the face of the Sun of Righteousness.
Gold is a symbol of Christ, but the
golden candlestick, equipped with the
bowls and oil, its seven lamps and its
seven pipes, at once suggests the
thought of Christ in the midst of the
Church and through it giving light to
the world. This interpretation seems
fully justified by the interpretation
229

GARDEN SPOTS IN
given to the candlesticks in Rev. 1 : 20,
where it is definitely stated that the
candlesticks are the seven churches.
God thus foreshadows His purpose to
give His Church light that it may know
the ways of truth and righteousness and
walk therein. Godlessness means dark
ness. On the other hand, in the light of
God we shall see light1 and walk with
Him in its noonday splendor. The
reason the Church does not live a pure
and fruitful life is because she does not
live in the light of God. Purity is God's
ideal for the Church. He will not give
her to His Son, as His Bride, till she is
pure. To contend otherwise is to put
God's ideal below that of man's, for no
man wants a bride who is not pure and
beautiful in life and character. Can
God be satisfied with less?
Is Such a Life Possible?
Many are holding that the Church of
Christ can never realize such a life on
this earth. They believe it is too weak
— that it has too many enemies lurking
on its pathway, seeking its ruin, to per-

'Psa. 36: 9; Psa. 139: 11; Zech. 14: 7. 280

THE OLD TESTAMENT
mit it ever to reach such an ideal as God
has marked out for it. But that view
comes as the result of magnifying
human strength and minifying the
divine power. If we correctly read the
promises of God, such a day is coming.
It may be near, or it may be far, but it
is coming — must come. God means that
His Church shall be the spotless Bride
of Christ. If she be not that, it will be
because the Church refuses the dis
cipline necessary to bring her forth as
the gold that is tried in fire.
Even in the New Testament we are
taught that Christ gave Himself for the
Church, that it might be a glorious
Church, not having a spot or wrinkle, or
any such thing, that He might sanctify
it and present it to Himself a glorious
Church without a blemish.1 That is the
divine ideal to which God calls individ
ual believers to come.
Shall Christ Have an Impure Bride?
Purity is Christ's own thought of His
own blood-bought Church. To dispute
it is to discredit Christ's own conception

'Eph. 5:25-27.
231

GARDEN SPOTS IN
of His finished work. That is sin, rank
unbelief! Rather let us magnify His
power to save and to keep to the utter
most. Men are saying such a Church
in this world is impossible. But did not
Jesus say : "With God all things are
possible?" And shall we not believe
Him? Surely God can, and will, give
a pure Church as a beautiful Bride to
His Son. An impure Church can never
fill the place of the Bride of Christ!
It is little short of the marvelous to
see what men can believe as to the pos
sibilities of the power of man. It is no
less marvelous to see how little faith
men have in the power of God to work
wonders in the salvation of man. We
find no trouble to believe that the
human voice can be heard thousands of
miles away by the help of the wireless
telephone, or that the eye can be given
strength by the help of the telescope to
grasp the location, distance; size, and
appearance of the stars and the heavr
enly bodies, or that weak water can be
transformed into steam and so become
one of the mightiest powers in the

THE OLD TESTAMENT
world ; or we can believe that man can
actually fly like a bird of the air, by the
assistance of the aeroplane ; or, that the
ingenuity of man can devise a light with
such penetrating power as to permit us
to see through solid bodies, even through
iron itself, or to see the bones in our
own bodies, and without damage, and
yet we cannot believe that God can give
to His Son as His bride a spiritually
pure Church! Is Your Faith in God or Man?
Alas, for the power and the weakness
of faith ! We have mighty faith in the
power and skill of men, but so little
faith in the power and skill of God.
The twofold nature of faith is a great
mystery. With some people faith has
wonderful power to believe in man, but
a staggering incredulity when it comes
to believing God for the working of
great wonders in the spiritual realm.
Men lean upon knowledge rather than
faith, as if knowledge were a mightier
implement of human achievement. We
seem not to know that faith is the conr
tinuation of knowledge — a leap beyond
233

GARDEN SPOTS IN
knowledge into the arms of God. Why
this freak of faith ? If through natural
law such wonders can be accomplished,
why not believe that God can and will
do greater things in the spiritual realm?
Is it not because our adversary, Satan,
the disputer of this world, hinders our
faith? He does not object to man's
faith in history, science, and philosophy.
It is only when man believes in God's
way of saving to the uttermost, that the
wicked one contests every inch of prog
ress the believer makes. Believing is
the mighty link between God and man.
"Through a dark and stormy night
Faith holds a steady light —
Up the blackness streaking;
Knowing God's own time is best,
In patient hope I rest
For the full day-breaking."

234

Hope

OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS
"In Genesis the world was made
By God's creative hand,
In Exodus the Hebrews marched
To gain the promised land.
Leviticus contains the law,
Holy and just and good;
Numbers records the tribes enrolled,
All sons of Abraham's blood.
Moses, in Deuteronomy,
Records God's mighty deeds;
Brave Joshua into Canaan's land
The host of Israel leads.
In Judges their rebellion oft
Provokes the Lord to smite;
But Ruth records the faith of one
Well pleasing in His sight.
In First and Second Samuel
Of Jesse's son we read.
Ten tribes in First and Second Kings
Revolted from his seed.
The First and Second Chronicles
See Judah captive made;
But Ezra leads, a remnant back
By princely Cyrus' aid.
The city walls of Zion
Nehemiah builds again,
Whilst Esther saves her people
From plots of wicked men.
In Job we read how faith will live
Beneath affliction's rod,
And David's Psalms are precious songs
To every child of God.
The Proverbs, like a goodly string
Of choicest pearls, appear.

Ecclesiastes teaches man
How vain are all things here.
The mystic Song of Solomon
Extols sweet Sharon's rose,
While Christ, the Savior and the King,
The rapt Isaiah shows.
The warning Jeremiah
Apostate Israel scorns,
His plaintive Lamentations
Their awful downfall mourns.
Ezekiel tells in wondrous words
Of dazzling mysteries.
Whilst kings and empires yet to come
Daniel in vision sees.
Of judgment and of mercy
Hosea loves to tell.
Joel describes the blessed days
When God with man shall dwell.
Among Tekoa's herdsmen
Amos received his call.
Whilst Obadiah prophesies
Of Edom's final fall.
Jonah enshrines a wondrous type
Of Christ our risen Lord.
Micah pronounces Judah lost,
Lost, but again restored.
Nahum declares on Nineveh
Just judgment shall be poured.
A view of Chaldea's coming doom
Habakkuk's visions give.
Next Zephaniah warns the Jews
• To turn, repent, and live.
Haggai wrote to those who saw
The Temple built again.
And Zechariah prophesied
Of Christ's triumphant reign.
While Malachi, with garments rent,
Concludes the Ancient Testament."

GOD SAVE THE PEOPLE
When wilt Thou save the people?
0 God of mercy, when?
Not kings and lords, but nations!
Not thrones and crowns, but men!
Flow'rs of Thy heart, O God, are they;
Let them not pass, like weeds, away!
Their heritage a sunless day.
God save the people!
Shall crime bring crime forever,
Strength aiding still the strong ?
Is it Thy will, O Father,
That man shall toil for wrong?
No! say Thy mountains; No! Thy skies;
Man's clouded sun shall brightly rise,
And songs ascend instead of sighs.
God save the people!
When wilt Thou save the people?
O God of mercy, when?
The people, Lord, the people:
Not thrones and crowns, but men!
God, save the people; Thine they are,
Thy children, as thine angels fair.
From vice, oppression, and despair
God save the people. r
— Ebenezer Elliott.

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