{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19830/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19830","id":"gutenberg_19830","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19830","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life -- Fiction","Homiletical illustrations"],"text":"Produced by Don Kostuch\n\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's Notes]\n\nHere are the definitions of some unfamiliar (to me) terms.\n\nantediluvian\n  Person who lived before the Biblical Flood. Very old or old-fashioned.\n\ncavil\n  Raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault unnecessarily.\n\nconies\n  Rabbits\n\nChromo (chromolithograph)\n  Colored print\n\nlivery (clothing)\n  Distinctive uniform.\n\ntares\n  Weedy plants of the genus Vicia, especially the common vetch. Several\n  weedy plants that grow in grain fields.\n\n[End Transcriber's Notes]\n\n\nMOODY'S\nANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\nRELATED IN HIS REVIVAL WORK\nBY THE GREAT EVANGELIST\nDWIGHT L. MOODY.\n\nFULLY ILLUSTRATED FROM GUSTAVE DORE\n\nREVISED EDITION.\nEDITED BY\nREV. J. B. McClure.\n\n\nCHICAGO:\nRhodes & McClure Publishing Co.\n1899\n\n\nEntered according to act of Congress, in the year 1896 by the\nRhodes & McClure Publishing Company,\nin the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.\nAll Rights Reserved.\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nThe breathless interest given to Mr. Moody's anecdotes while being\nrelated by him before his immense audiences, and their wonderful power\nupon the human heart, suggested to the compiler this volume, and led him\nto believe and trust that, properly classified and arranged in book\nform, they would still carry to the general reader a measure of their\noriginal potency for good. The best anecdotes have been selected and\ncarefully compiled under appropriate headings, alphabetically arranged,\nmaking the many stories easily available for the private reader and\npublic teacher. Mr. Moody's idiom has been strictly preserved. He tells\nthe story. \"Gold\" will be found scattered through the volume, which\nincludes Mr. Moody's terse declarations of many precious and timely\ntruths.\n\nThe compiler acknowledges the benefit received from the extended reports\nof the Tabernacle meetings given in the Daily press of Chicago, also the\nHippodrome services reported in the New York papers, and the volume of\nAddresses revised by Mr. Moody. With the earnest prayer that God's\nblessing may accompany the reading of these stories that have blessed so\nmany thousands as they fell from the lips of the great Evangelist, this\nvolume is dedicated to the public by the compiler,\n   J. B. McClure\n  Chicago, Ill.\n\n\n\nREVISED EDITION.\n\nWe retain in this, all that was in former editions and give forty pages\nadditional of new anecdotes, properly classified, taken from the revival\nwork in Boston and elsewhere. We also give engravings of Messrs. Moody,\nSankey, Whittle, and the late lamented P. P. Bliss, the four evangelists\nwho have so long and industriously labored together, and whose names\nconjoined, are household words throughout the land. The hearty reception\nalready given by the public to this book justifies these improvements,\nwhich are gladly made, and which lead the compiler to hope that in this\nform the volume may prove yet more interesting and effective for good.\n\nThe engraving of Mr. Moody is from a copyrighted photograph by Gentile,\nused by permission. That of Mr. Whittle is by the same artist.\n\nJ. B. Mc.\n\n\n\nREVISED EDITION 1896\n\nThis edition includes additional anecdotes and many handsome and\nappropriate illustrations.\n\nOver one million copies of this book have been sold since the first\nissue. No single volume in the history of literature on the American\ncontinent has met with such a sale, and probably the only approximate\ncomparison in the world is that of \"Pilgrim's Progress.\"\n\nBoth of these volumes, it should be noted, derive their merited power\nand success from the vital truths of the Holy Scriptures which they so\naptly illustrate. May Heaven's blessing follow.\n\nJ. B. McClure\nChicago, Ill.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Portrait of D. L. Moody]\n\n\nDWIGHT L. MOODY\n\nSelf-made, and conscious of the absolute truthfulness of every Bible\ndeclaration, Dwight Lyman Moody is today, perhaps, the most independent\nand powerful of living evangelists. Man, rather than books, and God,\nrather than man, have been his study, and made his life intensely\nindividual, and one which has constantly increased in good works. In his\nthirty-five years labor for Christ, from his mission class of fourteen\nscholars in a Chicago saloon, down to the ten thousand listening souls\nin the Halls of Europe and Tabernacles of America, he has been the same\nfaithful, persevering, original, and pungent D. L. Moody, with an\nunshaken faith in God, and a burning desire for the conversion of souls.\nAt home Mr. Moody is cheerful and happy; in the social circle he is\ngenial and companionable; in the pulpit he is Truth on fire. His native\ntown is Northfield, Mass., where he was born February 5th, 1837. He is\ntherefore now, (1896), fifty-nine years old.\n\n\n\nIRA D. SANKEY.\n\nIra David Sankey, known throughout the world as the companion of Mr.\nMoody, was born in Edenburg, Pa., August 28, 1840. His musical talents\nwere early developed. Political glee clubs at first monopolized his\ngenius, but after his conversion in 1857, the Sunday School and Church\nopened wider fields, in which he has since labored with increasing\nusefulness. In June, 1870, at a Christian Convention in Indianapolis,\nafter a morning service, where Mr. Sankey led the singing, he met, for\nthe first time, Mr. Moody. \"Where do you live! Are you married? What\nbusiness are you in?\" at once inquired the Evangelist; \"I want you.\"\n\"What for?\" \"To help me in my work in Chicago.\" \"I cannot leave my\nbusiness,\" replied the now astonished singer. \"You must,\" said Moody. \"I\nhave been looking for you for the last eight years.\" And thus was Mr.\nSankey \"called\" to be the companion and helper of the great Evangelist.\nThey have been laboring together, for about a score of years.\n\n\n[Illustration: Portrait of IRA D. SANKEY]\n\n\n\nD. W. WHITTLE.\n\nFor many years D. W. Whittle has been engaged in evangelistic work,\ngiving it all his time, talents and energy. His first effort in\nconnection with Mr. Bliss, who afterwards became his companion in the\ncause, was made over twenty years ago in a small town near Chicago. It\nwas on this occasion that he told the story, \"Hold the Fort,\" which the\n\"Singing Evangelist\" has rendered immortal. He is in the prime of life,\nand earnestly devoted to the Master's cause. His discourses are concise\nand clear, abounding with Scripture quotations, and, like those of Mr.\nMoody, interspersed with pointed anecdotes and illustrations. His\npreaching has been signally blessed wherever he has been called to\nlabor.\n\n\n[Illustration: Portrait of D. W. WHITTLE]\n\n\n\nP. P. BLISS\n\nPhilip Paul Bliss, the \"Sweet Singer,\" was born in Clearfield County,\nPa., in 1837. It was not until after he had reached the period of\nmanhood that he \"felt the stirrings of his musical gift.\" And then,\nunder the inspiration of his wife, he entered upon the study of musical\nscience, and laid the basis of his immortal \"hymns,\" now sung around the\nworld. In 1864 he removed to Chicago, where his musical talent and\nChristian character soon placed him in charge of the choir and Sunday\nSchool of the First Congregational Church, and where he made the\nacquaintance of D. W. Whittle, with whom, for the last five years of his\nlife he labored in the great Gospel work. Deep spirituality and\npersuasiveness pervade all of Mr. Bliss' musical compositions. It is\ndoubtful if the world ever heard sweeter hymns. Had he lived longer we\nshould have heard more, but God, who raised him up for the work, called\nhim:\n\n    For those who sleep,\n    And those who weep,\n  Above the portals narrow\n    The mansions rise\n    Beyond the skies--\n  We're going home to-morrow.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Portrait of P. P. BLISS]\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nA\n\nA Blind Man Preaches to 3,000,000 People\nA Boy's Mistake--A Sad Reconciliation\nA Business Man Confessing Christ\nA Child at Its Mother's Grave\nA Child Looking for its Lost Mother\nA Child's Prayer Answered\nA Child Visits Abraham Lincoln and Saves the Life of a Condemned Soldier\nA Commercial Traveler\nA Day of Decision\nA Defaulter's Confession\nA Distiller Interrogates Moody\nA Dream\nA Dying Infidel's Confession\nA Father's Love for his Boy\nA Father's Love Trampled under Foot\nA Father's Mistake\nAffection\nAffliction\nA Good Excuse\nA Heavy Draw on Alexander the Great\nA Little Boy Converts his Mother\nA Little Boy's Experience\nA Little Child Converts an Infidel\nAll Right or All Wrong\nA London Doctor Saved after Fifty Years of Prayer\nA Long Ladder Tumbles to the Ground\nAlways Happy\nA Man Drinks up a Farm\nA Man who Would not Speak to his Wife\nA Mother Dies that her Boy May Live\nA Mother's Mistake\nAn Emperor Sets Forty Million Slaves Free\nAngry at First--Saved at Last\nAn Infidel who would not Talk Infidelity before his Daughter\nAn Irishman Leaps into the Life-boat\nA Remarkable Case\nA Rich Father Visits his Dying Prodigal\nSon in a Garret and Forgives him\nArthur P. Oxley!  Your Mother Wishes to See You\nA Rumseller's Son Blows his Brains Out\nA Sad and Singular Story\nAssurance\nA Story Moody Never Will Forget\nA Voice from the Tomb\nA Wife's Faith\nA Zealous Young Lady\n\nB\n\nBelieve\nBible Study\nBlack-Balled by Man--Saved by Christ\nBlind\nBroken Hearts\nBy the Wayside\n\nC\n\nCalling the Roll of Heaven\nCast Out but Rescued\nChild Stories\nChristian Work\nChristian Zeal\nChrist Saves\nCondemned to be Shot\nConfessing Christ\nConversion\n\nD\n\nDecision\nDeliverance\n\"Deluged With Blood\"\nDr. Arnott's Dog \"Rover\"\n\nE\n\"Emma. This is Papa's Friend\"\nEngaging Rooms Ahead\nExcused at Last\nExcuses\n\nF\n\nFaith\nFaith More Powerful than Gunpowder\n\"Father, Father, Come This Way\"\nFive Million Dollars\nForgiveness\nForty-one Little Sermons\nFour-score and Five\n\"Free\"\n\nG\n\nGeorge H. Stewart Visits a Doomed Criminal\nGet the Key to Job\nGold   (Appears in many pages)\nGovernor Pollock and the Condemned Criminal\nGrace\n\nH\n\nHeaven\n\"He Will Not Rest\"\n\"Hold the Fort, for I am Coming\"\nHow a Citizen Became a Soldier\nHow a Little Study Upset the Plans of a few Prominent Infidels\nHow a Young Irishman Opened Moody's Eyes\nHow Christ Expounded It\n\"How Funny You Talk\"\nHow Moody's Faith Saved an Infidel\nHow Moody's Mother Forgave her Prodigal Son\nHow Moody Treated the Committees\nHow Moody was Blessed--Mark your Bible\nHow Moody was Encouraged\nHow Three Sunday-School Children Met their Fate\n\nI\n\nI Am not All Right\nI Am not One of the Elect\nI Am Trusting Jesus--A Young Lady's Trust.\nI Can't Feel\n\"I Don't Know\"\n\"If I Knew\"\nI Have Intellectual Difficulties\n\"I Know\"\nInfidel Books\nInfidelity\nIntemperance\nIt's Better Higher Up\n\"It Will Kill Her\"\n\nJ\n\nJesus \"Wants them All to Come\"\nJohnny, Cling Close to the Rock\nJumping into Father's Arms\n\nL\n\nLady Ann Erkskine and Rowland Hill\n\"Let the Lower Lights be Burning\"\nLiberty\nLiberty Now and Forever\nLittle Folks\nLittle Jimmy\nLittle Moody\nLove\nLove, not the Rattan, Conquers Little Moody\nLove's Triumph in John Wannamaker's Sunday-School\n\nM\nMadness and Death\nMoney Blind\nMoody and his Little Willie\nMoody and the Dying Soldier\nMoody and the Infidel\nMoody and the Judge\nMoody Asks a Few Questions\nMoody a Young Convert\nMoody in a Billiard Hall--A Remarkable Story\nMoody in a California Sunday-School\nMoody in Prison\nMoody on Duty--How he Loves his Mother\nMoody Puts a Man in his Prophets Room\nMoody Visits Prang's Chromo Establishment\nMoody with Gen. Grant's Army In Richmond\nMoody's Declaration\nMoody's First Impulse in Converting Souls\nMoody's First Sermon on Grace\nMoody's Little Emma\nMoody's Mistake\nMothers Are Looking down from Heaven\n\"More to Follow\"\nMr. Morehouse's Illustration\nMrs. Moody Teaching her Child\n\nN\n\nNapoleon and the Conscript\nNapoleon and the Private\nNever to see its Mother\nNote What Jesus Says\n\nO\n\nObedience\nO, Edward\nOld Sambo and his Massa\nOne Book at a Time\nOne Word\nOut of Libby Prison\n\nP\n\nParental\nPeter's Confession\nPraise\nPrayer\nPrayer Answered\nPull for the Shore\n\"Pull for the Shore, Sailor\"\n\nR\n\nRational Belief\nReaping\nReaping the Whirlwind\nRemoving the Difficulties\nReuben Johnson Pardoned\n\nS\n\nSad Ending of a Life that Might Have Been Otherwise\nSad Lack of Zeal\nSafe In the Ark\nSambo and the Infidel Judge\nSatan's Match\nSaved\n\"Saved\"\nSaved and Saving\nSnapping the Chains\nSong Stories\nSowing the Tares\nSpurgeon and the Little Orphan\nSpurgeon's Parable\nStubborn Little Sammy\nSudden Conversion (See Conversion)\n\nT\n\nTaking the Prince at his Word\nTen Years in a Sick Bed--yet Praising God\nTerribly in Earnest\nThat is the Price of my Soul\n\"That is Your Fault\"\nThe Arrows of Conviction\nThe Artist and the Beggar\nThe Bible\nThe Blind Beggar\nThe Blood\nThe Cross and Crown\nThe Cruel Mother--Hypothetical\nThe Czar and the Soldier\nThe Demoniac\nThe Drunken Father and his Praying Child\nThe Dying Boy\nThe Dying Child\nThe Eleventh Commandment\nThe Faithful Aged Woman\nThe Faithful London Lady\nThe Faithful Missionary\nThe Family that Hooted at Moody\nThe Fettered Bird Freed\nThe Finest Looking Little Boy Mr. Moody Ever Saw\nThe Horse that was Established\nThe \"I am's,\" \"I will's,\" Etc.\nThe Invitation\nThe King's Pardon\nThe Little Child and the Big Book\nThe Little Tow-headed Norwegian\nThe Loving Father\nThe Missing Stone\nThe Moody and Sankey Humbug\nThe Most Hopeless Man in New York now a Sunday-school Superintendent\nThe Orphan's Prayer\nThe Place of Safety\nThe Praying Cripple\nThe Praying Mother\nThe Prodigal Son\nThe Repentent Father\nThe Reporter's Story\nThe Rich Man Poor\nThe Scotch \"Draw the Bible\" on False Doctrine\nThe Scotch Lassie\nThe Scotch Lassie and Dr. Chalmers\nThe Sinner's Prayer Heard\nThe Skeptical Lady  ?\nThe Sleep of Death\nThe Stolen Boy--A Mother's Love\nThe Two Fathers\nThe Way of the Transgressor is Hard\nThe Young Convert\nThe Young French Nobleman and the Doctor\nThose Hypocrites\n\"Three Cheers\"\nTrue Love\nTrust\nTwo Young Men\n\nV\n\nVery Hard, yet Very Easy\nVery Orthodox\n\nW\n\n\"We Will Never Surrender\"\nWhat a Woman Did\nWhat Moody saw in a Chamber of Horror\nWisdom\nWord Pictures\nWhy Did he not Take his Wife along?\n\"Won by a Smile\"\n\nY\n\n\"You Know me, Moody\"\nYoung Moody, Penniless in Boston,\nis Warned by his Sister to \"Beware of Pick-pockets\"\n\n\n\nD. L. MOODY'S\nAnecdotes and Illustrations.\n\n\nAFFECTION\n\nLove, not the Rattan, Conquers Little Moody.\n\nI remember when a boy, I used to go to a certain school in New England,\nwhere we had a quick-tempered master, who always kept a rattan. It was,\n\"If you don't do this, and don't do that, I'll punish you.\" I remember\nmany a time of this rattan being laid upon my back. I think I can almost\nfeel it now. He used to rule that school by the law. But after a while\nthere was somebody who began to get up a movement in favor of\ncontrolling the school by love. A great many said you can never do that\nwith those unruly boys, but after some talk it was at last decided to\ntry it. I remember how we thought of the good time we would have that\nwinter when the rattan would be out of the school. We thought we would\nthen have all the fun we wanted. I remember who the teacher was--it was\na lady--and she opened the school with prayer. We hadn't seen it done\nbefore and we were impressed, especially when she prayed that she might\nhave grace and strength to rule the school with love. Well, the school\nwent on for several weeks and we saw no rattan, but at last the rules\nwere broken, and I think I was the first boy to break them. She told me\nto wait till after school and then she would see me. I thought the\nrattan was coming out sure, and stretched myself up in warlike attitude.\nAfter school, however, I didn't see the rattan, but she sat down by me\nand told me how she loved me, and how she had prayed to be able to rule\nthat school by love, and concluded by saying, \"I want to ask you one\nfavor--that is; if you love me, try and be a good boy;\" and I never gave\nher trouble again. She just put me under grace. And that is what the\nLord does. God is love, and He wants us all to love Him.\n\n\n\nTrue Love.\n\nOne day when I was in Brooklyn, I saw a young man going along the street\nwithout any arms. A friend who was with me, pointed him out, and told me\nhis story. When the war broke out he felt it to be his duty to enlist\nand go to the front. He was engaged to be married, and while in the army\nletters passed frequently between him and his intended wife. After the\nbattle of the Wilderness the young lady looked anxiously for the\naccustomed letter. For a little while no letter was received. At last\none came in a strange hand. She opened it with trembling fingers, and\nread these words: \"We have fought a terrible battle. I have been wounded\nso awfully that I shall never be able to support you. A friend writes\nthis for me. I love you more tenderly than ever, but I release you from\nyour promise. I will not ask you to join your life with the maimed life\nof mine:\" That letter was never answered. The next train that left, the\nyoung lady was on it. She went to the hospital. She found out the number\nof his cot, and she went down the aisle, between the long rows of the\nwounded men. At last she saw the number, and, hurrying to his side, she\nthrew her arms around his neck and said: \"I'll not desert you. I'll take\ncare of you.\" He did not resist her love. They were married, and there\nis no happier couple than this one. We are dependent on one another.\nChrist says, \"I'll take care of you. I'll take you to this bosom of\nmine.\" That young man could have spurned her love; he could, but he\ndidn't. Surely you can be saved if you will accept the Saviour's love.\nIf God loves us, my friends, He loves us unto the end. \"For God so loved\nthe world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth\nin Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\"\n\n\n\nHow a Young Irishman Opened Moody's Eyes.\n\nI want to tell you how I got my eyes open to the truth that God loves\nthe sinner. When I went over to Europe I was preaching in Dublin, when a\nyoung fellow came up to the platform and said to me that he wanted to\ncome to America and preach. He had a boyish appearance; did not seem to\nbe over seventeen years old. I measured him all over, and he repeated\nhis request, and asked me when I was going back. I told him I didn't\nknow; probably I should not have told him if I had known. I thought he\nwas too young and inexperienced to be able to preach. In course of time\nI sailed for America, and hadn't been here long before I got a letter\nfrom him, dated New York, saying that he had arrived there. I wrote him\na note and thought I would hear no more about him, but soon I got\nanother letter from him, saying that he was coming soon to Chicago, and\nwould like to preach. I sent him another letter, telling him if he came\nto call upon me, and closed with a few common-place remarks. I thought\nthat would settle him, and I would hear no more from him. But in a very\nfew days after he made his appearance. I didn't know what to do with\nhim. I was just going off to Iowa, and I went to a friend and said: \"I\nhave got a young Irishman--I thought he was an Irishman, because I met\nhim in Ireland--and he wants to preach. Let him preach at the\nmeetings--try him, and if he fails, I will take him off your hands when\nI come home.\" When I got home--I remember it was on Saturday morning--I\nsaid to my wife: \"Did that young man preach at the meetings?\" \"Yes.\"\n\"How did they like him?\" \"They liked him very much,\" she replied:  \"He\npreaches a little different from you; he preaches that God loves\nsinners.\" I had been preaching that God hated sinners; that he had been\nstanding behind the sinners with a double-bladed sword, ready to cut the\nheads of the sinners off. So I concluded if he preached different from\nme, I would not like him. My prejudice was up. Well, I went down to the\nmeeting that night, and saw them coming in with their Bibles with them.\nI thought it was curious. It was something strange to see the people\ncoming in with Bibles, and listen to the flutter of the leaves. The\nyoung man gave out his text, saying: \"Let us turn to the third chapter\nof John, and sixteenth verse: 'For God so loved the world that He gave\nHis only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,\nbut have everlasting life.'\" He didn't divide up the text at all. He,\nwent from Genesis to Revelation, giving proof that God loved the sinner,\nand before he got through two or three of my sermons were spoiled. I\nhave never preached them since.\n\nThe following day--Sunday--there was an immense crowd flocking into the\nhall, and he said, \"Let us turn to the third chapter of John, sixteenth\nverse: 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,\nthat whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting\nlife;'\" and he preached the fourth sermon from this verse. He just\nseemed to take the whole text and throw it at them, to prove that God\nloved the sinner, and that for six thousand years he had been trying to\nconvince the world of this. I thought I had never heard a better sermon\nin my life. It seemed to be new revelation to all. Ah, I notice there\nare some of you here who remember those times; remember those nights. I\ngot a new idea of the blessed Bible. On Monday night I went down and the\nyoung man said, \"Turn to the third chapter of John, sixteenth verse;\"\nand he seemed to preach better than ever. Proof after proof was quoted\nfrom Scripture to show how God loved us. I thought sure he had exhausted\nthat text, but on Tuesday he took his Bible in his hand and said: \"Turn\nto the third chapter of John, sixteenth verse,'\" and he preached the\nsixth sermon from that verse. He just seemed to climb over his subject,\nwhile he proved that there was nothing on earth like the love of Christ,\nand he said \"If I can only convince men of His love, if I can but bring\nthem to believe this text; the whole world will be saved.\" On Thursday\nhe selected the same text, John iii., 16, and at the conclusion of the\nsermon he said: \"I have been trying to tell you for seven nights now,\nhow Christ loves you, but I cannot do it. If I could borrow Jacob's\nladder and climb up to heaven, and could see Gabriel there and ask him\nto tell me how much God loves me, he would only say, \"God so loved the\nworld that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in\nHim should not perish; but have everlasting life.\" How a man can go out\nof this tabernacle after hearing this text, saying, \"God does not love\nme,\" is a mystery to me.\n\n\n\nLove's Triumph in John Wannamaker's Sunday School.\n\nMr. John Wannamaker, superintendent of probably one of the largest\nSunday schools in the world, had a theory that he would never put a boy\nout of his school for bad conduct. He argued if a boy misbehaved\nhimself, it was through bad training at home, and that if he put him out\nof the school no one would take care of him. Well, this theory was put\nto the test one day. A teacher came to him and said, \"I've got a boy in\nmy class that must be taken out; he breaks the rules continually, he\nswears and uses obscene language, and I cannot do anything with him.\"\nMr. Wannamaker did not care about putting the boy out, so he sent the\nteacher back to his class. But he came again and said that unless the\nboy was taken from his class, he must leave it. Well, he left, and a\nsecond teacher was appointed. The second teacher came with the same\nstory, and met with the same reply from Mr. Wannamaker. And he resigned.\nA third teacher was appointed, and he came with the same story as the\nothers. Mr. Wannamaker then thought he would be compelled to turn the\nboy out at last. One day a few teachers were standing about, and Mr.\nWannamaker said: \"I will bring this boy up and read his name out in the\nschool, and publicly excommunicate him.\" Well, a young lady came up and\nsaid to him: \"I am not doing what I might for Christ, let me have the\nboy; I will try and save him.\" But Mr. Wannamaker said: \"If these young\nmen cannot do it, you will not.\" But she begged to have him, and Mr.\nWannamaker consented.\n\nShe was a wealthy young lady, surrounded with all the luxuries of life.\nThe boy went to her class, and for several Sundays he behaved himself\nand broke no rule. But one Sunday he broke one; and, in reply to\nsomething she said, spit in her face. She took out her pocket-\nhandkerchief and wiped her face, but she said nothing. Well, she thought\nupon a plan, and she said to him; \"John,\"--we will call him\nJohn,--\"John, come home with me.\" \"No,\" says he, \"I won't; I won't be\nseen on the streets with you.\" She was fearful of losing him altogether\nif he went out of the school that day, and she said to him, \"Will you\nlet me walk home with you?\" \"No; I won't,\" said he, \"I won't be seen on\nthe street with you.\" Then she thought upon another plan. She thought on\nthe \"Old Curiosity Shop,\" and she said, \"I won't be at home tomorrow or\nTuesday, but if you will come round to the front door on Wednesday\nmorning there will be a little bundle for you.\" \"I don't want it; you\nmay keep your own bundle.\" She went home, but made the bundle up. She\nthought that curiosity might make him come.\n\nWednesday morning arrived and he had got over his mad fit, and thought\nhe would just like to see what was in that bundle. The little fellow\nknocked at the door, which was opened, and he told his story. She said:\n\"Yes; here is the bundle.\" The boy opened it and found a vest and a coat\nand other clothing, and a little note written by the young lady, which\nread something like this:\n\n\"DEAR JOHNNIE:--Ever since you have been in my class I have prayed for\nyou every morning and evening, that you might be a good boy and I want\nyou to stop in my class. Do not leave me.\"\n\nThe next morning, before she was up, the servant came to her and said\nthere was a little boy below who wished to see her. She dressed hastily,\nand went downstairs, and found Johnnie on the sofa weeping. She put her\narms around his neck, and he said to her, \"My dear teacher, I have not\nhad any peace since I got this note from you. I want you to forgive me.\"\n\"Won't you let me pray for you to come to Jesus?\" replied the teacher.\nAnd she went down on her knees and prayed. And now Mr. Wananamaker says\nthat boy is the best boy in his Sunday-school. And so it was love that\nbroke that boy's heart.\n\n\n\nAFFLICTION.\n\nA Child Visits Abraham Lincoln, and Saves the Life of a Condemned Soldier.\n\nDuring the war I remember a young man, not twenty, who was\ncourt-martialed down in the front and sentenced to be shot; The story\nwas this: The young fellow had enlisted. He was not obliged to, but he\nwent off with another young man. They were what we would, call \"chums.\"\nOne night this companion was ordered out on picket duty, and he asked\nthe young man to go for him. The next night he was ordered out himself;\nand having been awake two nights, and not being used to it, fell asleep\nat his post, and for the offense he was tried and sentenced to death. It\nwas right after the order issued by the President that no interference\nwould be allowed in cases of this kind. This sort of thing had become\ntoo frequent, and it must be stopped. When the news reached the father\nand mother in Vermont it nearly broke their hearts. The thought that\ntheir son should be shot was too great for them. They had no hope that\nhe would be saved by anything they could do. But they had a little\ndaughter who had read the life of Abraham Lincoln, and knew how he had\nloved his own children, and she said: \"If Abraham Lincoln knew how my\nfather and mother loved my brother he wouldn't let mm he shot.\" That\nlittle girl thought this matter over and made up her mind to see the\nPresident. She went to the White House, and the sentinel, when he saw\nher imploring looks, passed her in, and when she came to the door and\ntold the private secretary that she wanted to see the President, he\ncould not refuse her. She came into the chamber and found Abraham\nLincoln surrounded by his generals and counselors, and when he saw the\nlittle country girl he asked her what she wanted. The little maid told\nher plain, simple story--how her brother, whom her father and mother\nloved very dearly, had been sentenced to be shot; how they were mourning\nfor him, and if he was to die in that way it would break their hearts.\nThe President's heart was touched with compassion, and he immediately\nsent a dispatch canceling the sentence and giving the boy a parole so\nthat he could come home and see that father and mother. I just tell you\nthis to show you how Abraham Lincoln's heart was moved by compassion for\nthe sorrow of that father and mother, and if he showed so much do you\nthink the Son of God will not have compassion upon you, sinner, if you\nonly take that crushed, bruised heart to him?\n\n\n\nBroken Hearts.\n\nThere is no class of people exempt from broken hearts. The rich and the\npoor suffer alike. There was a time when I used to visit the poor that I\nthought all the broken hearts were to be found among them, but within\nthe last few years I have found there are as many broken hearts among\nthe learned as the unlearned, the cultured as the uncultured, the rich\nas the poor. If you could but go up one of our avenues and down another\nand reach the hearts of the people; and get them to tell their whole\nstory, you would be astonished at the wonderful history of every family.\nI remember a few years ago I had been out of the city for some weeks.\nWhen I returned I started out to make some calls. The first place I went\nto I found a mother; her eyes were red with weeping. I tried to find out\nwhat was troubling her, and she reluctantly opened her heart and told me\nall. She said: \"Last night my only boy came home about midnight, drunk.\nI didn't know that he was addicted to drunkenness, but this morning I\nfound out that he had been drinking for weeks, and,\" she continued, \"I\nwould rather have seen him laid in the grave than have have had him\nbrought home in the condition I saw him in last night.\" I tried to\ncomfort her as best I could when she told me her sad story. When I went\naway from that house I didn't want to go into any other house where\nthere was family trouble. The very next house I went to, however, where\nsome of the children who attended my Sunday school resided, I found that\ndeath had been there and laid his hand on one of them. The mother spoke\nto me of her afflictions, and brought to me the playthings and the\nlittle shoes of the child, and the tears trickled down that mother's\ncheeks as she related to me her sorrow. I got out as soon as possible,\nand hoped I would see no more family trouble that day.\n\nThe next visit I made was to a home where I found a wife with a bitter\nstory. Her husband had been neglecting her for a long time; \"and now,\"\nshe said, \"he has left me, and I don't know where he has gone. Winter is\ncoming on, and I don't know what is going to become of my family.\" I\ntried to comfort her, and prayed with her, and endeavored to get her to\nlay all her sorrows on Christ. The next home I entered I found a woman\ncrushed and broken-hearted. She told me her boy had forsaken her, and\nshe had no idea where he had gone. That afternoon I made five calls, and\nin every home I found a broken heart. Everyone had a sad tale to tell,\nand if you visited every house in Chicago you would find the truth in\nthe saying that \"there is a skeleton in every house.\" I suppose while I\nam talking you are thinking of the great sorrow in your own bosom. I do\nnot know anything about you, but if I were to come around to everyone of\nyou, and you were to tell me the truth I would hear a tale of sorrow.\nThe very last man I spoke to last night was a young mercantile man who\ntold me his load of sorrow had been so great that many times during the\nlast few weeks he had gone down to the lake and had been tempted to\nplunge in and end his existence. His burden seemed too much for him.\nThink of the broken hearts in Chicago tonight! They could be numbered by\nhundreds--yea, thousands. All over this city are broken hearts.\n\nIf all the sorrow represented in this great city were written in a book,\nthis building couldn't hold that book, and you couldn't read it in a\nlong lifetime. This earth is not a stranger to tears, neither is the\npresent the only time when they could be found in abundance. From Adam's\ndays to ours tears have been shed, and a wail has been going up to\nheaven from the broken-hearted. And I say it again, it is a mystery to\nme how all those broken hearts can keep away from Him who has come to\nheal them.\n\n\n\n\"That is Your Fault.\"\n\nI remember a mother coming to me and saying, \"It is easy enough for you\nto speak in that way; if you had the burden that I've got, you couldn't\ncast it on the Lord.\" \"Why, is your burden so great that Christ can't\ncarry it?\" I asked. \"No; it isn't too great for Him to carry; but I\ncan't put it on Him.\" \"That is your fault,\" I replied; and I find a\ngreat many people with burdens who, rather than just come to Him with\nthem, strap them tighter on their backs and go away struggling under\ntheir load. I asked her the nature of her trouble, and she told me. \"I\nhave an only boy who is a wanderer on the face of the earth. I don't\nknow where he is. If I only knew where he was I would go around the\nworld to find him. You don't know how I love that boy. This sorrow is\nkilling me.\" \"Why can't you take him to Christ? You can reach Him at the\nthrone, even though he be at the uttermost part of the world. Go tell\nGod all about your trouble, and he will take away his sin, and not only\nthat, but if you never see him on earth, God can give you faith that you\nwill see your boy in heaven.\" And then I told her of a mother who lived\ndown in the southern part of Indiana. Some years ago her boy came up to\nthis city. He was a moralist. My friends, a man has to have more than\nmorality to lean upon in this great city. He hadn't been here long\nbefore he was led astray. A neighbor happened to come up here and found\nhim one night in the streets drunk.\n\nWhen that neighbor went home, at first he thought he wouldn't say\nanything about it to the boy's father, but afterward he thought it was\nhis duty to tell him. So in a crowd in the street of their little town\nhe just took the father aside, and told him what he had seen in Chicago.\nIt was a terrible blow. When the children had been put to bed that night\nhe said to his wife, \"Wife, I have bad news. I have heard from Chicago\ntoday.\" The mother dropped her work in an instant and said: \"Tell me\nwhat it is.\" \"Well, our son has been seen on the streets of Chicago,\ndrunk.\" Neither of them slept that night, but they took their burden to\nChrist, and about daylight the mother said: \"I don't know how, I don't\nknow when or where, but God has given me faith to believe that our son\nwill be saved and will never come to a drunkard's grave.\"\n\nOne week after, that boy left Chicago. He couldn't tell why--an unseen\npower seemed to lead him to his mother's home, and the first thing he\nsaid on coming over the threshold was, \"Mother, I have come home to ask\nyou to pray for me;\" and soon after he came back to Chicago a bright and\nshining light. If you have a burden like this, fathers, mothers, bring\nit to Him and cast it on Him, and He, the Great Physician, will heal\nyour broken hearts.\n\n\n\n\"It will Kill Her.\"\n\nI was thinking to-day of the difference between those who knew Christ\nwhen trouble comes upon them and those who knew Him not. I know several\nmembers of families who are just stumbling into their graves over\ntrouble. I know two widows in Chicago who are weeping and mourning over\nthe death of their husbands, and their grief is just taking them to\ntheir graves. Instead of bringing their burdens to Christ, they mourn\nday and night, and the result will be that in a few weeks or years at\nmost their sorrow will take them to their graves when they ought to take\nit all to the Great Physician. Three years ago a father took his wife\nand family on board that ill-fated French steamer. They were going to\nEurope, and when out on the ocean another vessel ran into her and she\nwent down. That mother when I was preaching in Chicago used to bring her\ntwo children to the meetings every night. It was one of the most\nbeautiful sights I ever looked on, to see how those little children used\nto sit and listen, and to see the tears trickling down their cheeks when\nthe Saviour was preached. It seemed as if nobody else in that meeting\ndrank in the truth as eagerly as those little ones.\n\nOne-night when an invitation had been extended to all to go into the\ninquiry room, one of these little children said: \"Mamma, why can't I go\nin too?\" The mother allowed them to come into the room, and some friend\nspoke to them, and to all appearances they seemed to understand the plan\nof salvation as well as their elders. When that memorable night came\nthat mother went down and came up without her two children. Upon reading\nthe news I said: \"It will kill her,\" and I quitted my post in\nEdinburgh--the only time I left my post on the other side--and went down\nto Liverpool to try and comfort her. But when I got there I found that\nthe Son of God had been there before me, and instead of me comforting\nher, she comforted me. She told me she could not think of those children\nas being in the sea; it seemed as if Christ had permitted her to take\nthose children on that vessel only that they might be wafted to Him, and\nhad saved her life only that she might come back and work a little\nlonger for Him. When she got up the other day at a mothers' meeting in\nFarwell Hall, and told her story, I thought I would tell the mothers of\nit the first chance I got.\n\nSo if any of you have had some great affliction, if any of you have lost\na loving father, mother, brother, husband, or wife, come to Christ,\nbecause God has sent Him to heal the broken-hearted.\n\n\n\n\"Father, Father, Come This Way.\"\n\nI remember a number of years ago I went out of Chicago to try to preach.\nI went down to a little town where was being held a Sunday-school\nconvention. I was a perfect stranger in the place, and when I arrived a\nman stepped up to me and asked me if my name was Moody. I told him it\nwas, and he invited me to his house. When I got there he said he had to\ngo to the convention, and asked me to excuse his wife, as she, not\nhaving a servant, had to attend to her household duties. He put me into\nthe parlor, and told me to amuse myself as best I could till he came\nback. I sat there, but the room was dark and I could not read, and I got\ntired. So I thought I would try and get the children and play with them.\nI listened for some sound of childhood in the house, but could not hear\na single evidence of the presence of little ones. When my friend came\nback I said: \"Haven't you any children?\" \"Yes,\" he replied, \"'I have\none, but she's in Heaven, and I am glad she is there, Moody.\" \"Are you\nglad that your child's dead?\" I inquired.\n\nHe went on to tell me how he had worshiped that child; how his whole\nlife had been bound up in her to the neglect of his Saviour. One day he\nhad come home and found her dying. Upon her death he accused God of\nbeing unjust. He saw some of his neighbors with their children around\nthem. Why hadn't He taken some of them away? He was rebellious. After he\ncame home from her funeral he said: \"All at once I thought I heard, her\nlittle voice calling me, but the truth came to my heart that she was\ngone. Then I thought I heard her feet upon the stairs; but I knew she\nwas lying in the grave. The thought of her loss almost made me mad. I\nthrew myself on my bed and wept bitterly. I fell asleep, and while I\nslept I had a dream, but it almost seemed to me like a vision.\n\n\"I thought I was going over a barren field, and I came to a river so\ndark and chill-looking that, I was going to turn away, when all at once\nI saw on the opposite bank the most beautiful sight I ever looked at. I\nthought death and sorrow could never enter into that lovely region. Then\nI began to see beings all so happy looking, and among them I saw my\nlittle child. She waved her little angel hand to me and cried, 'Father,\nFather, come this way.' I thought, her voice sounded much sweeter than\nit did on earth. In my dream I thought I went to the water and tried to\ncross it, but found it deep and the current so rapid that I thought if I\nentered it would carry me away from her forever. I tried to find a\nboatman to take me over, but couldn't, and I walked up and down the\nriver trying to find a crossing, and still she cried: 'Come this way.'\nAll at once I heard a voice come rolling down, 'I am the way, the truth,\nand the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.' The voice awoke\nme from my sleep,' and I knew it was my Saviour calling me, and pointing\nthe way for me to reach my darling child.\n\n\"I am now superintendent of a Sunday-school; I have made many converts;\nmy wife has been converted, and we will, through Jesus as the way, see\none day our child.\"\n\n\n\nThe Place of Safety.\n\nMy friends, there is one spot on earth where the fear or Death, of Sin,\nand of Judgment, need never trouble us, the only safe spot on earth\nwhere the sinner can stand--Calvary. Out in our western country, in the\nautumn, when men go hunting, and there has not been rain for many\nmonths, sometimes the prairie grass catches fire. Sometimes, when the\nwind is strong, the flames maybe seen rolling along, twenty feet high,\ndestroying man and beast in their onward rush. When the frontiersmen see\nwhat is coming, what do they do to escape? They know they cannot run as\nfast as that fire can run. Not the fleetest horse can escape it. They\njust take a match and light the grass around them. The flames sweep\nonwards; they take their stand in the burnt district and are safe. They\nhear the flames roar as they come along; they see death bearing down\nupon them with resistless fury, but they do not fear. They do not even\ntremble as the ocean of flame surges around them, for over the place\nwhere they stand the fire has already past and there is no danger. There\nis nothing for fire to burn. And there is one spot all earth that God\nhas swept over. Eighteen hundred years ago the storm burst on Calvary;\nthe Son of God took it into his own bosom, and now, if we take our stand\nby the Cross, we are safe for time and eternity.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- Christ never preached any funeral sermons.\n\n-- His is a loving, tender hand, full of sympathy and compassion.\n\n-- Take your stand on the Rock of Ages. Let death, let the judgment come:\n   the victory is Christ's and yours through Him.\n\n-- The only man who ever suffered before Christ was that servant who had\n   his ear cut off. But most likely in a moment afterward he had it on,\n   and very likely it was a better ear than ever, because whatever the\n   Lord does He does it well No man ever lost his life with Him.\n\n-- A great many people wonder why it was that Christ did not come at\n   once to Martha and Mary, whom He loved, whenever He heard of their\n   affliction. It was to try them, and it is the same with His dealings\n   toward us. If He seems not to come to us in our afflictions, it is\n   only to test us.\n\n-- When the Spirit came to Moses, the plagues came upon Egypt, and he\n   had power to destroy men's lives; when the Spirit came upon Elijah,\n   fire came down from heaven; when the Spirit came upon Gideon, no man\n   could stand before him; and when it came upon Joshua, he moved around\n   the city of Jericho and the whole city fell into his, hands; but when\n   the Spirit came upon the Son of Man, He gave His life; He healed the\n   broken-hearted.\n\n-- No matter how low down you are; no matter what your disposition has\n   been; you may be low in your thoughts, words, and actions; you may be\n   selfish; your heart may be overflowing with corruption and\n   wickedness; yet Jesus will have compassion upon you. He will speak\n   comforting words to you; not treat you coldly or spurn you, as\n   perhaps those of earth would, but will speak tender words, and words\n   of love and affection and kindness. Just come at once. He is a\n   faithful friend--a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.\n\n\n\nASSURANCE.\n\nNapoleon and the Private.\n\nIt is said of Napoleon that while he was reviewing his army one day, his\nhorse became frightened at something, and the Emperor lost his rein, and\nthe horse went away at full speed, and the Emperor's life was in danger.\nHe could not get hold of the rein, and a private in the ranks saw it,\nand sprang out of the ranks towards the horse, and was successful in\ngetting hold of the horse's head at the peril of his own life. The\nEmperor was very much pleased. Touching his hat, he said to him, \"I make\nyou Captain of my Guard.\" The soldier didn't take his gun, and walk up\nthere. He threw it away, stepped out of the ranks of the soldiers, and\nwent up to where the body-guard stood. The captain of the body-guard\nordered him back into the ranks, but he said \"No! I won't go!\" \"Why\nnot?\" \"Because I am Captain of the Guard.\" \"You Captain of the Guard?\"\n\"Yes;\" replied the soldier. \"Who said it?\" and the man, pointing to the\nEmperor; said, \"He said it.\" That was enough. Nothing more could be\nsaid. He took the Emperor at his word. My friends, if God says anything,\nlet us take Him at His word. \"He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ\nshall not perish, but have everlasting life.\" Don't you believe it?\nDon't you believe you have got everlasting life? It can be the privilege\nof every child of God to believe and then know that you have got it.\n\n\n\n\"Five Million Dollars.\"\n\nOne thing I know--I cannot speak for others, but can speak for myself; I\ncannot read other minds and other hearts; I cannot read the Bible and\nlay hold for others; but I can read for myself, and take God at his\nword. The great trouble is that people take everything in general, and\ndo not take it to themselves. Suppose a man should say to me, \"Moody,\nthere was a man in Europe who died last week, and left five million\ndollars to a certain individual.\" \"Well,\" I say, \"I don't doubt that;\nit's rather a common thing to happen,\" and I don't think anything more\nabout it. But suppose he says, \"But he left the money to you.\" Then I\npay attention; I say, \"To me?\" \"Yes, he left it to you.\" I become\nsuddenly interested. I want to know all about it. So we are apt to think\nChrist died for sinners; He died for everybody, and for nobody in\nparticular. But when the truth comes to me that eternal life is mine,\nand all the glories of Heaven are mine, I begin to be interested. I say,\n\"Where is the chapter and verse where it says I can be saved?\" If I put\nmyself among sinners, I take the place of the sinner, then it is that\nsalvation is mine and I am sure of it for time and eternity.\n\n\n\nEngaging Rooms Ahead.\n\nMr. Sankey and myself--going about and preaching the gospel, is nothing\nnew. You will find them away back eighteen hundred years ago, going off\ntwo by two, like Brothers Bliss and Whittle, and Brothers Needham and\nStebbins, to different towns and villages. They had gone out, and there\nhad been great revivals in all the cities, towns, and villages they had\nentered. Everywhere they had met with the greatest success. Even the\nvery devils were subject to them. Disease had fled before them. When\nthey met a lame man they said to him, \"You don't want to be lame any\nlonger,\" and he walked. When they met a blind man they but told him to\nopen his eyes, and behold, he could see. And they came to Christ and\nrejoiced over their great success, and He just said to them, \"I will\ngive you something to rejoice over. Rejoice that your names are written\nin heaven.\"\n\nNow there are a great many people who do not believe in such an\nassurance as this, \"Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.\"\nHow are you going to rejoice if your names are not written there? While\nspeaking about this some time ago, a man told me we were preaching a\nvery ridiculous doctrine when we preached this doctrine of assurance. I\nask you in all candor what are you going to do with this assurance if we\ndon't preach it? It is stated that our names are written there; blotted\nout of the Book of Death and transferred to the Book of Life.\n\nI remember while in Europe I was traveling with a friend--she is in this\nhall to-night. On one occasion we were journeying from London to\nLiverpool, and the question was put as to where we would stop. We said\nwe would go to the \"Northwestern,\" at Lime street, as that was the Hotel\nwhere Americans generally stopped at. When we got there the house was\nfull and they could not let us in. Every room was engaged. But this\nfriend said, \"I am going to stay here. I engaged a room ahead. I sent a\ntelegram on.