{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_23096/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_23096","id":"gutenberg_23096","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23096","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Evangelistic sermons","Presbyterian Church -- Sermons","Sermons, American"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n_AND_\n\nJUDAS ISCARIOT\n\n\nTOGETHER WITH OTHER EVANGELISTIC ADDRESSES\n\n\nBY\n\nJ. WILBUR CHAPMAN\n\n\n\n\nHODDER & STOUGHTON\n\nNEW YORK\n\nGEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nCopyright\n\n1906\n\nThe Winona Publishing Company\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  And Judas Iscariot\n  An Old-Fashioned Home\n  The Swelling of Jordan\n  A Call to Judgment\n  A Changed Life\n  The Lost Opportunity\n  A Great Victory\n  Paul a Pattern of Prayer\n  A Startling Statement\n  The Grace of God\n  Conversion\n  Five Kings in a Cave\n  Definiteness of Purpose in Christian Work\n  The Morning Breaketh\n  An Obscured Vision\n  The Compassion of Jesus\n  Sanctification\n  An Unheeded Warning\n  The Approval of the Spirit\n  A Reasonable Service\n  The True Christian Life\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe sermons contained in this volume are published in response to\nnumerous requests that they might be put into permanent form.\n\nThe author of these sermons needs no introduction to the Christian\nreaders of America.  His fame as an author, preacher and evangelist is\nmore than national.  As Director of the evangelistic work carried on by\nthe General Assembly's Committee of the Presbyterian Church, he has\nachieved distinction as a preacher of the Gospel.  Under his direction\nsimultaneous evangelistic campaigns have been held in many of the\nleading cities of the land, and the Christian Church and the world have\nhad an experience of a new, aggressive and emphatic evangelism that has\nstirred the Church, revived Christian service and been the means under\nGod of turning thousands to a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ.\n\nTherefore it is a privilege and pleasure to put into book form some of\nthe sermons which Dr. Chapman has preached in his evangelistic work and\nalso as the Director of the Interdenominational Bible Conference at\nWinona Lake, Indiana.  Thousands have borne witness to the profound\nimpression and enduring influence of those messages.  Especially is\nthis true of \"And Judas Iscariot\" and \"An Old-Fashioned Home.\"  One can\nnever forget the scene when the latter sermon was preached on\nThanksgiving Day, 1905, in the great theater in Jersey City.  Great\nnumbers of men have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as a\npersonal Savior following the preaching of \"The Swelling of Jordan.\"\n\nThe book is sent forth with devout gratitude to God for his blessing\nupon the preaching of these sermons, and with a prayer that even the\nreading of them may be attended with deeper devotion to Jesus Christ,\nand increasing service to those for whom Christ died.\n\nPARLEY E. ZARTMANN.\n\n\n\n\nAND JUDAS ISCARIOT\n\n\nAND JUDAS ISCARIOT\n\nTEXT: \"_And Judas Iscariot._\"--Mark 3:19.\n\nThere is something about the name of this miserable man which commands\nour attention at once.  There is a sort of fascination about his\nwickedness, and when we read his story it is difficult to give it up\nuntil we have come to its awful end.  It is rather significant, it\nwould seem to me, that his name should come last in the list of the\nApostles, and the text, \"And Judas Iscariot,\" would suggest to me not\nonly that his name was last, but that it was there for some special\nreason, as I am sure we shall find out that it was.  It is also\nsignificant that the first name mentioned in the list of the Apostles\nin this third chapter of Mark was Simon, who was surnamed Peter.\n\nThe first mentioned Apostle denied Jesus with an oath, the one last\nreferred to sold him for thirty pieces of silver and has gone into\neternity with the awful sin of murder charged against him.  The\ndifference between the two is this: their sins were almost equally\ngreat, but the first repented and the grace of God had its perfect work\nin him and he was the object of Christ's forgiveness; the second was\nfilled with remorse without repentance and grace was rejected.  The\nfirst became one of the mightiest preachers in the world's history; the\nsecond fills us with horror whenever we read the story of his awful\ncrime.\n\nDifferent names affect us differently.  One could not well think of\nJohn without being impressed with the power of love; nor could one\nconsider Paul without being impressed first of all with his zeal and\nthen with his learning.  Certainly one could not study Peter without\nsaying that his strongest characteristic was his enthusiasm.  It is\nhelpful to know that the Spirit of God working with one who was a giant\nintellectually and with one who was profane and ignorant accomplished\npractically the same results, making them both, Paul and Peter, mighty\nmen whose ministry has made the world richer and better in every way.\nBut to think of Judas is always to shudder.\n\nThere is a kindred text in this same Gospel of Mark, but the emotions\nit stirs are entirely different.  The second text is, \"And Peter.\"  The\ncrucifixion is over, the Savior is in the tomb, poor Peter, a\nbroken-hearted man, is wandering through the streets of the City of the\nKing.  He is at last driven to the company of the disciples, when\nsuddenly there rushes in upon them the woman who had been at the tomb,\nand she exclaims, \"He is risen, has gone over into Galilee and wants\nhis disciples to meet him.\"  This was the angel's message to her.  All\nthe disciples must have hurried to the door that they might hasten to\nsee their risen Lord--all save Peter.  And then came the pathetic and\nthrilling text, for the woman gave the message as Jesus gave it to the\nangels and they to her, \"Go tell his disciples--_and Peter_.\"\n\nBut this text, \"And Judas Iscariot,\" brings to our recollection the\nstory of a man who lost his opportunity to be good and great; the\npicture of one who was heartless in his betrayal, for within sight of\nthe Garden of Gethsemane he saluted Jesus with a hypocritical kiss; the\nrecollection of one in whose ears to-day in eternity there must be\nheard the clinking sound of the thirty pieces of silver; and the\naccount of one who died a horrible death, all because sin had its way\nwith him and the grace of God was rejected.\n\nThe scene connected with his calling is significant.  Mark tells us in\nthe third chapter of his Gospel that when Jesus saw the man with the\nwithered hand and healed him, he went out by the seaside and then upon\nthe mountain, and there called his Apostles round about him, gave them\ntheir commission and sent them forth to do his bidding.\n\nIn Matthew the ninth chapter and the thirty-sixth to the thirty-eighth\nverses, we are told that when he saw the multitudes he was moved with\ncompassion, and he commissioned the twelve and sent them forth that\nthey might serve as shepherds to the people who appeared to be\nshepherdless.  \"Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is\nplenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the\nharvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.\"  And then\nhe sent the twelve forth.  As a matter of fact the Scriptures\nconcerning Judas are not so very full, but there is a good outline, and\nif one but takes the points presented and allows his imagination to\nwork in the least, there is a story which is thrilling in its awfulness.\n\nThe four Evangelists tell us of his call, and these are practically\nidentical in their statement except concerning his names.  Matthew and\nMark call him the Betrayer; Luke speaks of him as a Traitor, while John\ncalls him a Devil.  The next thing we learn concerning him is his\nrebuke of the woman who came to render her service to Jesus as a proof\nof her affection.  In John the twelfth chapter, the fourth to the sixth\nverse, we read, \"Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,\nSimon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold\nfor three hundred pence, and given to the poor?  This he said, not that\nhe cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and\nbare what was put therein.\"\n\nNext we hear of him bargaining with the enemies of Jesus for his\nbetrayal.  The account is very full in Matthew, the twenty-sixth\nchapter the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse.  \"Then one of the twelve\ncalled Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them,\nWhat will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?  And they\ncovenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.  And from that time he\nsought opportunity to betray him.\"\n\nThen we are told of his delivering Jesus into the hands of his enemies,\nin Matthew, the twenty-sixth chapter, the forty-seventh to the\nforty-ninth verses: \"And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the\ntwelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves,\nfrom the chief priests and elders of the people.  Now he that betrayed\nhim gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he:\nhold him fast.  And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master;\nand kissed him.\"  And then finally comes his dreadful end, the account\nof his remorse in Matthew, the twenty-seventh chapter, the third and\nthe fourth verses.  \"Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw\nthat he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty\npieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned\nin that I have betrayed the innocent blood.  And they said, What is\nthat to us? see thou to that.\"  And the statement of his suicide in\nMatthew, the twenty-seventh chapter, the fifth verse, \"And he cast down\nthe pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged\nhimself.\"\n\n\nI\n\nThe natural question that comes to every student of the life of Judas\nmust be, \"Why was he chosen?\" but as Joseph Parker has said, \"We may\nwell ask why were we chosen ourselves, knowing our hearts as we do and\nappreciating our weakness as we must.\"  It has been said that if we\nstudy the Apostles we will find them representatives of all kinds of\nhuman nature, which would go to show that if we but yield ourselves to\nGod, whatever we may be naturally, he can use us for his glory.  It was\nhere that Judas failed.  I have heard it said that Jesus did not know\nJudas' real character and that he was surprised when Judas turned out\nto be the disciple that he was; but let us have none of this spirit in\nthe consideration of Jesus Christ.  Let no man in these days limit\nJesus' knowledge, for he is omniscient and knoweth all things.  Let us\nnot forget what he said himself concerning Judas in John the thirteenth\nchapter and the eighteenth verse, \"I speak not of you all; I know whom\nI have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth\nbread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.\"  Again, in the sixth\nchapter and the seventieth verse, \"Jesus answered them.  Have not I\nchosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?\" and finally, in the\nsixth chapter and the sixty-fourth verse, \"But there are some of you\nthat believe not.  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that\nbelieved not, and who should betray him.\"\n\nThere were others who might have been chosen in his stead.  The\nApostles found two when in their haste they determined to fill the\nvacancy made by his betrayal.  Acts 1:23-26, \"And they appointed two,\nJoseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.  And\nthey prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men,\nshew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of\nthis ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell,\nthat he might go to his own place.  And they gave forth their lots; and\nthe lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven\napostles.\"\n\nIt seems to me that there can be no reason for his having been called\nof Christ except that he was to serve as a great warning to those of us\nwho have lived since his day.  There are many such warnings in the\nScriptures.\n\nJonah was one.  God said to him, \"Go to Nineveh,\" and yet, with the\nspirit of rebellion, he attempted to sail to Tarshish and we know his\nmiserable failure.  Let it never be forgotten that if Nineveh is God's\nchoice for you, you can make no other port in safety.  The sea will be\nagainst you, the wind against you.  It is hard indeed to struggle\nagainst God.\n\nJacob was a warning.  Deceiving his own father, his sons in turn\ndeceived him.  May we never forget the Scripture which declares,\n\"Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.\"\n\nEsau was a warning.  Coming in from the hunt one day, weary with his\nexertions, he detects the savory smell of the mess of pottage, and his\ncrafty brother says, \"I will give you this for your birthright,\" which\nwas his right to be a priest in his household; a moment more and the\nbirthright is gone; and in the New Testament we are told he sought it\nwith tears and could find no place of repentance.  But many a man has\nsold his right to be the priest of his household for less than a mess\nof pottage, and in a real sense it is true that things done cannot be\nundone.\n\nSaul was a warning.  He was commanded to put to death Agag and the\nflock, and he kept the best of all the flock and then lied to God's\nmessenger when he said that the work had been done as he was commanded.\nHe had no sooner said it than, behold, there was heard the bleating of\nthe sheep, and the lowing of the oxen.  \"Be sure your sin will find you\nout.\"\n\nThe New Testament has many warnings like these in the Old, but Judas\nsurpasses them all.  There is something about him that makes us shudder.\n\nIt is said that in Oberammergau, where the Passion Play is presented,\nthe man taking the character of Judas is always avoided afterwards.  He\nmay have been ever so reputable a citizen, but he has been at least in\naction a Judas, and that is enough.\n\nI was once a pastor at Schuylerville, N. Y., where on the Burgoyne\nsurrender ground stands a celebrated monument.  It is beautiful to look\nupon.  On one side of it in a niche is General Schuyler, and on the\nother side, if I remember correctly, General Gates; on the third, in\nthe same sort of a niche, another distinguished general is to be seen,\nbut on the fourth the niche is vacant.  When I asked the reason I was\ntold that \"It is the niche which might have been filled by Benedict\nArnold had he not been a traitor.\"\n\nThe story of Judas is like this.  He might have been all that God could\nhave approved of; he is throughout eternity a murderer, and all because\ngrace was rejected.  Numerous lessons may be drawn from such a story.\nCertain things might be said concerning hypocrisy, for he was in the\ntruest sense a hypocrite.  Reference could be made to the fact that sin\nis small in its beginnings, sure in its progress, terrific in its\nending, for at the beginning he was doubtless but an average man in\nsin, possibly not so different from the others; but he rejected the\ninfluence of Christ.  Or, again, from such a character a thrilling\nstory could be told of the end of transgressors, for hard as may be the\nway the end baffles description.  Judas certainly tells us this.\n\n\nII\n\nHowever much of a warning Judas may be to people of the world, I am\nfully persuaded that there are four things which may be said concerning\nhim.\n\nFirst: He gives us a lesson as Christians.  There were many names given\nhim.  In Matthew the tenth chapter and the fourth verse, and in Mark\nthe third chapter and the nineteenth verse, we read that he was a\nbetrayer; in Luke the sixth chapter and the sixteenth verse he was\ncalled a traitor; in John the sixth chapter and the seventieth verse he\nis spoken of as a devil, but in John the twelveth chapter and the sixth\nverse he is mentioned as a thief.  To me however one of the best names\nthat could be applied to him is that which Paul feared might be given\nto him when he said, \"Lest when I have preached to others I myself\nshould be [literally] disapproved\" (1 Corinthians 9:27).  It is indeed\na solemn thought, that if we are not right with God he will set us\naside, for he cannot use us.  I have in mind a minister, who once\nthrilled great numbers of people with his message.  Under the power of\nhis preaching hundreds of people came to Christ.  There was possibly no\none in the Church with a brighter future.  To-day he is set aside, for\nGod cannot use him.  I have in mind a Sunday school superintendent, who\nused to be on every platform speaking for Christ, and then yielded to\nundue political influence of the worst sort, lost his vision of Christ\nand his power in speaking, and to-day is set aside.  But of all the\nillustrations, I know of nothing which so stirs me as the story of\nJudas.  He might have been true and faithful and he might have been\nwith Christ to-day in glory; instead, he is in hell, a self-confessed\nmurderer, with the clinking of the thirty pieces of silver to condemn\nhim, and his awful conscience constantly to accuse him.  It is indeed\nenough to make our faces pale to realize that, whatever we may be\nto-day in the service of God, we can be set aside in less than a week,\nand God will cease to use us if we have anything of the spirit of Judas.\n\nSecond: I learn also from Judas that environment is not enough for the\nunregenerate.  It is folly to state that a poor lost sinner simply by\nchanging his environment may have his nature changed.  As John G.\nWoolley has said, \"it is like a man with a stubborn horse saying, 'I\nwill paint the outside of the barn a nice mild color to influence the\nhorse within.'\"\n\nThe well on my place in the country some years ago had in it poisoned\nwater.  It was an attractive well with a house built around about it,\nand the neighbors came to me to say that I must under no circumstances\ndrink from it.  What if I had said, \"I will decorate the well house\nthat I may change the water?\"  It would have been as nonsensical as to\nsay, \"I will change the environment of a man who is wicked by nature,\nand thereby make him good.\"  Judas had lived close to Jesus, he had\nbeen with him on the mountain, walked with him by the sea, was\nfrequently with him, I am sure, in Gethsemane, for we read in John the\neighteenth chapter and the second verse, \"And Judas also, which\nbetrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with\nhis disciples.\"  He was also with him at the Supper.  But after all\nthis uplifting, heavenly influence of the Son of God he sold him for\nsilver and betrayed him with a kiss.  Nothing can answer for the sinner\nbut regeneration.  His case is hopeless without that.\n\nThird: Hypocrisy is an awful thing.  The text in Galatians is for all\nsuch.  \"Be not deceived; God is not mocked.\"  Those words in Matthew in\nconnection with the sermon on the Mount are for such, when men in the\ngreat day shall say, \"Have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy\nname have cast out Devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?\"\nJesus will say, \"I never knew you.\"  If we read the commission in\nMatthew the tenth chapter the fifth to the twentieth verses inclusive,\nwe shall understand that these Apostles were sent forth to do a mighty\nwork, and evidently they did it.  Judas had that commission, and he may\nhave fulfilled it in a sense, but he is lost to-day because he was a\nhypocrite.  The disciples may not have known his true nature.  In John\nthe thirteenth chapter the twenty-first to the twenty-ninth verses we\nread, \"When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and\ntestified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you\nshall betray me.  Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of\nwhom he spake.  Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his\ndisciples, whom Jesus loved.  Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him,\nthat he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.  He then lying on\nJesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?  Jesus answered, He it\nis to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it.  And when he had\ndipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.  And\nafter the sop Satan entered into him.  Then said Jesus unto him, That\nthou doest, do quickly.  Now no man at the table knew for what intent\nhe spake this unto him.  For some of them thought, because Judas had\nthe bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have\nneed of against the feast; or that he should give something to the\npoor.\"  Which would seem to impress this thought upon us.  Oh, may I\nsay that it is a great sin to be untrue?  The only time that Jesus is\nsevere is not when sinners seek him out, nor when the woman taken in\nadultery is driven to him by those who would stone her with stones, nor\nwith the thief on the Cross, but when he faces hypocrites; he can have\nno tenderness for them.\n\nFourth: I learn from Judas that sin is of slow progress.  There may\nhave been first just a natural ambition.  He thought that the Kingdom\nof Jesus was to be a great temporal affair, and he desired to be a part\nof it.  How many men to-day have wrecked their homes and all but lost\ntheir souls, because of unholy ambitions!  It may be an ambition for\nyour family as well as for yourself.  Doubtless Jacob had such when he\nstopped at Shechem.  The result of his tarrying was his heart-breaking\nexperience with the worse than murder of his daughter.  There are souls\nto-day in the lost world who were wrecked upon the rock of ambition.\n\nFifth: He was dishonest.  It is a short journey from unholy ambition to\ndishonesty.  The spirit of God Himself calls him a thief.  But,\n\nSixth: Let it be known that while sin is of slow progress, it is\nexceedingly sure.  In the twenty-second chapter of Luke and the third\nto the sixth verses we read that Satan entered into Judas.  It seems to\nme as if up to that time he had rather hovered about him, tempting him\nwith his insinuations, possibly causing him to slip and fall in\noccasional sins, but finally he has control and then betrayal, denial\nand murder are the results.\n\nI looked the other day into the face of a man who said to me, \"Do you\nknow me?\" and I told him I did not, and he said, \"I used to be a\nChristian worker and influenced thousands to come to Christ.  In an\nunguarded moment I determined to leave my ministry and to become rich.\nMy haste for riches was but a snare.  I found myself becoming\nunscrupulous in my business life and now I am wrecked, certainly for\ntime--oh,\" said he, \"can it be for eternity?  I am separated from my\nwife and my children, whom I shall never see again.\"  And rising in an\nagony he cried out as I have rarely heard a man cry, \"God have mercy\nupon me!  God have mercy upon me!\"\n\n\nIII\n\nThere are but three things that I would like to say concerning Judas as\nI come to the end of my message.\n\nThe first is that he was heartless in the extreme.  It was just after a\ntouching scene recorded in Matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the seventh\nto the thirteenth verses, \"There came unto him a woman having an\nalabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as\nhe sat at meat.  But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation,\nsaying, To what purpose is this waste?  For this ointment might have\nbeen sold for much, and given to the poor.  When Jesus understood it,\nhe said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a\ngood work upon me.  For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye\nhave not always.  For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body,\nshe did it for my burial.  Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this\ngospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this,\nthat this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.\"  It was\nafter this that Judas went to the enemies of Jesus and offered to sell\nhim, and as if that were not enough, it was just after he had left\nGethsemane, in Matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the forty-fifth to the\nforty-ninth verses, that he betrayed him with his kiss.  \"Then cometh\nhe to his disciples and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your\nrest; behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into\nthe hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand\nthat doth betray me.  And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the\ntwelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves,\nfrom the chief priests and elders of the people.  Now he that betrayed\nhim gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he:\nhold him fast.  And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master;\nand kissed him.\"  The blood drops had just been rolling down the cheeks\nof the Master, for he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood; and I\ncan quite understand how upon the very lips of Judas the condemning\nblood may have left its mark.  But do not condemn him; he is scarcely\nmore heartless than the man who to-day rejects him after all his\ngracious ministry, his sacrificial death and his mediatorial work of\nnineteen hundred years.\n\nSecond: His death was awful.  Acts 1:18, \"Now this man purchased a\nfield with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst\nasunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.\"  I can imagine\nhim going out to the place where he is to end it all, remembering as he\nwalked how Jesus had looked at him, recalling, doubtless, some of his\nspoken messages, and certainly remembering how once he had been with\nhim in all his unfaithful ministry.  All this must have swept before\nhim like a great panorama, and with the vision of his betrayed Master\nstill before him he swings himself out into the eternity; and then as\nif to make the end more terrible the rope broke and his body burst and\nhis very bowels gushed forth.  Oh, if it be true that the _way_ of the\ntransgressor is hard, in the name of God what shall we say of the end?\n\nThird: I would like to imagine another picture.  What if instead of\ngoing out to the scene of his disgraceful death he had waited until\nafter Jesus had risen?  What if he had tarried behind some one of those\ngreat trees near the city along the way which he should walk, or,\npossibly on the Emmaus way?  What if he had hidden behind some great\nrock and simply waited?  While it is true that he must have trembled as\nhe waited, what if after it all he had simply thrown himself on the\nmercy of Jesus and had said to him, \"Master, I have from the first been\nuntrue; for thirty pieces of silver I sold thee and with these lips I\nbetrayed thee with a kiss; but Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy\nupon me\"?  There would have been written in the New Testament\nScriptures the most beautiful story that the inspired book contains.\nNothing could have been so wonderful as the spirit of him who is able\nto save to the uttermost, and who never turned away from any seeking\nsinner, and he would, I am sure, have taken Judas in his very arms; he,\ntoo, might have given him a kiss, not of betrayal, but of the sign of\nhis complete forgiveness, and Judas might have shone to-day in the city\nof God as shines Joseph of Arimathaea, Paul the Apostle, Peter the\nPreacher.\n\nThe saddest story I know is the story of Judas, for it is the account\nof a man who resisted the grace of God and must regret it through\neternity.\n\n\n\n\nAN OLD-FASHIONED HOME\n\nTEXT: \"_What have they seen in thy house?_\"--2 Kings 20:15.\n\nIf you will tell me what is in your own house by your own choice I will\ntell you the story of your home life and will be able to inform you\nwhether yours is a home in which there is harmony and peace or\nconfusion and despair.  