OUR Lord Jesus was the Righteous One, and when we think of death we are to think of him and his death, and to remember that as he laid down his life we also ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brethren. As he sacrificed earthly interests and advantages and privileges and pleasures that he might die the sacrificial death in accord with the divine plan, so let us remember that we have covenanted similarly to be "dead with him." For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him; if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him. Our hope of participation with him in his resurrection to glory, honor, and immortality is based upon our faithfulness in participating with him in his death, which means also a share with him in the sufferings of this present time. But standing as we do with the Pisgah prospect before us, strengthened by might in the inner man, why should either death or its attendant sufferings deter us? Nay, in all these things we will rejoice and triumph through our Lord and Redeemer, our Head! Z'07-269 R4055:5 (Hymn 325)

ONLY by partaking largely, regularly, daily, of our Lord, his merit, and his gracious arrangements for us, can we become strong in him, and prosecute the journey faithfully and enter into the spiritual Canaan. As every Israelite was required to gather manna for himself, so each Christian is required to gather and appropriate the truth. We must do our own part along spiritual lines, as well as along earthly lines. The graces of the Holy Spirit cannot be expected to come to perfection without preparatory planting, pruning, cultivating. Some one has well said, "Rooming at a college does not make a scholar, nor occupying a pew in church make a Christian." To grow strong in the Lord and in the power of his might we must feed upon him daily—we must appreciate and appropriate the merits of his sacrifice. Z'13-218 R5279:4 (Hymn 189)

OUR chief concern as followers of Christ is to seek to attain a share in God's kingdom with our dear Redeemer— a share in the millennial kingdom as the bride of Christ, who shall sit with him in his glorious throne for the blessing and uplifting of the world of mankind. We have our Master's assurance for it that whoever pursues this course will do wisely and that God will look out for his earthly interests, for his highest welfare. So doing, our lives will be crowned with peace and joy and rest in the Lord, which in his Word he has promised those who trust him. Z'10-73 R4567:5 (Hymn 8)

THIS text contains a precious thought—that the Lord has been with his representatives in all their labors of love and self-denial, throughout the entire age, noting their efforts, assisting, encouraging, sustaining them, and surely watering and refreshing all who are making his service their special object in life— ministering his grace to others, watering and feeding them. And if this has been true in the past, all through the age, how specially true we may realize it to be now, in the end of the age, in the time of harvest, in the time of our Lord's second presence! How we may realize that he is with us, in sympathy, in co-operation, in assistance, in sustaining grace, able and willing to make all of our experiences profitable to us, and to use us abundantly in showing forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light! Z'03-91 R3166:6 (Hymn 226)

IT IS not sufficient that we hear the message of the kingdom; it is not sufficient that we have good hearts or good intentions in respect to it; it is additionally necessary, as the Master says, that we should understand the kingdom message; hence the need of Bible study. Intelligent people consider it very wise and proper that several years of study be devoted to preparation for the few years of earthly life. How much study, then, should be considered proper for our preparation for the eternal life and kingdom blessings? The time and effort thus consumed in character development for the kingdom are wisely spent, and the harvest of thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold in this parable illustrates the degree and intensity of our earnestness. The rewards in the kingdom will also be proportionate. "One star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." Varying degrees of glory in the kingdom will be manifested, yet none will be acceptable to the Father who shall not have brought forth fruitage in good measure; the "well done" will never be pronounced if not merited. Z'10-203 R4635:5 (Hymn 49)

WHY do we need an Advocate? Because, although as new creatures we are free from condemnation and have fullest relationship with the Father and can go to him at "the throne of heavenly grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need," nevertheless we new creatures have not our new bodies and will not have them until we receive them in the first resurrection. Meantime, according to divine arrangement, we must use our earthly bodies, which both God and we acknowledge to be imperfect. Since we can act only through our bodies, it follows that "we cannot do the things that we would," because "in our flesh dwelleth no perfection." But if, through the weakness or ignorance of the flesh we err, the divine provision for us is that our Advocate, whose ransom merit was applied to us, will appear for us (figuratively apply his merit) for the cancellation of our unintentional misdeeds and thus maintain us in the Father's sight without spot or wrinkle. Z'09-347 R4516:6 (Hymn 141)