\" My friends, that is just what the Christians are\ndoing--sending their names in ahead. They are sending a message up\nsaying: \"Lord Jesus, I want one of those mansions You are preparing; I\nwant to be there.\" That's what they are doing.\n\nEvery man and woman who wants one, if you have not already got one, had\nbetter make up your mind. Send your names up now. I would rather a\nthousand times have my name written in the Lamb's Book than have all the\nwealth of the world rolling at my feet.\n\n\n\n\"He Will Not Rest.\"\n\nSuppose a man is going to Cincinnati, and he gets on the cars, but he\nfeels uneasy lest, the train will take him to St. Louis instead of his\ndestination. He will not rest till he knows he is on the right road, and\nthe idea that we are on the road to eternity as fast as time can take\nus, and do not know our destination, is contrary to Scripture. If we\nwant peace we must know it, and we can know it; it is the Word of God.\nLook What Peter says: \"We know we have an incorruptible dwelling.\" Then\nin Paul's epistle to the Colossians, i., 12, \"Giving thanks unto the\nFather which hath made us meet\"--hath made us, not going to--\"to be\npartakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who hath delivered\nus\"--not going to deliver us, but He hath delivered us: this is an\nassurance--\"from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the\nkingdom of His dear Son.\"\n\n\n\n\"Very Orthodox.\"\n\nA person came to me some time ago and said: \"Mr. Moody, I wish you would\ngive me a book that preaches assurance, and that tells the children of\nGod it is their privilege to know they are accepted.\" I said, \"Here is a\nbook; it is very orthodox. It was written by John, the most intimate\nfriend of Jesus while He was on earth. The man who laid his head upon\nHis bosom.\" Turn to John and see what he says in the 5th chapter, \"For\nin them ye think ye have eternal life.\"\n\n\n\n\"I Don't Know.\"\n\nThere is no doubt about assurance in the Word of God. A person said to\nme some time ago: \"I think it is great presumption for a person to say\nshe is saved.\" I asked her if she was saved. \"I belong to a church,\" she\nsobbed. \"But are you saved?\" \"I believe it would be presumption in me to\nsay that I was saved.\" \"Well I think it is a greater presumption for\nanyone to say: 'I don't know if I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ\nbecause it is written, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.'\"\nIt is clearly stated that we have assurance.\n\n\n\n\"If I Knew.\"\n\nMany think that assurance is not to be had while traveling through this\nworld--they must wait till they get before the terrible judgment seat to\nknow whether they are accepted or not. And I find some ministers preach\nthis precious doctrine from their pulpits. I heard of a minister who,\nwhile on his way to the burial of a man, began to talk upon the subject\nof assurance. \"Why,\" said he, \"if I knew for a certainty that I was\nsaved the carriage couldn't hold me. I would have to jump out with joy.\"\nA man should be convinced that he has the gospel, before he preaches it\nto anyone else. Why, a man need not try to pull a man out of the river\nif he is in it himself. A man need not try to lift a man out of a pit if\nhe is there too. No man can preach salvation till he knows he is saved.\n\n\n\n\"I Know!\"\n\nThe man of God who has fixed his feet on the rock of salvation can say\nwith certainty, \"I know.\" If you have not got assurance and want it,\njust believe God's Word. If you go down South and ask those three\nmillion colored people how they think they are free, they won't talk\nabout their feelings; they just believe that Abraham Lincoln made them\nfree. They believe the proclamation, and so we must believe the\nproclamation God has made in the Bible. \"One thing thou teachest,\" that\nis salvation.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Journey To Emmaus; GUSTAVE DORE.  Luke xxiv, 13-32]\n\n[Illustration: Jesus Questioning The Doctors; GUSTAVE DORE.  Luke ii,\n41-51]\n\n\n\nMoody's Declaration.\n\nA great many people say, \"Mr. Moody, I would like to know whether I am a\nChristian or not. I would like to know if I am saved.\" The longer I live\nthe more I am convinced that it is one of the greatest privileges of a\nchild of God to know--to be able to say, \"I am saved.\" The idea of\nwalking through life without knowing this until we get to the great\nwhite throne is exploded. If the Bible don't teach assurance it don't\nteach justification by faith; if it don't teach assurance it don't teach\nredemption. The doctrine of assurance is as clear as any doctrine in the\nBible.\n\nHow many people in the Tabernacle when I ask them if they are\nChristians, say, \"Well, I hope so,\"--in a sort of a hesitating way.\nAnother class say, \"I am trying to be.\" This is a queer kind of\ntestimony, my friends. I notice no man is willing to go into the inquiry\nroom till he has got a step beyond that. That class of Christians don't\namount to much. The real Christian puts it, \"I believe; I believe that\nmy Redeemer liveth; I believe that if this building of flesh were\ndestroyed, I have a building not made with hands, eternal in the\nheavens.\" No hoping and trusting with them. It is, \"I know.\" Hope is\nassured to the Christian. It is a sure hope; it isn't a doubting hope.\nSuppose a man asked me if my name was Moody, and I said, \"Well, I hope\nso,\" wouldn't it sound rather strange? \"I hope it is;\" or, \"I'm trying\nto be Moody.\" Now, if a man asks you if you are a Christian, you ought\nto be able to give a reason.\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- There cannot be any peace where there is uncertainty.\n\n-- There is no knowledge like that of a man who knows he is saved, who\n   can look up and see his \"title clear to mansions in the skies.\"\n\n-- I believe hundreds of Christian people are being deceived by Satan,\n   now on this point, that they have not got the assurance of salvation\n   just because they are not willing to take God at His word.\n\n-- \"But,\" a man said to me, \"no one has come back, and we don't know\n   what is in the future. It is all dark, and how can we be sure?\" Thank\n   God! Christ came down from heaven, and I would rather have Him coming\n   as he does right from the bosom of the Father, than anyone else. We\n   can rely on what Christ says, and He says, \"He that believeth on Me\n   shall not perish, but have everlasting life.\" Not that we are going\n   to have it when we die, but right here to-day.\n\n-- Now, I find a great many people who want some evidence that they have\n   accepted the Son of God. My friends, if you want any evidence, take\n   God's word for it. You can't find better evidence than that. You know\n   that when the Angel Gabriel came down and told Zachariah he should\n   have a son he wanted a further token than the angel's word. He asked\n   Gabriel for it and he answered, \"I am Gabriel, who stands in the\n   presence of the Lord.\" He had never been doubted, and he thundered\n   out this to Zachariah. But he wanted a further token, and Gabriel\n   said, \"You shall have a token: you shall be dumb till your son shall\n   be given you.\"\n\n\n\nBELIEVE.\n\nMoody and the Dying Soldier.\n\nAfter the battle of Pittsburgh Landing and Murfreesboro' I was in a\nhospital at Murfreesboro'. And one night after midnight, I was woke up\nand told that there was a man in one of the wards who wanted to see me.\nI went to him and he called me \"chaplain!\"--I wasn't a chaplain--and he\nsaid he wanted me to help him die. And I said, \"I'd take you right up in\nmy arms and carry you into the kingdom of God if I could; but, I can't\ndo it; I can't help you to die.\" And he said, \"Who can?\" I said: \"The\nLord Jesus Christ can--He came for that purpose.\" He shook his head and\nsaid, \"He can't save me; I have sinned all my life.\" And I said, \"But He\ncame to save sinners.\" I thought of his mother in the North, and I knew\nthat she was anxious that he should die right, and I thought I'd stay\nwith him. I prayed two or three times, and repeated all the promises I\ncould, and I knew that in a few hours he would be gone. I said I wanted\nto read him a conversation that Christ had with a man who was anxious\nabout his soul. I turned to the third chapter of John. His eyes were\nriveted on me, and when I came to the 14th and 15th verses, he caught up\nthe words, \"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so\nmust the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth on Him should\nnot perish, but have eternal life.\" He stopped me and said, \"Is that\nthere?\" I said \"Yes,\" and he asked me to read it again, and I did so. He\nleaned his elbows on the cot and clasped his hands together and said,\n\"That's good; won't you read it again.\"\n\nI read it the third time, and then went on with the rest of the chapter.\nWhen I finished, his eyes were closed, his hands were folded, and there\nwas a smile on his face. Oh! how it was lit up! What a change had come\nover it! I saw hits lips quivering, and I leaned over him and heard, in\na faint whisper; \"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so\nmust the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should\nnot perish, but have eternal life.\" He opened his eyes and said, \"That's\nenough; don't read any more.\" He lingered a few hours and then pillowed\nhis head on those two verses, and then went up in one of Christ's\nchariots and took his seat in the Kingdom of God.\n\nYou may spurn God's remedy and perish; but I tell you God don't want you\nto perish. He says, \"As I live I have no pleasure in the death of the\nwicked.\" \"Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?\"\n\n\n\nA Child at its Mother's Grave.\n\nI remember seeing a story some time ago in print. It has been in the\npapers, but it will not hurt us to hear it again. A family in a Southern\ncity were stricken down with yellow fever. It was raging there, and\nthere were very stringent sanitary rules. The moment anybody died, a\ncart went around and took the coffin away. The father was taken sick and\ndied and was buried, and the mother was at last stricken down. The\nneighbors were afraid of the plague, and none dared go into the house.\nThe mother had a little son and was anxious about her boy, and afraid he\nwould be neglected when she was called away, so she called the little\nfellow to her bedside, and said, \"My boy, I am going to leave you, but\nJesus will come to you when I am gone.\" The mother died, the cart came\nalong and she was laid in the grave. The neighbors would have liked to\ntake the boy, but were afraid of the pestilence. He wandered about and\nfinally started up to the place where they had laid his mother and sat\ndown on the grave, and wept himself to sleep. Next morning he awoke and\nrealized his position--alone and hungry. A stranger came along and\nseeing the little fellow sitting on the ground, asked him what he was\nwaiting for. The boy remembered what his mother had told him, and\nanswered, \"I am waiting for Jesus,\" and told him the whole story. The\nman's heart was touched, tears trickled down his cheeks and he said,\n\"Jesus has sent me,\" to which the boy replied, \"You have been a good\nwhile coming, sir.\" He was provided for. So it is with us. To wait for\nresults, we must have courage and patience and God will help us.\n\n\n\n\"You Know Me, Moody.\"\n\nWell, let me illustrate it then, and perhaps you will be able to\nunderstand it. Suppose I am dying with consumption; which I inherited\nfrom my father or mother. I did not get it by any fault of my own, by\nany neglect of my health; I inherited it, let us suppose. Well, I go to\nmy physician, and to the best physicians, and they all give me up. They\nsay I am incurable; I must die; I have not thirty days to live. Well, a\nfriend happens to come along and looks at me and says: \"Moody, you have\ngot the consumption.\" \"I know it very well; I don't want any one to tell\nme that.\" \"But,\" he says, \"There is a remedy--a remedy, I tell you. Let\nme have your attention. I want to call your attention to it. I tell you\nthere is a remedy.\" \"But sir, I don't believe it. I have tried the\nleading physicians in this country and in Europe, and they tell me there\nis no hope.\" \"But you know me, Moody; you have known me for years.\"\n\"Yes, sir.\" \"Do you think, then, I would tell you a falsehood?\" \"No.\"\n\"Well, ten years ago I was far gone. I was given up by the physicians to\ndie, but I took this medicine and it cured me, I am perfectly well--look\nat me;\" I say that it is a very strange case. \"Yes, it may be strange,\nbut it is a fact. That medicine cured me; take this medicine and it will\ncure you. Although it has cost me a great deal, it shall not cost you\nanything. Although the salvation of Jesus Christ is as free as the air,\nit cost God the richest jewel of heaven. He had to give his only Son;\ngive all He had; He had only one Son, and He gave Him. Do not make light\nof it, then, I beg of you.\" \"Well\" I say, \"I would like to believe you,\nbut this is contrary to my reason.\" Hearing this, my friend goes away\nand brings another friend to me and he testifies to the same thing. He\nagain goes away when I do not yet believe, and brings in another, and\nanother; and another, and they all testify to the same thing. They say\nthey were as bad as myself; and they took the same medicine that has\nbeen offered to me, and it cured them. He then hands me the medicine. I\ndash it to the ground; I do not believe in its saving power: I die. The\nreason is, then, that I spurned the remedy.\n\nSo it will not be because Adam fell, but that you spurn the remedy\noffered to you to save you. You will have darkness rather than light.\nHow, then, shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation? There is no\nhope for you if you neglect the remedy.\n\n\n\nRational Belief.\n\nOnce there were a couple of men arranging a balloon ascension. They\nthought they had two ropes fastened to the car, but one of them only was\nfastened, and they unfastened that one rope, and the balloon started to\ngo up. One of the men seized hold of the car, and the other seized hold\nof the rope. Up went the balloon, and the man who seized hold of the car\nwent up with it, and was lost. The man who laid hold of the rope was\njust as sincere as the man who laid hold of the car. There was just as\nmuch reason to say that the man who laid hold of that would be saved\nbecause he was sincere as the man who believed in a lie because he is\nsincere in his belief. I like a man to be able to give a reason for the\nfaith that is in him. Once I asked a man what he believed, and he said\nhe believed what his church believed. I asked him what his church\nbelieved, and he said he supposed his church believed what he did; and\nthat was all I could get out of him. And so men believe what other\npeople believe and what their church believes, without really knowing\nwhat their church and other people do believe.\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n--  God is truth.\n\n--  What grounds have we for not believing God?\n\n\n\nTHE BIBLE.\n\n\"How Funny You Talk.\"\n\nNo book in the world has been so misjudged as the Bible. Men judge it\nwithout reading it. Or perhaps they read a bit here and a bit there, and\nthen close it saying, \"It is so dark and mysterious!\" You take a book,\nnow-a-days, and read it. Some one asks you what you think about it.\n\"Well,\" you say, \"I have only read it through once, not very carefully,\nand I should not like to give an opinion.\" Yet people take up God's\nbook, read a few pages, and condemn the whole of it. Of all the skeptics\nand infidels I have ever met speaking against the Bible, I have never\nmet one who read it through. There may be such men, but I have never met\nthem. It is simply an excuse. There is no man living who will stand up\nbefore God and say that kept him out of the kingdom. It is the devil's\nwork trying to make us believe it is not true, and that it is dark and\nmysterious. The only way to overcome the great enemy of souls is by the\nwritten Word of God. He knows that, and so tries to make men disbelieve\nit. As soon as a man is a true believer in the Word of God, he is a\nconqueror over Satan. Young man! the Bible is true. What have these\ninfidels to give you in its place? What has made England but the open\nBible? Every nation that exalteth the Word of God is exalted, and every\nnation that casteth it down is cast down. Oh, let us cling close to the\nBible. Of course, we shall not understand it all at once. But men are\nnot to condemn it on that account. Suppose I should send my little boy,\nfive years old, to school tomorrow morning, and when he came home in the\nafternoon, say to him, \"Willie, can you read? can you write? can you\nspell? Do you understand all about Algebra, Geometry; Hebrew, Latin, and\nGreek?\" \"Why, papa,\" the little fellow would say, \"hew funny you talk. I\nhave been all day trying to learn the A B C!\" Well; suppose I should\nreply, \"If you have not finished your education, you need not go any\nmore.\" What would you say? Why, you would say, I had gone mad. There\nwould he just as much reason in that, as in the way that people talk\nabout the Bible. My friends, the men who have studied the Bible for\nfifty years--the wise men and the scholars, the great theologians--have\nnever got down to the depths of it yet. There are truths there that the\nChurch of God has been searching out for the last eighteen hundred\nyears, but no man has fathomed the depths of that ever-living stream.\n\n\n\n\"How Christ Expounded It.\"\n\nYou will find Christ, after He had risen, again speaking about the Old\nTestament prophets: \"And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he\nexpounded unto them in all the Scripture the things concerning Himself.\"\nConcerning Himself. Don't that settle the question? I tell you I am\nconvinced in my mind that the Old Testament is as true as the New. \"And\nHe began at Moses and all the prophets.\" Mark that, \"all the prophets.\"\nThen in the forty-fourth verse: \"And He said unto them, these are the\nwords which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things\nmust be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the\nprophets and in the psalms concerning Me. Then opened He their\nunderstanding that they might understand the Scripture.\"\n\n\n\nThe Scotch \"Draw the Bible\" on False Doctrine.\n\nThere is no place I have ever been in where people so thoroughly\nunderstand their Bibles as in Scotland. Why, little boys could quote\nScripture and take me up on a text. They have the whole nation just\neducated, as it were, with the Word of God. Infidelity cannot come\nthere. A man got up in Glasgow, at a corner, and began to preach\nuniversal salvation. \"Oh, sir,\" said an old woman, \"that will never save\nthe like of me.\" She had heard enough preaching to know that it would\nnever save her. If a man comes among them with any false doctrine, these\nScotchmen instantly draw their Bibles on him. I had to keep my eyes open\nand be careful what I said there. They knew their Bibles a good deal\nbetter than I did. And so if the preachers could get the people to read\nthe Word of God more carefully, and note what they heard, there would\nnot be so much infidelity among us.\n\n\n\nMoody and the Infidel.\n\nAn infidel had come the other day, to one of our meetings, and when I\ntalked with him, he replied that he didn't believe one-twelfth part of\nthe Bible, but I kept on quoting Scripture, feeling that if the man\ndidn't believe, God could do what He chose with His word, and make it\nquick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword. The man kept\nsaying that he did not believe what the Bible said, and I kept on\nquoting passage after passage of Scripture, and the man, who, two hours\nbefore, had entered the hall an infidel, went out of it a converted man,\nand a short time after his conversion he left the City for Boston, a\nChristian, to join his family in Europe. Before this gentleman went\naway, I asked him if he believed the Bible, and his reply was: \"From\nback to back, every word of it.\"\n\n\n\n\"Deluged with Blood.\"\n\nA good many years ago there was a convention held in France, and those\nwho held it wanted to get the country to deny a God, to burn the Bible,\nwanted to say that men passed away like a dog and a dumb animal. What\nwas the result! Not long since, that country was filled with blood. Did\nyou ever think what would take place if we could vote the Bible and the\nministers of the gospel and God out from among the people? My friends,\nthe country would be deluged with blood. Your life and mine would not be\nsafe in this City to-night. We could not walk through these streets with\nsafety. We don't know how much we owe God and the influence of His\ngospel among even ungodly men.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Dumb Man Possessed; GUSTAVE DORE. Matthew, ix, 32.]\n\n\n[Illustration: The Burial Of Jesus; GUSTAVE DORE.  John, xix, 38-42.]\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- There are over two hundred passages in the Old Testament which\n   prophesied about Christ, and every one of them has come true.\n\n-- God didn't give the world two different Bibles; they are one, and\n   must be believed from back to back, from Genesis to Revelations, or\n   not at all.\n\n-- I haven't found the first man who ever read the Bible from back to\n   back carefully who remained an infidel. My friends, the Bible of our\n   mothers and fathers is true.\n\n-- The Word of God may be darkened to the natural man, but the way of\n   Salvation is written so plain, that the little child six years old\n   can understand it if she will.\n\n-- Set more and more store by the Bible. Then troubles in your Christian\n   life will pass away like a morning cloud. You will feed and live on the\n   Word of God, and it will become the joy of your soul.\n\n-- There are dark and mysterious things in the Bible now, but when you\n   begin to trust Christ your eyes will be opened and the Bible will be\n   a new book to you. It will become the Book of books to you.\n\n-- I notice if a man goes to cut up the Bible and comes to you with one\n   truth and says, \"I don't believe this, and I don't believe that,\"--I\n   notice when he begins to doubt portions of the Word Of God he soon\n   doubts it all.\n\n-- If you will show me a Bible Christian living on the Word of God, I\n   will show you a joyful man. He is mounting up all the time. He has\n   got new truths that lift him up over every obstacle, and he mounts\n   over difficulties higher and higher, like a man I once heard of who\n   had a bag of gas fastened on either side, and if he just touched the\n   ground with his foot, over a wall or a hedge he would go; and so\n   these truths make us so light that we bound over every obstacle.\n\n\n\nBIBLE STUDY.\n\nHow Moody was Blessed--\"Mark Your Bible.\"\n\nI want to tell you how I was blessed a few years ago, upon hearing a\ndiscourse upon the thirtieth chapter of Proverbs. The speaker said the\nchildren of God were like four things. The first thing was: \"The ants\nare a people not strong,\" and he went on to compare the children of God\nto ants. He said the people of God were like, ants. They pay no\nattention to the things of the present, but go on steadily preparing for\nthe future. The next thing he compared them to was the conies. \"The\nconies are but a feeble folk.\" It is a very weak little thing. \"Well,\"\nsaid I, \"I wouldn't like to be as a coney.\" But he went on to say that\nit built upon a rock. The children of God were very weak, but they laid\ntheir foundation upon a rock. \"Well,\" said I, \"I will be like a coney\nand build my hopes upon a rock.\" Like the Irishman who said he trembled\nhimself, but the rock upon which his house was built never did. The next\nthing the speaker compared them to was a locust. I didn't think much of\nlocusts; and I thought I wouldn't care about being like one. But he went\non to read, \"They have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands.\"\nThere were the Congregationalist, the Presbyterian, the Methodist bands\ngoing forth without a king, but by and by our King will come back again,\nand these bands will fly to Him. \"Well, I will be like a locust; my King\nis away,\" I thought. The next comparison was a spider. I didn't like\nthis at all, but he said if we went into a gilded palace filled with\nluxury, we might see a spider holding on to something, oblivious to all\nthe luxury below. It was laying hold of the things above. \"Well,\" said\nI, \"I would like to be a spider.\" I heard this a good many years ago,\nand I just put the speaker's name to it, and it makes a sermon. But take\nyour Bibles and mark them. Don't think of wearing them out. It is a rare\nthing to find a man wearing his Bible out now-a-days--and Bibles are\ncheap, too. You are living in a land where they are plenty. Study them\nand mark them, and don't be afraid of wearing them.\n\n\n\nMoody Visits Prang's Chromo Establishment.\n\nWhen I went to Boston, I went into Mr. Prang's chromo establishment. I\nwanted to know how the work was done. He took me to a stone several feet\nsquare, where he took the first impression, but when he took the paper\noff the stone I could see no sign of a man's face there. \"Wait a\nlittle,\" he said. He took me to another stone, but when the paper was\nlifted I couldn't see any impression yet. He took me up, up to eight,\nnine, ten stones, and then I could see just the faintest outlines of a\nman's face. He went on till he got up to about the twentieth stone, and\nI could see the impression of a face, but he said it was not very\ncorrect yet. Well, he went on till he got up, I think, to the\ntwenty-eighth stone, and a perfect face appeared, and it looked as if\nall it had to do was to speak and it would be human. If you read a\nchapter of the Bible and don't see anything in it, read it a second\ntime, and if you cannot see anything in it read it a third time. Dig\ndeep. Read it again and again, and even if you have to read it\ntwenty-eight times do so, and you will see the Man Christ Jesus, for He\nis in every page of the Word.\n\n\n\nGet the Key to Job.\n\nAn Englishman asked me some time ago, \"Do you know much about Job?\"\n\"Well, I know a little,\" I replied. \"If you've got the key of Job,\nyou've got the key to the whole Bible.\" \"What?\" I replied, \"I thought it\nwas a poetical book.\" \"Well,\" said he, \"I will just divide Job into\nseven heads. The first is the perfect man--untried; and that is Adam and\nEve before they fell. The second head is tried by adversity--Adam after\nthe fall. The third is the wisdom of the world--the three friends who\ncame to try to help Job out of his difficulties. They had no power to\nhelp him at all.\" He could stand his scolding wife, but he could not\nstand them. The fourth head takes the form of the Mediator, and in the\nfifth head God speaks at last. He heard him before by the ear, but he\nhears Him now by the soul, and he fell down flat upon his face. A good\nmany men in Chicago are like Job. They think they are mighty good men,\nbut the moment they hear the voice of God they know they are sinners,\nthey are in the dust. There isn't much talk about their goodness then.\nHere he was with his face down. Job learned his lesson. That was the\nsixth head, and in these heads were the burdens of Adam's sin. The\nseventh head was when God showed him His face. Well, I learned the key\nto the Bible. I cannot tell how this helped me. I told it to another\nman, and he asked me if I ever thought how he got his property back and\nhis sheep back. He gave Job double what he had and gave him ten children\nbesides, so that he should have ten in heaven besides his ten on earth.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Jesus Blessing Children; GUSTAVE DORE. Mark, x, 13-16]\n\n\n\nOne Book at a time.\n\nI have found it a good plan to take up one book at a time. It is a good\ndeal better to study one book at a time than to run through the Bible.\nIf we study one book and get its key, it will, perhaps, open up others.\nTake up the book of Genesis, and you will find eight beginnings; or, in\nother words, you pick up the key of several books. The gospel was\nwritten that man might believe on Jesus Christ, and every chapter speaks\nof Him. Now, take the book of Genesis; it says it is the book of\nbeginnings. That is the key; then the book of Exodus--it is the book of\nredemption; that is the key word of the whole. Take up the book of\nLeviticus, and we find that it is the book of sacrifices. And so on\nthrough all the different books; you will find each one with a key.\nAnother thing: We must study it unbiased. A great many people believe\ncertain things. They believe in certain creeds and doctrines, and they\nrun through the book to get Scripture in accordance with them. If a man\nis a Calvinistic man he wants to find something in accordance with his\ndoctrine. But if we go to seek truth the Spirit of God will come. Don't\nseek it in the blue light of Presbyterianism, in the red light of\nMethodism; or in the light of Episcopalianism, but study it in the light\nof Calvary.\n\n\n\nNote what Jesus Says.\n\nSome people say to me, \"Moody, you don't believe in the flood. All the\nscientific men tell us it is absurd.\" Let them tell us. Jesus tells us\nof it, and I would rather take the word of Jesus than that of any other\none. I haven't got much respect for those men who dig down for stones\nwith shovels, in order to take away the word of God. Men don't believe\nin the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, but we have it sealed in the New\nTestament. \"As, it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.\" They don't\nbelieve in Lot's wife, but He says,  \"Remember Lot's wife.\" So there is\nnot a thing that men to-day cavil at but the Son of God indorses. They\ndon't believe, in the swallowing of Jonah. They say it is impossible\nthat a whale could swallow Jonah--its throat is too small. They forget\nthat the whale was prepared for Jonah; as the colored woman said, \"Why,\nGod could prepare a man to swallow a whale, let alone a whale to swallow\na man.\"\n\n\n\nOne Word.\n\nI remember I took up the word \"love,\" and turned to the Scriptures and\nstudied it, and got so that I felt I loved everybody, I got full of it.\nWhen I went on the street, I felt as if I loved everybody I saw. It ran\nout of my fingers. Suppose you take up the subject of love and study it\nup. You will get so full of it that all you have got to do is to open\nyour lips and a flood of the love of God flows upon the meeting. If you\ngo into a court you will find a lawyer pleading a case. He gets\neverything bearing upon one point, heaped up so as to carry his argument\nwith all the force he can, in order to convince the jury. Now it seems\nto me a man should do the same in talking to an audience; just think\nthat he has a jury before him, and he wants to convict a sinner. If it\nis love, get all you can upon the subject and talk love, love.\n\n\n\nThe \"I Ams,\" \"I Wills,\" Etc.\n\nA favorite way to study the Bible with me, is first to take up one\nexpression, and run through the different places where they are found.\nTake the \"I ams\" of John; \"I am the bread of life;\" \"I am the water of\nlife;\" \"I am the way, the truth, and the life;\" \"I am the resurrection;\"\n\"I am all, and in all.\" God gives to His children a blank; and on it\nthey can write whatever they most want and He will fill the bill. And\nthen the promises. A Scotchman found out thirty one thousand distinct\npromises in the Word of God. There is not a despondent soul but God has\na promise just to suit him.\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- The best truths are got by digging deep for them.\n\n-- When we know our Bible, then it is that God can use us.\n\n-- When we find a man meditating on the words of God, my friends, that\n   man is full of boldness and is successful.\n\n-- When a man is filled with the Word of God you cannot keep him still.\n   If man has got the Word, he must speak or die.\n\n-- Let us have one day exclusively to study and read the Word of God. If\n   we can't take time during the week, we will have Sunday\n   uninterrupted.\n\n-- Now, as old Dr. Bonner, of Glasgow, said, \"The Lord didn't tell\n   Joshua how to use the sword, but He told him how he should meditate\n   on the Lord day and night, and then he would have good success.\"\n\n-- One thing I have noticed in studying the Word of God, and that is,\n   when a man is filled with the Spirit he deals largely with the Word\n   of God, whereas the man who is filled with his own ideas refers\n   rarely to the Word of God. He gets along without it, and you seldom\n   see it mentioned in his discourses.\n\n\n\nBLIND.\n\nA Mother's Mistake.\n\nWhile I was attending a meeting in a certain city sometime ago a lady\ncame to me and said: \"I want you to go home with me; I have something to\nsay to you.\" When we reached her home, there were some friends there;\nAfter they had retired, she put her arms on the table, and tears began\nto come into her eyes, but with an effort she repressed her emotion.\nAfter a struggle she went on to say that she was going to tell me\nsomething which she had never told any other living person. I should not\ntell it now; but she has gone to another world. She said she had a son\nin Chicago, and she was very anxious about him. When he was young he got\ninterested in religion at the rooms of the young Men's Christian\nAssociation. He used to go out in the street and circulate tracts. He\nwas her only son, and she was very ambitious that he should make a name\nin the world, and wanted him to get into the very highest circles. Oh,\nwhat a mistake people make about these highest circles. Society is\nfalse; it is a sham. She was deceived like a good many more votaries of\nfashion and hunters after wealth at the present time. She thought it was\nbeneath her son to go down and associate with those young men who hadn't\nmuch money. She tried to get him away from them, but they had more\ninfluence than she had, and, finally, to break his whole association,\nshe packed him off to a boarding-school. He went soon to Yale College,\nand she supposed he got into one of those miserable secret societies\nthere that have ruined so many young men; and the next thing she heard\nwas that the boy had gone astray.\n\nShe began to write letters urging him to come into the Kingdom of God,\nbut she heard that he tore the letters up without reading them. She went\nto him to try and regain whatever influence she possessed over him, but\nher efforts were useless, and she came home with a broken heart. He left\nNew Haven, and for two years they heard nothing of him. At last they\nheard he was in Chicago, and his father found him and gave him $30,000\nto start in business. They thought it would change him, but it didn't.\nThey asked me when I went back to Chicago to try and use my influence\nwith him. I got a friend to invite him to his house one night, where I\nintended to meet him, but he heard I was to be there, and did not come\nnear, like a good many other young men, who seem to be afraid of me. I\ntried many times to reach him, but could not. While I was traveling one\nday on the New Haven Railroad, I bought a New York paper, and in it I\nsaw a dispatch saying he had been drowned in Lake Michigan. His father\ncame on to find his body, and, after considerable searching, they\ndiscovered it. All his clothes and his body were covered with sand. The\nbody was taken home to that broken-hearted mother. She said \"If I\nthought he was in heaven I would have peace.\" Her disobedience of God's\nlaw came back upon her.\n\nSo, my friends, if you have a boy impressed with the gospel, help him to\ncome to Christ. Bring him in the arms of your faith, and He will unite\nyou closer to him.\n\n\n\n\"Pull for the Shore.\"\n\nLook at that man in a boat on Niagara River. He is only about a mile\nfrom the rapids. A man on the bank shouts to him, \"Young man, young man,\nthe rapids are not far away; you'd better pull for the shore.\" \"You\nattend to your own business; I will take care of myself,\" he replies.\nLike a great many people here, and ministers, too, they don't want any\nevangelist here--don't want any help, however great the danger ahead. On\nhe goes; sitting coolly in his boat. Now he has got a little nearer, and\na man from the bank of the river sees his danger, and shouts: \"Stranger,\nyou'd better pull for the shore; if you go further, you'll be lost. You\ncan be saved now if you pull in.\" \"Mind your business, and you'll have\nenough to do; I'll take care of myself.\" Like a good many men, they are\nasleep to the danger that's hanging over them while they are in the\ncurrent. And I say, drinking young man, don't you think you are standing\nstill. You are in the current, and if you don't pull for a rock of\nsafety you will go over the precipice. On he goes. I can see him in the\nboat laughing at the danger. A man on the bank is looking at him, and he\nlifts up his voice and cries, \"Stranger, stranger, pull for the shore;\nif you don't you'll lose your life;\" and the young man laughs at\nhim--mocks him. That is the way with hundreds in Chicago. If you go to\nthem and point out their danger, they will jest and joke at you. By and\nby he says: \"I think I hear the rapids--yes, I hear them roar;\" and he\nseizes his oars and pulls with all his strength, but the current is too\ngreat, and nearer and nearer he is drawn on to that abyss, until he\ngives one unearthly scream, and over he goes. Ah, my friends, this is\nthe case with hundreds in this city. They are in the current of riches\nof pleasure, of drink, that will take them to the whirlpool.\n\n\n\nA Blind Man Preaches to 3,000,000 People.\n\nI was at a meeting in London, when I was there, and I heard a man\nspeaking with wonderful power and earnestness. \"Who is that man?\" I\nasked, my curiosity being excited. \"Why, that is Dr. ----. He is blind.\"\nI felt some interest in this man and at the close of the meeting, I\nsought an interview, and he told me that he had been stricken blind when\nvery young. His mother took him to a doctor, and asked him about his\nsight. \"You must give up all hope,\" the doctor said. \"Your boy is blind,\nand will be forever.\" \"What, do you think my boy will never see?\" asked\nhis mother. \"Never again.\" The mother took her boy to her bosom and\ncried, \"Oh, my boy, ''Who will take care of you when I am gone? Who will\nlook to you?\"--forgetting the faithfulness of that God she had taught\nhim to love. He became a servant of the Lord and was permitted to print\nthe Bible in twelve different languages, printed in the raised letters,\nso that all the blind people could read the Scriptures themselves. He\nhad a congregation, my friends, of  three millions of people, and I\nthink that blind man was one of the happiest beings in all London. He\nwas naturally blind, but he had eyes to his soul, and could see a bright\neternity in the future. He had built his foundation upon the living God.\nWe pity those who have not their natural sight; but how you should pity\nyourself if you are spiritually blind.\n\n\n\nMoney Blind.\n\nI heard of a man who had accumulated great wealth, and death came upon\nhim suddenly, and he realized, as the saying is, that \"there was no bank\nin the shroud,\" that he couldn't take anything away with him; we may\nhave all the money on earth, but we must leave it behind us. He called a\nlawyer in and commenced to will away his property before he went away.\nHis little girl couldn't understand exactly where he was going, and she\nsaid: \"Father, have you got a home in that land you are going to?\" The\narrow went down to his soul. \"Got a home there?\" The rich man had hurled\naway God and neglected to secure a home there for the sake of his money,\nand he found it was now too late. He was money mad, he was money blind.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- Now I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but one thing I can\n   predict; that every one of our new converts that goes to studying his\n   Bible, and loves this book above every other book, is sure to hold\n   out. The world will have no charm for him; he will get the world\n   under his feet, because in this book he will find something better\n   than the world can give him.\n\n-- What can botanists tell you of the lily of the valley? You must study\n   this book for that. What can geologists tell you of the Rock of Ages,\n   or mere astronomers about the Bright Morning Star? In those pages we\n   find all knowledge unto salvation; here we read of the ruin of man by\n   nature, redemption by the blood, and regeneration by the Holy Ghost.\n   These three things run all through and through them.\n\n\n\nTHE BLOOD.\n\nA Mother Dies that her Boy may Live.\n\nWhen the California gold fever broke out, a man went there, leaving\nhis wife in New England with his boy. As soon as he got on and was\nsuccessful he was to send for them. It was a long time before he\nsucceeded, but at last he got money enough to send for them. The wife's\nheart leaped for joy. She took her boy to New York, got on board a\nPacific steamer, and sailed away to San Francisco. They had not been\nlong at sea before the cry of \"Fire! fire!\" rang through the ship, and\nrapidly it gained on them. There was a powder magazine on board, and the\ncaptain knew the moment the fire reached the powder, every man, woman,\nand child must perish. They got out the life-boats, but they were too\nsmall! In a minute they were overcrowded. The last one was just pushing\naway, when the mother pled with them to take her and her boy. \"No,\" they\nsaid, \"we have got as many as we can hold.\" She entreated them so\nearnestly, that at last they said they would take one more. Do you think\nshe leaped into that boat and left her boy to die? No! She seized her\nboy, gave him one last hug, kissed him, and dropped him over into the\nboat. \"My boy,\" she said, \"if you live to see your father, tell him that\nI died in your place.\" That is a faint type of what Christ has done for\nus. He laid down his life for us. He died that we might live. Now will\nyou not love Him? What would you say of that young man if he should\nspeak contemptuously of such a mother! She went down to a watery grave\nto save her son. Well, shall we speak contemptuously of such a Saviour?\nMay God make us loyal to Christ! My friends, you will need Him one day.\nYou will need Him when you come to cross the swellings of Jordan. You\nwill need Him when you stand at the bar of God. May God forbid that when\ndeath draws nigh it should find you making light of the precious blood\nof Christ!\n\n\n\nA Man Drinks up a Farm.\n\nA few years ago, I was going away to preach one Sunday morning, when a\nyoung man drove up in front of us. He had an aged woman with him. \"Who\nis that young man?\" I asked. \"Do you see that beautiful meadow?\" said my\nfriend, \"and that land there with the house upon it?\" \"Yes\" \"His father\ndrank that all up,\" said he. Then he went on to tell me all about him.\nHis father was a great drunkard, squandered his property, died, and left\nhis wife in the poor-house. \"And that young man,\" he said, \"is one of\nthe finest young men I ever knew. He has toiled hard and earned money,\nand bought back the land; he has taken his mother out of the poor-house,\nand now he is taking her to church.\" I thought, that is an illustration\nfor me. The first Adam in Eden sold us for naught, but the Messiah, the\nsecond Adam, came and bought us back again. The first Adam brought us to\nthe poor-house, as it were; the second Adam makes us kings and priests\nunto God. That is redemption. We get in Christ all that Adam lost, and\nmore. Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but the\ntime is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more than all the\nkingdoms of the world.\n\n\n\nAll Right or all Wrong.\n\nI remember when in the old country a young man came to me--a\nminister--and said he wanted to talk with me. He said to me: \"Mr. Moody,\nyou are either all right and I am all wrong, or else I am right, and you\nare all wrong.\" \"Well, sir,\" said I, \"You have the advantage of me. You\nhave heard me preach, and you know what doctrines I hold, whereas I have\nnot heard you, and don't know what you preach.\" \"Well,\" said he, \"the\ndifference between your preaching and mine is that you make out that\nsalvation is got by Christ's death, and I make out that it is attained\nby His life.\" \"Now, what do you do with the passages bearing upon the\ndeath?\" and I quoted the passages, \"Without the shedding of blood there\nis no remission,\" and \"He Himself bore our own sins by His own body on\nthe tree,\"  and asked him what he did with them, for instance. \"Never\npreach them at all.\" I quoted a number of passages more, and he gave me\nthe same answer. \"Well, what do you preach?\" I finally asked. \"Moral\nessays,\" he replied. Said I, \"Did you ever know anybody to be saved by\nthat kind of thing, did you ever convert anybody by them?\" \"I never\naimed at that kind of conversion; I meant to get men to heaven by\nculture--by refinement.\" \"Well,\" said I, \"If I didn't preach those\ntexts, and only preached culture, the whole thing would be a sham.\" \"And\nit is a sham to me,\" was his reply. I tell you the moment a man breaks\naway from this doctrine of blood, religion becomes a sham, because the\nwhole teaching of this book is of one story, and this is, that Christ\ncame into the world and died for our sins.\n\n\n\nThe Fettered Bird Freed.\n\nA friend in Ireland once met a little Irish boy who had caught a\nsparrow. The poor little bird was trembling in his hand, and seemed very\nanxious to escape. The gentleman begged the boy to let it go, as the\nbird could not do him any good; but the boy said he would not; for he\nhad chased it three hours before he could catch it. He tried to reason\nit out with the boy, but in vain. At last he offered to buy the bird;\nthe boy agreed to the price, and it was paid. Then the gentleman took\nthe poor little thing and held it out on his hand. The boy had been\nholding it very fast, for the boy was stronger than the bird, just as\nSatan is stronger than we, and there it sat for a time, scarcely able to\nrealize the fact that it had got liberty; but in a little while it flew\naway, chirping, as if to say to the gentleman, \"Thank you! thank you!\nyou have redeemed me.\"  That is what redemption is--buying back and\nsetting free. So Christ came back to break the fetters of sin, to open\nthe prison doors and set the sinner free. This is the good news, the\ngospel of Christ--\"Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, as\nsilver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.\"\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- The most solemn truth in the gospel is that the only thing Christ\n   left down here is His blood.\n\n-- A man who covers up the cross, though he may be an intellectual man,\n   and draw large crowds, will have no life there, and his church will\n   be but a gilded sepulcher.\n\n-- There is either of two things we must do. One is to send back the\n   message to heaven that we don't want the blood of Christ to cleanse\n   us of our sin, or else accept it.\n\n-- Into every house where the blood was not sprinkled, the destroying\n   angel came. But wherever the blood was on door-post and lintel,\n   whether they had worked much, or whether they had worked none, God\n   passed them over.\n\n-- A man who has not realized what the blood has done for him has not\n   the token of salvation. It is told of Julian, the apostate, that\n   while he was fighting he received an arrow in his side. He pulled it\n   out, and, taking a handful of blood threw it into the air and cried,\n   \"Galilean, Galilean, thou hast conquered.\"\n\n-- Look at that Roman soldier as he pushed his spear into the very heart\n   of the God-man. What a hellish deed! But what was the next thing\n   that took place? Blood covered the spear! Oh! thank God, the blood\n   covers sin.  There was the blood covering that spear--the very point\n   of it. The very crowning act of sin brought out the crowning act of\n   love; the crowning act of wickedness was the crowning act of grace.\n\n-- It Is said that old Dr. Alexander, of Princeton College, when a young\n   student used to start out to preach, always gave them a piece of\n   advice. The old man would stand with his gray locks and his venerable\n   face and say: \"Young man, make much of the blood in your ministry.\"\n   Now, I have traveled considerable during the past few years, and\n   never met a minister who made much of the blood and much of the\n   atonement but God had blessed his ministry, and souls were born into\n   the light by it.\n\n\n\nCHILD STORIES.\n\n\"Little Moody.\"\n\nI remember when I was a boy I went several miles from home with an older\nbrother. That seemed to me the longest visit of my life. It seemed that\nI was then further away from home than I had ever been before, or have\never been since. While we were walking down the street we saw an old man\ncoming toward us, and my brother said, \"There is a man that will give\nyou a cent. He gives every new boy that comes into this town a cent.\"\nThat was my first visit to the town, and when the old man got opposite\nto us he looked around, and my brother not wishing me to lose the cent,\nand to remind the old man that I had not received it, told him that I\nwas a new boy in the town. The old man, taking off my hat, placed his\ntrembling hand on my head, and told me I had a Father in heaven. It was\na kind, simple act, but I feel the pressure of the old man's hand upon\nmy head to-day. You don't know how much you may do by just speaking\nkindly.