1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



421 



see or not? i r ou recii.ll one whom the rulers of the 

 Jews attempted to confuse, telling him that Christ 

 was a sinner and could not be divine, threatening 

 to excommunicate him, accusing him of forsaking 

 Moses, to all of which declarations and accusations 

 he replied : " Whether he be a sinner or no, I know 

 not; one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, 

 now I see." Can't we know that much, however 

 many points of theology we may be uncertain of? 

 Possibly we are more like the man whose eyes 

 Christ touched, and then asked if he saw aught. 

 To which he responded: " I see men as trees walk- 

 ing." Then Christ again touched his eyes, and he 

 saw "every man clearly." If we have even a little 

 spiritual sight, can't we know it? If our vision 

 is fully restored, how can we help understanding 

 it? 



Have we not ground for believing that we can 

 know whether we are called or not, in the very 

 character of Christ? For illustration, suppose that 

 Dr. Pasteur's theory of inoculation to prevent hy- 

 drophobia were found to be an assured success, 

 and that, having never fully declared the secret of 

 the cure, Pasteur should decide to make it known 

 to the world, so that any who had need could at 

 once apply the remedy. But he declares the se- 

 cret in words so technical, or so indefinite, or so un- 

 meaning, that not one in a thousand can compre- 

 hend what he means. A poor fellow has been bit- 

 ten by a mad dog, and is trembling in fear of ap- 

 proaching death, and knows that here a sure cure 

 is spoken of, but he can't understand just what to 

 do. He does as he thinks he is directed, but can't 

 be sure, and waits in dread anticipation to see 

 whether the rabies will seize upon him. Rather 

 than extol Pasteur as a benefactor, would you not 

 rather condemn him because he made known the 

 remedy in such uncertain terms that men can not 

 know whether they have properly applied it or not? 

 What, then, would you think of the " great Physi- 

 cian " if he should set out to declare to the world a 

 remedy for the malady of sin, and should be so in- 

 definite in his declarations that those who feel the 

 dread poison coursing through their veins, and are 

 crying out to be saved, could not understand what 

 the remedy was, and could not know till death be- 

 gan to creep upon them that they had failed to com- 

 ply with those conditions? The very character of 

 Christ compels us to conclude that we can know 

 whether or not we have fulfilled the conditions of 

 eternal life. We find the directions very explicit 

 — " Whosoever heliewth— shall not perish, but have 

 everlasting life;" "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 

 he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that 

 sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come 

 into condemnation, but is passed from death unto 

 life " — no future translation—" is passed," even nine 

 new life is coursing through his vein6; " Hath ever- 

 lasting life," not, "shall have," or, "man have," 

 but "hath "—a present possession, a present reality, 

 and should be a present assurance. 



The Bible reveals to us a number of tests, by 

 which we can know whether we are Christ's or not. 



I. John 3: 14. — " We know that we have passed 

 from death unto life, because we love the breth- 

 ren." 



Rom. 8: iff.— ."The Spirit heareth witness with our 

 spirit, that we are the children of God." 



I". John 5: 10— 12— '* He that believeth on the Son 

 of God hath the witness in himself— and the witness 

 is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this 



life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; 

 he that hath not the Son of God hath not life "—so 

 reads the Revised Version. Note, the change in the 

 words underscored— "nm/ this is the record," of the 

 A. V., is changed to "the witness is this," in the 

 R. V. We are not compelled to probe our hearts 

 for the witness. We have the " witness within our- 

 selves," to be sure; but, likewise, " The witness is 

 this, God hath given to us eternal life— He thai hath 

 the Son hath life." Hare you the Son? That's the 

 question. If you have received the Son, you have 

 life. "These things," adds John (v. 13), "have I 

 written unto you, that ye may know that yehavr 

 life." Just take your Bible and read the whole of 

 this First Epistle of John if you want to know wheth- 

 er you are Christ's or not. When you have finish- 

 ed, I am confident that you will exclaim with Paul: 

 " I know whom I have believed, and am confident 

 that he is able to keep that which 1 have committed 

 to him against that day." 



Now, don't be discouraged if you have not this 

 assurance. Do not therefore conclude that you 

 are not a Christian. Only know that it is your 

 blessed privilege to have itj and be not content till 

 it is yours. "Give diligence to make your calling 

 and election sure," " Examine yourselves, wheth- 

 er ye be in the faith." It is your duty to know. 

 Of course, you may be a Christian without this as- 

 surance. A letter may be written, and yet remain 

 unsealed. A child may be heir to a large estate, 

 and yet not have the full enjoyment of it,. A weak 

 faith saves, though it may not give the assurance 

 of salvation. Many noted Christians have never 

 experienced this blessed assurance. Some one 

 spoke to Archbishop Leighton of his assurance. 

 " No, truly," he said, " I have only a tjood hope, and 

 a great desire to see what they are doing on the oth- 

 er side." 



" You have your feet upon the Rock," said a 

 friend to Wilberforce. 



" I do not venture to speak so positively," re- 

 plied the philanthropist, "but I hope I have." 



But is it notour privilege to know whether we 

 stand upon the Rock or not? " Whosoever heareth 

 these sayings of mine, and doeth them," says Christ, 

 "I will liken him unto a wise man which built his 

 house upon a rock." Can't we know whether we 

 hear the commandments of Christ, and, as best we 

 can, d<> them? When Philip de Morray was asked, 

 in old age, if he had a hope of future bliss, he re- 

 plied: " I am as confident of it from the incontesti- 

 ble evidence of the Spirit of God, as I ever was of 

 any mathematical truth from all the demonstra- 

 tions of Euclid." Can we not at least attain to a 

 degree of confidence such as this? 



Sometimes this comforting ray from the eternal 

 Sun of Righteousness is brighter than at others. 

 Our physical condition sometimes causes despair, 

 as it did to Elijah when he reclined exhausted be- 

 neath the juniper bush in the desert, and request- 

 ed that he might die. The state of one's health, 

 even the weather, often determines whether our 

 view of heaven is bright or dark. Try as I may, I 

 can never feel as cheerful upon a cloudy day as 

 when the sun shines upon the earth. Dr. Alex- 

 ander, an eminent theological teacher at Prince- 

 ton, who wag depressed by the raw ocean air, when 

 once asked by a student whether he always had a 

 full assurance of faith, replied, " Yes, except when 

 the wind blows from the east." 



Defective views of the atoning work of Christ be- 