Let me read the names of the guests in your\nguest book, allow me to study the titles of the books in your library\nin which you have special delight, permit me to scan your magazines\nwhich you particularly like, allow me to listen to your conversation\nwhen you do not know that you are being overheard, give me the\nprivilege of talking but for a moment to your servants, and make it\npossible for me to visit with your friends in whom you have particular\ndelight--and I will write a true story of what you have been, of what\nyou are, and of what you will be but for the grace of God, even though\nI may not know you personally at all.  In other words, whatever may be\nseen in your home determines what your home is.\n\nI was a man grown before I visited Washington, the capital of the\nnation.  I was the guest of a member of the President's Cabinet.\nRiding with him the first evening, when the moon was shining, we\nsuddenly came upon the National Capitol, and I said to my host, \"What\nin the world is that?\"  He said, with a smile, as if he pitied me,\n\"That is the Capitol building, and that is the home of the nation.\"  I\nam sure he was right in a sense, because the building is magnificent,\nand is in every way the worthy home of such a nation as ours; but I\nthink I take issue with him, after careful thought, in his statement\nthat the Capitol building is the home of the nation.  I can recall a\nvisit made to a home which was not in any sense palatial, where the\nold-fashioned father every morning and evening read his Bible, knelt in\nprayer with his household about him, commended to God his children each\nby name, presented the servants at the throne of grace, and then sang\nwith them all one of the sweet hymns of the church; and from the\nmorning prayer they went forth to the day of victory, while from the\nevening prayer they went to sleep the undisturbed sleep of the just,\nwith the angels of heaven keeping watch over them.\n\nI recall another home in the State of Ohio where the father and mother\nwere scarcely known outside of their own county.  The size of their\nfarm was ten acres, but they reared two boys and two girls whose\nmission has been world-wide and whose names are known wherever the\nchurch of Christ is known and wherever the English language is spoken.\nThese, in the truest sense, are the homes of the nation, and such homes\ngive us men and women as true as steel.\n\nNapoleon once was asked, \"What is the greatest need of the French\nnation?\"  He hesitated a moment and then said, with marked emphasis,\n\"The greatest need of the French nation is mothers.\"  If you will ask\nme the greatest need of America I could wish in my reply that I might\nspeak with the power of a Napoleon and that my words might live as\nlong, for I would say, the greatest need of the American nation to-day\nis homes; not palatial buildings, but homes where Christ is honored,\nwhere God is loved, and where the Bible is studied.\n\nA returned missionary, who had been for twenty-five years away from his\nhome because he would not accept his furloughs, was asked after he had\nbeen in California for a little season what impressed him the most\nafter his absence of a quarter of a century.  The reporter expected him\nto say that he was impressed with the telephone system which bound\nhouses and cities together, or that he was amazed at the wireless\ntelegraphy, by means of which on the wave currents of the air messages\nwere sent from one city to another; but the returned missionary\nexpressed no such surprise.  He said, \"When I went away from America\nalmost every home had its family altar; now that I have returned I have\nwatched very carefully and find that a family altar in a home is the\nexception and not the rule.\"  Wherever this is true there is real cause\nfor great alarm, for in proportion as the home fails the nation is in\ndanger.\n\nHezekiah had been sick unto death.  The word of the Lord by the mouth\nof the Prophet came to him, saying, \"Set thy house in order, for thou\nmust die.\"  Then he recovered for a season.  The King of Babylon sent\nmessengers to him, and when the messengers had gone Isaiah asked him\nthe question of the text, \"What have they seen in thy house?\"\n\nThe dearest and most sacred spot on earth is home.  Around it are the\nmost sacred associations, about it cluster the sweetest memories.  The\nbuildings are not always palatial, the furnishings are not always of\nthe best, but when the home is worthy of the name ladders are let down\nfrom heaven to those below, the angels of God come down, bringing\nheaven's blessing and ascend, taking earth's crosses.  Such a home is\nthe dearest spot on earth, because there your father worked and your\nmother loved.  There is no love which surpasses this.\n\nSome years ago, when the English soldiers were fighting and a Scotch\nregiment came to assist, the Scotchmen, strangely enough, began to die\nin great numbers.  The skill of the physicians was baffled.  They could\nnot tell why it was that there seemed to be such a rapid falling away\nof the men.  But at last they discovered the cause.  The Scotch pipers\nwere playing the tunes that reminded the Scotchman of the heather and\nthe hills, and they were dying of homesickness.  When the music was\nchanged the deaths in such large numbers almost instantly ceased.\n\nWe are drifting away from our old-fashioned homes; fathers have grown\ntoo busy, mothers have delegated their God-given work to others.  We\nhave lost instead of gained.  Wherever the homes are full of weakness\nthe government is in danger.  The homes of our country are so many\nstreams pouring themselves into the great current of moral and social\nlife.  If the home life is pure, then all is pure.  I stand with that\ncompany of people today who believe that we are at the beginning of a\ngreat revival of religion, and I am persuaded that this revival is to\nbe helped on not so much by preaching, though that is not to be\nignored; nor by singing, though that in itself is useful; but it is to\nbe helped or hindered by the condition of the homes in our land.\n\n\nI\n\nI have a friend, George R. Stuart, who says that when God himself would\nstart a nation he made home life the deciding question.  He selected\nAbraham as the head of the home, and in Genesis, the eighteenth chapter\nand the nineteenth verse, he gives the reason for this in these words:\n\"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household\nafter him.\"\n\nThere are two great principles which must prevail in every home:\n\nFirst: _Authority_, suggested by the word \"command.\"\n\nSecond: _Example_, suggested by the expression, \"He will command his\nchildren and his household after him.\"\n\nIn order that one may rightly command he must himself be controlled or\nbe able to obey an authority higher than his own.  It is absolutely\nimpossible for one to be the father he ought to be and not be a\nChristian, or to be worthy of the name of mother and not yield\nallegiance to Jesus Christ.  If we are to set before those about us a\nright example, we cannot begin too soon.  Your children are a\nreproduction of yourself, weakness in them is weakness in yourself,\nstrength in them is but the reproduction of your own virtue.\n\nA convention of mothers met some years ago in the city of Cincinnati\nand was discussing the question as to when one ought properly to begin\nto train the child for Christ.  One mother said, \"I begin at six\";\nanother suggested seven as the proper age; another said, \"I begin when\nmy child takes his first step, and thus point him to Christ, or when he\nspeaks his first word I teach him the name of Jesus.\"  Finally an old\nsaint arose and said, \"You are all of you wrong; the time to begin to\ntrain the child is the generation before the child is born,\" and this\nwe all know to be true.\n\nBut the responsibility does not rest simply upon mothers; fathers\ncannot ignore their God-given position.  Judge Alton B. Parker and his\nfavorite grandson, Alton Parker Hall, five years old, narrowly escaped\ndeath by drowning in the Hudson River.  For half an hour the two played\nin the water.  Then Judge Parker took the boy for a swim into deep\nwater.  Placing the boy on his back, he swam around for awhile, and\nthen, deciding to float, turned over, seating the boy astride his\nchest.  In this manner the judge floated a distance from the wharf\nbefore noticing it.  Then he attempted to turn over again, intending to\nswim nearer the shore.  In the effort to transfer the boy to his back\nthe little fellow became frightened and tightly clasped the judge about\nthe neck.  Judge Parker called to the boy to let go his hold, but the\nyouth only held on the tighter, and, frightened at the evident distress\nof the judge, began to whimper.  In a few moments the grasp of the boy\nbecame so tight that Judge Parker could not breathe.  He tried to shake\nthe boy loose, and then attempted to break his grasp.  The boy held on\nwith the desperation of death, however, and every effort of the judge\nonly plunged them both beneath the choking waves.  With his last few\nremaining breaths, Judge Parker gave up the struggle and shouted for\nassistance.  The mistake that the distinguished man made was that he\nwent too far from shore with the boy.  There are too many men to-day\nwho are doing the same thing.  They are going out too far in social\nlife, they are too lax in the question of amusements, they are too\nthoughtless on the subject of dissipation.  Some day they will stop,\nthemselves recovering, but their boys will be gone.\n\nExample counts for everything in a home.  It there is any blessing in\nmy own life or others, if there has been any helpfulness in my ministry\nto others, I owe it all to my mother, who lived before me a consistent\nChristian life and died giving me her blessing; and to my father, who\nwith his arms about me one day said, \"My son, if you go wrong it will\nkill me.\"  I was at one time under the influence of a boy older than\nmyself and cursed with too much money.  I had taken my first\nquestionable step at least, and was on my way one night to a place\nwhich was at least questionable if not sinful.  I had turned the street\ncorner and ahead of me was the very gate to hell.  Suddenly, as I\nturned, the face of my father came before me and his words rang in my\nvery soul.  If my father had been anything but a consistent Christian\nman I myself, I am sure, would have been far from the pulpit, and might\nhave been in the lost world.  There are those who seem to think that\nthe height of one's ambition is to amass a fortune, to build a palace\nor to acquire a social position.  My friend, George R. Stuart, says you\nmay build your palaces, amass your fortunes, provide for the\nsatisfaction of every desire, but as you sit amid these luxurious\nsurroundings waiting for the staggering steps of a son, or as you think\nof a wayward daughter, all this will be as nothing, for there is\nnothing that can give happiness to the parents of Godless, wayward\nchildren.  Some one has said, \"Every drunkard, every gambler, every\nlost woman once sat in a mother's lap, and the downfall of the most of\nthem may be traced to some defect in home life.\"\n\nThe real purpose of every home is to shape character for time and\neternity.  The home may be one of poverty, the cross of self-sacrifice\nmay be required, suffering may sometimes be necessary, but wherever a\nhome fulfills this purpose it is overflowing with joy.  One of my\nfriends has drawn the following picture which he says is fanciful, but\nwhich I think is absolutely true to life:\n\nBack in the country there is a boy who wants to go to a college and get\nan education.  They call him a book-worm.  Wherever they find him--in\nthe barn or in the house--he is reading a book.  \"What a pity it is,\"\nthey say, \"that Ed cannot get an education!\"  His father, work as hard\nas he will, can no more than support the family by the products of the\nfarm.  One night Ed has retired to his room and there is a family\nconference about him.  The sisters say, \"Father, I wish you would send\nEd to college; if you will we will work harder than we ever did, and we\nwill make our old dresses do.\"  The mother says, \"Yes, I will get along\nwithout any hired help; although I am not as strong as I used to be, I\nthink I can get along without any hired help.\"  The father says, \"Well,\nI think by husking corn nights in the barn I can get along without any\nassistance.\"  Sugar is banished from the table, butter is banished from\nthe plate.  That family is put down on rigid, yea, suffering, economy\nthat the boy may go to college.  Time passes on.  Commencement day has\ncome and the professors walk in on the stage in their long gowns and\ntheir classic but absurd hats.  The interest of the occasion is passing\non, and after a while it comes to a climax of interest as the\nvaledictorian is introduced.  Ed has studied so hard and worked so well\nthat he has had the honor conferred upon him.  There are rounds of\napplause, sometimes breaking into vociferation.  It is a great day for\nEd.  But away back in the galleries are his sisters in their old plain\nhats and faded clothes, and the old-fashioned father and mother; dear\nme, she has not had a new hat for six years; he has not had a new coat\nfor a longer time.  They rise and look over on the platform, then they\nlaugh and they cry, and as they sit down, their faces grow pale, and\nthen are very flushed.  Ed gets the garlands and the old-fashioned\ngroup in the gallery have their full share of the triumph.  They have\nmade that scene possible, and in the day that God shall more fully\nreward self-sacrifice made for others, he will give grand and glorious\nrecognition.  \"As his part is that goeth down to battle, so shall his\npart be that tarrieth by the stuff.\"\n\nThis experience describes a home in the truest sense of the word better\nthan all the palaces the world has ever known where love is lacking and\nthe spirit of God is gone.\n\n\nII\n\nThere are two great forces in every home.  I speak of the father and\nthe mother, not but that the children have their part in either making\nor breaking a household, but these two are the mightiest of agencies.\n\nThe mother stands first.  There are certain things which must be true\nof every mother.  She must be a Christian.  The father may fail if he\nmust, but let the mother fail and God pity the children.  She must be\nconsistent.  The children may forget the inconsistencies of the father\nbut when the mother fails the impression is lasting as time and almost\nas lasting as eternity.  She must be prayerful.  I do not know of\nanything that lifts so many burdens or puts upon the face such a look\nof beauty as the spirit of prayer.  And she must study her Bible.  When\nwe pray we talk with God, but when we read the Bible God talks with us\nand every mother needs his counsel.\n\nA poor young man stood before a judge in a great court to be sentenced\nto death.  When asked if he had anything to say, he bowed his head and\nsaid, \"Oh, your honor, if I had only had a mother!\"\n\nA mother's love is unfailing.  When I was in Atlanta, Georgia, in\nOctober, 1904, a little girl and an old mother came to see the\ngovernor.  They had met on the train, and the child agreed to take the\nold lady to see the governor of the State.  They entered the governor's\noffice and she spoke as follows:\n\n\"I want to see the governor,\" was the straightforward request of the\nlittle lady addressed to Major Irwin, the private secretary to the\ngovernor, as he inquired her errand.\n\n\"That is the governor standing there.  He will see you in a moment,\"\nreplied the major, indicating Governor Terrell standing in the group.\nThe governor went over to her.  \"What can I do for you, dear?\" he\nasked.  Throwing back her curls she opened wide her baby brown eyes and\nsaid:\n\n\"Governor, it is not for me; it is for this old lady.  Her name is Mrs.\nHackett, and she wants to talk to you about pardoning her boy.\"  This\nwas said by a little lady of eleven, who spoke with all the grace and\n_savoir-faire_ of a woman twice her age.\n\nIn a voice choked with emotion, Mrs. Hackett began her tearful,\nscarcely audible story and presented her petition for clemency for her\nboy.\n\n\"Governor, have mercy on me,\" she began, and threw back her bonnet,\nshowing a face wrinkled by age and furrowed and drawn by suffering,\n\"and give me back my boy.\"\n\nBreaking down under the strain of talking to the governor, whom she had\nplanned for months to see, the pleading mother gave way to her grief.\nThe governor was visibly moved, and continued to stroke the curly hair\nof Mrs. Hackett's little guide.  \"Give me back my boy.  I am an old\nwoman, going on seventy-nine, and I cannot be here long.  I know I am\nstanding with one foot in the grave, and I do want to hear my boy, my\nbaby, say to me, 'Ma, I'm free.'  Let me go down on my knees to you and\nbeg that you have mercy on a mother's breaking heart.  During the last\nmonth I picked five hundred pounds of cotton and made two dollars to\nget here to see you.  I got here without a cent, and this little angel\ngave me a dollar--her all.  I don't care if I have to walk back home,\nfor I've seen you and told you of my boy.\"\n\nWith unsteady voice the governor told her the law, and referred her\ngently to the prison commission, assuring her that they would give her\npetition the most considerate attention.  I am told that when the books\nwere examined the crime was found to be one of the blackest on the\ncalendar, and yet the mother loved him.\n\nHer love always stimulates love.  It lasts when everything else fails.\nA man cannot wander so far from God as to forget his mother, or go so\ndeep in sin as to be unmindful of her sweet influence.\n\nThe following is a sketch, full of touching interest, of a little\nragged newsboy who had lost his mother.  In the tenderness of his\naffection for her he was determined that he would raise a stone to her\nmemory.  His mother and he had kept house together and they had been\nall to each other, but now she was taken, and the little fellow's loss\nwas irreparable.  Getting a stone was no easy task, for his earnings\nwere small; but love is strong.  Going to a cutter's yard and finding\nthat even the cheaper class of stones was far too expensive for him, he\nat length fixed upon a broken shaft of marble, part of the remains of\nan accident in the yard, and which the proprietor kindly named at such\na low figure that it came within his means.  There was much yet to be\ndone, but the brave little chap was equal to it.\n\nThe next day he conveyed the stone away on a little four-wheeled cart,\nand managed to have it put in position.  The narrator, curious to know\nthe last of the stone, visited the cemetery one afternoon, and he thus\ndescribes what he saw and learned:\n\n\"Here it is,\" said the man in charge, and, sure enough, there was our\nmonument, at the head of one of the newer graves.  I knew it at once.\nJust as it was when it left our yard, I was going to say, until I got a\nlittle nearer to it and saw what the little chap had done.  I tell you,\nboys, when I saw it there was something blurred my eyes, so's I\ncouldn't read it at first.  The little man had tried to keep the lines\nstraight, and evidently thought that capitals would make it look better\nand bigger, for nearly every letter was a capital.  I copied it, and\nhere it is; but you want to see it on the stone to appreciate it:\n\n\n  MY MOTHER\n  SHEE DIED LAST WEAK\n  SHEE WAS ALL I HAD.  SHEE\n  SED SHEAD BEE WAITING FUR--\n\nand here the boy's lettering stopped.  After awhile I went back to the\nman in charge and asked him what further he knew of the little fellow\nwho brought the stone.  \"Not much,\" he said; \"not much.  Didn't you\nnotice a fresh little grave near the one with the stone?  Well, that's\nwhere he is.  He came here every afternoon for some time working away\nat that stone, and one day I missed him, and then for several days.\nThen the man came out from the church that had buried the mother and\nordered the grave dug by her side.  I asked if it was for the little\nchap.  He said it was.  The boy had sold all his papers one day, and\nwas hurrying along the street out this way.  There was a runaway team\njust above the crossing, and--well--he was run over, and lived but a\nday or two.\"  He had in his hand when he was picked up an old file\nsharpened down to a point, that he did all the lettering with.  They\nsaid he seemed to be thinking only of that until he died, for he kept\nsaying, \"I didn't get it done, but she'll know I meant to finish it,\nwon't she?  I'll tell her so, for she'll be waiting for me,\" and he\ndied with those words on his lips.  When the men in the cutter's yard\nheard the story of the boy the next day, they clubbed together, got a\ngood stone, inscribed upon it the name of the newsboy, which they\nsucceeded in getting from the superintendent of the Sunday school which\nthe little fellow attended, and underneath it the touching words: \"He\nloved his mother.\"\n\nGod pity the mother with such an influence as this if she is leading in\nthe wrong direction!\n\nIt is necessary also to say just a word about the father.  There are\nmany pictures of fathers in the Bible.  Jacob gives us one when he\ncries, \"Me ye have bereft of my children.\"\n\nDavid gives another when he cries, \"O Absalom, my son.\"  The father of\nthe Prodigal adds a new touch of beauty to the picture when he calls\nfor the best robe to be put upon his boy.  I allow no one to go beyond\nme in paying tribute to a mother's love, but I desire in some special\nway to pay tribute to the devotion and consistency of a father.\n\nThere are special requisites which must be made without which no father\ncan maintain his God-given position.  He must be a Christian.  I rode\nalong a country road with my little boy some time ago.  I found that he\nwas speaking to my friends just as I spoke to them.  One man called my\nattention to it and said, \"It is amusing, isn't it?\"  To me it was\nanything but amusing.  If my boy is to speak as I speak, walk as I\nwalk, then God help me to walk as a Christian.\n\nHe must be a man of prayer.  No man can bear the burdens of life or\nmeet its responsibilities properly if he is a stranger to prayer.\n\nHe must be a man of Bible study.  One of the most priceless treasures I\nhave is a Bible my father studied, the pages of which he turned over\nand over, and which I never used to read without a great heart throb.\n\n  \"I con its pages o'er and o'er;\n  Its interlinings mark a score\n  Of promises most potent, sweet,\n  In verses many of each sheet;\n  Albeit the gilding dull of age,\n  And yellow-hued its every page,\n  No book more precious e'er may be\n  Than father's Bible is to me.\n\n  \"Its tear-stained trace fresh stirs my heart\n  The corresponding tear to start;\n  Of trials, troubles herein brought,\n  For comfort never vainly sought,\n  For help in sorest hour of need,\n  For love to crown the daily deed,\n  No book more precious e'er may be\n  Than father's Bible is to me.\"\n\n\nHe must also erect in his house a family altar.  I know that many\nbusiness men will say this is impossible, but it is not impossible.  If\nyour business prevents your praying with your children, then there must\nbe something wrong with your business.  If your life prevents it, then\nyou ought to see to it that your life is made right and that quickly.\n\nMy friend, George R. Stuart, one of the truest men I know, gave me the\nfollowing picture of a Christian home.  He said: \"When I was preaching\nin Nashville, at the conclusion of my sermon a Methodist preacher came\nup and laid his hand upon my shoulder and said, 'Brother Stuart, how\nyour sermon to-day carried me back to my home!  My father was a local\npreacher, and the best man I ever saw.  He is gone to heaven now.  We\nhave a large family; mother is still at home, and I should like to see\nall the children together once more and have you come and dedicate our\nhome to God, while we all rededicate ourselves to God before precious\nold mother leaves.  If you will come with me, I will gather all the\nfamily together next Friday for that purpose.'  I consented to go.  The\nold home was a short distance from the city of Nashville.  There were a\nlarge number of brothers and sisters.  One was a farmer; one was a\ndoctor; one was a real estate man; one was a bookkeeper; one was a\npreacher; and so on, so that they represented many professions of life.\nThe preacher brother took me out to the old home, where all the\nchildren had gathered.  As we drove up to the gate I saw the brothers\nstanding in little groups about the yard, whittling and talking.  Did\nyou never stand in the yard of the old home after an absence of many\nyears, and entertain memories brought up by every beaten path and tree\nand gate and building about the old place?  I was introduced to these\nnoble-looking men who, as the preacher brother told me, were all\nmembers of churches, living consistent Christian lives, save the\nyounger boy, who had wandered away a little, and the real object of\nthis visit was to bring him back to God.\n\n\"The old mother was indescribably happy.  There was a smile lingering\nin the wrinkles of her dear old face.  We all gathered in the large,\nold-fashioned family room in the old-fashioned semicircle, with mother\nin her natural place in the corner.  The preacher brother laid the\nlarge family Bible in my lap and said, 'Now, Brother Stuart, you are in\nthe home of a Methodist preacher; do what you think best.'\n\n\"I replied, 'As I sit to-day in the family of a Methodist preacher, let\nus begin our service with an old-fashioned experience meeting.  I want\neach child, in the order of your ages, to tell your experience.'  The\noldest arose and pointed his finger at the oil portrait of his father,\nhanging on the wall, and said in substance about as follows: 'Brother\nStuart, there is the picture of the best father God ever gave a family.\nMany a time he has taken me to his secret place of prayer, put his hand\non my head, and prayed for his boy.  And at every turn of my life,\nsince he has left me, I have felt the pressure of his hand on my head,\nand have seen the tears upon his face, and have heard the prayers from\nhis trembling lips.  I have not been as good a man since his death as I\nought to have been, but I stand up here to-day to tell you and my\nbrothers and sisters and my dear old mother that I am going to live a\nbetter life from this hour until I die.'  Overcome with emotion, he\ntook his seat, and the children in order spoke on the same line.  Each\none referred to the place of secret prayer and the father's hand upon\nthe head.  At last we came to the youngest boy, who, with his face\nburied in his hands, was sobbing and refused to speak.  The preacher\nbrother very pathetically said, 'Buddy, say a word; there is no one\nhere but the family, and it will help you.'\n\n\"He arose, holding the back of his chair, and looked up at me and said,\n'Brother Stuart, they tell me that you have come to dedicate this home\nto God; but my old mother here has never let it get an inch from God.\nThey tell you that this meeting is called that my brothers and sisters\nmay dedicate their lives to God, but they are good.  I know them.  I am\nthe only black sheep in this flock.  Every step I have wandered away\nfrom God and the life of my precious father, I have felt his hand upon\nmy head and heard his blessed words of prayer.  To-day I come back to\nGod, back to my father's life, and so help me God, I will never wander\naway again.'\n\n\"Following his talk came a burst of sobbing and shouting, and I started\nthat old hymn, 'Amazing grace (how sweet the sound!) that saved a\nwretch like me!' etc., and we had an old-fashioned Methodist\nclass-meeting, winding up with a shout.  As I walked away from that old\nhomestead I said in my heart, 'It is the salt of a good life that saves\nthe children.'  A boy never gets over the fact that he had a good\nfather.\"\n\n\"What have they seen in thy house?\"  If we are to help our children for\ntime and eternity, our homes must be better, our lives must be truer,\nour ambition to do God's will must be supreme.  