1 SAMUEL 12


21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

... The world, which John commands us in the name of his Master to "love not," is continually pressing itself upon notice, as the good which man ought to seek. By implication, it would have us repudiate the Gospel and its obligations as a barren and antiquated thing.

It is this ceaseless rivalry that compels men of God to be on their guard. They have to lean constantly on God, on the Bible, and on experience-which is leaning on powerful reason. Experience shows us the truth of what the Bible declares-that the world is a vain show, which passes away like the withering flowers; and that even while it unfolds itself in its greatest beauty, it is an evil thing, enshrining, in its fascinating forms and colours,

"the last of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,"

which are abhorrent to the Father. The same experience brought to bear on the Bible shows us the other side-that there is another world coming, in which, amid a beauty transcending the utmost dreams of the children of disobedience, life will be organised in purity, efficiency, and joy, on a basis that will endure everlastingly.

It is an affair of faith, seed-sowing, and self-denial at present-an affair meanwhile reaching even deeper into darkness-into affliction, tears, and death; but

"they that sow in tears shall reap in joy." "The afflictions of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed."

To accept now the lot of strangers and sojourners, is the part of true reason.

The Christadelphian, Feb 1898