d open the door, I will
come in to him and sup with him and he with me." That means, when we do
things that we believe Christ would like to have us do, then He comes in
to sup with us. And when we feel Christ as our Companion, then it is
heaven.

We may go to a beautiful place called heaven when we die, but it will be
Christ who will make the place full of joy and gladness. And if we are
to see Him in that land and enjoy that heaven, we must first make a
heaven here on earth for ourselves and others by trying to please Him
and to be like Him every day.

THE CHRISTIAN ARMY

Saint Paul, in writing to the Christians of his day, urges them to be
"good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ." If every Christian is a
soldier, then the Church ought to be called "the Christian Army." And
this makes plainer to us what it means to join the Church.

Armies, as you know, are divided into regiments, and regiments into
companies. Every soldier in the army belongs to a certain company. If a
man said that he wanted to belong to the United States Army, but that he
did not want to join any particular regiment or company, but that he
intended to be a soldier "in general," people would laugh at him. He
would be like a man who took his gun and went out all alone to fight
against Spain when we were at war with her. Or it would be as if a man
in a city should say that he wanted to fight fire, but instead of
joining a fire company, he would snatch up his pail and run alone to put
out the fire every time there was an alarm.

Now, in the Christian army there are also regiments and companies. The
different denominations, like the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the
Baptists, the Congregationalists, and so on, are the regiments. The
Churches like this and other Churches are the companies in the army.

So, when anyone says he wants to make war on wickedness and to bring in
the reign of love and peace and good-will which Christ started His
Church to fight for, we ask him to join one of the companies of the
Christian army. That is, we ask him to join a Church.

You may ask if one cannot be a Christian outside of the Church. I
answer, Yes, he can. But he is very much like the man with his pail
running to put out the fire, or the lone soldier. He can do better work
if he works with others. Furthermore, Christ said, "He that confesseth
me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven,
and he that denieth me before men, him