"I CAN do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13) Faith is an essential; but we must have crossed the Jordan; we must have been justified; must have partaken of the antitypical passover; must have been sanctified before we could have received of the Lord either a promise of victory over our Jericho, or before we could exercise such a faith as would result in that victory. If in the type faith could bring the fall of the strong walls of a city, how great must be the value of faith in the antitype! "This is the victory which overcometh the world, even your faith," but only so long as we trust in the Lord and seek to do those things pleasing to him, can we exercise this overcoming faith. Z'02-301 R3088:4 (Hymn 174)

COURAGE is always admirable, but there is a moral courage which should rank higher far than physical. This moral courage is greatly needed among the Lord's people; without it they can do nothing, and many of their difficulties in the Christian way are because they fail to appreciate this matter and fail to develop this courage. It requires real courage of the highest order to stand for the Lord's truth and his people when these are misunderstood, misinterpreted, antagonized. It takes real courage to stand for the light when the great Adversary with a world-wide influence brands it as darkness and leads an assault against it. It requires real courage to denounce the darkness meekly, persistently, when it has on its side wealth, culture, influence, and churchianity. Z'07-283 R4062:1 (Hymn 261)

GOD does not love us because we are doing great and wonderful things. His special love for us began when he begat us, because of the consecration we had made—because we had entered into the covenant of sacrifice. And the Father delights in all those who desire to be sealed with his Spirit—who desire to become his children. He began thus to love us as babes in Christ, and he loves us as we grow stronger, and he will love us to the end!...As we journey along, we need to keep ourselves in the love of God. It is necessary as babes that we should keep ourselves in his love; it is necessary as children; it is necessary when still further developed. How can we do this? By keeping his commandments. Thus we bring the body into subjection to the perfect will of God in Christ. Whoever does this finds himself growing. Day by day we are to grow and increase and become more and more Godlike; so we are more and more transformed as the days go by. Thus are we to keep ourselves in his love. Z'13-214 R5276:2 (Hymn 165)

PATIENCE is a virtue which our Heavenly Father desires to cultivate in us and he manifests in himself the grandest example of it. Through all the centuries past he has patiently endured the reproaches of those who, failing to understand the course of his wisdom in executing justice and in working out the deep designs of his abounding grace, attributed evil, and only evil, to his truly glorious and holy character. He knows that "in due time" his character will be fully vindicated, and so he patiently waits and works and endures. So also our Lord Jesus waits and endures. He endured great humiliation in coming to our low estate. Then as a man he patiently endured the contradictions of sinners against himself, and ungrateful persecution, even unto death, from those he came to save. And, like his Heavenly Father, through it all he was cheered in consideration of that "due time," though then in the far distant future, when his character, and also the Father's character, would be fully vindicated and manifested to every creature in heaven and in earth. And still our blessed Lord Jesus and our adorable Heavenly Father await with patience the grand consummation. So, in similar attitude of mind, we must wait; for the servant is not above his Lord, and our rejoicing in view of the future will, if we have the mind of Christ, be not only because of our own prospective vindication and glory, but also in prospect of the vindication and glory of God and of our Lord Jesus, and of the prospective everlasting triumph of truth and righteousness. Z'06-165 R3784:1 (Hymn 29)

CHRIST, our Head, and we, his members, are the antitype of him who was called "Laughter," or "Joyous." And do we not have more joy than others, even in this present time? True, we have a full share in the trials and difficulties and sorrows and disappointments that cause the whole creation to groan and travail in pain together, yet we have what they do not have— "the peace of God which passeth all understanding," ruling in our hearts and enabling us to be "joyful in tribulation" also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and all the various fruits of the Spirit which, when perfected in us, shall bring us to the complete joy and rejoicing of the heavenly kingdom. And if this name, Joyous, applies to us in such degree in the present time, what shall we say of the glorious future, when joined to our Master in the glories of his kingdom we shall cause the knowledge and blessing of the Lord to fill the whole earth, and bring laughter and joy to a world of mankind, now weak and groaning under the administration of sin and death? "Praise God from whom all blessings flow!" Z'01-263 R2861:5 (Hymn 27)

THERE is a particular reason why God should permit persecution to come upon his consecrated ones. "The Lord your God doth prove you," test you. Why? What is he proving? We profess to be his loyal children. We profess to be laying down all that we have. And now "the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 13:3) How much will you endure? How patiently will you endure? To what extent will you endure? Those who will endure most, and endure most patiently, will give evidence of the best character. And those who demonstrate the best character will have the highest positions in the kingdom. Each will get a position according to his faithfulness. But as star differeth from star in glory, so it will be in the kingdom. He who fights the greatest fight against his own nature and demonstrates most the love and zeal of his heart, such is the one who will have a high place. Z'14-40 R5395:6 (Hymn 331)