When these conditions\nare met it will be possible for us to answer the question of the text.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SWELLING OF JORDAN\n\nTEXT: \"_How wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?_\"--Jer. 12:5.\n\nHigh up in the mountains of Anti-Lebanon a famous river was born which\nwas to play so important a part in the history of God's people that it\nwould not have been strange if the birds of heaven had chanted their\npraises when first it began its journey.  From four different places in\nthe mountain the stream starts.  Then the four streams become one, and\nin a single channel the river makes its way across the plain.\n\nThere are two chief characteristics which must be borne in mind.  The\nfirst is that a part of its journey is through a rocky country, and\ncaves are on either side of the river, sometimes one above another;\nfrequently three caves are to be seen one above another.  The other\ncharacteristic is that it overflows its banks in all the time of\nharvest.  These two things must be kept in mind if the text would teach\nits lesson.\n\nThere are certain people who will always remember the river Jordan--the\nchildren of Israel first of all, because it separated them from the\nPromised Land; and while scripturally Canaan does not stand for Heaven,\nyet in the mind of many it does, and the Jordan typifies an experience\nwhich stands between us and the future.  Naaman will remember it, for\nwhen he came as a leper to the servant of God he was bidden to wash\nseven times in this river.  At first he rebelled against the thought,\nfinally he entered the stream, bathed twice, three times, four, five,\nsix times, and was still a leper; but you will remember the word of the\nLord, seven times must he bathe, and when the seventh plunge was taken,\nbehold, his flesh was as the flesh of a little child!  No man need\nexpect to have light and peace and power or eternal life until he has\nfulfilled all the commands of God.\n\nThe wild beasts frequently make their way to these caves as a place of\nrefuge.  When the waters begin to rise they are driven out, when they\ngo to the higher cave, and then to the highest of all, and the waters\nconstantly rising fill this cave and they are overpowered and put to\ndeath.  They are an illustration for us.  Men of to-day are in caves of\ndifferent sorts; some in the cave of dissipation, others in the cave of\ninfidelity, and still others in the cave of morality.  One day the\nwaters of judgment will begin to rise, and it will be an awful thing to\nstand in terror before God, driven forth without refuge.\n\n\nI\n\n_Dissipation_.  \"I am in the clutch of an awful sin,\" wrote some one to\nme recently, whether man or woman I cannot tell, but this was the story:\n\nThree years before the writer had been free, and then in an unguarded\nmoment had gone down.  Now came the pathetic cry, \"I am helpless and\nhopeless.\"  I do not know what the sin was, but it makes no difference;\nany sin can bind us if we but yield to it.  Under the subject of\ndissipation I do not speak of drinking as the worst of sins, because it\nis not the worst, by any means.  I had a thousand times rather admit to\nmy home the drunkard who has been cursed with his appetite than to\nadmit there the man who is lecherous, who possibly stands high in\nsociety and in the business world, but whose sin is great and whose\nheart is vile beyond description.  I speak of drinking because it is\nthe most common of sins.\n\nJohn B. Gough cries out concerning this sin, \"I do not speak of it\nboastingly,\" said he, \"for I have known what the curse of strong drink\nis; I have felt it in my own life and seen it in others, but I say the\ntruth, let the bread of affliction be given me to eat, take away from\nme the friends of my old age, let the hut of poverty be my dwelling\nplace, let the wasting hand of disease be placed upon me, let me live\nin the whirlwind and dwell in the storm, when I would do good let evil\ncome upon me--do all this, merciful God, but save me from the death of\na drunkard.\"  When he would speak in such language, God pity the man\nwho yields to such a sin.\n\nIt may be that gambling is your weak point.  When I was in Colorado a\nyoung man who was a graduate of Harvard, the honor man of his class,\nand who had recently buried his wife, sat at the gambling table, staked\nhis last dollar and lost it; then deliberately put up his little child\nand lost her; and then, in despair, blew out his brains and sent his\nsoul to hell.  When such a man of culture and training would go down\nunder such a sin, God pity the man who yields to it.\n\nOr it may be licentiousness, that sin which makes men lower than the\nbeasts of the field, from which one can scarcely break away.  I do not\nknow what the sin may be that clutches your life, but if you have given\nway to it and rejected Christ, how wilt thou do in the swelling of\nJordan, when the waters rise higher and higher and you are without\nChrist and without hope?\n\n\nII\n\nSome are in the cave of infidelity.  That there are honest skeptics in\nthe world we all believe, and the honest skeptic is one who says, \"I\ncannot believe as you do, and I do not know that I would if I could,\nbut if your hope is any comfort to you, then cling to it and go down to\nyour grave trusting in it.\"\n\nThe dishonest skeptic is the man who sneers at my faith, who laughs at\nthe old-fashioned religion, who says that once he believed in it but\nhas grown away from it, seemingly forgetting that the greatest men the\ncountry has ever produced have been humble followers of Jesus of\nNazareth.  Infidelity does not satisfy.  It leaves an aching void in\nlife and mocks us in death.  Besides, it is deceiving and the talk of\nthe infidel orator is deceiving.  Said one of the most eloquent not\nmany years ago, \"When I think of the Christian's God and the\nChristian's Bible, I am glad I am not a Christian.  I had rather be the\nhumblest German peasant that ever lived, sitting in his cottage, vine\nclad, from which the grapes hang, made purple by the kiss of the sun as\nthe day dies out of the sky, shod with wooden shoes, clad in homespun,\nat peace with the world, his family about him, with never a thought of\nGod--I say the truth I had rather be such a peasant than any Christian\nthat I have ever known.\"  And when he said it the people cheered him.\nIt was, however, but the trick of an orator.  Let us change the\nsentences and give a new ring to the thought.  \"When I think of what\ninfidelity would do I am glad I am not an infidel; how it would rob me\nof the hope of seeing my mother and meeting again my child; how it\nwould take me in despair to the grave and send me away with a broken\nheart--I say I am glad I am not an infidel.  I had rather be the\nhumblest German peasant that ever lived, sitting in his cottage, vine\nclad, from which the grapes hang, made purple by the kiss of the sun as\nthe day dies out of the sky, clad in homespun, shod with wooden shoes,\nat peace with the world and at peace with God, his family Bible upon\nhis knees, the look of ineffable joy in his face and singing that grand\nold hymn of Luther's, 'A mighty fortress is our God'--I had rather be\nsuch a German peasant than to be the mightiest infidel the world has\never known,\" and so I would, a thousand thousand times.  God pity you\nif you allow yourself to put Christ out of your life and stand in the\nmidst of the rising floods with no hope in him!  How wilt thou do in\nthe swelling of Jordan?\n\n\nIII\n\nSome are in the cave of morality.  It seems a strange thing to have a\nword to say against it, only when we remember that he that offends in\none point is guilty of all, and when we remember God's word as he has\ndeclared, \"Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the things\nwritten in the Book of the law to do them.\"\n\nThen the question for the moralist is this, \"Have you ever offended in\none point?\"\n\nA splendid steamer was launched on Lake Champlain.  She made her way\nsafely across the lake and started back, when a storm came upon her,\nthe engines were disabled and she drifted to the rocks.  \"Out with the\nanchor,\" said the captain, and the command was obeyed, but still she\ndrifted, and although the anchor was down she crashed against the rocks\nwith an awful force, and all because the anchor chain was three feet\ntoo short.  Your morality so far as it goes may be a good tiling, but\nit does not reach the standard of God, nor can it until you are safely\nunited to Christ; and if you have put him out of your life and stand\nalone in the midst of the rising floods, then how wilt thou do in the\nswelling of Jordan?\n\nSin is a terrible thing.  It not only blights our hopes and prospects\nfor the future, but it wrecks the strongest characters.  One has only\nto open his eyes to see, if he will but look abroad, what dreadful\nhavoc this awful evil hath wrought in the world, and yet the wonderful\nthing is that \"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten\nSon that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have\neverlasting life,\" and no matter how dreadful the wreck or how awful\nthe ruin, Jesus Christ comes seeking to save that which was lost.\n\nMajor Whittle used to tell the story of the aged Quaker named Hartmann\nwhose son had enlisted in the army.  There came the news of a dreadful\nbattle, and this old father, in fear and trembling, started to the\nscene of conflict that he might learn something concerning his boy.\nThe officer of the day told him that he had not answered to his name,\nand that there was every reason to believe that he was dead.  This did\nnot satisfy the father, so, leaving headquarters, he started across the\nbattlefield, looking for the one who was dearer to him than life.  He\nwould stoop down and turn over the face of this one and then the face\nof another, but without success.  The night came on, and then with a\nlantern he continued his search, all to no purpose.  Suddenly the wind,\nwhich was blowing a gale, extinguished his lantern, and he stood there\nin the darkness hardly knowing what to do until his fatherly ingenuity,\nstrength and affection prompted him to call out his son's name, and so\nhe stood and shouted, \"John Hartmann, thy father calleth thee.\"  All\nabout him he would hear the groans of the dying and some one saying,\n\"Oh, if that were only my father.\"  He continued his cry with more\npathos and power until at last in the distance he heard his boy's voice\ncrying tremblingly, \"Here, father.\"  The old man made his way across\nthe field shouting out, \"Thank God!  Thank God!\"  Taking him in his\narms, he bore him to headquarters, nursed him back to health and\nstrength, and he lives to-day.  Over the battlefield of the slain this\nday walks Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crying out to all who are\nwrecked by this awful power, \"Thy Father calleth thee,\" and if there\nshould be but the faintest response to his cry he would take the lost\nin his arms and bear them home to heaven.  Will you not come while he\ncalls to-day?\n\n\n\n\nA CALL TO JUDGMENT\n\nTEXT: \"_I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I\nhave set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore\nchoose life, that both thou and thy seed may live._\"--Deut. 30:19.\n\nMoses was a wonderful man; whether you view him as a poet or as a\nleader of men, he is alike great.  This text was spoken by him to the\npeople of Israel at the close of his career.  The leadership of God's\nchosen people is now to be transferred to Joshua, and it is in order\nthat he may speak to them as they should be addressed, and at the same\ntime in order that he may free himself from judgment, that he speaks as\nhe does.\n\nI have two great desires as I present this message.\n\nFirst, that I might myself be faithful, and that it might be said that\nI am free from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare\nunto you the whole counsel of God.\n\nSecond, that I might help some one to the knowledge of Christ.  This is\nno time for argument, for argument always calls forth discussion.  It\nis no time for theory.  Practical, every-day people of the world care\nnothing for mere theories.  And it is no time for speculation, for to\ngive such to the people is like giving a stone when they have asked for\nbread.  But it is time for eternal choice.  The audience of the\npreacher vanishes when he thinks of the text and its meaning and he is\nface to face with the Judgment when he shall be judged for the way he\nhas spoken, and the people shall be called to account for the way they\nhave heard.  It is indeed a solemn word.  \"I call heaven and earth to\nrecord this day against you, that I have set before you life and death,\nblessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy\nseed may live.\"\n\n\nI\n\n_Record_.  I desire to use this word as if it were a noun for the time\nbeing, for it will bring to us the same truth.  This leads me to say\nthat every one is making a record, either good or bad.  Deep down\nthrough the surface of the earth you will find the evidence of storms\ncenturies ago; the record was indelibly made.\n\nTwo records are being kept.  This is indicated in the twentieth chapter\nof Revelation, where it is said, \"And the books were opened.\"  Notice\nthat it is plural and not singular.  There is a record in heaven kept\nby the Recording Angel.  If it were in the memory of God it would be an\nawful thing, for while God does not remember forgiven sin, he cannot,\nfrom the very nature of the case, forget unpardoned sin, and if that is\nthe record one day we shall meet it face to face.\n\nThere is also a record upon earth.  We have seen it in the characters\nof men who have gone astray, and in the faces of those who have been\naffected by their sins.\n\nIn an eastern city where I was preaching my attention was called to a\nyoung man of brilliant prospects.  He was a member of a great wholesale\ngrocery firm, and young men looked at him almost with envy; but he\nbegan to drink, and at the end of a year the senior partner called him\nin to say that he must change his conduct or retire from the firm.  He\nmade promises only to break them, and finally, going from bad to worse,\nhe was forced to retire.  One morning we read the news in the paper\nthat his bloated body had been found floating in the Hudson river; and\nhis old father, up to a few years ago, walked up and down the streets\nwith bowed head, giving every evidence of an almost broken heart.  Sin\nis an awful thing and makes its record on whatever it touches.\n\n\nII\n\n_Two Ways_.  There are just two ways in this world along which men may\nwalk, and they are not parallel ways.  I used to have that idea, but I\nam sure it is wrong.  As a matter of fact, it is but one way; going in\none direction is death, and in the opposite direction is life.\n\nFirst: Away from God, away from his love, every step only leads us\nfarther from Him--not because of anything he is, but because of what we\nhave done ourselves.\n\nA father in the South sent his boy to a northern university, and for\nseven years he was away from the restraints of his home.  Then he came\nback with his diploma but with the habit of intemperance fastened upon\nhim.  It seemed impossible for him to break it, and his old father was\nfairly crushed.  His mother broke her heart and died, all because of\nher boy.  And yet the father loved him.  One day the old father stepped\nfrom his carriage in the town in which he lived.  The son was heard to\nmake a request of him, and when evidently it was refused the boy turned\nand struck him full in the face.  The old father staggered and would\nhave fallen to the walk except for assistance.  He entered his\ncarriage, drove back to his home, the servants saw him go out into the\ngrove where his wife was buried, throw himself on the grave and shriek\naloud.  Some time later the boy returned and the father met him at the\ndoor to say, \"You must go away; you have disgraced my name and killed\nyour mother and broken my heart.\"  This is the measure of a father's\nlove perhaps in this one instance, but think how many times you have\ntrifled with God, spurned his love, disregarded his Son, and yet he has\nloved you.  And remember also that word which says,\n\n  \"There is a time, we know not when,\n    A place, we know not where,\n  That seals the destiny of men\n    For glory or despair.\"\n\n\nSecond: _Towards God_.  How easy a thing it is, therefore, to be saved\nif there is but one way and this way runs in opposite directions,\nmeaning either life or death.  It is just to \"right about face,\" as the\nsoldier would say, by an act of the will and with the help of God to\nturn away from sin and from self.  I am very sure we can do it, because\nit is commanded in this text, and God would not mock us with a command\nwhich could not be obeyed.  I am equally sure that we must do it now,\nfor God has plainly stated this in his Word.\n\n\nIII\n\n_Choose Life_.  As has been indicated, the text proves that we may\nchoose life if we will, but I have more especially in mind the\nquestion, \"Why should we do it?\" and I answer, because it is the best\nsort of life and the only life.\n\nOne of my friends used to tell of a man whom he saw in Colonel Clarke's\nmission.  The man rose for prayers and accepted Christ.  Later on he\nsaw him again in the mission.  He went forward to testify.  He had that\nlook upon his face the result of sin, because of which you could not\ntell whether he was young or old, and leaning up against the platform\nhe gave his testimony.  Among other things he said: \"I came to Chicago\nsome little time ago from my home in the east, my father having made\ntwo requests--first, that I should change my name because I had\ndisgraced his; second, that I should go away and never return.  I had\nfallen too low here for them to receive me even in the station house,\nand I was on my way to end it all when I heard the music of this\nmission and came in and found Christ.  As I came down the aisle this\nevening I heard one man say to another, 'He is getting paid for this,'\nand I wish to say that I am.  I have a letter in my pocket from my\nfather, and he tells me that I cannot come home too soon for him.\nBoys, I am getting paid.  I have a sister at home whose name I would\nhardly dare to have taken upon my impure lips, and she writes me that\nevery day she has prayed for me and that a welcome home awaits me.  I\nam getting paid, for to-night I am starting back to my New England\nhome.\"\n\nIt is life which we may choose, and life of the very best sort.  It is\nbetter than anything that this world can give.  Men have tried other\nways, and they have ended in despair and shame and death, but this way\nis the path of the just and shines brighter and brighter unto the\nperfect day.  Therefore choose life and choose it now.\n\nIn St. Paul's cathedral in London it is said that under the dome there\nis a red mark, and I have been told that this mark indicates the place\nwhere a workman lost his life.  He fell from the scaffolding and was\ndashed to pieces upon the floor.  I have been told that in the Alps\nvery frequently you will see black crosses where men have slipped into\neternity as the result of an accident.  But I suggest these stories in\norder that I may say that where you are at this present moment may be\nthe black cross of death, because there some one rejected Christ.  If\nyou feel this, choose Jesus Christ; choose him, and choose him now.\n\n\"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have\nset before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose\nlife, that both thou and thy seed may live.\"\n\n\n\n\nA CHANGED LIFE\n\nTEXT: \"_And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity\neighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift\nherself up.  And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said\nunto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity: And he laid his\nhands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified\nGod._\"--Luke 13:11-13.\n\nThese verses present to us one of the most interesting stories\nimaginable--of interest to us first because it is one of our Lord's\nmiracles, and one has only to study these manifestations of his power\nto be persuaded of his divinity; interesting, again, because it is the\naccount of a remarkable recovery from a great infirmity, for instead of\nbondage which had held this woman for eighteen years we behold her\nstanding upright glorifying God.  But it is all the more interesting to\nus because it presents a picture of what may be called the overflow\nministry of Jesus, of which there are many instances--as, for example,\nthe account of the staunching of the issue of blood when the woman\ntouched the hem of his garment.  He was going upon another errand, but\nwas so filled with virtue that when one of the multitude at his side\ntouched him, by faith healing was the result.  And, again, we have an\nillustration in the raising of Jairus' daughter, and once again in the\nrescue of the widow's son from death.  He was on his journey across the\ncountry and beheld the funeral procession coming.  Mr. Moody used to\nsay that Jesus broke up every funeral he attended, and he stops long\nenough in this journey to restore this boy to his broken-hearted\nmother.  Again, in the case of the woman of Samaria, when he is going\nabout his Father's business, he stops by the wellside to rest, and even\nin his resting moments forgives a woman's sins, so that under her\ninfluence an entire city is moved.  Would that we could learn that it\nis the overflow of our lives that gives power to our Christian\nexperience!  This text is one of the best illustrations of this truth\nin the life of our Savior.\n\n\nI\n\nMany lessons might be drawn from this scripture, the first of which\nwould be his power to uplift womanhood; but this is so well understood\nthat it is unnecessary to take a moment of time to discuss it, except\nto say in passing that all that woman is today she owes to Jesus of\nNazareth.  She was as truly bound as this afflicted woman, and just as\ntruly was she set free.  But I prefer rather to let the woman of\nSamaria illustrate many Christians to-day who are bound in one way or\nanother and so are shorn of power.  For this suggestion I am indebted\nto my dear friend, the Rev. F. B. Meyer, a brief outline of whose\nsermon I recently had the privilege of reading.\n\nShe was a daughter of Abraham, as we read in verse 16, \"And ought not\nthis woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo,\nthese eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?\"\nAnd therefore she was like many children of God whom we know.  What it\nis that binds them we cannot always tell.  With this person it is\nfashion, and with that it is earnings; with another it is pride, and\nstill another selfishness; with this one it is the encouragement of\nsome passion, and with still another it is the practice of some secret\nsin.  It is not necessary to describe the bondage; it is true, alas,\nthat many of us are sadly crippled in our influence because of these\nthings, for this woman was just as truly bound as if she had been in\nchains.  When Jesus entered the synagogue his eye saw her instantly,\nand he detected her difficulty.  He is in the midst of us to-day, and\nwhile we are unconscious of the bondage of the one who is beside us, he\nunderstands it perfectly.  That minister who has lost his old power and\nis therefore an enigma to his people, that church officer who is out of\ncommunion and whose testimony has lost its old ring of genuineness,\nthat young woman bordering on despair because in her heart she knows\nshe is not right with God, and that young man whose character is being\nundermined by the cultivation of a secret sin--all these are known to\nhim.  He looks them through and through, and not a point of weakness is\nhidden from his gaze.\n\nNote again, that she was powerless to help herself.  I doubt not that\nshe had tried again and again to lift herself up.  She had been unable\nto turn her eyes upward to see the stars, her vision had been centered\nupon things below, and in this way she is like many a Christian\nattempting to be satisfied with earthly things and making life a\nmiserable failure.  The Scriptures declare that she \"could in no wise\nlift up herself,\" and I have been told that this expression is the same\nword which is used in another place in the Epistle to the Hebrews,\nwhere Jesus is said to be able to save to the uttermost; so that really\nthe Scriptures mean that she tried to the uttermost to lift herself up\nand failed, and that she had gone to the uttermost in the matter of\nbondage, and then because Jesus is able to save to the uttermost he set\nher free; or, in other words, her need was met by his power.  Oh, what\nan encouragement to know that the thing which has been your defeat and\nmine he may easily conquer!  It is a striking picture to me; he laid\nhis hands on her and said, \"Woman, thou art loosed,\" and she stood\nstraight and glorified God.\n\nSome years ago there came into the McAuley mission, in New York City, a\nman who was, because of his sin, unable to speak and was bound down\nuntil, instead of standing a man six feet high, as he should have done,\nhe was like a dwarf.  He came to Christ in the old mission, and when\nkneeling at the altar he accepted him, as if by a miracle Jesus set him\nfree also, and when he stood up the bonds were snapped that held him,\nand he had his old stature back again.  His speech, however, was not\nentirely recovered.  It is the custom in the mission for one to observe\nhis anniversary each year and to give a testimony.  Whenever the\nanniversary of this man occurred he always had another read his lesson,\nthen he would stand before the people bowed down as he had been in sin\nand suddenly rise before them in the full dignity of his Christian\nmanhood, glorifying God in his standing.  This was like the woman of\nthe text, and oh, that it might be like some one reading this who,\nbound by an appetite or a passion, shall be set free by the power of\nGod!\n\nThe difference between this woman in the one case bound and wretched\nand in the other straight and glorifying God is the difference between\nChristians bound by appetite, pride or sin and when set free by the\npower of Christ.  It is the difference between the average Christian\nexperience and what God means we should be.\n\nTwo things this woman had--first, his word, when he said, \"Woman, thou\nart loosed\"; and, second, the touch of his hand as he laid his hands\nupon her.  Both of these privileges we may have.\n\n\nII\n\nHave you really taken all that God meant you should have?  Your life is\nthe test of this question.  If you are constantly failing at the same\npoint, if you are dominated by a spirit of unrest, if you are lacking\nin spiritual power, something is wrong and you need the touch of the\nliving Christ.  The early disciples were an illustration of those of us\nwho have not yet fully appreciated and appropriated our Savior.  He had\ngiven them life, for in the seventeenth of John he declares that this\nis true.  They had peace as a possession, for in the fourteenth chapter\nand twenty-seventh verse he says, \"Peace I leave with you, my peace I\ngive unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your\nheart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.\"  They also had joy as a\ngift, for he said, \"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy\nmight remain in you, and that your joy might be full\"; and yet they\nquarreled among themselves, one of them denied him with an oath, and\nall of them forsook him.  They were a weak, vacillating company of men,\nbut suddenly there came a remarkable change.  It was as if there had\nbeen two Peters.  The first was a coward, the second a perfect giant in\nhis fearlessness.  The first was afraid of a little girl, the second\nfaced a mob and fearlessly proclaimed the truth of God that condemned\nhim; and the secret of this change is found in the fact that the Holy\nGhost had fallen upon him and upon them.  