LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
f 51
ri$l I*)1*-
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
THE IMAGE OF GOD
BY
L. ANNA BURKHALTER.
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA.
LAURANCE & CARR, Publishers.
1894.
pw
COPYRIGHT, 1894
BY
I,. ANNA BURKHAI/TKR.
.3*
PREFACE.
A STUDY of the types of Christ and His work
as we find them in the Old Testament seems
to the author of this book to prove some of the
things which, more than all other things, human-
ity wants to prove and is most interested in
knowing.
Whence came I, and whither go I?
Is there a God, and does He know me?
Is there life eternal, and how shall I know it?
These are some of the questions a thinking
mind must ask. The Bible answers these ques-
tions, and then we ask again, Is the Bible true?
A study of these "pictures of things in the heav-
ens" helps to answer that question.
If these types were actually worked out in the
human life of Jesus, and if spiritual truths after-
wards made plain were really foreshadowed
in such i Lessons as the "manna," the
"]>i i rpent," and the rest, — then only God
dd have given the types, and only God- "made
flesh'1 could have fulfilled the types.
Much of the Old Testament Scripture is
meanio W( -do follow on to the conclu-
sions reached in Christ; and the design of this
•k is to aid this "following on to know the
Lord." Only some of the many types are here
spoken ofj but it is to be hoped that anyone be-
holding a part of the panorama of heavenly
things will ((• to see all that is written and
that history has unrolled. If then, the study of
e things he promoted, — if the Bible truths
ome more living realities to some, the object
of this book is accomplished.
r:
*&K«*-
CONTENTS
PAGE.
The Word of God, .... i
Adam, ...... 9
Abel, 19
Abraham, - - - - - -25
Jacob and Esau, ----- 31
Joseph, - - - - - 35
Moses, ...... 45
Egypt, - 53
The Passover, ..... 63
The First-Born, 73
The Tree of Life, ----- 85
Manna, - - - - - 97
The Living Water, 105
The Serpent of Brass, - - - - 113
The Temple, ----- 123
Incense, - - - - - - 135
The Sacrifice for Sin, .... 149
Jonah, - - - - - - 161
The Bride, 169
The Image of God, - - - - - 187
THE WORD OF GOD
Il
THE WORD OF THE LORD.
"In the beginning was the Word."
"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
THE great Creator, the Father of our spirits,
the Deity, God — by whatever name he is
called, is not without a voice. He is not dumb.
He speaks now, has spoken from the beginning,
to us his children. Would a Father be voiceless?
Would he reveal nothing of himself? How then
could his children love him? They could not
know him. What is language but revealing the
thoughts — the nature? If I wish to communi-
cate my thoughts to you, I speak. Our words
reveal ourselves. It is a wonderful thing that
immaterial substance, such as thoughts, can be
run in a mold called language and uttered with
the lips. What a device it is! It is God-like.
Yes, we are made in His image. When we speak
4 rHE [MAGI
ody for our thoughts. I may make
a pin, or a wagon, or a steam engine, or a watch,
or a none — ail creations to give body to my
thought. To clearly express myself, however, I
ik continually and so demonstrate what I am.
Sometimes, in teaching children especially,
it is advantageous to represent our idea by an
object lesson. I draw a picture of an apple on
the blackboard to represent to a child who has
never seen one, what an apple is like, or even to
associate the wrord with what it stands for. God
has given us many object lessons. The Word of
the Lord often came in pictures, especially in the
primary classes, when the race of mankind was
in childhood. These are the "patterns of
things in the heavens," the "figures of the true."
No doubt the whole material world is a pano-
a of God's thoughts, a series of pictures
which represent deep spiritual truths. The spirit
ol ( i wd — and God said, and his Word was
made to take shape, his idea was put into a mold.
h nor language, their voice is
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 5
not heard; their line is gone out through all the
earth and their words to the end of the world."
Job understood God's language in the works of
creation, and after many teachings he said, "now
mine eye seeth thee."
In the natural world we find constant illustra-
tions of the spiritual world. The parables of
Jesus were just this: "Consider the lilies," "If
a son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" "The
husks that the swine did eat." The resurrection
is represented in the seed, dying that it may
spring up into larger and continuous life. Na-
ture is full of resurrection pictures; the rising of
the sun each morning after death-like night; our
waking after sleep — "twin brother of death;" the
spring-time following frozen winter; the butterfly
bursting forth from its chrysalis.
"The Word was God, and without him was not
anything made that was made." God gives His
Word a body as He pleases. The body, the face
of Nature, the form of habitation, the tabernacle,
these change, but "the Word of the Lord endur-
b THE [MAGE OF GOD.
eth forever." "Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but my Word shall not pass away."
God has always talked with man. The three
ways in which He most plainly talked were the
Law, tin Prophets and the Gospel. These were
the three which met together on the mount of
transfiguration, — Moses the Law-giver, Elijah
the prophet, Jesus the Word made flesh.
By the hand of Moses God led his people for
forty years. This was a training school, perhaps
we may say a primary class. We will consider
the object lessons given to this class.
By the mouth of Elijah and all the prophets,
God spake to his people telling them the wTay of
life.
By the life of Jesus, the Son of Man, the way
was made very plain. "I am the way, the truth
and the life."
All these teachings of God to us his children,
agree in substance. They are the same thing in
THE IMAGE OF GOD. J
different modes of expression. "Search ye in the
book of God and read; no one of these shall fail,
none shall want his mate." In Christ all was ful-
filled. God's Word to man was to the end that
God's image might be renewed in man, that man
might inherit eternal life, that God's children
might be saved from death. "In him was life
and the life was the light of men." In Jesus
Christ God talked with us face to face; Jesus is
the sum of God's language — "I am alpha and
omega" — all language.
"Search the Scriptures," said Jesus, (and of
course He spoke of the Scriptures then written,
the Old Testament) "for in them ye think ye
have eternal life, and they are they which testi-
fy of me. " That is to say, inasmuch as they tes-
tify of Jesus, in whom is eternal life, — ye have in
them eternal life. "This is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent." The same disci-
ple v/ho recorded these words of Jesus, John the
beloved, saw a vision of his Lord and said, 'His
8 l HE [MAGE OF con.
name is called the Word of God." The angel
who showed John this vision said, "I am of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. "
ADAM.
ADAM.
"First that which is natural, afterward that which is
spiritual.'"
GOD'S Word took first the shape of the Earth
with its wonderful evolution from dead mat-
matter, "without form and empty," upward
through the marvelous combinings of chemical
affinities, through the throes of Nature "when
the mountains were brought forth," through the
transformation from darkness to light ; up
through the rising scale of life, till of the same
earth, the same elements of actual chemical
composition, Adam was formed — in the image of
God.
Who shall say how God made the first germs
of life? Who shall say how Adam became "a
living soul?"
Just the same evolution goes on every time a
child is born into the world. Geology and phys-
12 I HE [MAGE OF GOD.
iology are no longer dark sciences. The har-
mony of God's manner of creation is apparent
when we compare the two. The first chapter of
Gem-sis and the 139th Psalm contain the parallel.
We cannot tell how our "bones do grow," nor
when our souls begin. "Where wast thou when
I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if
thou hast understanding. Who laid the meas-
ures thereof, if thou knowest? Who hath
stretched the line upon it? Whereon are the
foundations thereof fastened? Who hath laid
the corner-stone thereof? When the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy? Or who hath shut up the sea
with doors, when it brake forth as if it had issued
from the womb? When I made the cloud the
garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling
band for it, and brake up for it my decreed
places and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto
shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall
thy proud waves be stayed." "Hath the rain a
father? Who hath begotten the drops of dew?
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 13
Out of whose womb came the ice? The hoary-
frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?"
God is both father and mother. The undi-
vided image of God was also perfect. The di-
vision did not change this — 'Tn the image of
God created He tliem" Our present nature af-
fords proof that man and woman were once a
unit. The sea and the dry land were one until
God divided them, and now they are barren,
alone; but together — the Garden of Eden.
Egypt worshipped this Divine arrangement.
Egypt is a desert without its Nile.
Adam, in God's image, was not the divided
man — that came afterward. Adam, the image
of God, had in one sense, God for his father and
the earth for his mother. In the sense that God
made the earth also, God alone was his father,
and God, being perfect, is both father and
mother. Herein is Adam the most perfect type
of Christ. The prophets foresaw the fulfilment
of this type. God told Adam of it, — "The
seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's
14 1 HE [MAGE OF GOD.
head." "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son
and shall call his name Immanuel," which means,
"God with us."
So again, the second time, God took clay for
His dwelling place. The same earth, the same
flesh and blood, was the mother of Jesus. Is it
hard to understand how God makes us of the
earth? How is it now? We live by it; the
products of the earth are our daily food. We
are doing commonly every day the same won-
ders. The earth is converted into food, the food
assimilated by our bodies. So much for our
earthly part. Shall we then be orphan as to our
Spirit? Shall not the Father provide for this?
"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to
you."
The Spirit of God moved, and God said.
His Word became light) became a new creation,
ame man, became Adam. Again the Spirit
of God moved and God said — this time to Mary,
"blessed among women" — ktThe Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee and the power of the
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 1 5
Highest shall overshadow thee" — and so "the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only be-
gotten Son of God." This time the "Let there
be light" was the "Light of the world" — Jesus.
Not more wonderful than the crystallizations
in a snowflake is the sweep of the zodiac signs.
Not more wonderful than the perfect prism of
light's seven colors in the dewdrop is the white
and perfect light of God's Spirit manifested in
the rainbow variety of his image — man. Shall
He who "is a Spirit" create dead matter and
bring it up through all the advancing steps to a
man wTho is "dust of the ground," and stop
there? Shall He not rather provide a way to per-
petuate His image? He who made the "herb
yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in it-
self, upon the earth," He who made life to go on
and on, shall He fail to provide a way for life to
go on and on for man? Not so. First the nat-
ural, then the spiritual. We read how Adam
transgressed the law of his spiritual nature, and
16 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
lost it. A tree would have the same fate. The
nature of a palm tree is so conditioned that it
cannot live in the frigid zone. The day that it
in i /« s, it surely dies. Neither can a polar bear
live in Africa. Neither can man's spiritual nature
live in sin. It is very simple. Look at it.
There are plenty of sinners in the world — the
whole race of Adam. Are they like God ? What
a sad conclusion, if God had made the culmi-
nation of His work — this race of sinners! This
wretched, blood-stained, sorrow-laden, death-
ridden, old earth, filled with corruption and all
manner of torture! ' 'Marvel not that I said
unto you, ye must be born again."
"For as the Father raiseth the dead and
cjuickeneth them, even so the Son also quicken-
eth whom He will." "He that heareth my
Wordy and believeth Him that sent Me, hath
eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but
hath passed out of death unto life. Verily, ver-
ily. 1 say unto you, The hour cometh when the
id shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 17
they that hear shall live. For as the Father
hath life in Himself even so gave He to the Son
to have life in Himself, and He gave Him au-
thority to execute judgment because He is the
Son of Man."
ABEL.
ABEL.
"Cain was of the evil one and slew his brother. And
wherefore slew he him ? Because his own works were evil
and his brother's righteous."
THE natural outgrowth of sin is death. "He
that hateth his brother, abideth in death."
The innocent suffer with the guilty. The world
is full of martyrs. Every sin means the martyr-
dom of some one who is innocent.
The first baby born on this earth. How Eve
must have wondered at him. And to think that
he grew up to be jealous of his brother, and to
hate him, and to kill him.
"Marvel not if the world hate you. If ye
were of the world, the world would love its own."
The blood of Abel was the beginning, the
blood of Christ was the culmination of the hate a
wicked world bears toward the righteous. "I
find no fault in this man," said Pilate, "Will ye
22 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
that I release him?" and "they were instant with
loud voices crying, crucify him! crucify him!"
It is said that the Lord set a mark on Cain,
that those finding him might not slay him. So
a mark was set on the slayers of Jesus. From
nation to nation, all over the earth, the "Jews"
have been driven with execrations. Yet no race
has been so preserved and kept separate.
The little family of Adam and his first two.
children were a little picture of the human fam-
ily. It was thus illustrated at once, the very first
thing, to what sin will grow. The shedding of
blood on account of sin was thus prefigured.
In Jesus all types were fulfilled. He alone,
of all flesh, struck every chord that sounds a note
of humanity, He alone is the brother of every
man. "Tempted in all points like as we are,
though without sin." He, like Abel, offered to
God an acceptable sacrifice — the sacrifice of an
obedient, and of a blameless life. His blood
"cries from the ground," but he "ever liveth to
make intercession for us." Knowing now that
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 23
sin caused his death, we hate sin. Must not
Adam and Eve have sorrowed over their diso-
bedience when they saw the fruits of it? Did not
Cain's soul abhor himself when he saw what an
evil heart had led him to? The common sin of
avarice made Judas Iscariot a traitor. He
thought he might as well have the thirty pieces
of silver. "If I don't somebody else will, and
Jesus will certainly deliver himself. " O how our
souls loathe sin when we see it as it is! We are
ready to cast off the old nature; we cry out for a
new nature; then we come to him who alone
triumphed over sin and death — Abel's prototype,
the brother of mankind. We come "to Mount
Zion, to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than that of Abel."
Thus, though the earth brings forth fruit —
"bearing seed after his kind" — though sin brings
forth death, and "all have sinned;" yet the "seed
of the woman" triumphs over the "seed of the
serpent." Abel, "being dead yet speaketh."
Righteousness is greater than death. The life of
24 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
the righteous, poured out upon the earth, cries
to God, and God answers by the "fire from
heaven/1 which is a new heart, a right spirit, "born
of God" — one with Christ the Promised Seed —
one with God. This is the atonement.
ABRAHAM.
ABRAHAM.
"Before Abraham was, lam."
THE idea of a new and an eternal inheritance
through faith is bodily set forth in the life
of Abraham. God called him — "a Syrian ready
to perish," and said, "Leave your own country
and go forth whither I will lead, and I will give
you a country, and in thy seed shall all the na-
tions of the earth be blessed." Abraham obeyed
God. He believed. At first he "fell upon his
face and laughed" at the seeming absurdity, but
God assured him and he believed.