SATAN, the Adversary of the church, is strong and lion-like, vigilant and fully awake. As the Apostle Paul declares, he seeks to use every opportunity against us. He lies in wait, seeking to devour us. Although he is alert, he never approaches us with a roar, but creeps stealthily upon us in some unlooked for place or time, to devour us, to overcome us, to crush out our spiritual life, and particularly to destroy our faith in God. As those whose ears are trained to detect the footfalls of the lion will hear his steps, while those who are unfamiliar with his habits will not hear the slightest sound, so may we, whose ears the Lord has opened, and whose eyes have been anointed with the eyesalve of consecration and submission to the Lord's will, be of quick perception to recognize the approach of our archenemy and to resist him. Let us stand, clad in the full armor which the Word of God supplies, and in his strength wielding the sword of the Spirit. Z'13-54 R5183:6 (Hymn 183)

LET us, dear brethren and sisters, who are privileged to be heralds of the coming kingdom, be earnest, zealous as was John the Baptist, giving comparatively little heed to the customs and formalities of the world, and giving very diligent heed to our appointed work, to show forth the praises of our Heavenly Bridegroom, to announce him to all, to make known to all the terms and conditions of his favor and to bear witness to his presence now in the harvest time of this age, that his fan is in his hand, that he will thoroughly purge the threshingfloor of all chaff, that he will gather the wheat into the garner of his kingdom, and that the great majority of Christendom will soon enter the great time of trouble. If faithful in this ministry as the antitypical Elijah on this side the veil, we may feel sure of our acceptance as members of the body of the Anointed One on the other side the veil, and thus have participation in the sufferings of the present time and in the glories and dignities of the future. Z'06-31 R3713:4 (Hymn 255)

SOME Christian writer has well said: "Wherever there has been a faithful following of the Lord in a consecrated heart, several things have sooner or later inevitably followed. Meekness and quietness of spirit become in time the characteristics of the daily life. A submissive acceptance of the will of God, as it comes in the hourly events of each day, is manifested; pliability in the hands of God to do or to suffer all the good pleasure of his will; sweetness under provocation; calmness in the midst of turmoil and bustle; a yielding to the wishes of others (where there is no conflicting principle involved), and an insensibility to slights and affronts; absence of worry or anxiety; deliverance from care and fear—all of these, and many other similar graces, are invariably found to be the natural outward development of that inward life which is 'hid with Christ in God.'" Z'16-183 R5913:1 (Hymn 294)

AS HOLINESS and sin are opposites, so our feeling toward these must be represented by the sentiments of love and hatred. To grow cool in love for righteousness is to lose some of the abhorrence for sin. Let us, therefore, cultivate in ourselves hatred for sin, selfishness, impurity, and every evil way, that we may find it the easier to cultivate in our hearts the beautiful graces of the Spirit. Only in our minds have the old things passed away and all things become new. Actually, this change will be accomplished when we become spirit beings. Meantime, if we shall be counted worthy of a place in the first resurrection, it is required of us that we shall demonstrate our willingness of mind, our earnest desire, to be all that the Lord would have us be. In no way can this be better demonstrated to the Lord or prove more helpful to ourselves than in keeping a strict surveillance of our hearts and of our thoughts. Z'11-382 R4895:4 (Hymn 312)

WHO can consider the importance of becoming copies of our blessed Lord and Head without feeling that to attain to this character likeness will be a life- work! It cannot be accomplished in a day or in a year; but the whole life must be devoted to it; and day by day, if we are faithful, we should realize a measure of growth in grace and of development in Christian character. It is not enough that we know the truth, or that we be content to hold it in righteousness. We must see to it that the truth is having its legitimate and designed effect upon the character. And if the truth is thus received into good and honest hearts, we shall have the assurance of the Apostle Peter that "we shall never fall," but that in due time we shall be received into the kingdom. Z'11-410 R4911:4 (Hymn 105)