\n\n\n\n\"Won by a Smile.\"\n\nIn London, in 1872, one Sunday morning a minister said to me, \"I want\nyou to notice that family there in one of the front seats, and when we\ngo home I want to tell you their story.\" When we got home I asked him\nfor the story, and he said, \"All that family were won by a smile.\"\n\"Why,\" said I, \"how's that?\" \"Well,\" said he, \"as I was walking down a\nstreet one day I saw a child at a window; it smiled, and I smiled, and\nwe bowed. So it was the second time; I bowed, she bowed. It was not long\nbefore there was another child, and I had got in a habit of looking and\nbowing, and pretty soon the group grew, and at last, as I went by, a\nlady was with them. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to bow to\nher, but I knew the children expected it, and so I bowed to them all.\nAnd the mother saw I was a minister, because I carried a Bible every\nSunday morning. So the children followed me the next Sunday and found I\nwas a minister. And they thought I was the greatest preacher, and their\nparents must hear me. A minister who is kind to a child and gives him a\npat on the head, why the children will think he is the greatest preacher\nin the world. Kindness goes a great way. And to make a long story short,\nthe father and mother and five children were converted, and they are\ngoing to join our church next Sunday.\"\n\nWon to Christ by a smile! We must get the wrinkles out of our brows, and\nwe must have smiling faces.\n\n\n\nA Little Boy's Experience.\n\nOne day as a young lady was walking up the street, she saw a little boy\nrunning out of a shoemaker's shop, and behind him was the old shoemaker\nchasing him with a wooden last in his hand. He had not run far until the\nlast was thrown at him, and he was struck in the back. The boy stopped\nand began to cry. The Spirit of the Lord touched that young lady's\nheart, and she went to where he was. She stepped up to him, and asked\nhim if he was hurt. He told her it was none of her business. She went to\nwork then to win that boy's confidence. She asked him if he went to\nschool. He said, \"No.\" \"Well, why don't you go to school?\" \"Don't want\nto.\" She asked him if he would not like to go to Sunday school. \"If you\nwill come,\" she said, \"I will tell you beautiful stories and read nice\nbooks.\" She coaxed and pleaded with him, and at last said that if he\nwould consent to go, she would meet him on the corner of a street which\nthey should agree upon. He at last consented, and the next Sunday, true\nto his promise, he waited for her at the place designated. She took him\nby the hand and led him into the Sabbath-school \"Can you give me a place\nto teach this little boy?\" she asked of the superintendent.\n\nHe looked at the boy, but they didn't have any such looking little ones\nin the school. A place was found, however, and she sat down in the\ncorner and tried to win that soul for Christ. Many would look upon that\nwith contempt, but she had got something to do for the Master. The\nlittle boy had never heard anybody sing so sweetly before. When he went\nhome he was asked where he had been. \"Been among the angels,\" he told\nhis mother. He said he had been to the Protestant Sabbath-school, but\nhis father and mother told him he must not go there any more or he would\nget a flogging. The next Sunday he went, and when he came home he got\nthe promised flogging. He went the second time and got a flogging, and\nalso a third time with the same result. At last he said to his father,\n\"I wish you would flog me before I go, and then I won't have to think of\nit when I am there.\" The father said, \"If you go to that Sabbath-school\nagain I will kill you.\" It was the father's custom to send his son out\non the street to sell articles to the passers-by, and he told the boy\nthat he might have the profits of what he sold on Saturday. The little\nfellow hastened to the young lady's house and said to her, \"Father said\nthat he would give me every Saturday to myself, and if you will just\nteach me, then I will come to your house every Saturday afternoon.\" I\nwonder how many young ladies there are that would give up their Saturday\nafternoons just to lead one boy into the kingdom of God. Every Saturday\nafternoon that little boy was there at her house, and she tried to tell\nhim the way to Christ. She labored with him, and at last the light of\nGod's spirit broke upon his heart.\n\nOne day while he was selling his wares at the railroad station, a train\nof cars approached unnoticed and passed over both his legs. A physician\nwas summoned, and the first thing after he arrived, the little sufferer\nlooked up into his face and said, \"Doctor, will I live to get home?\"\n\"No,\" said the doctor, \"you are dying.\" \"Will you tell my mother and\nfather that I died a Christian?\" They bore home the boy's corpse and\nwith it the last message that he died a Christian. Oh, what a noble work\nwas that young lady's in saving that little wanderer! How precious the\nremembrance to her! When she goes to heaven she will not be a stranger\nthere. He will take her by the hand and lead her to the throne of\nChrist. She did the work cheerfully. Oh, may God teach us what our work\nis that we may do it for His glory.\n\n\n\nLove.\n\nIn our city a few years ago there was a little boy who went to one of\nthe mission Sunday-schools. His father moved to another part of the city\nabout five miles away, and every Sunday that boy came past thirty or\nforty Sunday-schools to the one he attended. And one Sunday a lady who\nwas out collecting scholars for a Sunday-school met him and asked why he\nwent so far, past so many schools. \"There are plenty of others,\" said\nshe, \"just as good.\" He said, \"They may be as good but they are not so\ngood for me.\" \"Why not?\" she asked \"Because they love a fellow over\nthere,\" he answered. Ah! love won him. \"Because they love a fellow over\nthere!\" How easy it is to reach people through love! Sunday-school\nteachers should win the affections of their scholars if they wish to\nlead them to Christ.\n\n\n\nA Little Boy Converts his Mother.\n\nI remember when on the North Side I tried to reach a family time and\nagain and failed. One night in the meeting, I noticed one of the little\nboys of that family. He hadn't come for any good, however; he was\nsticking pins in the backs of the other boys. I thought if I could get\nhold of him it would do good. I used always to go to the door and shake\nhands with the boys, and when I got to the door and saw this little boy\ncoming out, I shook hands with him, and patted him on the head, and said\nI was glad to see him, and hoped he would come again. He hung his head\nand went away. The next night, however, he came back, and he behaved\nbetter than he did the previous night. He came two or three times after,\nand then asked us to pray for him that he might become a Christian. That\nwas a happy night for me. He became a Christian and a good one. One\nnight I saw him weeping. I wondered if his old temper had got hold or\nhim again, and when he got up I wondered what he was going to say. \"I\nwish you would pray for my mother,\" he said. When the meeting was over I\nwent to him and asked, \"Have you ever spoken to your mother or tried to\npray with her?\" \"Well, you know, Mr. Moody,\" he replied, \"I never had an\nopportunity; she don't believe, and won't hear me.\" \"Now,\" I said, \"I\nwant you to talk to your mother to-night.\" For years I had been trying\nto reach her and couldn't do it.\n\nSo I urged him to talk to her that night, and I said \"I will pray for\nyou both.\" When he got to the sitting-room he found some people there,\nand he sat waiting for an opportunity, when his mother said it was time\nfor him to go to bed. He went to the door undecided. He took a step,\nstopped, and turned around, and hesitated for a minute, then ran to his\nmother and threw his arms around her neck, and buried his face in her\nbosom. \"What is the matter?\" she asked--she thought he was sick. Between\nhis sobs he told his mother how for five weeks he had wanted to be a\nChristian; how he had stopped swearing; how he was trying to be obedient\nto her, and how happy he would be if she would be a Christian, and then\nwent off to bed. She sat for a few minutes, but couldn't stand it, and\nwent up to his room. When she got to the door she heard him weeping and\npraying, \"Oh, God, convert my dear mother.\" She came down again, but\ncouldn't sleep that night. Next day she told the boy to go and ask Mr.\nMoody to come over and see her. He called at my place of business--I was\nin business then--and I went over as quick as I could. I found her\nsitting in a rocking chair weeping. \"Mr. Moody,\" she said, \"I want to\nbecome a Christian.\" \"What has brought that change over you. I thought\nyou didn't believe in it?\" Then she told me how her boy had come to her,\nand how she hadn't slept any all night, and how her sin rose up before\nher like a dark mountain. The next Sunday that boy came and led that\nmother into the Sabbath-school, and she became a Christian worker.\n\nOh, little children, if you find Christ tell it to your fathers and\nmothers. Throw your arms around their necks and lead them to Jesus.\n\n\n\nA Father's Mistake.\n\nThere is a little story that has gone the round of the American press\nthat made a great impression upon me as a father. A father took his\nlittle child out into the field one Sabbath, and, it being a hot day, he\nlay down under a beautiful shady tree. The little child ran about\ngathering wild flowers and little blades of grass, and coming to its\nfather and saying, \"Pretty! pretty!\" At last the father fell asleep, and\nwhile he was sleeping the little child wandered away. When he awoke, his\nfirst thought was, \"Where is my child?\" He looked all around, but he\ncould not see him. He shouted at the top of his voice, but all he heard\nwas the echo of his own voice. Running to a little hill, he looked\naround and shouted again. No response! Then going to a precipice at some\ndistance, he looked down, and there, upon the rocks and briars, he saw\nthe mangled form of his loved child. He rushed to the spot, took up the\nlifeless corpse, and hugged it to his bosom, and accused himself of\nbeing the murderer of his child. While he was sleeping his child had\nwandered over the precipice. I thought as I heard that, what a picture\nof the church of God!\n\nHow many fathers and mothers, how many Christian men, are sleeping now\nwhile their children wander over the terrible precipice right into the\nbottomless pit. Father, where is your boy to-night?\n\n\n\nA Boy's Mistake--A Sad Reconciliation.\n\nThere was an Englishman who had an only son; and only sons are often\npetted, and humored, and ruined. This boy became very headstrong, and\nvery often he and his father had trouble. One day they had a quarrel and\nthe father was very angry, and so was the son; and the father said he\nwished the boy would leave home and never come back. The boy said he\nwould go, and would not come into his father's house again till he sent\nfor him. The father said he would never send for him. Well, away went\nthe boy. But when a father gives up a boy, a mother does not. You\nmothers will understand that, but the fathers may not. You know there is\nno love on earth so strong as a mother's love. A great many things may\nseparate a man and his wife; a great many things may separate a father\nfrom his son; but there is nothing in the wide world that can ever\nseparate a true mother from her child. To be sure, there are some\nmothers that have drank so much liquor that they have drunk up all their\naffection. But I am talking about a true mother; and she would never\ncast off her boy.\n\nWell, the mother began to write and plead with the boy to write to his\nfather first, and he would forgive him; but the boy said, \"I will never\ngo home till father asks me.\" Then she pled with the father, but the\nfather said, \"No, I will never ask him.\" At last the mother came down to\nher sick-bed, broken-hearted, and when she was given up by the\nphysicians to die, the husband, anxious to gratify her last wish, wanted\nto know if there was nothing he could do for her before she died. The\nmother gave him a look; he well knew what it meant. Then she said, \"Yes,\nthere is one thing you can do. You can send for my boy. That is the only\nwish on earth you can gratify. If you do not pity him and love him when\nI am dead and gone, who will?\" \"Well,\" said the father, \"I will send\nword to him that you want to see him.\" \"No,\" she says, \"you know he will\nnot come for me. If ever I see him you must send for him.\"\n\nAt last the father went to his office and wrote a dispatch in his own\nname, asking the boy to come home. As soon as he got the invitation from\nhis father he started off to see his dying mother. When he opened the\ndoor to go in he found his mother dying, and his father by the bedside.\nThe father heard the door open, and saw the boy, but instead of going to\nmeet him, he went to another part of the room, and refused to speak to\nhim. His mother seized his hand--how she had longed to press it! She\nkissed him, and then said, \"Now, my son, just speak to your father. You\nspeak first, and it will all be over.\" But the boy said, \"No, mother, I\nwill not speak to him until he speaks to me.\" She took her husband's\nhand in one hand and the boy's in the other, and spent her dying moments\nin trying to bring about a reconciliation. Then just as she was\nexpiring--she could not speak--so she put the hand of the wayward boy\ninto the hand of the father, and passed away! The boy looked at the\nmother, and the father at the wife, and at last the father's heart\nbroke, and he opened his arms, and took that boy to his bosom, and by\nthat body they were reconciled. Sinner, that is only a faint type, a\npoor illustration, because God is not angry with you.\n\nI bring you to-night to the dead body of Christ. I ask you to look at\nthe wounds in his hands and feet, and the wound in his side. And I ask\nyou, \"Will you not be reconciled?\"\n\n\n\nMoody and his Little Willie.\n\nI said to my little family, one morning, a few weeks before the Chicago\nfire, \"I am coming home this afternoon to give you a ride.\" My little\nboy clapped his hands. \"Oh, papa, will you take me to see the bears in\nLincoln Park?\" \"Yes.\" You know boys are very fond of seeing bears. I had\nnot been gone long when my little boy said, \"Mamma, I wish you would get\nme ready.\" \"Oh,\" she said, \"it will be a long time before papa comes.\"\n\"But I want to get ready, mamma.\" At last he was ready to have the ride,\nface washed, and clothes all nice and clean. \"Now, you must take good\ncare and not get yourself dirty again,\" said mamma. Oh, of course he was\ngoing to take care; he wasn't going to get dirty. So off he ran to watch\nfor me. However, it was a long time yet until the afternoon, and after a\nlittle he began to play. When I got home, I found him outside, with his\nface all covered with dirt. \"I can't take you to the Park that way,\nWillie.\" \"Why, papa? you said you would take me.\" \"Ah, but I can't;\nyou're all over mud. I couldn't be seen with such a dirty little boy.\"\n\"Why, I'se clean, papa; mamma washed me.\" \"Well, you've got dirty\nsince.\" But he began to cry, and I could not convince him that he was\ndirty. \"I'se clean; mamma washed me!\" he cried. Do you think I argued\nwith him? No. I just took him up in my arms, and carried him into the\nhouse, and showed him his face in the looking-glass. He had not a word\nto say. He could not take my word for it; but one look at the glass was\nenough; he saw it for himself. He didn't say he wasn't dirty after that!\n\nNow the looking-glass showed him that his face was dirty--but I did not\ntake the looking-glass to wash it; of course not. Yet that is just what\nthousands of people do. The law is the looking-glass to see ourselves\nin, to show us how vile and worthless we are in the sight of God; but\nthey take the law and try to wash themselves with it.\n\n\n\nJesus \"Wants them All to Come.\"\n\nI heard of a Sunday-school concert at which a little child of eight was\ngoing to recite. Her mother had taught her, and when the night came the\nlittle thing was trembling so she could scarcely speak. She commenced,\n\"Jesus said,\" and completely broke down. Again she tried it: \"Jesus said\nsuffer,\" but she stopped once more. A third attempt was made by her,\n\"Suffer little children--and don't anybody stop them, for He wants them\nall to come,\" and that is the truth. There is not a child who has a\nparent in the Tabernacle but He wants, and if you but bring them in the\narms of your faith and ask the Son of God to bless them and train them\nin the knowledge of God, and teach them as you walk your way, as you lie\ndown at night, as you rise up in the morning, they will be blessed.\n\n\n\nNever to See its Mother.\n\nI was in an infirmary not long since, and a mother brought a little\nchild in. She said, \"Doctor, my little child's eyes have not been opened\nfor several days, and I would just like you to do something for them.\"\nThe doctor got some ointment and put it first on one and then on the\nother, and just pulled them open. \"Your child is blind,\" said the\ndoctor; \"perfectly blind; it will never see again.\" At first the mother\ncouldn't take it in, but after a little she cast an appealing look upon\nthat physician, and in a voice full of emotion, said, \"Doctor, you don't\nmean to say that my child will never see again?\" \"Yes,\" replied the\ndoctor, \"your child has lost its sight, and will never see again.\" And\nthat mother just gave a scream, and drew that child to her bosom. \"O my\ndarling child,\" sobbed the woman, \"are you never to see the mother that\ngave you birth? never to see the world again?\" I could not keep back the\ntears when I saw the terrible agony of that woman when she realized the\nmisfortune that had come upon her child. That was a terrible calamity,\nto grope in total darkness through this world; never to look upon the\nbright sky, the green fields; never to see the faces of loved ones; but\nwhat was it in comparison to the loss of a soul? I would rather have my\neyes plucked out of my head and go down to my grave in total blindness\nthan lose my soul.\n\n\n\nA Little Child Converts an Infidel.\n\nI remember hearing of a Sabbath-school teacher who had led every one of\nher children to Christ. She was a faithful teacher. Then she tried to\nget her children to go out and bring other children into the school. One\nday one of them came and said she had been trying to get the children of\na family to come to the school, but the father was an infidel, and he\nwouldn't allow it. \"What is an infidel?\" asked the child. She had never\nheard of an infidel before. The teacher went on to tell her what an\ninfidel man was, and she was perfectly shocked. A few mornings after the\ngirl happened to be going past the post-office on her way to school, and\nshe saw the infidel father coming out. She went up to him and said, \"Why\ndon't you love Jesus?\" If it had been a man who had said that to him\nprobably he would have knocked him down. He looked at her and walked on.\nA second time she put the question, \"Why don't you love Jesus?\" He put\nout his hand to put her gently away from him, when, on looking down, he\nsaw her tears. \"Please, sir, tell me why you don't love Jesus?\" He\npushed her aside and away he went. When he got to his office he couldn't\nget this question out of his mind. All the letters seemed to read, \"Why\ndon't you love Jesus?\" All men in his place of business seemed to say,\n\"Why don't you love Jesus?\" When he tried to write his pen seemed to\nshape the words, \"Why don't you love Jesus?\" He couldn't rest, and on\nthe street he went to mingle with the business men, but he seemed to\nhear a voice continually asking him, \"Why don't you love Jesus?\" He\nthought when night came and he got home with his family, he would forget\nit; but he couldn't. He complained that he wasn't well, and went to bed.\nBut when he laid his head on the pillow that voice kept whispering, \"Why\ndon't you love Jesus?\" He couldn't sleep. By and by, about midnight, he\ngot up and said, \"I will get a Bible and find where Christ contradicts\nhimself, and then I'll have a reason,\" and he turned to the book of\nJohn. My friends, if you want a reason for not loving Christ, don't turn\nto John. He knew Him too long. I don't believe a man can read the gospel\nof John without being turned to Christ. Well, he read through, and found\nno reason why he shouldn't love Him, but he found many reasons why he\nshould. He read this book, and before morning he was on his knees, and\nthat question put by that little child led to his conversion.\n\n\n\nThe Dying Child.\n\nA lady had a little child that was dying. She thought it was resting\nsweetly in the arms of Jesus. She went into the room and the child asked\nher: \"What are those clouds and mountains that I see so dark?\" \"Why,\nEddy,\" said his mother, \"there are no clouds or mountains, you must be\nmistaken.\" \"Why, yes, I see great mountains and dark clouds, and I want\nyou to take me in your arms and carry me over the mountains.\"  \"Ah,\"\nsaid the mother, \"you must pray to Jesus, He will carry you safely,\"\nand, my friends, the sainted mother, the praying wife, may come to your\nbedside and wipe the damp sweat from your brow, but they cannot carry\nyou over the Jordan when the hour comes. This mother said to her little\nboy, \"I am afraid that it is unbelief that is coming upon you, my child,\nand you must pray that the Lord will be with you in your dying moments.\"\nAnd the two prayed, but the boy turned to her and said: \"Don't you hear\nthe angels, mother, over the mountains, and calling for me, and I cannot\ngo?\" \"My dear boy, pray to Jesus, and He will come; He only can take\nyou.\" And the boy closed his eyes and prayed, and when he opened them a\nheavenly smile overspread his face as he said, \"Jesus has come to carry\nme over the mountains.\"\n\nDear sinner, Jesus is ready and willing to carry you over the mountains\nof sin, and over your mountains of unbelief. Give yourself to Him.\n\n\nThe Finest Looking Little Boy Mr. Moody ever Saw.\n\nA few years ago I was in a town down in our state, the guest of a family\nthat had a little boy about thirteen years, who did not bear the family\nname, yet was treated like the rest. Every night when he retired, the\nlady of the home kissed him and treated him in every respect like all\nthe other children. I said to the lady of the house, \"I don't understand\nit.\" I think he was the finest looking boy I have ever seen. I said to\nher, \"I don't understand it.\" She says, \"I want to tell you about that\nboy. That boy is the son of a missionary. His father and mother were\nmissionaries in India, but they found they had got to bring their\nchildren back to this country to educate them. So they gave up their\nmission field and came back to educate their children and to find some\nmissionary work to do in this country. But they were not prospered here\nas they had been in India, and the father said, \"I will go back to\nIndia;\" and the mother said, \"If God has called you to go I am sure it\nwill be my duty to go and my privilege to go, and I will go with you.\"\nThe father said, \"you have never been separated from the children, and\nit will be hard for you to be separated from them; perhaps you had\nbetter stay and take care of them.\"\n\nBut after prayer they decided to leave their children to be educated,\nand they left for India. This lady heard of it and sent a letter to the\nparents, in which she stated if they left one child at her house she\nwould treat it like one of her own children. She said the mother came\nand spent a few days at her house, and being satisfied that her boy\nwould receive proper care, consented to leave him, and the night before\nshe was to leave him, the missionary said to the Western lady: \"I want\nto leave my boy tomorrow morning without a tear;\" said she, \"I may never\nsee him again.\" But she didn't want him to think she was weeping for\nanything she was doing for the Master. The lady said to herself, \"She\nwon't leave that boy without a tear.\" But the next day when the carriage\ndrove up to the door, the lady went up stairs and she heard the mother\nin prayer, crying, \"Oh God, give me strength for this hour. Help me to\ngo away from my boy without a tear.\" When she came down there was a\nsmile upon her face. She hugged him and she kissed him, but she smiled\nas she did it. She gave up all her five or six children without shedding\na tear, went back to India and in about a year there came a voice, \"Come\nup hither.\" Do you think she would be a stranger in the Lord's world?\nDon't you think she will be known there as a mother that loved her\nchild?\n\n\n\n\"Emma, this is Papa's Friend.\"\n\nA gentleman one day came to my office for the purpose of getting me\ninterested in a young man who had just got out of the penitentiary. \"He\nsays,\" said the gentleman, \"he don't want to go to the office, but I\nwant your permission to bring him in and introduce him.\" I said, \"Bring\nhim in.\" The gentleman brought him in and introduced him, and I took him\nby the hand and told him I was glad to see him. I invited him up to my\nhouse, and when I took him into my family I introduced him as a friend.\nWhen my little daughter came into the room, I said, \"Emma, this is\npapa's friend.\" And she went up and kissed him, and the man sobbed\naloud. After the child left the room, I said, \"What is the matter?\" \"O\nsir,\" he said, \"I have not had a kiss for years. The last kiss I had was\nfrom my mother, and she was dying. I thought I would never have another\none again.\" His heart was broken.\n\n\n\nMoody's Little Emma.\n\nI remember one time my little girl was teasing her mother to get her a\nmuff, and so one day her mother brought a muff home, and, although it\nwas storming, she very naturally wanted to go out in order to try her\nnew muff. So she tried to get me to go out with her. I went out with\nher, and I said, \"Emma, better let me take your hand.\" She wanted to\nkeep her hands in her muff, and so she refused to take my hand. Well, by\nand by she came to an icy place, her little feet slipped, and down she\nwent. When I helped her up she said, \"Papa, you may give me your little\nfinger.\" \"No, my daughter, just take my hand.\" \"No, no, papa, give me\nyour little finger.\" Well, I gave my finger to her, and for a little way\nshe got along nicely, but pretty soon we came to another icy place, and\nagain she fell. This time she hurt herself a little, and she said,\n\"Papa, give me your hand,\" and I gave her my hand, and closed my fingers\nabout her wrist, and held her up so that she could not fall. Just so God\nis our keeper. He is wiser than we.\n\n\nLittle Jimmy.\n\nA friend of mine in Chicago took his Sabbath-school out on the cars\nonce. A little boy was allowed to sit on the platform of the car, when\nby some mischance he fell, and the whole train passed over him. They had\nto go on a half a mile before they could stop. They went back to him and\nfound that the poor little fellow had been cut and mangled all to\npieces. Two of the teachers went back with the remains to Chicago. Then\ncame the terrible task of telling the parents about it. When they got to\nthe house they dared not go in. They were waiting there for five minutes\nbefore anyone had the courage to tell the story. But at last they\nventured in. They found the family at dinner. The father was called\nout--they thought they would tell the father first. He came out with the\nnapkin in his hand. My friend said to him: \"I have got very bad news to\ntell you. Your little Jimmy has got run over by the cars.\" The poor man\nturned deathly pale and rushed into the room crying out, \"Dead, dead.\"\nThe mother sprang to her feet and came out of the sitting-room where the\nteachers were. When she heard the sad story she fainted dead away at\ntheir feet. \"Moody,\" said my friend, \"I wouldn't be the messenger of\nsuch tidings again if you would give me the whole of Chicago. I never\nsuffered so much.\" I have got a son dearer to me than my life, and yet I\nwould rather have a train a mile long run over him than that he should\ndie without God and without hope. What is the loss of a child to the\nloss of a soul?\n\n\n\nStubborn Little Sammy.\n\nAt one time my sister had trouble with her little boy, and the father\nsaid, \"'Why, Sammy, you must go now and ask your mothers forgiveness.\"\nThe little fellow said he wouldn't. The father says, \"You must. If you\ndon't go and ask your mothers forgiveness I shall have to undress you\nand put you to bed.\" He was a bright, nervous little fellow, never still\na moment, and the father thought he would have such a dread of being\nundressed and put to bed. But the little fellow wouldn't, so they\nundressed him and put him to bed. The father went to his business, and\nwhen he came home at noon he said to his wife: \"Has Sammy asked your\nforgiveness?\" \"No,\" she said, \"he hasn't.\" So the father went to him and\nsaid, \"Why, Sammy, why don't you ask your mother's forgiveness?\" The\nlittle fellow shook his head, \"Won't do it.\" \"But, Sammy, you have got\nto.\" \"Couldn't.\" The father went down to his office, and stayed all the\nafternoon, and when he came home he asked his wife, \"Has Sammy asked\nyour forgiveness?\" \"No, I took something up to him and tried to have him\neat, but he wouldn't.\" So the father went up to see him, and said, \"Now,\nSammy, just ask your mother's forgiveness, and you may be dressed and\ncome down to supper with us.\" \"Couldn't do it,\" The father coaxed, but\nthe little fellow \"couldn't do it.\" That was all they could get out of\nhim. You know very well he could, but he didn't want to. Now, the\nhardest thing a man has to do is to become a Christian, and it is the\neasiest. That may seem a contradiction, but it isn't. The hard point is\nbecause he don't want to.\n\nThe hardest thing for a man to do is to give up his will. That night\nthey retired, and they thought surely early in the morning, he will be\nready to ask his mothers forgiveness. The father went to him--that was\nFriday morning--to see if he was ready to ask his mother's forgiveness,\nbut he \"couldn't.\" The father and mother felt so bad about it they\ncouldn't eat; they thought it was to darken their whole life. Perhaps\nthat boy thought that father and mother didn't love him. Just what many\nsinners think because God won't let them have their own way. The father\nwent to his business, and when he came home he said to his wife, \"Has\nSammy asked your forgiveness?\" \"No.\" So he went to the little fellow and\nsaid, \"'Now, Sammy, are you not going to ask your mother's forgiveness?\"\n\"Can't,\" and that was all they could get out of him. The father couldn't\neat any dinner; it was like death in the house. It seemed as if the boy\nwas going to conquer his father and mother. Instead of his little will\nbeing broken, it looked very much as if he was going to break theirs.\nLate Friday afternoon, \"Mother, mother, forgive,\" says Sammy--\"me.\" And\nthe little fellow said \"me,\" and he sprang to his feet and said: \"I have\nsaid it, I have said it. Now dress me, and take me down to see father.\nHe will be so glad to know I have said it.\" And she took him down, and\nwhen the little fellow came in he said, \"I've said it, I've said it.\"\n\nOh, my friends, it is so easy to say, \"I will arise and go to my God.\"\nIt is the most reasonable thing you can do. Isn't an unreasonable thing\nto hold out? Come right to God just this very hour. \"Believe on the Lord\nJesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.\"\n\n\n\nSpurgeon and the Little Orphan.\n\nWhile we were in London, Mr. Spurgeon one day took Mr. Sankey and myself\nto his orphan asylum, and he was telling about them--that some of them\nhad aunts and some cousins, and that every boy had some friend that took\nan interest in him, and came to see him and gave him a little pocket\nmoney, and one day he said while he stood there, a little boy came up to\nhim and said, \"Mr. Spurgeon, let me speak to you,\" and the boy sat down\nbetween Mr. Spurgeon and the elder, who was with the clergyman, and\nsaid, \"Mr. Spurgeon, suppose your father and mother were dead, and you\ndidn't have any cousins, or aunts, or uncles, or friends to come and\ngive you pocket money, and give you presents, don't you think you would\nfeel bad--because that's me?\" Said Mr. Spurgeon, \"the minute he asked\nthat, I put my right hand down into my pocket and took out the money.\"\nBecause that's me! And so with the Gospel; we must say to those who have\nsinned, the Gospel is offered to them.\n\n\nA Child Looking for its Lost Mother.\n\nA little child, whose mother was dying, was taken away to live with some\nfriends because it was thought she did not understand what death is. All\nthe while the child wanted to go home and see her mother. At last, when\nthe funeral was over, and she was taken home, she ran all over the\nhouse, searching the sitting room, the parlor, the library, and the\nbedrooms. She went from one end of the house to the other, and when she\ncould not find her mother, she wished to be taken back to where they\nbrought her from. Home had lost its attractions for the child when her\nmother was not there. My friends, the great attraction in heaven will\nnot be its pearly gates, its golden streets, nor its choir of angels,\nbut it will be Christ. Heaven would be no heaven if Christ were not\nthere. But we know that He is at the right hand of the Father, and these\neyes shall gaze on Him by-and-by; and we shall be satisfied when we\nawake with his likeness.\n\n\n\nCHRIST SAVES.\n\nMoody in Prison.\n\nI have good news to tell you--Christ is come after you. I was at the\nFulton-street prayer-meeting, a good many years ago, one Saturday night,\nand when the meeting was over, a man came to me and said, \"I would like\nto have you go down to the city prison to-morrow, and preach to the\nprisoners. I said I would be very glad to go. There was no chapel in\nconnection with that prison, and I was to preach to them in their cells.\nI had to stand at a little iron railing and talk down a great, long\nnarrow passageway, to some three or four hundred of them, I suppose, all\nout of sight. It was pretty difficult work; I never preached to the bare\nwalls before. When it was over I thought I would like to see to whom I\nhad been preaching, and how they had received the gospel. I went to the\nfirst door, where the inmates could have heard me best, and looked in at\na little window, and there were some men playing cards. I suppose they\nhad been playing all the while. \"How is it with you here?\" I said.\n\"Well, stranger, we don't want you to get a bad idea of us. False\nwitnesses swore a lie, and that is how we are here.\" \"Oh,\" I said,\n\"Christ cannot save anybody here; there is nobody lost.\" I went to the\nnext cell. \"Well, friend, how is it with you?\" \"Oh,\" said the prisoner,\n\"the man that did the deed looked very much like me, so they caught me\nand I am here.\" He was innocent, too! I passed along to the next cell.\n\"How is it with you?'\" \"Well, we got into bad company, and the man that\ndid it got clear, and we got taken up, but we never did anything.\" I\nwent along to the next cell \"How is it with you?\" \"Our trial comes on\nnext week, but they have nothing against us, and we'll get free.\" I went\nround to nearly every cell but the answer was always the same--they had\nnever done anything. Why, I never saw so many innocent men together in\nmy life. There was nobody to blame but the magistrates, according to\ntheir way of it. These men were wrapping their filthy rags of\nself-righteousness about them. And that has been the story for six\nthousand years. I got discouraged as I went through the prison, on, and\non, and on, cell after cell, and every man had an excuse. If he hadn't\none, the devil helped him to make one. I had got almost through the\nprison, when I came to a cell and found a man with his elbows on his\nknees, and his head in his hands. Two little streams of tears were\nrunning down his cheeks; they did not come by drops that time.\n\n\"What's the trouble?\" I said. He looked up, the picture of remorse and\ndespair. \"Oh, my sins are more than I can bear.\" \"Thank God for that,\" I\nreplied. \"What,\" said he, \"you are the man that has been preaching to\nus, ain't you?\" \"Yes.\" \"I think you said you were a friend?\" \"I am.\"\n\"And yet you are glad that my sins are more than I can bear!\" \"I will\nexplain,\" I said \"If  your sins are more than you can bear, won't you\ncast them on One who will bear them for you?\" \"Who's that?\" \"The Lord\nJesus.\" \"He won't bear my sins.\" \"Why not?\" \"I have sinned against Him\nall my life.\" \"I don't care if you have; the blood of Jesus Christ,\nGod's Son, cleanses from all sin.\" Then I told him how Christ had come\nto seek and save that which was lost; to open the prison doors and set\nthe captives free. It was like a cup of refreshment to find a man who\nbelieved he was lost, so I stood there, and held up a crucified Saviour\nto him. \"Christ was delivered for our offenses, died for our sins, rose\nagain for our justification.\" For a long time the man could not believe\nthat such a miserable wretch could be saved. He went on to enumerate his\nsins, and I told him that the blood of Christ could cover them all.\nAfter I had talked with him I said, \"Now let us pray.\" He got down on\nhis knees inside the cell, and I got down outside, and I said, \"You\npray.\" \"Why,\" he said, \"it would be blasphemy for me to call on God.\"\n\"You call on God,\" I said. He knelt down, and, like the poor publican,\nhe lifted up his voice and said, \"God be merciful to me, a vile wretch!\"\nI put my hand through the window, and as I shook hands with him a tear\nfell on my hand that burned down into my soul. It was a tear of\nrepentance. He believed he was lost. Then I tried to get him to believe\nthat Christ had come to save him. I left him still in darkness. \"I will\nbe at the hotel,\" I said, \"between nine and ten o'clock, and I will pray\nfor you.\" Next morning, I felt so much interested, that I thought I must\nsee him before I went back to Chicago. No sooner had my eye lighted on\nhis face, than I saw that remorse and despair had fled away, and his\ncountenance was beaming with celestial light; the tears of joy had come\ninto his eyes, and the tears of despair were gone. The sun of\nRighteousness had broken out across his path; his soul was leaping\nwithin him for joy; he had received Christ as Zaccheus did--joyfully.\n\"Tell me about it,\" I said. \"Well, I do not know what time it was; I\nthink it was about midnight. I had been in distress a long time, when\nall at once my great burden fell off, and now, I believe I am the\nhappiest man in New York.\" I think he was the happiest man I saw from\nthe time I left Chicago till I got back again. His face was lighted up\nwith the light that comes from the celestial hills. I bade him good-by,\nand I expect to meet him in another world.\n\nCan you tell me why the Son of God came down to that prison that night,\nand, passing cell after cell, went to that one, and set the captive\nfree? It was because the man believed he was lost.\n\n\n\nA Father's Love for his Boy.\n\nA number of years ago, before any railway came into Chicago, they used\nto bring in the grain from the Western prairies in wagons for hundreds\nof miles, so as to have it shipped off by the lakes. There was a father\nwho had a large farm out there, and who used to preach the gospel as\nwell as to attend to his farm. One day, when church business engaged\nhim, he sent his son to Chicago with grain. He waited and waited for his\nboy to return, but he did not come home. At last he could wait no\nlonger, so he saddled his horse and rode to the place where his son had\nsold the grain. He found that he had been there and got the money for\nhis grain; then he began to fear that his boy had been murdered and\nrobbed. At last, with the aid of a detective, they tracked him to a\ngambling den, where they found that he had gambled away the whole of his\nmoney. In hopes of winning it back again, he then had sold his team, and\nlost that money too. He had fallen among thieves, and like the man who\nwas going to Jericho, they stripped him, and then they cared no more\nabout him. What could he do? He was ashamed to go home to meet his\nfather, and he fled. The father knew what it all meant. He knew the boy\nthought he would be very angry with him. He was grieved to think that\nhis boy should have such feelings toward him. That is just exactly like\nthe sinner. He thinks because he has sinned, God will have nothing to do\nwith him. But what did that father do? Did he say, \"Let the boy go\"? No;\nhe went after him. He arranged his business, and started after the boy.\nThat man went from town to town, from city to city. He would get the\nministers to let him preach, and at the close he would tell his story.\n\"I have got a boy who is a wanderer on the face of the earth somewhere.\"\nHe would describe his boy, and say, \"If you ever hear of him or see him,\nwill you not write to me?\" At last he found that he had gone to\nCalifornia, thousands of miles away. Did that father say, \"Let him go\"?\nNo; off he went to the Pacific coast, seeking the boy. He went to San\nFrancisco, and advertised in the newspapers that he would preach at such\na church on such a day. When he had preached he told his story, in hopes\nthat the boy might have seen the advertisement and come to the church.\nWhen he had done, away under the gallery, there was a young man who\nwaited until the audience had gone out; then he came toward the pulpit.\nThe father looked and saw it was that boy, and he ran to him, and\npressed him to his bosom. The boy wanted to confess what he had done,\nbut not a word would the father hear. He forgave him freely, and took\nhim to his home once more.\n\nI tell you Christ will welcome you this minute if you will come. Say, \"I\nwill arise and go to my Father.\" May God incline you to take this step.\nThere is not one whom Jesus has not sought far longer than that father.\nThere has not been a day since you left Him but He has followed you.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Mary Magdalene. GUSTAVE DORE.  Mark, xvi, 9.]\n\n\n\nLady Ann Erskine and Rowland Hill.\n\nThere is a very good story told of Rowland Hill and Lady Ann Erskine.\nYou have seen it, perhaps, in print, but I would like to tell it to you.\nWhile he was preaching in a park in London to a large assemblage, she\nwas passing in her carriage. She said to her footman when she saw\nRowland Hill in the midst of the people, \"Why, who is that man?\" That is\nRowland Hill, my lady.\" She had heard a good deal about the man, and she\nthought she would like to see him, so she directed her coachman to drive\nher near the platform. When the carriage came near he saw the insignia\nof nobility, and he asked who that noble lady was. Upon being told, he\nsaid, \"Stop, my friends, I have got something to sell.\" The idea of a\npreacher becoming suddenly an auctioneer made the people wonder, and in\nthe midst of a dead silence he said: \"I have more than a title to\nsell--I have more than a crown of Europe to sell; it is the soul of Lady\nAnn Erskine. Is there anyone here who bids for it? Yes, I hear a bid.\nSatan, Satan, what will you give? 'I will give pleasure, honor,\nriches--yea, I will give the whole world for her soul.' Do you hear\nanother bid? Is there any other one? Do I hear another bid? Ah, I\nthought so; I hear another bid. The Lord Jesus Christ, what will You\ngive for this soul? 'I will give peace, joy, comfort, that the world\nknows not of--yea, I will give eternal life.' Lady Ann Erskine, you have\nheard the two bidders for your soul, which will you accept? And she\nordered the door of her carriage to be opened, and came weeping from it,\nand accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the great and mighty Saviour, is\na bidder for your soul to-night. He offers you riches and comfort, and\njoy, peace here, and eternal life hereafter, while Satan offers you what\nhe cannot give. Poor lost soul, which will you have? He will ransom your\nsoul if you but put your burden upon Him. Twenty-one years ago I made up\nmy mind that Jesus would have my soul, and I have never regretted the\nstep, and no man has ever felt sorry for coming to Him. When we accept\nHim we must like Him. Your sins may rise up as a mountain, but the Son\nof Man can purge you of all evil, and take you right into the palaces of\nHeaven, if you will only allow Him to Save you.\n\n\n\nThe Czar and the Soldier.\n\nI remember hearing a few years ago a story about a young man away off in\nRussia. He was a wild, reckless dissipated youth. His father, thinking\nthat if he could get him away from his associates, a reform would be\nworked, procured a commission in the army for him. And this is a mistake\na great many Christian people fall into in dealing with their sons. It\nis not a change of place they require, it is a change of heart, A change\nof place will not take them away from the tempter. Well, off to the army\nthis young man went, and, instead of reforming, he gambled and borrowed,\nand took to drinking as vigorously as ever. At length he had borrowed\nall the money he could, and, as we say he \"had come to the end of his\nrope.\" A certain sum of money had to be paid the next day, and he did\nnot see how it could be done without selling his commission, and if he\ndid that he would be compelled to leave the army and go home to his\nfather disgraced. The laws were very rigid in Russia upon the matter of\ndebt, and if he couldn't pay he knew he would have to go to prison.\n\nThat night as he sat in his barracks, heart-broken at the prospect\nbefore him, he thought he would take up a paper and figure up his debts,\nand see how he stood. And here, let me say, it would be well if the\nsinner would pause occasionally, and try and figure up his sins, and see\nwhere he stood with God. Well, this young man put down one debt after\nanother, until they made a long column. The total completely\ndisheartened him; and he just put at the bottom of his figures, \"Who is\nto pay this\"? He laid his head upon his desk wearied, and fell asleep.\nThat night the Czar, according to his custom, was walking through the\nbarracks while the soldiers slept, and happened to come to that spot\nwhere the young soldier slept. He saw upon the desk the column of debts,\nand when he came to the bottom saw the question: \"Who's to pay them?\"\nand wrote underneath the name \"Nicholas.\" When the young man awoke he\ntook up the paper and found written at the bottom the signature of the\nCzar of all the Russias. What did it mean? Had an angel dropped down and\ncanceled the debt? It was too good to be true. He couldn't believe it.\nBut by and by the money came from the Emperor himself. This story may be\ntrue or not. I don't care whether it is or not; but there is one thing I\ndo know is true, and that is that the great Emperor of heaven is here,\nand if you put down all your sins and multiply them by ten thousand, He\nwill pay it and shelter you underneath the blood of Jesus Christ, which\ncleanseth us from all sin.\n\n\n\nThe Artist and the Beggar.\n\nI have read of an artist who wanted to paint a picture of the Prodigal\nSon. He searched through the madhouse, and the poor houses, and the\nprisons, to find a man wretched enough to represent the prodigal, but he\ncould not find one. One day he was walking down the streets and met a\nman whom he thought would do. He told the poor beggar he would pay him\nwell if he came to his room and sat for the portrait. The beggar agreed,\nand the day was appointed for him to come. The day came, and a man put\nin his appearance at the artist's room. \"You made an appointment with\nme,\" he said, when he was shown into the studio. The artist looked at\nhim, \"I never saw you before,\" he said; \"you cannot have an appointment\nwith me.\" \"Yes,\" he said, \"I agreed to meet you to-day at ten o'clock.\"\n\"You must be mistaken; it must have been some other artist; I was to see\na beggar here at this hour.\" \"Well,\" says the beggar, \"I am he.\" \"You?\"\n\"Yes.\" \"Why, what have you been doing?\" \"Well, I thought I would dress\nmyself up a bit before I got painted.\" \"Then,\" said the artist, \"I do\nnot want you; I wanted you as you were; now, you are no use to me.\" That\nis the way Christ wants every poor sinner, just as he is. It is only the\nragged sinners that open God's wardrobe. I remember a boy to whom I gave\na pair of boots, and I found him shortly after in his bare feet again. I\nasked him what he had done with them, and he replied that when he was\ndressed up it spoiled his business; when he was dressed up no one would\ngive anything. By keeping his feet naked he got as many as five pairs of\nboots a day. So if you want to come to God don't dress yourself up. It\nis the naked sinner God wants to save.\n\n\n\nCommercial Traveler.\n\nI remember when preaching in New York City, at the Hippodrome, a man\ncoming up to me and telling me a story that thrilled my soul. One night,\nhe said he had been gambling; had gambled all the money away he had.