This is what we need.  Jesus\nwas God's gift to the world, and the Holy Ghost is his gift to the\nchurch.  Have we failed to take both?  A man over in England, telling\nhis pastor about his experience, said that he had taken Jesus for his\neternal life and the Holy Ghost for his internal life.  This is\ncertainly what we need to do more than anything else.  We need the Holy\nSpirit of God in our lives.  He would illuminate our minds as we read\nthe Bible, strengthen our faith as we appropriate Christ, transform our\nlives as he came to do, and enable us to live and preach in\ndemonstration of the Spirit and with power.  Have you ever stopped to\nthink what is really associated with the full acceptance of the third\nPerson of the Trinity?\n\nFirst, _Power_.  \"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has\ncome upon you.\"\n\nSecond, _Ability to pray_.  \"We know not what we should pray for as we\nought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us.\"\n\nThird, _Victory over sin_.  \"For the law of the Spirit of Christ in\nChrist Jesus sets me free from the law of sin and death.\"\n\nFourth, _Cleanness of life_.  \"Ye have purified your souls in obeying\nthe truth through the Spirit.\"\n\nFifth, _The representation of Jesus Christ_.  Not imitation, but\nreproduction, is what we need.\n\nTwo artists are painting before a picture.  The work of one is sadly\ndeficient, the other an inspiration, for one is copying while the other\nis reproducing his own work.  Oh, that we might be so filled with the\nspirit of God that men should take knowledge of us that we not only had\nbeen with Jesus but were like him!  Two things we need, both of which\nwe may have: _His word and his touch_.  First, his Word.  We surely\nhave this.  Has he not said, \"Ye shall receive power\"?  But with this\nthere is coupled a condition, \"Come out from among them and be ye\nseparate.\"  Fulfilling this condition, we have only to step out upon\nhis promise on the ground of the fact that he has said, \"That ye might\nreceive the promise of the Spirit through faith.\"\n\nSecond, we have the touch of his hand.  This emphasizes his reality.\nOne of the greatest dangers of the day, it seems to me, is the fact\nthat we are so inclined to make him unreal.  It also indicates his\nnearness.  He can fill us so that his life may come throbbing into our\nvery being, and this is the secret of victory in the time of\ntemptation.  We must be empty to be filled, but no man can empty\nhimself.  Two ways may be presented for the emptying of a jar of air.\nFirst, use the air pump; but in this way it cannot be perfectly done.\nSecond, fill the jar with water.  This is the better way.  When Christ\nfills our lives he empties us of self and sin.  To some unknown friend\nI am indebted for four steps which we must take if we would be loosed\nfrom our bondage and stand straight in the presence of God and men.\n\nFirst: What God claims I will yield; that is myself.\n\nSecond: What I yield God accepts.  Since I have taken my hands off from\nmyself I am not my own.\n\n  \"I have not much to bring Thee, Lord.\n    For that great love which made Thee mine,\n  I have not much to bring Thee, Lord,\n    But all I am is Thine.\"\n\n\nThird: What God accepts he fills.\n\nFourth: What God fills he uses.\n\n\nIII\n\nMind you, it is not once and for all that we are filled with the Spirit\nof God; there will be a necessity for daily renewal, not only because\nwe may sin but also because we may use the strength which he has\nimparted to us.  Three suggestions may be made, therefore, for our\nconstant infilling.\n\nFirst: Make his word your daily portion.  Count that day lost which\npasses without a portion of his word absorbed into your life.\n\nSecond: Make his will supreme.  There can be no joy in the household\nwhen the children rebel against the parents.  There can be no power in\nChristian experience when our wills are contrary to his.\n\nThird: Make him the king of your life.  His coronation will one day\ncome, when he shall be proclaimed King of kings and Lord of lords; but\nwhile we wait for that we may crown him in our own lives.\n\nWhen Queen Victoria had just ascended her throne she went, as is the\ncustom of Royalty, to hear \"The Messiah\" rendered.  She had been\ninstructed as to her conduct by those who knew, and was told that she\nmust not rise when the others stood at the singing of the Hallelujah\nchorus.  When that magnificent chorus was being sung and the singers\nwere shouting \"Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah! for the Lord God\nomnipotent reigneth,\" she sat with great difficulty.  It seemed as if\nshe would rise in spite of the custom of kings and queens, but finally\nwhen they came to that part of the chorus where with a shout they\nproclaim him King of kings suddenly the young queen rose and stood with\nbowed head, as if she would take her own crown from off her head and\ncast it at his feet.  Let us make him our King and every day be loyal\nto him.  This is the secret of peace.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOST OPPORTUNITY\n\nTEXT: \"_And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.  And\nthe king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself\nhast decided it._\"--1 Kings 20:40.\n\nThere is a very striking incident connected with this text.  The great\nbattle is raging, a certain important prisoner has been taken, and if\nyou read between the lines you seem to know that upon him depend many\nof the issues of war.  His skill in leading the enemy had been\nmarvelous, his courage in the thick of the fight striking; and now he\nis a prisoner.  The king puts him in the keeping of a Jewish soldier,\nsaying, \"Guard this man; if he escapes thy life shall be demanded for\nhis.\"  It is possible that they gave an extra pull to the thongs that\nbound the enemy and the guard was left alone with him.  It is an\nimportant duty he has to perform.  His life hangs in the balance.  He\nmust have been impressed with it.  But, as we read on between the\nlines, strange as it may seem, he becomes negligent, his bow is laid\ndown and his spear is left standing against the tent.  He becomes\nhungry and takes a few small cakes to eat, he is weary and lies down to\ndoze and sleep.  Suddenly there is a snap and a bound, and the guard\narouses himself just in time to see his prisoner dash into the thicket,\nand he is gone.  Now the king requires the prisoner at the guard's\nhand.  Terror-stricken, he falls upon his face to cry aloud in the\nwords of the text, \"And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was\ngone.  And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be;\nthyself hast decided it.\"\n\nIt is my purpose to show in this illustration that God is always\nplacing opportunities within our grasp.  In a sense they are bound, for\nthey may be made to do our will if we rightly use them.  And it is also\nmy purpose to show that as saint and sinner alike we have permitted\nopportunities to slip away while we doze in weariness or give attention\nto matters of less importance.  God save us all from the expression,\n\"It might have been,\" when it is too late, for even God himself cannot\nreverse the wheels of time and bring back the lost opportunity.  We see\nthis all about us.  I hold in my hands a piece of cold iron.  I cannot\nbend it; if I put it in the fire it becomes pliant; if I take it out it\nis cold again.  There is a point in time, however, where it is bent as\neasily as a piece of paper.\n\nYears ago our nation sent astronomers to Africa to witness the transit\nof Venus.  Preparation for this great sight had been going on for\nmonths.  There was a critical moment when the sun, Venus and the earth\nwere all in line.  Every astronomer knew that at that moment his eye\nmust be at the smaller end of the glass if he would see the planet go\nflying past the larger end.  If he should miss that moment no power on\nearth could bring the planet back again.  The world is full of these\nmoments.\n\nGalileo studied the eye of an ox and beheld the principle of the lens.\nWatts [Transcriber's note: Watt?] looked at the teakettle lid as it was\nlifted by steam, Columbus saw the wind's direction and knew there was\nland not far away.  The difference between these men, to whom the world\nis indebted, and many others is this, that they have looked at the\noxen's eyes and have been unmoved, have allowed the teakettle to boil\nwithout making an impression upon them, and the wind to blow without\nleading them to any shore.  The opportunity for greatness is gone.\nThere is not a person in the world but to whom at some time a great\nopportunity has been given, and for the use or abuse of it we shall be\ncalled to a strict account.\n\n\nI\n\nThese opportunities for doing good come to the one who is a Christian.\n\nFirst: I would not preach to others what I did not first preach to\nmyself, but there are many of us as ministers like Chalmers, who was\none day visiting an old man seventy-two years of age, apparently in\nperfect health.  They talked together about everything but Christ.  The\nminister was inclined to speak about his soul, but did not.  Before\nmorning the old man was dead.  Dr. Chalmers returned to the house,\ncalled all the old man's household about him, and offered the most\ntouching apology and prayer.  He spent the entire day in the woods,\nsaying, \"If I had been faithful this might not have been.\"  I have no\nquestion but God would say, \"So shall thy judgment be.\"\n\nSecond: You who are Christian workers have failed.  A Christian\nmerchant was told that there was a certain man with whom he had traded\nfor years to whom he had never spoken about his soul.  \"I will speak\nthe next time I see him,\" he said, but he never came, for while he was\nbusy here and there the man was gone from him.  Before he came again\ndeath met him.  So shall his judgment be.\n\nThird: You who are parents have failed.  Years ago a young Scotchman\nfrom Fife, in Scotland, was leaving home.  He was not an active\nChristian.  His mother went with him to the turn of the road and said,\n\"Now, Robert, there is one thing you must promise before you go.\"\n\"No,\" said the lad, \"I will not promise until I know.\"  \"But it will\nnot be difficult,\" said his mother.  \"Then I will promise,\" he said.\nAnd she said, \"Every night before you lie down to sleep read a chapter\nand pray.\"  He did not want to promise it, but he did.  Who was that\nRobert?  It was Robert Moffat, the great missionary, who, when he came\ninto the Kingdom, brought almost a continent in after him.  Many a\nmother has lost her opportunity to speak to her boy, and she has lost\nit because she has not lived as a mother should who would help her boy.\nSo shall her judgment be.\n\n\nII\n\nThese opportunities come to the unsaved.  The Bible is full of men who\nhave had an opportunity to be saved but are lost.\n\nFirst: There is Herod.  His face blanches as he listens to the truth,\nhe is ready to forsake some of his sin; but more is required than that\nto be a Christian, and Herod fails.\n\nSecond: Look at Felix.  As he gazes into the face of Paul the Apostle\nand hears his message, he trembles; a moment more he will be a\nChristian; but more is required than that to be saved, and Felix is\nlost.\n\nThird: Behold Judas.  See him at the feet of Jesus.  Later he is full\nof remorse because he has sold him for thirty pieces of silver; but\nmere remorse never saved a soul, and Judas is lost.\n\nYou have doubtless heard of that young girl of whom the poet tells us.\nShe had a string of pearls in her hand and her hand is in the water,\nthe string is broken, and one by one the pearls slip away.  So it has\nbeen with you who have been Christians.  My hope is that there may be\none pearl left yet.  To-day is the accepted time; do not let the\nopportunity slip.\n\n\nIII\n\nThe Bible is full of men just the opposite who had opportunities to be\nsaved and embraced them.\n\nFirst: Zaccheus.  There was just one day, one hour, one moment; when\nJesus would pass by, and Zaccheus ran to the sycamore tree; but he made\nhaste and came down, and that saved him.\n\nSecond: Bartimeus.  There was just a moment when Jesus was near to hear\nthe sound of his voice.  If Bartimeus failed that moment he would be\nblind forever.  I can see him quickly turning his sightless eyes in the\ndirection of the Savior.  He cried unto him and it was his earnestness\nthat saved him.  We must make haste while yet it is to-day.\n\nThird: Coming down from the mountain, where he had preached his great\nsermon, Jesus beheld the leper.  He was dead, according to the law, yet\nhe had a napkin bound about his mouth.  If one had called to him, \"Your\nchild is dead,\" he could not have gone to see the little one.  But he\nbreaks through all of this and cries, \"If thou wilt thou canst make me\nclean.\"  It was his desperation that saved him.\n\nFourth: Look at the dying thief, so near that he could have touched\nChrist if he had been free.  Here yawned before him the very brink of\nhell, here was judgment for his sins, for he acknowledged that he was\njustly punished.  I can see him struggle to decide whether he shall\nspeak or not, and at last he cries, \"Lord, remember me.\"  And Jesus\nsaid, \"To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.\"  It was his last\nchance, and he took it.  And this may be yours.  God forbid that you\nshould let the opportunity slip away.\n\nBut whether my message is to ministers, to Christian workers, to\nparents or to the unsaved, I call your attention to this fact: It was\nwhen the soldier was busy that the prisoner escaped.  Many of you have\nbeen busy about pleasure, and some day it will mock you.  You have been\ncaught by the fascination of business, and it does not prevent your\nsoul having been surrounded by sin from which after a while you cannot\nescape, and if the opportunity slips away so shall our judgment be, for\nwe must decide it.  In a few years at the latest, possibly in a few\nmonths, perhaps in a few weeks--who knows but within a few\ndays?--eternity shall be upon us.  If it is an opportunity that is gone\nor a soul that is lost it will be a sad eternity indeed for us.  To\nthis end may God keep us watchful.\n\n\n\n\nA GREAT VICTORY\n\nTEXT: \"_And they stood every man in his place round about the camp, and\nall the host ran, and cried, and fled._\"--Judges 7:21.\n\nFew things in this world are so inspiring to the traveler and at the\nsame time so depressing as a city or temple in ruins.  I remember a\ndelightful experience in passing through the ruins of Karnak and Luxor,\non the Nile in Egypt, and later passing through Phylae at Assuan on the\nNile; and these two thoughts, each the opposite of the other, kept\nconstantly coming to my mind.  The loneliness is oppressive, and one\nwould be delighted to hear the song of a bird, the bark of a dog, or\nthe cry of a child.  These ruins were once happy homes, or were temples\nfilled with worshipers.  Here little children played and gray-haired\npatriarchs worshiped their gods.\n\nAkin to this picture is the one of the people of Israel at the time of\nthis story, and the alternating feelings of pleasure and sadness keep\nconstantly coming and going.  The condition of the land beggared\ndescription.  Homes were there, but no children were about the doors;\nthere were fields, but no crops to be harvested; pastures, but no\ncattle fed upon them; the hills were to be seen, but no flocks bleated\non their sides; people were there, but they were found in the caves and\nhiding away on the mountain sides.  When they had entered Canaan, these\nchosen people of God, he had said unto them, \"And it shall come to\npass, if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy\nGod, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee\nthis day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations\nof the earth; and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake\nthee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.\nBlessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the\nfield.  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy\nground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the\nflocks of thy sheep.  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.\nBlessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be\nwhen thou goest out.  The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up\nagainst thee to be smitten before thy face; they shall come out against\nthee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.  The Lord shall command\nthe blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest\nthine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy\nGod giveth thee.  The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto\nhimself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the\ncommandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.  And all the\npeople of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the\nLord; and they shall be afraid of thee.\"\n\nWe have here the Old Testament Beatitudes, and there is nothing like\nthem.\n\nThe story with which the text is associated really begins in the first\nverse of the sixth chapter of Judges, \"And the children of Israel did\nevil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the\nhand of Midian seven years.\"  But there must also be read in connection\nwith this the last verse of the fifth chapter of Judges, \"So let all\nthine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love him be as the sun\nwhen he goeth forth in his might.  And the land had rest forty years.\"\n\nIt seems incredible that there could be such a difference in the\nexperiences of God's people, and yet, as you study them in all their\nwanderings, you will find, if you turn over but one leaf of the Bible,\nthe people who sing to-day are active in evil to-morrow, and the\nhistory of Israel is the history of one's self.  Life is like a short\nladder, as some one has said, and we spend most of our time going up to\npray and down to sin.  There is a striking picture in the second verse\nof the sixth chapter.  The chosen people of God were dwelling in caves\ninstead of their rightful positions in their homes, and the same is\ntrue to-day; men who ought to be at the front are left behind because\nthey are living selfish lives or lives of sin.  Do not for a moment\nthink that I am saying that because a man is living out of sight that\nhe is doing nothing, for we have only to remember Gideon to know that\nthis is not true.  He was a hidden man doing an honest work, and the\nAngel of the Lord called him, saying, \"The Lord is with thee, thou\nmighty man of valor.\"  To this Gideon makes a significant reply in the\nthirteenth verse of the sixth chapter of Judges, \"And Gideon said unto\nhim, Oh, my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen\nus? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying,\nDid not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken\nus, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.\"  For the angel\nhad said, \"The Lord is with thee, Gideon,\" and Gideon had said, \"If the\nLord is with us, then how can these things be?\"  And the angel did not\nsay it.  How often it is true that we miss the truth of God because we\nmiss the grammar of the Bible.  When Gideon had thus replied, we read\nin the fourteenth verse of the sixth chapter, \"And the Lord _looked_\nupon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel\nfrom the hand of the Midianites; have not I sent thee?\"  And the thing\nto pay special attention to there is that the angel _looked_ at Gideon.\nSometimes in translating a foreign language you come upon a word which\nyou cannot express in your own language; so it is with us here, for the\nLord looked Gideon into a new man and said unto him, \"Go and thou shalt\nsave the people,\" which leads me to say that one man right with God is\nmightier than a host against God.  The seventh chapter of Judges opens\nwith the significant word \"then.\"  You must have all that goes before\nin your mind to appreciate this word.  God has a plan for every life,\nand all your sickness, your disappointment, your discipline, is for\nsomething.  There must be a \"then\" for you.  It is the call of God and\nthe answer to it that makes real life.  Compare Gideon the farmer with\nGideon the soldier, and you will see the difference in a human life.\nLet one, however low or ignorant, but hear the voice of God and respond\nto it, and when such an one answers God's call for his country, for the\nchurch, or for Christ, the heroic in him is being stirred.\n\nIt is said that years ago there used to be a man in Mr. Spurgeon's\nTabernacle who never had spoken in his social meetings, for the reason\nthat he had a stammering tongue.  One day he heard the great preacher\nsay that the Lord could use even the tongue of the stammerer.  It sent\nhim to his home, and to his knees, and when he rose to his feet after\nhaving yielded himself wholly to God, as if by miracle God gave him the\ngift of speech, and I have been told that no one in the Tabernacle\nspoke more to the edification of the people or the praise of God than\nhe.\n\nSome years ago when John G. Woolley was delivering his closing address\non the commencement day at college a young boy heard him under peculiar\ncircumstances.  He had walked in from the country.  It was a hot day,\nand to quench his thirst he had tasted the water of one of the springs.\nIt made him very ill, and just to escape the heat of the sun he crept\nunder the platform, which had been erected upon the college campus for\nthe commencement exercises.  While there he fell asleep and was\nawakened by the sound of a musical voice.  Something that the\ngraduating student said stirred his soul, and he there made a vow that\nhe would be a preacher.  It was God's call to him and his answer.  He\nhas since become one of the world's most famous preachers, and his\ninfluence has been as wide as the world itself.  When the Midianites\nstood against the children of Israel God called Gideon to lead an army\nagainst them, and this text is part of this story.\n\nThe scene was remarkable.  Thirty-two thousand people following\nGideon's leadership with the first flush of the battle upon them.  They\nwere ready to march, and God said when he looked at them, \"The people\nare too many.\"  They would seem to us to have been too few, for\nliterally a multitude of Midianites stood against him.  But we go wrong\nso often by applying human arithmetic to divine decrees.  It is said\nthat when Napoleon marched with his soldiers he was counted as being\nequal to 40,000 of his men, and so, after all, it is not a question of\nnumbers with God, but of the few men whom he can use.\n\nThe test by means of which Gideon's army was decreased was remarkable.\nIn Judges, the seventh chapter and the second to seventh verses, we\nread, \"And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are\ntoo many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel\nvaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.  Now\ntherefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever\nis fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount\nGilead.  And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and\nthere remained ten thousand.  And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people\nare yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them\nfor thee there; and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This\nshall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I\nsay unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.  So\nhe brought down the people unto the water; and the Lord said unto\nGideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog\nlappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth\ndown upon his knees to drink.  And the number of them that lapped,\nputting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men; but all the\nrest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.  And the\nLord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save\nyou, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand; and let all the other\npeople go every man unto his place.\"  This test is going on now among\nmen; by the way we walk and talk, by the way we listen and work, men\nform their judgment of us, and so does God.  We may measure our\nspiritual state by the way we spend our leisure moments, by the way we\nspend our Saturday afternoons, by our rest days, and by the books we\nread.  There is flowing past us the stream of literature and the stream\nof pleasure, and the question is whether we are going to fall down\nbefore these streams to drink or whether we are just going to dip up as\nwe hurry along to fulfill our mission; or, in other words, whether we\nare to be so taken up with God's plan that we have no time to idle away\nand no disposition to turn aside.\n\n\"It does not so much matter how many members one may have in his\nchurch, for under the banner of a popular Christianity soldiers march.\nWhat if there should be a struggle ahead when to be a Christian would\nmean to suffer martyrdom, or dying at the stake, or contending with the\nbeasts of Ephesus like Paul, how then do you think it would be?\"  And\nyet all the time to-day the struggle is going on; both from within and\nfrom without the foe is assailing us, the Bible is being attacked,\nChrist is being denied, the resurrection is counted a myth, and the\nfuture is being questioned, and in every part of the church it would\nseem as if men thought that the life of the Christian was all a\nholiday, for people are idling, gossiping, buying and selling, marrying\nand giving in marriage, instead of being in the thick of the fight in\nthe name of the Lord of hosts.  Give us three hundred in the church\nright with God rather than the thirty-two thousand compromising with\nsin and the world, and we shall win the victory.\n\n\nI\n\nI am impressed in this story with the thought of how much may be\naccomplished without wealth, influence or material strength.  We\nsomehow seem to think that we cannot work as ministers without a fine\nequipment.  We have an idea that we must have a committee back of us to\nbe assured of success, that if we are without influence we have a small\nmission in the world, forgetting that Michelangelo wrought the frescoes\nin the Sistine Chapel with the ochres which he digged with his own\nhands in the garden of the Vatican; forgetting also that the greatest\nwork in the world has been accomplished by men like Gideon, who delayed\nnot for elaborate preparation, but just took firebrands and\ntorches--indeed, anything they could lay their hands upon--and cried\nout, \"The sword of the Lord and of Gideon,\" and won the victory.  The\ntext is most striking, and presents an outline which any one ought to\nbe able to see.\n\n\nII\n\n_They stood_.  It is not so easy to stand as to march or to fight.  I\nhave been told that the most difficult service of the soldier is picket\nduty; and yet never until we learn to stand shall we be able to fight.\nIn the fourteenth chapter of Exodus, the thirteenth and fourteenth\nverses, we read, \"And Moses said unto the people.  Fear ye not, stand\nstill, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you\nto-day, for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them\nagain no more forever.  The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold\nyour peace.\"  And again, in 2 Chronicles, the twentieth chapter and the\nseventeenth verse, it is recorded, \"Ye shall not need to fight in this\nbattle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the\nLord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed;\nto-morrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you.\"\n\nThree thoughts are impressed upon my mind:\n\nFirst: _Before any service, let us stand, giving God a chance with us_.\nLet him use you and not you use him so much.  In the beginning of his\nChristian service Hudson Taylor, the China Inland missionary, was\ndesirous of being used and cried out for God to send him out into\nservice.  