word. Do you think this audience would have been here this morning, if it had not been for the Holy Ghost? Do you believe preaching the gospel for 1800 years would have kept the people, if it had not have been for the Holy Ghost coming? Ah, my friends, it is the Holy Ghost he sent when he went into heaven. And now, my friends, let me say, in closing, if we will just preach more about the resurrected Savior, and if we live more about him and try and realize the power that we get in him and through him, we will accomplish more this last month of our labors than we have accomplished in all the rest of our lives.

Oh, may God help us to realize what a precious truth we have to preach; that we are not worshiping a dead Savior; that he is a resurrected Savior, and in such a day and hour as we think not he will return. And although we do not know when that will be, there is one thing we do know, and that is that he has promised to come; and that day is not far distant; we haven't but a little while to work. As Christine Evans says: "The songs of these bursting sepulchres, when Christ shall come, will be sweeter than the song of the morning star." We shall come up from the grave, by and by, with a shout. "He is the first fruits;" he has gone into the vale, and will call us by and by. The voice of the Son of God shall wake up the slumbering dead! Jacob will leave his lameness, and Paul will leave his thorn in the flesh; and we shall come up resurrected bodies, and be forever with the Lord. I pity those people who know nothing about the resurrection of Christ, and think Christ does not live, and was merely a man, and perished in the grave of Joseph of Arimathea. What hope have they got?

Oh, what gloom and darkness settles down upon this world, if it was not for the glorious day of resurrection. And those that have been sown in dishonor and corruption shall be raised, by and by, in glory and honor; they shall come up out of their graves, and we shall be forever with them. Oh, may this blessed truth take hold of all our hearts, and may we go out from this Tabernacle and spread the news that the Lord has risen. He has gone up on high, and he will bless the sons of men, if they will receive a blessing from him.

JESUS FULFILLING PROPHECY.

You that were here last Sunday morning remember I was speaking about Christ in the Old Testament, and how the Scripture was fulfilled in his birth. This morning I want to take up the subject where I left off, and show that everything about Christ was wonderful. All these prophecies in the Old Testament about Christ were wonderful; everything about his life and death were wonderful. We find a great many people now who tell us that they don't see anything wonderful in Christ; that he was like ordinary men, like all other men; and they see no reason why they should believe in him as being more than human. I want to call your attention to what Gabriel said about him.

Gabriel's name appears three times in Scripture; and every time that he comes to earth, he comes to bring some tidings about the Lord Jesus Christ. He first came to Babylon, when Daniel was praying, to tell him that he was not only greatly beloved, but to give him the secret that was in heaven: that the Messiah should come, and that he should be cut off for the transgressions of God's people. Five hundred years have rolled away, and the last prophet's voice has been heard in the land and the Word has been sealed; his prophecy has been closed, and not a sound of a prophet has been heard in that land that had been so exalted. The last prophecy was closed up about four hundred years before Christ came; and an old priest by the name of Zacharias was burning incense in the Temple, in his regular course. We are told that he and his wife Elizabeth were good people; they were righteous, but they had a crook in their path like a great many now. They had no children, and it was considered in those days a great dishonor not to have children; and we are told that they had been praying that they might have a child; but I suppose they had grown faint, and had given up all hope of having their prayers answered; perhaps they had forgotten how God answered the prayers of Abraham and Sarah and gave them a child in their old age, and how Hannah also had a child in her old age, and also how Samson's father and mother had been honored by a child. And now we find that this old priest was not in the holiest of the holies, but in the place where they burned incense, just outside of the curtain that was rent when Christ died. There was an altar, and on it was the incense, where he went in twice a day to burn the incense to God; and while he was thus engaged, the peopie were in the outer court; and it was the custom for them to wait

until the priest came out, and I suppose he blessed them, the same as people wait now for the benediction,-although they don't always wait here, but hurry to get home some nights; but in those days they waited for the benediction. And the old priest didn't come out one day, he tarried longer than usual; for while he was thus engaged at the altar who should meet him but this same man Gabriel, wh met Daniel away off in Babylon five hundred years before, an Zachariah was filled with fear when he saw him; and he told him to fear not, he brought him some good news; his prayers were answered. Let me read what Gabriel said to the old priest:

"And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him he was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, fear not, Zacharias; for thy prayer is heard: and to wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers toward the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." He was not only to have a child, but his child was to become great in the sight of God; and he was not only to become great, but to become a good child, and to be filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb, and he should turn many to righteousness.