\nWhen he went home to the hotel that night he did not sleep much. The\nnext morning happened to be Sunday. He got up, felt bad, couldn't eat\nanything, didn't touch his breakfast, was miserable, and thought about\nputting an end to his existence. That afternoon he took a walk up\nBroadway, and when he came to the Hippodrome he saw great crowds going\nin and thought of entering too. But a policeman at the door told him he\ncouldn't come in as it was a woman's meeting. He turned from it and\nstrolled on; came back to his hotel and had dinner. At night he walked\nup the street until he reached the Hippodrome again, and this time he\nsaw a lot of men going in. When inside he listened to the singing and\nheard the text, \"Where art thou?\" and he thought he would go out. He\nrose to go, and the text came upon his ears again, \"Where art thou?\"\nThis was too personal, he thought, it was disagreeable, and he made for\nthe door, but as he got to the third row from the entrance, the words\ncame to him again. \"Where art thou?\" He stood still, for the question\nhad come to him with irresistible force, and God had found him right\nthere. He went to his hotel and prayed all that night, and now he is a\nbright and shining light. And this young man, who was a commercial\ntraveler, went back to the village in which he had been reared, and in\nwhich he had been one of the fastest young men--went back there, and\nwent around among his friends and acquaintances and testified for\nChrist, as earnestly and beneficially for him as his conduct had been\nagainst Him.\n\n\n\nGovernor Pollock and the Condemned Criminal.\n\nWhen I was East a few years ago, Mr. Geo. H. Stewart told me of a scene\nthat occurred in a Pennsylvania prison, when Governor Pollock, a\nChristian man, was Governor of the State. A man was tried for murder,\nand the judge had pronounced sentence upon him. His friends had tried\nevery means in their power to procure his pardon. They had sent\ndeputation after deputation to the Governor, but he had told them all\nthat the law must take its course. When they began to give up hope, the\nGovernor went down to the prison and asked the sheriff to take him to\nthe cell of the condemned man. The Governor was conducted into the\npresence of the criminal, and he sat down by the side of his bed and\nbegan to talk to him kindly--spoke to him of Christ and heaven, and\nshowed him that although he was condemned to die on the morrow by\nearthly judges, he would receive eternal life from the Divine Judge if\nhe would accept salvation. He explained the plan of salvation, and when\nhe left him he committed him to God. When he was gone the sheriff was\ncalled to the cell by the condemned man. \"Who was that man?\" asked the\ncriminal, \"who was in here and talked so kind to me?\" \"Why,\" said the\nsheriff, \"that was Governor Pollock.\" \"Was that Governor Pollock? O\nSheriff, why didn't you tell me who it was? If I had known that was him,\nI wouldn't have let him go out till he had given me pardon. The Governor\nhas been here--in my cell--and I didn't know it,\" and the man wrung his\nhands and wept bitterly. My friends, there is one greater than a\nGovernor here to-night. He sent His Son to redeem you--to bring you out\nof the prison home of sin. I come to-night to tell you He is here.\n\n\n\nA Man who would not Speak to his Wife.\n\nI remember while in Philadelphia, a man with his wife came to our\nmeetings. When he went out he wouldn't speak to his wife. She thought it\nwas very queer, but said nothing, and went to bed thinking that in the\nmorning he would be all right. At breakfast, however, he would not speak\na word. Well, she thought this strange, but she was sure he would have\ngot all over whatever was wrong with him by dinner. The dinner hour\narrived, and it passed away without his saying a word. At supper not a\nword escaped him, and he would not go with her to the meeting. Every day\nfor a whole week the same thing went on. But at the end of the week he\ncould not stand it any longer, and he said to his wife: \"Why did you go\nand write to Mr. Moody and tell him all about me?\" \"I never wrote to Mr.\nMoody in my life,\" said the wife. \"You did,\" he answered. \"You're\nmistaken; why do you think that?\" \"Well, then, I wronged you; but when I\nsaw Mr. Moody picking me out among all those people, and telling all\nabout me, I was sure you must have written to him.\" It was the Son of\nMan seeking for him, my friends, and I hope there will be a man here\nto-night--that man in the gallery yonder, that one before me--who will\nfeel that I am talking personally to him. May you feel that you are\nlost, and that the Lord is seeking for you, and when you feel this there\nis some chance of your being saved.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- There was never a sermon which you have listened to but in it Christ\n   was seeking for you. I contend that a man cannot but find in every\n   page of this book that Jesus Christ is seeking him through His\n   blessed Word. This is what the Bible is for--to seek out the lost.\n\n-- No man in the world should be so happy as a man of God. It is one\n   continual source of gladness. He can look up and say, \"God is my\n   Father, Christ is my Saviour, and the Church is my mother.\"\n\n-- There is no other way to the Kingdom of God but by the way of the\n   cross, and it will be easier for you to take it now than it will be\n   afterward.\n\n-- Everything has to be tried by the sinner before he will come to\n   Christ. He has to feel that there is nothing that can save him but\n   Christ, then he will come.\n\n-- Have not some of you heard a sermon in which you were offered as a\n   sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ, and your conscience was troubled?\n   You went away, but you came back again, and the Spirit of God came\n   upon you again and again, and you were troubled. Haven't you passed\n   through that experience? Don't you remember something like that\n   happening to you? That was the Son of God seeking for your soul.\n\n-- The Son of God has come into the world to bless us. Look at that\n   Sermon on the Mount. It is filled with the word blessed, blessed,\n   blessed. I think it occurs nine times. His heart was full of\n   blessings for the people. He had to get it out before He gave His\n   sermon.\n\n-- A rule I have had for years is to treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a\n   personal friend. His is not a creed, a mere empty doctrine, but it is\n   He himself we have. The moment we have received Christ we should\n   receive Him as a friend. When I go away from home I bid my wife and\n   children good-by, I bid my friends and acquaintances good-by, but I\n   never heard of a poor backslider going down on his knees and saying:\n   \"I have been near You for ten years; Your service has become tedious\n   and monotonous; I have come to bid You farewell; good-by, Lord Jesus\n   Christ.\" I never heard of one doing this. I will tell you how they go\n   away; they just run away.\n\n\n\nCHRISTIAN WORK.\n\nHow Moody was Encouraged.\n\nI remember a few years ago I got discouraged, and could not see much\nfruit of my work; and one morning, as I was in my study, cast down, one\nof my Sabbath-school teachers came in and wanted to know what I was\ndiscouraged about, and I told him because I could see no result from my\nwork; and speaking about Noah, he said: \"By the way, did you ever study\nup the character of Noah?\" I felt that I knew all about that, and told\nhim that I was familiar with it, and he said, \"Now, if you never studied\nthat carefully, you ought to do it, for I cannot tell you what a\nblessing it has been to me.\" When he went out I took down my Bible and\ncommenced to read about Noah, and the thought came stealing over me,\n\"Here is a man that toiled and worked a hundred years and didn't get\ndiscouraged; if he did, the Holy Ghost didn't put it on record,\" and the\nclouds lifted, and I got up and said, if the Lord wants me to work\nwithout any fruit I will work on. I went down to the noon\nprayer-meeting, and when I saw the people coming to pray I said to\nmyself, \"Noah worked a hundred years and he never saw a prayer-meeting\noutside of his own family.\" Pretty soon a man got up right across the\naisle where I was sitting, and said he had come from a little town where\nthere had been a hundred uniting with the Church of God the year before.\nAnd I thought to myself, \"What if Noah had heard that! He preached so\nmany, many years, and didn't get a convert, yet he was not discouraged.\"\nThen a man got up right behind me, and he trembled as he said, \"I am\nlost. I want you to pray for my soul.\" And I said, \"What if Noah had\nheard that! He worked a hundred and twenty years, and never had a man\ncome to him and say that; and yet he didn't get discouraged.\" And I made\nup my mind then, that, God helping me, I would never get discouraged. I\nwould do the best I could, and leave the result with God, and it has\nbeen a wonderful help to me.\n\n\n\n\"We Will Never Surrender.\"\n\nThere's a story told in history in the ninth century, I believe, of a\nyoung man that came up with a little handful of men to attack a king who\nhad a great army of three thousand men. The young man had only five\nhundred, and the king sent a messenger to the young man, saying that he\nneed not fear to surrender, for he would treat him mercifully. The young\nman called up one of his soldiers and said: \"Take this dagger and drive\nit to your heart;\" and the soldier took the dagger and drove it to his\nheart. And calling up another, he said to him, \"Leap into yonder chasm,\"\nand the man leaped into the chasm. The young man then said to the\nmessenger, \"Go back and tell your King I have got five hundred men like\nthese. We will die, but we will never surrender. And tell your King\nanother thing; that I will have him chained with my dog inside of half\nan hour.\" And when the King heard that he did not dare to meet them, and\nhis army fled before them like chaff before the wind, and within\ntwenty-four hours he had that King chained with his dog. That is the\nkind of zeal we want. \"We will die, but we will never surrender.\" We\nwill work until Jesus comes, and then we will rise with Him.\n\n\n\nThe Faithful Aged Woman.\n\nAn old woman who was seventy-five years old had a Sabbath-school two\nmiles away among the mountains. One Sunday there came a terrible storm\nof rain, and she thought at first she would not go that day, but then\nshe thought, \"What if some one should go and not find me there?\" Then\nshe put on her waterproof, and took her umbrella and overshoes, and away\nshe went through the storm, two miles away, to the Sabbath-school in the\nmountains. When she got there she found one solitary young man, and\ntaught him the best she knew how all the afternoon. She never saw him\nagain, and I don't know but the old woman thought her Sabbath-school had\nbeen a failure. That week the young man enlisted in the army, and in a\nyear or two after the old woman got a letter from the soldier thanking\nher for going through the storm that Sunday. This young man thought that\nstormy day he would just go and see if the old woman was in earnest, and\nif she cared enough about souls to go through the rain. He found she\ncame and taught him as carefully as if she was teaching the whole\nschool, and God made that the occasion of winning the young man to\nChrist. When he lay dying in a hospital he sent the message to the old\nwoman that he would meet her in heaven. Was it not a glorious thing that\nshe did not get discouraged because she had but one Sunday-school\nscholar? Be willing to work with one.\n\n\n\nA Dream.\n\nI heard of a Christian who did not succeed in his work so well as he\nused to, and he got homesick and wished himself dead. One night he\ndreamed that he had died, and was carried by the angels to the Eternal\nCity. As he went along the crystal pavement of heaven, he met a man he\nused to know, and they went walking down the golden streets together.\nAll at once he noticed everyone looking in the same direction, and saw\nOne coming up who was fairer than the sons of men. It was his blessed\nRedeemer. As the chariot came opposite, He came forth, and beckoning the\none friend, placed him in His own chariot-seat, but himself He led\naside, and pointing over the battlements of heaven, \"Look over yonder,\"\nHe said, \"What do you see?\" \"It seems as if I see the dark earth I have\ncome from.\" \"What else?\" \"I see men as if they were blindfolded, going\nover a terrible precipice into a bottomless pit.\" \"Well,\" said He, \"Will\nyou remain up here, and enjoy these mansions that I have prepared, or go\nback to yon dark earth, and warn these men, and tell them about Me and\nmy kingdom, and the rest that remaineth for the people of God?\" That man\nnever wished himself dead again. He yearned to live as long as ever he\ncould, to tell men of heaven and of Christ.\n\n\n\nThe Faithful Missionary.\n\nWhen I was going to Europe in 1867, my friend Mr. Stuart, of\nPhiladelphia, said, \"Be sure to be at the General Assembly in Edinburgh,\nin June. I was there last year,\" said he, \"and it did me a world of\ngood.\" He said that a returned missionary from India was invited to\nspeak to the General Assembly, on the wants of India. This old\nmissionary, after a brief address, told the pastors who were present, to\ngo home and stir up their churches and send young men to India to preach\nthe gospel. He spoke with such earnestness, that after a while he\nfainted, and they carried him from the hall. When he recovered he asked\nwhere he was, and they told him the circumstances under which he had\nbeen brought there. \"Yes,\" he said, \"I was making a plea for India, and\nI didn't quite finish my speech, did I?\" After being told that he did\nnot, he said, \"Take me back and let me finish it.\" But they said, \"No,\nyou will die in the attempt.\" \"Well,\" said he, \"I will die if I don't,\"\nand the old man asked again that they would allow him to finish his\nplea. When he was taken back the whole congregation stood as one man,\nand as they brought him on the platform, with a trembling voice he said:\n\"Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true that you will not let your\nsons go to India? I spent twenty-five years of my life there. I lost my\nhealth and I have come back with sickness and shattered health. If it is\ntrue that we have no strong grandsons to go to India, I will pack up\nwhat I have and be off to-morrow, and I will let those heathens know\nthat if I cannot live for them I will die for them.\" The world will say\nthat old man was enthusiastic. Well, that is just what we want.\n\n\n\nForty-One Little Sermons.\n\nA man was preaching about Christians recognizing each other in heaven,\nand some one said, \"I wish he would preach about recognizing each other\non earth.\" In one place where I preached, I looked over the great hall\nof the old circus building where it was held, and saw men talking to\nother men here and there. I said to the Secretary of the Young Men's\nChristian Association who got up the meeting, \"Who are these men?\" He\nsaid, \"They are a band of workers.\" They were all scattered through the\nhall, and preaching and watching for souls. Out of the fifty of them,\nforty-one of their number had got a soul each and were talking and\npreaching with them. We have been asleep long enough. When the laity\nwake up and try and help the minister the minister will preach better.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- It is the greatest pleasure of living to win souls to Christ.\n\n-- I believe in what John Wesley used to say, \"All at it, and always at\n   it,\" and that is what the Church wants to-day.\n\n-- If we were all of us doing the work that God has got for us to do,\n   don't you see how the work of the Lord would advance?\n\n-- There is no man living that can do the work that God has got for me\n   to do. No one can do it but myself. And if the work ain't done we\n   will have to answer for it when we stand before God's bar.\n-- What makes the Dead Sea dead? Because it is all the time receiving,\n   never giving out anything. Why is it that many Christians are cold?\n   Because they are all the time receiving, never giving out an\n   anything.\n\n\n\nCHRISTIAN ZEAL.\n\nSatan's Match.\n\nIf you will allow me an expression, Satan got a match when he got Paul.\nHe tried to get him away from God, but he never switched off. Look how\nthey tortured him. Look how they stripped and beat him. Not only did the\nRomans do this, but the Jews also. How the Jews tried to drag him from\nhis high calling. How they stripped him and laid upon the back of the\napostle blow after blow. And you know that the scourge in those days was\nno light thing. Sometimes men died under that punishment. If one of us\ngot one of the stripes that Paul got, how the papers would talk about\nit. But it was nothing to Paul. He just looked at it as if it were a\ntrivial thing--as if it were a light affliction. When he was stripped\nand scourged by his persecutors you might have gone and asked him:\n\"Well, Paul, what are you going to do now?\" \"Why, press toward the mark\nof the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;\" Take your stand before Him\nand ask him as they bring the rod down upon his head, \"What are you\ngoing to do now, Paul?\" \"Do? I am going to press toward the mark of the\nhigh calling of God in Christ Jesus.\" He had one idea, and that was it.\nLook at him as they stoned him. The Jews took up great stones to throw\nupon the great apostle. They left him for dead, and I suppose he was\ndead, but God raised him up. Come up and look at him all bruised and\nbleeding as he lies. \"Well, Paul, you've had a narrow escape this time.\nDon't you think you had better give up? Go off into Arabia and rest for\nsix weeks. What will you do if you remain here? They mean to kill you.\"\n\"Do!\" he cries as he raises himself like a mighty giant, \"I am going to\npress toward the mark of the high calling of God.\" And he goes forth and\npreaches the gospel. I am ashamed of Christianity in the nineteenth\ncentury when I think of those early Christians. Why, it would take all\nthe Christians in the Northwest to make one Paul. Look at his heroism\neverywhere he went. Talk about your Alexanders; why, the mighty power of\nGod rested upon Paul. \"Why,\" said he, \"thrice was I shipwrecked while\ngoing off to preach the gospel.\" What did he care about that? Cold\nchurches wouldn't trouble him, although they trouble us. What would\nlying elders and false deacons be to him? That wouldn't stop him. He had\nbut one idea, and over all obstacles he triumphed for that one idea.\nLook at him as he comes back from his punishment. He goes up some side\nstreet and gets lodgings. He works during the day and preaches at night\non the street. He had no building like this, no committee to wait on\nhim, no carriage to carry him from the meeting, no one to be waiting to\npay his board bills. There he was toiling and preaching, and, after\npreaching for eighteen months, they say, \"We'll have to pay you for all\nthis preaching, Paul,\" and they take him to the corner of the street\nand pay him with thirty-nine stripes! That is the way they paid him.\nOh, my friends, when you look at the lives of such men don't it make\nyou feel ashamed of yourselves. I confess I feel like hanging my head.\nGo to him in the Philippian jail and ask him what he is going to do now.\n\"Do? press forward for the mark of my high calling.\" And so he went on\nlooking toward one point, and no man could stand before him.\n\n\n\nSaved and Saving.\n\nOne day I saw a steel engraving that I liked very much. I thought it was\nthe finest thing I ever had seen, at the time, and I bought it. It was a\npicture of a woman coming out of the water, and clinging with both arms\nto the cross. There she came out of the drowning waves with both arms\naround the cross perfectly safe. Afterwards, I saw another picture that\nspoiled this one for me entirely, it was so much more lovely. It was a\npicture of a person coming out of the dark waters, with one arm clinging\nto the cross and with the other she was lifting some one else out of the\nwaves. That is what I like. Keep a firm hold upon the cross, but always\ntry to rescue another from the drowning.\n\n\nA Story Moody \"Never will Forget.\"\n\nA few years ago, in a town somewhere in this state, a merchant died, and\nwhile he was lying a corpse I was told a story I will never forget. When\nthe physician that attended him saw there was no chance for him here, he\nthought it would be time to talk about Christ to the dying man. And\nthere are a great many Christians just like this physician. They wait\ntill a man is just entering the other world, just till he is about\nnearing the throne, till the sands of life are about run out, till the\ndeath rattle is in his throat, before they commence to speak of Christ.\nThe physician stepped up to the dying merchant and began to speak of\nJesus, the beauties of Christianity, and the salvation he had offered to\nall the world. The merchant listened quietly to him, and then asked him,\n\"How long have you known of these things?\" \"I have been a Christian\nsince I came from the East,\" he replied. \"You have been a Christian so\nlong and have known all this, and have been in my store every day. You\nhave been in my house; have associated with me; you knew all these\nthings, and why didn't you tell me before?\" The doctor went home and\nretired to rest, but could not sleep. The question of the dying man rang\nin his ears. He could not explain why he had not spoken before, but he\nsaw he had neglected his duty to his principles. He went back to his\ndying friend, intending to urge upon him the acceptance of Christ's\nsalvation, but when he began to speak to him the merchant only replied\nin a sad whisper, \"Oh, why didn't you tell me before?\" Oh, my friends,\nhow many of us act like this physician? If we don't practice in every\nparticular the professions we make, and try to influence the lives of\nothers, and lead the lives of Christians according to Christian precept,\nthe world will go on stumbling over us.\n\n\n\nThe Missing Stone.\n\nI remember hearing of a man's dream, in which he imagined that when he\ndied he was taken by the angels to a beautiful temple. After admiring it\nfor a time, he discovered that one stone was missing. All finished but\njust one little stone; that was left out. He said to the angel, \"What is\nthis stone left out for?\" The angel replied, \"That was left out for you,\nbut you wanted to do great things, and so there was no room left for\nyou.\" He was startled and awoke, and resolved that he would become a\nworker for God, and that man always worked faithfully after that.\n\n\n\nSad Lack of Zeal.\n\nTwo young men came into our inquiry room here the other night, and after\na convert had talked with them, and showed them the way, the light broke\nin upon them. They were asked, \"Where do you go to church?\" They gave\nthe name of the church where they had been going. Said one, \"I advise\nyou to go and see the minister of that church.\" They said, \"We don't\nwant to go there any more; we have gone there for six years and no one\nhas spoken to us.\"\n\n\n\nA Zealous Young Lady.\n\nI was very much interested some time ago in a young lady that lived in\nthe city. I don't know her name, or I have forgotten it. She was about\nto go to China as the wife of a missionary on his way to some heathen\nfield. She had a large Sabbath-school class in the city and succeeded in\ngetting a blessing upon many of her scholars through her efforts. She\nwas very anxious to get some one who would look after her little flock\nand take care of them while she was gone. She had a brother who was not\na Christian, and her heart was set on his being converted and taking her\nplace as leader of the class. The young man--perhaps he is in the\naudience to-day--refused to accept of Christ, but away in her closet\nalone she pleaded with God that her brother might be converted and take\nher place. She wanted to reproduce herself and that is what every\nChristian ought to do--get somebody else converted to take up your work.\nWell, the last morning came, and around the family altar as the moment\ndrew near for the lady's departure, and they did not know when they\nshould see her again, the father broke down, and the boy went up stairs.\nJust before she left for the train the boy came down, and putting his\narms around his sister's neck, said to her, \"My dear sister, I will take\nyour Saviour for mine, and I will take care of your class for you,\" and\nthe young man took her class, and the last I heard of him he was filling\nher place. There was a young lady established in good work.\n\n\n\nHow Moody Treated the Committees.\n\nI remember when I was in Chicago before the fire, I was on some ten or\ntwelve committees. My hands were full. If a man came to me to talk about\nhis soul I would say I haven't time; got a committee to attend to. But\nnow I have turned my hack on everything--turned my attention to saving\nsouls, and God has blessed me and made me an instrument to save more\nsouls during the last four or five years than during all my previous\nlife. And so if a minister will devote himself to this undivided work,\nGod will bless him. Take that motto of Paul's: \"One thing I do,\nforgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those\nthings which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the\nhigh calling of God in Christ Jesus.\"\n\n\nFourscore and Five.\n\nWhen we went to London there was an old woman eighty-five years old, who\ncame to the meetings and said she wanted a hand in that work. She was\nappointed to a district, and called on all classes of people. She went\nto places where we would probably have been put out, and told the people\nof Christ. There were none that could resist her. When the old woman,\neighty-five years old, came to them and offered to pray for them, they\nall received her kindly--Catholics, Jews, Gentiles--all. That is\nenthusiasm. That is what we want.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Saul's Conversion. GUSTAVE DORE.  Acts, ix.]\n\n\n\nCONFESSING CHRIST.\n\n\nWhat a Woman Did.\n\nOne place we were in, in England, I recollect a Quakeress came in. The\nmeeting was held in a Methodist Church, and the Spirit of God was\nthere--souls were being saved: multitudes were pressing into the\nkingdom. She had a brother who was a drinker and a nephew who had just\ncome to the city, and he was in a critical state, too. They came to the\nmeeting with her. Everything appeared strange to her, and when she went\nhome she did not know really what to say. She and her brother and nephew\nwent up stairs, and coming down she thought, it may be that the destiny\nof their souls depends on what I say now. When she entered the parlor\nshe found them laughing and joking about the meeting. She put on a\nserious face and said, \"I don't think we should laugh at it. Suppose Mr.\nMoody had come to you and asked you if you were converted, what would\nyou have told him?\" \"I would have told him to mind his own business,\"\nreplied one of them. \"I think it is a very important question, and a\nquestion a Christian ought to put to any one; Mr. Moody, as a Christian,\nhas a right to ask any one.\" She talked with them, and when that brother\nwent to bed, he began thinking and thinking. He had tickets for the\ntheater next night, but when next night came he said he would go to the\nmeeting with his sister, and, to make a long story short, he came and\nwas converted. He came to me--he was a mechanic--and asked me to talk to\nthe laborers and have them come to the meetings. He had got such a\nblessing himself that he wanted them to share it.\n\nThat man brought me a list of the names of the mechanics about half as\nlong as this room, and we got up a meeting in the theater, and we had\nthat theater packed. That was the first meeting of working men I ever\nhad, and the work of grace broke out among them. This was but the result\nof the woman taking her stand. She went into the inquiry-room and became\nan earnest worker. I get letters from her frequently now, and I do not\nbelieve there is a happier woman in all England. If she had taken\nanother course she might have been the means of ruining these young men.\nThere is one thing that Christians ought to ask themselves. Ask your\nheart, \"Is this the work of the devil?\" That is the plain question. If\nit's the work of the devil turn your back against it. I would if I\nthought it was. If it is the work of God, be careful what you do. My\nfriends, it is a terrible thing to fight against God. If it is the\nLord's wish, come out and take your stand, and let there be one united\ncolumn of people coming up to heaven. Let every man, woman and child, be\nnot afraid to confess the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n\n\nA Business Man Confessing Christ.\n\nWhen I was in Ireland I heard of a man who got great blessings from God.\nHe was a business man--a landed proprietor. He had a large family, and a\ngreat many men to work for him taking care of his home. He came up to\nDublin and there he found Christ. And he came boldly out and thought he\nwould go home and confess Him. He thought that if Christ had redeemed\nhim with his precious blood, the least he could do would be to confess\nHim, and tell about it sometimes. So he called his family together and\nhis servants, and with tears running down his cheeks he poured out his\nsoul to them, and told them what Christ had done for him. He took the\nBible down from its resting-place and read a few verses of gospel. Then\nhe went down on his knees to pray, and so greatly was the little\ngathering blessed that four or five out of that family were convicted of\nsin; they forsook the ways of the world, and accepted Christ and eternal\nlife. It was like unto the household of Cornelius, which experienced the\nworking of the Holy Spirit. And that man and his family were not afraid\nto follow out their profession.\n\n\n\nTwo Young Men.\n\nI heard a story about two young men who came to New York City from the\ncountry on a visit. They went to the same boarding-house to stay and\ntook a room together. Well, when they came to go to bed each felt\nashamed to go down on his knees before his companion first. So they sat\nwatching each other. In fact, to express the situation in one word, they\nwere both cowards--yes, cowards! But at last one of them mustered up a\nlittle courage, and with burning blushes, as if he was about to do\nsomething wrong and wicked, he sunk down on his knees to say his\nprayers. As soon as the second saw that, he also knelt. And then, after\nthey had said their prayers, each waited for the other to get up. When\nthey did manage to get up one said to the other: \"I really am glad to\nsee that you knelt; I was afraid of you.\" \"Well,\" said the other, \"and I\nwas afraid of you.\" So it turned out that both were Christians, and yet\nthey were afraid of each other. You smile at that, but how many times\nhave you done the same thing--perhaps not in that way, but the same\nthing in effect. Henceforth, then, be not ashamed, but let everyone know\nyou are His.\n\n\nThe Little Tow-Headed Norwegian.\n\nI remember while in Boston I attended one of the daily prayer meetings.\nThe meetings we had been holding had been almost always addressed by\nyoung men. Well, in that meeting a little tow-headed Norwegian boy stood\nup. He could hardly speak a word of English plain, but he got up and\ncame to the front. He trembled all over and the tears were all trickling\ndown his cheeks, but he spoke out as well as he could and said: \"If I\ntell the world about Jesus, then will He tell the Father about me.\" He\nthen took his seat; that was all he said, but I tell you that in those\nfew words he said more than all of them, old and young together. Those\nfew words went straight down into the heart of everyone present. \"If I\ntell the world\"--yes, that's what it means to confess Christ.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Esther Confounding Haman. GUSTAVE DORE.  Esther, viii.]\n\n\n[Illustration: The Angel at the Sepulcher. GUSTAVE DORE. Matthew,\nxxviii, 1-7.]\n\n\nThe Family that Hooted at Moody.\n\nI remember a family in Chicago that used to hoot at me and my scholars\nas we passed their house sometimes. One day one of the boys came into\nthe Sunday-school and made light of it, As he went away, I told him I\nwas glad to see him there and hoped he would come again. He came and\nstill made a noise, but I urged him to come the next time, and finally\none day he said: \"I wish you would pray for me, boys.\" That boy came to\nChrist. He went home and confessed his faith, and it wasn't long before\nthat whole family had found the way into the Kingdom of God.\n\n\n\nPeter's Confession.\n\nOne day He said, \"Whom do men say that I am?\" He wanted them to confess\nHim. But one said, \"They say thou art Elias,\" and another \"that thou art\nJeremiah;\" and another \"Thou art St. John the Baptist.\" But He asked,\n\"Whom do you say that I am?\"--turning to His disciples. And Peter\nanswers, \"Thou art the Son of the living God.\" Then our Lord exclaimed,\n\"Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas.\" Yes, He blessed him right there\nbecause he confessed Him to be the Son of God. He was hungry to get some\none to confess him. Let everyone take his stand on the side of the Lord.\n\n\n\nThe Blind Beggar.\n\nHere is a whole chapter in John (ix) of forty-one verses, just to tell\nhow the Lord blessed that blind beggar. It was put in this book, I\nthink, just to bring out the confession of that man. \"The neighbors,\ntherefore, and they which before had seen him which was blind, said, Is\nnot this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he; others said, He\nis like him; but he said, I am he.\" If it had been our case I think we\nwould have kept still; we would have said, \"There is a storm brewing\namong the Pharisees, and they have said, 'If any man acknowledges Christ\nwe will put him out of the Synagogue.' Now I don't want to be put out of\nthe Synagogue.\" I am afraid we would have said that; that is the way\nwith a good many of the young converts. What did the young convert here?\nHe said, \"I am he.\" And bear in mind he only told what he knew; he knew\nthe Man had given him his eyes. \"Some said, He is like him; but he said,\nI am he.\" So, young converts, open your lips and tell what Christ has\ndone for you. If you can't do more than that, open your lips and do\nthat. \"Therefore, said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? He\nanswered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed\nmine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash; and I\nwent and washed, and I received sight.\" He said, \"He anointed my eyes\nwith clay, and I went to the pool and washed, and whereas I had no eyes,\nI have now got two good eyes.\" Some skeptic might ask, \"What is the\nphilosophy of it?\" But he couldn't tell that. \"Then said they unto him,\nWhere is he? He said, I know not. They brought to the Pharisees him that\naforetime was blind. And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay\nand opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had\nreceived his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes and I\nwashed and do see.\" He wasn't afraid to tell his experience twice; he\nhad just told it once. \"Therefore, said some of the Pharisees, This man\nis not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How\ncan a man that is a sinner do such miracles? and there was a division\namong them.\" Now I am afraid if it had been us, we would have kept still\nand said, \"There is a storm brewing.\" \"They say unto the blind man\nagain, What sayest thou of Him, that He hath opened thine eyes? He said,\nHe is a prophet.\" Now you see he has got to talking of the Master, and\nthat is a grand good thing.\n\n\nThe Young Convert.\n\nA young convert got up in one of our meetings and tried to preach; he\ncould not preach very well either, but he did the best he could--but\nsome one stood up and said, \"Young man, you cannot preach; you ought to\nbe ashamed of yourself.\" Said the young man, \"So I am, but I am not\nashamed of my Lord.\" That is right. Do not be ashamed of Christ--of the\nman that bought us with His own blood.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- If Christ comes into our hearts we are not ashamed.\n\n-- I wish we had a few more women like the woman of Samaria, willing to\n   confess what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for their souls.\n\n-- Believing and confessing go together; and you cannot be saved without\n   you take them both. \"With the mouth confession is made unto\n   salvation.\" If you ever see the kingdom of heaven you have to take\n   this way.\n\n-- Satan puts straws across our path and magnifies it and makes us\n   believe it is a mountain, but all the devil's mountains are mountains\n   of smoke; when you come up to them they are not there.\n\n-- I do not know anything that would wake up Chicago better than for\n   every man and woman here who loves Him to begin to talk about Him to\n   their friends, and just to tell them what He has done for you. You\n   have got a circle of friends. Go and tell them of Him.\n\n-- I can't help thinking of the old woman who started out when the war\n   commenced with a poker in her hand. When asked what she was going to\n   do with it she said: \"I can't do much with it, but I can show what\n   side I'm on.\" My friends, even if you can't do much, show to which\n   side you belong.\n\n-- I may say with truth that there is only about one in ten who\n   professes Christianity who will turn round and glorify God with a\n   loud voice. Nine out of ten are still born Christians. You never hear\n   of them. If you press them hard with the question whether they are\n   Christians they might say, \"Well, I hope so.\" We never see it in\n   their actions; we never see it in their lives. They might belong to\n   the church you go to, but you never see them at the prayer-meetings\n   or taking any interest in the church affairs. They don't profess it\n   among their fellows or in their business, and the result is that\n   there are hundreds going on with a half hope, not sure whether their\n   religion will stand them or not.\n\n\n\nCONVERSION.\n\nMr. Moody's First Impulse in Converting Souls.\n\nI want to tell you how I got the first impulse to work solely for the\nconversion of men. For a long time after my conversion I didn't\naccomplish anything. I hadn't got into my right place; that was it. I\nhadn't thought enough of this personal work. I'd get up in prayer\nmeeting, and I'd pray with the others, but just to go up to a man and\ntake hold of his coat and get him down on his knees, I hadn't yet got\nround to that. It was in 1860 the change came. In the Sunday school I\nhad a pale, delicate young man as one of the teachers. I knew his\nburning piety, and assigned him to the worst class in the school. They\nwere all girls, and it was an awful class. They kept gadding around in\nthe school-room, and were laughing and carrying on all the while. And\nthis young man had better success than anyone else. One Sunday he was\nabsent, and I tried myself to teach the class, but couldn't do anything\nwith them; they seemed farther off than ever from any concern about\ntheir souls. Well, the day after his absence, early Monday morning, the\nyoung man came into the store where I worked, and, tottering and\nbloodless, threw himself down on some boxes. \"What's the matter?\" I\nasked, \"I have been bleeding at the lungs, and they have given me up to\ndie,\" he said. \"But you are not afraid to die?\" I questioned, \"No,\" said\nhe, \"I am not afraid to die, but I have got to stand before God and give\nan account of my stewardship, and not one of my Sabbath-school scholars\nhas been brought to Jesus. I have failed to bring one, and haven't any\nstrength to do it now.\"\n\nHe was so weighed down that I got a carriage and took that dying man in\nit, and we called at the homes of everyone of his scholars, and to each\none he said, as best his faint voice would let him, \"I have come to just\nask you to come to the Saviour,\" and then he prayed as I never heard\nbefore. And for ten days he labored in that way, sometimes walking to\nthe nearest houses. And at the end of that ten days everyone of that\nlarge class had yielded to the Saviour. Full well I remember the night\nbefore he went away (for the doctors said he must hurry to the South),\nhow we held a true love-feast. It was the very gate of heaven, that\nmeeting. He prayed, and they prayed; he didn't ask them, he didn't think\nthey could pray; and then we sung, \"Blest be the tie that binds.\" It was\na beautiful night in June that he left on the Michigan Southern, and I\nwas down to the train to help him off. And those girls everyone gathered\nthere again, all unknown to each other; and the depot seemed a second\ngate to heaven, in the joyful, yet tearful, communion and farewells\nbetween these newly redeemed souls and him whose crown of rejoicing it\nwill be that he led them to Jesus. At last the gong sounded, and,\nsupported on the platform, the dying man shook hands with each one, and\nwhispered, \"I will meet you yonder.\"\n\n\n\nVery Hard, yet Very Easy.\n\nThe hardest thing, I will admit, ever a man had to do is to become a\nChristian, and yet it is the easiest. This seems to many to be a\nparadox, but I will repeat it, it is the most difficult thing to become\na Christian, and yet it is the easiest. I have a little nephew in this\ncity. When he was about three or four years of age, he threw that Bible\non the floor. I think a good deal of that Bible, and I don't like to see\nthis. His mother said to him, \"Go pick up uncle's Bible from the floor.\"\n\"I won't,\" he replied. \"Go and pick up that Bible directly.\" \"I won't.\"\n\"What did you say?\" asked his mother. She thought he didn't understand.\nBut he understood well enough, and had made up his mind that he\nwouldn't. She told the boy she would have to punish him if he didn't,\nand then he said he couldn't, and by and by he said he didn't want to.\nAnd that is the way with the people in coming to Christ. At first they\nsay they won't, then they can't, and then they don't want to. The mother\ninsisted upon the boy picking up the Bible, and he got down and put his\narms around it and pretended he couldn't lift it. He was a great,\nhealthy boy, and he could have picked it up easily enough. I was very\nanxious to see the fight carried on because she was a young mother, and\nif she didn't break that boy's will he was going to break her heart by\nand by. So she told him again if he didn't pick it up she would punish\nhim, and the child just picked it up. It was very easy to do it when he\nmade up his mind. So it is perfectly easy for men to accept the gospel.\nThe trouble is they don't want to give up their will. If you want to be\nsaved you must just accept that gospel--that Christ is your Saviour,\nthat he is your Redeemer, and that he has rescued you from the curse of\nthe law. Just say \"Lord Jesus Christ, I trust you from this hour to save\nme,\" and the moment you take that stand he will put his loving arms\naround you and wrap about you the robe of righteousness.\n\n\n\nThe Arrows of Conviction.\n\nI remember while preaching in Glasgow, an incident occurred which I will\nrelate. I had been preaching there several weeks, and the night was my\nlast one, and I pleaded with them as I had never pleaded there before. I\nurged the people to meet me in that land. It is a very solemn thing to\nstand before a vast audience for the last time and think you may never\nhave another chance of asking them to come to Christ. I told them I\nwould not have another opportunity, and urged them to accept, and just\nasked them to meet me at that marriage supper. At the conclusion I soon\nsaw a tall young lady coming into the inquiry room. She had scarcely\ncome in when another tall young lady came in, and she went up to the\nfirst and put her arms around her and wept. Pretty soon another young\nlady came and went up to the first two and just put her arms around both\nof them. They were three sisters and I found that although they had been\nsitting in different parts of the building, the sure arrow of conviction\nwent down to their souls, and brought them to the inquiry room. Another\nyoung lady came down from the gallery and said: \"Mr. Moody, I want to\nbecome a Christian.\" I asked a young Christian to talk to her, and when\nshe went home that night about 10 o'clock--her mother was sitting up\nfor her--she said: \"Mother, I have accepted the invitation to be present\nat the marriage supper of the Lamb.\" Her mother and father laid awake\nthat night talking about the salvation of their child. That was Friday\nnight, and next day (Saturday) she was unwell, and before long her\nsickness developed into scarlet fever, and a few days after I got this\nletter:\n\n\"Mr. Moody--Dear Sir: It is now my painful duty to intimate to you that\nthe dear girl concerning whom I wrote to you on Monday, has been taken\naway from us by death. Her departure, however, has been signally\nsoftened to us, for she told us yesterday she was \"going home to be with\nJesus,\" and after giving messages to many, told us to let Mr. Moody and\nMr. Sankey know that she died a happy Christian.\"\n\n\n\nHow a Citizen Became a Soldier.\n\nOne day I was walking through the streets of York, in England. I saw a\nlittle way ahead a soldier coming toward me. He had the red uniform on\nof the infantry--the dress of the army. I knew at once when I saw him\nthat he was a soldier. When he came near me I stopped him. I said, \"My\ngood man, if you have no objection I would like to ask you a few\nquestions.\" \"Certainly, sir,\" said he. \"Well, then, I would like to\nknow how you first became a soldier.\" \"Yes, sir, I will tell you. You\nsee, sir, I wanted to become a soldier, and the recruiting officer was\nin our town, and I went up to him and told him I wanted to enlist.\n\"Well, sir, he said, 'All right,' and the first thing he did, sir, he\ntook an English shilling out of his pocket, sir, and put it into my\nhand. The very moment, sir, a recruiting-sergeant puts a shilling into\nyour hand, sir, you are a soldier.\" I said to myself, \"That is the very\nillustration I want.\"\n\nThat man was a free man at one time--he could go here and there; do just\nwhat he liked; but the moment the shilling was put into his hand he was\nsubject to the rules of war, and Queen Victoria could send him anywhere\nand make him obey the rules and regulations of the army. He is a soldier\nthe very minute he takes the shilling. He has not got to wait to put on\nthe uniform. And when you ask me how a man may be converted at once, I\nanswer, just the same as that man became a soldier. The citizen becomes\na soldier in a minute, and from being a free man becomes subject to the\ncommand of others. The moment you take Christ into your heart, that\nmoment your name is written in the roll of Heaven.\n\n\n\nMoody a Young Convert.\n\nI remember soon after I got converted a pantheist got hold of me, and\njust tried to draw me back to the world. Those men who try to get hold\nof a young convert are the worst set of men. I don't know a worse man\nthan he who tries to pull young Christians down. He is nearer the\nborders of hell than any man I know. When this man knew I had found\nJesus he just tried to pull me down. He tried to argue with me, and I\ndid not know the Bible very well then, and he got the best of me. The\nonly way to get the best of those atheists, pantheists, or infidels, is\nto have a good knowledge of the Bible. Well, this pantheist told me God\nwas everywhere--in the air, in the sun, in the moon, in the earth, in\nthe stars, but really he meant nowhere. And the next time I went to\npray, it seemed as if I was not praying anywhere or to anyone. We have\nample evidence in the Bible that there is such a place as heaven, and we\nhave abundant manifestations that His influence from heaven is felt\namong us.\n\n\n\n\"Free.\"\n\nYou will remember when we had slavery we used to have men come up from\nKentucky, Tennessee, and other slave states in order to escape from\nslavery. I hope if there are any Southern people here they will not\nthink in this allusion I am trying to wound their feelings. We all\nremember when these colored men came here how they used to be afraid\nlest some one should come and take them back. Why, I remember in the\nstore we had a poor fugitive, and he used to be quaking all the time.\nSometimes a customer would come in, and he would be uneasy all the time.\nHe was afraid it was some one to take him back to slavery. But somebody\ntells him if he was in Canada he would be perfectly safe, and he says:\n\"If I could only get into Canada; if I could only get under the Union\nJack I would be free.\" There are no slaves under the Union Jack he has\nbeen told--that is the flag of freedom; the moment he gets under it he\nis a free man. So he starts. We'll say there are no railways, and the\npoor fellow has got ten miles ahead when his master comes up, and he\nhears that his slave has fled for Canada and sets off in pursuit. Some\none tells the poor fugitive that his master is after him. What does the\npoor fugitive do? What does he do? He redoubles his exertions and\npresses on, on, on, on. He is a slave born, and he knows a slave belongs\nto his master. Faster he goes! He knows his master is after him and he\nwill be taken if he comes up with him before he reaches the lines. He\nsays, \"If I can only hold out and get under the English flag, the\nEnglish government will protect me.