At last God seemed to say to him, \"My child, I have made up\nmy mind to save inland China.  If you will come and walk with me I will\ndo it through you,\" and the China Inland Mission was born.\n\nSecond: _Wait for orders_.  In Ephesians the sixth chapter and the\ntenth to the thirteenth verses, we have the following description of a\nsoldier: \"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power\nof his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to\nstand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh\nand blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the\nrulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in\nhigh places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye\nmay be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to\nstand.\"  The striking part of that description is the sentence, \"having\ndone all, to stand.\"  In other words, with all our ingenuity and our\nplanning, with all our preparation and equipment, we lack one thing:\nthat one thing is the touch of the Almighty God.\n\nThird: _Be willing to do the common thing_.  It was rather interesting\nto march with thirty-two thousand, and a striking thing to break\npitchers and cry aloud, \"The sword of the Lord and of Gideon,\" but just\nto stand was a different matter, and not at all easy.  If we were only\nwilling to do the common things for Christ we should accomplish more in\nour lives.\n\nThe great Bethany Sunday school building standing in Philadelphia is a\nmodel in its perfect equipment.  The mighty Sunday school held there is\none of the wonders of the world.  The building was begun not only in\nthe mind and heart of the distinguished superintendent, the Hon. John\nWanamaker, but when he appealed for funds as they were then needed one\nof the poorest children in the city made practically the first and best\ncontribution.  She gathered bones from the alleyways, sold them and\nbrought her few pennies to help make this wonderful work a success.\n\n\nIII\n\n_Every man in his place_.\n\nFirst: Let us remember that God has a plan for every life.  Ephesians\n4:8-13, \"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led\ncaptivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.  (Now that he ascended,\nwhat is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the\nearth?  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above\nall heavens, that he might fill all things.)  And he gave some,\napostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors\nand teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the\nministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in\nthe unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a\nperfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.\"\n\nSecond: That which in our lives fits into God's plans dignifies and\nstrengthens in every way.\n\nA few years ago there was a young man selling farming implements.  He\nfelt inclined to do Christian work, and later on became a Christian\nAssociation secretary.  He became known locally because of his ability\nto sing in a male quartette.  He was a good singer.  Whether he was\nmore than the average secretary I do not know.  He one day felt the\ncall to preach and shrank back from it because he felt he was without\nability, then gave himself to God without reserve.  He has since become\none of the greatest preachers to men in our country, has possibly led\nmore men to Christ than any other man of his day, and it was my\nprivilege a short time ago to see hundreds of men under the power of\nhis preaching come to Christ; and this was all because Fred B. Smith\ngave himself unreservedly to Christ.\n\nThird: It may be a very ordinary service that God calls you to perform,\nbut if you feel it your place your service will please him.  Rev. Dr.\nTorrey tells the story of the poor mother who by hard day's work made\nit possible for her boy to attend college.  The day of the graduation\ncame, and he said to her, \"You must go with me to the commencement.\"\nNaturally she shrank from it, for her clothing was of the poorest sort;\nbut he said that there would be no commencement without her.  He was\nthe valedictorian of his class.  Proudly he led her into the hall, and\nwith beaming face she listened while the great throng applauded his\nbrilliant speech.  When he received his gold medal he walked down from\nthe platform and pinned it upon her breast, saying, \"This is yours,\"\nand she was as proud as any queen could have been.  It was a very\ncommon thing to wash and iron for one's daily living, but to be honored\nthus was something any mother might long to experience.  She simply did\nher best in a humble way and pleased God.\n\n\nIV\n\n_Round about the Camp_.\n\nFirst: Let it be remembered that we have a responsibility to others.\nSome years ago on the Irish Sea a terrific storm was raging.  It was\nknown that just off the coast a vessel was going to pieces.  Suddenly\ntwo men, an old sea captain and his son, put out through the storm.\nEverybody tried to persuade them not to do so, for it seemed to be\nabsolutely useless.  Over the waves, which appeared almost mountain\nhigh, they pushed along until at last amid the cheers of the waiting\nthrong they returned with their little boat filled with those who had\nbeen all but lost upon the ship.  When the minister said to the old sea\ncaptain, \"Why do you do this?  Why take such a risk?\" he answered, \"I\nhave been there myself, and I knew the danger.\"  It is because we have\nbeen once in sin and now are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ\nthat we say something to those who are about us.\n\nSecond: We are responsible for others.  When Horace Bushnell was a\ntutor in Yale he was a stumbling block to all the students because he\nwas not a Christian.  He realized this himself, and yet he said, \"How\ncan I accept Christ or the Bible, for I do not believe in either one.\"\nAnd then the question came to him as from God, \"What do you believe?\"\nand he said, \"I only know there is a difference between right and\nwrong.\"  God seemed to say to him, \"Have you ever taken that stand\nwhere you would say, 'I am committed to the right even if it ends in\ndeath'?\" and he said, \"I never have.\"  Falling upon his knees he said,\n\"O God, if Jesus Christ be true, reveal him to me and I will follow\nhim.\"  And he began to walk in the light, which constantly increased,\nand almost every student in Yale came to Christ.  \"No man liveth unto\nhimself alone.\"  We are responsible for the souls of other men.  We are\nalso responsible for their service; if we are half-hearted they will\nsurely be.\n\n\nV\n\n\"_And the host ran, and cried and fled._\"  What hosts are against us\nto-day?\n\nFirst: As individuals there may be coming constantly to our minds a\nquestion of doubt, of pride, or of secret sin, and we wonder if these\nare evidences that we are not Christians.  Not at all.  They are but\nthe fruit of our old nature, and are the hosts encamped against us.  We\nhave only to take our stand with Christ, right with him, and we shall\nwin the victory.\n\nSecond: In the Church we meet with indifference, worldliness,\ninfidelity, and we wonder how we may win the victory.  The answer is\nsimply, \"We have but to be right with God and to walk with God,\" and\nthree hundred such followers of his could put the enemy to rout quickly.\n\nThird: There is also a battle which those of us who are Christians are\nobliged to fight.  It has to do with the unsaved man.  Men are not\nChristians to-day not because they do not believe, not because they are\nwithout interest in the future, but simply because they have put off\nand put off, and I know of no way to overcome this difficulty except by\ntaking one's stand with Christ and with those who are like-minded with\nChrist.  Having first concern for the lost, then his intense\nearnestness in their salvation, the proscrastination of the sinner will\nflee away.  For such a victory as this we plead and pray.\n\n\n\n\nPAUL A PATTERN OF PRAYER\n\nTEXT: \"_If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it._\"--John 14:14.\n\nJesus testified in no uncertain way concerning prayer, for not alone in\nthis chapter does he speak but in all his messages to his disciples he\nis seeking to lead them into the place where they may know how to pray.\n\nIn this fourteenth chapter of John, where he is coming into the shadow\nof the cross and is speaking to his disciples concerning those things\nwhich ought to have the greatest weight with them, the heart of his\nmessage seems to be prayer.  What an encouragement it is to his\ndisciples to pray when they remember that he said, \"Verily, verily, I\nsay unto you.  He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do\nalso; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my\nFather.  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that\nthe Father may be glorified in the Son\" (John 14:12-13).\n\nJesus was himself a pattern of prayer.  He had prayed under all\ncircumstances; with him the day was born in prayer, went along in\nmeditation and closed in most intimate fellowship and communion with\nhis Father.  Under all circumstances, whether it be the raising of\nLazarus from the dead, or the breathing in of the very spirit of God so\nessential to him in his earthly ministry, he prayed; and because he was\na man of prayer himself, he could speak to his disciples with authority\nconcerning this subject.\n\nIf we ourselves would know how to pray there are certain great\nprinciples which must be remembered when we come to him.\n\nFirst: _We must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them\nthat diligently seek him_.  If one has hazy or mystical ideas of Christ\nthen from the very nature of the case prayer is impossible.\n\nSecond: _We must believe his word_.  Mr. Spurgeon's statement that when\nhe went to God he always went pleading a promise is the secret of his\ngreat success as a man of prayer.  Earthly parents are not insensible\nto the pledges they make to their children and surely God cannot be.\n\nThird: _We must confess and forsake our sins_.  To confess sin is to\narraign before us those sins of which we know ourselves to be guilty,\nand when they appear before us in solemn and awful procession we must\nheartily renounce them.  If we do not we cannot pray.  In another place\nin God's word we read, \"Ye ask and receive not, because, . . .\" and\nwhile in the verse the rest of the sentence is \"Ye ask amiss,\" we might\nfinish by saying, \"We ask and receive not, because our lives are not\nright in God's sight.\"\n\nFourth: _We must exercise our faith_.  The little child who prayed for\nrain and then wanted to carry an umbrella with her when the sun was\nshining is an oft repeated illustration, but such faith as this is what\nevery child of God must practice.\n\nThe text is exceedingly broad.  \"If ye shall ask anything in my name I\nwill do it.\"  It is broad enough to include temporal blessing and\nspiritual power, comprehensive enough to lead us to believe that God\nwill direct our lives if we ask him and will bear our burdens even\nthough they be almost insignificant in their weight.  Thank God for the\n\"anything\" in the text!\n\nIt may be stated truly that God's promises to Israel are especially\nconcerning temporal blessing and that his promises to the church have\nparticular reference to spiritual possessions; and they both, the\nhistory of Israel and the history of the church, prove that God will\ngive to us temporally as well as spiritually.  These blessings are\nincluded in the \"anything.\"\n\nI have been greatly impressed with Paul as a pattern in prayer, and for\nthe outline of this message as well as for many of the suggestions I am\nindebted to an English clergyman, the Rev. E. W. Moore, who has\nwritten, \"The Christ Controlled Life,\" and \"Christ in Possession,\" and\nhas recently sent out a little book entitled, \"The Pattern Prayer Book.\"\n\nI have noticed in studying Paul that the burden of his prayer was for\nspiritual blessing rather than for temporal power, and throughout the\nEpistles at least seven illustrations are to be found concerning this\nsubject.\n\n\nI\n\n_Prayer for Pentecost_.  Ephesians 3:17-19, \"That Christ may dwell in\nyour hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may\nbe able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length,\nand depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth\nknowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.\"\n\nJust what is the burden of this prayer of Paul's?\n\nFirst: He is not asking for that indwelling which is ours at\nconversion; for this he would not need to pray, for at the moment of\nregeneration Christ is ours and eternal life (which is only another way\nof saying, \"the life of the eternal\") is our never failing possession.\n\nSecond: He is not asking for the bodily presence of Christ, as some\nhave suggested, for in this scripture he states that it is by faith\nthat Christ is to dwell with us.\n\nThird: It is by no means a figurative expression, for if this were true\nthere would be no comfort in it to God's children.  Yet, as a matter of\nfact, this prayer of Paul's has been an inspiration to God's people\neverywhere.  It is rather a special Pentecostal privilege for God's\nchildren concerning which Paul is praying.  In Galatians 4:19 we read,\n\"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be\nformed in you.\"\n\nAnd this is his petition.  Let it be noticed that the tense of the verb\nin this connection denotes singleness of action, so that Paul's prayer\nmay be answered not gradually but immediately.  If this be true then\nlet it be answered now for you and for me.\n\nThere are three blessings which would flow out of this answer to prayer.\n\nFirst: _Constancy of experience_.  \"That Christ may dwell,\" pleads the\nApostle.  It does not mean that he is to come in a fitful experience,\nbut the language of the hymn is true,\n\n  \"Abide with me; fast falls the even tide,\n  The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;\n  When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,\n  Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.\"\n\n\nSecond: _Strength will be our possession_, for the Apostle tells us\nthat we are to be \"rooted and grounded in him.\"  As the roots of the\ntree take hold upon the ground and the giant oak withstands the storms\nof the Northern coasts, so we may withstand temptation and trial and be\nmore than conquerors if this prayer is answered.\n\nThird: _There will be cleansing_, for we are told that \"as a man\nthinketh in his heart so is he.\"  We are told also that we must keep\nour hearts with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of life.\nIt is easy enough to understand how our lives would be pure if Christ\nwere only in possession.\n\n\nII\n\n_Prayer for Perception_.  Colossians 1:9-10, \"For this cause we also,\nsince the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire\nthat ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom\nand spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto\nall pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the\nknowledge of God.\"  The need of this prayer was not that the Colossians\nwere weak, or that they had been conspicuous in the failure of their\nChristian experience, for in the third and fourth verses of the first\nchapter of Colossians, Paul says concerning them, \"We give thanks to\nGod and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,\nsince we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye\nhave to all the saints\"; and then in the face of this statement he\nprayed earnestly for them.  The subject of his prayer was not that he\ndesired anything, humanly speaking, very great for them; he did not ask\nhonor, nor did he desire that wealth should be theirs, but merely\nstates in the ninth verse that they might be filled with the knowledge\nof his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.  I have been\ntold that literally, this means that they might have full knowledge,\nnot simply a passing opinion concerning him and his work.\n\nIf we study this particular scripture in which Paul is praying for the\nColossians we will learn how this prayer is to be answered.\n\nFirst: We must meditate upon God's word.  He makes himself especially\nknown to his people in his word.  There are certain great principles\nwhich we must remember if we would know God's will.\n\n(1) _We must present our bodies to him_.  Romans 12:1, \"I beseech you\ntherefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies\na living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable\nservice.\"\n\n(2) _We must be delivered from this present evil age_.  Galatians 1:4,\n\"Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this\npresent evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.\"\n\n(3) _We must separate ourselves from the world_.  1 Thessalonians 4:3,\n\"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should\nabstain from fornication.\"\n\n(4) _We must be thankful_.  1 Thessalonians 5:18, \"In everything give\nthanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.\"\n\n(5) _We must continue patiently to serve and follow him_.  1 Peter\n2:15, \"For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to\nsilence the ignorance of foolish men.\"\n\nAll of these things are God's will for us.  If we but practice them the\nresults can be only beneficial.  As a result of such a study of God's\nword the general knowledge of God and his will shall be ours.\n\nSecond: The spiritual perception spoken of in this particular scripture\nmay be ours, as we listen to the Spirit of God, for he will speak to us\nGod's message and make known to us God's will.  The purpose of this\nprayer of Paul's for the Colossians was that they might walk worthy to\nall pleasing.  What a joy it is to know that we may please God!  For\nthis we should be grateful.\n\n\nIII\n\n_Prayer for Purity_.  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, \"And the very God of\npeace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul\nand body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus\nChrist.  Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.\"\n\nThis prayer is also remarkable if we notice the spiritual condition of\nthe Thessalonians, for of them we read that they had received the word\nof God with joy, and had turned from idols to serve the living God, and\nyet the Apostle prays for their sanctification.  By this he does not\nmean sinlessness, and a careful study of his position would lead us to\nknow that he does not teach that sanctification may be ever apart from\ngrowth.  We must day by day come more and more into the likeness of\nChrist.  There are three words which it would be well for us to\nremember in our study of this subject.\n\nFirst: _Position_.  If we would grow unto his likeness we must be where\nhe can let shine upon us the light of his countenance.  Frances Ridley\nHavergal had an aeolian harp sent to her which she tried to play with\nher fingers, and failed.  At last a friend suggested that she place it\nin the window, and the music as the wind touched the strings was\nentrancing.  We must be where he can use us.\n\nSecond: _Purification_.  Sanctification is necessary because God uses\nonly that which is clean, never an unclean life.\n\nThird: _Possession_.  It is really Christ filling us, and he will fill\nus if we give him the opportunity.  The extent of this work is made\nplain in Paul's prayer:\n\n(1) The spirit is touched, and the spirit is that part of our nature\nwhich is capable of fellowship with God.\n\n(2) The soul is filled, and the soul is the seat of all our\nintellectual faculties.\n\n(3) The body is possessed, and since the body is just the servant of\nthe higher powers of man, we can easily understand how necessary the\nwork is.  It is needful,\n\n(_a_) For our peace, for the God of peace is to sanctify us.\n\n(_b_) For our prayers.  For Paul is talking about prayer when he\npraises.\n\n(_c_) For our praise, for we are told that we must rejoice evermore.\n\n\nIV\n\n_Prayer for Power_.  Ephesians 1:15-20, \"Wherefore I also, after I\nheard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,\ncease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;\nthat the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give\nunto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:\nthe eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what\nis the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his\ninheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his\npower to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty\npower; which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,\nand set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.\"\n\nThe Church at Ephesus was in every way remarkable, but to this people\nPaul wrote his most spiritual epistle, which in itself is a compliment\nto them, for as in another instance it was not necessary for him to\nwrite unto them as if they were carnal.  With this people for the space\nof two or three years he labored, as we find recorded in Acts the\nnineteenth chapter and the tenth verse, \"And this continued by the\nspace of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word\nof the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.\"  Acts 20:31, \"Therefore\nwatch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to\nwarn every one night and day with tears.\"\n\nThere were no divisions in this church as at Corinth; there were no\nheresies as at Galatia, and no dissensions as at Philippi; and yet, for\nall that, he prays most earnestly.  The natural question for us to ask\nis, just what is it for which he prays, and the question is easily\nanswered.\n\nFirst: For advancement in knowledge; he asks God that the eyes of their\nunderstanding might be enlightened.  Under this general petition there\nare three special requests.\n\n(1) _That they might know the hope of their calling_.  We have but to\nstudy Paul's Epistles to realize that this calling involved:\n\nA perfect vision, for one day it is Christ's promise and teaching that\nthey shall see him as he is.  The hope of this would keep them faithful.\n\nIt involved, in the next place, a perfect likeness, for, seeing him as\nhe is, they would become like him, and the hope of this would keep them\nclean.\n\nIt involved, in the third place, a perfect union, for when this hope of\ntheir calling is fulfilled there is no possibility of anything coming\nbetween the believer and Christ; so the fellowship must be perfect.\n\n(2) Paul also requests that they may know the riches of the glory of\nhis inheritance in the saints.  That is very wonderful.  He does not\nsay the riches of the saints in him--that could be easily understood;\nbut what an inspiration it is to know that he has glory in us, and that\nthe mere possession of poor, frail creatures like ourselves is to him a\nperfect delight!  We sometimes say that we could not get along without\nChrist, but how inspiring it is to know that he could not and he would\nnot get along without us!\n\n(3) The Apostle also prays that the church at Ephesus might know what\nis the exceeding greatness of Christ's power towards us.  It is not\nsimply a great power that is described but an exceedingly great power.\nThere is absolutely no limit to what he can accomplish in and through\nus if we but yield ourselves unreservedly to him.\n\nSecond: Another question, may naturally come to us.  Why have we not\nthis power of his?  The answer is simply because the eyes of our\nunderstanding have not been enlightened.  We have been too much\nself-centered and too closely wedded to the world.  We need a stronger\nvision.  There are stars in the heavens to-day that have never yet been\nseen, not because they do not exist but because there has been no glass\ninvented strong enough to take them in.  Each new day brings a vision\nof new heavenly bodies.  We also need stronger faith, for if we have\nbecome persuaded of the fact that he can do all things the victory is\nwon when we take this position.\n\n\nV\n\n_Prayer for Perseverance_.  Philippians 1:9-11, \"And this I pray, that\nyour love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all\njudgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be\nsincere and without offence till the day of Christ.  Being filled with\nthe fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory\nand praise of God.\"  Paul has a tender affection for this Philippian\nChurch.  Naturally he would wish for them only the best things, and the\nburden of this prayer of his is,\n\nFirst: That they might be able to persevere to the end, or rather to\nthe day of Christ.  Let it not be forgotten that he who said, \"Nothing\ncan separate us from the love of God,\" at the same time prays that\nthose who are the object of this love may be faithful in their\nperseverance until time shall be no more.  It is God's privilege to\npreserve us, it is our privilege to persevere; and if we study the\nwords \"preserve\" and \"persevere\" we shall find that they are composed\nof almost the same letters with only a slightly different arrangement.\nWe must be exceedingly careful in our walk and we must rely perfectly\nupon Christ.\n\nSecond: Paul prays for the purity of these Philippians when he asks\nthat they may be sincere and without offence.  I have been told that\nthe word \"sincere\" sometimes means sunlight; which leads me to say that\nour conduct as Christians should be such as to bear the clearest light\nof investigation.  Possibly the use of this word grew out of the custom\nof the people who stored away their goods in the darkest corners of the\nbazaar where their defects could not be seen plainly.  When the\npurchase had been consummated they were brought out into the sunlight.\nThe word also means \"wax.\"  It is said that in the days of imperial\nRome when a sculptor came to a flaw in the marble he filled it with wax\nto hide the defect, but when the hot days came and the wax was melted\nthe defect was seen plainly.  Paul is desiring for these Philippians\nthat there may be none of this, but that their lives should commend\nthemselves both to God and to men.\n\nThird: He desires that they may be filled with the fruits of\nrighteousness, not simply that they may produce fruit of one sort or\nanother.  It is not enough simply to bear fruit.  \"Herein is my Father\nglorified, that ye bear much fruit.\"  This is the overflow experience\nof the Christian and must be realized by us all.\n\n\nVI\n\n_Prayer for Perfectness_.  Hebrews 13:20-21, \"Now the God of peace,\nthat brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of\nthe sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you\nperfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is\nwellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for\never and ever.  Amen.\"  The burden of this prayer of the Apostle is\nthat his people may do the will of God.  This is required in all times\nand for various reasons.\n\nFirst: The glory of God demands it, and unless we are doing his will we\nare robbing him of his glory.  Revelation 4-11, \"Thou art worthy, O\nLord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all\nthings, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.\"\n\nSecond: Our own happiness depends upon it.  Let it not be thought for a\nmoment that we are simply to do God's will when some sort of trial is\nupon us, but rather let us remember the scriptural expression, \"I\ndelight to do thy will, O God.\"  What if God's will should be done for\nbut one year in all things in any of our cities; would the result be\nanything else than perfect joy?\n\nThird: Our safety depends upon it.  We must lean hard upon God's will.\nIn Switzerland at one of the most dangerous passes, where men used to\ntravel with their faces white with fear, to-day any ordinary traveler\ncan pass in safety because along the edge of the cliff there is an iron\nrail against which you may lean and have almost no danger beside you.\nThis iron rail corresponds to the will of God for Christians.  Paul\nalso asks in this prayer that God's people may be made perfect to do\nhis will.  