WE SEE in the parting of the beloved apostle with the elders of the church at Ephesus, who had come to bid him farewell before he set sail for Jerusalem, and to receive his parting counsel, another reminder of his faithfulness and a worthy example for our imitation. He said to them, "I know that ye...shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men [he was bearing in mind his personal responsibility as a steward of the Lord and the solemn significance of it as indicated by the Prophet Ezekiel 33:7-9]: for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." On the part of Paul there was no compromise of the truth, no mixing of it with human philosophies to make it more palatable to either Jews or Gentiles, or to avoid thus any measure of the otherwise inevitable persecution. The Christian teacher who can truly bear such testimony under such circumstances is indeed a soldier of the cross. Z'93-222 R1558:6 (Hymn 34)

WHAT a promise! What a suggestion—that we, by nature defiled and imperfect, should not only have the notice of our sovereign Creator, but should be invited to become his children and be given the assurance of his parental affection for us—that "like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that reverence him." How wonderful it seems! And then, as the apostle elsewhere declares, this is not the end of the matter, but merely the beginning, for he says, "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Z'15-233 R5739:5 (Hymn 189)

THE intimation is that Joshua, like Moses, was a meek man, humble-minded, and that instead of attempting to grasp authority he needed rather that the Lord should encourage him to undertake the responsibility of the position of leader. Happy would it be for all of the Lord's people if they were similarly meek and backward. All should criticize their own hearts and motives along these lines, and such as find in themselves an ambitious spirit should remember its dangers to themselves and to the Lord's people with whom they have to do, because the Lord resists the proud, the self-conscious, the boastful and ambitious, and shows his favor to the humble. Z'07-281 R4061:1 (Hymn 229)

WHOSOEVER receives the light of truth intelligently must rejoice in it; and rejoicing in it, he must let it shine out upon others, or, by covering his light with a bushel, he will demonstrate his lack of courage, lack of appreciation, lack of earnestness—qualities which the Lord is now specially seeking among those whom he has invited to be sharers with Jesus in the glories of the mediatorial kingdom about to be established among men. It is important, therefore, that we let our light shine before men; that we be willing, nay, glad if need be, to suffer for our loyalty to the Lord and to his message. And we have his Word for it that whoever is ashamed of him or of his Word now, of such he will be ashamed by and by. He will not own them as members of his bride class, will not accept them as assistants with him in his glorious throne. Z'12-49 R4967:5 (Hymn 261)

TO BE established in the truth signifies that we have carefully studied and thoroughly proved it by "the Law and the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20), and that as a consequence we are convinced of its verity, so that our faith is stedfast and unmovable: we know whom we have believed; we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good; we have partaken of the sweets of fellowship with him; we have partaken of his spirit of meekness, faith, and godliness to such an extent as to be led into a joyful realization of the fulness of his grace as manifested in the wonderful divine plan of the ages; and we have been permitted to see, not only the various features of that plan, but also the necessity and reasonableness of all its various measures in order to the full accomplishment of its glorious outcome in the fulness of the appointed times. This is what it is to be "established in the present truth." It is indeed a most blessed condition, bringing with it such peace and joy as the world can neither give nor take away. Z'02-307 R3089:3 (Hymn 93)

WHAT an exhortation! What an incentive to faithfulness! Who would not worship and serve such a God! And what a wonderful application can spiritual Israel make of this scripture! How marvelously has our God led us, his covenant people, through the wilderness of this world, and provided for our needs day by day! How the chastenings of his loving hand have kept our feet from wandering; or if we have turned at any time to the right hand, or to the left, how has his love drawn us back! And has he not brought us into a good land, a land of brooks of water, a land of fountains and depths, a land of oil olive and honey, a land wherein we eat bread, the Bread of Heaven, without scarceness? Truly, we have not lacked anything in it. If Israel of old had reason to prove their gratitude and love to God, how much more reason have we, spiritual Israel! Z'14-263 R5527:6 (Hymn 181)

THE Lord's true people are of such a kind that the fruit of their lives is nourishing and refreshing toward all who have fellowship with them. On the other hand; there are persons who, thistle-like, are always scattering seeds that will cause trouble—false doctrines, evil surmisings, and errors; and there are some who, like thorn bushes, instead of bearing refreshing fruit, are continually reaching out to impede, to irritate, to annoy, to vex, to poison, to injure, those with whom they come in contact. The Lord's people ought to have little difficulty in distinguishing between the false teachers who would mislead them and the under-shepherds who gladly lay down their lives in the service of the flock. The one class are continually mischief-makers, underminers, destroyers. The other class are helpers, builders, strengtheners, peacemakers. Z'06-93 R3747:2 (Hymn 267)