How pleased that old priest was; but Zacharias was like a great many now, full of unbelief. Instead of remembering how God had answered the prayers of Abraham, he says, "How can this be? how can I have a child?" "And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering, said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." I suppose Gabriel never had been doubted before. He might have said, "Where has an angel ever told a lie?" An angel sent by God into this world never told a lie; and all the promises they brought to this world have been literally fulfilled. He was amazed, perhaps for the first time in his life. He had come from a world where unbelief is a stanger, where doubts are unknown, where everyone believes what God has said; and now he thinks that this old priest ought to have known what God said was true. But Zacharias wanted a token. Somebody has said that is the trouble now in the churches; a great many people want a token, outside the Word of God. Gabriel said, "You shall have a token, you shall be dumb for the next nine months; you shall not speak until the child is born." He got all the token he wanted.

The reason we have so many dumb Christians is, they want a token, outside of the Bible, and they are not sure what God says is true. When he came out, the people noticed a change in the old priest; and there was no small stir in Jerusalem, when it was written out by Zacharias what had taken place. When the time came for him to retire from office, he took his wife and went off into the hilly country of Judea; and he remained until the child was born.

Ga

He

But six months from that time Gabriel made his third visit. briel came down again, and he brought better news than ever. came to that country girl off in Nazareth, and tells her that she is to be the mother of that child that Israel had been looking for, for 4,000 years. Wonder of wonders! No wonder that she was startled; all the mothers in Israel had been praying that they might be the mother of that child. Here is a young country girl, a young virgin, that was to be the mother of that child. Let us read what Gabriel says to her: "And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth; to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him she

was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

How that has been fulfilled. Eighteen hundred years have rolled away; he has got a kingdom in this world; it is in the hearts of many. There are millions this morning that would go to the stake to lay down their lives for this kingdom, for Christ; there are many loyal sons to-day in the world; loyal to the King of Heaven.

"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barrėn. For with God nothing shall be impossible." Bear in mind what Gabriel said to Mary about this child. He was not only to be great, but his name should be great, too; He shall be called Jesus. He has 256 names, which you can find in the Bible; but he still bears that name; we like it better than any other. It was the name which came from heaven; it was the

up the

sweetest name any mortal had; it was the name which fired whole Jewish nation, like Joshua's. They ought to have hailed it with joy and gladness; they had got another Joshua, another deliverer, one who was come to set the captives free, as we have been trying to tell you this past week. Mary started at once, left her home in Nazareth and went off into the hill country where Elizabeth was; and the moment she met that aged cousin of hers, that child leaped in the womb. Marvelous and wonderful thing! And yet men say they don't see anything wonderful about it. Everything about Christ is wonderful. And now we find that Elizabeth breaks out into praise, and so does Mary.

I wish I had time to read what they said, but they spent three months together, and just before John is born Mary returns to her own country; and it seems to me quite singular that this last prophet that was to be given to the old nation-the old dispensation was just fading away, just dying out, and they were right on the eve of a new dispensation-that John should be born of an old woman, but Christ, who was to usher in the new, was to be born of a young virgin. And in the fullness of time, when the nine months had expired, John was born; and his relatives wanted to call him after his father, but Elizabeth insisted on calling him John. Finally they asked the old priest, and he wrote, "His name shall be called John." That name came from heaven. Gabriel brought the name John,, and they could not have changed it. In the 65th verse of the 1st chapter of Luke it says: "And fear came on all that dwelt round about there; and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout the hill-country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him."

John means the grace of God! This was the grace of God, giving us this child; and about three months from that time there was another stir at Bethlehem-Mary gave birth to the child Jesus. The shepherds made haste to find the child, and when they found it they made haste to proclaim him to the world.

peo

"And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb." In another place it says: "His name shall be called JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins." Let me ask you if it is true; will He save His ple from their sins? Is he able now, in the nineteenth century, to save a man from his sins? Can a man save another man from sin? Would you say that there is another man in the world that can save this world from sin? Suppose we began to preach up some other man, eleven weeks ago; do you think there would have been so many people here this morning? What other name can we preach? Now just think a moment. Suppose we preach anything but Jesus