We need not be afraid of this word perfect, nor of Paul's\nprayer, for as Dr. Moore has said, it is not a perfection of doing but\na perfection to do, not a finality but a fitting.  The same Greek word\nis used elsewhere, as for example,\n\n\"Fitted.\"  Romans 9:22, \"What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to\nmake his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of\nwrath fitted to destruction.\"\n\n\"Prepared.\"  Hebrews 10:5, \"Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he\nsaith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou\nprepared me.\"\n\n\"Framed.\"  Hebrews 11:3, \"Through faith we understand that the worlds\nwere framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not\nmade of things which do appear.\"\n\n\"Restored.\"  Galatians 6:1, \"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a\nfault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of\nmeekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.\"\n\n\"Mend.\"  Mark 1:19, \"And when he had gone a little farther thence, he\nsaw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in\nthe ship mending their nets.\"\n\nThe illustration has been used of a man with his leg out of joint.  He\ncannot walk except with great pain, but when he puts himself without\nreserve into the hands of the doctor and the leg is set he can then\nrise and walk.  He is not a perfect walker, but he is made perfect to\nwalk.  And the idea of all the verses above quoted is that we may be\nset with right relations to Christ that he may have his way with us,\nthat we may stand where he willed we should stand; and as a result we\nshall be well pleasing in his sight.\n\n\nVII\n\n_Prayer for Peace_.  2 Thessalonians 3:16, \"Now the Lord of peace\nhimself give you peace always by all means.  The Lord be with you all.\"\nPeace is most difficult to define.  It is the opposite of unrest,\nconfusion and strife; and this peace for which the Apostle prays is,\nfirst, not the peace of indifference.  Let this never be forgotten.\nSecond: It is not the peace of prosperous surroundings.  Some people\nfrequently fail at this point but it is the very peace of God himself.\nThe peace here prayed for looks in three directions.\n\nFirst: Godward.  \"Being justified by faith we have peace with God.\"\nHis pardoning voice we hear and he is reconciled.\n\nSecond: Inward.  \"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; let\nnot your heart be troubled.\"\n\nThird: Outward.  With such a possession we may meet trial and bear\nburdens and never be moved.  How may we secure such a possession?\n\n(1) By having confidence in Christ's work, for when he met his\ndisciples and showed them his hands and his side, he said, \"Peace be\nunto you.\"\n\n(2) By submission to Christ's rule.  \"Thou wilt keep him in perfect\npeace,\" or, as the literal translation is, \"Thou wilt keep him in\npeace, peace, who trusteth in thee because his mind is set on thee.\"\nThis is our possession, and for that Paul prays.\n\n\n\n\nA STARTLING STATEMENT\n\nTEXT: \"_The wicked shall not be unpunished._\"--Prov. 11:21.\n\nThere are very many passages of Scripture which ought to be read in\nconnection with this text; as for example, \"Fools make a mock at sin\"\n(Proverbs 14:9), for only a fool would.  Better trifle with the\npestilence and expose one's self to the plague than to discount the\nblighting effects of sin.  And, again, \"The soul that sinneth it shall\ndie\" (Ezekiel 18:4).  From this clear statement of the word of God\nthere is no escape.  Or, again, \"Our secret sins in the light of thy\ncountenance\" (Psalm 90:8).  There is really nothing hidden from his\nsight.  We may conceal our sinful thoughts from men and sometimes even\nour evil practices; but not from God.  Or again, \"Sin, when it is\nfinished, bringeth forth death\" (James 1:15).  Here is unexampled\nprogress indicated from which there never has been the slightest\ndeviation.  But one of the sharpest texts in all the Word of God, and\none which men somehow in these days seem to ignore, is Paul's\nexpression, \"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man\nsoweth, that shall he also reap\" (Galatians 6:7), and if we compare\nthis reference in the New Testament to the text in the Old Testament\nthe harvest indeed seems to be sure, for \"The wicked shall not be\nunpunished.\"\n\nThere is a note of truth in all of these statements for both saint and\nsinner.  Jeremiah the thirtieth chapter and the eleventh verse, \"For I\nam with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of\nall nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full\nend of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave\nthee altogether unpunished.\"  The old Prophet is speaking to the people\nof Israel; and while he tells them that they are God's people,\nnevertheless they shall not altogether go unpunished, for if they sow\nto the flesh they must of the flesh reap corruption.  In Deuteronomy\nthe fifth chapter and the ninth verse, we read, \"Thou shalt not bow\ndown thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a\njealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children\nunto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.\"  It is a\nsolemn fact that the sins of the fathers descend upon the children unto\nthe third and fourth generation.  It is more solemn that so blighting\nis the effect of sin that the fourth generation is the last.  There is\nno fifth.  Even though we be pardoned from sin forever, we shall not\naltogether go unpunished.\n\nCertainly it is true that if one rejects Jesus Christ, punishment for\nhim is absolutely certain.  The other day in the city of Chicago the\nfollowing appeared in the _Inter-Ocean_ as an editorial under the title\nof \"Preaching for Men.\"\n\n\"To those who look upon men as they are it is simply astounding that so\nmany preachers should act as if the hope of reward alone could be\nefficient to move average mankind to leave sin and follow after\nrighteousness.  In every other relation of human life every man is\nconstantly confronted with the alternative: Do right and be rewarded;\ndo wrong and be punished.  The pressure of fear as well as the pressure\nof hope is continually upon him.  He knows that he may conceal his\nwrongdoing from the eye of man, but he is always under the fear of\ndiscovery and punishment.  But he goes to church, and in nine cases out\nof ten the preacher, while insisting that he can hide nothing from the\neye of God, yet says nothing to arouse in him that fear of God which is\nthe beginning of wisdom.  If he turn from religion to science he finds\nscience more positive of the certainty of punishment than of the\ncertainty of reward.  Science cannot, for example, assure him of a long\nlife, even though he scrupulously obey hygienic laws.  But it can\nassure him of a speedy death if he wantonly violates those laws.\nPrecisely this fact that the consequences of sin in punishment can be\nforetold more positively than the consequences of righteousness in\nreward is what makes fear the strongest influence dominating and\ndirecting human conduct.  Yet many preachers deliberately abandon the\nappeal to fear and then wonder why their preaching does not move men to\nactive righteousness.  When more preachers recover from the delusion\ninto which so many of them have fallen such complaints will diminish.\nFor all human experience proves that the preaching that appeals to fear\nof punishment as well as to hope of reward is the preaching that is\nreally effective--is the preaching of all the great preachers of the\npast and the present--is the preaching that moves.\"\n\nThe statement of the text is exceedingly plain and the teaching is\nunquestioned.  It is a good thing for us to-day to understand what sin\nis, for if we have a wrong conception of sin it naturally follows that\nwe shall have a wrong conception of the atonement.  Without an\nunderstanding of sin there is no sense of guilt, and without the sense\nof guilt there is no cry for pardon.  The best definitions that I have\never found for sin are written in the word of God.\n\n\nI\n\n1. \"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the\ntransgression of the law\" (1 John 3:4).  The word \"transgression\" means\nto go across.  Does your life parallel God's law or cross it?  Your\nanswer to this question determines the measure of your sin.  You have\nonly to read the ten commandments and try to mold your life by them to\nfind your answer.  Better still, you have only to read these\ncommandments in the light of Jesus' interpretation, where the look of\nlust is adultery and anger without cause is murder, to see how far\nshort you have come; and if this is true certainly you are a sinner,\nand the text is for you.  \"The wicked shall not be unpunished.\"\n\n2. \"All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death\" (1\nJohn 5:17).  Righteousness means right relations with God.  You may\nmake ever so strong a claim to right living and speak ever so\nvehemently concerning the good that you are accomplishing in the world,\nbut the first question for you to settle is this, What is your relation\nto God and what have you to say with reference to your acceptance or\nrejection of Jesus Christ?  It is a solemn thought that whatever we do\ncounts for nothing if our relation to God be wrong, while the little\nthat we may do may count for much if we have taken the right position\nbefore him.\n\n3. \"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him\nit is sin\" (James 4:17).\n\nOmission, according to this scripture, is sin; neglected opportunity is\nsin, shirking responsibility is sin, refusing to obey God is sin; and\nso when I ask you about being a Christian, if it is best and right and\nyou acknowledge that it is, then if you are not a Christian, this very\nfact is in itself sin, for when one knows the right and refuses to do\nit he is a sinner, and the text is true--\"The wicked shall not be\nunpunished.\"\n\n4. \"And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of\nfaith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin\" (Romans 14:23).  Active\ndoubt is sin.  If you have a doubt concerning the sinfulness of certain\nthings, then to do those things is sin.  If I have the least doubt\nconcerning the amusements which may be questionable, or the position\nwhich may be doubtful, so long as a doubt or a question remains these\nthings are sin; and the Bible states the fact that \"The wicked shall\nnot be unpunished.\"\n\n5. \"And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of\nrighteousness, and of judgment\" (John 16:8).  Unbelief is the chiefest\nof sins.  It is to reject Jesus Christ, it is to close in our own faces\nthe door of hope, it is to trample the blood of the Son of God under\nour feet, and it means also to insult the spirit of grace.\n\nOne morning in the city of New York a man dashed down the street and\npast three men standing on the pier.  They could not tell how old he\nwas, nor how he was dressed, but they saw him jump upon the bulkhead\nnear by, strip off his overcoat, coat and hat, and, before they could\nstir to save him, plunge off the end of the pier.  There was a short\nrope lying near by, and seizing this a man ran with his companions to\nthe point from which the man had jumped.  They threw the rope toward\nthe struggling figure that they could just make out below them.  The\nrope fell a foot and a half too short.  Then they ran back to the gas\nplant and got a longer rope.  The ice was running so thick in the river\nthat the man's head and shoulders were still to be seen above the water\nwhen they returned.  Taking careful aim they threw the rope squarely\nacross the struggling form, shouting,  \"Catch it and we'll pull you\nin.\"  The unknown man, however, making a last effort, threw the rope\naside and shouted back: \"Oh, to h--- with it!  I'm through!\"  Then he\nsank out of sight.  That is a picture of the man who, having offered to\nhim mercy and grace in Jesus Christ, spurns all that God offers, and is\ntherefore hopeless.\n\nSin separates us from God.\n\nSin separates us from each other.\n\nSin pollutes us and we become impure.\n\nSin deceives us and we are in danger and know it not.\n\nA friend of mine walking along the streets of Cincinnati early one\nmorning saw a young girl standing upon the very edge of the roof of one\nof the highest office buildings.  She was carefully balancing herself\nand every moment it seemed as if she would fall.  The elevator was not\nrunning, but he made his way hurriedly to the roof of the building,\nwalked carefully across it, seized her by the hand, drew her back and\nfound that she had risen in her sleep and all unconsciously was\nstanding on the very brink of eternity.  This is what sin does for us,\nand it is a solemn thought that for all such the text is true, \"The\nwicked shall not be unpunished.\"\n\n\nII\n\nI do not make my appeal, however, on the ground that the punishment is\nall for the future, for that is indeed sure.  I ask you the question,\nDo you believe in heaven as a place of rewards?  If so, the same\nargument will prove the existence of hell.  Do you reject hell, because\nit seems to you to be inconceivable?  Then the same argument will blot\nheaven out of existence.  What it is that awaits the wicked, I am sure\nI do not know--only that it is to be away from God, with the door of\nhope shut forever, and the Bible tells me that there is weeping and\nwailing and gnashing of teeth, for the wicked shall not be unpunished.\nI lift my voice against the punishment here, for sin is so sure in its\ndeadly work, it is so insidious in its influence, that before you know\nit it is upon you; just one day of trifling and you are gone.\n\nThe people about Pittsburg will never forget the Cheswick mine horror\nin 1903, when one hundred and eighty-two dead men were taken from the\nmine.  Under the direction of one of the mining engineers, a rescuing\nparty started into the mine to see if there was any hope of saving the\nmen who might be yet alive.  The journey is described by one who\nvolunteered to go with the engineer on his perilous journey.  \"When we\ngot to the foot of the shaft, Mr. Taylor lighted a cigar.  He blew out\na great cloud of smoke and watched it drift into a passage.  'This\nway,' he said, 'The smoke will follow the pure air draught.'  So we\nwent on, Mr. Taylor blowing clouds of smoke, and we following them.\nSuddenly he wheeled and yelled; 'The black damp is coming!'  The cigar\nsmoke had stopped as though it had come to a stone wall, and was now\ndrifting over our heads.  We ran with death at our heels, ran with our\ntongues dry and swelling and our eyes smarting like balls of fire.  It\nseemed only a minute until Mr. Taylor shrieked and fell forward on his\nface.  He crawled along for a while on his hands and knees, and then\nfell again and lay still.  I stopped for a second, with the idea of\ncarrying him.  Then I realized how hopeless that was.  We were still a\nquarter of a mile from the mouth of the pit.  He was a very heavy man,\nand I, as you see, am small and weak.  Again I ran choking and beating\nmy head with my hands.  I fell, cut my face, called upon God, struggled\nto my feet and fell again.  So I plunged on, falling and fighting\nforward.  Black madness came upon me.  The horrible, sickening\nafter-damp was tearing my heart up through my dry throat.  My brain was\nbursting through my temples.  Then a stroke, as though by a sledge\nhammer, and I knew nothing more.  They found me at ten minutes past one\nTuesday morning.  At first they thought I was dead.  Then they saw my\nhead rise and fall while I weakly pounded on a rock with a stick that I\nhad caught in my delirium.\"  This is to me a striking picture of what\nsin does for us.  There is no one so strong but he may be overpowered\nby its awful influence.  God save us from it, for \"The wicked shall not\nbe unpunished.\"\n\n\nIII\n\nOh, is there no hope?  For it would seem from the message thus far as\nif nothing but despair was ahead of us.  Two ways to escape from the\npower of sin have been suggested; one is man's way, the other is God's.\nLet us consider them both.\n\n1. Man suggests reformation.  But how about the sins of the past?  They\nare still untouched.  Man tells the sinner to do his best; but how\nabout the will which has been weakened by sinful practices, and which\nseems unable to act?  Man tells the depraved man to change his\nsurroundings; but how about the heart that is unclean?  The fact is,\nman's way will not reach us.\n\nIn January, 1904, the American Liner New York left Southampton and came\ninto the New York harbor with a sad story to tell.  A sailor was\nsuspended over the side of the vessel making repairs when an enormous\nwave tore him away, and he was very soon under the forepart of the\nship.  The waves began to carry him away, and a life line was thrown to\nhim with a buoy attached.  The sailor, sometimes visible and then\nobscured by the rising of a swell, grasped the line, and a cheer went\nup.  He took a half turn with the line around his waist, was rolling\nhimself over into the bight of the line and it looked as if he would be\nsaved.  The sailors on deck were just about to haul in.  The poor\nfellow's hands and fingers must have been numb, for he suddenly rolled\nout of the half-formed bight, losing his grip upon the line.\n\nNone of the passengers could help the man, none of the crew dared jump\nto his rescue, no boat could live in such a maelstrom.  The sailor, who\nwas struggling and being whirled around and bobbing like a cork, his\noilskins partially spreading out and sustaining him, kept drifting\nfurther and further away.\n\nAroused by the commotion, the second officer came on deck just as the\nsailor lost his hold.  Tossing aside his cap, overcoat and jacket, he\nbade the seamen take a bowline hitch around his body and lower him\naway.  The volunteer life-saver was cheered by the passengers as he\nwent over.  It was bitter cold, the sleet sharp and the swells ugly.  A\nstrong swim in the trough of the seas and over the crests and the\nofficer might reach the seaman.  It was his only chance.\n\nHe had no more than touched the spume before the waves hurled him\nagainst the side of the steamer again and again, bruising his ankle and\nknee, but he struck out bravely and gradually drew nearer the sailor.\nFor fifteen minutes the second officer struggled.  During one of his\nbrave spurts in the direction of the struggling man he looked up to the\nrail.  The practiced eye of the seafaring man saw something that caused\nhim suddenly to turn and breast his way back to the ship.  The line was\ntoo short.  The seaman holding the line attached to the officer had in\nhis hands the mere end of it, and there was not another bit to pay out.\nIt was a sixty fathom line, \"all gone,\" and the officer yet only half\nway to the drowning man.  It was too late to splice another.  Had it\nbeen thought of in time the man might have been saved.  A longer\nstruggle was useless, and the officer allowed himself to be hauled\naboard, leaving the helpless man to go to his last account.  That is\nalways the difficulty with man's effort to save the lost.  It does not\nreach far enough and fails just when it ought to hold.\n\n2. God's way.  \"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all\nsin,\" that is God's message.  \"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the\nunrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he\nwill have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly\npardon.\"  This is God's invitation.  \"I even I, am he that blotteth out\nthy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.\"\nThis is God's pledge, and he has never failed to keep it.\n\nIn the old days, when England and Scotland were at war, the English\ncame up against Bruce.  They drove him from his castle and as he fled\naway from them they let loose his own bloodhounds and set them upon his\ntrail.  His case seemed hopeless.  He could hear the bay of the hounds\nin the distance, and those who were with him had just about given up in\ndespair; but not so with Bruce.  He came to a stream, flowing through\nthe forest, he plunged in, waded three bow-shots up the stream and then\nout upon the other side.  The hounds came up to the stream, stopped and\nsniffed; they had lost the track.  They turned back defeated, and Bruce\nin time won the day.  Is it not like this with our sins?  Like a pack\nof hounds they are after me; wherever I flee they are close upon me.\n\"The wages of sin is death,\" I am told, but I have found the way of\nescape.  Here flows a stream which runs red with the blood of Jesus\nChrist, and I plunge in and am free.\n\n  \"There is a fountain filled with blood,\n    Drawn from Immanuel's veins;\n  And sinners plunged beneath that flood\n    Lose all their guilty stains.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE GRACE OF GOD\n\nTEXT: \"_I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine\nown sake, and will not remember thy sins._\"--Isaiah 43:25.\n\nIn looking over an old volume of Sermons preached by H. Grattan\nGuiness, forty-five years ago, I came across the message which he\ndelivered with this text as a basis.  So deep was the impression made\nupon me by my first reading of the sermon that I have taken Mr.\nGuiness' outline and ask your careful attention to its development.\n\nIf one should enter a jewelry store and ask to see a diamond, or any\nother precious stone, the jeweler would first spread upon his show case\na black cloth and then place the diamonds upon it, not only for\nprotection but also in order that the black background might bring out\ndistinctly the brilliancy and worth of the gems.  So God gives this\nbest of all his promises with the dark picture of sin clearly and\nthoughtfully portrayed.  In verses twenty-second to the twenty-fourth\nwe read, \"But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been\nweary of me, O Israel.  Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of\nthy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices.\nI have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with\nincense.  Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast\nthou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to\nserve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.\"\n\nIn these verses God says that his people have not called upon him in\nprayer, they have not presented their offerings, neither have they\npresented unto him themselves.  He also affirms that they have wearied\nof him, and that they have also wearied him with their iniquities, and\nthen he exclaims, \"I have not caused thee to serve with an offering,\nnor wearied thee with incense,\" and with these clear statements he\ngives us the gracious statement of the text, \"I, even I, am he that\nblotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not\nremember thy sins.\"\n\nMr. Guiness gives us four beautiful thoughts in this text concerning\nour sins.\n\nFirst: They are blotted out from God's Book.\n\nSecond: They are blotted out with God's hand.\n\nThird: They are blotted out for his sake.\n\nFourth: They are blotted from his memory.\n\nA more admirable outline of a text of Scripture I do not know, a more\ncheering message to a child of God I have never found.\n\n\nI\n\nNot long ago, in Chicago, a young man was induced to confess to one\nwhom he thought was his friend the killing of his father and mother.\nAs the confession was being made, as he supposed to but one person, it\nwas all being taken down by those who were near enough to hear him\nspeak, and when he appeared before the court his own confession was\nused against him and sent him to a life imprisonment in the\npenitentiary.  What was true of this young man is true of us.  Every\nsermon the minister preaches is recorded, every word an individual\nspeaks is put down.  It is a solemn thought to realize, that at the\njudgment we shall give account for even our idle words.\n\nScience has proven that our acts, our words and even our thoughts make\ntheir indelible record.\n\nNot long ago in our home we came across a long-unused phonograph.  We\nstarted it going, placing upon it one of the cylinders which had been\npacked away with the phonograph, and were startled to hear the voice of\none who had been dead for years.  We heard the message he dictated, the\nsong in which he joined and the laugh with which he closed it, and yet\nhis voice has long been silent in death.  There is not a sin of your\nyouth which has not made its record, not a passion of your mature years\nthat does not stand somewhere against you, not an act, a feeling or an\nimagination that has not been indelibly written; not all the changes of\ntime, not all the efforts of man, can wipe these things out.\n\nIn the British Museum there is a piece of stone not larger than the\naverage Bible at least four thousand years old, and in the center of\nthe stone there is a mark of a bird's foot; four thousand years ago the\ntrack was made, and for four thousand years the record has stood.  If\nthese things are true of us--and they are, according to the Word of\nGod--then what prospect is there for us but that of eternal punishment?\nFor when we stand at the judgment there shall appear before us the sins\nof omission and the sins of commission, the sins we have forgotten and\nthe sins we have but recently committed against ourselves, against our\nfellow men, and against God.\n\nIt is indeed a black picture, and with whitened faces and rapidly\nbeating hearts we ask, Is there any hope?  I bring you God's gracious\nanswer to this important question: \"I, even I, am he that blotteth out\nthy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.\"\nNotice, it is the voice of God speaking.  \"I, even I,\" he exclaims,\n\"will blot out your transgressions.\"\n\nIt is, first of all, a commercial term.  We were in debt to God,\nhopelessly in debt, and our obligation has been canceled; over against\nour sin is placed the righteousness of the Son of God, and we are free.\n\n  \"Jesus paid it all,\n    All to him I owe;\n  Sin had left a crimson stain,\n    He washed it white as snow.\"\n\n\nIt is also a chemical expression, for it is a picture of God applying\nthe blood of Jesus Christ to every page of the written record.  The\nsins of our youth long ago passed out of mind; the sins of our manhood,\nwhich have taken up every part of our being, the sins of to-day--all\nhave gone, for he himself has blotted them out.  When we realize that\nwe are forgiven of God it means more than if we were forgiven of men,\nfor in the might of his forgiveness our past sins are gone, they shall\nnot even be mentioned against us; the fear of judgment is taken away,\nfor Jesus himself says, \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that\nheareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting\nlife, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death\nunto life\" (John 5:24).  It is the Passover story over again, \"When I\nsee the blood, I will pass over you.\"  Thus are our sins blotted out.\n\n\nII\n\nIt is with God's hand that the work is done; and for very many reasons\nthis is a great comfort to us.\n\nFirst: Because it was God's hand that made the record, he it was who\nput down all your sins.  He never rested in his work; week after week,\nmonth after month, year after year, the recording work was being done\nuntil your record became blacker than the blackest midnight; and behold\nthe hand that made the record blots it out.\n\nSecond: It was his hand against which you offended.  Your sin was\nagainst yourself.  It is true it hurt your character, lowered your\nself-respect; but more especially was it against God, for you despised\nhis authority, forsook his service, broke his laws, defied his justice;\nyou grieved his spirit, and you crucified his Son.  And behold it is\nthe hand against which you committed all these offenses which blotted\nout your transgressions.\n\nThird: It is the offended hand which blots them out.  It was the hand\nthat opened the fountains of the deep, and behold the floods came, the\nwaters above and the waters below clasped their hands and destruction\nwas everywhere save in the Ark.  