Then came that marvelous trial of Abraham's
faith, and the showing of God's plan to save the
world. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called, "had
been God's promise. Isaac, the son of promise,
foretold by the angel, born by a miracle — "Take
Isaac, thy son, and offer him on the altar, a sac-
28 ! HE IMAGE OF GOD.
rifice. " It is said that Abraham believed that
God could raise him from the dead — he doubted
not.
"Father, I see the altar, and the wood for the
sacrifice; where is the lamb?"
"My son, God will provide a lamb."
So there on Mt. Moriah, where the "Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world" was after-
ward offered, Abraham laid upon the altar his
son.
"Abraham, stay thy hand! Behold the ram
caught in the thicket; offer him instead of thy
son."
We know what we have felt, and testify what
we have seen. Could Abraham ever forget that
the ram was instead of his son?
Jesus said, "If ye cannot believe when I tell
you earthly thing's, how can ye understand
when I tell you heavenly things?" Abraham be-
lieved every step of the way and God showed
him his purposes. "Then shall ye know, if ye
follow on to know the Lord." To Abraham, the
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 29
man of faith, God gave this most plain object
lesson of all, this picture in miniature of the only
begotten Son offered for the sin of the whole
world. Abraham knew the meaning of the sac-
rifices, that they were pictures of one to come —
an only Son "in whom all the nations of the
earth should be blessed;" one who should be of-
fered, not for his own sin, and who should over-
come death.
The heart which has sacrificed some darling
thought, something "the apple of the eye," yet
leading away from God's way; something which
"the natural" cries out for, and yet which is at
variance with "the spiritual," — by that heart the
sacrifice of Isaac is understood. To that heart,
also, God has given ten-fold more — even the un-
counted treasure of Himself. This it is to "take
up the cross and follow me," and without it no
one can be His disciple. The whole meaning of
Christ on the cross lies here. He is not an im-
age, a picture, a figure in history. If He avails
us anything, if He is to us that which He came
30 THE I MACK OF GOD.
to be — a Savior — then our life, like His, shows
forth this principle. "If thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off; if thy right eye, pluck it out."
"No man hath left all for my sake and the Gos-
pel's, who shall not receive ten-fold more in this
present life, and in the world to come, life ever-
lasting." "Seeing ye have crucified the flesh
with its affections and lusts."
God will surely provide a Golgotha for each
child of Adam. Again we may "eat of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil," disbelieving
God's word; or wre may follow the way of Abra-
ham— the way of Christ.
JACOB AND ESAU.
JACOB AND ESAU.
"The things which are seen are temporal, but the
things which are not seen are eternal."
ESAU is a type of the "natural man." His
was the birthright and inheritance. God had
promised to Abraham, Canaan — the figure of the;
"better country which is the heavenly." Esau*,
cared nothing for these things. He sold his-
birthright for a "mess of pottage. " He preferred
the seen to the unseen, — the present to the future.
A modern instance of two natures, either of
which might rule, is the story of "Jekyll & Hyde;"
but the bible instance is more true. For in one-
instance the two natures cannot exist permanent-
ly. Either he will love the one and hate the oth-
er; or he will cleave to that other, and hate the:
first." The instance of Jacob and Esau is true*
to life. Twins, and not one man, they represent
the spirit and the flesh, the temporal and the eter-
34 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
nal. First the temporal, the natural — Esau, the
firstborn; then the eternal, Jacob, who preferred
the promises of God to the "things which are
seen." So Jacob superceded Esau, in the nature
of things, as spirit out-lasts flesh. "As a prince,"
Jacob had "power with God and prevailed."
Esau conld never regain his lost birthright,
"though he sought it carefully with tears." He
did not comprehend that it meant the utter put-
ting away of all that made up his life, and the
choice, instead, of God's unseen leadership; no
present glory, but one which shall come, and
shall be everlasting. Esau had not faith in God;
Jacob believed.
So God has put them in his lesson book for
us to study — for every one of us has the choice
to make between the two.
3^
JOSEPH.
JOSEPH.
"And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-pa-
aneah— [Savior of the age]. "— Gen. 41:45.
'Thou shalt call his name Jesus [Savior], for He shall
save His people from their sins."— Matt. 1:21.
THE story of Joseph, considered as a parallel
to the life of Jesus, fills us with astonish-
ment. We wonder that it was possible to lead
forward a human life, to form a human history,
in such an exact pattern of that which was to fol-
low. And yet, wThy should we marvel? Is not
the God who made day and night, and formed us
for sleeping and waking, picturing thus in dumb
nature and in us also, the resurrection after death
and our part in it, — is not that God able also to
lead along a life history?
As we go on considering these types and
shadows of the thing which was to be, it becomes
more and more evident that the record is made
38 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
and given to us because of its bearing on our
eternal destiny. "Search the Scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are
they which testify of me." The story of Joseph
is a testimony of Jesus.
The first we hear of Joseph, he is telling his
dreams to his brethren, — "We were binding
sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and
also stood upright, and behold your sheaves stood
round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf."
And his brethren said, "Shalt thou indeed reign
over us? or shalt thou have dominion over us?
and they hated him yet the more for his dreams
and for his words. " He dreams also that the sun
and moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to
him. "His brethren envied him but his father
observed the saying."
Even so Mary, the mother of Jesus, while she
"marveled at those things which were spoken of
him," "kept all these sayings in her heart;" but
his brethren envied him. "Art thou greater than
our father Abraham, which is dead? and the
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 39
prophets are dead? Whom makest thou thyself?"
"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him
because He had not only broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making
himself equal with God."
Joseph is sent to "see if it is well with his
brethren and with the flocks." Jesus is sent "to
the lost sheep of the House of Israel."
"And when they (Joseph's brethren) saw him
they conspired against him."
"Then assented the chief priests and scribes,
and the elders of the people, and consulted that
they might take Jesus by subtilty. "
"And Judah," of Joseph's brethren, said,
"Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites;" and they
sold him for twenty pieces of silver."
"Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot,
went unto the chief priests and said, What will
ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And
they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of
silver."
40 THE I M\<;!-: OF GOD.
Joseph became great in Egypt, all that the
king had, he committed to Joseph's hand. To
[esus, the Prince of the House of David, the
"Lord [« sus," every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess that he is Lord."
But first Joseph endured temptation, and be-
ing falsely accused, was cast into prison. The
temptation of Joseph as it appeared to his mind,
in his own words, was singularly like that of
Adam, — "And the Lord God commanded the
man saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowl-
edge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it;
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die." Joseph says, "Behold, my master
hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
none greater in this house than I; neither hath
he kept back anything from me but thee." But
the difference in Adam and Joseph, was the dif-
ference in Adam and Jesus. "How then can I
do this great wickedness and sin against God?"
spoke the true heart of Joseph. "Get thee hence,
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 41
Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
Thus spake Jesus, when the devil offered him
earthly glory, the world, the flesh, instead of
God only.
The parallel goes further; for Jesus resisted
evil to the death. He left the garment of his
flesh in the hands of the wicked world, to which
he would not conform. That wricked world
brought against him as accusation the very thing
he refused to do. The accusation written over
the cross was "The King of the Jews," and the
plea made by the rulers was that he wished to
displace the Roman powers and make himself
king instead of Caesar.
Again, going on with the parallel, Joseph was
cast into prison, "but the Lord was with him,
and the keeper of the prison committed to his
hand all the prisoners that were in the prison;
and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer
of it." "For Christ also hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
42 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the spirit; by which also he went
and preached to the spirits in prison."
Then came the time of famine, and the people
saved from starvation only by the wisdom of Jo-
seph who had provided them bread. When the
people cried to Pharaoh for bread, he said, "Go
unto Joseph; what he saith unto you do." Surely
this reminds us of the "bread of life," — "Lord,
to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of
eternal life. " " Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God." "The Word of God." "In
Him was life." "The wrords that I speak unto
you, they are spirit and they are life."
"And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph
to buy, because that the famine was sore in all
lands." — "And the Lord shall be king over all
the earth, and whoso will not come up of the
families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship
the king, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 43
shall be no rain." — Zech. 14: 17. "For the na-
tion and kingdom that will not serve thee shall
perish."
Finally, Joseph says to his brethren, "Be not
grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold
me hither; for God did send me before you to
preserve life. As for you, ye thought evil against
me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass
as it is this day, to save much people alive. "
So Joseph, the beloved son, shows us — in a
way that none but God could devise and carry
out — the central truth, coming from the begin-
ning of time, — "God so loved the world that he
gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth on him should not perish but have ever-
lasting life."
MOSES.
MOSES.
4iI will raise them up a Prophet from among their
brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I command
him."
Very much like Jesus was Moses, the man of
God — Moses, the mediator — Moses, the law-giv-
er— Moses, the meekest of men.
Moses was born in a time of bondage of his
brethren; so was Jesus. "The Egyptians made
the children of Israel to serve with rigor, and
they made their lives bitter with hard bondage,
in mortar and in brick and in allotment of service
in the field." — Ex. 1:13-14.
"And it came to pass in those days that there
went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be taxed." — Lu. 21: 1.
Both Moses and Jesus wrere hid from the in-
fant slaughter of the king. Moses was found in
the "ark of bullrushes;" Jesus in a manger. Both
48 1 HE IMAGE OF GOD.
fulfilled the saying, "Out of Egypt have I called
my Son." Jesus, the son of Mary; Moses, called
the Son of Pharaoh's daughter (Ex. 2: 10); each
was brought up as the son of a King. Pilate said
to Jesus, "Art thou a king, then?" Jesus an-
swered, "Thou sayest that I am a king. To
this end was I born and for this cause came I in-
to the world, that I should bear witness to the
truth."
Like Jesus, who refused an earthly kingdom
when the people wished to take him by force and
make him king, so Moses, "when hewascometo
years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs
daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of
sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he
had r< spect unto the recompense of the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath
of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is
invisible."
NIK [MAGE OF GO I>. 49
Moses was called to lead God's people out of
bondage into the promised land. Jesus finding
the place in the book of the prophet Isaiah, read
these words to the people: "The spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent
me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliver-
ance to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."
By his name "1 am," God authorized Moses:
"Tell the people i am hath sent thee." — Ex. 3:
13-14. When Jesus was questioned as to his au-
thority, ( "Art thou greater than our father Abra-
ham?") he said, "Before Abraham was, 1 am."
Jn. 8: 58. This is he whom John describes,
"which is, and which was and which is to come."
Rev. 1: 8.
When God sent Moses he gave him power to
work miracles, that the people might believe. It
is interesting to note that the miracles God
showed and instructed Moses to perform, were
50 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
types of sin — the serpent and leprosy — and pow-
er was given him to restore to health and useful-
ness. Jesus, also, began his ministry with mira-
cles of healing and restoration, "and manifested
forth his glory and his disciples believed on him. "
Chiefly as a leader and commander of the peo-
ple, does Moses resemble Jesus, leading them
through the wilderness to the promised land. "I
go to prepare a place for you," and "Lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world,"
says the captain of our salvation.
Moses was the intercessor, — "Forgive them,
O Lord — and if not, blot out, I pray thee, my
name from thy book of remembrance." He who
-'was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God through
him," "ever liveth to make intercession for us."
During the forty years that God was leading
Israel through the desert he gave them by the
hand of Moses a continual series of lessons illus-
trating his salvation through Jesus Christ. The
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 5 1
same pattern that God gave to Moses, "an ex-
ample and shadow of heavenly things," was lived
for us by Christ. Moses led the way — Jesus was
the way.
EGYPT.
EGYPT.
"Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and
stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are
many.— Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and
their horses flesh, and not spirit."— Is. 31: 1-3.
NO sooner did a nation arise in the earth,
than that nation became a part of God's
series of lessons for mankind.
"So I doubt not, through the ages
One increasing purpose runs."
Egypt, land of the fertile valley of the Nile,
land of corn and wine, of "flesh pots" in abun-
dance, of false gods, — Egypt, the House of Bon-
dage ! The sons of Jacob little dreamed that they
would soon forget the promised Canaan. The
lotus blossom soon entered their blood. They
were content to remain. By degrees the chains
of slavery were forged. The shepherds were
turned into brick-makers, and "bricks without
straw," at that. The glorious power of Egypt,
56 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
the greatly desired Egypt, the life-giving Egypt,
was found a tyrant's power, a hateful Egypt, a
death-dealing Egypt. Egypt the desert, Egypt
whose river was turned into blood, whose fertile
soil brought forth frogs and vermin, whose balmy
air could swarm with flies! Egypt, the ideal of
ashes for beauty, mourning instead of the oil of
joy: Egypt, where there was none to inherit, from
the son of Pharaoh on the throne to the son of
the slave who embalms the dead! The land of
death!
As Canaan stands for heaven, so Egypt stands
for earth.
Hunger for the things of this wrorld drives us
to forget Canaan and return to Egypt.
In a time of famine Abraham went to Egypt.
Only by God's help did he come out alive. He
was not then the "Abraham" of faith he after-
ward became. Doubtless his experience in
Egypt of his own weakness and God's deliver-
ance, made him the man of faith, the Friend of
God.
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 57
Jacob and his sons went to Egypt to buy corn
"because the famine was sore in all lands."
It is some kind of "famine" in the soul which
drives humanity to seek some spiritual Egypt.
It is taking the bribe of the serpent because we
long for the fruit which is "pleasant to the sight
— a tree to be desired to make one wise."
So comes to every child of Adam, the knowl-
edge of good and evil. So the people of God,
the race he made in his image, go, all of them,
to Egypt for wealth, for pleasure, for ease, for
power, for love, for help, for life. The glory of
Egypt is found to be "a fading flower;" at the
last a chain of slavery. The famine of the soul
is not taken away but increased ten-fold. The
riches of Egypt bring no satisfaction. It proves
to be not bread but a stone that we find there.
"Woe to the rebellious children that take
counsel, but not of me, saith the Lord; and that
cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that
they may add sin to sin; that walk to go down
into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, to
58 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
strengthen themselves in the strength of Egypt,
and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore
shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and
the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion."
"Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help
and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, be-
cause they are many, and on horsemen because
they are strong; but they look not unto the Holy
One of Israel, neither seek the Lord. Now the
Egyptians are men, not God; and their horses
flesh, not spirit."
The failure of "the flesh" leads us to "the
spirit." For our deliverance from the dominion
of the flesh — which ends in slavery and death, God
sends "plagues." "Let my people go," he says
to Pharaoh and to Egypt. To his people he
says, "Flee out of the House of Bondage."
Isn't it so ? Do the world, the flesh and
the devil bring us any joy ? When we have list-
ened and been led into captivity — the plagues
begin. In vain we cry out to the gods of Egypt.
No answer is in the silent sphynx, no help in the
THE IMAGE OF GOD.
59
pyramids — stone images of the Trinity. Egypt
is a desert. No soul could ever find a way out
of the desert without a guide. We are all lost
there, all famished for the water of life.
Lo, in the midst of this desert, a voice — "the
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert
a highway for our God."
We are shown the way out of Egypt. A
leader "like unto Moses" is sent us. He went
through the wilderness unscathed, unfettered by
satan's wiles. He knows the way. He has the
strength we need.
"With whom took he counsel, and who hath
instructed him and taught him in the paths of
judgment, and taught him knowledge, and
showed him the way of understanding?"
"Behold, the nations as a drop of a bucket,
and are counted as the small dust of the balance;
behold he taketh up the isles as a very little
thing."
60 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
He moves the nations as one moves the pieces
on a chess board. Egypt, Babylon, Greece,
Rome, check-mate each other in turn. He moves
Cyrus over his board, and Nebuchadnezzar, and
Xerxes, and Darius the Mede. "Have ye not
known ? Have ye not heard ? Hath it not been
told you from the beginning ? Have ye not un-
derstood from the foundations of the earth ? He
that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grass-hoppers; that
stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in ; that
bringeth the princes to nothing ; he maketh the
judges of the earth as vanity."
"Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, I will
go before thee and make the crooked places
straight.; I will break in pieces the gates of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron. Look unto
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."
"Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righte-
ousness and strength, even to him shall men
come."
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 6l
So shall Egypt be the battle ground of good
and evil in our mixed nature of clay and spirit.
"Tophet was ordained of old." The chaff must
be burned out of us, else the wheat cannot be
made into bread. Egypt was ordained of old.
"There hath no temptation taken you but such
as is common to man." "Blessed is the man
that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he
shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord
hath promised to them that love him." "Fear
none of these things which thou shalt suffer, be-
hold the devil shall cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribula-
tion ten days ; be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life. He that over-
cometh shall not be hurt of the second death. "
Ah, what a desert, filled with thirst and hope-
lessness, would this world be without that Son
of Man whose voice yet rings through all the
world, — "Come unto Me." Even Egypt points
to him. Moses spoke of him. All Scripture re-
volves around him. History points to him, from
6a THE IMAGE OF GOD.
the beginning all the way down. "Without him
was not anything made that was made." Who
shall say we have no voice from God ? Listen to
the voice of history, which Scripture interprets
for us. That voice was incarnate in Jesus Christ.
"Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think
ye have eternal life, and they are they which tes-
tify of Me."
THE PASSOVER.
THE PASSOVER.
"Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us."
It/ HO is worthy to open the book and to loose
II the seals thereof ?" Did ever you try to
open the Book of Life to any soul ? O, how our
own imperfections, blemishes of character, yea,
sins, stood in the way then ! How many dare not
even name religion to others for fear the "beam
that is in thine own eye" would be pointed out.
How many, if they undertake to teach the way
of righteousness, are shown to be but Pharisees.
"There is none righteous, — no, not one."
"And I wept much because no one was found
worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
me, weep not ; behold the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
66 THE [MXGE of
And behold and lo, in the midst of the throne
and of the four cherubim, and in the midst of the
elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, and
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy
to take the book, and to open the seals thereof,
for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God
by tin blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation, and hast made us unto our
God Kings and Priests."
This was the "Lamb of God," pointed out in
the land of Egypt, long, long ago ; ever present
in the mind of God, "the same yesterday, to-day
and forever," the lamb "without blemish and
without spot."
"There was a great cry in Egypt; for there
was not a house where there was not one dead" —
only the houses of God's people, sprinkled with
the blood of the lamb. "When your children
shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
Then ye shall say, "It is the Lord's Passover,
who passed over the houses of the Children of
Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians
THE 1M \<'.i OF GOD. 67
and delivered our houses." Down through the
years the race of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the
brethren of Moses, the man of God, kept the
yearly feast of the Passover, making it the begin-
ning of the year, since the night when they were
delivered from Egypt.
"Now before the feast of the Passover when
Jesus knew that his hour was come that he
should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world,
he loved them unto the end." "Let not your
heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe al-
so in Me." Could any other man say that? We
have heard men compare Jesus Christ with Bud-
dha, Mahomet, Confucius. Could any one of
these men say, "ye believe in God, believe also
in Me?" Were any of these foretold by the
prophets? Did God from the foundation of the
world ordain types which were fulfilled by any of
these? Does the Paschal Lamb describe them?
They are dead. Abraham, also, is dead, and
Moses. What meaning could there be in the
68 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
* 'sprinkling with blood" — if it were the blood of
these, or of any of the race of Adam who are dead
and gone?
It is only because it is the life, that blood sig-
nifies anything. To be sprinkled with the blood
of the passovef lamb meant life to those who
obeyed, who availed themselves of it. It is the
Jiving Christ who saves; his blood means his
life. His life can be imparted to us. "In him
was life, and the life was the light of men."
"For he is our life." "Your life is hid with Christ
in God." "When he who is your life, shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in
glory." "I am the way, the truth and the life."
''He is not here; he is risen." "Seeing he ever
liveth." "Christ in you, the hope of glory. " This
is what it is to be ' -sprinkled with the blood of
the Lamb." "This is life eternal, that they
might know the true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. "
The time of the feast of the Passover was
therefore the time when Jesus was crucified. The
THE [MAGE OV GOD. 6g
Word made flesh had lived and taught, and now
he was to die. The Word, the "Book" was to
be closed. The Lamb was to be slain. "Fa-
ther, save me from this hour — yet for this hour
I came into the world."
Jesus was able to open again the book of his
life; he alone, of all the race of men. His
death meant triumph over death. The shedding
of his blood meant everlasting life. He who
"took on him the seed of Abraham," became
the first-fruits of the resurrection. "That which
thou sowest is not quickened except it die."
Jesus died that he might overcome death. The
''sting of death is sin," that is, the poison which
causes death. "In him was no sin" — "it was
not possible for death to hold him." "Whatso-
ever is born of God cannot die." Therefore,
the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" becomes part
of our life — even as blood flows in our veins.
How? We love him. Two are not made one
without love. "We love, because he first loved
us." Loving him, we are "conformed to his
70 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
image" — we are "new creatures in Christ
Jesus." We look at things through his eyes.
We can no longer hold to the things which drive
him from us. "As the hart panteth* for the
water brooks," our hearts cry out for Him who
is Love itself. We fly from our Egypt of bond-
age; we care no more for the things which en-
slave us. Egypt's power is broken and we are
saved with a great deliverance, even as Pha-
raoh's hosts were swallowed up in the Red Sea.
"Jesus, the same night in which he was be-
trayed, took bread, and broke it, and gave it to
his disciples, saying, This is my body broken
for you. Eat ye all of it. And he took the
cup, and said. Drink ye all of it; for this is my
blood of the new covenant, which is shed for
many, unto the remission of sins."
Behold, then, "the Lamb of God, that tak-
eth away the sin of the world."
How shall it be ? The Passover lamb was
eaten. It was thus made part and parcel of the
substance of those who partook. The bread of
HE [MAGE OF GOD. 71
the new covenant is eaten — assimilated with the
body and life of the disciple. "This do in re-
membrance of Me," said Jesus. "I in thee and
thou in Me" — "as the Father and I are one" —
"It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profit-
eth nothing."
Thus did He who came to fulfill all that the
law and the prophets had spoken — he who
"spake as never man spake," — thus did Jesus
explain to us the type of the "blood which is the
life," and of the bread and wine of the new pass-
over covenant. His words make plain his
death and his abiding life. "The words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life." "Lo, I am with you alway. "
THE FIRST-BORN
THE FIRST-BORN
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he
hath appointed heir of all things.— Heb. 1: 1-2.
A NATIVE element in the soul of man, is the
hope of leaving his estate, all the treasures
he has gained, all his honor and glory, to an heir.
To be snuffed out like a candle, to vanish like
the mists of morning and leave no trace behind,
— this is repugnant. "Let us eat and drink, for
to-morrow we die," is not the inherent philoso-
phy of the genus homo. It is rather, "Let me
accumulate all that I can; let me work diligently
for time is short; and let me find a wrorthy suc-
cessor to inherit my name and fame." All kings
and potentates of the earth have sought an heir
for the kingdom they must sometime leave. This
heirship has devolved upon the first-born.
76 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
When we study the Book, we find that God
ordained that his people should set apart as his,
the first-born of every creature, both man and
b< ast The first-born of beasts should be offered
on the altar, and the first-born of man should be
consecrated a priest of God.
What! we exclaim, did Almighty God, maker
of heaven and earth, look forward to an heir? It
must be so, else what meaning had he in calling
the first-born of every creature, "Mine?" We
examine to see how and why this is, and we find
here one more type of the Only Begotten Son of
God.
The final deliverance from Egypt, when death
visited all the first-born of those whose houses
wire unsprinkled with the blood of the Lamb,
was the occasion of this ordinance of God com-
manding his people to set apart the first-born as
his. This meant that there was no heir for
Egypt — no continuation of their line, but the
heir should be God's heir. He should be the
source of life. Through him should be "a seed"
THE I mac!-: OF GOD. 77
saved alive. The prophets foretold this, later.
David says, "None can keep alive his own soul
— a seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted
to the Lord for a generation." And Isaiah says,
"When thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hands."
It was the moment when Israel wras in the
last extremity — no possible human deliverance,
that God founded this type of the first-born,
coupling it with his final destruction of all their
enemies. The Egyptians pursued the Children
of Israel — "All the horses and chariots of Pha-
raoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook
them camping by the Red Sea." Israel was
"sore afraid" — Pharaoh's host on one side, the
sea on the other. They said to Moses, "Be-
cause there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou
taken us away to die in the wilderness? Where-
fore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us
forth out of Egypt? Did we not tell thee in
78 IHK , OF GOD.
Egypt, L<^t us alone, that we may serve the
ptians? For it had been better for us to
serve the Egyptians than that we should die in
the wilderness.
"And Moses said to the people, fear not,
Stand still and thou shalt see the salvation of the
Lord, which he will show you to-day; for the
Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall
see them again no more forever. The Lord shall
fight for you and ye shall hold your peace."
Then it was that life from the dead was prefig-
ured— life for those " thou hast purchased."
The death of the Egyptians was the deliverance
of Israel. Pharaoh and his hosts, who would
have destroyed Israel, were themselves the vic-
tims, their evil determination to destroy the peo-
ple of God being their own destruction.
The position of Israel when Pharaoh drew on
and the)r were driven to the sea's edge, was the
position of the Lord Jesus upon the cross. When
he had followed the way God had ordained for
him, and rejecting all this world had to offer.
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 79
escaping the snares of satan, choosing God's way,
drinking the cup God gave him; — when all was
done, and Death was encamped against him, he
cried out, "My God, My God, why has thou for-
saken Me?" These words are the title of the
twenty-second Psalm. Jesus meant that whole
Psalm. "A reproach of men and despised by
the people. All they that see me laugh me to
scorn." He trusted in the Lord that he would
deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighted in him." "Thou hast brought me unto
the dust of death. Dogs have compassed me
about, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed
me; they pierced my hands and my feet. They
part my garments among them and cast lots up-
on my vesture." Then comes the triumphant
cry of the "first-born" from the dead, — "All the
ends of the earth shall remember, and turn to the
Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before thee. For the Kingdom is the
Lord's, and he is the governor amongst the na-
tions— All they that go down to the dust shall
80 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
bow before him; and none can keep alive his
own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be
accounted to the Lord for a generation. They
shall come and shall declare his righteousness
unto a people that shall be born, that he hath
done this."
This is "the song of Moses and the Lamb."
This is the deliverance from Egypt, which is evil;
and from "him which has the power of death,
which is the devil." God "hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things. " ' 'Who is the image
of the invisible God, the first-born of every crea-
ture; for by him were all things created that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and in-
visible, whether thrones, or dominions, or princi-
palities, or powers: all things were created by
him, and for him, and he is before all things,
and by him all things consist; and he is the
head of the body, the church; who is the begin-
ning, the first-born from the dead: that in all
things he might have the pre-eminence."
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 8l
After Jesus was raised from the dead he said
to his disciples, "All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth." David said (Ps. 89),
"Also I will make him my first-born, higher
than the kings of the earth — his seed also will I
make to endure forever and his throne as the days
of heaven." John calls Jesus "the first-begotten
of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth."
From the beginning God prepared every gar-
ment his Son should w7ear; just as mothers pre-
pare the raiment of their first-born. There were
his garments of kingship, as wre shall see; his.
priest-robes; his vesture for the wilderness and
for the cross. In all that God has done, in the
creation of the world and in human history,
Jesus is in the grain of it, in the warp and in the
woof. He made the day "darkest before the
dawn," and formed night and day and sleep and
waking, and death and life, and hid the world in
darkness while Jesus met the last enemy — before
the day-break of his resurrection.
82 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
Jesus was there when God said, "Let there
be light." "The Light is the life of men."
When the seasons were created, and death-
like Winter laid its hand on all the springs of life,
God had provided a seed for each plant and tree
to tide it over, a power to burst forth anew in the
fullness of time. "I am the resurrection and the
life." The first-born from the dead was clothed
in the garment prepared for him, "the Seed of
Abraham."
Was it all for him alone? Not for himself at
all. For us. God has no need to be made flesh.