\" The whole English army will come to\nprotect me if need be. On he presses. He is now nearing the boundary\nline. One minute he is a slave, and in an instant he is a free man. My\nfriends, don't mistake. These men can be saved tonight if they cross the\nline.\n\n\nAn Irishman Leaps Into the Life-Boat.\n\nWhile I was in New York, an Irishman stood up in a young converts'\nmeeting and told how he had been saved. He said in his broken Irish\nbrogue that I used an illustration, and that illustration saved him. And\nI declare that that is the only man I ever knew who was converted\nwithout being spoken to. He said I used an illustration of a wrecked\nvessel, and said that all would perish unless some assistance came.\nPresently a life-boat came alongside and the captain shouted, \"Leap into\nthe life-boat--leap for your lives, or you will perish,\" and when I came\nto the point I said, \"Leap into the life-boat; Christ is your life-boat\nof salvation,\" and he leaped and was saved.\n\n\n[Illustration: The Expulsion from the Garden. GUSTAVE DORE. Genesis,\niii, 24]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Trial Of The Faith Of Abraham. GUSTAVE DORE. Genesis,\nxxii.]\n\n\n\nSafe in the Ark.\n\nWhen the voice came down from heaven to Noah, \"Come thou and all thy\nhouse into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this\ngeneration,\" now; there was a minute when Noah was outside the ark, and\nanother when he was inside, and by being inside he was saved. As long as\nhe was outside of the ark he was exposed to the wrath of God just like\nthe rest of those antediluvians. If he stayed out, and remained with\nthose antediluvians, he would have been swept away, as they were. It was\nnot his righteousness; it was not his faith nor his works that saved\nhim; it was the ark. And, my friends, we have not, like Noah, to be one\nhundred and twenty years making an ark for our safety. God has provided\nan ark for us, and the question is: Are you inside or outside this ark?\nIf you are inside you are safe; if you are outside you are not safe.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- It is our privilege to know that we are saved.\n\n-- We shall draw the world to Christ when we are filled with religion.\n\n-- He that overcometh shall inherit all things. God has no poor children.\n\n-- I hold to the doctrine of sudden conversion as I do to my life, and I\n   would as quickly give up my life as give up this doctrine, unless it\n   can be proved that it is not according to the word of God. Now, I\n   will admit that light is one thing and birth is another. A soul must\n   be born before it can see light. A child must be born before it can\n   be taught; it must be born before it can walk; it must be born before\n   it can be educated.\n\n\n\nDECISION.\n\nMoody's Mistake.\n\nThe last time I preached upon this question was in old Farwell Hall. I\nhad been for five nights preaching upon the life of Christ. I took him\nfrom the cradle and followed Him up to the judgment hall, and on that\noccasion I consider I made as great a blunder as ever I made in my life.\nIf I could recall my act I would give this right hand. It was upon that\nmemorable night in October, and the Court House bell was sounding an\nalarm of fire, but I paid no attention to it. You know we were\naccustomed to hear the fire bell often, and it didn't disturb us much\nwhen it sounded. I finished the sermon upon \"What shall I do with\nJesus?\" And I said to the audience, \"Now, I want you to take the\nquestion with you and think over it, and next Sunday I want you to come\nback and tell me what you are going to do with it.\" What a mistake! It\nseems now as if Satan was in my mind when I said this. Since then I\nnever have dared give an audience a week to think of their salvation. If\nthey were lost they might rise up in judgment against me. \"Now is the\naccepted time.\" We went down stairs to the other meeting, and I remember\nwhen Mr. Sankey was singing, and how his voice rang when he came to that\npleading verse:\n\n  To-day the Saviour calls;\n    For refuge fly.\n  The storm of justice falls,\n    And death is nigh.\n\nAfter the meeting we went home. I remember going down La Salle street\nwith a young man who is probably in the hall to-night, and saw the glare\nof flames. I said to the young man: \"This means ruin to Chicago.\" About\none o'clock, Farwell Hall went; soon the church in which I had preached\nwent down, and everything was scattered. I never saw that audience\nagain. My friends, we don't know what may happen to-morrow, but there is\none thing I do know, and that is, if you take the gift you are saved. If\nyou have eternal life you need not fear fire, death, or sickness. Let\ndisease or death come, you can shout triumphantly over the grave if you\nhave Christ. My friends, what are you going to do with Him to-night?\nWill you decide now?\n\n\n\n\"A Day of Decision.\"\n\nI believe there is a day of decision in our lives--a day upon which the\ncrisis of our lives occurs. There is a day when the Son of Man comes and\nstands at our heart and knocks and knocks for the last time and leaves\nus forever. I can imagine when Pilate was banished how this recollection\ntroubled him day and night. He remembered how that Saviour had looked on\nhim--how innocent He was; he remembered how, when the Jews were\nclamoring for His death, and the cry echoed through the streets of\nJerusalem, \"Crucify Him! crucify Him!\" It seemed as if He had nothing\nbut love for them. Probably some one told him the story of the\ncrucifixion, and how when nailed to the cross and the howling mob around\nHim, He cried, \"Father, forgive them; they know not what they do;\" he\nremembered how they clamored for his life, and how he hadn't the moral\ncourage to stand up for the despised Nazarene, and that preyed upon his\nmind, and he put an end to his miserable existence.\n\n\n\nMoody Puts a Man in his \"Prophet's Room.\"\n\nA few years ago as I stood at the door of a church giving out\ninvitations to a meeting to take place that evening, a young man to whom\nI offered one said, \"I want something more than that. I want something\nto do!\" I urged him to come into the meeting, and after some\nremonstrance he consented. After the meeting I took him home, and after\ndinner I told him there was a room which I called the \"Prophet's Room,\"\nand up stairs was another which I called the \"Unbeliever's Room,\" and I\nwould give him till night to decide which he would take. He was able by\nnight to take the first, and the next day was at work urging young men\nto attend the noonday prayer-meeting. When I was burned out in the great\nfire and was left perfectly destitute, I received a letter with some\nmoney from this young man in Boston, who said:\n\n\"You helped me and took me in your home, keeping me six weeks and\nrefused to take anything for it, and I have never forgotten your\nkindness.\" I had lost sight of him, but he had remembered that as a\nturning-point in his existence.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- If you receive Him it will be well; if you reject Him and are lost it\n   will be terrible.\n\n-- Thanks be to God, there is hope to-day; this very hour you can choose\n   Him and serve Him.\n\n-- Now just think a moment and answer the question, \"'What shall I do\n   with Jesus who is called Christ?\"\n\n-- I believe in my soul that there are more at this day being lost for\n   want of decision than for any other thing.\n\n-- One of two things you must do; you must either receive Him or reject\n   Him. You receive Him here and He will receive you there; you reject\n   Him here and He will reject you there.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Jesus And The Woman Taken In Adultery. GUSTAVE DORE.\nJohn, viii, 3-11]\n\n\n\nDELIVERANCE.\n\nThe Scotch Lassie.\n\nThere is a story told of an incident that occurred during the last\nIndian mutiny. The English were besieged in the city of Lucknow, and\nwere in momentary expectation of perishing at the hands of the fiends\nthat surrounded them. There was a little Scotch lassie in this fort,\nand, while lying on the ground, she suddenly shouted, her face aglow\nwith joy, \"Dinna ye hear them comin'; dinna ye hear them comin'?\" \"Hear\nwhat?\" they asked, \"Dinna ye hear them comin?\" And she sprang to her\nfeet. It was the bagpipes of her native Scotland she heard. It was a\nnative air she heard that was being played by a regiment of her\ncountrymen marching to the relief of those captives, and these\ndeliverers made them free. Oh, my friends, don't you hear Jesus Christ\ncrying to you to-night?\n\n\n\nGeo. H. Stewart Visits a Doomed Criminal.\n\nI remember hearing a story of Mr. George Stewart. One day the Governor\nof Pennsylvania came to him and said, \"Mr. Stewart, I want you to go to\nsuch a prison and tell that man for whose execution I signed the warrant\nthe other day, that there is not a ray of hope for him. When the day and\nhour comes he must be executed. His mother has been tormenting the life\nout of me; and all his friends have been running after me day and night,\nand they are giving the poor fellow a false hope.\" \"That is a very\ndisagreeable thing to do, Governor,\" answered Mr. Stewart. \"Well, I want\nyou to go and tell him, so that he can be settled in his mind.\" The\nstory goes that when the doors of the cell were opened, that prisoner\nseized Mr. Stewart's hands, and in his joy cried, \"You are a good man. I\nknow you have come with a pardon from the Governor.\" But when Mr.\nStewart told him the Governor had sent him to say there was not a ray of\nhope for him, that upon the day and hour he must be executed, the man\ncompletely broke down and fainted away. The thought that at such a day\nand such an hour he was going to be ushered into eternity, was too much\nfor the poor fellow. Suppose I come to you to-night and tell you there\nis not a ray of hope--that you have broken the law of pardon. How many\nwould say, \"I know a great deal better. The blackest sinner on earth\nChrist can save. He says so.\" But, my friends, there is no hope without\nthe deliverance to be free from the bondage of sin.\n\n\n\nThe Demoniac.\n\nWhen this man found himself delivered he wanted to go with the Saviour.\nThat was gratitude; Christ had saved him, had redeemed him. He had\ndelivered him from the hand of the enemy. And this man cried: \"Let me\nfollow You around the world; where You go I will go.\" But the Lord said,\n\"You go home and tell your friends what good things the Lord has done\nfor you.\" And he started home. I would like to have been in that house\nwhen he came there. I can imagine how the children would look when they\nsaw him, and say, \"Father is coming.\" \"Shut the door,\" the mother would\ncry; \"look out! fasten the window; bolt every door in the house.\" Many\ntimes he very likely had come and abused his family and broken the\nchairs and tables and turned the mother into the street and alarmed all\nthe neighbors. They see him now coming down the street. Down he comes\ntill he gets to the door, and then gently knocks. You don't hear a sound\nas he stands there. At last he sees his wife at the window and he says,\n\"Mary!\" \"Why,\" she says, \"why he speaks as he did when I first married\nhim; I wonder if he has got well?\" So she looks out and asks: \"John, is\nthat you?\" \"Yes, Mary,\" he replies, \"it's me, don't be afraid any mare,\nI'm well now.\" I see that mother, how she pulls back the bolts of that\ndoor, and looks at him. The first look is sufficient, and she springs\ninto his arms and clings about his neck. She takes him in and asks him a\nhundred questions--how it all happened--all about it. \"Well, just take a\nchair and I'll tell you how I got cured.\" The children hang back and\nlook amazed. He says: \"I was there in the tombs, you know, cutting\nmyself with stones, and running about in my nakedness, when Jesus of\nNazareth came that way. Mary, did you ever hear of Him? He is the most\nwonderful man; I've never seen a man like Him. He just ran in and told\nthose devils to leave me, and they left me. When He had cured me I\nwanted to follow Him, but He told me to come home and tell you all about\nit.\" The children by and by gather about his knee, and the elder ones\nrun to tell their playmates what wonderful things Jesus has done for\ntheir father. Ah, my friends, we have got a mighty deliverer, I don't\ncare what affliction you have, He will deliver you from it. The Son of\nGod who cast out those devils can deliver you from your besetting sin.\n\n\n\nSpurgeon's Parable.\n\nMr. Spurgeon, a number of years ago, made a parable. He thought he had a\nright to make one, and he did it. He said: \"There was once a tyrant who\nordered one of his subjects into his presence, and ordered him to make a\nchain. The poor blacksmith--that was his occupation--had to go to work\nand forge the chain. When it was done he brought it into the presence of\nthe tyrant, and he was ordered to take it away and make it twice the\nlength. He brought it again to the tyrant, and again he was ordered to\ndouble it. Back he came when he had obeyed the order, and the tyrant\nlooked at it, and then commanded the servants to bind the man hand and\nfoot with the chain he had made and cast him into prison. \"And,\" Mr.\nSpurgeon said, \"that is what the devil does with man.\" He makes them\nforge their own chain, and then binds them hand and foot with it, and\ncasts them into outer darkness.\" My friends, that is just what these\ndrunkards, these gamblers, these blasphemers--that is just what every\nsinner is doing. But, thank God, we can tell you of a deliverer. The Son\nof God has power to break everyone of these fetters if you will only\ncome to Him.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- The mightiest man that ever lived could not deliver himself from his\n   sins. If a man could have saved himself, Christ would never have come\n   into the world.\n\n-- He came to deliver us from our sinful dispositions, and create in us\n   pure hearts, and when we have Him with us it will not be hard for us.\n   Then the service of Christ will be delightful.\n\n-- If you are under the power of evil, and you want to get under the\n   power of God, cry to Him to bring you over to His service; cry to Him\n   to take you into His army. He will hear you; He will come to you,\n   and, if need be, He will send a legion of angels to help you to fight\n   your way up to heaven. God will take you by the right hand and lead\n   you through this wilderness, over death, and take you right into His\n   kingdom. That's what the Son of Man came to do. He has never deceived\n   us; just say here: \"Christ is my deliverer.\"\n\n\n\nEXCUSES.\n\n\"I Have Intellectual Difficulties.\"\n\nThere is another voice coming down from the gallery yonder: \"I have\nintellectual difficulties; I cannot believe.\" A man came to me sometime\nago and said, \"I cannot.\" \"Cannot what?\" I asked. \"Well,\" said he, \"I\ncannot believe.\" \"Who?\" \"Well,\" he repeated, \"I cannot believe.\" \"Who?\"\nI asked. \"Well--I--can't--believe--myself.\" \"Well, you don't want to.\"\n[Laughter.] Make yourself out false every time, but believe in the truth\nof Christ. If a man says to me, \"Mr. Moody, you have lied to me; you\nhave dealt falsely with me,\" it may be so, but no man on the face of the\nearth can say that God ever dealt unfairly, or that He lied to him. If\nGod says a thing it is true. We don't ask you to believe in any man on\nthe face of the earth, but we ask you to believe in Jesus Christ, who\nnever lied--who never deceived any one. If a man says he cannot believe\nHim, he says what is untrue.\n\n\n\nI Am Not All Right.\n\nI had to notice during the war, when enlisting was going on, sometimes a\nman would come up with a nice silk hat on, patent-leather boots, nice\nkid gloves, and a fine suit of clothes, which, probably, cost him $100;\nperhaps the next man who came along would be a hod-carrier, dressed in\nthe poorest kind of clothes. Both had to strip alike and put on the\nregimental uniform. So when you come and say you ain't fit, haven't got\ngood clothes, haven't got righteousness enough, remember that He will\nfurnish you with the uniform of Heaven, and you will be set down at the\nmarriage feast of the Lamb. I don't care how black and vile your heart\nmay be, only accept the invitation of Jesus Christ and He will make you\nfit to sit down with the rest at that feast.\n\n\n\n\"Those Hypocrites.\"\n\n\"I won't accept this invitation because of those hypocrites in the\nchurches.\" My friend, you will find very few there if you get to heaven.\nThere won't be a hypocrite in the next world, and if you don't want to\nbe associated with hypocrites in the next world, you will take this\ninvitation. Why, you will find hypocrites everywhere. One of the\napostles was himself the very prince of hypocrites, but he didn't get to\nheaven. You will find plenty of hypocrites in the church. They have been\nthere for the last one thousand eight hundred years, and will probably\nremain there. But what is that to you? This is an individual matter\nbetween you and your God.\n\n\n\n\"I Can't Feel.\"\n\n\"I can't feel,\" says one. That is the very last excuse. When a man comes\nwith that excuse he is getting pretty near the Lord. We are having a\nbody of men in England giving a new translation of the Scriptures. I\nthink we should get them to put in a passage relating to feeling. With\nsome people it is feel, feel, feel all the time. What kind of feeling\nhave you got? Have you got a desire to be saved, have you got a desire\nto be present at the marriage supper? Suppose a gentleman asked me to\ndinner, I say, \"I will see how I feel.\" \"Sick?\" he might ask. \"No; it\ndepends on how I feel.\" That is not the question--it is whether I will\naccept the invitation or not. The question with us is, will we accept\nsalvation--will you believe? There is not a word about feelings in the\nScriptures. When you come to your end, and you know that in a few days\nyou will be in the presence of the Judge of all the earth, you will\nremember this excuse about feelings. You will be saying, \"I went up to\nthe Tabernacle, I remember, and I felt very good, and before the meeting\nwas over I felt very bad, and I didn't feel I had the right kind of\nfeeling to accept the invitation.\" Satan will then say, \"I made you feel\nso.\" Suppose you build your hopes and fix yourself upon the Rock of\nAges, the devil cannot come to you. Stand upon the Word of God and the\nwaves of unbelief cannot touch you, the waves of persecution cannot\nassail you; the devil and all the fiends of hell cannot approach you if\nyou only build your hopes upon God's Word. Say, I will trust Him, though\nHe slay me--I will take God at His word.\n\n\n\nI Am Not \"One of the Elect.\"\n\nI can imagine some men saying, \"Mr. Moody has not touched my case at\nall. That is not the reason why I won't accept Christ. I don't know as I\nam one of the elect.\" How often I am met with this excuse--how often do\nI hear it in the inquiry room! How many men fold their arms and say, \"If\nI am one of the elect I will be saved, and if I ain't I won't. No use of\nyour bothering about it.\" Why don't some of those merchants say, \"If God\nis going to make me a successful merchant in Chicago I will be one\nwhether I like it or not, and if he isn't I won't.\" If you are sick, and\na. doctor prescribes for you, don't take the medicine, throw it out the\ndoor, it don't matter, for if God has decreed you are going to die, you\nwill: if he hasn't, you will get better. If you use that argument you\nmay as well not walk home from this tabernacle. If God has said you'll\nget home, you'll get home--you'll fly through the air; if you have been\nelected to go home. I have an idea that the Lord Jesus saw how men were\ngoing to stumble over this doctrine, so after He had been thirty or\nforty years in heaven, He came down and spoke to John. One Lord's day in\nPatmos, He said to him, \"Write these things to the churches.\" John kept\non writing. His pen flew very fast. And then the Lord, when it was\nnearly finished said, \"John, before you close the book, put in this:\n'The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say;\nCome.' But there will be some that are deaf, and they cannot hear, so\nadd, 'Let him that is athirst, Come;' and in case there should be any\nthat do not thirst, put it still broader, 'Whosoever will, let him take\nof the water of life freely.' '' What more can you have than that? And\nthe Book is sealed, as it were, with that. It is the last invitation in\nthe Bible. \"Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.\"\nYou are thirsty. You want water. I hold out this glass to you, and say,\n\"Take it.\" You say, \"If I am decreed to have it, I am not going to put\nmyself to the trouble of taking it.\" Well, you will never get it. And if\nyou are ever to have salvation, you must reach out the hand and take it.\n\"I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name, of the Lord.\"\n\n\n\nWhy did he not take his Wife along?\n\nTake the excuses. There wasn't one that wasn't a lie. The devil made\nthem all; and if the sinner hadn't one already the devil was there at\nhis elbow to suggest one, about the truth of the Bible, or something of\nthat sort. One of the excuses mentioned was that the man invited had\nbought a piece of ground, and had to look at it. Real estate and corner\nlots are keeping a good many men out of God's kingdom. It was a lie to\nsay that he had to go and see it then, for he ought to have looked at it\nbefore he bought it. Then the next man said he'd bought some oxen, and\nmust prove them. That was another lie; for if he hadn't proved them\nbefore he bought them he ought to have done so, and could have done it\nafter supper just as well as before it. But the third man's excuse was\nthe most ridiculous of them all. \"I have married a wife and therefore\ncannot come.\" Why did he not take his wife along with him? Who likes to\ngo to a feast better than a young bride? He might have asked her to go\ntoo; and if she were not willing, then let her stay at home. The fact\nwas, he did not want to go.\n\n\nA Good Excuse.\n\nIf you have got a good excuse don't give it up for anything I have said;\ndon't give it up for anything your mother may have said; don't give it\nup for anything your friend may have said. Take it up to the bar of God\nand state it to Him; but if you have not got a good excuse--an excuse\nthat will stand in eternity--let it go to-night, and flee to the arms of\na loving Saviour.\n\n\n\nExcused at Last.\n\nIt is a very solemn thought that God will excuse you if you want to be\nexcused. He does not wish to do it, but He will do it. \"As I live, saith\nthe Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the\nwicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways;\nfor why will ye die, O house of Israel.\" Look at the Jewish nation. They\nwanted to be excused from the feast. They despised the grace of God and\ntrampled it under foot, and look at them to-day! Yes, it is easy enough\nto say, \"I pray Thee have me excused;\" but by and by God may take you at\nyour word, and say, \"Yes, I will excuse you.\" And in that lost world,\nwhile others who have accepted the invitation sit down to the marriage\nsupper of the Lamb, amid shouts and hallelujahs in heaven, you will be\ncrying in the company of the lost, \"The harvest is past; the summer is\nended, and I am not saved.\"\n\n\n\nThe Invitation.\n\nSuppose we should write out here to-night this excuse, how would it sound?\n\n  To the King of Heaven:--While sitting in the Tabernacle in the City of\n  Chicago, January--, 1877, I received a very pressing invitation from\n  one of your servants to be present at the marriage supper of your\n  only-begotten Son. I PRAY THEE HAVE ME EXCUSED.\"\n\nWould you sign that, young man? Would you, mother? Would you come up to\nthe reporters' table, take up a pen and put your name down to such an\nexcuse? You would say, \"Let my right hand forget its cunning, and my\ntongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I sign that.\"\n\nJust let me write out another answer:\n\n  \"To the King of Heaven;--While sitting in the Tabernacle, January---,\n  1877, I received a pressing invitation from one of your messengers to\n  be present at the marriage supper of your only-begotten Son. I hasten\n  to reply: BY THE GRACE OF GOD I WILL BE PRESENT.\"\n\nWho will sign that? Is there one who will put his name to it? Is there\nno one who will say, \"By the grace of God I will accept the invitation\nnow\"?\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- There is not an excuse but is a lie.\n\n-- God's service a hard one! How will that sound in the judgment?\n\n-- It is easy enough to excuse yourself to hell, but you cannot excuse\n   yourself to heaven.\n\n-- When a man prepares a feast, men rush in, but when God prepares one\n   they all begin to make excuses, and don't want to go.\n\n-- My friends, to accept this invitation is more important than anything\n   else in this world. There is nothing in the world that is so\n   important as the question of accepting the invitation.\n\n-- If everybody could understand everything the Bible said it wouldn't\n   be God's book; if Christians, if theologians, had studied it for\n   forty, fifty, sixty years, and then only began to understand it, how\n   could a man expect to understand it by one reading?\n\n-- If God were to take men at their word about these excuses, and swept\n   everyone into his grave who had an excuse, there would be a very\n   small congregation in the Tabernacle next Sunday; there would be\n   little business in Chicago, and in a few weeks the grass would be\n   growing on these busy streets.\n\n\n\nFAITH.\n\nHow Moody's Faith Saved an Infidel.\n\nWhen I was in Edinburgh, at the inquiry meeting in Assembly Hall, one of\nthe ushers came around and said, \"Mr. Moody, I'd like to put that man\nout; he's one of the greatest infidels in Edinburgh.\" He had been the\nchairman of an infidel club for years, I went around to where he was and\nsat down by him. \"How is it with you, my friend?\" I asked, and then he\nlaughed and said, \"You say God answers prayer; I tell you He doesn't. I\ndon't believe in a God. Try it on me.\" \"Will you get down with me and\npray?\" I asked him; but he wouldn't. So I got down on my knees beside\nhim and prayed. Next night he was there again. I prayed, and quite a\nnumber of others prayed for him. A few months after that, away up in the\nnorth of Scotland, at Wick, I was preaching in the open air, and while I\nstood there I saw the infidel standing on the outskirts of the crowd. I\nwent up to him at the close of the meeting and said: \"How is it with\nyou, my friend?\" He laughed and said, \"I told you your praying is all\nfalse; God hasn't answered your prayers; go and talk to these deluded\npeople.\" He had just the same spirit as before, but I relied on faith.\nShortly after I got a letter from a barrister--a Christian. He was\npreaching one night in Edinburgh, when this infidel went up to him and\nsaid: \"I want you to pray for me; I am troubled.\" The barrister asked,\n\"What is the trouble?\" and he replied: \"I don't know what's the matter,\nbut I don't have any peace, and I want you to pray for me.\" Next day he\nwent around to that lawyer's office and he said that he had found\nChrist.\n\nThis man now is doing good work, and I heard that out of thirty\ninquirers there, ten or twelve of his old associates and friends were\namong them. So, if you have God with you, and you go to work for Him,\nand you meet infidels and skeptics, just bear in mind that you can win\nthrough faith. When Christ saw the faith of those four men, He said to\nthe man: \"Thy sins are forgiven you.\" My friends, if you have faith all\nthings are possible.\n\n\n\nTaking \"the Prince at his Word.\"\n\nSome time ago I remember reading of an incident that occurred between a\nprince in a foreign land and one of his subjects. This man for rebellion\nagainst the government was going to be executed. He was taken to the\nguilotine block. When the poor fellow reached the place of execution he\nwas trembling with fear. The prince was present and asked him if he\nwished anything before judgment was carded out. The culprit replied: \"A\nglass of water.\" It was brought to him, but he was so nervous he\ncouldn't drink it. \"Do not fear,\" said the prince to him, \"judgment will\nnot be carried out till you drink that water,\" and in an instant the\nglass was dashed to the ground and broken into a thousand pieces. He\ntook that prince at his word.\n\n\nA Wife's Faith.\n\nIn one of the towns in England there is a beautiful little chapel, and a\nvery touching story is told in connection with it. It was built by an\ninfidel. He had a praying wife, but he would not listen to her, would\nnot allow her pastor even to take dinner with them; would not look at\nthe Bible, would not allow religion even to be talked of. She made up\nher mind, seeing she could not influence him by her voice, that every\nday she would pray to God at twelve o'clock for his salvation. She said\nnothing to him; but every day at that hour she told the Lord about her\nhusband. At the end of twelve months there was no change in him. But she\ndid not give up. Six months more went past. Her faith began to waver,\nand she said, \"Will I have to give him up at last? Perhaps when I am\ndead He will answer my prayers.\" When she had got to that point, it\nseemed just as if God had got her where he wanted her. The man came home\nto dinner one day. His wife was in the dining-room waiting for him, but\nhe didn't come in. She waited some time, and finally looked for him, all\nthrough the house. At last she thought of going into the little room\nwhere she had prayed so often. There he was, praying at the same bed\nwith agony, where she had prayed for so many months, asking forgiveness\nfor his sins. And, this is a lesson to you wives who have infidel\nhusbands. The Lord saw that woman's faith and answered her prayers.\n\n\n\nMr. Morehouse's Illustration.\n\nI remember Mr. Morehouse, while here four years ago, used an\nillustration which has fastened itself on my mind. He said, suppose you\ngo up the street and meet a man whom you have known for the last ten\nyears to be a beggar, and you notice a change in his appearance, and you\nsay, \"Halloo, beggar, what's come over you?\" \"I ain't no beggar. Don't\ncall me beggar.\" \"Why,\" you say, \"I saw you the other day begging in the\nstreet.\" \"Ah, but a change has taken place,\" he replies. \"Is that so?\nhow did it come about?\" you inquire. \"Well,\" he says, \"I came out this\nmorning and got down here intending to catch the business men and get\nall the money out of them, when one of them came up to me and said there\nwas $10,000 deposited for me.\" \"How do you know this is true?\" you say.\n\"I went to the bank and they put the money in my hand.\" \"Are you sure of\nthat?\" you ask; \"how do you know it was the right kind of a hand?\" But\nhe says; \"I don't care whether it was the right kind of a hand or not; I\ngot the money, and that's all I wanted.\" And so people are looking to\nsee if they've got the right kind of a hand before they accept God by\nit. They have but to accept his testimony and they are saved, for, as\nJohn says, \"He that hath received His testimony hath set his seal that\nGod is true.\" Is there a man in this assemblage who will receive His\ntestimony and set his seal that God is true? Proclaim that God speaks\nthe truth. Make yourself a liar, but make God's testimony truthful. Take\nHim at His word.\n\n\n\nFaith More Powerful than Gunpowder.\n\nI remember at one of the meetings at Nashville, during the war, a young\nman came to me, trembling from head to foot. \"What is the trouble?\" I\nasked. \"There is a letter I got from my sister, and she tells me every\nnight as the sun goes down she goes down on her knees and prays for me.\"\nThis man was brave, had been in a number of battles; he could stand\nbefore the cannon's mouth, but yet this letter completely upset him. \"I\nhave been trembling ever since I received it.\" Six hundred miles away\nthe faith of this girl went to work, and its influence was felt by the\nbrother. He did not believe in prayer; he did not believe in\nChristianity; he did not believe in his mother's Bible. This mother was\na praying woman, and when she died she left on earth a praying daughter.\nAnd when God saw her faith and heard that prayer, he answered her. How\nmany sons and daughters could be saved if their mothers and fathers had\nbut faith.\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- God will honor our faith.\n\n-- There is nothing on this earth that pleases Christ so much as faith.\n\n-- Faith is the foundation of all society. We have only to look around\n   and see this.\n\n-- I believe there is no man in the world so constituted but he can\n   believe in God's word. He simply tells you to believe in Him, and He\n   will save you.\n\n-- When I was converted twenty years ago I felt a faith in God; but five\n   years after I had a hundred times more faith, and five years ago I\n   had more than ever, because I became better acquainted with Him. I\n   have read up the Word, and I see that the Lord has done so and so,\n   and then I have turned to where He has promised to perform it, and\n   when I see this I have reason to believe in Him.\n\n\n\nFORGIVENESS.\n\nHow Moody's Mother Forgave her Prodigal Son.\n\nI can give you a little experience of my own family. Before I was\nfourteen years old the first thing I remember was the death of my\nfather. He had been unfortunate in business, and failed. Soon after his\ndeath the creditors came in and took everything. My mother was left with\na large family of children. One calamity after another swept over the\nentire household. Twins were added to the family, and my mother was\ntaken sick. The eldest boy was fifteen years of age, and to him my\nmother looked as a stay in her calamity, but all at once that boy became\na wanderer. He had been reading some of the trashy novels, and the\nbelief had seized him that he had only to go away to make a fortune.\nAway he went. I can remember how eagerly she used to look for tidings of\nthat boy; how she used to send us to the post office to see if there was\na letter from him, and recollect how we used to come back with the sad\nnews, \"No letter.\" I remember how in the evenings we used to sit beside\nher in that New England home, and we would talk about our father; but\nthe moment the name of that boy was mentioned she would hush us into\nsilence. Some nights when the wind was very high, and the house, which\nwas upon a hill, would tremble at every gust, the voice of my mother was\nraised in prayer for that wanderer who had treated her so unkindly. I\nused to think she loved him more than all the rest of us put together,\nand I believe she did. On a Thanksgiving day--you know that is a family\nday in New England--she used to set a chair for him, thinking he would\nreturn home. Her family grew up and her boys left home. When I got so\nthat I could write, I sent letters all over the country, but could find\nno trace of him. One day while in Boston the news reached me that he had\nreturned. While in that city, I remember how I used to look for him in\nevery store--he had a mark on his face--but I never got any trace. One\nday while my mother was sitting at the door, a stranger was seen coming\ntoward the house, and when he came to the door he stopped. My mother\ndidn't know her boy. He stood there with folded arms and great beard\nflowing down his breast, his tears trickling down his face. When my\nmother saw those tears she cried, \"Oh, it's my lost son,\" and entreated\nhim to come in. But he stood still. \"No, mother,\" he said, \"I will not\ncome in till I hear first you forgive me.\" Do you believe she was not\nwilling to forgive him? Do you think she was likely to keep him long\nstanding there? She rushed to the threshold and threw her arms around\nhim, and breathed forgiveness. Ah, sinner, if you but ask God to be\nmerciful to you a sinner, ask Him for forgiveness, although your life\nhas been bad--ask Him for mercy, and He will not keep you long waiting\nfor an answer.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Star In The East.  GUSTAVE DORE. Matthew, ii, 1-12.]\n\n\n[Illustration: Elijah's Ascent In A Chariot Of Fire.  GUSTAVE DORE. II\nKings, ii.]\n\n\n\nA Rich Father visits his Dying Prodigal Son in a Garret and Forgives him.\n\nThere is a story told of Mr. William Dawson, which I would like to\nrelate. While preaching in London, one night at the close of his sermon,\nhe said that there was not one in all London whom Christ could not save.\nIn the morning a young lady called upon him and said: \"Mr. Dawson, in\nyour sermon last night you said that 'there was no man in all London\nwhom Christ could not save.' I find a young man in my district who says\nhe cannot be saved, and who will not listen to me. Won't you go and see\nhim? I am sure you can do more with him than I can.\" Mr. Dawson readily\nassented, and went with the young lady to the East End--up one of those\nnarrow streets there, and at the top of a rickety staircase found a\ngarret, in which a man was stretched upon straw. He bent over him and\nsaid, \"Friend.\" \"Friend!\" said the young man, turning upon him, \"you\nmust take me for some other person. I have no friends.\" \"Ah,\" replied\nthe Christian, \"you are mistaken. Christ is the sinner's friend.\" The\nman thought this too good; \"Why,\" said he, \"my whole family have cast me\noff; every friend I had has left me, and no one cares for me.\" Mr.\nDawson spoke to him kindly, and quoted promise after promise--told him\nwhat Christ had suffered to give him eternal life. At first his efforts\nwere fruitless, but finally the light of the gospel began to break in on\nthe young man, and the first sign was his heart went out to those he had\ninjured. And, my friends, this is one of the first indications of the\nacceptance of Christ with the sinner. He said: \"I could die in peace now\nif my father would but forgive me.\" \"Well,\" replied the man of God, \"I\nwill go and see your father and ask him for his forgiveness.\" \"No, no,\"\nwas the sad answer of the young man, \"you cannot go near him. My father\nhas disinherited me; he has taken my name from the family records; he\nhas forbidden the mention of my name in his house by any of the family\nor servants in his presence, and you needn't go.\"\n\nHowever, Mr. Dawson obtained the address, and went away to the West End\nof London; ascended the steps of a beautiful villa, and rang the bell. A\nservant in livery came to the door and conducted him to the\ndrawing-room. There was everything in that house for comfort and luxury\nthat money could purchase. He could not help contrasting the scene of\npoverty in that garret with the scene of luxuriant elegance everywhere\naround him. Presently a proud, haughty-looking merchant came in, and as\nhe stepped forward to shake hands with Mr. Dawson that gentleman said:\n\"I believe you have a son named Joseph?\" and the merchant threw back his\nhand and drew himself up. \"If you come to speak of him--that\nreprobate--I want you to go away. I have no son of that name. I disown\nhim. If he has been talking to you he has been only deceiving you.\"\n\"Well,\" replied Mr. Dawson, \"he is your boy now, but he won't be long.\"\nThe father stood for a minute looking at the Christian, and then asked:\n\"Is Joseph sick?\" \"Yes,\" was the reply, \"he is at the point of death. I\nonly came to ask your forgiveness for him, that he may die in peace. I\ndon't ask any favor; when he dies we will bury him.\"\n\nThe father put his hands to his face and great tears rolled down his\ncheeks, as he said, \"Can you take me to him?\" In a very short time he\nwas in that narrow street where his son was dying, and as he mounted the\nfilthy stairs it hardly seemed possible that the boy could be in such a\nplace. When he entered the garret he could hardly recognize his son, and\nwhen he bent over him the boy opened his eyes and said: \"O, father, can\nyou--will you forgive me?\" and the father answered: \"O Joseph, I would\nhave forgiven you long ago if you had wanted me to.\" That haughty man\nlaid his boy's head on his bosom and the son told him what Christ had\ndone for him; how He had forgiven his sins, brought peace to his soul;\nhow that Son of God had found him in that poor garret, and had done all\nfor him. The father wanted the servant to take him home. \"No, father,\"\nsaid the boy, \"I have but a short time to live, and I would rather die\nhere.\" He lingered a few hours, and passed from that garret in the East\nEnd to the everlasting hills.\n\n\nMoody in a Billiard Hall.--A Remarkable Story.\n\nIn a meeting recently a man got up. I didn't know him at first. When I\nwas here he was a rumseller, and broke up his business and went to the\nmountains. This is how it happened. When I was here before, he opened a\nsaloon and a grand billiard hall. It was one of the most magnificent\nbilliard halls in Chicago, all elegantly gilded and frescoed. For the\nopening he sent me an invitation to be present, which I accepted, and\nwent around before he opened it. I saw the partners and asked them if\nthey would allow me to bring a friend. They said certainly, but asked me\nwho it was. Well, I said it wasn't necessary to tell who it was, but\nsaid I, \"I never go without him.\" They began to mistrust me. \"Who is\nit?\" they again inquired. \"Well, I'll come with him and if I see\nanything wrong I'll ask him to forgive you.\" \"Come,\" said they, \"we\ndon't want any praying.\" \"You've given me an invitation, and I am going\nto come.\" \"But if you do come you needn't pray.\" \"Well,\" said I, \"I'll\ntell you what we'll do, we'll compromise the matter, and if you don't\nwant me to come and pray for you when you open, let me pray for both of\nyou now,\" which they agreed to. It turned out that one of them had a\npraying mother, and the prayer touched his heart, and the other had a\nsister in heaven. I asked God to bless their souls, and just to break\ntheir business to pieces. In a few months their business did go all to\npieces. The man who got up in the prayer meeting told me a story that\ntouched my soul. He said with his business he hadn't prospered--he\nfailed, and went away to the Rocky Mountains. Life became a burden to\nhim and he made up his mind that he would go to some part of the\nmountains and put an end to his days. He took a sharp knife with him\nwhich he proposed driving into his heart. He sought a part of the\nmountains to kill himself. He had the knife ready to plunge into his\nheart, when he heard a voice--it was the voice of his mother. He\nremembered her words when she was dying, even though he was a boy. He\nheard her say, \"Johnny, if you get into trouble, pray.\" That knife\ndropped from his hand, and he asked God to be merciful to him. He was\naccepted, and he came back to Chicago and lifted up his voice for Him.\nHe may be in this Tabernacle to-night. Just the moment he cried for\nmercy he got it. If you only cry, \"God, be merciful to me a sinner,\" He\nwill hear you.\n\n\n\nMoody and the Judge.\n\nA number of years ago as I was coming out of a daily prayer meeting in\none of our Western cities, a lady came up to me and said: \"I want to\nhave you see my husband and ask him to come to Christ.\" She says, \"I\nwant to have you go and see him.\" She told me his name, and it was a man\nI had heard of before. \"Why,\" said I, \"I can't go and see your husband.\nHe is a booked infidel. I can't argue with him. He is a good deal older\nthan I am, and it would be out of place. Then I am not much for infidel\nargument.\" \"Well, Mr. Moody,\" she says, \"that ain't what he wants. He's\ngot enough of that. Just ask him to come to the Saviour.\" She urged me\nso hard and so strong, that I consented to go. I went to the office\nwhere the judge was doing business, and told him what I had come for. He\nlaughed at me. \"You are very foolish,\"  he said, and began to argue with\nme. I said, \"I don't think it will be profitable for me to hold an\nargument with you. I have just one favor I want to ask of you, and that\nis, that when you are converted you will let me know.\" \"Yes,\" said he,\n\"I will do that. When I am converted I will let you know\"--with a good\ndeal of sarcasm.\n\nI went off, and requests for prayer were sent here and to Fulton street,\nNew York, and I thought the prayers there and of that wife would be\nanswered if mine were not. A year and a half after, I was in that city,\nand a servant came to the door and said: \"There is a man in the front\nparlor who wishes to see you.\" I found the Judge there; he said: \"I\npromised I would let you know when I was converted.\" \"Well,\" said I,\n\"tell me all about it.\" I had heard it from other lips, but I wanted to\nhear it from his own. He said his wife had gone out to a meeting one\nnight and he was home alone, and while he was sitting there by the fire\nhe thought: \"Supposing my wife is right, and my children are right;\nsuppose there is a heaven and a hell, and I shall be separated from\nthem.\" His first thought was, \"I don't believe a word of it.\" The second\nthought came, \"You believe in the God that created you, and that the God\nthat created you is able to teach you. You believe that God can give you\nlife.\" \"Yes, the God that created me can give me life. I was too proud\nto get down on my knees by the fire, and said, 'O God, teach me.' And as\nI prayed, I don't understand it, but it began to get very dark, and my\nheart got very heavy. I was afraid to tell my wife, and I pretended to\nbe asleep. She kneeled down beside that bed, and I knew she was praying\nfor me. I kept crying, 'O God, teach me.' I had to change my prayer, 'O\nGod save me; O God, take away this burden.' But it grew darker and\ndarker, and the load grew heavier and heavier. All the way to my office\nI kept crying, 'O God, take away this load of guilt; I gave my clerks a\nholiday, and just closed my office and locked the door. I fell down on\nmy face; I cried in agony to my Lord, 'O Lord, for Christ's sake take\naway this guilt.' I don't know how it was, but it began to grow very\nlight. I said, I wonder if this isn't what they call conversion. I think\nI will go and ask the minister if I am not converted. I met my wife at\nthe door and said, 'My dear, I've been converted.' She looked in\namazement. 'Oh it's a fact; I've been converted! We went into that\ndrawing-room and knelt down by the sofa and prayed to God to bless us.\"\nThe old Judge said to me, the tears trickling down his cheeks, \"Mr.\nMoody, I've enjoyed life more in the last three months than in all the\nyears of my life put together.\" If there is an infidel here--if there is\na skeptical one here, ask God to give you wisdom to come now. Let us\nreason together, and if you become acquainted with God the day will not\ngo before you receive light from Him.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Tower of Bable. GUSTAVE DORE.  Genesis, xi.]\n\n[Illustration: The Destruction of Sodom.  GUSTAVE DORE.  Genesis, xix.]\n\n\n\nReuben Johnson Pardoned.\n\nI want to tell you a scene that occurred some time ago. Our Commissioner\nwent to the Governor of the State and asked him if he wouldn't pardon\nout five men at the end of six months who stood highest on the list for\ngood behavior. The Governor consented, and the record was to be kept\nsecret; the men were not to know anything about it. The six months\nrolled away and the prisoners were brought up--1,100 of them--and the\nPresident of the commission came up and said: \"I hold in my hand pardons\nfor five men.\" I never witnessed anything like it. Every man held his\nbreath, and you could almost hear the throbbing of every man's heart.\n\"Pardon for five men,\" and the Commissioner went on to tell the men how\nthey had got these pardons--how the Governor had given them, but the\nChaplain said the surprise was so great that he told the Commissioner to\nread the names first and tell the reason afterward. The first name was\ncalled--'Reuben Johnson'--and he held out the pardon, but not a man\nmoved. He looked all around, expecting to see a man spring to his feet\nat once; but no one moved. The Commissioner turned to the officer of the\nprison and inquired: \"Are all the convicts here?\" \"Yes,\" was the reply,\n\"Reuben Johnson, come forward and get your pardon; you are no longer a\ncriminal.\" Still no one moved.\n\nThe real Reuben Johnson was looking all the time behind him, and around\nhim to see where Reuben was. The Chaplain saw him standing right in\nfront of the Commissioner, and beckoned to him; but he only turned and\nlooked around him, thinking that the Chaplain might mean some other\nReuben. A second time he beckoned to Reuben and called to him, and a\nsecond time the man looked around. At last the Chaplain said to him:\n\"You are the Reuben.\" He had been there for nineteen years, having been\nplaced there for life, and he could not conceive it would be for him. At\nlast it began to dawn upon him, and he took the pardon from the\nCommissioner's hand, saw his name attached to it, and wept like a child.\nThis is the way that men make out pardons for men; but, thank God, we\nhave not to come to-night and say we have pardons for only five men--for\nthose who have behaved themselves. We have assurance of pardon for every\nman. \"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.\"\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- All you have got to do is to prove that you are a sinner, and I will\n   prove that you have got a Saviour.