It was his hand that brought\ndestruction upon the cities of the plain, consuming them with a mighty\nflame, and it was his hand that opened the sea for the children of\nIsrael and then closed the sea over the pursuing Egyptians.  The very\nthought of the offended hand makes us tremble, but behold, it is this\nhand that blots out all our transgressions.\n\nFourth: It is the hand of justice that does the work.  The same hand\nwrote, \"The wicked shall not go unpunished,\" and wrote again, \"The soul\nthat sinneth it shall die,\" and wrote yet again, \"The wages of sin is\ndeath.\"  This hand is stretched forth in our behalf.\n\nI doubt not the question has often come to us, \"How can God be just and\nbe the justifier of them that believe?\"  In the light of such\nstatements as these just quoted I am sure it is for this reason--it is\nfor the offering of the just for the unjust.  He made him to be sin for\nus who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in\nhim.  A man was needed for such an offering, and Christ became man.\nThe man required must be born under the law, so Christ came in the\nlikeness of sinful flesh.  The man born under the law must be without\nsin, so he was born pure.  The man born under the law and without sin\nmust be willing to die, and so he came saying, \"I delight to do thy\nwill, O God.\"  And the man born under the law, without sin and willing\nto die must be able to provide an atonement which would make the\nwandering sinner and the love of God one, and so Christ at the command\nof God was thus furnished a sacrifice of sufficient power and magnitude\nto save the whole world.  It is this hand of God that blots out our\ntransgressions.\n\nFifth: It is the hand of the Supreme Being that does the work.  What a\nword of encouragement this is.  It was this hand that made the worlds\nand hurled them off into space.  It was this hand that created man and\nmade him in the likeness of God.  It was this hand that formed the\ncountless number of angels, and has ever directed their heavenly\nmovements.  It was this hand that wrote the law upon Sinai.  And it was\nthis hand that holds the keys of the kingdoms of heaven and hell.  He\nblots out our transgressions.  From his decision there can be no\nappeal.  With such a work as this, who shall lay anything to the charge\nof God's elect?  Would God that justifieth do it, or Christ that died\nconsent to it?  In the light of such a thought the Apostle Paul says,\n\"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor\nprincipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor\nheight, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us\nfrom the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord\" (Romans\n8:38-39).\n\n\nIII\n\nOur sins are blotted out for his sake.  God saves the sinner not alone\nbecause of pity for the sinner, and certainly not simply because he is\nin danger of hell, but in order that he may glorify himself; and this\nis no selfish glorification, but rather in order that he may show to us\nnow and throughout all the ages what he really is.  God has made\ndifferent revelations of himself.  We have beheld his wisdom in\ncreation, in his providences and in his word.  We have seen his justice\nin that he gave his only begotten Son to die for poor lost men.  We\nhave seen his power in the working of miracles and the transforming\neffect of his grace.  It remains for us to see his love in the story of\nsalvation, for until we behold him as the Savior of the sinner we do\nnot know him.  It is this that shall make us not only rejoice here in\ntime but rejoice with joy unspeakable in eternity.  The Apostle Paul\nwrites in Ephesians 2:7-8, \"That in the ages to come he might shew the\nexceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ\nJesus.  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of\nyourselves: it is the gift of God.\"\n\n\nIV\n\nOur sins are blotted out from God's memory.  The last of this wonderful\ntext is the best.  When we detect a failure of memory here in this\nworld among our friends it is an evidence of weakness, but it is no\nweakness in God to forget.  This is but another one of those\nexpressions descriptive of God in which human language is used to\ndescribe a thought and in which human language is too poor an agency to\nconvey all the depth of the meaning.  It is just another picture of God\nstooping down to meet our weakness and it is God assuring us that our\nsins are gone completely.  It is as if they never had existed, for they\nshall never stand against us and in the day of judgment they shall not\neven be mentioned.  Our sins must have been a grief to him, just as the\nsin of an earthly child is the source of sorrow to an earthly parent;\nbut they are so no longer, for he has forgotten.  The Bible represents\nGod as being angry because of our transgressions, but if ever there was\nanger with him it is so no longer, for you cannot be angry with a\nperson whose injury against you you have forgotten entirely.  We do not\nin this world speak of what we have forgotten, nor will God speak of\nour sins.  We do not punish what we have forgotten, nor will God permit\nus to be punished, for he has blotted out our transgressions and will\nremember them no more.  There is no awaiting penalty for your sin,\nthere is no judgment to meet at the great white throne, there is no\nhell for you at the last, for your sins, for Christ's sake, have been\nforgotten.\n\nIf you cast a stone into the water and it sinks away there is for a\ntime a ripple, where the stone has gone down; but in a moment it has\ngone forever, you can see it no more.  So God has cast our sins into\nthe sea and the place where they have gone cannot even be found.\n\n\nV\n\nBut what must I do to take advantage of all this gracious offer of God?\nI answer according to the Scripture.  There must be true repentance;\nrepentance is a change of mind, it is having a new mind for God.  There\nmust be regeneration; regeneration is a change of nature, it is a new\nheart for God.  There must be conversion; conversion is a change of\nliving and a new life for God.  If we would be born from above we must\naccept God's word.\n\nTwo friends were conversing one evening.  One of them with a skeptical\nmind had just rejected the Bible because it did not tell him the things\nthat he would know.  He insisted on knowing how the worlds were made,\nand demanded that he should be told concerning the origin of heaven and\nwhy God permitted it, and because the Bible failed here he would have\nnone of it.  Just as his friend was leaving the skeptic said to him,\n\"Here is my lantern.  I want you to take it and it will light you\nhome.\"  But the lantern was refused by the Christian man, \"for,\" said\nhe, \"this lantern will not light up the mountains in the distance, nor\nthe valley stretching away at my feet.\"  His friend was amazed.  \"Man,\"\nsaid he, \"take the lantern; it will make a road for you across the moor\nand light up your pathway home.\"  \"Oh,\" said his friend, \"if that is\ntrue I will take it; but listen to me.  So is the Bible not for distant\npaths of investigation; it is not so much to tell us concerning\ncreation and existence--we shall know these things by and by.  It is\nfor the path at your feet and it will light you home a space at a\ntime.\"  The skeptical man saw it in an instant, he took God's word and\ncame back again to the faith of his childhood.\n\nSo I offer it to you with its promises as of lanterns, if its commands\nare carefully received and followed out.  You, too, may pass from\ndarkness into light and you may claim from God this text of mine which\nsays, \"I even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine\nown sake, and will not remember thy sins.\"\n\n\n\n\nCONVERSION\n\nTEXT: \"_And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and\nbecome as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of\nHeaven._\"--Matt. 18:3.\n\nJesus Christ was the world's greatest teacher and preacher.  Multitudes\nfollowed him because he taught them, not as the scribes, but as one\nhaving authority.  He came to them with the deepest truth of God, but\ncouched in such familiar expressions, and told in such a fascinating\nway, that all men heard him and went their way rejoicing that so great\na teacher had come into the world as the messenger of God.  He desired\nto speak to them concerning the kingdom, and seeing on the distant\nhillside a farmer sowing his seed, he gave them the parable of the\nsower; and every farmer in his company began to understand his message.\nHe told them the story of a woman baking bread, and in the spreading of\nthe leaven every housekeeper had a vision of one of the deepest\nprinciples of the coming kingdom.  He gave them the account of the boy\nwho went away from his home, breaking his mother's heart, and,\naccording to tradition, putting her in her grave; causing his old\nfather to bow his head in shame again and again, and yet in spite of it\nall, his father loving him; and every listener learned from the story a\nlesson concerning the love of God which could have been given to him in\nno other way.  He was acknowledged as the world's greatest teacher and\npreacher.\n\nThe text is introduced by the word \"verily,\" and this is peculiar to\nJesus.  The word calls especial attention to the coming message.  It\nwas as if he had sounded a bell and said, \"Stop and listen\"; and\nwherever the word \"verily\" occurs the Bible reader would do well to\ngive heed to the message of Jesus.\n\nWhat hope is there for the moralist when Jesus said, \"Except ye be\nconverted\"?  What hope can there be for the man who says God is so\nmerciful that he will not allow him finally to be lost when Jesus said\n\"Ye shall not enter into the kingdom, except ye be converted and become\nas little children.\"\n\nIt will be necessary for us to read carefully verses eight and nine in\nthis eighteenth chapter of Matthew, if we would be impressed with the\nimportance of conversion.  There are solemn words here.  \"Wherefore if\nthy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from\nthee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather\nthan having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.\nAnd if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it\nis better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having\ntwo eyes to be cast into hellfire.\"\n\nI have been told that there are two ways of reading this text.  The\nfirst is as we have it in the King James version; the second would make\nit read thus: \"Verily, I say unto you, except ye convert yourselves and\nbecome as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of\nheaven.\"  Those who hold to this second reading say that there is a\ndifference between regeneration and conversion--that regeneration is\nGod's part of the contract, while conversion is ours; that conversion\nis simply having the willing mind, while regeneration is God's\nimparting to us his own life; and to convert one's self is simply to be\nwilling to be saved.  And this is all-important, for even God himself\ncannot save us against our wills.  But I prefer to use, in my treatment\nof the text, the generally accepted idea of conversion, and wish my\nmessage to center around the following questions: What is conversion?\nHow may I be converted?  Do I know when I was converted?  How may I\nknow certainly?\n\n\nI\n\nWhat is conversion?  I own a piece of property, and you desire to\npurchase it.  You pay me a price, and the property is transferred from\nmy ownership to yours.  It is a converted piece of property.  This is\njust a hint as to what conversion is.  We were sold under sin; and if\nany should object to this expression, we have sold ourselves under sin.\nJesus came and in the shedding of his own blood paid the price of our\nredemption.  As a child of God, I am bought back from bondage to\nfreedom.  To be converted is to be turned about.  Going away from God,\nI turn towards him.  With my face set away from heaven, I deliberately\nturn and accept Jesus, who said, \"I am the way, the truth, and the\nlife.\"  To be converted is to cross the line which separates light from\ndarkness, and may be done as easily as if one drew a line in the path\nbefore him and stepped over it.  Both of these would be by the act of\none's will; only it is to be remembered that when by faith we accept\nJesus there is imparted to us a knowledge which comes from the Holy\nGhost alone; while we seem to be acting in our own strength, yet really\nit is in the strength of God.  Let it be remembered, however, that no\ntwo people may have exactly the same experience.  There is an\nillustration of this in the healing of the blind men in the New\nTestament.  I can imagine them having a convention, and each giving his\ntestimony.  One declares that the only way to receive your sight is to\nhave clay and spittle put upon your eyes and to wash in the pool of\nSiloam.  Another ridicules this experience and declares that only the\ntouch of the fingers of Jesus is necessary.  Still another speaks and\nemphatically declares that even the touch of Jesus is superfluous, for\nat the command of Jesus he saw clearly.  Another says that\ninstantaneous sight is impossible, and describes his own experience,\nwhen he saw men like trees, walking.  But when all have given their\ntestimony, they finally unite in declaring that whereas they once were\nblind, now they can see; and after all this is the important matter.  A\nfriend of mine described a number of people who came to view \"The\nAngelus\" that celebrated masterpiece of Millet's.  Some people admired\nthe perspective; others, the figure of the man; others, that of the\nwoman.  One man simply stood aghast as he looked, and exclaimed, \"What\na marvelous frame that picture has!\" and no two people expressed the\nsame opinion concerning the masterpiece.  How could we expect them to\nhave the same experience in coming to Christ?\n\nIt may be that some will say, \"Why insist upon conversion when my life\nis a moral one?\"  And my answer is that the difficulty with morality is\nthat it is worked out according to men's standard and falls far short\nof God's.\n\nIn my first pastorate I had a blind man as one of my hearers.  He used\nto walk about the village where I preached, generally without a guide,\nand apparently went as easily as a man with eyes.  He had a little\nstick in his hands, with which he touched the trees and the fences, and\nseemed to know by the very sound where he was.  One day at noon, when\nhe should be going home, I saw him walking rapidly away from his home.\nI finally convinced him that he was going in the wrong direction, and\nhe asked me to set him straight, which I did.  Going in the new\ndirection, he used his stick in the same fashion, used his legs in the\nsame mechanical way, but the difference between the man in the first\ninstance and the second was this--that in the first picture he was\ngoing away from home, while in the second he was going homeward\nrapidly.  The trouble with man's morality is that it is self-centered\nand not Christ centered if he is rejected.\n\n\nII\n\nHow may I be converted?  For from the text which says \"Except ye be\nconverted\" it would seem as if some power outside of ourselves must be\nworking in our behalf, and this is true.  The foundation of it all is\nthe atonement by Christ, his sacrificial death upon the cross.\nRejecting this truth, there is no hope for us.  In our sinful\ncondition, the spirit of God rouses us, convicts us of sin, convinces\nus of our need of a Savior, and finally God, in his grace, gives us the\nstrength to yield, and we pass from darkness to light.\n\nSometimes great need drives us to light, as in the case of Nicodemus;\nwhile again great sin compels us to come to him, as in the case of the\nthief on the cross.  But whether it be need or sin, let us start with\nlittle faith, if we have no more, and God will meet us the moment we\nstart.  I once conducted services in a soldiers' home.  The commanding\nofficer told me, when the service was concluded, of a former inmate, an\nold sea captain, who came to the institution a confessed infidel.  He\nrefused to attend any of the services in the chapel; finally he was\ntaken ill, and then the commanding officer entered his room, asking him\nto read the Scriptures, which he declined to do.  Again he came\nsuggesting that he read the Bible to see if there was any part he could\nbelieve, and a bottle of red ink and a pen were left by his bedside,\nthe officer suggesting that he mark any verse red if he could accept\nit.  This appealed to the dying man and he said, \"Where shall I read?\"\nThe officer said \"Begin with John's Gospel.\"  And he did so.  He read\nthrough two chapters without making a mark, and through fifteen verses\nof the third chapter.  Then he came to the sixteenth verse, which is a\npicture of the very heart of God, and he reached for his pen and marked\nthe verse red.  When this much of the story had been told we reached\nthe old captain's room and passed the threshold to find the bed empty,\nfor he was gone.  \"I wish you might have seen his Bible,\" said the\ncaptain.  \"I sent it to his family recently.  There was not a page in\nit that was not marked red.\"  Over his bed swung a pasteboard anchor;\nmarked upon it were these words--\"I have cast my anchor in safe\nharbor.\"  For he had gone home.\n\n\nIII\n\nDo you know when you were converted?  That is, do you know the exact\ntime?  There are two extremes in experiences in this matter.  I recall\nthe experience of an old man who sat in my lecture room one Friday\nevening, and just as the hands of the clock marked the hour 9:30 he\nsaid \"I will,\" and came to Christ.  That was the moment of his\nconversion.  But, as for myself, I have not had this experience; I do\nnot know just when I turned to Christ.  It must have been when I was\nbut a small child.  One of the best women I know has had an experience\nsimilar to mine, while one of the greatest preachers in the land has\ntold me that he was a drunkard until he was 21 years of age, and then,\non his knees, by his father's death bed, he came to the Savior.  After\nall, it is not so much a question of the knowledge of the day, or the\nhour, or the month of one's conversion as \"Do we now know Christ?\"\n\n\nIV\n\nHow may we know that we have passed from death into life?  Certainly\nnot with our feelings as a proof, for they change as the sands shift on\nthe seashore.  If our feelings be the foundation, then we may be in the\nkingdom and out of it a great many times a day.  It is not always to be\ndetermined by a great change in one's life, for men who have not\naccepted Christ have had such an experience.  There is only one sure\nway of knowing it, and that is on the authority of the word of God.\nJohn 5:24, \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,\nand believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not\ncome into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life.\"  And John\n6:47, \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath\neverlasting life.\"\n\nIt is said that Napoleon while riding in front of his soldiers lost\ncontrol of his horse, when a private stepped from the ranks, seized the\nhorse's bridle and saved the officer's life.  Napoleon saluted him and\ncalled him captain.  \"But, sir,\" said he, \"I am not a captain, only a\nprivate.\"  \"Then,\" said Napoleon, \"I will commission you captain.\"  And\nimmediately he stepped into the company of those officers; they ordered\nhim to the ranks, but he said, \"I am a captain.\"  \"By whose authority?\"\nthey said.  If then he had replied, \"Because I feel like a captain,\"\nhow ridiculous it would have been!  Pointing to Napoleon, he said, \"I\nam a captain, because he said it.\"  Thus with God's word as a\nfoundation we stand secure.\n\n\nV\n\nDo not forget to notice that we are told that we must come like little\nchildren.  Not like the philosophers of the world, but like little\nchildren who always trust implicitly those who are about them.  If we\nwould be saved, we must be willing to be taught, and we must some time\nmake a beginning.  Then why not now?\n\nSome years ago John B. Gough visited a home in a New England city, and\nthe heartbroken mother told him that her boy, who was an inebriate, was\nconfined in an upper room in the house, which was much like a cell.\nThe great temperance leader went to speak to him and said \"Edward, why\ndon't you pray?\" and he said, \"Because I don't believe in prayer.\"\n\"But,\" said Mr. Gough, \"You must believe in God.\"  And he replied, \"I\ndo not believe in anything.\"  \"I am sure you are wrong in this,\" said\nhe, \"for I know that you believe in your mother.\"  Then there came a\nnew look into his face when he said, \"Yes, I believe in her.\"  \"Well,\"\nsaid Mr. Gough, \"you must then believe in love.  Let us fall upon our\nknees and pray.\"  And the young man began, \"O love,\" and the spirit of\nGod said unto him, \"God is love,\" and he changed his prayer and said \"O\nGod,\" and then came the same spirit and said, \"God so loved the world\nthat he gave his only begotten son,\" and he said \"O Christ,\" and when\nhe said this the deed was done.  He immediately rose from his knees,\nand he has been free ever since.\n\n\n\n\nFIVE KINGS IN A CAVE\n\nTEXT: \"_And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto\nJoshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the\ncaptains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your\nfeet upon the necks of these kings.  And they came near, and put their\nfeet upon the necks of them.  And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor\nbe dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do\nto all your enemies against whom ye fight._\"--Joshua 10:24-25.\n\nThe history of the children of Israel is one of the most fascinating\nstories ever written.  It abounds in illustrations which are as\npractical and helpful as any that may be used to-day, drawn from our\nevery-day experience.  God certainly meant that we should use their\nstory in this way, for in the New Testament we read that the things\nwhich happened to them were as ensamples for us.  The word \"ensample\"\nmeans type, or figure, or illustration.\n\nTo appreciate this text and the story of the five imprisoned kings we\nmust go back a little bit to the place where the leadership of Moses\nhad been transferred to Joshua.  God is never at a loss for a man; his\nplans are never frustrated.  If Moses is to be set aside Joshua is in\npreparation for his position.  Doubtless Joshua may have felt somewhat\nrestrained, as he was kept in a position of not very great prominence,\nbut he certainly realized when he stood as the leader of the children\nof Israel that all things had been working together for the good of his\nleadership, and doubtless he praised Jehovah for his goodness to him.\nThere are many incidents in connection with the immediate story of the\nchildren of Israel which should be mentioned here.\n\nWhen they were ready to move towards Canaan Joshua told them that when\nthe soles of the feet of the priests touched the water of the Jordan\nthe water would stand on either side before them and they could pass\ndry shod into Canaan.  Suddenly the marching began.  They stood within\nthree feet of the waters, which ran the same as they had been running\nfor years; then two feet, then one, and then six inches, but there was\nno parting of the waters before them.  Let us remember that God had\nsaid, \"When the soles of the feet of the priests touch the water they\nshall separate.\"  And it was even as he said, and on dry land the\nchildren of Israel passed over to the other side.  It is a perfectly\nnatural thing for one who is unregenerate to say, \"Why insist upon\nconfession, and the acceptance of Christ, and how can the mere\nacceptance of the Savior save me from the penalty and the power of\nsin?\"  But a countless multitude will rise to-day to say, \"It was when\nwe stepped out upon what we could not understand and what seemed as\nimpassable and impossible as the parting of the waters of the Jordan\nthat God gave us light and peace.\"\n\nWhen once they were in Canaan what an interesting story that is in\nconnection with Rahab of Jericho!  The spies had entered her home and a\nmob outside was seeking them that they might put them to death.  Rahab\npromised them deliverance, only she exacted from them a promise in\nreturn that they would save alive her father and her mother and her\nloved ones; and when she let them down by means of a cord from the\nwindow of her home they said to her, \"Bind this scarlet cord in the\nwindow and gather your loved ones here and they shall be saved.\"  And\nwhen the children of Israel had marched about Jericho and the walls\nwere about to fall, suddenly they lifted their eyes and they saw the\nred cord fluttering from the window, and while all else was destroyed\nRahab and all her loved ones were saved.\n\nWhat a little thing evidently stood between them and death--just a red\ncord!  And yet as a matter of fact it is only a red cord that is\nbetween us and death--namely, the blood of the Son of God; for, as in\nthe Old Testament times when God saw the blood and the destroying angel\npassed over the home, so in these New Testament times the blood which\nhas been received by faith insures us our safety and we are set free\nfrom sin's penalty and sin's power.\n\nThe story of Achan is a note of warning.  It is rather singular that\nwhen the children of Israel had taken Jericho they failed at Ai, and\nyet not singular when we realize that one man had sinned in all the\ncompany.  He had taken gold and silver and a Babylonish garment and had\nhidden the same in his tent, and this was in direct disobedience to the\ncommands of Joshua.  The sad thing about sin is that we cannot sin and\nsuffer alone.  Our friends suffer, our kindred must bear a part of the\nwoe with us.  When Achan sinned the children of Israel lost a victory.\nSin is progressive.  In the seventh chapter of Joshua and the\ntwenty-first verse, we read, \"When I saw among the spoils a goodly\nBabylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of\ngold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and\nbehold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the\nsilver under it.\"  And you will notice that, first he saw, then he\ncoveted, then he took.  It is always thus; a sinful imagination will\nlead to outbreaking iniquity, and a small sin encouraged will\nultimately mean disgrace.\n\nThe story of the Gibeonites is also interesting.  They had heard of the\npower of the children of Israel and were afraid of them; but they made\nup their minds to deceive them.  So, lest the Israelites should think\nthat they came from a near by territory and therefore should turn\nagainst them they put on old clothes, wore old shoes upon their feet\nand carried musty bread in their baggage.  Then they stood before\nIsrael and said, \"We have come from a far country; look at our\nclothing, it is worn out; and at our shoes, they are in holes; and at\nour bread, it was fresh when we started, it is musty to-day.\"\n\nAnd Joshua said, \"We will make them hewers of wood and drawers of\nwater,\" and they were saved from death but they served in bondage.  Let\nthis be remembered always that deception inevitably means bondage.  One\nis in bondage to his conscience, for it constantly reproves him.  He is\nin bondage to the one he has deceived, for he can never stand honestly\nbefore him.  He is most of all in bondage to his sin, for he will\nsurely be found out.\n\nThe Amorites were against the children of Israel and they were a great\ncompany.  It is in connection with their struggle against this power\nthat the text is written.\n\n\nI\n\nThe Israelites started in this conflict with a mighty power against\nthem, as we have seen.  But so have we.  There are first of all the\ntendencies of our old nature against which we must fight, for just as\nwith the law of gravitation if I take my hand away from a book or a\nstone it falls to the floor or the ground because this law pulls it\ndownward, so there is a law in my members and has been in the life of\nevery man since Adam's day pulling me away from the true to the false.