He laid aside his glory — he emptied himself —
he drank the cup our sins prepared for him;
he "was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in
him." Yes, he died the sinner's death — "capi-
tal punishment" as the Romans administered it.
The eldest sons of kings, of earth's nobles,
lords, millionaires, are not like this. Jesus in-
herited nothing for himself — all for us, that we
might be "heirs of God, joint heirs with him."
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 83
This is love. Now we can believe that God is our
Father, and that God is love, since God was in
Christ. Now we can cease to be at enmity with
God, since "God so loved the world;" now we
are at one with him. This is the at-onement
which our Cain-like hearts made necessary. For
the first-born, in the type given to the children of
Israel, was a sacrifice — always a sacrifice.
Earth's first-born was Cain. Sin brought
forth death. To change the heart of the murderer,
to overcome sin and death — this was God's prob-
lem, solved in Christ.
So it was all for you and me — not a vague,
abstract image in the mind, called "man." It
was very real to the human heart of Jesus of
Nazareth. When he fought the battle in the
Garden of Gethsemane, our Elder Brother's un-
speakable grief was a reality. When our Geth-
semane comes, we fly to him. He is one of us.
He is but the elder, and we his brethren. He
is the perfect image of God, and we the less per-
84 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
feet, to be perfected by his aid. We love him,
and it becomes "Christ in us the hope of glory,"
"a new creature in Christ Jesus." Thus are we
born again; "Now are we the sons of God — when
he shall appear we shall be like him."
THE TREE OF LIFE.
THE TREE OF LIFE
"The Tree of Life also, in the midst of the Garden."
— Genesis 2:9.
AFTER the Song of Moses, after the triumphal
dance and responsive chorus, when Miriam
took a timbrel in her hand and all the women
went out after her with timbrels and with dances
and Miriam answered them, "Sing ye to the
Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea" —
what then?
Why if all the people had learned through
and through the lesson of faith in God — if in
them all his image had been renewed, that would
have been the end of the story of man's pilgrim-
age from Egypt to Canaan. But it was not so.
The journey was a life-time journey, just as it is
now wTith us. Lesson after lesson God sends.
88 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
Time after time are we shown the weakness and
folly — yea, the sin and evil, of our hearts. A
great many reviews and a great many examina-
tions are necessary before the final examination
which fixes our degree. "And thou shalt remem-
ber all the way which the Lord thy God led thee,
to know what was in thine heart, whether thou
wouldst keep his commandments or no. " — Dent.
8: 12.
So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea,
and they went out into the wilderness — three
days journey in the wilderness, and found no
water. "And when they came to Marah, they
could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they
were bitter." The place was called "Marah,"
bitter, because the waters were bitter.
Did the perfect Man, who traveled every foot
of our life-journey, ever come to this? What
three days journey through a land without life,
did he take? Of whom did David speak when he
said, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 89
brought me into the dust of death. For dogs
have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked
have enclosed me; they pierced my hands and
my feet!" "Reproach hath broken my heart, and
I am full of heaviness; and I looked for some to
take pity, but there was none; and for comforters,
but I found none. They gave me also gall for
my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink."
That disciple whom Jesus loved stood by,
with the mother not forgotten at this time, and
saw and heard and writes it down for us, — "Af-
ter this Jesus, knowing that all things were now
to be accomplished, that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a
vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge
with the vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put
it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had
received the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and
he bowed his head and gave up the ghost."
"And the people murmured against Moses,
saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto
9<3 I UK IMAGE OF GOD.
the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which
when he had cast into the waters, the waters
were made sweet; there he made for them a stat-
ute and an ordinance, and there he proved them
and said, if thou wilt diligently hearken unto the
voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which
is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his com-
mandments and keep all his statutes, I will put
none of these diseases upon thee, which I have
brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord
that healeth thee. And they came to Elim where
there were twelve wells of water and threescore
and ten palm trees; and they encamped there by
the waters." — Ex.f 15:23-27.
"And he showed me a pure river of water of
life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the
street of it, and on either side of the river, was
there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner
of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and
the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations." — Rev. 22: 1-2.
THE IMAGE OF GOD. gi
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat
of the tree of life which is in the midst of the
paradise of God." — Rev. 2: 7.
"To him that overcometh. " The tree of life
was free in the Garden of Eden, when there was
no sin to overcome. Not for hearts that yearn
for clay, is the golden fruit of immortality. Not
for souls that believe Satan rather than God, for
this means a heart which has in itnosonship, no
such fibre of God's nature as would recognize his
truth and distinguish it from Satan's perversions.
When we '-see him as he is," "we shall be like
him," we shall be the sons of God.
The Prodigal Son is our Lord's illustration of
how we are driven to find out our need of our
Father, to appreciate his love and his home — our
home. When we have consumed our all of
earth's alluring joys, and found at the end pov-
erty— "husks that the swine did eat" — then we
are ready to desire the fruit of the tree of life.
Then we look for water in "the dry and thirsty
land where no water is." Then we find bitter
92 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
waters, "gall and vinegar." Then we meet the
diseases sin has brought upon us. Both pesti-
lence and fire and swrord have always followed sin.
The pestilence may be an incurable disease of
the mind, the fire may consume the soul, and the
sword may cut off all the hopes and ambitions
which made life seem worth living. Our body
is dead because of sin. We find ourselves
chained to this dead body and we cry aloud, * 'Who
shall deliver me from this body of death?" — Paul
has the answer — the same which God showred
Moses. "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord. " Here is the Tree of Life. * 'If Christ be
in you the bod)' is dead because of sin; but the
spirit is life, because of righteousness. But if
the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Jesus from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you." Here is the
renewed sonship — the re-establishment of the lost
image of God in us — the eating of the fruit of the
Tree of Life — the sweetening and healing of the
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 93
bitter waters, changing them unto the means of
life. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, they are the Sons of God. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God; and if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may also be
glorified together."
How many journeys through the wilderness
must be ours before we learn our own insuf-
ficiency? How many times Satan comes to try
us — and we are found wanting, excepting as God
shows the Tree of Life to save us! How long
the time, how hard the way, before we learn what
manner of spirit we are of! How many lessons
to show us all that is in the heart "deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked!" But in all
these things "we are more than conquerers
through him that loved us" — till we come to the
time when neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor
things to come, nor height nor depth nor any
94 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our
Lord."
"The tree of life bare twelve manner of fruits
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of
the nations."
"And when he had called unto him his twelve
disciples, he gave them power over unclean
spirits, to cast them out, to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease." "I am the
vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in
me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." These
are the "twelve manner of fruits," one for every
month of the year of a full human life. "Are
there not twelve hours in a day?" said Jesus,
speaking of the fixed time of every human life.
There need be no period, therefore, in all our
Lives, when the tree of life is barren.
When we have fully and finally overcome, we
shall eat of the tree of life "in the midst of the
Paradise of God." No longer will the flaming
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 95
sword bar our way — all our sins and all our sick-
ness gone — "death swallowed up in victory."
-Who forgiveth all thine iniquity, w7ho healeth
all thy diseases. " ' 'Whether is easier to say, Thy
sins be forgiven thee, or, Rise, take up thy bed
and walk?" The Word of the Lord will be to
those who overcome, not a flaming sword as it is
to all uncleanness, but a voice of welcome —
"Enter into the joy of your Lord." "And God
shall wipe away ail tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for
the former things are passed away."
After the waters of Marah, healed by the tree
which God showed Moses, "they came to Elim
where there wTere twelve wells of water, and three
score and ten palm trees; and they encamped
there by the waters." When the work of "the
twelve" is done, and the work of the "seventy,"
which were also sent out for the same purpose,
then will come the camp beside the still waters
and in the green pastures. When we follow the
96 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
Good Shepherd, we shall not want. When I
have eaten of the Tree of Life — * 'though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil." "Blessed are they that do his com-
mandments, that they may have right to the tree
of life, and may enter in through the gates into
the city."
MANNA.
"MANNA."
"Give us this day our daily bread "
JESUS himself explained the meaning of the
Manna, which was the daily food of God's
people during all the forty years of their journey
through the wilderness. "Moses gave you not
that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread
of life. He that believeth on me hath everlast-
ing life."
In this type we have, not a sudden deliverance
from death — a resurrection, as God's rescue from
Pharaoh's power and Pharaoh's fate foretold.
We have a picture of daily life, sustained by daily
food. Just as our "salvation" through Christ is
not alone a sudden transaction, which, being ac-
complished once for all, we are redeemed there-
IOO THE [MAGE OF COD.
by and nothing further follows. There is the
desert yet to cross. We must have strength re-
newed each day. Our new-born spirit requires
the ' 'sincere milk of the Word," that we may
grow thereby. "The words that I speak unto
you, they are spirit and they are life."
The children of Israel were commanded to
gather the manna lievery morning — each accord-
ing to his eating." When the sun rose it melted
away. How certainly does our opportunity to
commune with God, to renew and upbuild our
spirits by his Word and his answer to us "melt
away" in the multitude of daily duties which arise,
unless we "gather the manna" first, and early!
It is like the morning dew; there is no place for
it after the "heat and burden of the day" has
come. We cannot bear that heat and burden
without it. "Man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God."
This is the simple, inherent nature of man.
His body must have daily bread, and hunger
THE IMAGE OF GOD. IOI
makes him know it. He hungers, and he eats.
Man's spirit hungers, likewise. He is always
reaching out for strength and power beyond what
is in himself. The more his own power comes
short of his desires, the greater is his craving.
This craving, the devil offers false food to supply.
He tempts man to make of a stone, his bread.
This is the underlying cause of that wide-spread
delusion of strong drink. We want both joy and
strength beyond what is in us. "In the joy of
the Lord is your strength." "Be not drunk with
wine, but be filled with the spirit." That is the
alternative. The false food produces not joy, but
intoxication (poisoning). It does not feed the
blood and tissues of the body, but deteriorates
both, increasing the craving instead of satisfying
it. It dissipates the strength and health of the
mind and spirit. So it is writh every other sin —
it becomes a slave-driving force within us; wre
are driven by it; we are the slaves and sin the
master.
102 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
The hunger for all that is beyond and above
us should find in God its daily and constant sup-
ply. We want the universe — and rightly, for
God made us heirs of all things. We want all
power and all knowledge — and rightly, for God
has made us Kings and Priests. We are not
born to be as the beasts that perish. To become
such is to throw away the daily bread God has
provided for us, the bread of God, which alone
can keep alive our spirits.
Often the "things which are seen" seem much
more real to us than the eternal things; especially
when we have abundance and our souls know no
lack. So "God dealeth with us as sons," and
the withdrawal of the unreal supports teaches us
to seek and find the real, the true, the bread
which fits our nature, feeds our spirit, makes us
grow strong and joyful "in the Lord." "Your
joy no man taketh from you." "I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
This is the language of a man who knows. We
ask and receive. "If a son ask bread, will he
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 103
give him a stone?" "He giveth the Holy Spirit
to them that ask him."
Could any other man than Jesus, the "Word
made flesh," say, "your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread
that cometh down from heaven, that a man may
eat thereof and not die?"
If he should say to each of us, "Will ye also
go away?" — we must answer as Peter did, "Lord,
to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of
eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God."
THE LIVING WATER.
THE LIVING WATER
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.
— Isaiah 55: 1.
AS bread sustains life, so water restores it. Is-
rael journeyed on through the wilderness
of proving and trying. At Rephidim they camped
and there was no water. "And the people thirst-
ed there for water; and the people murmured
there against Moses, and said, wherefore is this
that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill
us and our children with thirst?" Not yet had
they learned faith in God. "And Moses cried
unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do with this
people? they be almost ready to stone me?"
Then it wras that God stood upon the rock in
Horeb, before Moses, and Moses smote the rock,
and there came water out of it, in the sight of all
Israel. Again at Kadesh, where Miriam died,
108 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
there was no water. Again the people cried out
against God and against Moses, and again the
smitten rock gave water.
Paul interprets this rock to mean Christ.
"Our fathers did all drink the same spiritual
drink; for they drank of that Spiritual Rock
which went with them, and that Rock was Christ."
"Now all of these things happened unto them for
types, and they are written for our admonition."
Is Christ, then, the Rock smitten that the
world may drink and live? So he explained it to
the woman of Samaria, — "Whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a wTell of water springing up into ever-
lasting life." Again he said, "If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink."
What is it to thirst? What is it to drink? Is
the longing to be cleansed from sin, to be restored
to God's favor and delight and salvation, like
thirst? David found it so. "As the hart pant-
eth for the water brooks, my soul longeth, yea,
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 1 09
thirsteth for God, for the living God." Does not
every living soul desire life? Is not death the
greatest evil of all? "Yea, all that a man hath
will he give for his life. " What a search has this
earth seen, for "elixir of life!" Living water is
what we want — water that we may drink of and
find life eternal.
Who can satisfy this inborn thirst if not he
who himself overcame death? Who but he who
hath "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows?"
"Yet we did esteem him smitten of God and af-
flicted. But he was wounded for our transgres-
sions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed." He it is who says, "I will give
unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the
water of life freely."
God led his people "in the wilderness, in a
solitary way. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of
their distresses. Fools, because of their trans-
IIO THE IMAGE OF GOD.
gression and because of their iniquities are afflict-
ed; their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and
they draw near to the gates of death. Then they
cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth
them out of their distresses. He sent his word
and healed them and delivered them from their
destructions."
Jesus numbers among the blessed, those who
"hunger and thirst after righteousness." Zech-
ariah looked forward to his coming and said, "In
that day there shall be a fountain opened to the
house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jeru-
salem, for sin and for uncleanness" — "It shall
come to pass in that day that living waters shall
go out from Jerusalem — and the Lord shall be
King overall the earth." Ezekiel saw a vision
of life-giving waters flowing out of the Sanctuary.
David said, "There is a river, the streams where-
of make glad the city of God, the holy place of
the tabernacles of the Most High." "For with
thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we
see light." John responds, "In him was life,
THE IMAGE OF GOD. Ill
and the life was the light of men." Isaiah, after
speaking of the "rod out of the stem of Jesse and
a branch out of his roots," on whom "shall rest
the spirit of the Lord," says, "Therefore with
joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of
Salvation."