\n\n-- Do you believe the Lord will call a poor sinner, and then cast him\n   out? No! his word stands forever, \"Him that cometh unto Me I will in\n   no wise cast out.\"\n\n-- If God put Adam out of this earthly Eden on account of one sin, do\n   you think He will let us into the Paradise above with our tens of\n   thousands sins upon us.\n\n-- The only charge they could bring against Christ down here was, that\n   He was receiving bad men. They are the very kind of  men He is\n   willing to receive.\n\n-- \"Lord, you don't really mean that we shall preach the Gospel to those\n   men that murdered you, to those men that took your life?\" \"Yes,\" says\n   the Lord, \"go and preach the Gospel to those Jerusalem sinners.\" I\n   can imagine Him saying: \"Go and hunt up that man that put the cruel\n   crown of thorns upon My brow, and preach the Gospel to him. Tell him\n   he shall have a crown in My kingdom without a thorn in it.\"\n\n\n\nGRACE.\n\nMoody's First Sermon on Grace.\n\nI remember preaching one night in winter--one of the coldest winters we\nhad--the winter after the Chicago fire. I had been studying up grace,\nand it was the first time I had spoken of it, and I was just full of it.\nI started out of the house, I remember, and the first man I met I asked\nhim if he knew anything about the grace of God, and I tried to preach to\nhim. This man thought I was crazy. I ran on and met another, and finally\ngot up to the meeting. That night I thought I was speaking to a lot of\npeople who felt as I did about grace, and when I got through I asked\nanyone who would like to hear about grace--who had any interest in it,\nto stay. I expected some would have stayed, but what was my\nmortification to see the whole audience rise up and go away. They hadn't\nany interest in grace; they didn't want to learn anything about grace. I\nput my coat and hat on and was going out of the hall, when I saw a poor\nfellow at the back of the furnace crying. \"I want to hear about the\ngrace of God,\" said he. \"You're the man I want, then,\" said I. \"Yes,\"\nthe poor fellow said, \"you said in your sermon that it was free, and I\nwant you to tell me something about it.\" Well, I got to talking to him,\nand he told me a pitiful story. He had drank away twenty thousand\ndollars, his home had been broken up, and his wife and children had left\nhim. I spoke to him, and it was not long before we were down together\npraying. That night I got him a night's lodging in the Bethel, and next\nday we got him on his feet, and when I went to Europe he was one of the\nmost earnest workers we had. He was just a partaker of grace--believed\nthat the peace of God was sufficient for him, and he took God at his\nword and he was a saved man.\n\n\n\nDr. Arnott's Dog \"Rover.\"\n\nI remember when Dr. Arnott, who has gone to God, was delivering a\nsermon, he used this illustration. The sermon and text have all gone,\nbut that illustration is fresh upon my mind to-night and brings home the\ntruth. He said: \"You have been sometimes out at dinner with a friend,\nand you have seen the faithful household dog standing watching every\nmouthful his master takes. All the crumbs that fall on the floor he\npicks up, and seems eager for them, but when his master takes a plate of\nbeef and puts it on the floor and says, 'Rover, here's something for\nyou,' he comes up and smells of it, looks at his master, and goes away\nto a corner of the room. He was willing to eat the crumbs, but he\nwouldn't touch the roast beef--thought it was too good for him.\" That is\nthe way with a good many Christians. They are willing to eat the crumbs,\nbut not willing to take all God wants. Come boldly to the throne of\ngrace and get the help we need; there is an abundance for every man,\nwoman and child in the assemblage.\n\n\n\nYoung Moody Penniless in Boston is Warned by his Sister to \"Beware of\nPickpockets.\"\n\nI remember when I was a boy and went to Boston, I went to the postoffice\ntwo or three times a day to see if there was a letter for me. I knew\nthere was not, as there was but one mail a day. I had not had any\nemployment and was very homesick, and so went constantly to the\npostoffice, thinking perhaps when the mail did come in my letter had\nbeen mislaid. At last, however, I got a letter. It was from my youngest\nsister, the first letter she ever wrote to me. I opened it with a light\nheart thinking there was some good news from home, but the burden of the\nwhole letter was that she had heard there were pickpockets in Boston,\nand warned me to take care of them. I thought I had better get some\nmoney in hand first, and then I might take care of pickpockets. And so\nyou must take care to remember salvation is a gift. You don't work for\nsalvation; but work day and night after you have got it. Get it first\nbefore you do anything, but don't try to get it yourself. Look at what\nPaul says in Ephesians: \"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and\nthat not of yourself, it is the gift of God\"--it is the gift of\nGod--\"Not of works, lest any man should boast.\" There is one thing we\nknow: We have all got to get into heaven the same way. We cannot work\nour way there; we have to take our salvation from God.\n\n\n\nA Heavy Draw on Alexander the Great.\n\nThere is a story told of Alexander the Great. A general in his army was\na great favorite with him, and he told him to draw anything from his\ntreasury that he wanted. Well, he presented a bill to the treasurer, and\nthe treasurer wouldn't honor it. It was for such an enormous amount that\nthe treasurer was astonished. The General went rushing to the Emperor\nand told him, and he called the treasurer and said, \"Didn't I tell you\nto honor the draft of the General.\" \"But,\" replied the treasurer, \"do\nyou understand its amount?\" \"Never mind what it is,\" replied the\nEmperor, \"he honors me and my kingdom by making a great draft.\" And so\nwe honor God by asking for grace in abundance. I tell you, my friends,\nit is a pity there are so many half-starved, mean Christians around when\nGod says, \"Come and get all you want.\"\n\n\n\nA Long Ladder Tumbles to the Ground.\n\nI remember hearing of a man who dreamt that he built a ladder from earth\nto heaven, and when he did a good deed up went his ladder a few feet.\nWhen he did a very good deed his ladder went higher, and when he gave\naway large sums of money to the poor up it went further still. By and by\nit went out of sight, and years rolled on, and it went up, he thought,\npast the clouds, clear into heaven. When he died he thought he would\nstep off his ladder into heaven, but he heard a voice roll out from\nparadise, \"He that climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a\nrobber.\" and down he came, ladder and all, and he awoke. He said if he\nwanted to get salvation he must get it another way than by good deeds,\nand he took the other way.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- We must not limit the mighty grace of God.\n\n-- Grace means undeserved kindness. It is the gift of God to man the\n   moment he sees he is unworthy of God's favor.\n\n-- A man does not get grace till he comes down to the ground, till he\n   sees he needs grace. When a man stoops to the dust and acknowledges\n   that he needs mercy, then it is that the Lord will give him grace.\n\n-- If you are ready to partake of grace you have not to atone for your\n   sins--you have merely to accept of the atonement. All that you want\n   to do is to cry, \"God have mercy upon me,\" and you will receive the\n   blessing.\n\n-- \"The grace of God hath power to bring salvation to all men,\" and if a\n   man is unsaved it is because he wants to work it out; he wants to\n   receive salvation in some other way than God's way; but we are told\n   that \"he that climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a\n   robber.\"\n\n-- When we get full of this grace we want to see everyone blessed--we\n   want to see all the churches blessed, not only all the churches here,\n   but in the whole country. That was the trouble with Christ's\n   disciples. He had hard work to make them understand that His gospel\n   was for everyone, that it was a stream to flow out to all nations of\n   the earth. They wanted to confine it to the Jews, and He had to\n   convince them that it was for every living being.\n\n\n\nHEAVEN.\n\nMoody in a California Sunday School.\n\nI remember when I went to California just to try and get a few souls\nsaved on the Pacific coast, I went into a school there and asked, \"Have\nyou got some one who can write a plain hand?\" \"Yes.\" Well, we got up the\nblackboard, and the lesson upon it proved to be the very text we have\nto-night. \"Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.\" And I said,\n\"Suppose we write upon that board some of the earthly treasures? And we\nwill begin with 'gold.'\" The teacher readily put down gold, and they\nall comprehended it, for all had run to that country in the hope of\nfinding it. \"Well, we will put down 'houses' next, and then 'land.' Next\nwe will put down 'fast horses.'\" They all understood what fast horses\nwere--they knew a good deal more about fast horses than they knew about\nthe kingdom of God. Some of them, I think, actually made fast horses\nserve as Gods. \"Next we will put down 'tobacco.'\" The teacher seemed to\nshrink at this. \"Put it down,\" said I, \"many a man thinks more of\ntobacco than he does of God. Well, then, we will put down 'rum.'\" He\nobjected to this--didn't like to put it down at all. \"Down with it. Many\na man will sell his reputation, will sell his home, his wife, his\nchildren, everything he has, for rum. It is the God of some men. Many\nhere in Chicago will sell their present and then eternal welfare for it.\nPut it down,\" and down it went. \"Now,\" said I, \"suppose we put down some\nof the heavenly treasures. Put down 'Jesus' to head the list, then\n'heaven,' then 'River of Life,' then 'Crown of Glory,' and went on till\nthe column was filled, and then just drew a line and showed the heavenly\nand the earthly things in contrast. My friends, they could not stand\ncomparison. If a man just does that, he cannot but see the superiority\nof the heavenly over the earthly treasures. Well, it turned out that the\nteacher was not a Christian. He had gone to California on the usual\nhunt--gold; and when he saw the two columns placed side by side, the\nexcellence of the one over the other was irresistible, and he was the\nfirst soul God gave me on that Pacific coast. He accepted Christ, and\nthat man came to the station when I was coming away and blessed me for\ncoming to that place.\n\n\n\nMothers are Looking Down from Heaven.\n\nI remember in the Exposition building in Dublin, while I was speaking\nabout Heaven, I said something to the effect that at this moment a\nmother is looking down from Heaven expecting the salvation of her\ndaughter here to-night, and I pointed down to a young lady in the\naudience. Next morning I received this letter:\n\n\"On Wednesday, when you were speaking of heaven, you said, 'It may be\nthis moment there is a mother looking down from heaven expecting the\nsalvation of her child who is here.' You were apparently looking at the\nvery spot where my child was sitting. My heart said, 'That is my child.\nThat is her mother.' Tears sprang to my eyes. I bowed my head and\nprayed, 'Lord, direct that word to my darling child's heart; Lord save\nmy child.' I was then anxious till the close of the meeting, when I went\nto her. She was bathed in tears. She rose, put her arms around me, and\nkissed me. When walking down to you she told me it was that same\nremark--about the mother looking down from heaven--that found the way\nhome to her, and asked me, 'Papa, what can I do for Jesus?'\"\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Destruction Of Sennacherib's Host. GUSTAVE DORE.  II\nKings xix.]\n\n\n\nThe Rich Man Poor.\n\nI heard of a farmer who, when a friend of mine called upon him to give\nsomething for the Christian Commission, promptly drew a check for ten\nthousand dollars. He wanted the agent to have dinner with him, and after\nthey had dined the farmer took the man out on the verandah and pointed\nto the rich lands sweeping far away, laden with rich products. \"Look\nover these lands,\" said the farmer, \"They are all mine.\" He took him to\nthe pasture and showed the agent the choice stock, the fine horses he\nhad, and then pointed to a little town, and then to a large hall where\nhe lived; he drew himself up, and his face lit up with pride as he said,\n\"They are all mine. I came here when a poor boy and I have earned all\nthat you see.\" When he got through, my friend asked 'him, \"Well, what\nhave you got up yonder?\" \"Where?\" replied the farmer, who evidently knew\nwhere my friend meant. \"What have you got in heaven?\" \"Well,\" said the\nfarmer, \"I haven't anything there.\" \"What!\" replied my friend, \"You, a\nman of your discretion, wisdom, business ability, have made no provision\nfor your future?\" He hadn't, and in a few weeks he died--a rich man here\nand a beggar in eternity. A man may be wise in the eyes of the world to\npursue this course, but he is a fool in the sight of God. Wealth to most\nmen proves nothing more or less than a great rock upon which their\neternity is wrecked.\n\n\n\nThe Dying Boy.\n\nBut I have another anecdote to tell. It was Ralph Wallace who told me of\nthis one. A certain gentleman was a member of the Presbyterian Church.\nHis little boy was sick. When he went home his wife was weeping, and she\nsaid, \"Our boy is dying; he has had a change for the worse. I wish you\nwould go in and see him.\" The father went into the room and placed his\nhand upon the brow of his dying boy, and could feel that the cold, damp\nsweat was gathering there; that the cold, icy hand of death was feeling\nfor the chords of life. \"Do you know, my boy, that you are dying?\" asked\nthe father. \"Am I? Is this death? Do you really think I am dying?\" \"Yes,\nmy son, your end on earth is near.\" \"And will I be with Jesus to-night,\nfather?\" \"Yes, you will be with the Saviour.\" \"Father, don't you weep,\nfor when I get there I will go right straight to Jesus and tell Him that\nyou have been trying all my life to lead me to Him.\" God has given me\ntwo little children, and ever since I can remember I have directed them\nto Christ, and I would rather they carried this message to Jesus--that I\nhad tried all my life to lead them to Him--than have all the crowns of\nthe earth; and I would rather lead them to Jesus than give them the\nwealth of the world. If you have got a child go and point the way. I\nchallenge any man to speak of heaven without speaking of children. \"For\nof such is the kingdom of heaven.\"\n\n\n\nA Sad and Singular Story.\n\nWhen I was a young boy--before I was a Christian--I was in a field one\nday with a man who was hoeing. He was weeping, and he told me a strange\nstory, which I have never forgotten. When he left home his mother gave\nhim this text: \"Seek first the kingdom of God.\" But he paid no heed to\nit. He said when he got settled in life, and his ambition to get money\nwas gratified, it would be time enough then to seek the kingdom of God.\nHe went from one village to another and got nothing to do. When Sunday\ncame he went into a village church, and what was his great surprise to\nhear the minister give out the text, \"Seek first the kingdom of God.\" He\nsaid the text went down to the bottom of his heart. He thought that it\nwas but his mother's prayer following him, and that some one must have\nwritten to that minister about him. He felt very uncomfortable, and when\nthe meeting was over he could not get that sermon out of his mind. He\nwent away from that town, and at the end of a week went into another\nchurch and he heard the minister give out the same text, \"Seek first the\nkingdom of God.\" He felt sure this time that it was the prayers of his\nmother, but he said calmly and deliberately, \"No, I will first get\nwealthy.\" He said he went on and did not go into a church for a few\nmonths, but the first place of worship he went into he heard a third\nminister preaching a sermon from the same text. He tried to drown--to\nstifle his feelings; tried to get the sermon out of his mind, and\nresolved that he would keep away from church altogether, and for a few\nyears did keep out of God's house. \"My mother died,\" he said, \"and the\ntext kept coming up in my mind, and I said I will try and become a\nChristian.\" The tears rolled down his checks as he said, \"I could not;\nno sermon ever touches me; my heart is as hard as that stone,\" pointing\nto one in the field. I couldn't understand what it was all about--it was\nfresh to me then. I went to Boston and got converted, and the first\nthought that came to me was about this man. When I got back I asked my\nmother, \"Is Mr. L-- living in such a place?\" \"Didn't I write to you\nabout him?\" she asked. \"They have taken him to an insane asylum, and to\neveryone who goes there he points with his finger up there and tells him\nto \"seek first the Kingdom of God.\" There was that man with his eyes\ndull with the loss of reason, but the text had sunk into his soul--it\nhad burned down deep. Oh, may the Spirit of God burn the text into your\nhearts to-night. When I got home again my mother told me he was in her\nhouse, and I went to see him. I found him in a rocking chair, with that\nvacant, idiotic look upon him. Whenever he saw me he pointed at me and\nsaid: \"Young man, seek first the kingdom of God.\" Reason was gone, but\nthe text was there. Last month when I was laying my brother down in his\ngrave I could not help thinking of that poor man who was lying so near\nhim, and wishing that the prayer of his mother had been heard, and that\nhe had found the kingdom of God.\n\n\nThe Eleventh Commandment.\n\nThere are a great many people who forget that there are eleven\ncommandments. They think there are only ten. The eleventh commandment\nis: \"Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.\" How many of us\nremember--ah! how many people in Chicago forget the words of the Lord\nnow in his wonderful sermon on the mount: \"Lay not up for yourselves\ntreasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where\nthieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in\nheaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do\nnot break through and steal.\" How few of our people pay any heed to\nthese words. That's why there are so many broken hearts among us; that's\nwhy so many men and women are disappointed and going through the streets\nwith shattered hopes; it's because they have not been laying up\ntreasures in heaven.\n\n\n\n\"It's Better Higher Up.\"\n\nNot long ago there lived an old bed-ridden saint, and a Christian lady\nwho visited her found her always very cheerful. This visitor had a lady\nfriend of wealth who constantly looked on the dark side of things, and\nwas always cast down although she was a professed Christian. She thought\nit would do this lady good to see the bed-ridden saint, so she took her\ndown to the house. She lived up in the garret, five stories up, and when\nthey had got to the first story the lady drew up her dress and said,\n\"How dark and filthy it is!\" \"It's better higher up,\" said her friend.\nThey got to the next story, and it was no better; the lady complained\nagain, but her friend replied, \"It's better higher up,\" At the third\nfloor it seemed still worse, and the lady kept complaining, but her\nfriend kept saying, \"It's better higher up.\" At last they got to the\nfifth story, and when they went into the sick-room, there was a nice\ncarpet on the floor, there were flowering plants in the window, and\nlittle birds singing. And there they found this bedridden saint--one of\nthose saints whom God is polishing for his own temple--just beaming with\njoy. The lady said to her, \"It must be very hard for you to lie here.\"\nShe smiled, and said, \"It's better higher up.\" Yes! And if things go\nagainst us, my friends, let us remember that \"it's better higher up.\"\n\n\n\nCalling the Roll of Heaven.\n\nA soldier, wounded during our last war, lay dying in his cot. Suddenly\nthe deathlike stillness of the room was broken by the cry, \"Here! Here!\"\nwhich burst from the lips of the dying man. Friends rushed to the spot\nand asked what he wanted. \"Hark,\" he said, \"they are calling the roll of\nheaven, and I am answering to my name.\" In a few moments once more he\nwhispered, \"Here!\" and passed into the presence or the King.\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- The way to heaven is straight as an arrow.\n\n-- Heaven is just as much a place as Chicago. It is a destination.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brethern.  GUSTAVE\nDORE. Genesis, xiv.]\n\n\n\nINFIDELITY\n\nThe Young French Nobleman and the Doctor.\n\nIn London, when I was there in 1867, I was told a story which made a\nvery deep impression upon me. A young French nobleman came there to see\na doctor, bringing letters from the French Emperor. The Emperor Napoleon\nIII. had a great regard for this young man, and the doctor wanted to\nsave him. He examined the young man, and saw there was something on his\nmind. \"Have you lost any property? What is troubling you? You have\nsomething weighing upon your mind,\" said the doctor. \"Oh, there is\nnothing particular.\" \"I know better; have you lost any relations?\" asked\nthe doctor. \"No, none within the last three years.\" \"Have you lost any\nreputation in your country?\" \"No.\" The doctor studied for a few minutes,\nand then said, \"I must know what is on your mind; I must know what is\ntroubling you.\" And the young man said, \"My father was an infidel; my\ngrandfather was an infidel, and I was brought up an infidel, and for the\nlast three years these words have haunted me, 'Eternity, and where shall\nit find me?'\"  \"Ah,\" said the doctor, \"you have come to the wrong\nphysician.\" \"Is there no hope for me?\" cried the young man. \"I walk\nabout in the day time; I lie down at night, and it comes upon me\ncontinually: 'Eternity, and where shall I spend it?' Tell me, is there\nany hope for me?\" The doctor said: \"Now just sit down and be quiet. A\nfew years ago I was an infidel. I did not believe in God, and was in the\nsame condition in which you are in.\" The doctor took down his Bible and\nturned to the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah and read: \"He was wounded\nfor our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the\nchastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are\nhealed.\" And he read on through this chapter.\n\nWhen he had finished, the young man said: \"Do you believe this, that He\nvoluntarily left heaven, came down to this earth, and suffered and died\nthat we might be saved?\" \"Yes, I believe it. That brought me out of\ninfidelity, out of darkness into light.\" And he preached Christ and His\nsalvation and told him of heaven and then suggested that they get down\non their knees and pray. And when I went there in 1867 a letter had been\nreceived from that young nobleman, who wrote to Dr. Whinston in London,\ntelling him that the question of \"eternity, and where he should spend\nit\" was settled, and troubled him no more. My friends, the question of\neternity, and where we are going to spend it, forces itself upon\neveryone of us. We are staying here for a little day. Our life is but a\nfibre and it will soon be snapped. I may be preaching my last sermon.\nTo-night may find me in eternity. By the grace of God say that you will\nspend it in heaven.\n\n\n\nSambo and the Infidel Judge.\n\nOnce there was a Judge who had a colored man. The colored man was very\ngodly, and the Judge used to have him to drive him around in his\ncircuit. The Judge used often to talk with him, and the colored man\nwould tell the Judge about his religious experience, and about his\nbattles and conflicts. One day the Judge said to him, \"Sambo, how is it\nthat you Christians are always talking about the conflicts you have with\nSatan. I am better off than you are. I don't have any conflicts or\ntrouble, and yet I am an infidel and you are a Christian--always in a\nmuss-how's that, Sambo?\" This floored the colored man for a while. He\ndidn't know how to meet the old infidel's argument. So he shook his head\nsorrowfully and said: \"I dunno. Massa, I dunno.\" The Judge always\ncarried a gun along with him for hunting. Pretty soon they came to a lot\nof ducks. The Judge took his gun and blazed away at them, and wounded\none and killed another. The Judge said quickly, \"You jump in, Sambo, and\nget that wounded duck before he gets off,\" and did not pay any attention\nto the dead one. In went Sambo for the wounded duck and came out\nreflecting. The colored man then thought he had an illustration. He said\nto the Judge: \"I hab 'im now, Massa, I'se able to show you how de\nChristian hab greater conflict den de infidel. Don't you know de moment\nyou wounded dat ar duck, how anxious you was to get 'im out, and you\ndidn't care for de dead duck, but just lef 'im alone!\" \"Yes,\" said the\nJudge. \"Well,\" said Sambo, \"ye see as how dat ar dead duck's a sure\nthing. I'se wounded, and I tries to get away from de debbil. It takes\ntrouble to catch me. But, massa, you are a dead duck--dar is no squabble\nfor you. The debbil have you \"sure!\" So the devil has no conflict with\nthe infidel.\n\n\n\nAn Infidel who would not Talk Infidelity before his Daughter.\n\nNot long ago I went into a man's house, and when I commenced to talk\nabout religion he turned to his daughter and said: \"You had better go\nout of the room; I want to say a few words to Mr. Moody.\" When she had\ngone he opened a perfect torrent of infidelity upon me. \"Why,\" said I,\n\"did you send your daughter out of the room before you said this?\"\n\"Well,\" he replied, \"did not think it would do her any good to hear what\nI said.\" My friends, his \"rock is not as our rock\" Why did he send his\ndaughter out of the room if he believed what he said? When these\ninfidels are in trouble why do not they get some of their infidel\nfriends to administer consolation? When they make a will why do they\ncall in some follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to carry it out? Why, it\nis because they cannot trust their infidel friends.\n\n\nA Dying Infidel's Confession.\n\nI want to read to you a letter which I received some time ago. I read\nthis to you because I am getting letters from infidels who say that not\nan infidel has repented during our meetings. Only about ten days ago I\ngot a letter from an infidel, who accused me of being a liar. He said\nthere had not been an infidel converted during our meetings. My friends,\ngo up to the young converts' meeting any Monday night, and you will see\nthere ten or twelve every night who have accepted Christ. Why, nearly\nevery night we meet with a poor infidel who accepts Christ, But let me\nread this letter. We get many letters every day for prayer, and, my\nfriends, you don't know the stories that lie behind those letters. The\nletter I am about to read was not received here, but while we were in\nPhiladelphia. When I received it I put it away, intending to use it at a\nfuture day:\n\nDEAR SIR: Allow me the privilege of addressing you with a few words. The\ncause of writing is indeed a serious one. I am the son of an\naristocratic family of Germany--was expensively educated, and at\ncollege at Leipsic was ruined by drinking, etc.; was expelled for\ngambling and dishonesty. My parents were greatly grieved at my conduct,\nand I did not dare return home, but sailed for America. I went to St.\nLouis and remained there for want of money to get away. I finally\nobtained a situation as bookkeeper in a dry goods house; heard from home\nand the death of my parents. This made me more sinful than ever before.\nI heard one of your sermons, which made a deep impression on me. I was\ntaken sick, and the words of your text came to me and troubled me. I\nhave tried to find peace of God, but have not succeeded. My friends, by\nreasoning with me that there was no God, endeavored to comfort me. The\nthought of my sinfulness and approaching the grave, my blasphemy, my bad\nexample, caused me to mourn and weep. I think God is too just to forgive\nme my sins. My life is drawing to a close. I have not yet received God's\nfavor. Will you not remember me in your prayers, and beseech God to save\nmy soul from eternal destruction? Excuse me for writing this, but it\nwill be the last I shall write this side of the grave.\n\n\n\nInfidel Books.\n\nIf you stop to ask yourself why you don't believe in Christ, is there\nreally any reason? People read infidel books and wonder, why they are\nunbelievers, I ask why they read such books. They think they must read\nboth sides. I say that book is a lie, how can it be one side when it is\na lie? It is not one side at all. Suppose a man tells right down lies\nabout my family, and I read them so as to hear both sides; it would not\nbe long before some suspicion would creep into my mind. I said to a man\nonce, \"Have you got a wife?\" \"Yes, and a good one.\" I asked: \"Now what\nif I should come to you and cast out insinuations against her?\" And he\nsaid, \"Well your life would not be safe long if you did.\" I told him\njust to treat the devil as he would treat a man who went around with\nsuch stories. We are not to blame for having doubts flitting through our\nminds, but for harboring them. Let us go out trusting the Lord with\nheart and soul to-day.\n\n\n\nHow a Little Study Upset the Plans of a few Prominent Infidels.\n\nIt is said of West, an eminent man, that he was going to take up the\ndoctrine of the resurrection, and just show the world what a fraud it\nwas, while Lord Lyttleton was going to take up the conversion of Saul,\nand just show the folly of it. These men were going to annihilate that\ndoctrine and that incident of the gospel. A Frenchman said it took\ntwelve fishermen to build up Christ's religion, but one Frenchman pulled\nit down. From Calvary this doctrine rolled along the stream of time,\nthrough the eighteen hundred years, down to us, and West got at it and\nbegan to look at the evidence; but instead of his being able to cope\nwith it he found it perfectly overwhelming--the proof that Christ had\nrisen, that He had come out of the sepulcher and ascended to heaven and\nled captivity captive. The light dawned upon him, and he became an\nexpounder of the word of God and a champion of Christianity; And Lord\nLyttleton, that infidel and skeptic hadn't been long at the conversion\nof Saul before the God of Saul broke upon his sight, and he too, began\nto preach.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- What reason have I for doubting God's own word?\n\n-- I just as much believe that God sent Christ into the world to be the\n   Saviour of the world, as I believe that I exist.\n\n\n\nINTEMPERANCE.\n\nCast Out But Rescued.\n\nI met a man in New York who was an earnest worker, and I asked him to\ntell me his experience. He said he had been a drunkard for over twenty\nyears. His parents had forsaken him, and his wife had cast him off and\nmarried some one else. He went into a lawyer's office in Poughkeepsie,\nmad with drink. This lawyer proved a good Samaritan, and reasoned with\nhim, and told him he could be saved. The man scouted the idea. He said:\n\"I must be pretty low when my father and mother, my wife and kindred,\nhave cast me off, and there is no hope for me here or hereafter.\" But\nthis good Samaritan showed him how it was possible to secure salvation,\ngot him on his feet, got him on his beast, like the good Samaritan of\nold, and guided his face toward Zion. And this man said to me: \"I have\nnot drank a glass of liquor since.\" He is now leader of a young men's\nmeeting in New York. I asked him to come last Saturday night to\nNorthfield, my native town, where there are a good many drunkards,\nthinking he might encourage them to seek salvation. He came and brought\na young man with him. They held a meeting, and it seemed as if the power\nof God rested upon that meeting when these two men went on telling what\nGod had done for them--how He had destroyed the works of the devil in\ntheir hearts, and brought peace and unalloyed happiness to their souls.\nThese grog shops here are the works of the devil--they are ruining men's\nsouls every hour. Let us fight against them, and let our prayers go up\nin our battles. It may seem a very difficult thing for us, but it is a\nvery easy thing for God to convert rumsellers.\n\n\n\nThe Way of the Transgressor is Hard.\n\nThere was a man whom I knew who was an inveterate drinker. He had a wife\nand children. He thought he could stop whenever he felt inclined, but he\nwent the ways of most moderate drinkers. I had not been gone more than\nthree years, and when I returned I found that that mother had gone down\nto her grave with a broken heart, and that man was the murderer of the\nwife of his bosom. Those children have all been taken away from him, and\nhe is now walking up and down those streets homeless. But four years ago\nhe had a beautiful and a happy home with his wife and children around\nhim. They are gone; probably he will never see them again. Perhaps he\nhas come in here to-night. If he has, I ask him: Is not the way of the\ntransgressor hard?\n\n\n\nA Rum-Seller's Son Blows his Brains Out.\n\nLook at that rum-seller. When we talk to him he laughs at us. He tells\nyou there is no hell, no future--there is no retribution. I've got one\nman in my mind now who ruined nearly all the sons in his neighborhood.\nMothers and fathers went to him and begged him not to sell their\nchildren liquor. He told them it was his business to sell liquor, and he\nwas going to sell liquor to everyone who came. The saloon was a blot\nupon the place as dark as hell. But the man had a father's heart. He had\na son. He didn't worship God, but he worshiped that boy. He didn't\nremember that whatsoever a man soweth so shall he reap. My friends, they\ngenerally reap what they sow. It may not come soon, but the retribution\nwill come. If you ruin other men's sons some other man will ruin yours.\nBear in mind God is a God of equity; God is a God of justice. He is not\ngoing to allow you to ruin men and then escape yourself. If we go\nagainst his laws we suffer. Time rolled on and that young man became a\nslave to drink, and his life became such a burden to him that he put a\nrevolver to his head and blew his brains out. The father lived a few\nyears, but his life was as bitter as gall, and then went down to his\ngrave in sorrow. Ah, my friends, it is hard to kick against the pricks.\n\n\n\nA Distiller Interrogates Moody.\n\nIn Europe in a place where there was a good deal of whisky distilled,\none of the men in the business was a church member, and got a little\nanxious in his conscience about his business. He came and asked me if I\nthought that a man could not be an honest distiller. I said, You should\ndo whatever you do for the glory of God. If you can get down and pray\nabout a barrel of whisky, and say, for instance, when you sell it, \"O\nLord God, let this whisky be blessed to the world,\" it is probably\nhonest.\n\n\nThe Most Hopeless Man in New York now a Sunday-School Superintendent.\n\nA young man in one of our meetings in New York got up and thrilled the\naudience with his experience. \"I want to tell you,\" he said, \"that nine\nmonths ago a Christian came to my house and said he wanted me to become\na Christian. He talked to me kindly and encouragingly, pointing out the\nerror of my ways, and I become converted. I had been a hard drinker, but\nsince that time I have not touched a drop of liquor. If anyone had asked\nwho the most hopeless man in town was they would have pointed to me.\"\nTo-day this man is the superintendent of a Sabbath-school. Eleven years\nago, when I went to Boston, I had a cousin who wanted a little of my\nexperience. I gave him all the help I could, and he became a Christian.\nHe did not know how near death was to him: He wrote to his brother and\nsaid: \"I am very anxious to get your soul to Jesus.\" The letter somehow\nwent to another city, and lay from the 28th of February till the 28th of\nMarch--just one month. He saw it was in his brother's handwriting, and\ntore it open and read the above words. It struck a chord in his heart,\nand was the means of converting him. And this was the Christian who led\nthis drunken man to Christ. This young man had a neighbor who had drank\nfor forty years, and he went to that neighbor and told him what God had\ndone for him, and the result was another conversion. I tell you these\nthings to encourage you to believe that the drunkard can be saved.\n\n\n\nA Remarkable Case.\n\nI may relate a little experience. In Philadelphia, at one of our\nmeetings, a drunken man rose up. Till that time I had no faith that a\ndrunken man could be converted. When any one approached he was generally\ntaken out. This man got up and shouted, \"I want to be prayed for.\" The\nfriends who were with him tried to draw him away, but he shouted only\nlouder, and for three times he repeated the request. His call was\nattended to and he was converted. God has power to convert a man even if\nhe is drunk.\n\n\n\n\"O Edward.\"\n\nI remember going into a young converts' meeting in Philadelphia, where I\nheard a story that thrilled my soul. A young man said he had been a\ngreat drunkard. He had lost one situation after another; till finally he\ncame to the very dregs. He left Philadelphia, and went first to\nWashington, and then to Baltimore. One night he came back to\nPhiladelphia. He had lost his key and could not get into his home. He\nwas afraid to go into the house while the people were stirring, so he\nstaid outside watching till all had retired. He knew that after that\nthere would be at least one who would hear him and come to the door. He\nwent to the door; he knocked; when he heard the footsteps of his mother.\n\"O Edward,\" said she, \"I am so glad to see you.\" She did not reprove\nhim; did not rebuke him. He went up stairs and did not come down for two\ndays. When he came to, the servants were walking about the house very\nsoftly--everything was quiet. They told him that his mother was at the\npoint of death. His brother was a physician, and he went to him and\nasked him if it was so. \"Yes, Ned,\" said he, \"mother can't live.\" He\nimmediately went up stairs, and asked his mother's forgiveness, and\nprayed to his mother's God to have mercy upon him. \"And God,\" said he,\n\"my mother's God, heard my prayers,\" and the tears trickled down his\nface and he said: \"God has kept me straight these four years in the face\nof all trials.\" O sinner, ask for His grace and might; do not turn Him\naway.\n\n\n\nMoody Asks a Few Questions.\n\nLet me ask you a question. Do you think that those gamblers, thieves,\nharlots, and drunkards who are trampling the ten commandments under\ntheir feet, they who have never given any respect to God's Word or to\nHis instructions--do you think they will be swept into the kingdom of\nheaven, against their will? Do you think those antedeluvians who were so\nsinful that God could not let them live on the earth would be swept into\nParadise and Noah left to wade through the deluge? Do you think that\nthese people, too corrupt for earth, would go there? As I have said\nbefore, an unregenerated man in heaven would make a hell of it. An\nunregenerated man couldn't stay there. Why, some of you cannot wait an\nhour here to listen to the Word of God. Before the hour expires you want\nto go out. Some of you just wish it was over so that you could go and\nget a drink in some of those saloons. I tell you, from the very depths\nof my heart, I believe heaven would be a hell to an unregenerated man.\n\"I don't want to be here,\" he would say. My friends, heaven is a\nprepared place for prepared people, and no one will ever see the kingdom\nof God without being born of God.\n\n\nThe Drunken Father and his Praying Child.\n\nI remember when out in Kansas, while holding a meeting, I saw a little\nboy who came up to the window crying. I went to him and said: \"My little\nboy, what is your trouble?\" \"Why, Mr. Moody, my mother's dead, and my\nfather drinks, and they don't love me, and the Lord won't have anything\nto do with me because I am a poor drunkard's boy.\" \"You have got a wrong\nidea, my boy, Jesus will love you and save you and your father too,\" and\nI told him a story of a little boy in an Eastern city. The boy said his\nfather would never allow the canting hypocrites of Christians to come\ninto his house, and would never allow his child to go to Sunday-school.\nA kind-hearted man got his little boy and brought him to Christ. When\nChrist gets into a man's heart he cannot help but pray. This father had\nbeen drinking one day and coming home he heard that boy praying. He went\nto him and said: \"I don't want you to pray any more. You've been along\nwith some of those Christians. If I catch you praying again I'll flog\nyou.\" But the boy was filled with God and he couldn't help praying. The\ndoor of communication was opened between him and Christ, and his father\ncaught him praying again. He went to him. \"Didn't I tell you never to\npray again? If I catch you at it once more you leave my house.\" He\nthought he would stop him. One day the old tempter came upon the boy,\nand he did something wrong and got flogged. When he got over his mad fit\nhe forgot the threats of his father and went to pray. His father had\nbeen drinking more than usual, and coming in found the boy offering a\nprayer. He caught the boy with a push and said, \"Didn't I tell you never\nto pray again? Leave this house. Get your things packed up and go.\" The\nlittle fellow hadn't many things to get together--a drunkard's boy never\nhas, and went up to his mothers room. \"Good-by, mother.\" \"Where are you\ngoing?\" \"I don't know where I'll go, but father says I cannot stay here\nany longer; I've been praying again,\" he said. The mother knew it\nwouldn't do to try to keep the boy when her husband had ordered him\naway, so she drew him to her bosom and kissed him, and bid him good-by.\nHe went to his brothers and sisters and kissed them good-by. When he\ncame to the door his father was there and the little fellow reached out\nhis hand--\"Good-by, father; as long as I live I will pray for you,\" and\nleft the house. He hadn't been gone many minutes when the father rushed\nafter him. \"My boy, if that is religion, if it can drive you away from\nfather and mother and home; I want it.\" Yes, may be some little boy here\nto-night has got a drinking father and mother. Lift your voice to\nheaven, and the news will be carried up to heaven, \"He prays.\"\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- The drunkard, the open blasphemer, the worst sinners, are precisely\n   the ones that need Jesus most. The well don't need Him at all.\n\n-- There is many a gem in these billiard halls that only needs the way\n   pointed out to fill their souls with the love of Christ.\n\n\n\nLIBERTY.\n\nOld Samba and \"Massa.\"\n\nA friend of mine said he was down in Natchez before the war, and he and\na friend of his went out riding one Saturday--they were teaching school\nthrough the week--and they drove out back from Natchez. It was a\nbeautiful day, and they saw an old slave coming up, and they thought\nthey would have a little fun. They had just come to a place where there\nwas a fork in the road, and there was a sign-post which read, \"40 miles\nto Liberty.\" One of the young men said to the old darkey driver, \"Samba,\nhow old are you?\" \"I don't know, massa. I guess I'se about eighty.\" \"Can\nyou read?\" \"No, sah; we don't read in dis country. It's agin the law.\"\n\"Can you tell what is on that sign-post?\" \"Yes, sah; it says 40 miles to\nLiberty.\" \"Well, now,\" said my friend, \"why don't you follow that road\nand get your liberty. It says there, 'only 40 miles to Liberty.' Now,\nwhy don't you take that road and go there?\" The old man's countenance\nchanged, and he said, \"Oh, young massa, that is all a sham. If the post\npointed out the road to the liberty that God gives, we might try it.\nThere could be no sham in that.\" My friend said he had never heard\nanything more eloquent from the lips of a preacher. God wants all his\nsons to have liberty.\n\n\n\n\"Liberty Now and Forever.\"\n\nWhen Miss Smiley went down South to teach, she went to a hotel and found\neverything covered with dirt. The tables were dirty, dishes dirty, beds\nwere dirty. So she called an old colored woman who was in the house, and\nsaid, \"Now you know that the Northern people set you at liberty. I came\nfrom the North and I don't like dirt, so I want you to clean the house.\"\nThe old colored woman set to work, and it seemed as if she did more work\nin that half day than she had done in a month before. When the lady got\nback the colored woman came to her and said, \"Now, is I free or ben't I\nnot? When I go to my old massa he says I ain't free, and when I go to my\nown people they say I is, and I don't know whether I'm free or not. Some\npeople told me Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but massa says he\ndidn't; he hadn't any right to.\" So Christian people go along, not\nknowing whether they are free or not. Why, when they have the Spirit\nthey are as free as air. Christ came for that. He didn't come to set us\nfree and then leave us in servitude. He came to give us liberty now and\nforever.\n\n\n\nOut of Libby Prison.\n\nThere was a story told me while I was in Philadelphia, by Capt.\nTrumbull. He said when he was in Libby prison the news came that his\nwife was in Washington, and his little child was dying: and the next\nnews that came was that his child was dead, and the mother remained in\nWashington in hopes that her husband could come with her and take that\nchild off to New England and bury it; but that was the last he heard.\nOne day the news came into the prison that there was a boat up from City\nPoint, and there were over nine hundred men in the prison rejoicing at\nonce. They expected to get good news. Then came the news that there was\nonly one man in that whole number that was to be let go, and they all\nbegan to say, \"Who is it?\" It was some one who had some influential\nfriend at Washington that had persuaded the government to take an\ninterest in him and get him out. The whole prison was excited. At last\nan officer came and shouted at the top of his voice, \"Henry Clay\nTrumbull!\" The chaplain told me his name never sounded so sweet to him\nas it did that day. That was election, but you can't find any Henry Clay\nTrumbull in the Bible. There is no special case in the Bible. God's\nproclamations are to all sinners. Everybody can get out of prison that\nwants to. The trouble is, they don't want to go. They had rather be\ncaptives to some darling sin.\n\n\n\nAn Emperor Sets Forty Million Slaves Free.\n\nOnce the Emperor of Russia had a plan by which he was to liberate the\nserfs of that country. There were forty millions of them. Of some of\nthem, their whole time was sold, of others, only a part. The Emperor\ncalled around him his council, and wanted to have them devise some way\nto set the slaves at liberty. After they had conferred about it for six\nmonths, one night the council sent in their decision, sealed, that they\nthought it was not expedient. The Emperor went down to the Greek Church\nthat night and partook of the Lord's Supper, and he set his house in\norder, and the next morning you could hear the tramp of soldiers in the\nstreets of St. Petersburgh. The Emperor summoned his guard, and before\nnoon sixty-five thousand men were surrounding that palace. Just at\nmidnight there came out a proclamation that every slave in Russia was\nforever set free. The proclamation had gone forth, and all the slaves of\nthe realm believed it. They have been free ever since. Suppose they had\nnot believed it? They never then would have got the benefit of it. If\none man can liberate forty millions, has not God got the power to\nliberate every captive?\n\n\n\nMoody on \"Duty\"--How He Loves His Mother.\n\nI have an old mother away down in the Connecticut mountains, and I have\nbeen in the habit of going to see her every year for twenty years.\nSuppose I go there and say, \"Mother, you were very kind to me when I was\nyoung--you were very good to me; when father died you worked hard for us\nall to keep us together, and so I have come to see you because it is my\nduty.\" I went then only because it was my duty. Then she would say to\nme, \"Well, my son, if you only come to see me because it is your duty,\nyou need not come again.\" And that is the way with a great many of the\nservants of God. They work for Him because it is their duty--not for\nlove. Let us abolish this word duty, and feel that it is only a\nprivilege to work for God, and let us try to remember that what is done\nmerely from a sense of duty is not acceptable to God.\n\n\n\nMoody with Gen. Grant's Army in Richmond.\n\nIt was my privilege to go to Richmond with Gen. Grant's army. Now just\nlet us picture a scene. There are a thousand poor captives, and they are\nlawful captives, prisoners in Libby Prison. Talk to some of them that\nhave been there for months and hear them tell their story. I have wept\nfor hours to hear them tell how they suffered, how they could not hear\nfrom their homes and their loved ones for long intervals, and how\nsometimes they would get messages that their loved ones were dying and\nthey could not get home to be with them in their dying hours. Let us,\nfor illustration, picture a scene. One beautiful day in the Spring they\nare there in the prison. All news has been kept from them. They have not\nheard what has been going on around Richmond, and I can imagine one says\none day, \"Ah, boys, listen! I hear a band of music, and it sounds as if\nthey were playing the old battle cry of the Republic. It sounds as if\nthey were playing \"The star spangled banner! long may it wave o'er the\nland of the free and the home of the brave!