THE spirit of Christianity is an aggressive one. The Gospel sets before the true believer an object, a motive, which inspires to an enthusiasm of the highest degree. The message becomes a burning one which must flame forth as a true light to enlighten others. Otherwise it would become extinct, smothered. "Quench not the Spirit, whereby ye are sealed," may surely be applied to a proper missionary spirit as well as other ways. ...Ours is a message of special favor now being given out to any who have the ear to hear and the heart to appreciate and accept it. Ours is the missionary hunt for the Lord's jewels, for his "royal priesthood," his "little flock," his "elect"—that these may be enlightened and assisted to a clearer knowledge of the truth, that they may make their calling and election sure to joint-heirship with their Redeemer in the kingdom. Z'09-93 R4359:3 (Hymn 116)

MEDITATION on the divine law day and night is not, of course, to be understood literally—that we should do nothing else day or night than think upon the Scriptures. We are to understand the Lord to mean that we should ever have in mind, in connection with all of life's affairs, the thought that we are his, and that he is our guide and director in all things, and that the slightest matter that would pertain to our lives and our interests, day or night, should be undertaken with due consideration of the Lord's will respecting the same. Z'07-284 R4062:4 (Hymn 307)

THE declaration respecting Peter's authority to bind and loose was a common form of expression in those days, to indicate forbidding and permitting. One writer declares, "No other terms were in so constant use in Rabbinic Canon Law as those of binding and loosing. They represented the legislative and judicial powers of the Rabbinic office." This authority was shared by all the apostles (Matthew 18:18,19), and it is because of our belief in this that we hold to the exact presentations of the apostles as representing the divine will, and allow no testimony by subsequent followers of the Lord to have the same weight or influence. Respecting the apostles alone we have the assurance that they were divinely supervised—that whatever they forbade or allowed was under heavenly guidance and sanction. Z'06-174 R3789:6 (Hymn 227)

THE supply of manna was a beautiful figure of the supply of grace in Christ: it needed to be gathered daily; it would not keep over the succeeding days. The lesson of this would seem to be that those who accumulate much of God's grace and truth must also be dispensers of it. It is not provided with a view to the creation of a spiritual aristocracy. How often we have seen this exemplified: those who study the Word merely for themselves, and who do not commingle with the brethren and share their blessings, are not in the long run as much advantaged as we would have expected. Our gathering of the manna is to be day by day: our feeding on the Heavenly Bread is to be a continuous privilege, without which we will not have strength for the journey of life; but with it we should be strong in the Lord, and may perchance be permitted to assist others by the dispensing of divine grace to them. Z'07-186 R4012:5 (Hymn 226)

THE more we come to appreciate divine justice and the righteousness of the sentence of death against our race, the more also we come to appreciate the love and mercy of God toward us, and to rejoice that he was not willing that any should perish, and hence made provision wide enough, high enough, deep enough, that all might turn unto him and live—have everlasting life. This provision of mercy cannot ignore the sin nor can it permit the sinner to ignore it. It is necessary that the redeemed should know, should appreciate, their fallen condition, the justice of their sentence of death, and that their recovery is wholly of divine mercy. Unless they learn this lesson they could never appreciate the divine arrangements and the only terms upon which God could grant them everlasting life—terms of acceptance of God's grace and forgiveness and their obedience to him and his principles of righteousness. Z'06-62 R3729:5 (Hymn 79)

IN EVERY case it has been the Word of God that has caused the disturbance, the commotion. Whether sent through the prophets of old or through the apostles and reformers of this age it has been God speaking from heaven—and his Word is quick and powerful, searching beyond any human message. It will separate, it will distinguish; it will find the truth-hungry, it will separate the others; it is the light of which the apostle declared, Whatsoever doth make manifest is light. The attitude assumed by the people toward the light, the truth, demonstrates better than all their professions would do whether they are of the light or of the darkness. In our imperfection of judgment we might suppose that some were children of light who really are not of the light, and we might presume some to be children of darkness who are really different at heart. The Lord knows them that are his; he demonstrates who is on his side and who is on the side of darkness; let us be content and let the sickle of truth do the separating in the harvest work, and let us not be self-willed and self-opinionated, but waiting on the Lord. Let us wait patiently on him to bring about the separation with divine wisdom and love—we know that his plan is the best in the end. Z'06-295 R3860:6 (Hymn 81)