The "last Adam is made a quickening spirit. "
"Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely."
THE SERPENT OF BRASS.
THE SERPENT OF BRASS.
"Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made."
THE serpent is God's type of sin. Hiding is
his nature. He is always under something.
He has a power to "charm," and his bite means
death. A very small crack is large enough for
him to insinuate himself; and though he looks so
slim, he swallows his victim whole.
Adam and Eve believed the serpent— rather
than God! Every one of us has done the same
thing, over and over. "Ye shall surely die,"
said the God who made all things. "Ye shall
not surely die," said the serpent. Eve did not
consider the matter thus baldly. She was per-
suaded that there was some mistake — that the
nature of the tree of knowledge of good and evil
was not the deadly poison she had supposed, but
"'a tree to be desired to make one wise."
Il6 I HI. [MAGE 01 <;OD.
On the long journey toward the promised
Canaan, over and over again the people lost faith
m God's leadership. "Wherefore have ye
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilder-
ness? There is no bread, neither water, and our
soul loatheth this light bread (the manna)."
Just as it is with us now, — the spiritual food
which is to make us sons of God and heirs of life
eternal, is constantly getting out of sight behind
the more earthly food which our clay nature
craves. The things we want seem better, more
to be desired; we set our affections continually
on that which hinders our progress Zionward.
We do not realize at first that this is sin. It is
the Old Serpent, deceiving us once more.
"And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the
people, and they bit the people, and much peo-
ple of Israel died.'1 Therefore the people came
to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have
spoken against the Lord and against thee; pray
unto the Lord that he take away the serpents
from us."
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 11/
The world is filled in every corner with sin-
bitten humanity, suffering torture and death.
We see, and therefore we believe, that sin brings
sorrow and ends in death. "Take away the ser-
pents from us," cried Israel. "Take away the
sorrow, more than I can bear; save me from
death," is the cry of the human.
Who but God can devise a way to do this?
"Can the leopard change his spots? Then can
ye do good that are accustomed to do evil?" The
serpent poison is in the blood.
Moses prayed for the people. God answered, —
"And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a
fiery serpent and set it upon a pole; and it shall
come to pass that every one that is bitten, when
he looketh upon it shall live." One would sup-
pose that every one was saved at once by this
simple cure. Yet it required faith. Doubtless
there were those who "didn't believe in it," and
who died in consequence, unable to receive the
gift of life. The record says, "Moses made a
serpent of brass and put it upon a pole; and it
I 18 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any
one, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he
lived."
When Nicodemus came to Jesus to talk about
eternal life, j« sus said, "As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life. "
Again he said, "Now is the judgment of this
world. Now shall the prince of this world be
cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth
will draw all men unto me. (This he said, sig-
nifying what death he should die)." It was the
serpent upon the pole. It was sin crucified.
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin. that we might be made the righteous-
ness of God in him." "As it is written, cursed
is every one that is hanged upon a tree." He
was condemned. He was "executed" — "hung" —
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 119
"Crucified." He suffered the extreme penalty of
the law. That is the sinner's sentence — death.
"The wages of sin is death." He accepted our
rightly earned wages. "And with him they cru-
cify two thieves; the one on his right hand and
the other on his left. And the Scripture was
fulfilled that saith, and he was numbered with
the transgressors."
This is the way God has devised to overthrow
Satan, to deliver us from the poison of sin and
its power over us, to save us from death. When
Christ died and rose again he "overcame princi-
palities and powers;" and you being dead in sins
hath he quickened together with him, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was
against us, which was contrary to us, and took
it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." "Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us." "Who hath deliv-
ered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us to the kingdom of his dear Son."
120 THE IMAGE 01 GOD.
Once again we ask, Who of all the sons of
men, fulfilled this type of the bazen serpent, if
not Jesus Christ? Of whom can it be said that
4 'through death he destroyed him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil?" "There is
no other name given under heaven whereby we
may be saved." "None of us can save his
brother." "His name shall be called Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sins." "The
law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath
made me free from the law of sin and death."
"If the spirit of him which raised up Jesus from
the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you."
Certainly when God sent serpents to bite the
people of Israel, that they might know they had
sinned, and when he told Moses to put a brazen
serpent upon a pole and whoever looked on it
should live, he was thinking of his "purpose and
grace in Christ Jesus, now manifest by the ap-
jn aring of our Savior, who hath abolished death,
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 121
and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel."
Isaiah looked forward to this and said, "He
Will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord
God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and
the rebuke of his people shall he take away from
off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it."
Paul quotes this, and adds, "O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The
sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the
law; but thanks be to God which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." — John
says, "For this purpose the Son of God was man-
ifested, that he might destroy the works of the
devil." In John's vision on Patmos he saw the
overthrow of "the great dragon, that old serpent,
called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world" — "and they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb."
How did they overcome by the blood of the
Lamb? Even as he loved not his life, but gave
it; so his people love not their life — the life sepa-
122 1 HK [MAGE OF GOD.
rate from him. 4<He that loveth his life shall
lose it: he that loseth it, for my sake shall find
it." This is being "dead with him, that we may
also live with him." This is to "crucify the flesh
with its affections and lusts." In the spirit of
obedience and faith, one would cut off a right
hand or pluck out a right eye, rather than be at
variance with his spirit. He that served Mam-
mon, leaves all and follows him who won the vic-
tory by giving all — even life itself. "He that
taketh not his cross and followeth me, is not
worthy of me."
Thus "looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith," as Israel looked upon the
pictured image of crucified sin, — looked and lived;
so we live unto holiness and die unto sin. So
the works of the flesh are eliminated, the poison
of the serpent: and the new life of the risen
Savior is shared by all the children cf God. "I
am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which
I now live in the flesh 1 live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me.
THE TEMPLE.
THE TEMPLE.
4*He spake of the temple of his body."— Jn. 2: 21.
"For ye are the temple of the Living God."— I Cor.
6:16.
THE Bible represents God a trinity — Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. Man also, his image, —
is in Bible Psychology, a three-fold being — body,
soul and spirit. If the three-fold nature of God
seems hard to understand, or if God the Father
is spoken of as an offended King, whilst Jesus is
the victim of his wrath; we have only to look at
the image of God — our own self, to see the ab-
surdity of this latter statement and the demon-
strated fact of three in one.
Jesus was the man — the human soul and body
inhabited by the Spirit of God; "God manifest
in the flesh." The Father who ran to meet his
prodigal son while he was yet a great way off,
and put upon him the robe and the ring — was
126 THE I MACK OF GOD.
God in Christ, coming to meet us, to restore our
son ship, to receive us with joy into his house.
1 'His name shall be called Immanuel — God with
us." Is. 7: 14.
The tabernacle, which God showed Moses
the pattern of in Mount Sinai, was a very complete
type of Christ — of man in God's image. It had
the three-fold division — the outer court, the holy
place, the holy of holies. To study the structure
of the tabernacle with all its furniture, will there-
fore help us to understand our own nature, and
the nature of our God and Savior. More than
all this, it will prove to us that the bible is the
true word of God to us; for if we find the temple
to be really of the same pattern after which Christ
is made, and both called the dwelling place of
God, we shall see that none but God could have
builded the house.
This is the very sign that Jesus gave to Israel
of his day; — "What sign givest thou that thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Highest?" "De-
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 127
stroy this temple, and I will build it again in three
days." "Forty-and-six years was this temple in
building, and wilt thou build it again in three
days?" "But he spoke of the temple of his body"
— "There shall no sign be given to this genera-
tion but the sign of the prophet Jonah."
God said to Moses, "Let them make me a
sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Ac-
cording to all that I show thee, the pattern of
the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instru-
ments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Then
follows the instruction how to make tbe ark, on
which was the law of God written on tables of
stone; and upon the ark was the "mercy seat."
This was in the Holy of Holies. Around this
was the Holy Place, where was placed the golden
table, on which bread was always to be, and the
candlestick with seven lamps to be kept lighted,
and the golden altar before the mercy seat —
where incense was to be burned morning and
evening, and the brazen altar for burnt offerings
whereon a lamb was offered morning and even-
128 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
ing, and the brazen basin at which the priests
must continually wash hands and feet.
A41 these things became as familiar to ,the
Children of Israel as day and night, summer and
winter.
When Moses had finished the work and
all was done as God commanded, a bright cloud
rested upon the tabernacle and "the glory of the
Lord filled the place." In all of their journeys
this sign of God's presence, dwelling in the tem-
ple he had ordained, went with them. When
the cloud rested on the tabernacle, they camped;
when it rose and moved forward, they followed.
It was cloud by day and fire by night.
So it was when Solomon dedicated the temple;
— "The cloud filled the house of the Lord, so
that the priests could not stand to minister be-
cause of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had
filled the house of the Lord." Solomon said,
"Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold,
the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot con-
I 111 I MACK OF COD. 129
tain thee; how much less this house that I have
builded."
The prayer of Solomon, in the 8th chapter of
First Kings, contains the history of Israel — the
history of man, with regard to God.
The prophet Haggai, encouraging the rebuild-
ing of the temple in his time, says, "The desire
of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house
with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory
of this latter house shall be greater than that of
the former, saith the Lord of Hosts, and in this
place will I give peace."
To this "latter temple" came no bright cloud,
as to the others; but the "Prince of Peace" him-
self came to it in the flesh, he at whose birth the
angels sang, "Peace on earth, good will to men"
— and who said, "Peace I leave with you, my
peace I give unto you."
The prophet Malachi said, "Behold I will
send my messenger, who shall prepare the way
before me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall
suddenly come to his temple."
130 THE [MAGE 01 GOD.
But we know that the types and shadows, the
figures of the true, have long since vanished.
We no longer pray toward the temple. We pray
"for Christ's sake" — "in the name of thy Son
US Christ." He is the temple. Him the
bright cloud overshadowed. "This is my be-
loved Son: hear ye him." "The hour cometh
when neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusa-
lem shall ye worship the Father." — "When Mes-
sias cometh, he will tell us all things" — "I that
speak unto thee am he." "In him dwelt the full-
ness of the Godhead bodily." "We beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of
God, full of grace and truth." Here is our "Mer-
cy Seat," crowned always with the shekina — the
"brightness of God's glory and the express im-
age of his person."
The pillar of fire stood in the door of the tab-
ernacle when Moses talked with God. "I am the
r/' said [esus. "Ever)' man stood in the
door of his tent and looked toward the door
of the tabernacle and worshiped." Solomon
: HE [MAGE OF GOD. 131
prayed, -What prayer and supplication soever
be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel,
which shall know every man the plague of his
own heart, and spread forth his hands unto this
house; then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling
place, and forgive, and do, and give to every
man according to his ways, whose heart thou
knowest; (for thou, thou only knowest the hearts
of all the children of men.)"
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will
do it," said Jesus. The epistle to the Hebrews,
particularly the eighth and ninth chapters, con-
tains an account of the parallel between the tem-
ple ser/ice, and the truth in Christ, which it pic-
tured. The temple and its ordinance are called
"the patterns of things in the heavens" — "For
Christ is not entered into the holy places made
with hands, the figures of the true; but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of
God for us."
Christ, being "the fullness of him that filleth
all in all," was the fulfillment of all spiritual
132 THE [MAGI 01 GOD.
types. The u mpl< contained the shekina, the
I'lLsence of God's glory vis r the mercy-
I and the ark within the veil. The veil was
"rent in twain from the top to the bottom*' when
Jesus was crucified — "This signifying that the
way to the holiest is now open to every man,
since the veil of his flesh is rent/' explains the
writer to the Hebrews. There was also in the
temple the table of pure gold with its bread al-
ways upon it. 'T am the bread of life," said Je-
sus. Also the golden candlestick— "I am the light
of the world;" and the golden altar of incense —
"Who ever liveth to make intercession for us;"
and the altar for burnt offerings — "So Christ was
once offered to bear the sin of man);" and the
laver for washing — "Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean! I will: be thou clean."
God built this temple — Christ, here on earth,
that every one of his children might be likewise
the temples of God. "Ye are the temples of the
living God." "Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost in you, which ye
1 HE [MAGE OF GOD. 1 33
have of God, and ye are not your own?" "We
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens."
So we, the living temples of God, need no
longer the stone tables of the law which were in
the ark, in the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle
which God shewed Moses in Mount Sinai; for he
says of this law, "I will write it on your heart."
Nor do we need the offerings of the temple, for
we, following Christ, "offer ourselves a willing
sacrifice, which is our reasonable service." Nei-
ther need we the incense, for everywhere — "by
prayer the earth is bound as by gold chains about
the feet of God;"nor the golden candlestick with
seven lamps, for Jesus said, "ye are the light of
the world'' — "Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature."
When John saw the new heavens and the new
earth, and the heavenly city, he "saw no temple
134 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it."
So it is, from Genesis to Revelation, God's
word is a complete harmony. "Seek ye out of
the book of the Lord and read: no one of these
shall fail, none shall want his mate." God's
word is like light, a rainbow of seven colors.
Should we not stud)' and harmonize the whole
word of God to us, that we may see clearly by
the white and perfect light? The "seven candle-
sticks" of John's vision had the Son of Man in
their midst. By his light we see — his Spirit leads
us to all truth. "Search the Scriptures," and
"see that thou makest all things according to the
pattern showed thee in the Mount."
INCENSE
INCENSE
"Ask, and ye shall receive; Seek, and ye shall find;
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
UNCERTAINTY as to the usefulness of prayer
has cut off this means of communion with
God, in the minds of many of his children. They
do not see that the great author of the universe
could alter his laws at the cry of a creature, or
that it is likely that he wTould listen to the vapor-
like voices that rise from the earth. Adam talk-
ing to God in the garden, ' 'in the cool of the day,"
seems to such only a beautiful myth.
