AUGUST

"The Emperor Octavian, called the August, I being his favorite, bestowed his name Upon me, and I hold it still in trust,

In memory of him and of his fame. I am the Virgin, and my vestal flame

Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage; Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claim The golden Harvests as my heritage.'

-H. W. LONGFELLOW in "The Poet's Calendar.

IGN

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST

"Upon this rock I will build my Church."-Jesus.

GNATIUS declared in his day "Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Church." In the Gospel and Epistles of the New Testament the true Church of Christ is portrayed as a spiritual building, of which Christ is the chief cornerstone of the foundation. In the realm of His sovereignty Jesus taught that His kingdom included all who knew Him by spiritual acquaintance; and excluded all outside this relationship. Membership in the kingdom and membership in the Church may mean very different relationships in His sight.

The Church is compared to a body of which Christ is the head. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ." "Now are ye the body of Christ, and severally members thereof."

As the head directs the movements of the body, so Christ directs the movements of His Church, by the operations of His Holy Spirit.

Christ is the life of the Church. Unless the spirit of Christ is reproduced in the lives of the Church membership, there is lack of power. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church produces the Spirit of Christ in the lives of believers.

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One

The marks of the Church are threefold: 1. Unity. Lord, one faith, one baptism." In an orchestra of music there may

be many instruments, but harmony is the result of united effort. Within the Church there may be many denominations, but there can be but one Spirit. 2. Holiness. In this spiritual house each stone is consecrated or set apart for a specific work. Each stone is filled or saturated with the spiritual presence of Christ. 3. Universality or Catholicity also distinguishes the Church of Christ from all other organizations. The holy catholic Church embraces all peoples, races, nations, who possess the Spirit of Christ.

This spiritual building is composed of living stones (Spiritualized human beings) built upon the true foundation, which is Christ. Peter's noble confession: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God," is the keynote to every true confession of faith. It was upon this rock that Jesus said "I will build my Church."

The objective of this spiritual household of believing children is the offering up of acceptable sacrifices of love and service unto God by Jesus Christ.

"The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; She is the new creation by water and the word;

From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride; With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died." -SAMUEL J. STONE.

THE MAN OF SORROWS

“He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”—Isaiah.

THE

HE prophecy of Isaiah furnishes a most accurate outline of the sorrowful, suffering life of the world's Redeemer. Why the world should have hated him, who was kind to all, is indeed strange. Yet, when he exposed their sins they hated and opposed him. He was truly a man of sorrows.

But is not the great burden of the world that of sorrow and suffering? This sad fact may be the answer to the oft repeated question-why did Jesus suffer? It has never been disputed that the most sacred; the most sublime moments in all history are found in Gethsemane and Calvary. This was the culmination of the earthly life of the Man of Sorrows.

The chief sorrow of Christ was over the appalling fact of a world lost in sin. It was when he sat on the brow of Olivet looking down upon the Holy City that he said: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent uno her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.' He sorrowed over the unbelief of his own. Nazareth rejected Him; Judas betrayed Him; Thomas doubted; Peter denied Him and with James and John slept in Gethsemane. They all forsook Him and fled.

What then is the solemn meaning of His sorrows? Do they not measure the extent of His Divine love? Do they not measure the true value of man?

It is said that when the story of West India slavery was told to the Moravians, and that it was impossible to reach the slave population because they were so separated from the ruling classes, two missionaries offered themselves and said: "We will go and be slaves on the plantations, and work and toil under the lash and get beside the poor slaves and instruct them." So they left their homes and went to these islands as slaves. And the slaves heard them because they had humbled themselves to their condition. This was indeed a noble example of sacrifice. Yet Christ's example was more wonderful. He came from heaven to earth to get by our side; that we might feel the throbbings of His tender love and be drawn so close as to hear Him whisper: "God is Love."

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST

We may paint the outward appearance of his sufferings, but not the inward bitterness or invisible causes of them. Men can paint the cursed tree, but not the curse of the law that made it so. Men can paint Christ bearing the cross to Calvary, but not Christ bearing the sins of many. We may describe the nails piercing his sacred flesh, but who can describe eternal justice piercing both flesh and spirit? We may describe the soldier's spear, but not the arrows of the Almighty; the cup of vinegar which he but tasted, but not the cup of wrath, which he drank out to the lowest dregs; the derision of the Jews, but not the desertion of the Almighty forsaking his son, that he might never forsake us who were his enemies. —J. Maclaurin.