\" And the hearts of the poor\nfellows begin to leap for joy. \"I believe Richmond is taken. I believe\nthey are coming to deliver us,\" and every man in that prison, is full of\njoy, and by and by the sound comes nearer and they see it is so. It is\nthe Union army! Next the doors of the prison are unlocked; they fly wide\nopen, and those thousand men are set free. Wasn't that good news to\nthem? Could there have been any better news? They are out of prison, out\nof bondage, delivered. Christ came to proclaim liberty to the captive.\n\n\n\nCondemned to be Shot.\n\nThere was a man came from Europe to this country a year or two ago, and\nhe became dissatisfied and went to Cuba in 1867 when they had that great\ncivil war there. Finally he was arrested for a spy, court-martialed, and\ncondemned to be shot. He sent for the American Consul and the English\nConsul, and went on to prove to them that he was no spy. These two men\nwere thoroughly convinced that the man was no spy, and they went to one\nof the Spanish officers and said, \"This man you have condemned to be\nshot is an innocent man.\" \"Well,\" the Spanish officer says, \"the man has\nbeen legally tried by our laws and condemned, and the law must take its\ncourse and the man must die.\" And the next morning the man was led out;\nthe grave was already dug for him, and the black cap was put on him, and\nthe soldiers were there ready to receive the order,  \"Fire,\" and in a\nfew moments the man would be shot and put in that grave and covered up,\nwhen who should rise up but the American Consul, who took the American\nflag and wrapped it around him, and the English Consul took the English\nflag and wrapped it around him; and they said to those soldiers, \"Fire\non those flags if you dare!\" Not a man dared; there were two great\ngovernments behind those flags. And so God says, \"Come under my banner,\ncome under the banner of love, come under the banner of heaven.\" God\nwill take care of all that will come under His banner.\n\n\n\nSnapping the Chains.\n\nIn the North there was a minister talking to a man in the inquiry-room.\nThe man says, \"My heart is so hard, it seems as if it was chained, and I\ncannot come.\" \"Ah,\" says the minister, \"come along, chain and all,\" and\nhe just came to Christ hard-hearted, chain and all, and Christ snapped\nthe fetters, and set him free right there. So come along. If you are\nbound hand and foot by Satan, it is the work of God to break the\nfetters; you cannot break them.\n\n\n\nNapoleon and the Conscript.\n\nThere is a well-known story told of Napoleon the First's time. In one of\nthe conscriptions, during one of his many wars, a man was balloted as a\nconscript who did not want to go, but he had a friend who offered to go\nin his place. His friend joined the regiment in his name, and was sent\noff to the war. By and by a battle came on, in which he was killed, and\nthey buried him on the battle-field. Some time after the Emperor wanted\nmore men, and by some mistake the first man was balloted a second time.\nThey went to take him but he remonstrated. You cannot take me.\" \"Why\nnot?\" \"I am dead,\" was the reply. \"You are not dead; you are alive and\nwell.\" \"But I am dead,\" he said \"Why, man, you must be mad. Where did\nyou die?\" \"At such a battle, and you left me buried on such a\nbattlefield.\" \"You talk like a mad man,\" they cried; but the man stuck\nto his point that he had been dead and buried some months. \"You look up\nyour books,\" he said, \"and see if it is not so.\" They looked, and found\nthat he was right. They found the man's name entered as drafted, sent to\nthe war, and marked off as killed. \"Look here,\" they said, \"you didn't\ndie; you must have got some one to go for you; it must have been your\nsubstitute.\" \"I know that,\" he said; \"he died in my stead. You cannot\ntouch me: I died in that man, and I go free. The law has no claim\nagainst me.\" They would not recognize the doctrine of substitution, and\nthe case was carried to the Emperor. But he said that the man was right,\nthat he was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and that France had\nno claim against him. This story may or may not be true but one thing I\nknow is true; Jesus Christ suffered death for the sinner, and those who\naccept Him are free from the law.\n\n\n\nThe King's Pardon.\n\nA man was once being tried for a crime, the punishment of which was\ndeath. The witnesses came in one by one and testified to his guilt; but\nthere he stood, quite calm and unmoved. The judge and the jury were\nquite surprised at his indifference; they could not understand how he\ncould take such a serious matter so calmly. When the jury retired, it\ndid not take them many minutes to decide on a verdict \"Guilty;\" and when\nthe judge was passing the sentence of death upon the criminal he told\nhim how surprised he was that he could be so unmoved in the prospect of\ndeath. When the judge had finished, the man put his hand in his bosom,\npulled out a document, and walked out of the dock a free man. Ah, that\nwas how he could be so calm; it was a free pardon from his king, which\nhe had in his pocket all the time. The king had instructed him to allow\nthe trial to proceed, and to produce the pardon only when he was\ncondemned. No wonder, then, that he was indifferent as to the result of\nthe trial. Now that is just what will make us joyful in the great day of\njudgment: we have got a pardon from the Great King, and it is sealed\nwith the blood of His Son.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Judgement of Solomon. GUSTAVE DORE. 1 Kings, iii.]\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- If  you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you are free.\n\n-- There is no sin in the whole catalogue of sins you can name but\n   Christ will deliver you from it perfectly.\n\n-- We are led on by an unseen power that we have not got strength to\n   resist, or else we are led on by the loving Son of God.\n\n-- The trouble is, people do not know that Christ is a Deliverer. They\n   forget that the Son of God came to keep them from sin as well as to\n   forgive it.\n\n-- You say \"I am afraid I cannot hold out.\" Well, Christ will hold out\n   for you. There is no mountain that He will not climb with you if you\n   will; He will deliver you from your besetting sin.\n\n-- Satan rules all men that are in his kingdom. Some he rules through\n   lust. Some he rules through covetousness. Some he rules through\n   appetite. Some he rules by their temper, but he rules them. And none\n   will ever seek to be delivered until they get their eyes open and see\n   that they have been taken captive.\n\n-- When Christ was on the earth there was a woman in the temple who was\n   bowed almost to the ground with sin. Satan had bound her for eighteen\n   years; but after all these years of bondage Christ delivered her. He\n   spoke one word and she was free. She got up and walked home. How\n   astonished those at home must have been to see her walking in.\n\n\n\nLITTLE FOLKS.\n\nThe Little Child and the Big Book.\n\nI like to think of Christ as a burden bearer. A minister was one day\nmoving his library up stairs. As the minister was going up stairs with\nhis load of books his little boy came in and was very anxious to help\nhis father. So his father just told him to go and get an armful and take\nthem up stairs. When the father came back he met the little fellow about\nhalf way up the stairs tugging away with the biggest in the library. He\ncouldn't manage to carry it up. The book was too big. So he sat down and\ncried. His father found him, and just took him in his arms, book and\nall, and carried him up stairs. So Christ will carry you and all your\nburdens.\n\n\nThe Horse that was Established.\n\nThere was a little boy converted and he was full of praise. When God\nconverts boy or man his heart is full of joy--can't help praising. His\nfather was a professed Christian. The boy wondered why he didn't talk\nabout Christ, and didn't go down to the special meetings. One day, as\nthe father was reading the papers, the boy came to him and put his hand\non his shoulder and said: \"Why don't you praise God? Why don't you sing\nabout Christ? Why don't you go down to these meetings that are being\nheld?\" The father opened his eyes, and looked at him and said, gruffly:\n\"I am not carried away with any of these doctrines. I am established.\" A\nfew days after they were getting out a load of wood. They put it on the\ncart. The father and the boy got on lop of the load, and tried to get\nthe horse to go. They used the whip, but the horse wouldn't move. They\ngot off and tried to roll the wagon along, but they could move neither\nthe wagon nor the horse. \"I wonder what's the matter?\" said the father.\n\"He's established,\" replied the boy. You may laugh at that, but this is\nthe way with good many Christians.\n\n\n\nThe Scotch Lassie and Dr. Chalmers.\n\nThere is a story of Dr. Chalmers. A lady came to him and said: \"Doctor,\nI cannot bring my child to Christ. I've talked, and talked, but it's of\nno use.\" The Doctor thought she had not much skill, and said, \"Now you\nbe quiet and I will talk to her alone.\" When the Doctor got the Scotch\nlassie alone he said to her, \"They are bothering you a good deal about\nthis question; now suppose I just tell your mother you don't want to be\ntalked to any more upon this subject for a year. How will that do?\"\nWell, the Scotch lassie hesitated a little, and then said she \"didn't\nthink it would be safe to wait for a year. Something might turn up. She\nmight die before then.\" \"Well, that's so,\" replied the doctor, \"but\nsuppose we say six months.\"  She didn't think even this would be safe.\n\"That's so,\" was the doctors reply; \"well, let us say three months.\"\nAfter a little hesitation, the girl finally said, \"I don't think it\nwould be safe to put it off for three months--don't think it would be\nsafe to put it off at all,\" and they went down on their knees and found\nChrist.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Sermon on the Mount. GUSTAVE DORE. Matthew, v.]\n\n\n\nJohnny, Cling Close to the Rock\n\nLittle Johnny and his sister were one day going through a long, narrow\nrailroad tunnel. The railroad company had built small clefts here and\nthere through the tunnel, so that if any one got caught in the tunnel\nwhen the train was passing, they could save themselves. After this\nlittle boy and girl had gone some distance in the tunnel they heard a\ntrain coming. They were frightened at first, but the sister just put her\nlittle brother in one cleft and she hurried and hid in another. The\ntrain came thundering along, and as it passed, the sister cried out:\n\"Johnny, cling close to the rock! Johnny, cling close to the rock!\" and\nthey were safe. The \"Rock of Ages\" may be beaten by the storms and waves\nof adversity, but \"cling close to the rock, Christians, and all will be\nwell.\" The waves don't touch the Christian; he is sheltered by the Rock\n\"that is higher than I,\" by the One who is the strong arm, and the\nSaviour who is mighty and willing to save.\n\n\n\nObedience.\n\nSuppose I say to my boy, \"Willie, I want you to go out and bring me a\nglass of water.\" He says he doesn't want to go. \"I didn't ask you\nwhether you wanted to go or not, Willie; I told you to go.\" \"But I don't\nwant to go,\" he says. \"I tell you, you must go and get me a glass of\nwater.\" He does not like to go. But he knows I am very fond of grapes,\nand he is very fond of them himself, so he goes out, and some one gives\nhim a beautiful cluster of grapes. He comes in and says, \"Here, papa,\nhere is beautiful cluster of grapes for you.\" \"But what about the\nwater?\" \"Won't the grapes be acceptable, papa?\" \"No, my boy, the grapes\nare not acceptable; I won't take them; I want you to get me a glass or\nwater.\" The little fellow doesn't want to get the water, but he goes\nout, and this time some one gives him an orange. He brings it in and\nplaces it before me. \"Is that acceptable?\" he asks. \"No, no, no!\" I say;\n\"I want nothing but water; you cannot do anything to please me until you\nget the water.\" And so, my friends, to please God you must first obey\nHim.\n\n\n\nJumping into Father's Arms.\n\nI remember, while in Mobile attending meetings, a little incident\noccurred which I will relate. It was a beautiful evening, and just\nbefore the meeting some neighbors and myself were sitting on the front\npiazza enjoying the evening. One of the neighbors put one of his\nchildren upon a ledge eight feet high, and put out his hands and told\nhim to jump. Without the slightest hesitation he sprang into his\nfather's arms. Another child was lifted up, and he, too, readily sprang\ninto the arms of his father. He picked up another boy, larger than the\nothers, and held out his arms, but he wouldn't jump. He cried and\nscreamed to be taken down. The man begged the boy to jump, but it was of\nno use; he couldn't be induced to jump. The incident made me curious,\nand I stepped up to him and asked, \"How was it that those two little\nfellows jumped so readily into your arms and the other boy wouldn't?\"\n\"Why,\" said the man, \"those two boys are my children and the other boy\nisn't, he don't know me.\"\n\n\n\nHow Three Sunday School Children Met Their Fate.\n\nWhen the Lawrence Mills were on fire a number or years ago--I don't mean\non fire, but when the mill fell in--the great mill fell in, and after it\nhad fallen in, the ruins caught fire. There was only one room left\nentire, and in it were three Mission Sunday-school children imprisoned.\nThe neighbors and all hands got their shovels and picks and crowbars,\nand were working to set the children free. It came on night and they had\nnot yet reached the children. When they were near them, by some\nmischance a lantern broke, and the ruins caught fire. They tried to put\nit out, but could not succeed. They could talk with the children, and\neven pass to them some coffee and some refreshments, and encourage them\nto keep up. But, alas, the flames drew nearer and nearer to this prison.\nSuperhuman were the efforts made to rescue the children; the men bravely\nfought back the flames; but the fire gained fresh strength and returned\nto claim its victims. Then piercing shrieks arose when the spectators\nsaw that the efforts of the firemen were hopeless. The children saw\ntheir fate. They then knelt down and commenced to sing the little hymn\nwe have all been taught in our Sunday-school days, Oh! how sweet--: \"Let\nothers seek a home below which flames devour and waves overflow.\" The\nflames had now reached them; the stifling smoke began to pour into their\nlittle room, and they began to sink, one by one, upon the floor. A few\nmoments more and the fire circled around them and their souls were taken\ninto the bosom of Christ. Yes, let others seek a home below if they\nwill, but seek ye the Kingdom of God with all your hearts.\n\n\n\nPARENTAL.\n\nA Father's Love Trampled Under Foot.\n\nI once heard of a father who had a prodigal boy, and the boy had sent\nhis mother down to the grave with a broken heart, and one evening the\nboy started out as usual to spend the night in drinking and gambling,\nand his old father, as he was leaving, said: \"My son, I want to ask a\nfavor of you to-night. You have not spent an evening with me since your\nmother died. Now won't you gratify your old father by staying at home\nwith him?\" \"No,\" said the young man, \"it is lonely here, and there is\nnothing to interest me, and I am going out.\" And the old man prayed and\nwept, and at last said: \"My boy, you are just killing me as you have\nkilled your mother. These hairs are growing white, and you are sending\nme, too, to the grave.\" Still the boy would not stay, and the old man\nsaid: \"If you are determined to go to ruin, you must go over this old\nbody to-night. I can not resist you. You are stronger than I, but if you\ngo out you must go over this body.\" And he laid himself down before the\ndoor, and that son walked over the form of his father, trampled the love\nof his father under foot, and went out.\n\n\n\n\"That is the Price of My Soul\"\n\nI heard a story of a young lady who was deeply concerned about her soul.\nHer father and mother, however, were worldly people. They thought\nlightly of her serious wishes; they did not sympathize with her state of\nmind. They made up their minds that she should not become a Christian,\nand tried every way they could to discourage her notions about religion.\nAt last they thought they would get up a large party--thus with gayety\nand pleasure win her back to the world. So they made every preparation\nfor a gay time; they even sent to neighboring towns and got all her most\nworldly companions to come to the house; they bought her a magnificent\nsilk dress and jewelry, and decked her out in all the finery of such an\noccasion. The young lady thought there would be no harm in attending the\nparty; that it would be a trifling affair, a simple thing, and she\ncould, after it was over, think again of the welfare of her soul. She\nwent decked out in all her adornments, and was the belle of the ball\nThree weeks from that night she was on her dying bed. She asked her\nmother to bring her ball dress in. She pointed her finger at it, and,\nbursting into tears, said, \"That is the price of my soul.\" She died\nbefore dawn. Oh, my friends, if you are anxious about your soul, let\neverything else go; let parties and festivals pass.\n\n\n\nThe Two Fathers.\n\nWhenever I think about this subject, two fathers come before me. One\nlived on the Mississippi river. He was a man of great wealth. Yet he\nwould have freely given it all could he have brought back his eldest boy\nfrom his early grave. One day that boy had been borne home unconscious.\nThey did everything that man could do to restore him, but in vain. \"He\nmust die,\" said the doctor. \"But, doctor,\" said the agonized father,\n\"can you do nothing to bring him to consciousness, even for a moment?\"\n\"That may be,\" said the doctor; \"'but he can never live.\" Time passed,\nand after a terrible suspense, the fathers wish was gratified. \"My son,\"\nhe whispered, \"the doctor tells me you are dying.\" \"Well,\" said the boy,\n\"you never prayed for me, father; won't you pray for my lost soul now?\"\nThe father wept. It was true he had never prayed. He was a stranger to\nGod. And in a little while that soul, unprayed for, passed into its dark\neternity. Oh, father! if your boy was dying, and he called on you to\npray, could you lift your burdened heart to heaven? Have you learned\nthis sweetest lesson of heaven on earth, to know and hold communion with\nyour God? And before this evil world has marked your dearest treasures\nfor its prey, have you learned to lead your little ones to a children's\nChrist?\n\nWhat a contrast is the other father? He, too, had a lovely boy, and one\nday he came home to find him at the gates of death. \"A great change has\ncome over our boy,\" said the weeping mother; \"he has only been a little\nill before, but it seems now as if he were dying fast.\" The father went\ninto the room, and placed his hand on the forehead of the little boy. He\ncould see the boy was dying. He could feel the cold damp of death. \"My\nson, do you know you are dying?\" \"No, am I?\" \"Yes; you are dying.\" \"And\nshall I die to-day?\" \"Yes, my boy,  you cannot live till night.\" \"Well,\nthen, I shall be with Jesus to-night, won't I, father?\" \"Yes, my son,\nyou will spend to-night with the Saviour.\" Mothers and fathers, the\nlittle ones may begin early; be in earnest with them now. You know not\nhow soon you may be taken from them, or they may be taken from you.\nTherefore let this impression be made upon their minds--that you care\nfor their souls--a million times more than for their worldly prospects.\n\n\n\nThe Stolen Boy--A Mother's Love.\n\nThere was a boy a great many years ago, stolen in London, the same as\nCharley Ross was stolen here. Long months and years passed away, and the\nmother had prayed and prayed, as the mother of Charley Ross prayed, I\nsuppose, and all her efforts had failed and they had given up all hope;\nbut the mother did not quite give up her hope. One day a little boy was\nsent up to the neighboring house to sweep the chimney, and by some\nmistake he got down again through the wrong chimney. When he came down,\nhe came in by the sitting-room chimney. His memory began at once to\ntravel back through the years that had passed. He thought that things\nlooked strangely familiar. The scenes of the early days of youth were\ndawning upon him; and as he stood there surveying the place, his mother\ncame into the room. He stood there covered with rags and soot. Did she\nwait until she sent him to be washed before she rushed and took him in\nher arms? No, indeed; it was her own boy. She took him to her arms all\nblack and smoke, and hugged him to her bosom, and shed tears of joy upon\nhis head.\n\n\n\nThe Repentant Father.\n\nNot long ago a young man went home late. He had been in the habit of\ngoing home late, and the father began to mistrust that he had gone\nastray. He told his wife to go to bed, and dismissed the servants, and\nsaid he would sit up till his son came home. The boy came home drunk,\nand the father in his anger gave him a push into the street and told him\nnever to enter his house again, and shut the door. He went into the\nparlor and sat down, and began to think: \"Well, I may be to blame for\nthat boy's conduct, after all. I have never prayed with him. I have\nnever warned him of the dangers of the world.\" And the result of his\nreflections was that he put on his overcoat and hat, and started out to\nfind his boy. The first policeman he met he asked eagerly, \"Have you\nseen my boy?\" \"No.\" On he went till he met another. \"Have you seen\nanything of my son?\" He ran from one to another all that night, but not\nuntil the morning did he find him. He took him by the arm and led him\nhome, and kept him till he was sober. Then he said: \"My dear boy, I want\nyou to forgive me; I've never prayed for you; I've never lifted up my\nheart to God for you; I've been the means of leading you astray, and I\nwant your forgiveness.\" The boy was touched, and what was the result?\nWithin twenty-four hours that son became a convert, and gave up that\ncup. It may be that some father here has a wayward son. Go to God, and\non your knees confess it. Let the voice of Jesus sink down in your\nheart; \"Bring him unto Me.\"\n\n\nThe Sleep of Death.\n\nI read some time ago of a vessel that had been off on a whaling voyage\nand had been gone about three years. I saw the account in print\nsomewhere lately, but it happened a long time ago. The father of one of\nthose sailors had charge of the lighthouse, and he was expecting his boy\nto come home. It was time for the whaling vessel to return. One night\nthere came up a terrible gale, and this father fell asleep, and while he\nslept his light went out. When he awoke he looked toward the shore and\nsaw there had been a vessel wrecked. He at once went to see if he could\nnot yet save some one who might be still alive. The first body that came\nfloating toward the shore was, to his great grief and surprise, the body\nof his own boy! He had been watching for that boy for many days, and he\nhad been gone for three years. Now the boy had at last come in sight of\nhome and had perished because his father had let his light go out! I\nthought, what an illustration of fathers and mothers to-day that have\nlet their lights go out! You are not training your children for God and\neternity. You do not live as though there were anything beyond this life\nat all. You keep your affections set upon things on the earth instead of\non things above, and the result is that the children do not believe\nthere is anything in it. Perhaps the very next step they take may take\nthem into eternity: the next day they may die without God and without\nhope.\n\n\n\nA Defaulter's Confession.\n\nOne week ago I preached on the text, \"Christ came to heal the\nbroken-hearted.\" I told you just before I came down that I had received\na letter from a broken-hearted wife. Her husband one night came in, to\nher surprise, and said he was a defaulter and must flee, and he went,\nshe knew not where. He forsook her and two children. It was a pitiful\nletter, and the wail of that poor woman seems to ring in my ears yet.\nThat night up in that gallery was a man whose heart began to beat when I\ntold the story, thinking it was him I meant, till I came to the two\nchildren. When I got through I found that he had taken money which did\nnot belong to him, intending to replace it, but he failed to do so, and\nfled. He said: \"I have a beautiful wife and three children, but I had to\nleave her and come to Chicago, where I have been hiding. The Governor of\nthe State has offered a reward for me.\" My friends, a week ago this poor\nfellow found out the truth of this text. He was in great agony. He felt\nas if he could not carry the burden, and he said, \"Mr. Moody, I want you\nto pray with me. Ask God for mercy for me.\" And down we went on our\nknees. I don't know as I ever felt so bad for a man in my life. He asked\nme if I thought he should go back. I told him to ask the Lord, and we\nprayed over it. That was Sunday evening, and I asked him to meet me on\nthe Monday evening. He told how hard it was to go back to that town and\ngive himself up and disgrace his wife and children. They would give him\nten years. Monday came and he met me and said, \"Mr. Moody, I have prayed\nover this matter, and I think that Christ has forgiven me, but I don't\nbelong to myself. I must go back and give myself up. I expect to be sent\nto the penitentiary; but I must go.\" He asked me to pray for his wife\nand children, and he went off. He will be there to-day in the hands of\njustice. My friends, don't say the way of the transgressor is not hard.\n\n\n\nDivided We Fall.\n\nI remember one mother who heard that her boy was impressed at our\nmeeting. She said her son was a good enough boy, and he didn't need to\nbe converted. I pleaded with that mother, but all my pleading was of no\naccount. I tried my influence, with the boy; but while I was pulling one\nway she was pulling the other, and of course her influence prevailed.\nNaturally it would. Well, to make a long story short, some time after I\nhappened to be in the County Jail, and I saw him there. \"How did you\ncome here?\" I asked; \"does your mother know where you are?\" \"No, don't\ntell her; I came in under an assumed name, and I am going to Joliet for\nfour years. Do not let my mother know of this,\" he pleaded; \"she thinks\nI am in the army.\" I used to call on that mother, but I had promised her\nboy I would not tell her, and for four years she mourned over that boy,\nShe thought he had died on the battlefield or in a Southern hospital.\nWhat a blessing he might have been to that mother, if she had only\nhelped us to bring him to Christ. But that mother is only a specimen of\nhundreds and thousands of parents. If we would have more family altars\nin our homes, and train them to follow Christ, the Son of God would lead\nthem into \"green pastures,\" and instead of having sons who curse the\nmothers who gave them birth, they would bless their fathers and mothers.\n\n\n[Illustration: Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. GUSTAVE DORE.\nMatthew, xxvi, 36-45]\n\n\n\nThe Faithful London Lady.\n\nWhen I was in London, there was one lady dressed in black up in the\ngallery. All the rest were ministers. I wondered who that lady could be.\nAt the close of the meeting I stepped up to her, and she asked me if I\ndid not remember her. I did not, but she told me who she was, and her\nstory came to my mind. When we were preaching in Dundee, Scotland, a\nmother came up with her two sons, 16 and 17 years old. She said to me,\n\"Will you talk to my boys?\" I asked her if she would talk to the\ninquirers, as there were more inquirers than workers. She said she was\nnot a good enough Christian--was not prepared enough. I told her I could\nnot talk to her then. Next night she came to me and asked me again, and\nthe following night she repeated her request. Five hundred miles she\njourneyed to get God's blessing for her boys, Would to God we had more\nmothers like her. She came to London, and the first night I was there I\nsaw her in the Agricultural Hall. She was accompanied by only one of her\nboys--the other had died. Toward the close of the meeting I received\nthis letter from her:\n\n\"DEAR MR. MOODY: For months I have never considered the day's work ended\nunless you and your work had been specially prayed for. Now it appears\nbefore us more and more. What in our little measure we have found has no\ndoubt been the happy experience of many others in London. My husband and\nI have sought as our greatest privilege to take unconverted friends one\nby one to the Agricultural hall, and I thank God that, with a single\nexception, those brought under the preaching from your lips have\naccepted Christ as their Savior, and are rejoicing in his love.\"\n\nThat lady was a lady of wealth and position. She lived a little way out\nof London; gave up her beautiful home and took lodgings near\nAgricultural Hall, so as to be useful in the inquiry room. When we went\ndown to the Opera House she was there; when we went down to the east\nend, there she was again, and when I left London she had the names of\n150 who had accepted Christ from her. Some have said that our work in\nLondon was a failure. Ask her if the work was a failure, and she will\ntell you. If we had a thousand such mothers in Chicago we would lift it.\nGo and bring your friends here to the meetings. Think of the privilege,\nmy friends, of saving a soul. If we are going to work for good, we must\nbe up and about it.\n\n\n\nArthur P. Oxley! Your Mother Wishes to See You.\n\nThere was a lady that came down to Liverpool to see us privately; it was\njust before we were about to leave that city to go to London to preach.\nWith tears and sobs she told a very pitiful story. It was this: She said\nshe had a boy nineteen years of age who had left her. She showed me his\nphotograph, and asked me to put it in my pocket. \"You stand before many\nand large assemblies, Mr. Moody. My boy may be in London, now. Oh, look\nat the audience to whom you will preach; look earnestly. You may see my\ndear boy before you. If you see him, tell him to come back to me. Oh,\nimplore him to come to his sorrowing mother, to his deserted home. He\nmay be in trouble; he may be suffering; tell him for his loving mother\nthat all is forgiven and forgotten, and he will find comfort and peace\nat home.\" On the back of this photograph she had written his full name\nand address; she had noted his complexion, the color of his eyes and\nhair; why he had left home, and the cause of his so doing. \"When you\npreach, Mr. Moody, look for my poor boy,\" were the parting words of that\nmother. That young man may be in this hall to-night. If he is, I want\nto tell him that his mother loves him still. I will read out his name,\nand if any of you ever hear of that young man, just tell him that his\nmother is waiting with a loving heart and a tender embrace for him. His\nname is Arthur P. Oxley, of Manchester, England.\n\n\nThe Cruel Mother--Hypothetical.\n\nSuppose a mother should come in here with a little child, and after she\nhas been here a while the child begins to cry, and she says, \"Keep\nstill,\" but the child keeps on crying, and so she turns him over to the\npolice and says, \"Take that child, I don't want him.\" What would you say\nof such a mother as that? Teach a child that God loves him only so long\nas he is good, and that when he is bad the Lord does not love him, and\nyou will find that when he grows up, if he has a bad temper he will have\nthe idea that God hates him because he thinks God don't love him when he\nhas got a bad temper, and as he has a bad temper all the time, of course\nGod does not love him at all, but hates him all the time. Now God hates\nsin, but He loves the sinner, and there is a great difference between\nthe love of God and our love.\n\n\n\nThe Loving Father.\n\nI remember my little girl had a habit of getting up in the morning very\ncross. I don't know whether your children are like that. She used to get\nup in the morning speaking cross, and made the family very\nuncomfortable. So I took her aside one morning and said to her, \"Emma,\nif you go on that way I shall have to correct you; I don't want to do\nit, but I will have to.\" She looked at me for a few moments--I had never\nspoken to her that way before--and she went away. She behaved herself\nfor a few weeks all right, but one morning she was as cross as ever, and\nwhen she came to me to be kissed before going to school, I wouldn't do\nit. Off she went to her mother, and said: \"Mamma, Papa refused to kiss\nme: I cannot go to school because he won't kiss me.\" Her mother came in,\nbut she didn't say much. She knew the child had been doing wrong. The\nlittle one went off and as she was going down stairs I heard her\nweeping, and it seemed to me as if that child was dearer to me than ever\nshe had been before. I went to the window and saw her going down the\nstreet crying, and as I looked on her I couldn't repress my tears. That\nseemed to be the longest day I ever spent in Chicago. Before the closing\nof the school I was at home, and when she came in her first words were:\n\"Papa, won't you forgive me?\" and I kissed her and she went away\nsinging. It was because I loved her that I punished her. My friends,\ndon't let Satan make you believe when you have any trouble, that God\ndoes not love you.\n\n\n\nPRAISE.\n\n\"Three Cheers.\"\n\nOnce, when a great fire broke out at midnight and people thought that\nall the inmates had been taken out, way up there in the fifth story, was\nseen a little child, crying for help. Up, went a ladder, and soon a\nfireman was seen ascending to the spot. As he neared the second story\nthe flames burst in fury from the windows, and the multitude almost\ndespaired of the rescue of the child. The brave man faltered, and a\ncomrade at the bottom cried out, \"Cheer him!\" and cheer upon cheer arose\nfrom the crowd. Up the ladder he went and saved the child, because they\ncheered him. If you cannot go into the heat of the battle yourself, if\nyou cannot go into the harvest field and work day after day, you can\ncheer those that are working for the Master. I see many old people in\ntheir old days, get crusty and sour, and they discourage everyone they\nmeet by their fault finding. That is not what we want. If we make a\nmistake, come and tell us of it, and we will thank you. You don't know\nhow much you may do by just speaking kindly to those that are willing to\nwork.\n\n\nAlways Happy.\n\nThere was a man converted here some years ago, and he was just full of\npraise. He was living in the light all the time. We might be in the\ndarkness, but he was always in the light. He used to preface everything\nhe said in the meeting with \"praise God.\" One night he came to the\nmeeting with his finger all bound up. He had cut it, and cut it pretty\nbad, too. Well, I wondered how he would praise God for this; but he got\nup and said, \"I have cut my finger, but, praise God, I didn't cut it\noff.\" And so, if things go against you, just think they might be a good\ndeal worse.\n\n\n[Illustration: Ruth and Boaz. GUSTAVE DORE.  Ruth, ii.]\n\n\n\nTen Years in a Sick Bed, yet Praising God.\n\nI have found people who were poor in this world's goods, in bad health,\nand yet continually praising God. I can take you to a poor, burdened one\nwho has not been off her bed for ten years, and yet she praising Him\nmore than hundreds of thousands of Christians. Her chamber seems to be\njust the ante-room of heaven. It seems as if that woman had just all the\nsecrets of heaven. Her soul is full of the love of God, full of\ngladness, and she is poor. Like Elijah at the brook of Cherith, she is\njust fed by the Almighty; God provides for all her wants. Any man that\nknows God can trust Him and praise Him. He knows that the word of God is\ntrue, and he knows that He will care for him. He who cares for the\nlilies of the field, He, without whose knowledge not a sparrow can fall\nto the ground, He who knows every hair of our heads, any man that knows\nthis, cannot he rejoice? Is there anyone here, who, although he is poor,\ncan find no reason to praise God? Some of those Christians who are so\npoor, but who have the love of God, would not give up their place for\nthat of princes.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- Praise is not only speaking to the Lord on our own account, but it is\n   praising Him for what He has done for others.\n\n-- If we have a praise church we will have people converted. I don't\n   care where it is, what part of the world it's in, if we have a praise\n   church we'll have successful Christianity.\n\n-- Every good gift that we have had from the cradle up has come from\n   God. If a man just stops to think what he has to praise God for, he\n   will find there is enough to keep him singing praises for a week.\n\n-- We have in our churches a great deal of prayer, but I think it would\n   be a good thing if we had a praise meeting occasionally. If we could\n   only get people to praise God for what He has done, it would be a\n   good deal better than asking Him continually for something.\n\n\n\nPRAYER.\n\nA Voice from the Tomb.\n\nThe other day I read of a mother who died, leaving her child alone and\nvery poor. She used to pray earnestly for her boy, and left an\nimpression upon his mind that she cared more for his soul than she cared\nfor anything else in the world. He grew up to be a successful man in\nbusiness, and became very well off. One day not long ago, after his\nmother had been dead for twenty years, he thought he would remove her\nremains and put her into his own lot in the cemetery, and put up a\nlittle monument to her memory. As he came to remove them and to lay her\naway the thought came to him, that while his mother was alive she had\nprayed for him, and he wondered why her prayers were not answered. That\nvery night that man was saved. After his mother had been buried so long\na time, the act of removing her body to another resting place, brought\nup all the recollections of his childhood, and he became a Christian. O,\nyou mothers!\n\n\nPrayer Answered.\n\nOnly a few years ago in the City of Philadelphia there was a mother that\nhad two sons. They were just going as fast as they could to ruin. They\nwere breaking her heart, and she went into a little prayer-meeting and\ngot up and presented them for prayer. They had been on a drunken spree\nor had just got started in that way, and she knew that their end would\nbe a drunkard's grave, and she went among these Christians and said,\n\"Won't you just cry to God for my two boys?\" The next morning those two\nboys had made an appointment to meet each other on the corner of Market\nand Thirteenth streets--though not that they knew anything about our\nmeeting--and while one of them was there at the corner, waiting for his\nbrother to come, he followed the people who were flooding into the depot\nbuilding, and the spirit of the Lord met him, and he was wounded and\nfound his way to Christ. After his brother came he found the place too\ncrowded to enter, so he too went curiously into another meeting and\nfound Christ, and went home happy; and when he got home he told his\nmother what the Lord had done for him, and the second son came with the\nsame tidings. I heard one of them get up afterwards to tell his\nexperience in the young converts' meeting, and he had no sooner told the\nstory than the other got up and said: \"I am that brother, and there is\nnot a happier home in Philadelphia than we have got.\"\n\n\n\nThe Praying Mother.\n\nI remember being in the camp and a man came to me and said, \"Mr. Moody,\nwhen the Mexican war began I wanted to enlist. My mother, seeing I was\nresolved, said if I became a Christian I might go. She pleaded and\nprayed that I might become a Christian, but I wouldn't. I said when the\nwar was over I would become a Christian, but not till then. All her\npleading was in vain, and at last, when I was going away, she took out a\nwatch and said: 'My son, your father left this to me when he died. Take\nit, and I want you to remember that every day at 12 o'clock your mother\nwill be praying for you.' Then she gave me her Bible, and marked out\npassages, and put a few different references in the fly-leaf. I took the\nwatch and the Bible just because my mother gave them. I never intended\nto read the Bible. I went off to Mexico, and one day while on a long,\nweary march, I took out my watch, and it was 12 o'clock. I had been gone\nfour months, but I remembered that my mother at that hour was praying\nfor me. Something prompted me to ask the officer to relieve me for a\nlittle while, and I stepped behind a tree away out on those plains of\nMexico, and cried to the God of my mother to save me.\" My friends, God\nsaved him, and he went through the Mexican war,  \"and now,\" he said, \"I\nhave enlisted again to see if I can do any good for my Master's cause.\"\n\n\n\nThe Sinner's Prayer Heard.\n\nThere was a man at one of our meetings in New York City who was moved by\nthe Spirit of God. He said, \"I am going home, and I am not going to\nsleep to-night till Christ takes away my sins, if I have to stay up all\nnight and pray. I'll do it.\" He had a good distance to walk, and as he\nwent along he thought, \"Why can't I pray now as I go along, instead of\nwaiting to go home?\" But he did not know a prayer. His mother had taught\nhim to pray, but it was so long since he had uttered a prayer that he\nhad forgotten. However, the publican's prayer came to his mind.\nEverybody can say this prayer. That man in the gallery yonder, that\nyoung lady over there: \"God be merciful to me a sinner.\" May God write\nit on your hearts to-night. If you forget the sermon, don't forget that\nprayer. It is a very short prayer, and it has brought joy--salvation--to\nmany a soul. Well, this prayer came to the man, and he began, \"God be\nmerciful to me a--,\" but before he got to \"sinner\" God blessed him.\n\n\n\nBlack-balled by Man, Saved by Christ.\n\nAt the Fulton street prayer-meeting a man came in, and this was his\nstory. He said he had a mother who prayed for him; he was a wild,\nreckless prodigal. Some time after his mother's death he began to be\ntroubled. He thought he ought to get into new company, and leave his old\ncompanions. So he said he would go and join a secret society; he thought\nhe would join the Odd Fellows. They went and made inquiry about him, and\nthey found he was a drunken sailor, so they black-balled him. They would\nnot have him. He then went to the Freemasons; he had nobody to recommend\nhim, so they inquired and found there was no good in his character, and\nthey, too, black-balled him. They didn't want him. One day, some one\nhanded him a little notice in the street about the prayer-meeting, and\nhe went in. He heard that Christ had come to save sinners. He believed\nHim; he took Him at his word; and, in reporting the matter, he said he\n\"came to Christ without a character, and Christ hadn't black-balled him.\"\nMy friends, that is Christ's way.\n\n\n\nThe Praying Cripple.\n\nI once knew a little cripple who lay upon her death-bed. She had given\nherself to God, and was distressed only because she could not labor for\nHim actively among the lost. Her clergyman visited her, and hearing her\ncomplaint, told her that there from her sick-bed she could offer prayers\nfor those whom she wished to see turning to God. He advised her to write\nthe names down, and then to pray earnestly; and then he went away and\nthought of the subject no more. Soon a feeling of great religious\ninterest sprang up in the village, and the churches were crowded\nnightly. The little cripple heard of the progress of the revival, and\ninquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few weeks later she\ndied, and among a roll of papers that was found under her little pillow,\nwas one bearing the names of fifty-six persons, every one of whom had in\nthe revival been converted. By each name was a little cross, by which\nthe poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the converts as\nthey had been reported to her.\n\n\n\nA Child's Prayer Answered.\n\nI remember a child that lived with her parents in a small village. One\nday the news came that her father had joined the army (it was at the\nbeginning of our war), and a few days after the landlord came to demand\nthe rent. The mother told him she hadn't got it, and that her husband\nhad gone into the army. He was a hard hearted wretch, and he stormed and\nsaid that they must leave the home; he wasn't going to have people who\ncouldn't pay the rent. After he was gone, the mother threw herself into\nthe arm-chair, and began to weep bitterly. Her little girl whom she had\ntaught to pray in faith (but it is more difficult to practice than to\npreach), came up to her, and said, \"What makes you cry, mamma? I will\npray to God to give us a little house, and won't He?\" What could the\nmother say? So the little child went into the next room and began to\npray. The door was open, and the mother could hear every word. \"O God,\nyou have come and taken away father, and mamma has got no money, and the\nlandlord will turn us out because we can't pay, and we will have to sit\non the doorstep, and mamma will catch cold. Give us a little home.\" Then\nshe waited, as if for an answer, and then added, \"Won't you, please,\nGod?\" She came out of that room quite happy, expecting a house to be\ngiven them. The mother felt reproved. I can tell you, however, she has\nnever paid any rent since, for God heard the prayer of that little one,\nand touched the heart of the cruel landlord. God give us the faith of\nthat little child, that we may likewise expect an answer, \"nothing\nwavering.\"\n\n\n\nThe Orphan's Prayer.\n\nA little child whose father and mother had died, was taken into another\nfamily. The first night she asked if she could pray, as she used to do.\nThey said \"Oh yes.\" So she knelt down, and prayed as her mother taught\nher; and when that was ended she added a little prayer of her own: \"Oh\nGod, make these people as kind to me as father and mother were.\" Then\nshe paused and looked up, as if expecting the answer, and added: \"Of\ncourse He will.\" How sweetly simple was that little one's faith; she\nexpected God to \"do,\" and, of course, she got her request.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- All should work and ask God's guidance.\n\n-- The world knows little of the works wrought by prayer.\n\n-- Let us pray, and as we pray, let us make room for Jesus in our\n   hearts.\n\n-- Unless the Spirit of God is with us, we cannot expect that our\n   prayers will be answered.\n\n-- David was the last one we would have chosen to fight the giant, but\n   he was chosen of God.\n\n-- Every one of our children will be brought into the ark, it we pray\n   and work earnestly for them.\n\n-- The impression that a praying mother leaves upon her children is\n   life-long. Perhaps when you are dead and gone your prayer will be\n   answered\n\n\n\nREAPING.\n\nSad Ending of a Life that Might have been Otherwise.\n\nI remember a few years ago I felt very anxious for a man who was present\nat a meeting like this. At the close of the meeting I asked all to rise,\nand he rose among the others. I took him aside and said, \"Now you are\ngoing to become a Christian--you will come out for the Lord now?\" He\nsaid he was wanting to very much. The man was trembling from head to\nfoot, and I thought surely he was going to accept Him. I spoke to him in\nhis hesitating condition, and found out what was standing between him\nand Christ. He was afraid of his companions. Nearly every day and night\nnews came to me that some of these employers and clerks make light of\nthese meetings, and make fun of all who attend them, and so many give\nthe same reason that this man did. I said to him: \"If heaven is what we\nare led to believe it is, I would be willing to accept it and bear their\nfun.\" I talked with him, but he wouldn't accept it. He went off, but for\nweeks he came every night, and went away as he came, without accepting\nit. One day I received a message to come and see him. He was sick, and I\nwent to his chamber. He wanted to know if there was hope for him in the\neleventh hour? I spoke to him, and gave him every hope I could. Day\nafter day I visited him, and, contrary to all expectation, I saw him\ngradually recovering. When he got pretty well he was sitting on the\nfront porch, and I sat down by him and said: \"You will be going now to\nconfess Christ; you'll be going to take your stand for him now?\" \"Well,\"\nsaid he, \"Mr. Moody, I promised God on my sick bed that I would; but I\nwill wait a little. I am going over to Michigan, where I am going to buy\na farm and settle down, and then I'll become a Christian.\" \"If God\ncannot make you a Christian here he cannot do it there,\" I replied. I\ntried to get him to make an unconditional surrender, but he wouldn't; he\nwould put it off till the next spring. \"Why,\" I said, \"you may not live\ntill next spring.