Probably all the myths of all religions can be
traced to a foundation in reality. A granite boul-
der found on a western prairie might be to many
"only a stone;" but a thoughtful mind asks,
Whence came that stone and how is it here? Not
more certainly is the granite a dislodged part of
a great underlying body of rock, than is the myth
I38 ! !i I I\!A D.
a dislodged bit of underlying truth. Let us
know of the bed rock of truth, then, and through
all the oceans of forgetfulness and the frozen
periods of ignorance, let us examine the source
of these glacial fragments called "only myths."
At this age of relic hunting, of antiquity lov-
ing, of searching for the old — just because it is
old — of placing high money values upon ancient
books, how wonderful to think that in every
man's possession is a book containing writings
older than any we unroll from the folds of
Egypt's mummies! The stories of Homer are
but recent tales, to the poetry of Job. The tra-
ditions of the Koran, the wise sayings of the
Vedas — all but of yesterday, compared with the
account of the vision of creation, in Genesis.
There is one ancient Book, of unquestioned au-
thority, which the poorest human being may
have for the asking. It is translated into all
languages, and a free gift to everyone.
As to prayer, we find the Bible full of ac-
counts of God's answers, Cull of instances of help
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 139
and healing and forgiveness and leading and in-
structing, because of men's asking for these.
God thought prayer worthy of a symbol
among the patterns of things in the heavens
which he gave to Moses. It was a symbol wrought
of pure gold — the altar of incense. He placed
it nearest to his throne, the Mercy-seat. The
incense was made of precious and fragrant spices
and God showed how it should be made. Morn-
ing and evening this incense was to be offered.
Whilst the priest, in the Holy Place, offered in-
cense before the Mercy-seat, the people were
praying without.
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was
thus offering incense in the temple "and the
whole multitude of the people were praying with-
out at the time of incense" when the angel ap-
peared and announced to him the birth of John.
David says, "Let my prayer be set forth be-
fore thee as incense, and the lifting up of my
hands as the evening sacrifice. " The feelings we
have "in the gloaming," at "early candle light,"
140 THE [MAGE OFGOD.
have their root in a reality. Then it was that
Adam "talked with God," and every child of
Adam — rather, every child of God since then is
listening and looking, when there is neither sun-
light nor moonlight, neither the sound of the
day's business nor of the evening's revelry, — for
the light of God and the voice of the Father.
This is the hour when the whole earth shall hear
his voice and see his light. "At eventime it shall
be light." The Word of the Lord shall come
once more, with a light which blots out all the
suns — "The Lord my God shall come, all the
saints with thee!" Then, not our prayers only
shall arise, nor the incense kindled with fire from
God's altar; but our whole being shall arise, our
spirits quickened with God's spirit, "For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall
rise first; then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall
I in: [MAGE OF GOD. 141
we ever be with the Lord." "We shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is." The "even-
ing and the morning were the first daw"" when
time began. The evening shall usher in the
morning of "That Day" when ''time shall be no
longer."
John saw in his vision, "An angel came and
stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and
there was given to him much incense, that he
should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon
the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of
the saints, ascended up before God." The pray-
ers of the saints are represented in John's vision
as being kept as incense in golden vials. Incense
was the symbol of prayer, and was ordained by
him who ordained the laws of the universe. For
the heart of man to seek God, is as natural as
for smoke to rise heavenward, sweet odors to fill
the air, flowers to turn to the light. It does not
upset the laws of the universe nor throw all na-
ture out of plumb when the mists arise from the
142 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
oceans and descend again in showers of blessing
upon the dry ground. This is but the primary,
the picture-book end of that continuity of law
which has its deepest, widest truth in the spirit-
ual world. "God is a Spirit, " and the "Father
of our spirits." Shall he cause the inarticulate
response which the oceans render to the sun,
shall he answer the rising wind from the dry
and thirsty land, — and be deaf and blind to his
children?
When the plague broke out in Israel because
of sin, Aaron took a censer and incense upon it
and fire from the altar and ran amongst the
plague-stricken, and the plague was stayed.
Daniel says, "I set my face unto the Lord
God, to seek by prayer and supplications," "and
whilst I was speaking and praying and confess-
ing my sins and the sins of my people Israel —
yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the
man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at
the beginning, touched me about the time of the
evening oblation" — who said, "At the beginning
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 1 43
of thy supplications the word came forth, and I
am come to show thee."
•-More things are wrought by prayer than this
world wots of." It is only in the Book that we
have the real history of man, and the history be-
gins in the thoughts of his heart, in the offered
incense out of which God works events. It is
like the story of the "Fisherman and the Genie."
When the seal of Solomon was off, the incense-
like vapor rose from the long hidden vase and
took shape of a mighty "genie." So, out of the
heart's desire, grow all the actions of a life. So,
from the heart in unison with God, its offered in-
cense is one with the Eternal Spirit which first
"moved upon the waters" at the earth's creation,
and still and always moves to bring to pass what-
ever is in truth. To our offered prayer, asking
for what is beyond our own power, is added the
power of the Holy Ghost. This is the fire from
off the altar, which is added to our incense. No
"strange fire" was accepted — only that which
God ordained. Cain's sacrifice was not in the
144 THK IMAGE OF GOD.
manner God ordained. Nadab and Abihu offer* d
'•strange fire," not from the golden altar where
the original fire from heaven was always kept
burning, and they were destroyed. Neither
could any man not ordained and chosen of God
as a priest, offer incense. Korah tried the ex-
iment. '-Who is this Moses and Aaron? Ye
take too much on yourselves," cried he. God
made it plain that his laws were inexorable, that
is, that they meant realities and could not bo
overthrown.
Who then, is our priest to offer for us our in-
cense? Who but that ' 'Priest forever" who
"ever liveth to make intercession for us?" The
book which tells us of the incense, tells also of
the "Lord's annointed." We are not left to
guess our God's object lessons. "Ask and ye
shall receive.*' "Thy sins be forgiven thee."
"Go in peace." "Be thou clean." — "Who is
this that forgiveth sins also?" cried the people.
It is he of whom Aaron was but the far-off type.
He who makes of his own. the sons of God.
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 1 45
Aaron's sons carried on the priesthood. Jesus,
"to as many as receive him, to them gives he
power to become the sons of God." "He hath
made us kings and priests" and the way to the
Mercy- seat is open to us all through him.
The fire on the altar of incense came down
from heaven, even as fire came down at the prayer
of Elijah and of many prophets, priests and kings
and men of faith "of like passions as we are."
The connecting link between the old dispensa-
tion of types and the new of their spiritual ful-
fillment, occurred on the Day of Pentecost. The
disciples were praying and waiting for the prom-
ised baptism of the Holy Ghost. "And suddenly
there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where
they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon
each of them. And they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost." The second chapter of Acts con-
tains the history.
146 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
Ah, it is with very good reason that we say,
"For Jesus sake, Amen!" The promises of God,
the symbols he gave, all the types and shadows
of eternal realities are "yea and Amen in Christ
Jesus." All that is enduring, immortal, has in
it the same spirit which dwelt in him. This
spirit, the fire on the golden altar symbolized.
"He giveth his spirit to them that ask him." "I
will send the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost;
He shall lead you into all truth." Who but
God's Anointed, who spoke to Moses from the
burning bush, saying, "I AM hath sent thee;"
who but the ever-present, self-existent God, who
ordained symbols of the laws of his nature, and
dwTelt in the flesh that all flesh might know him;
who but the eternal Son of Man who said, "Be-
fore Abraham was, I AM" — could give the Holy
Ghost, the Spirit of God?
He does not alter his law at the "cry of the
human." His law is simply his nature. It is
therefore always in harmony, in us and in him.
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 147
It is a unit; not a set of opposing forces. The
problem is too great for us, for we are like the
wide end of divergent rays of light; but not too
great for God, who is the light. The "fullness
of him that filleth all in all" simply abides in us
also.
THE SACRIFICE FOR SIN.
THE SACRIFICE FOR SIN.
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have
given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for
your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement
for the soul."— Lev. 17: 11.
THE sublime simplicity of Bible truths is no-
where more blinding in its radiance than in
the whole line of type, prophecy and fulfillment
connected with the sacrifice for sin.
Doubtless God showed the first man, Adam —
the first sinner, the principle that the life of the
flesh is in the blood and that the "flesh lusteth
against the spirit" and must die before the spirit
can live. He told him that death was the out-
come of sin. He promised final victory through
"the seed of the woman." He provided "coats
of skins," when sinning had brought the need of
a covering. Doubtless the animals whose skins
furnished the covering, had been offered as a sac-
152 THE I MACK OF COD.
rifice; else why should Abel's offering have been
accepted rather than Cain's? The idea of the
type, also, demands that the sacrifice provides
the covering.
"The life of the flesh is in the blood." The
"flesh" is a term which Bible writers always use
in the comprehensive sense — the two-fold sense,
the body and the mind. The carnal mind, the
mind of the flesh, that is, the "natural man."
All his characteristics are "in the blood." Not
merely his physical life is in the blood, but his
mental life as well. Inherited qualities are "in
the blood." All the traits of nature which dis-
tinguish one from another; as the rose, the violet,
the nettle differ; as oranges are not apples; as
birds are not fishes, and one bird and one fish
differ from another; as lions differ from lambs,
and serpents are unlike doves; all these traits of
nature are "in the blood."
The passions possess the blood. "Love
strong as death and jealousy cruel as the grave"
are in the blood. This is not the love which is
THE [MAGE OF GOD, 1 53
an attribute of God, and by which we become
one with him, and which is like all true, holy,
unselfish love. Here is the power of sin. Here
it was that Satan got the easy victory over foolish
flesh and blood. A little sin in the mind soon
takes root in the blood. It is like the microbes,
and we are not aware of it till the mortal sin is
developed. It is beyond the power of man to
change the current of his blood to any radical ex-
tent. "He cannot make one hair black or white."
The "leopard cannot change his spots."
How then can flesh inherit spirit? How can
the strange creature, man, attain to that which
he feels himself to be capable of — that eternal
life and freedom from sin's slavery which should
be his because he can comprehend it? He
knows he is more than a mere beast. He de-
spises the beast-like qualities which get domin-
ion over him. He longs for God. This is the
problem which has agitated the heart of man in
every age, in every race and clime and nation.
154 ' ttB IMAGE OF GOD.
"Here sits he shaping wings to fly;
His heart forebodes a mystery,
He names the name — Eternity. "
But his wings are but carved in stone — like
the Sphinx of Egypt, and like the Sphinx his
strength is but four feet upon the earth, his life
principle only a breast of stone.
Like the Persians, he may call on the far-off
stars, and worship the symbols of life handed
down by tradition: he may keep the fire ever
burning — but he worships it with no sacrifice of
his own death-bearing nature; he mingles all his
own polluted heart in his ideal — and there is no
cleansing in his fire, no eternity in his star, his
sun goes down.
Or he finds no rest m any of God's creation,
and comes to believe the sum of all attainable
good will be to be reabsorbed in that indefinable
essence which is in everything, fills all space,
and which he calls "God." This is heaven —
nirvana — rest.
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 155
This last idea is a going back to the begin-
ning, when "the earth was without form." Sure-
ly it would be foolish even in man, to spend his
life perfecting an invention, and when it was de-
veloped to crush it to atoms, saying the idea in
his mind was enough. Think of losing all those
identities perfected at so great expense — Noah,
Moses, Job, Daniel, Joseph, John, Mary, Ruth,
Esther, Deborah, Sarah, all our own loved ones
"gone before." What a heaven, with all these
essences mixed in one indefinable chaos! God
does not go backward. An organism is not de-
veloped unless there is a reality to inhabit the
organism. God "repented that he had made
man," when man obeyed the flesh rather than
the spirit; but the same book which tells us this
and that he did make man, tells also of the way
to remedy that false obedience. He does not
make us nameless, but gives us a "new name."
"These are they which came out of great trib-
ulation and have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the lamb." What is
I56 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
the flesh but a garment for the spirit — a "robe?"
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I
have given it to you upon the altar to make an
atonement for the soul. " But this lamb ordained
of (rod was to be perfect — "without blemish;"
not our blood, therefore, not sinful flesh and blood.
Who but a sinless one could have power to rise
from the dead, since "the wages of sin is death?"
Who can lay down his life and take it up again?
Our lives are an offering to sin — without avail.
Only One ever said, "I have power to lay down
my life, and I have power to take it up again,"
and this he did. And if he had power to do this
has he not power also to give life to those who
love him and trust in him? Why else should he
pour out his life on this earth? "Believe also in
me." "Because I live, ye shall live also."
This is our only hope of righteousness. Ab-
raham "believed God, and it was counted to him
for righteousness." Faith brings obedience. If
Adam had believed God he would not have dis-
obeyed. It helps us to "believe God" when we
I Hi. I MAC) OF GOD. I 57
read of an atonement for sin, prefigured in the
earliest records of man's history. No tribe of
humanity can be found without the traditions of
this idea of sacrifice for sin.
In the land of Moriah, "In the Mount of God
he shall be seen." There God provided an offer-
ing instead of Isaac the son of promise. There
he accepted Abraham's faith and obedience, the
token of God's Spirit in-dwelling. In the land of
Moriah, ■ Tn the Mount of God he shall be seen. "
There Solomon built the temple, in the place
that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of
Oman, the Jebusite. There David built an altar
where God forgave his disobedience, where the
chaff was once more winnowed from the wheat,
where evil was overcome and the kingdom of
peace was promised.
In that land was seen the sacrifice foretold by
all the prophets. "He was wounded for our
transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and
with his*stripes we are healed. All we like
158 THE IMAGE OF (;OI>.
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and the Lord hath made
the iniquity of us all to meet on him. — He hath
poured out his soul unto death; and he was num-
bered with the transgressors: and he bore the
sins of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors." So wrote Isaiah, seven hundred
years before the angels sang ' 'Peace on earth;
good will to men."
Who but Jesus, crucified in the Mount where
centred all these types of sacrifice for sin, has
verified them all? Of him testified his disciples
in words like those of Peter, — "Who his own
self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed."
In the words of John, "Ye know that he was
manifested to take away our sins; and in him is
no sin" — "and he is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world." In the words of Paul, "But now
apart from the law a righteousness of God hath
THE IMAGE OF GOD. 1 59
been manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God set
forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by his
blood." The words of Jesus, recorded by Mat-
thew, are, "This is my blood of the covenant,
which is shed for many unto remission of sins."
