What Think Ye of Christ?

WHEN I was residing, several years ago, in the village of C—, in Somerset-shire, I was well acquainted with one of the villagers, William D.
William was a believer in Christ, and his life testified to the reality of his faith. His walk and ways were consistent and exemplary. His wife was a stranger to the grace of God, and he was much tried by her dislike to that which he most valued. Her churlish, unpleasant, and ungracious manner repelled any attempt on the part of my husband and myself, and other Christian friends, to set the truth before her, and she always avoided us if possible, or met us with a sour countenance and signs of aversion which showed what was working within, and verified the solemn truth of God’s word that “the carnal mind is enmity against God.”
It happened on one occasion that her husband went to the village shop and bought some bacon for dinner. This was given to him wrapped in a piece of printed paper, which had been torn from a publication, containing a sermon on the words, “What think ye of Christ?” (Matt. 22:42.) William did not notice what was on the paper, and when he returned home he took the bacon out of its wrapping, giving it to his wife to prepare for dinner, and then threw the paper into the fire, which happened to be very low, and, indeed, was almost burned out.
As the piece of paper lay upon the smoldering embers, before it was consumed, the words, “What think ye of Christ?” caught Mrs. D.’s eye, and they arrested her attention. “What,” said she to herself, “do I think of Christ?” She pondered the words as she bent over the fire occupied with her cooking. The Spirit of God applied them in power to her conscience. She could not get rid of them. They were constantly coming up before her, and she could not rest until in the end she realized, through grace, peace and joy in believing, and could say that she had found a Saviour and Friend in Jesus.
The subsequent change in her countenance and manner was remarkable. She would welcome us with a smile and cheerful words, instead of repelling us with the frown or silence of former days. Her whole conduct and demeanor evinced the fact that she had been “turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” to the joy of her husband, and those who felt a real interest in her welfare.
H. P.
Words by the Way.
“AH! Lord God, behold Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee.” (Jer. 32:17.) These great words were sighed out by Jeremiah’s troubled soul in prayer to Jehovah. It is necessary to read the whole of the chapter from which they are taken, properly to enter into the prophet’s prayer and the Lord’s answer to it, but the single verse before us contains in itself deep encouragement for the tried and troubled heart. Dark as present circumstances may be, it is well for the believer, as did Jeremiah, to lay firm hold of God Himself. All was titter gloom to the natural eye, and the promises of God apparently impossible to be fulfilled when Jeremiah uttered the words before us. But he believed God. And God showed His servant who believed His word, His ways. First we have to trust God’s word, and if there be implicit trust in Him, His ways will be made manifest to us.
THE PRIME TEST OF PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.
THE apostle James skews us that the first great test of practical godliness is tongue-bridling. He who by God’s grace has learned to bridle his tongue is a man who can govern his whole body. If the blows delivered by the tongue were changed into strikings of the fist many would be no longer accepted by their fellows as Christians. But the tongue wounds the soul, and soul-wounds are sorer and deeper than those of the body. Half the heart pains of life are occasioned by that member, which is set on fire of hell.
We may have progressed in knowledge during the last twelve months; have we also learned the first lesson in practical Christianity,—to bridle our tongues?
“HIS MERCY ENDURETH Forever.” (Psa. 136)
Tins sweet refrain to the psalmist’s song of praise is no mere doctrine, but heartfelt experience. It is a good thing to establish our souls in God’s own and everlasting goodness. And this is a fitting verse for us with which to close our pages and our year. As time rolls on, as circumstances change, He changes not, and His mercy endureth forever. Study this 136th Psalm, and note that beginning with what God is Himself, and following on with His creation works, the psalmist rejoices in God’s redemption, deliverance, and restoration of His people.