\" \"Don't you see I am getting quite well?\" \"But are you\nwilling to take the risk till next spring?\" \"Oh, yes, I'll take it; Mr.\nMoody, you needn't trouble yourself any more about my soul; I'll risk\nit; you can just attend to your business, and I will to mine, and if I\nlose my soul, no one will be to blame but myself--certainly not you, for\nyou've done all you could.\" I went away from that house then with a\nheavy heart.\n\nI well remember the day of the week, Thursday, about noon, just one week\nfrom that very day, when his wife sent for me. When I went to their home\nI found her in great trouble, and learned that he had had a relapse. I\nasked if he had expressed a desire to see me. She said \"No; he is always\nsaying 'there is no hope,' and I cannot bear to have him die in that\ncondition.\" I went into the room. He did not speak to me, but I went\naround to the foot of the bed and looked in his face and said, \"Won't\nyou speak to me?\" and at last he fixed that terrible deathly look upon\nme and said, \"Mr. Moody, you need not talk to me any more. It is too\nlate; there is no hope for me now. Go talk to my wife and children; pray\nfor them; but my heart is as hard as the iron in that stove there. When\nI was sick He came to the door of my heart, and I promised to serve Him,\nbut I broke that promise, and now I must die without Him.\" I got down to\npray. \"You needn't pray for me,\" he said. I prayed, but it seemed as if\nmy prayer went no higher than my head. He lingered till that night,\nrepeating, \"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not\nsaved.\" There he lay in agony, every few minutes this lamentation\nbreaking from him. Just as the sun was going down behind those Western\nprairies, his wife leaned over him, and in an almost inaudible voice, he\nwhispered, \"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not\nsaved,\" and he died. He had lived a Christless life, he died a\nChristless death, he was wrapped in a Christless shroud, and he was\nburied in a Christless grave. Oh, how dark and sad! Dear friends, the\nharvest is passing; the summer will soon be ended; won't you let Him\nredeem you?\n\n\n\nBy the Wayside.\n\nI went down past the corner of Clark and Lake streets one day, and,\nfulfilling my vow, on seeing a man leaning up against a lamp-post, I\nwent up to him and said: \"Are you a Christian?\" He damned me and cursed\nme, and told me to mind my own business. He knew me, but I didn't know\nhim. He said to a friend of his that afternoon that he had never been so\ninsulted in his life, and told him to say to me that I was damning the\ncause I pretended to represent. Well, the friend came and delivered his\nmessage. \"May be I am doing more hurt than good,\" I said; \"may be I'm\nmistaken, and God hasn't shown me the right way.\" That was the time I\nwas sleeping and living in the Young Men's Christian Association rooms,\nwhere I was then President, Secretary, janitor, and everything else.\nWell one night, after midnight I heard a knock at the door. And there on\nthe step leading into the street stood this stranger I had made so mad\nat the lamp-post, and said he wanted to talk to me about his soul's\nsalvation. He said: \"Do you remember the man you met about three months\nago at the lamp-post, and how he cursed you? I have had no peace since\nthat night; I couldn't sleep. Oh, tell me what to do to be saved.\" And\nwe just fell down on our knees, and prayed, and that day he went to the\nnoon prayer meeting and openly confessed the Saviour, and soon after\nwent to the war a Christian man. I do not know but he died on some\nSouthern battle-field or in a hospital, but I expect to see him in the\nkingdom of God.\n\n\nSowing the Tares.\n\nI was at the Paris Exhibition in 1867, and I noticed there a little oil\npainting, only about a foot square, and the face was the most hideous I\nhave ever seen. On the paper attached to the painting were the words\n\"Sowing the tares,\" and the face looked more like a demon's than a\nman's. As he sowed these tares, up came serpents and reptiles, and they\nwere crawling up his body, and all around were woods with wolves and\nanimals prowling in them. I have seen that picture many times since. Ah!\nthe reaping time is coming. If you sow to the flesh you must reap the\nflesh.\n\n\n\nWhat Moody Saw in the Chamber of Horror.\n\n When I was in London I went into a wax work there--Tassands--and I went\n into the chamber of Horror. There were wax figures of all kinds of\n murderers in that room. There was Booth who killed Lincoln, and many of\n that class: but there was one figure I got interested in, who killed\n his wife because he loved another woman, and the law didn't find him\n out. He married this woman and had a family of seven children. And\n twenty years passed away. Then his conscience began to trouble him. He\n had no rest; he would hear his murdered wife pleading continually for\n her life. His friends began to think that that he was going out of his\n mind; he became haggard and his conscience haunted him till, at last he\n went to the officers of the law and told them that he was guilty of\n murder. He wanted to die, life was so much of an agony to him. His\n conscience turned against him. My friends if you have done wrong, may\n your conscience be woke up, and may you testify against yourself. It is\n a great deal better to judge our own acts and confess them, than go\n through this world with the curse upon you.\n\n\n\nReaping the Whirlwind.\n\nI remember in the north of England a prominent citizen told a sad case\nthat happened there in the city of Newcastle-on-Tyne. It was about a\nyoung boy. He was very young. He was an only child. The father and\nmother thought everything of him and did all they could for him. But he\nfell into bad ways. He took up with evil characters, and finally got to\nrunning with thieves. He didn't let his parents know about it. By and by\nthe gang he was with broke into the house, and he with them. Yes, he had\nto do it all. They stopped outside of the building, while he crept in\nand started to rob the till. He was caught in the act, taken into court,\ntried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary for ten years. He worked\non and on in the convict's cell, till at last his term was out. And at\nonce he started for home. And when he came back to the town he started\ndown the street where his father and mother used to live. He went to the\nhouse and rapped. A stranger came to the door and stared him in the\nface. \"No, there's no such person lives here, and where your parents are\nI don't know,\" was the only welcome he received. Then he turned through\nthe gate, and went down the street, asking even the children that he met\nabout his folks, where they were living, and if they were well. But\neverybody looked blank. Ten years rolled by and though that seemed\nperhaps a short time, how many changes had taken place! There where he\nwas born and brought up he was now an alien, and unknown even in the old\nhaunts. But at last he found a couple of townsmen that remembered his\nfather and mother, but they told him the old house had been deserted\nlong years ago, that he had been gone but a few months before his father\nwas confined to his house; and very soon after died broken-hearted, and\nthat his mother had gone out of her mind. He went to the mad-house where\nhis mother was, and went up to her and said, \"Mother, mother, don't you\nknow me? I am your son.\" But she raved and slapped him on the face and\nshrieked, \"You're not my son,\" and then raved again and tore her hair.\nHe left the asylum more dead than alive, so completely broken-hearted\nthat he died in a few months. Yes the fruit was long growing, but at the\nlast it ripened to the harvest like a whirlwind.\n\n\n\nMadness and Death.\n\nI was coming along north Clark street one evening when a man shot past\nme like an arrow. But he had seen me, and turned and seized me by the\narm. Saying eagerly, \"Can I be saved to-night. The devil is coming to\ntake me to hell at 1 o'clock tonight.\" \"My friend, you are mistaken.\" I\nthought the man was sick. But he persisted that the devil had come and\nlaid his hand upon him, and told him he might have till 1 o'clock, and\nsaid he: \"Won't you go up to my room and sit with me.\" I got some men up\nto his room to see to him. At 1 o'clock the devils came into that room,\nand all the men in that room could not hold him. He was reaping what he\nhad sown. When the Angel of Death came and laid his cold hand on him, oh\nhow he cried for mercy.\n\n\n\nSAVED.\n\nA London Doctor Saved after Fifty Years of Prayer.\n\nWhen I was in London there was a leading doctor in that city, upwards of\nseventy years of age, wrote me a note to come and see him privately\nabout his soul. He was living at a country seat a little way out of\nLondon, and he came into town only two or three times a week. He was\nwealthy and was nearly retired. I received the note right in the midst\nof the London work, and told him I could not see him. I received a note\na day or two after from a member of his family, urging me to come. The\nletter said his wife had been praying for him for fifty years, and all\nthe children had become Christians by her prayers. She had prayed for\nhim all those years, but no impression had been made upon him. Upon his\ndesk they had found the letter from me, and they came up to London to\nsee what it meant, and I said I would see him. When we met I asked him\nif he wanted to become a Christian, and he seemed every way willing, but\nwhen it came to confession to his family, he halted. \"I tell you,\" said\nhe, \"I cannot do that; my life has been such that I would not like to\nconfess before my family.\" \"Now there is the point; if you are not\nwilling to confess Christ, He will not confess you; you cannot be His\ndisciple.\" We talked for some time, and he accepted. I found while I\nhad been in one room his daughter and some friends, anxious for the\nsalvation of that aged father, were in the other room praying to God,\nand when he started out willing to go home and confess Christ, I opened\nthe door of the other room, not knowing the daughter was there, and the\nfirst words she said were: \"Is my father saved?\" \"Yes, I think he is,\" I\nanswered, and ran down to the front door and called him back. \"Your\ndaughter is here,\" I said; \"this is the time to commence your\nconfession.\" The father, with tears trickling down his cheeks, embraced\nhis child, \"My dear daughter, I have accepted Christ,\" and a great flood\nof light broke upon him at that confession.\n\n\n\nAngry at First, Saved at Last.\n\nIn Dublin I was speaking to a lady in the inquiry-room, when I noticed a\ngentlemen walking up and down before the door. I went forward, and said:\n\"Are you a Christian?\" He was very angry, and turned on his heel and\nleft me. The following Sunday night I was preaching about \"receiving.\"\nand I put the question: \"Who'll receive Him now?\" That young man was\npresent, and the question sank into his heart. The next day he called\nupon me--he was a merchant in that city--and said: \"Do you remember me?\"\n\"No, I don't.\" \"Do you remember the young man who answered you so\nroughly the other night?\" \"Yes, I do.\" \"Well, I've come to tell you that\nI am saved.\" \"How did it happen?\" \"Why, I was listening to your sermon\nlast night, and when you asked, 'Who'll receive Him now?' God put it\ninto my heart to say: 'I will;' and He has opened my eyes to see His Son\nnow.\"\n\n\nRemoving the Difficulties.\n\nI was speaking to a young lady in the inquiry-room some time ago, and\nshe was in great distress of mind. She seemed really anxious to be\nsaved, and I could not find out what was the trouble between God and\nher. I saw there was something that was keeping her back. I quoted\npromise after promise, but she didn't seem to take hold on any of them.\nThen we got down on our knees, but still there was no light. Finally I\nsaid: \"Is there anyone against whom you have bitter feelings?\" \"Yes;\nthere's a young lady on the other side of the room, talking to your\nwife, whom I can't forgive.\" \"Ah I've got it now; that's why the\nblessing won't come to you.\" \"Do you mean to tell me,\" said the young\nlady, looking up in my face, \"that I can't be saved until I forgive\nher?\" \"No you can't! and, if there are any others whom you hate, you\nmust forgive them also.\" She paused a moment, and then she said: \"I will\ngo.\" It seems that my wife and the other young lady had been going over\nthe same ground, and just at that time the other young lady had resolved\nto come to ask this one's forgiveness. So they met in the middle of the\nroom, both saying at once: \"Will you forgive me?\" Oh, what a meeting it\nwas! They knelt together, and joy beamed on their souls, and their\ndifficulties vanished. In a little while they went out of the room with\ntheir arms around each other, and their faces lit up with a heavenly\nglow.\n\n\n\n\"Saved.\"\n\nI remember while in a town East at the time of the loss of the Atlantic\non the banks of Newfoundland, there was a business man in the town who\nwas reported lost. His store was closed, and all his friends mourned him\nas among those who went down on that vessel. But a telegram was received\nfrom him by his partner with the word \"saved,\" and that partner was\nfilled with joy. The store was opened and the telegram was framed, and\nif you go into that store to-day you will see that little bit of paper\nhanging on the wall, with the word \"saved\" upon it. Let the news go over\nthe wires to heaven to-night from you. Let the word \"Saved\" go from\neveryone of you, and there will be joy in heaven. You can be saved--the\nSon of man wants to save you.\n\n\n\nTerribly in Earnest.\n\nI read a number of years ago of a vessel that was wrecked. The\nlife-boats were not enough to take all the passengers. A man who was\nswimming in the water swam up to one of the life-boats that was full and\nseized it with his hand. They tried to prevent him, but the man was\nterribly in earnest about saving his life, and one of the men in the\nboat just drew a sword and cut off his hand. But the man didn't give up:\nhe reached out the other hand. He was terribly in earnest. He wanted to\nsave his life. But the man in the boat took the sword and cut off his\nother hand. But the man did not give up. He swam up to the boat and\nseized it with his teeth. Some of them said, \"Let us not cut his head\noff,\" and they drew him in. That man was terribly in earnest, and, my\nfriends, if you want to get into the kingdom of God, be in earnest.\n\n\n\n\"The Moody and Sankey Humbug.\"\n\nThere was a man, while we were in London, who got out a little paper\ncalled \"The Moody and Sankey Humbug.\" He used to have it to sell to the\npeople coming into the meeting. After he had sold a great many thousand\ncopies of that number, he wanted to get out another number; so he came\nto the meeting to get something to put into the paper; but the power of\nthe Lord was present. It says here in this chapter (Luke 5) that the\nPharisees, scribes, and doctors, were watching the words of Christ in\nthat house in Capernaum, and that the power of the Lord was present to\nheal. It don't say they were healed. They did not come to be healed. If\nthey had, they would have been healed. But sometimes there is a prayer\nof faith going up to God from some one, that brings down blessings. And\nso this man came into that meeting. The power of the Lord was present,\nand the arrow of conviction went down deep into his heart. He went out,\nnot to write a paper, but to destroy his paper that he had written, and\nso to tell what the Holy Ghost had done for him.\n\n\n\nThe Reporter's Story.\n\nOne of the most conspicuous persons at the Brooklyn Rink was a man of\nover fifty years, a reporter, apparently of a sensational sort. One of\nmy friends entered into conversation with him the second evening, and\nfound him partially intoxicated, ribald, sneering, and an infidel.\nInquiring further concerning him, we found that he had been several\ntimes in the city jail for drunken brawls, although originally a man of\nculture and polish. Time passed, and on our last day at Brooklyn the\nsame man, conspicuous by his commanding figure, sat in a back seat in\nthe Simpson Church. My friend accosted him once more, and this was the\nanswer: \"I am waiting to thank Mr. Moody, who, under God, has been the\ngreatest blessing of my life to me. I have given up my engagement, the\ntemptations of which are such as no Christian can face. And I am a\nChristian--a new creature; not reformed; you cannot reform a drunkard; I\nhave tried that a hundred times; but I am regenerated, born again by the\ngrace and power of God. I have reported sermons many a time, simply to\nridicule them, but never had the least idea what true religion meant\ntill I heard Mr. Moody's address on 'Love and Sympathy,' ten days ago,\nand I would not have believed there could be so much sweetness in a\nlifetime as has been condensed into those ten days. My children knew the\nchange; my wife knew it; I have set up the family altar, and the\nappetite for liquor has been utterly taken away, that I only loathe what\nI used to love.\" \"Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall,\"\nsuggested my friend. \"No, not while I stand so close to the cross as I\ndo to-day;\" and he opened a small hymn-book, on the fly-leaf of which\nwas written: \"I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall\nnot be ashamed.\"\n\n\n\nThe Skeptical Lady.\n\nWhen Mr. Sankey and I were in the north of England, I was preaching one\nevening, and before me sat a lady who was a skeptic. When I had\nfinished, I asked all who were anxious, to remain. Nearly all remained,\nherself among the number. I asked her if she was a Christian, and she\nsaid she was not, nor did she care to be. I prayed for her there. On\ninquiry, I learned that she was a lady of good social position, but very\nworldly. She continued to attend the meetings, and in a week after I saw\nher in tears. After the sermon, I went to her and asked if she was of\nthe same mind as before. She replied that Christ had come to her and she\nwas happy. Last Autumn I had a note from her husband saying she was\ndead, that her love for the Master had continually increased. When I\nread that note, I felt paid for crossing the Atlantic. She worked\nsweetly after her conversion, and was the means of winning many of her\nfashionable friends to Christ. O, may you seek the Lord while He may be\nfound, and may you call upon Him while He is near.\n\n\n\nGOLD.\n\n-- I would rather go into the kingdom of heaven through the poor house\n   than go down to hell in a golden chariot.\n\n-- I believe there are more young men who come to Boston who are lost\n   because they cannot say no, than for any other reason.\n\n-- It ain't necessary to leave the things of this life when you follow\n   Him. It is not necessary to give up your business, if it's a\n   legitimate one, in order to accept Christ. But you mustn't set your\n   heart on the old nets by a good deal.\n\n-- A great many people want to bring their faith, their works, their\n   good deeds to Him for salvation. Bring your sins, and He will bear\n   them away into the wilderness of forgetfulness, and you will never\n   see them again.\n\n-- Do you believe that He would send those men out to preach the gospel\n   to every creature unless he wanted every creature to be saved? Do you\n   believe He would tell them to preach it to people without giving\n   people the power to accept it? Do you believe the God of heaven is\n   mocking men by offering them his gospel and not giving them the power\n   to take hold of it? Do you believe He will not give men power to\n   accept this salvation as a gift? Man might do that, but God never\n   mocks men. And when he says \"Preach the gospel to every creature,\"\n   every creature can be saved if he will.\n\n-- Lift your eyes from off these puny Christians--from off these human\n   ministers, and look to Christ. He is the Saviour of the world. He\n   came from the throne to this earth: He came from the very bosom of\n   the Father. God gave Him up freely for us, and all we have to do is\n   to accept him as our Saviour. Look at Him at Gethsemane, sweating as\n   it were great drops of blood; look at Him on the cross, crucified\n   between two thieves; hear that piercing cry, \"Father, Father, forgive\n   them, they know not what they do.\" And as you look into that face, as\n   you look into those wounds on His feet or His hands, will you say He\n   has not the power to save you? Will you say He has not the power to\n   redeem you?\n\n\n\n[Illustration: The Pharisee And The Publican. GUSTAVE DORE.  Luke,\nxviii, 9-14.]\n\n[Illustration: Deborah's Song of Triumph. GUSTAVE DORE.  Judges.]\n\n\n\nSONG STORIES.\n\n\"Hold the fort, For I am Coming.\"\n\nI am told that when General Sherman went through Atlanta towards the\nsea--through the Southern States--he left in the fort in the Kennesaw\nMountains a little handful of men to guard some rations that he brought\nthere. And General Hood got into the outer rear and attacked the fort,\ndrove the men in from the outer works into the inner works, and for a\nlong time the battle raged fearfully. Half of the men were either killed\nor wounded; the general who was in command was wounded seven different\ntimes; and when they were about ready to run up the white flag and\nsurrender the fort, Sherman got within fifteen miles, and through the\nsignal corps on the mountain he sent the message: \"Hold the fort; I am\ncoming. W. T. Sherman.\" That message fired up their hearts, and they\nheld the fort till reinforcements came, and the fort did not go into the\nhands of their enemies. Our friend, Mr. Bliss, has written a hymn\nentitled \"Hold the fort for I am coming,\" and I'm going to ask Mr.\nSankey to sing that hymn. I hope there will be a thousand young converts\ncoming into our ranks to help hold the fort. Our Saviour is in command,\nand He is coming. Let us take up the chorus.\n\n  Ho! my comrades, see the signal\n    Waving in the sky!\n  Reinforcements now appearing,\n     Victory is nigh!\n\n  CHO.--\n    \"Hold the fort, for I am coming,\"\n      Jesus signals still.\n    Wave the answer back to heaven,\n      \"By Thy grace we will.\"\n\n  See the mighty hosts advancing,\n    Satan leading on;\n  Mighty men around us falling,\n    Courage almost gone.--Cho\n\n  See the glorious banner waving\n    Hear the bugle blow.\n  In our Leader's name we'll triumph\n    Over every foe.--Cho.\n\n  Fierce and long the battle rages,\n    But our Help is near;\n  Onward comes our Great Commander,\n    Cheer, my comrades, cheer!--Cho.\n\nP. P. Bliss.\n\n\n\n\"Let the Lower Lights be Burning.\"\n\nA few years ago at the mouth of Cleveland harbor there were two lights,\none at each side of the bay, called the upper and lower lights; and to\nenter the harbor safely by night, vessels must sight both of the lights.\nThese western lakes are more dangerous sometimes than the great ocean.\nOne wild, stormy night, a steamer was trying to make her way into the\nharbor. The Captain and pilot were anxiously watching for the lights. By\nand by the pilot was heard to say, \"Do you see the lower lights?\" \"No,\"\nwas the reply; \"I fear we have passed them.\" \"Ah, there are the lights,\"\nsaid the pilot; \"and they must be from the bluff on which they stand,\nthe upper lights. We have passed the lower lights; and have lost our\nchance of getting into the harbor;\" What was to be done? They looked\nback, and saw the dim outline of the lower lighthouse against the sky.\nThe lights had gone out. \"Can't you turn your head around?\" \"No; the\nnight is too wild for that. She won't answer to her helm.\" The storm was\nso fearful that they could do nothing. They tried again to make for the\nharbor, but they went crash against the rocks, and sank to the bottom.\nVery few escaped; the great majority found a watery grave. Why? Simply\nbecause the lower lights had gone out. Now with us the upper lights are\nall right. Christ himself is the upper light, and we are the lower\nlights, and the cry to us is, Keep the lower lights burning; that is\nwhat we have to do. He will lead us safe to the sunlit shore of Canaan,\nwhere there is no more night.\n\n  Brightly beams our Father's mercy\n    From His lighthouse ever more.\n  But to us He gives the keeping\n    Of the lights along the shore.\n\n  CHO.--\n  Let the lower lights be burning!\n    Send a gleam across the wave!\n  Some poor fainting struggling seaman\n    You may rescue, you may save.\n\n  Dark the night of sin has settled,\n    Loud and angry billows roar;\n  Eager eye's are watching, longing,\n    For the lights along the shore.--Cho.\n\n  Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;\n    Some poor seaman tempest-tost,\n  Trying now to make the harbor,\n    In the darkness may be lost.--Cho.\n\nP. P. BLISS.\n\n\n\n\"More to Follow.\"\n\nRowland Hill tells a good story of a rich man and a poor man in his\ncongregation. The rich man desired to do an act of benevolence, and so\nhe sent a sum of money to a friend to be given to this poor man as he\nthought best. The friend, just sent him five pounds, and said in the\nnote: \"This is thine; use it wisely; there is more to follow.\" After a\nwhile he sent another five pounds and said, \"more to follow.\" Again and\nagain, he sent the money to the poor man, always with the cheering\nwords, \"more to follow.\" So it is with the wonderful grace of God. There\nis always \"more to follow.\"\n\n  Have you on the Lord believed?\n    Still there's more to follow;\n  Of His grace have you received?\n    Still there's more to follow;\n  Oh, the grace the Father shows!\n    Still there's more to follow,\n  Freely He His grace bestows,\n    Still there's more to follow.\n\n  CHO.--\n  More and more, more and more,\n    Always more to follow,\n  Oh, his boundless matchless love!\n    Still there's more to follow.\n\n  Have you felt the Saviour near?\n    Still there's more to follow;\n  Does His blessed presence, cheer?\n    Still there's more to follow;\n  Oh, the love that Jesus shows!\n    Still there's more to follow,\n  Freely He His love bestows,\n    Still there's more to follow.--Cho.\n\n  Have you felt the spirit's power?\n    Still there's more to follow;\n  Falling like the gentle shower?\n    Still there's more to follow;\n  Oh, the power the spirit shows!\n    Still there's more to follow,\n  Freely He His power bestows,\n    Still there's more to follow.--Cho.\n\nP. P. Bliss.\n\n\n[Illustration: Daniel. GUSTAVE DORE. Daniel, x.]\n\n[Illustration: Solomon.  GUSTAVE DORE.]\n\n\n\n\"Pull for the Shore, Sailor.\"\n\nA vessel was wrecked off the shore. Eager eyes were watching and strong\narms manned the life-boat. For hours they tried to reach that vessel\nthrough the great breakers that raged and foamed on the sand-bank but it\nseemed impossible. The boat appeared to be leaving the crew to perish.\nBut after a while the Captain and sixteen men were taken off, and the\nvessel went down. \"When the life-boat came to you,\" said a friend, \"did\nyou expect it had brought some tools to repair your old ship?\" \"Oh, no,\"\nwas the response; \"she was a total wreck. Two of her masts were gone,\nand if we had stayed mending her, only a few minutes, we must have gone\ndown, sir.\" \"When once off the old wreck and safe in the life-boat, what\nremained for you to do?\" \"Nothing, sir, but just to pull for the shore.\"\n\n  Light in the darkness, sailor, day is at hand!\n  See o'er the foaming billows fair Haven's land,\n  Drear was the voyage, sailor, now almost o'er\n  Safe within the life-boat, sailor, pull for the shore.\n\n  CHO.--\n    Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore!\n    Heed not the rolling waves, but bend to the oar;\n    Safe in the life-boat, sailor, cling to self no more!\n    Leave the poor old stranded wreck, and pull for the shore.\n\n  Trust in the life-boat, sailor, all else will fail,\n  Stronger the surges dash and fiercer the gale,\n  Heed not the stormy winds, though loudly they roar;\n  Watch the \"bright morning star,\" and pull for the shore.-Cho.\n\n  Bright gleams the morning, sailor, lift up thy eye;\n  Clouds and darkness disappearing, glory is nigh!\n  Safe in the life-boat, sailor, sing evermore;\n  \"Glory, glory, hallelujah!\" pull for the shore.--Cho.\n\nP. P. BLISS.\n\n\n\nTRUST.\n\n\"I Am Trusting Jesus\"--A Young Lady's Trust.\n\nThe other Sunday, when I was speaking on \"Trust,\" a person came to me\nnext day and said, \"I want to tell you how I was saved. You remember you\ntold about that lady who sought Christ three years and could not find\nHim, and when you told that, it was I. I was in that same condition and\nthrough your story I got light.\" I don't think I have ever told it but\nwhat somebody got light and life. I will tell it again, for I would go\nup and down the world telling it if I could get a convert. One night I\nwas preaching, and happening to cast my eyes down during the sermon, I\nsaw two eyes just riveted upon me. Every word that fell from my lips she\njust seemed to catch with her own lips, and I was very anxious to go\ndown where she was. After the Sermon I went to the pew and said, \"My\nfriend, are you a Christian?\" \"Oh, no,\" said she, \"I wish I was. I have\nbeen seeking Christ three years and I cannot find Him.\" Said I; \"Oh,\nthere is a great mistake about that.\" Says she, \"'Do you think I am not\nin earnest? Do you think, sir, I have not been seeking Christ?\" Said I,\n\"I suppose you think you have, but Christ has been seeking you these\ntwenty years, and it would not take an anxious sinner and an anxious\nSaviour three years to meet, and if you had been really seeking Him you\nwould have found Him long before this.\" \"What would you do, then?\" Said\nI, \"Do nothing, only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be\nsaved.\" \"Oh,\" said she, \"I have heard that till my head swims. Everybody\nsays, believe! believe! believe! and I am none the wiser. I don't know\nwhat you mean by it.\" \"Very well,\" said I, \"I will drop the word; but\njust trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save.\" \"If I say I trust Him, will\nHe save me?\" \"No, you may do a thousand things; but if you really trust\nHim, He will save you.\" \"Well,\" said she, \"I trust Him, but I don't feel\nany different.\" \"Ah,\" said I, \"I have found your difficulty. You have\nbeen hunting for feeling all these three years. You have not been\nlooking for Christ.\" Says she, \"Christians tell how much joy they have\ngot.\" \"But,\" said I, \"you want Christian experience before you get one.\nInstead of trusting God, you are looking for Christian experience.\" Then\nI said: \"Right here in this pew, just commit yourself to the Lord Jesus\nChrist, and trust Him, and you will be saved,\" and I held her right to\nthat word \"trust,\" which is the same as the word \"believe\" in the Old\nTestament. \"You know what it is to trust a friend. Cannot you trust God\nas a friend?\" She looked at me for five minutes, it seemed, and then\nsaid slowly: \"Mr. Moody, I trust the Lord Jesus Christ this night to\nsave my soul.\" Turning to the pastor of the church she took him by the\nhand and repeated the declaration. Turning to an elder in the church she\nsaid again the solemn words, and near the door, meeting another officer\nof the church, she repeated for the fourth time, \"I am trusting Jesus,\"\nand went off home. The next night when I was preaching I saw her right\nin front of me, \"Eternity\" written in her eyes, her face lighted up, and\nwhen I asked inquirers to go into the other room she was the first to go\nin. I wondered at it, for I could see by her face that she was in the\njoy of the Lord. But when I got in I found her with her arms around a\nyoung lady's neck, and I heard her say, \"It is only just trusting. I\nstumbled over it three years and found it all in trusting;\" and the\nthree weeks I was there she led more souls to Christ than anybody else.\nIf I got a difficult case I would send it to her. Oh, my friends, won't\nyou trust Him? Let us put our trust in Him.\n\n\n\nMrs. Moody Teaching her Child.\n\nThere was a time when our little boy did not like to go to church, and\nwould get up in the morning and say to his mother, \"What day is\nto-morrow?\" \"Tuesday.\" \"Next day?\" \"Wednesday.\" \"Next day?\" \"Thursday;\"\nand so on, till he came to the answer, \"Sunday.\" \"Dear me,\" he said. I\nsaid to the mother, \"We cannot have our boy grow up to hate Sunday in\nthis way; that will never do. That is the way I used to feel when I was\na boy. I used to look upon Sunday with a certain amount of dread. Very\nfew kind words were associated with the day. I don't know that the\nminister ever put his hand on my head. I don't know that the minister\neven noticed me, unless it was when I was asleep in the gallery, and he\nwoke me up. This kind of thing won't do; we must make the Sunday the\nmost attractive day of the week; not a day to be dreaded; but a day of\npleasure.\" Well the mother took the work up with this boy. Bless those\nmothers in their work with the children. Sometimes I feel as if I would\nrather be the mother of John Wesley or Martin Luther or John Knox than\nhave all the glories in the world. Those mothers who are faithful with\nthe children God has given them will not go unrewarded. My wife went to\nwork and took those Bible stories and put those blessed truths in a\nlight that the child could comprehend, and soon the feeling of dread for\nthe Sabbath with the boy was the other way, \"What day's to-morrow?\" he\nwould ask, \"Sunday.\" \"I am glad.\" And if we make those Bible truths\ninteresting--break them up in some shape so that these children can get\nat them, then they will begin to enjoy them.\n\n\n\nWISDOM.\n\n-- I remember a gentleman of Boston, a man high in life, a Congressman,\nwho was accustomed to carry with him little cards and distribute them\nwherever he went, and on some of these cards were words like these: \"I\nexpect to pass through this world but once, and therefore if there be\nany kindness I can show, if there is anything I can do to make men\nhappy, I shall do it, for I may not pass this way again.\"\n\n-- A man was asked what his persuasion was. He said it was the same as\nPaul's. I don't know what Paul's persuasion was. All persuasions claim\nhim. Sankey says he is a Methodist. Listen: \"I am not ashamed, for I\nknow whom I believe, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which\nI have committed to Him.\" That is Paul's persuasion. You may call it\nwhat you have a mind to, it is a good persuasion.\n\n-- If we are going to be successful, we have got to take our stand for\nGod, and let the world and everyone know we are on the Lord's side. I\nhave great respect for the woman that started out during the war with a\npoker. She heard the enemy were coming and went to resist them. When\nsome one asked her what she could do with the poker, she said she would\nat least let them know what side she was on. And that is what we want.\n\n-- Let us do all the work we can. If we can't be a lighthouse, let us be\na tallow candle. There used to be a period when people came to meeting\nbringing their candles with them. The first one, perhaps, wouldn't make\na great illumination, but when two or three got there, there would be\nmore light. If the people of Boston should do that now, if each one\nshould come here in this Tabernacle, with a candle, don't you think\nthere would be a little light.\n\n-- When I was a little boy I used to try and catch my own shadow. I\ndon't know whether any of you have ever been so foolish as that or not.\nI could not see why the shadow always kept ahead of me. Once I happened\nto be racing with my face to the sun and I looked over my head and saw\nmy shadow coming back of me, and it kept behind me all the way. It is\nthe same with the Sun of Righteousness. Peace and joy will go with you\nwhile you go with your face toward Him.\n\n-- There are nine different qualities--peace, gentleness,\nlong-suffering, hope, patience, charity, etc., but you can sum them all\ninto one, and you have love. I saw something in writing the other day\nbearing upon the subject which I just took a copy of: \"The fruit of the\nSpirit is in just one word--love. Joy is love exalted; peace is love in\nrepose, long-suffering is love enduring, gentleness is love in society,\ngoodness is love in action, faith is love on the battle field, meekness\nis love in school, and temperance is love in training. And so you can\nsay that the fruit is all expressed by one word--love.\"\n\n-- I believe there is a great deal more hope for a drunkard or a\nmurderer or a gambler than there is for a lazy man. I never heard of a\nlazy man being converted yet, though I remember talking once with a\nminister in the back woods of Iowa about lazy men. He was all\ndiscouraged in his efforts to convert lazy men, and I said to him, \"Did\nyou ever know of a lazy man being converted?\" \"Yes,\" said he; \"I knew of\none, but he was so lazy that he didn't stay converted but about six\nweeks.\" And that is as near as I ever heard of a lazy man being\nconverted.\n\n-- I remember, I was talking with a man one day and an acquaintance of\nhis came in, and he jumped up at once and shook him by the hand--why I\nthought he was going to shake his hand out of joint, he shook so\nhard--and he seemed to be so glad to see him and wanted him to stay, but\nthe man was in a great hurry and could not stay, and he coaxed and urged\nhim to stay, but the man said no, he would come another time; and after\nthat man went out my companion turned to me and said, \"Well, he is an\nawful bore, and I am glad he's gone.\" Well I began to feel that I was a\nbore too, and I got out as quickly as I could. That is not real love.\n\n\n\nWORD PICTURES.\n\nThe Prodigal Son.\n\nThe boy got his money, and away he went. He feels very independent; he\ncan take care of himself; he can work his own way. I don't know where he\nwent to. Perhaps he went away down to Memphis, and perhaps he went to\nEgypt--got as far away from home as he could. When he went away he soon\ncommenced to go down to ruin. When he gets down to that part of the\ncountry he suddenly becomes very popular with a certain class of men.\nPerhaps he was very popular with the men who hung around the opera\nhouse, or the theatre, or the billiard halls. A great many courted his\ncompany. Perhaps he was a good talker, perhaps he was a good singer and\ncould sing a comic song; perhaps he was a literary man, and entertained\nthem with his wit, and all were delighted with him. But as we would say,\nhe got to the end of his rope, and when his money went his friends\ndisappeared: The poor fellow was in a blaze of glory while his money\nlasted, but when it had gone he woke up to find himself without friends.\nA man in New England said while his money lasted he had friends, but\nwhen he was ruined and in prison he found out who his real friends were.\nNot one of his old friends came near him, but the Christian people came\nand spoke to him words of kindness and comfort, and it was then he made\nthe discovery who his true friends were. So this young prodigal didn't\nget his eyes open till his money was all gone. No one in that foreign\ncountry loved him then, no one in that land cared for him; but away off\nover those green hills there was one who loved him still. It was his\nfather, and that father received him back.\n\n\n\nThe Cross and Crown.\n\nAt last He cried, with a loud voice: \"It is finished!\" Perhaps not many\non earth heard it, or cared about it when they did hear it; but I can\nimagine there were not many in heaven who did not hear it, and if they\nhave bells in heaven how they must have rung out that day; \"It is\nfinished! It is finished!\" The Son of God had died that poor sinful man\nmight have life eternal. I can imagine the angels walking through the\nstreets of heaven crying: \"It is finished!\" and the mansions of that\nworld ringing with the glad tidings: \"It is finished!\" It was the shout\nof victory. All you have got to do is to look and be saved. You have\nseen the waves of the sea come dashing up against a rocky shore. They\ncome up and beat against the rock, and, breaking into pieces, go back to\ngather fresh strength, and again they come up and beat against the rock\nonly to be again broken into pieces. And so it would seem as if the dark\nwaves of hell had gathered all their strength together and had come\nbeating up against the bosom of the Son of God; but he drives them all\nback again with that shout of a conqueror: \"It is finished.\" And with\nthat shout He snapped the fetters of sin, and broke the power of Satan.\n\n\nWhile I was at a convention in Illinois an old man past 70 years, got\nup, and said he remembered but one thing about his father, and that one\nthing followed him all through life. He could not remember his death, he\nhad no recollection of his funeral, but he recollected his father one\nwinter night, taking a little chip, and with his pocket knife whittling\nout a little cross, and with the tears in his eyes he held up that cross\ntelling how God in His infinite love sent His Son down here to redeem\nus, how He had died on the cross for us. The story of the cross followed\nhim through life.\n\n\n[Illustration: The Prodigal Son.  GUSTAVE DORE. Luke, xv 11-32.]\n\n[Illustration: Christ Stilling The Tempest.  GUSTAVE DORE.  Matthew.\nviii, 23-27]\n\n\n\nAFFECTING INCIDENT AT SEA.\n\nMoody's Love and Prayer for 700 \"Quaking Souls.\"\n\n\"I remember clearly lying in my berth early that Saturday morning (Nov.\n26th, 1892, on the steamer Spree when she was one thousand miles out\nfrom Southampton on her way to New York), congratulating myself that I\nhad gotten passage in so swift a ship, when my thoughts were stopped by\na great crash that shook the vessel from stem to stern.\n\n\"My son, William Revell Moody, jumped from his berth and rushed on deck.\nHe was back again in an instant, crying that the shaft was broken and\nthe ship sinking. Then ensued a scene the like of which I hope never to\nwitness again. There was no panic, but the passengers, who had scrambled\non deck at the first warning, looked at each other in an appealing way\nthat was, if anything, more terrible than demonstrative fear. The\ncaptain told us there was no danger, and some of the second cabin\npassengers returned to their berths only to tumble back pellmell a\nmoment later. The rising water had driven them out. Some of them lost\nall their clothes and valuables.\n\n\"At this point the officers buckled on their revolvers, but there was no\nneed to use them. The people, though terribly frightened, did not seem\nto realize what had happened. The women didn't scream, but stood around\ntrembling and with blanched faces. Nobody said a word, but each waited\nfor his neighbor to speak. We felt that we might be looking on our\ngraves.\n\n\"The captain told us at noon that he thought he had the water under\ncontrol and was in hopes of drifting in the way of some passing vessel.\nThe ship's bow was now high in the air, while the stern seemed to settle\nmore and more. There was no storm, but the sea, was very rough, and the\nship rolled from side to side with fearful lurches. I think that if she\nhad pitched at all the overstrained, bulkheads would have burst and we\nshould have gone to the bottom. The captain cheered us by telling us\nthat he thought we should run in with a ship by 3 o'clock that Saturday\nafternoon, but the night drew on and no sail appeared to lighten our\ngloom.\n\n\"We knew the ship was sinking when we came on deck, but there was no\npanic. The big engines of the ship were all working at the pumps, but\nthe water was steadily gaining in spite of them. With each roll of the\nship it could be heard like the roar of the surf. All the day was passed\nin anxiously watching for a sail. We could not talk of religion, for the\nfirst word brought forth a hundred exclamations, 'Are we sinking?' Then\nin that first night one woman went insane. It seemed an age until the\nSabbath morning came, When the vigil on the deck was resumed.\n\n\"I think that was the darkest night in all our lives. None of us thought\nto live to see the light of another day. Nobody slept. We were all\nhuddled in the saloon of the first cabin--Americans and Germans, Jews,\nProtestants, Catholics and skeptics--although at that time I doubt if\nthere were many skeptics among us. For forty-eight hours we were in this\nmortal fear.\n\n\"Sabbath morning dawned upon as wretched a ship's company as ever sailed\nthe sea. There was at that time no talk of religious services. I think\nthat if this had been suggested then there would have been a panic. To\ntalk of religion to those poor people would have been to suggest the\nmost terrible things to them. Everybody was waiting for his neighbor to\nsay: 'Are we, then, doomed to die?'\n\n\"But as night approached I gathered those 700 quaking souls together and\nwe held a prayer meeting. I think everybody prayed. There were no\nskeptics present. I have been under fire in the war, I have stood by\ndeathbeds during the cholera epidemic in Chicago, but I never was so\nsorely tried. I could with difficulty command my voice as I read the\nninety-first Psalm. I read without comment, and then I prayed that God\nwould still the anger of the deep and bring us safely to our desired\nheaven. The people were weeping all around me. I also read from the\n107th Psalm.\n\n\"We tried to sing. I gave out the first verse of  'Jesus, Lover of My\nSoul,' and General Howard started the tune. He sang the hymn through in\na strong voice, but very few joined him. Instead, the melody was\npunctuated by broken sobs and exclamation of grief. That night I went to\nbed and slept, I felt that everything would be all right.\n\n\"Never was a more earnest meeting held than this. All prayed together,\nand I did not hear much talk of skepticism, I can tell you. At 2:30\no'clock in the morning a ship's light was sighted, and in a few hours we\nwere comparatively safe, although our danger was not over. The strain on\nour minds was almost as great, and minds gave way under it. Two women\nbecame violently insane and it was necessary to confine them. A young\nman from Vienna threw himself overboard and was drowned.\n\n\"When we were finally safe in port we had a thanksgiving service, and\nthen such singing as there was--such praises that went up.\n\n\"We prayed that the ship be brought to a haven, and relief came on the\nnight after our prayer meeting. I am a firm believer in prayer. I always\nhave been. I believe and I know that God saved the Spree in response to\nour prayers.\"\n\n\n\n\nPUBLISHED BY\nRHODES & McCLURE PUBLISHING CO.,\nCHICAGO.\n\nAll handsomely bound in the best English and American cloths, with full\nSilver embossed side and back stamp; uniform, in style and binding.\nTogether making a handsome library, or, separately, making handsome\ncenter-table volumes. PRICE, $1.00 EACH.  SENT POST-PAID.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Portrait of Lincoln.]\n\nABRAHAM LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES; in one volume, complete New\n(1897) edition, handsomely illustrated; containing the many witty,\npointed and unequaled stories as told by Mr. Lincoln, including Early\nlife stories, Professional life stories, White House and War stories;\nalso presenting the full text of the popular Speeches of  Mr. Lincoln on\nthe great questions of the age, including his \"First Political Speech,\"\n\"Rail-Splitting Speech,\" \"Great Debate with Douglas,\" and his Wonderful\nSpeech at Gettysburg, etc., etc.; and including his two great\nInaugurals, with many grand illustrations. An instructive and valuable\nbook; 477 pages.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Portrait of Moody.]\n\nMOODY'S ANECDOTES; 210 pages exclusive of engravings. Containing several\nhundred interesting stories, told by the great evangelist, D. L. Moody,\nin his wonderful work in Europe and America. Hundreds of thousands of\ncopies have been sold. Illustrated with excellent engravings of Messrs.\nMoody, Sankey, Whittle and Bliss, and thirty-two full-page engravings\nfrom  Gustave Dore, making and artistic and handsome volume. \"A book of\nanecdotes which have thrilled hundreds of thousands,\"--Pittsburg Banner.\n\n\n\nMOODY'S GOSPEL SERMONS. As delivered by the great Evangelist, Dwight\nLyman Moody, in his revival work in Great Britain and America, Together\nwith a biography of  Mr. Moody and his co-laborer, Ira David Sanke.\nIncluding, also, a short history of the Great Revival. Each sermon is\nillustrated with a handsome, full page  engraving from Gustave Dore. The\nbook also contains an engraving of D. L. Moody, Ira D. Sankey, Mr. Moody\npreaching in the Royal Opera House, Haymarket, London, Chicago\nTabernacle (erected for Mr. Moody's Services) and \"I Am the Way.\" A\nhandsome and attractive volume of 443 pages.\n\n\n\nMOODY'S LATEST SERMONS. As delivered by the great Evangelist, Dwight\nLyman Moody. Handsomely illustrated with twenty-four full-page\nengravings from Gustave Dore. 335 pages.\n\n\n\nMOODY'S CHILD STORIES. As related  by  Dwight Lyman Moody in his revival\nwork. Handsomely illustrated with sixteen full-page engravings from\nGustave Dore and 106 illustrations from J. Stuart Littlejohn. A book\nadapted to children, but interesting  to adults. A handsome volume.\nShould be in every family 237 pages.","title":"Moody's Anecdotes And Illustrations: Related in his Revival Work by the Great Evangelist","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":75222}