The whole life of Jesus was a triumph of
spirit over flesh. His death was an atonement
on account of sinful flesh, in which he clothed
himself that he might be made one with us who
wear that garment. His rising was a victory in
which his brethren partake — because they are at
one with God, through Christ. This is the an-
swered prayer of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ — "Even as thou, Father, art in me, and I
in thee, that they also may be in us — and the
glory which thou hast given unto me I have given
unto them. And I make known unto them thy
name, and I will make it known, that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them."
JONAH.
JONAH.
"This generation seeketh after a sign and there shall
no sign be given it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah; for
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth."
NOWHERE is God's plan of teaching by ob-
ject lessons more apparent than in the lives
of the prophets of the Old Testament. He who
formed the ear and the eye has unfolded through
both of these channels "the things which are not
seen," the eternal things, to the mind and heart
of man. "I have spoken by the prophets, and I
have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by
the hand of the prophets."
Jonah attempted to flee from the presence of
God. He became the great illustration of the
fact that God is everywhere. Whither shall I
go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from
thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
164 IHK [MAGE OF GOD.
art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou
art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even
there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand
uphold me."
"The Deep'7 is the spot furthest removed from
sight; the "bottom of the sea" is the uttermost
depth. The devils which Jesus cast out, asked
to be allowed to hide "in the deep." It is said
that they entered into a herd of swine and rushed
violently down a steep place into the sea. Were
they then where Jesus could not find them?
When Jonah rebelled against God's leader-
ship he joined, for the time, the ranks of those
' 'angels which keep not their first estate. " God's
judgment overtook him. He learned — and we
learn through his lesson — that no depth is deep
enough to furnish a spot where God rules not.
This answers for us the question as to the final
triumph of the Spirit of Truth and Holiness in
all Gods universe. Jonah went on the mission
God sent him — a mission of warning and saving
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 165
to the wicked Nineveh. Being a prophet, God's
Spirit within him urged obedience and the fulfill-
ment of God's command. In the depth of the
sea, the perverse heart of Jonah acquiesced and
he said, "They that observe lying vanities for-
sake their own mercy." He no longer joined
himself to those "principalities and powers" who
rebel against God. His trial proved that he
really belonged to God. "When my soul fainted
within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer
came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. Sal-
vation is of the Lord."
The certainty of God's undertakings and his
complete control, through all time and space, are
linked together with his character of Savior. "I
knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness," said that
bigoted Jonah. Behold the wonder God has
worked. This prophet is made the very "sign"
of God's greatest act of mercy — the emblem of
his message even to the underworld, to the
"spirits in prison;" "for as Jonah was three days
l66 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth."
There are plenty of Jonahs at this age of the
world who would rather all the "spirits in prison"
— all the dead, should stay in prison to all eter-
nity— should never hear a message of life, just
because they have so interpreted God's words.
But God knows how to have patience with the
"Elder Brothers, as well as to go out to meet the
Prodigal Sons.
Perhaps the towering structure of Church
Doctrines, Creeds of various kinds, are the flour-
ishing Jonah's-Gourd in the shade of which many
self-satisfied prophets of our days have tranquilly
rested — till God sent some worm to destroy it all,
that the heat of the desert might reveal that
"there is no difference — for all have sinned."
There are those who believe in the resurrec-
tion of Jesus Christ, and yet discredit the story
of Jonah. Is it likely that God would prepare
types of everything else in the history of Jesus,
THE IMAGE OF con. 1 67
and leave out the most important fact of all?
Would the prophets be shown visions of all but
the thing of all others which God sent his Son to
accomplish? "Who hath wrought and done it,
calling the generations from the beginning? I
the Lord, the first and with the last; I am he."
"Behold, the former things are come to pass,
and new things do I declare; before they spring
forth I tell you of them."
He whom John saw in his Apocalyptic vision
said "I am Alpha and Omega — the first and the
last." Whilst he was yet on earth he said, "I
tell you these things before they come to pass,
that when they are come to pass ye may believe."
The "sign of the prophet Jonah" was in harmony
with God's plan of types. Jesus cites it as pre-
eminently the sign given from God to tell them
of his death and resurrection after "three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth."
THE BRIDE.
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, com-
ing down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he will dwell with them, and God himself shall
be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain; for the former things are passed away." —
Rev. 21:2-4.
THE BRIDE.
"Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet
him."
GOD has filled all nature full of dualities which
become unities. Foremost in this series is
the make-up of man himself. He has two eyes,
but one perfect vision; two ears, but one sense
of hearing. With two lips he opens his mouth
to utter one voice. So his unseen self is a unit
in all these impressions and expressions. An-
other duality, and this one is the type we now
consider, came into existence when God divided
the man he had made in his image into two
halves — " In the image of God created he them. "
How are they in God's image? The "seed of
the woman" is Christ. Christ is the picture God
has given us to show how man and God can be
one. Christ represents all his people. "I pray
that they all be one, as thou, Father, art in me,
172 THE [MAGE OF GOD.
and I in Thee, that they also be one in ns" — "I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one." This one is the Bride. This is
the loved one for whom Jesus gave all of life,
for whom he suffered death, from whom he will
not be separated by "height nor depth nor princi-
palities nor powers." John calls the united
people of God — "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife."
He is thinking of Christ as the one who con-
quered through sacrifice of himself — the "Lamb
of God."
But the "Seed of the woman" is "bone of our
bone," and he and his people are one — but a half
one; the other half is God. Without the union
with God, we are imperfect in nature, sterile as
to all God meant us for. As the branch must
abide on the vine, so must we be united to God.
But being one with God, as Christ was, we have
the perfect image of God restored in us. "This
is life eternal, to know God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent."
IIIK [MAGE OF GOD. 1 73
Does anyone ''stagger with unbelief" of the
type — the divided man, Adam and Eve? How
then can we believe that God and man are
temporarily divided and must be reunited to be
made perfect? "If I tell you earthly things and
ye believe not, how can ye believe if I tell you
heavenly things?"
We know that man cannot inherit eternal life
of himself. This is the prototype of that object
lesson God gave us in man and woman. With
either one or the other, of man or woman, we
know that life would end when their brief candle
of existence was snuffed out. We know God's
plan of union and the continuance of life and
wTider, vaster, endless fruit, peopling the whole
earth. Is it likely that he invented a trivial de-
vice for time and left eternity out altogether?
Again we find the wonderful Book has the
account of type and prototype. As man and
woman are one, so Christ and God are one, and
so all the people of God are united with him
and are one and perfect in him. But see this
174 IHK IMAGE OF GOD.
truth in the picture of union, — nothing but love
can do it. It is as certain as all the other laws of
nature.
It ought to be easy for scientists to see spirit-
ual laws. Chemical affinity is the material
equivalent of this law of nature. God makes
"nature" — and it is alike all through. As we
quench our thirst with a draught of cold water,
we seldom stop to think of its imperfect halves or
parts. The divided water would profit us not.
How can we tell the reason why oxygen and hy-
drogen will combine to form water? We name
the union, explain it as chemical affinity, — and
drink the water. We can't live without it.
Chemical affinities will unite, do we say?
Yet it is not that they have a will, but that this
nature has been given them. Just so it is with
love. John explains it, — "We love because he
first loved us." We love because "God is love."
All the world may not know of, or be inter-
ested in chemical affinity; but all the world has
THE I.MAC E OF GOD. 1 75
heard of love — "all the world loves a lover."
What is the story — with love left out? It is what
we all read about, and go to see played upon the
stage. Love is the flower we gather, regardless
of thorns. It is the real blossom, all else being
but leaves. God pictured love with every bright
color, every graceful form, every enchanting
fragrance, when he made the flowers; for the
bloom season of every flower is its wedding fes-
tivity. These gay petals mean love and union.
These bright, beautiful dresses are wedding
clothes; and the odor of rose, violet, lily of the
valley — all pictures of a holy, happy atmosphere
of pure love.
Would God * 'so clothe the grass of the field" —
and leave his children out? All that he has made
is like his nature. "We also are his offspring."
If the flowers bloom, if the heart rejoices in love,
does it not mean something eternal? "Whatso-
ever is born of God cannot die." The flowers
fade — "Leaf by leaf the roses fall;" and love's
light is dimmed by time and death; and the
I76 I HI IMAGE OF GOD.
tilings which seemed most real are found to be
a vanishing dream. Why? An old poet sang,
three hundred years ago, this song about "Love. n
44Love is a sickness full of woes,
All remedies refusing;
A plant that most with cutting grows,
Most barren with best using.
Why so?
More we enjoy it, more it dies;
If not enjoyed, it sighing cries,
Hey, ho!
"Love is a torment of the mind,
A tempest everlasting;
And Jove hath made it of a kind
Not well, nor full, nor fasting.
Why so ?
More we enjoy it, more it dies;
If not enjoyed, it sighing cries,
Hey ho!"
This is because love on earth is only a shad-
ow of the real. When there is a shadow, there
is a substance somewhere to cast that shadow.
Therefore the love, always like a flower here, —
the union which death may break, or which is
not after all enough for a mind and heart which
craves eternity and love with no end, — this is
the type and shadow: the substance is found in
THE !M \c.i OF GOD. 177
that union with God which Christ showed forth
in his life, and which is the portion of every
soul which can believe in and respond to the
love of God.
God is in all his works. What is the use of
a beautiful and well furnished house, if no one
dwells in it? Let it tumble into ruins, for it is
without inhabitant. Just like an untenanted
house, would be anything of God's building, if
it had no thought in it, no truth shining through
it like the lights in the windows. God never
made anything which is not thus a showing:
forth of himself, a dwelling place of his thought.
From this fact the Greeks evolved Pantheism;
but the mistake appears when we apply this
parallel, — Man's house, with all the things he
wears and uses, are not man. His thought is.
in them all, and his nature may be read in his;
thoughts there expressed, but we do not con-
found man's works with man himself.
THE [MAGE OF COD
A homeless man with nothing he can call his
own, is a sorry thing to contemplate. God him-
self would be homeless and have no dwelling
place had he given no expression of himself in
works of creation. If he has an expression thus
in all his works — in winds and waves and light
and life, how much more must he desire a home
in the hearts of his children! How pitiful to
think that "he came unto his own and his own
received him not" — that "there was no room for
him at the inn!" How quickly should the heart
rise to fly to him when he says, "Behold, I
stand at the door and knock!"
This is why God's works are types of spirit-
ual truths, because he dwells in his works.
This is why we recognize "patterns of things in
the heavens." But we should not recognize if we
were not "in his image." If we had not the re-
lationship, the same nature, we should no more
see spiritual truth than a blind man sees colors.
But he whose children we are and who furnished
THE [MAGE 01 GOD. 179
for us the world we live in, — he made colors
and forms and eyes to see them with; he made
spiritual eyes, also, and spread before those eyes
the eternal realities in manifold types.
Materialists, those who see no meaning in
God's creation, have lost these truths; but
poets, artists, prophets, have translated these
messages in every age. Ask thy heart what it
means thus to cry out for love that cannot fade
and union that cannot be broken? It means
that a part of you is not here. You sigh for
wholeness. Think not to find it on earth. He
who "knew what was in man" and said it "was
not good for man to be alone," gave the love-
united Oneness — for this world; and in it, ac-
cording to his method of "first the natural and
afterward the spiritual," he set forth the eternal
unity which love shall make, of God and man.
This will be wholeness. In this way the people
of God are termed "the Bride."
i i M IGE OF GOD.
"Break up the heavens, O Lord! and far
Thro' all yon starlight keen,
Draw me, thy bride, a flittering star.
In raiment white and clean.
He lifts me to the golden doors:
The Hashes come and go;
All heaven bursts her starry floors,
And strows her lights below,
And deepens on and up! the gates
Roll back, and tar within
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits
To make me pure of sin."
What has more inspired the hearts of all
poets, all seers, whether they interpret their
visions of truth in words, in music, in painting,
than the central idea of existence contained in
the reunion of God and Man0 It is Immanuel,
God with us, in the pictures of the divine Child
and the holy Virgin Mother. This was the
sign given by the God and Father of us all that
his power and his will unite to make us anew.
By this we know that "God so loved the world,"
in that he comes to us in our estate. The
power of the Highest, the same Spirit which
"moved upon the waters" in the beginning,
rshadows us still, and this time not to bring
IMF. [MAGE OF GOD. l8l
forth a material world, but "Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins." He triumphs
over sin and sacrifices all that is of earth in our
nature which he makes his own. He pours out
his blood for us and gives up all that separates
us from God. What more than the Holy Grail,
the cup of love and sacrifice, the cup signifying
union with him, of which all drink with Christ
the Lord, — what more than this has fired the
hearts of our greatest composers of music?
This symbolizes the very bond of union with the
Son of God.
"Oh, blessed vision! blood of God!
My spirit beats her mortal bars,
As down dark tides the glory slides
And star-like mingles with the stars.
A maiden Knight, to me is given
Such hope I know not fear;
I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven
That often met me here.
I muse on joy that will not cease,
Pure spaces clothed in living beams,
Pure 111 lies of eternal peace,
Whose odors haunt my dreams."
Those who understand the voice of "rolling
organ harmonies" may find in these days an in-
182 I III" [MAGE OF GOD.
terpreter of this greatest fact in our history. The
poets and musicians of old who strove to inter-
pret this theme are called ''the prophets" now.
Another generation may add Wagner to the
prophets, and Tennyson. It was singing of
this theme which has preserved through all the
years, the harp-strains of David, the shepherd
boy, as well as the orchestra psalms of David,
the King. This theme has made Isaiah's sub-
lime utterances the voice of God in Man for all
generations. -'Fear not, for thy Maker is thine
husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name; and
thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God
of the whole earth shall he be called. " "As the
bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, shall thy
God rejoice over thee."
Always it is "the pure heart" wTho "shall see
God." Always must the oil of anointing, conse-
crating, be in the lamp, and the lamp kept
trimmed and burning to join the happy throng
of those who "go forth to meet the bridegroom."
