2-20

SIN'S DEGRADATION-BURDEN-BEARING

51

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. 6: 2.

And ye shall succor men,

('Tis nobleness to serve.)

Help them who cannot help again,

Beware from right to swerve,
-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Let our unceasing earnest prayer
Be too for light, for strength to bear
Our portion of the weight of care,
Which crushes into dumb despair
One half the human race.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

BURDEN bearing is the law of Christ. He was the

bearer of the burdens which would have crushed the world to eternal ruin. Christ's example is the best commentary on his own teachings. Christ was weary and worn as you or I could be, yet He was ever ready to listen to the tale of sorrow and to ease the burdened heart. All day He goes about doing good; at night-fall His weary feet seek the mountain heights for strength to do the work of burden bearing on the morrow. He takes on Himself the burden of the weeping Martha and the sadder Mary. The people throng to Him with bodies burdened with disease and souls laden with sin. Christ might have had great reputation with the Pharisees had he scorned the sinful woman who sought his help. But instead he bears her burden, and challenges and receives the admiration of all noble souls. What a Christ is our Christ! What a Jesus is He whom we adore! The divine burden bearer!

Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden, even the God of our salvation. God is unto us a God of deliverances; and unto Jehovah the Lord belongeth escape from death. Ps. 6: 19, 20. I am poor and needy; make haste unto me O God: Thou art my help and my deliverer, O Jehovah, make no tarrying. Amen. Ps. 70: 5.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall repoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. John 16:20.

What once was woe is changed to bliss,
What once was loss is now my gain,

My sorrow is my happiness

My life doth live by being slain.

The piercing thorns have changed to flowers;
The spears have grown to sceptres bright;
And sorrow's dark and sunless hours
Become eternal days of light.

-Rev. Thomas Cogswell Upham.

BRIARS have their part in human discipline as well

as roses. The thunder storm purifies the air and so has a place in the economy of nature as truly as the sunshine. Darkness is as essential to the growth of vegetation as the light. Adversity is often more effective in the discipline of the mind and heart than is prosperity. God extracts good from fierce trials and manifold sweetness from painful bitterness. From man's lost estate God extracted repentance of sin and a return to Himself. Our grievous sin was the occasion of God's most glorious manifestation of His eternal love. Why was sin ever permitted to enter God's fair creation? The loftiest angel before God's throne cannot satisfactorily answer that quesOut of sin came deliverance, out of death came life, and God still overrules evil that good may come.

tion.

I will be glad and rejoice in Thy loving-kindness, for Thou hast seen my affliction: Thou hast known my soul in adversities. Thou hast set my feet in a large place. Amen. Ps. 31: 7, 8.

2-22

ADVERSITY-WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY

53

Ye are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hid. Matt. 5: 14.

The greatest gift a hero leaves his race

Is to have been a hero, say we fall:

We feed the high traditions of the world,

And leave our spirit in our children's breast.

-James Russell Lowell.

RUE believers literally occupy a high place. They are men of mark. They are set on a hill and cannot be hid. Ten thousand men read their life for every one who reads the Bible. A true Christian is God's best representative in the world. The world will judge God's character by the conduct and character of God's children. This truth places upon Christian men and women a solemn responsibility, and at the same time crowns them with unspeakable dignity and glory. There is a real sense in which we may say with becoming humility, but with literal truth, that every Christian is, in his measure, Christ to the world. He shows more of the character of God than any other being this side the throne of God.

Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me; try my heart and my mind. For Thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes; and I have walked in Thy truth. I have not sat with men of falsehoods; neither will I go in with dissemblers. I hate the assembly of evil doers, and will not sit with the wicked. Amen. Ps. 26: 2, 3, 4, 5.