Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1919 — How Christ Reveals Himself [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

How Christ Reveals Himself

By E. J. PACE

Acting Director M ission*ry Couree. Moody BiUe Institute, Chicago

TEXT—Now ye are the body of Christ and members one of another.—l Cor. 12:27. Imagine a slave-trader writing a hymn like this: Quiet, Lord, my forward heart. Make me teachable and mild; Upright, simple, free from art. Make me as a weaned child; From distrust and envy free, Pleased with all that pleases thee.

But it so happens' that John Newton was not a slave-trader when he wrote th la. From a blasphemous, .5 rut a I si a v e - driver, cracking Bis cruel lash over the backs of his black chattels, he had become one of the most sainted of our hymn writers. If ever a man “passed from death unto lifs,” “from the power

of Satan unto God,” It was this sweet singer of the Christian church. Some one else had taken possession of John Newton’s personality; had softened, sweetened and molded It into his own likeness and Image, and that one was Christ. The transforming power of life has been utilized to illustrate the manner in which the Lord of Glory transforms humanity into his own likeness. The figure used Is that of the human body, amazingly Intricate la its makeup, yet, in all its variety, a wonderful unity. A living personality dominates its every part, causing "every atom of matter to pulsate with its own life. Every atom of this body of mine once lay dead in the senseless clods of the earth, a highway for worms. Now, they are mine, and they have passed from death unto life. By the power of this life present within me, they have been transformed into living tissue, formed into myriad cells, assembled and arranged to suit my particular needs, the whole becoming my —^

Soul Revealer. The soul Is sometimes spoken of as “imprisoned in a tenement of clay," but is this true? The body does not shut in and conceal, the soul, but just the contrary. It is the great soul revealer. Indeed, so far as we have any experience, it is the soul’s only revealer. Wo can know nothing about each other save as we reveal ourselves through the acts of the body. Our characters are written plainly across our faces so that even “he who runs may read;” — The sublime truth which the New Testament teaches us,is that the Spirit of the Infinite God lays hold upon us who are dead in trespasses and sins and takes up his dwelling in the humblest believer in Christ. Through these believers, in whatever place or time, the Spirit of Christ reveals himself to the world. God has many ways of revealing himself, but in the moral work! only one, and that is through moral agents submitted to his loving control. Does the world see in me anything to suggest the character of Christ? Is the world led to sense the presence of the Master in my conduct of business affairs? Do my companions in the home who know me most intimately, appreciate the control of Gils divine life? But to be a true revealer, the body must be <- The Bond Servant. The body is not only the revealer, but also the servant of the soul, and Just so far as it serves, it reveals. With one sovereign will controlling everj part of my body, every member alive and alert to obey, I am enabled to do my work in the world with delight and ease. But if any member refuses to obey, what hindrance and loss result ! And has our ntaster no object to attain? What must be the yearning of his great heart to bind up the world's cruel wounds in this crisis, and how can he perform this ministry of healing except through the yielded obedience of The members of iris body? God grant us the will to surrender to him, and that habit of alacrity in our obedience .thatdelights to do Iris wilt.-This old world has no greater need than 1 this, “fie that doetli the will of God abideth forever.” My will is not mine own. ■ Till thou hast made it thine; -— P - It cannot reach a monarch’s throne Until Its crown resgns; It only stands unbent amid the clashlnj strife, " ' When on thy bosom It has leant, And found in thee its life. —George M&theson.