The union of the divine and human spirit is to
THE [MAGE OF GOD. [83
be now and here. We wait not for the coming
moment when he shall "descend from heaven
wih a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trump of God," when "the dead in
Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and
remain shall be changed, in the twinkling of an
eye, and so shall meet in the air" this city of God
descending "like a bride adorned."
The love of God comes not alike to all. To
Saul of Tarsus came suddenly, out of the noon-
day sky, the vision which transformed him. But
who knows how7 love grew in the heart of "that
disciple whom Jesus loved ?" When he was young
he was for calling down fire from heaven to con-
sume those who would not receive his Master, but
when he was old his outstretched hands and
voice of benediction constantly proclaimed, "Lit-
tle children love one another; love one another,
for love is of God."
When we love him "who first loved us,"
there is a real union of our heart and mind with
the divine Spirit, and then there is a real new
184 ' HE [MAGE 01 GOD.
birth in us, a separate identity, a "new creature"
which shall inherit all that God can bestow on
his child — shall inherit with Jesus Christ the heir
of all things. Love makes us one with God.
This is that which was shown forth on the
Day of Pentecost. Who can tell how a bit of
hard, black, cold mineral like anthracite coal,
for example, is transformed by heat into a glow-
ing, brilliant, warmth-giving substance, most
useful to human life? If the coal could and
should refuse this transforming heat, it would be
like the heart which can and will refuse that
••baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost," which
comes with the love of God. This is why the
call, "Follow thou me," is urgent. The spirit
called to be one with God, the human called to
knighthood by such a king, does not say, "Wait"
— for anything. Like the "Knight of Pentecost, "
"Not in the dark the tongue of flame came leaping,
Upon his lips, across his torehead sweeping;
Not prostrate in great glooms of temple shade:
But while he gazed, one only with his Master,
In deathless circles swelling vast and vaster,
The dawn, swift-sworded. rlash^d his accolade.
["HE IMAGE OF GOD. [85
"Full of the word that made the sunlit weather,
Full of the strength that holds the stars together,
White with the whiteness of the Holy Ghost,
By all the forces of the day surrounded,
Then rode he forth, his trump of onset sounded,
All sacrosanct, a Knight of Pentecost."
We see now, the answer to that "Why so?" of
the old poet — and of many an aching heart since
then. God makes human passion like a shadow
— that we may look toward the light and find
what casts the shadow. Do we lose the life we
give to God? Just as the Bride loses, if she
marries the husband she loves, and who is worthy
of love. Just as Jesus Christ lost, "of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named."
God send us the love without which it avails us
not to "understand all mysteries," the love which
makes us one with God.
THE IMAGE OF GOD.
THE IMAGE OF GOD.
"For the invisible things of him since the creation ofc
the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the
things that are made, even his everlasting power and
divinitv. "— Rom. 1:20.
WHEN the mind is full of vague thoughts, fused
together, conglomerate beyond distinction;
should there be no ability to express them —
this would be as if God had left forever in dark-
ness, forever without form, forever empty, his
universe.
Yet who is devoid of some form of expression?
Do not eyes speak whole volumes? And is not
a hand-clasp, a smile, a tear, a true message from
the heart? Has God made anything without ex-
pression? God is the Father of expression.
This is saying that he is the Creator.
It is always the truth — something real, that
God's works express. When man gives expres-
sion to anything untrue, he "is of his father, the
190 J HE [MAGE OF GOD.
devil," the "father of lies." Better be dumb,
than a liar. That which is unholy hides from the
light. It has the serpent nature.
Silence and darkness belong to death. With
life, comes expression, light, a reality which can
be seen. Does not this prove something? You
must have a thought before you can express it;
conversely, your words, deeds, works, the ma-
chine you invented, picture you painted, music
you composed, — these stand for the thought be-
hind them; they are the image of the thought;
the unseen thought is proved by "the things cre-
ated, which are seen."
So when the Spirit of God moved upon that
formless chaos "in the beginning," light broke
forth and sea and land took shape.
When the blank page lies before you and form-
less ideas mix together in your consciousness, you
put forth an effort of your will, light breaks and
words are written on the paper. The solid earth
appears. What germs are in that earth you
know not; it will be evolved. What thoughts in
inn im \i;k OF GOD. 191
other minds may grow from these our thoughts,
we cannot tell. But if we give them no expi
sion, our tlioughts are only the inborn image;
they are the nebulous mist of the might have
been; they are darkness on the face of the deep.
When God wrote his thoughts on the page of
nature, it was for us to read — a legacy of letters
to his children. The more we can spell out the
wondrous forces of nature, all the laws of light
and heat, how the crystals form, how the seed
sprouts, how the winds rise and blow, how the
worlds revolve, — the more we read of these
thoughts of God, the better we know him — IF.
If what? A little child holding its father's
hand might know that father better than a man
of his own age and of equal mental attainments
— with an enemy's heart. He knows his friend
the best, who loves him best. Love is the heat
in nature, and light goes with it; and wisdom —
the true knowing is found in that company. Weis-
heit and wissenscliaft should be twins; but recog-
nition is of the spirit, and cognition is only of the
192 THE [MAGE or con.
brain. A kinship, a sympathy, a likeness, is
necessary to recognition. One must have met
before — that which is recognized. "When we
see him as he is, we shall be like him."
The elements of nature, all the material which
goes to make up earth — "dust of the ground"
and the wraters of the sea, brought forth "the
things that are made" and through them shine
"the invisible things" of God's nature. But this
was not enough; this was only a home furnish-
ing, a place prepared, and the final image of
God, from the same material, completed the
work of creation. Out of that formless begin-
ning, God evolved Man. This was the image he
undertook. All the previous works of creation
were but steps up to this, a pedestal for this to
stand upon.
The earth is man's platform; on it he stands
alone. He stands, the three-fold likeness of
Father, Son and Spirit. Creation led up to him;
counterparts of his nature were in the furniture
God prepared tor him. The ilower cried, Where
THE [MAGE OF GOD. 193
is he who shall behold my beauty and enjoy my
fragrance? The fruit echoed, Why was I made
if none lives to eat that which is good? The
night for sleeping and the day for waking fore-
shadowed the coming One — half of the day, half
of the dark. He is mine, said the earth; for out
of me was he taken. He is mine, said night and
darkness; for behold, he sleeps! As thou doest,
so will we do, said the animal creation.
Alas, that their Master, Man, taught brute
strength to the lion, gluttony to swine, stealth to
the fox! Alas, that his dominion led them to
"bite and devour one another!" Alas, that his
nature is reflected in the vulture, as well as in
the dove; that he who sometimes sings praise
and joy with the birds which greet the morning
— at other times joins the desperate wolf-pack in
desolate places, and laughs with the ghoul-like
hyena in caves of death and despair!
Alas, that the image of God, printed on clay
— loved the clay, and forsook God ! "Dust thou
art, to dust thou shalt return," cries the Father
194 THE IMAGE OF GOD.
to his lost child. For there was no eternity in
the clay, Adam's choice. The only door opening
into eternity, through the rising scale of creation,
was the door of hope and of promise to the
image of God, "Obey and thou shalt live" —
obey the laws of Spirit, and be not deceived.
The choice Adam made bore its fruit in Cain, the
murderer; brought forth its harvest in the days
before the flood, when "God repented that he
had made man;" and made of Sodom and Go-
marrah cities which it took fire from heaven to
purify and the Dead Sea to cleanse.
Yet God did not plant the tree of Life in the
Garden of Eden for no purpose. When he said,
"Let us make man in our image" — we know that
he would continue what he begun. "God is not
a man that he should lie nor repent." "His
hand is not shortened that it cannot save."
The earth brought forth thorns and thistles
and man ate bread "in the sweat of his brow."
Man learned the value of God's gifts when he
had to earn them by hard work. Man had to
IHK [MAGE OF GOD. 195
"work out his own salvation. " God made it hard
to fall back to the clay> to degenerate to the
beast. He set a penalty upon the flinging away
of the divine and the lapsing into the human,
which had seemed so easy. He made the way
of the transgressor hard.
But always, from the begiuning, God prom-
ised to man the final victory over evil and death-
"The seed of the woman shall bruise the ser-
pent's head." The works of creation shall again
reflect God's image, as when "the morning
stars sang together and all the sons of God
shouted for joy." "The lion and the lamb shall
lie down together — They shall not hurt nor de-
stroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."
All the ages have borne testimony to a new Image
of God — which should endure. If God saved
Noah and his family, when he destroyed wicked-
ness by the flood, and so gave mankind a new
start with clean surroundings; if he rescued Lot
and his family, when he burned the evil cities of
the plain; would he give up? "The everlasting
I96 l HE [MAGE OF GOD.
God, the Creator, fainteth not, neither is weary. "
The types we have considered are some of the
milestones on this heaven-ordained road to
eternal sonship. As in the beginning the works
of creation all pointed to man, so all history
pointed to the Son of Man — the Son of God.
The "last Adam," the "quickening spirit," is the
sure response to the continuous cry of the
human.
Everything brings forth fruit "afterits kind;"
and if this is true, it is true because God made
it so; and if he made it so, that is because it
Is his nature; therefore God will bring up to his
own likeness, all that he has made. The eternal
Son of God is a necessity.
Under cultivation, the earth brings forth
fruit, and with labor the weeds are rooted out.
That which is essential to sustain life is got out
of the earth by man; he finds he cannot live on
the spontaneous growths, — the brambles, weeds,
4 'thorns also and thistles." He finds, further,
that what will support the brute nature — "husks
THE IMAGE OF GOD. [97
that the swine did eat" — is not enough for him.
He starves for his home, for fellowship higher
than the swine. He finds out, as did Job, the
evanescent character of earth's best gifts. He
learns that "man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God." It is proved to man by this
process that his real, abiding nature is intended
to be in harmony with God. "Who shall de-
liver me from this body of death?" is now his
cry. He finds himself a slave doomed to death.
God will bring up to his own likeness all that
he has made. The eternal Son of God is a nec-
essity. But the Son of God is not alone. It is
a raee of sons of man that the world was made
to support. Growth is a lawr of life. God did
not leave his image without the power he gave to
lesser lives. So his perfected image, Christ, is
by love and faith made one with every soul that
longs for God — and so each soul becomes a Son,
by "adoption," by marriage, by whatever figure
best represents the actual relation of Man to
ltjs I HI £ IMAGE 01 GOD.
God. "Now are we the sons of God — when he
.shall appear we shall be like him." Thus has
God accomplished what he undertook — "Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness."
A son may look like his father, and yet not
A like him. That is to say, he is the physical
image of his father — but of a different spirit. A
good father sometimes has a bad son. Adam
liad the lineaments of his Father. He corre-
sponded to all the works of God which consti-
tuted his environment. His nature was a per-
fect structure, like a temple, for the indwelling of
his Father's Spirit; but he took another spirit to
dwell there — a spirit whose end is destruction,
instead of life. The ruling of that evil spirit,
not corresponding to the laws of life and growth,
not in harmony witn reality, truth, righteous-
5S, eternity (synonyms in this case), brought
death. Death is the eternal extinction of
that which has nothing of God in it. It is God's
Spirit that makes alive. Whatever is not born
of God, has no abiding life in it.
THE IMAGE of cod.
God gave his child a choice, for this child
was like our children are to us, and we cannot
command their love. If you say, Love me,
— love does not obey the command.
Love is absolutely free. Obedience is of the
heart. The stone tables of the law wrere
broken. Of course they were. Stone
tables are like stone images. The Pharisees
demonstrated the amount of God's image which
outside commandments — stone tables of the law,
can bring about. None loved Ged so little as
these who bowed down to the forms of his law.
Having kept the forms, they were persuaded of
their own righteousness — even though their
righteousness brought forth murder. "Crucify
him — crucify him!" cried these hate-filled souls
who had made their god a stone image of the
law. They did over again what Cain did in the
beginning. Forever have the Scribes and Phari-
sees shown to the world that righteousness is not
of the law, not to be got from the outside, but to
be "written on the heart." Their descendants
200 IHK IMAGE OF GOD.
the adherents of dogma and creed and every sort
of religious formula, have drenched the earth in
blood, invented every species of torture cruel
hearts could devise, burned martyr's and
slaughtered innocents, and at this age of civiliza-
tion are content to attend church in good cloth-
ing whilst the world for whom Christ died goes
on to death with the devil. "Except your
righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees, ye
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."
Through love, recognition of what God is,
knowing him in Christ Jesus, his law is wrritten
on our hearts. Thus do we grow into his like-
ness. This likeness cannot be broken. It is
born of God. It is holy spirit, as is the Spirit of
God, and it continually rejects and overcomes
sin. It continually repents of error and offers
all things contrary to holiness "a willing sacri-
fice." The Father does not forget his child; he
never forsakes him. Having led the race of
Adam up to Christ, he adds in full measure the
gift of the Holy Ghost. He accepts the sacrifice.
I UK IMAGE 01 GOD. aoi
With holy fire from heaven be burns away the
dross and sets free the pure gold. What we so
painfully and fearfully give up, he shows us was
but the chaff. He winnows our wheat with the
winds of heaven, and gives us a character tha-
can live and help others to live. The threshingt
floor is the spot on which God builds his temple.
There he adds his glory, the gift of the Holy
Ghost. He dwells with his child. "If any man
hear my voice and open the door, we will come
in to him and will sup writh him." "The taber-
nacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them."
God is, as Jesus taught us, "Our Father."
Through Jesus, the "express image" of God, the
Only-begotten Son, we have fellowship with God.
"Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" —
says this Brother of ours. "Because I live, ye
shall live also" — says the Victor over sin and
death. "I call you friends — for I have told you
everything." "Peace I leave with you; let not
your hearts be troubled." "It is I, be not afraid."
202 THK IMAGE OF GOD.
"As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he
given to the Son to have life in himself;" for "he
is the image of the invisible God."
This is "the mystery which hath been hid
from ages and from generations, but is now made
manifest to his saints, to whom God would make
known the riches of the glory of this mystery —
Christ in you, the hope of glory."
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