THE INEFFABLE LOVE OF GOD

Text: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. -I John 3:1,2

"Behold" the love of God. What manner of love is this? Examine it. Think of it. Then wonder at it. Has the world ever seen the likes of it? Has the world anything to offer comparable to it?

"Behold what manner of love" it is: "that we should be called the sons of God!" What an inestimable privilege! Had He left us in our own pollution, Justice would have been satisfied only by our eternal damnation. Had He washed us and left us to ourselves, angels would have sang, "Holy, Holy, Holy. "But, He embraces us and gives us the Kiss of peace. Think of it: God is not ashamed to be called our God! Is it any wonder the angels desire to understand such goings on?

Before the love of God was shed abroad in our hearts, we lived in disobedience and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. But now, are we the sons of God "and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, for we shall see Him as He is." Yet, we are quick to distrust Him, and how soon do our affections grow cold! Nevertheless, we remain the objects of His love.

The world, however, does not love God. It does not approve of Him or acknowledge Him. Is it any wonder then that the world "knoweth us not?" It does not love us, nor approve of us, nor acknowledge us. Yet, while we may be poor in those things that matter only in this life, and we may become the objects of the world’ s scorn and derision, yet God has made us His favorites and we shall live with Him.

"We shall be like Him." Oh, the ineffable love of God! that we shall be "made like unto glorious body" never again to suffer or sorrow, but made like unto His sinless body. Sons of God will then be known by their righteousness even as they are now known to God. "We shall be like Him." We only resemble Him now, but we shall be made like Him at His appearing. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure." (verse 3)

"Let man and wife be careful to stifle little things that as fast as they spring, they be cut down and trod upon: for if they be suffered to grow by numbers, they make the spirit peevish, and the society troublesome, and the affections loose and uneasy by an habitual aversion.

"There must be no searching after faults, nor examining with microscopic scrutiny such as cannot be concealed; no reproachful epithets, no rude contempt, no incivility, no cold nights: there should be courtesy, politeness, attention, and tenderness."

-from Chapter three: "Mutual Duties of Husband And Wife,"-

Send for it. Only $2.50 postpaid.

Apologies for the Printer: This project will result in about 85 pages being typeset. As a result, he has undertaken a prodigious task which he underestimated. Please be patient.

"Thank you again for the constant enjoyment we find in receiving the Angelus. May the Lord reward you for the good my wife and I have received from it." -K. R.

"Thank you so much for adding us to the mailing list of the Angelus. It is read and passed on to friends. May the Lord bless this little paper." -D. E. W.

_______________________________________________________

 A PUZZLE

(The following puzzle was written by lady in California in response to an ad from a gentleman in Philadelphia, that he would pay anyone $1000 who would write a puzzle he could not solve. He failed to do so and paid the $1000. The answer is one word and it appears only four times in the Bible. Can you solve it?)

Adam God made out of dust
But thought it best to make me first.
So I was made before man
To answer God’s most holy plan.

A living being I became
And Adam gave to me my name.
I from his presence then withdrew
And more of Adam never knew.

I did my Maker’ s law obey
Nor ever went from it astray.
Thousands of miles I go in fear
But seldom on earth appear.

For purpose wise which God did see
He put a living soul in me.
A soul from me God did claim
And took from me the soul again.

So when from me the soul had fled
I was the same as when first made;
And without hands, or feet, or soul
I travel on from pole to pole.

I labor hard by day, by night;
To fallen man I give great light.
Thousands of people young and old
Will by my death great light behold.

No right or wrong can I conceive;
The Scripture I cannot believe.
Although my name therein is found,
They are to me an empty sound.

No fear of death doth trouble me;
Real happiness I’ll never see.
To Heaven I shall never go,
Or to Hell below.

Now when these lines you slowly read,
Go search your Bible with all speed.
(Sorry, the answer will appear in the next edition)

"I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE!"

Text: (Psalm 139:13-18)

It is God who has made us, "and not we ourselves." (Psalm 100:3) It is great error to think God made Adam, and ever since men have made one another. God has tenderly woven us in our mother’s womb, and has framed our emotions.

This was done in private, "in secret", and should evoke great reverence and discretion because it is the handiwork of God. Far from being a machine that operates by biological functions, man is a tapestry embroidered with nerves and veins, muscles and membranes. It is embroidery of such magnificence that it excites amazement and praise.

In the narrow confines of the womb we were "curiously wrought," and when we were yet an embryo to be unwound God ordained and recorded all our members which in the process of time were to be fashioned.

We are compelled to exclaim with the Apostle Paul, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearcheable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?" (Romans 11:33,34) _

"I am ...wonderfully made," for how does God join my soul to my body? One day my body will die –but what is that keeps it from dying within this very hour?

"I am fearfully...made" because --

Our life contains a thousand springs,

And dies if one be gone:

Strange that a harp of thousand strings

Should keep in tune so long!

How fragile is this body that houses such a valuable thing as Life! The very system that circulates our blood throughout our body may be the very means by which disease or poisons may be circulated throughout our body. A slight blow may disable us. A small cut in our skin may admit noxious germs.

"I will praise Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Praise is due Him so long as our breath is in His hand. Let us gratefully worship Him as long as we breathe His air and walk upon His earth. Let us be faithful to Him until the life He has given us longer flows through our veins.

-------------------------

May 19, 1819 --Ireland. Alexander Carson writes, "We all deem that a man who has been received by Jesus ought not be rejected by us, and that if He feed His people by His ordinances, it would be criminal in us, as is in our power to join in confederacy to starve the weakest of them. If it be sinful to receive any whom Christ has forbidden, it is also sinful to refuse any that Christ has invited."