\nIt is for this reason that it is easier to do wrong than to do right,\nto be untrue than to be true.  Then there is against us the very world\nin which we live.  Its atmosphere, its business, even its social life\nis tainted with that which is sinful or to say the least questionable,\nand he who lives in the world and is in any sense of it has a hard\nbattle to fight.  But there are two special things which are against us.\n\nFirst: The sins which we have encouraged.  It may be in the beginning\nvery small, but Satan is perfectly satisfied if he can have the least\nhold upon the life of the one whom he wishes to wrong.  I read in a\nChicago paper the story of a woman who was making a heroic struggle\nagainst an awful curse.  She had become addicted to the use of\nmorphine.  For fourteen years she was a consumer of the drug.\nApparently she could not shake off the habit.  Building up a resistance\nto the action of the drug, her system became accustomed to enormous\nquantities of it.  She could not eat, nor sleep, nor work without it.\nMost of her scanty earnings went to purchase it.  She was a seamstress,\nand by toiling many hours a day managed to get enough money to buy it.\nSome years back she had been a happy wife and mother.  Her husband\nloved her; she was devoted to him and to their two children.  She lost\nhim; she lost the care of her children; rapidly she drifted away from\nthem.  The powerful narcotic helped to deaden her pain.  When her\nanguish became unbearable a double dose of it would enable her to\ndrowse away the hours.\n\n\"I will never again touch or taste morphine, so help me God!\" she said.\nImmediately she discontinued the use of the drug wholly.  She could get\nno sleep; she could not swallow food half the time or retain it.  She\nwas beset by horrible visions.  She was racked by an inexpressible\nlonging.  But she held on.  Those who knew her and watched her\nagonizing battle with astonishment and sympathy told her that she was\nkilling herself.  \"It may be,\" she would answer, \"but I shall die true\nto my oath.\"  \"But,\" they would urge, \"a habit like yours, which has\nobtained for years, should be broken gradually.\"  \"I will master it.  I\nhave blotted it from my life,\" she would answer.  \"I shall quit it this\nway even if I go into the grave.  It has mastered me; it has cost me my\nhome, husband and children; now I will master it.\"  She started at\nshadows, her nights were nights of horror; she would bury her nails in\nthe palms of her hands and compress her lips to keep from screaming.\nThere was no rest for her.  Still she tried to work and grew weaker.\n\"You cannot give me that,\" she said, \"I remember my oath.  Give me any\nmedicine you choose save opium.  God would forsake me now if I forsook\nmy promise to him.\"  The physician remonstrated with her, but in vain,\nso he gave her a substitute which failed of its effect, as he knew it\nwould, and she died.  Even when the hand of death had clutched her\ngrimly, though her terrific sufferings would have been allayed by the\npoison, she refused to take it.  Any person in the room would have\nbought it for her and administered it gladly, so that she might pass\naway in peace, but she would not prove traitor to herself.  She was a\nfriendless woman except for acquaintances recently made.  Her life had\nbeen sad and hard.  Held in the grip of an enemy that set its mark upon\nher, she was shunned and went her downward way alone.  Those who were\nwith her say that just before the end came she smiled, knowing that she\nhad won her fight; and yet years ago she began to trifle with sin, and\nit had mastered her.\n\nAgain, we have against us sins which not only have been encouraged but\nhave been committed again and again until they have become a habit of\nour lives, and he who has such a sin as this finds himself in the grip\nof one who is a tyrant.\n\nIn a city paper the other day I came across the story of a man who once\nhad some prominence in the world but began to go wrong, naturally\ndrifted towards the evil and finally found himself surrounded by the\nlowest of companions.  Because of his natural ability he easily assumed\nleadership.\n\nThe particular form of crime they practiced was administering chloral\nto those who sat at the bar in the saloon to drink.  They did this by\nattracting the attention of the man who was to drink to something else\nin the room and then the deadly knock-out drops would be administered\nand they would rob the man.  One night the dose was too strong and the\nvictim died.  The one who caused his death came before the city\nauthorities recently to give himself up and pitifully ask that he might\nbe quickly sent to death to pay the penalty of his crime for, said he,\n\"From that moment my mind has never been at rest.  I wandered about\ntown for two or three days trying to get rid of the sight of that\nfellow's face; but at night was when I suffered.  The moment I dozed\noff I could see him in my dreams beckoning and laughing as he dragged\nme over some cliff, and I waked up cold with fear.  No one knows what I\nsuffered.  I left the city.  I went to Denver.  I went to Butte.  I\ntraveled everywhere, but wherever I went night and day that dead man\nwas hovering around me.  I couldn't sleep and my mind began to weaken.\nOne night I went into a gambling den.  I thought the excitement might\ndrive that vision out of my head.  I played roulette.  I bet on the\nblack; the red won.  And right before me I saw that printer's face just\nlike I see you now, grinning as the dealer dragged in my money.  I ran\nout of that club like a crazy man and wandered about town till I saw a\nfreight train pulling out of the yards.  I climbed into an empty box\ncar and lay down in the corner to rest.  For a few moments the face was\ngone.  Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up that car as bright as this\ncell, and there, just a couple of feet from me, I saw that man I'd\nkilled plainer than I see you.  He reached out and caught me by the\narm.  I screamed and jumped out of the car.  They found me next day\nlying beside the track; and when they got me to a hospital, as I hope\nfor pardon, that thing's black and blue finger marks showed on my\nshoulder.  I've been in a lot of places since that but I never got over\nit.  Finally it got so bad I couldn't stand it and I came back to\nChicago to confess.\"  And just as we have all these things against us\nso the children of Israel had the Amorites against them and the five\nkings were unitedly arrayed to fight them.\n\n\nII\n\nBut there was a sure deliverance for Israel and there is a sure\ndeliverance for us.  God promised to be with Joshua and his people.\nJoshua 1:5, \"There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all\nthe days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I\nwill not fail thee, nor forsake thee.\"  Even the things that were\nimpossible he helped them to accomplish.  Joshua 6:1-2, \"Now Jericho\nwas straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out,\nand none came in.  And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given\nunto thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of\nvalor.\"  Even where men had failed him he gave them victory.  Joshua\n8:1-2, \"And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou\ndismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai:\nsee, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his\ncity, and his land; and thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst\nunto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle\nthereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush\nfor the city behind it.\"  Even where the forces were combined against\nthem it made no difference.  Joshua 10:8, \"And the Lord said unto\nJoshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there\nshall not a man of them stand before thee.\"  So it is with us.  God has\npromised to deliver us, and over our sinful nature, the atmosphere of\nthe world, sins encouraged and sins committed, we may expect a complete\nvictory.  Everything is at man's disposal if only God is with him.  In\nconnection with the children of Israel even the day was made longer\nthat they might fight their battles.  Joshua 10:12-14, \"Then spake\nJoshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites\nbefore the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun,\nstand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.\nAnd the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had\navenged themselves upon their enemies.  Is not this written in the book\nof Jasher?  So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted\nnot to go down about a whole day.  And there was no day like that\nbefore it, or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a\nman: for the Lord fought for Israel.\"  The weak were made strong that\nthe enemy might not triumph over them.  \"If God be for us who can be\nagainst us?\"  In this struggle with the Amorites Israel won the day.\n\n\nIII\n\nThe victory of the Israelites over the Amorites was like the general\ndeliverance which God has given us from the power of sin, but there are\ncertain sins which may pursue us, and from these we ought to be set\nfree.  When the children of Israel started from Egypt and had passed\nthrough the Red Sea certain of the Egyptians started after them, the\nwaters of the Sea came together and they were put to death.  The next\nday the Israelites camped upon the shore and they could easily go back.\nDoubtless more than one could say as he turned over the body of a dead\nman to see his face, \"Why, this is my old tax master who used to beat\nme.  He will never have power over me again.\"  Is such a deliverance as\nthis from individual sins possible?  I think it is.  I can think of\nfive sins which stand in the way of men and which maybe likened to the\nfive kings shut up in the cave.\n\nFirst: Sinful imagination or secret sins.  I doubt not but that almost\nevery one whose eyes may light upon this sentence has been guilty at\nthis point.  He may have said again and again, \"I will never do this\nthing again,\" and he has put the king into the cave and rolled the\nstone against the door.\n\nSecond: Impurity.  It may be that some one who reads this sentence will\nplead guilty at this point, and he may have said, \"This sin which is\nnow my defeat began with only a suggestion of evil which I encouraged;\nbut I will never be guilty again,\" and he puts the sin into the cave\nand rolls the stone against the door.\n\nThird: Intemperance, not simply in the matter of drinking strong drink,\nbut it may be intemperance in the matter of dress, or eating, or\npleasure; in other words, it is the lack of self-control.  This has\nbeen the defeat of more men than one, and as you stop and think you\nsay, \"I will never lose control of myself again,\" and you put the sin\nwithin the cave and roll the stone against the door.\n\nFourth: Dishonesty; not simply in what you do but in what you say, for\none may be dishonest in speech as well as in appropriating that which\ndoes not belong to him.  If you should be condemned just here and have\ndetermined never to fail again at this point, by an act of your will\nyou consign this king to the cave and close up the entrance.\n\nFive: Unbelief, which is the greatest sin of all and is the last and\ngreatest sin to be put into the cave.  As a result of such an action\nthere may be temporary relief, but not permanent, for the kings may\nbreak away from the cave and organize their forces against you once\nmore and you go down.  Here comes in the power of the text.  Bring the\nkings out, every one of them, and put your feet upon their necks and\nstand in all your right and dignity as Christian men, and expect\ndeliverance not so much because of what you are but because of the fact\nthat from the days of the first sin it has been said, \"The seed of the\nwoman shall bruise the serpent's head.\"\n\nNear Toledo, Ohio, there used to live an old doctor noted for his\ninfidelity.  He was violent in his opposition to the church.  One day\nhe called Robert Ingersoll to the town where he lived and paid him two\nhundred dollars, that he might by means of his lecture break up the\nrevival meeting.  Everybody was afraid of him.  He heard of an old\npreacher back in the country who was a stranger to the schools but not\na stranger to God, and he asked his friends to make it possible for him\nto meet him.  Finally they met, and the infidel with a sneer said, \"So\nyou believe the Bible, do you?\" and he said, \"Yes, sir; do you?\"  \"And\nyou believe in God, do you?\" and he said, \"Yes, sir.\"  \"Well, I want\nyou to understand that I am an infidel, and believe none of these\nthings.\"  The old minister looked at him and said simply, \"Well, is\nthat anything to be proud of?\" and it was an arrow that went straight\nthrough the unbeliever.  He went back to his office and began to think\nit over.  \"Anything to be proud of,\" he said, and he finally realized\nthat he was not in a favorable position.  Then he thought of an old\nChristian he knew and said, \"If I could be such a Christian as that I\nwould come to Christ.\"  He went to tell the minister, and the minister\nsaid to him, \"Get down on your knees and tell God so,\" and he began to\ntell him, then broke down and sobbed out his confession of sin.  His\ncry for deliverance was heard, and he rose up a free man in Christ\nJesus.  From that day till this he has been freed from every one of his\nsins, is preaching the Gospel and counts it his highest joy to\ncontribute in every possible way to the enlargement of the bounds of\nthe Kingdom of God.  So there is deliverance from every form of sin if\nwe will but move in God's way.\n\n\n\n\nDEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE IN CHRISTIAN WORK\n\nTEXT: \"_Salute no man by the way._\"--Luke 10:4.\n\nLuke is the only one of the Evangelists giving us the account of the\nsending out of the seventy.  The others tell us that Christ called\ncertain men unto him and commissioned them to tell his story; but in\nthis instance after Jesus had said, \"Foxes have holes, and birds of the\nair have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head,\" he\ncalls the seventy and sends them forth prepared to endure any sacrifice\nor suffer any affliction if only they may do his will.  And when he had\nsaid unto another, \"Follow me,\" but he answered, \"Suffer me first to go\nand bury my father,\" Jesus said unto him (Luke 9:60-62), \"Let the dead\nbury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.  And\nanother also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid\nthem farewell which are at home at my house.  And Jesus said unto him,\nNo man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for\nthe kingdom of God.\"  From this expression of the Master we quite\nunderstand that no other service, however important it may seem to us,\nis to come between us and our devotion to him.  And in the expression\nconcerning the man having put his hand to the plow and looking back we\nhave one of the strongest illustrations that Jesus ever used.  He does\nnot say that if any one puts his hand to the plow and turns back to\nsome other form of service he is not fit for the Kingdom of God, but\nwhat he says is this: If any man has his hands to the plow and simply\nlooks back he is not fit for the Kingdom; and this for two reasons:\n\nFirst: Because no man could plow as he ought to unless he would keep\nhis eyes straight ahead of him, and\n\nSecond: No man could plow if he has his mind fixed upon something else.\nJesus wants his disciples to know that his work is the important work,\nthat nothing can surpass it.  Not only is it wrong for us to turn away\nfrom him to any other service but it is a sin even to take our eyes off\nof him to gaze upon anything else.  Under such sharp teaching as this\nhe sends forth the seventy.\n\nLet it be noted, first, that he sent them forth two by two.  Perhaps\none was sent because he was strong in the opposite direction from his\nfellow laborer.  Who knows but one could speak and the other could\nsing?  Certainly one was the complement of the other.  And they went\nforth with burning hearts to give the message of Jesus.  That\nillustration in the New Testament where four men brought the sick man\nto Jesus is along the same line.  Two men might have failed utterly,\nthree men would have found it difficult service, for four men it was\neasy.\n\nI once made my way into the office of a doctor to ask him to come to\nChrist.  The meetings were in progress in the church and I thought he\nwas interested.  He received me kindly, but firmly declined even to\ntalk of Christ and I left him, utterly discouraged.  The next night the\nman gave his heart to Christ, and for this reason, I believe.  We had\nmade him in a little company of church officers a subject of prayer,\nand you cannot pray earnestly for one for any length of time without\nspeaking to him concerning his soul's salvation.  Without having had a\nconference four men determined to see the doctor, and they all called\nupon him within two hours of time.  When the first came he laughed at\nhim; when the second came his prominence in the business world at least\ncommanded the doctor's respect; when the third came, having driven four\nmiles in from the country, he began to be interested; and with the\ncoming of the fourth there was awakened in him a deep conviction.  He\nclosed his office, went to his home and before the evening hour of\nservice came had accepted Christ.\n\nWe have practically the same commission as the seventy.  \"As the Father\nhath sent me even so send I you,\" said Jesus to us.  These conditions\nare as true to-day as in those days in the work of the seventy.\n\nThe harvest is great.  There possibly never has been a time when more\npeople are absenting themselves from the church than at the present\ntime.  These men and women are fit subjects for the Gospel.  The\nseventy went as the messengers of peace, so may we go.  There are\ntroubled hearts all about us, there are those who are in despair, men\nand women who are saying, \"Peace, peace,\" when there is no peace, while\nours is the very message of peace.  Jesus said to them, \"Carry neither\npurse nor scrip nor shoes,\" for their dependence was upon him.  So must\nit be to-day.  Not upon method nor upon skill must we depend, nor upon\nthe schemes of men, however successful they may have been in the past,\nbut upon him.  In those days the men were sick and troubled, in these\ndays they are dead in sins and as his messengers we carry the message\nof love.\n\n\nI\n\nThis expression of the text meant very much to the Oriental, for as a\nmatter of fact the salutation of the Eastern people frequently took a\nhalf an hour of time, and sometimes an hour would be consumed.  They\ntouched their turbans, fell upon their knees, saluted one another with\na holy kiss, talked together concerning their own interests.  These\nthings were a part of the salutation.  Jesus says to the seventy,\n\"Salute no man as you go.\"  They were not bidden to be impolite--this\nis farthest from the spirit of the Christian--yet they were\ncommissioned to be about the king's business and the king's business\nrequired haste.\n\nThe idea of the text is that there must be definiteness of purpose in\nChristian work.  When Elisha kept his eyes fixed upon Elijah there came\nto him as the result the mantle of Elijah and he was clothed with\npower.  When Gehazi followed Elisha's command and as he went to the\nhome of the Shunammite saluted no one he became the forerunner of life\nto the child.  And when Paul said, \"This one thing I do,\" and nothing\ncould swerve him from his path of duty, he became the mightiest\npreacher in the world's history since Christ.  But let it not be\nthought for a moment that we are advocating a gloomy religion; far from\nit.\n\nI like the story of the little girl who went one day into her\ngrandfather's room to ask him to read to her and found him asleep with\nhis head upon the back of the chair, his Bible upon his knees and the\nsunlight coming through the window at the proper angle to cast about\nhim a halo of glory, and she ran to her mother saying, \"I have been in\ngrandpa's room and I have seen God.\"  If as a Christian the people of\nthe world can have any thought other than this, that we at times at\nleast remind them of Christ, something is wrong with our Christian\nexperience.\n\nThere were two sides to the experience of Jesus.  In one we see him at\nthe wedding rejoicing with those that did rejoice, making wine out of\nwater and contributing to the happiness of all those who were present.\nIn the other instance we see him upon the mountain side and crying out,\n\"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!\" with an almost breaking heart.\n\nWhen Charles G. Finney was in Utica there came down to see him a woman\nwho was concerned for the town in which she lived.  She returned to her\nhome and through days and nights found it impossible either to eat or\nto sleep because she realized the lost condition of those about her.\nAt last when she was so weak that she could not pray, she had rest only\nwhen those about her prayed for her.  When Mr. Finney reached that town\none of the greatest revivals in his history as an evangelist was the\nresult.\n\nI was one day engaged with other pastors in an eastern city in a Gospel\ncampaign.  The ministers were preaching in turn each day and when it\ncame my time to preach I could find in all the audience scarcely one of\nmy people.  Up to that day the interest had been remarkable, but\nsomehow from that day on, although people had been converted by the\nhundred, there was no perceptible spiritual impression.  When the\nmeetings had closed one of the prominent society leaders of my church\ncame to explain to me why she was away from the service and she said,\n\"I gave my afternoon reception and the people of our church were\nthere.\"  When I told her that I felt that as a result of that afternoon\nreception our own church had lost a blessing she seemed utterly amazed;\nand yet to this day I am firmly persuaded that hundreds of people might\nhave come to Christ if we had not in that day grieved the Spirit.\n\n\nII\n\nThe text means that those of us who are Christians shall show by our\nvery faces that we are on the king's business and that it is solemn\nbusiness.\n\nOne day a man knocked at the door of my study, was admitted, sat down\non the couch in the room and began to sob.  He did not need to tell me\nwhy he had come.  I knew, but finally when he sobbed it out this was\nhis message: \"I have come to ask you to bury my wife, and to ask if you\nwill not go with me to comfort the children, for they are heartbroken.\"\nI knew by the very look of his face that he had lost a loved one.  Do\nyou think for a moment that those who gaze at us would imagine that we\nhad the least conviction that people away from Christ were lost?  I am\nsure they would not.\n\nThe text also means that we shall be desperately in earnest.  A father\nand his boy heard a minister preach a sermon on the judgment and as\nthey went to their home the father said, \"My boy, it was a great sermon\nand you must think about it.\"  And the boy did.  He made his way to his\nroom and threw himself on his bed only to hear his father downstairs\nlaughing and singing; and he said to himself, \"It is not true, for if\nmy father believed I was in danger of the judgment he could not laugh\nand he would not sing.\"  That day was the turning point in the boy's\nlife.  He became a man of renown but never a believer in Jesus Christ\nas we accept him.\n\nThe text also indicates how we should pray, with an eye single to his\nglory but with a purpose that cannot be shaken.  Pray as the Shunammite\nprayed, pray as the woman besought the unjust judge; such prayer brings\nvictory.\n\n\nIII\n\nDid you ever realize that you were standing in the way of the\nconversion of your friends?  How about your living?  If your testimony\nrings anything else than true to Christ you are a stumbling block in\nthe way of some one.\n\nHow about your testimony?  In the meetings to which I referred there\ncame a young woman one day evidently greatly moved.  First one pastor\nwould speak to her and then another, and finally I was given the\nprivilege.  For a long time I could not understand her words for her\nsobs and then she said, \"I am a Christian, a member of one of the\nchurches in this movement.  I have been engaged to a young man for the\nlast three years.  He was not a Christian.  Three weeks ago he was\ntaken ill and a week ago he died.  In all the time that I knew him I\nnever spoke to him about Christ.  I do not know that he even knew that\nI was a Christian, and now,\" she said, with a heart which seemed to be\nliterally crushed, \"he has gone and I never warned him.\"  And the text\nmeans that no one could come within the reach of our influence without\nhaving at least a suggestion made by ourselves to them that we are the\nfollowers of Christ and that we long to have them know him who means so\nmuch to us.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MORNING BREAKETH\n\nTEXT: \"_Watchman, what of the night?  The watchman said, The morning\ncometh, and also the night._\"--Isaiah 21:11-12.\n\nIt is very interesting to note that, whether we study the Old Testament\nor the New, nights are always associated with God's mornings.  In other\nwords, he does not leave us in despair without sending to us his\nmessengers of hope and cheer.\n\nThe Prophet Isaiah in this particular part of his prophecy seems to be\nalmost broken-hearted because of the sin of the people.  As one of the\nScotch preachers has put it, he has practically sobbed himself to\nsleep.  A great shadow has fallen upon the people of God and he is in\ndespair because of it.  They have sown to the wind and now they are\nreaping the whirlwind, a result which is inevitable.  They are away\nfrom Zion with its temple, and are deprived of the view of those\nmountains which are round about Jerusalem and to this day are clad with\nvines and olive trees.  They are in captivity and are the abject slaves\nof the enemies of God.  Isaiah's heart is well-nigh crushed, but in the\nmidst of the despair he has a vision of the chariots coming and hears a\ncry which rejoices his soul, \"Babylon is fallen.\"  It is because of\nthese tidings that he cries out in the words of the text.\n\nWhat a night they had had of it!  They had been in darkness that was\never increasing, and the song of thanksgiving which used to fill their\nsouls because of the nearness of Jehovah had entirely departed from\nthem.\n\nThe figure of the watchman is often used in the Bible, as for example\nwhen he stands upon the city walls and is told that if he sounds the\ntrumpet telling of the approach of the enemy and the people hear and do\nnot take warning their blood is upon their own heads, while if he fails\nto sound the trumpet and the people are cut off, their blood is\nrequired at the watchman's hand.  And again in the first chapter of\nZechariah the eighth to the eleventh verses, \"I saw by night, and\nbehold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle\ntrees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses,\nspeckled and white.  Then said I, O my Lord, what are these?  And the\nangel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.\nAnd the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These\nare they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.\nAnd they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle\ntrees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and\nbehold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.\"  For here the man\nstanding in the midst of the myrtle trees is him of whom the prophets\ndid speak, while the messengers are those who bring him tidings of the\nprogress of his kingdom.  But again where David comes to the watch\ntower and sees the two messengers running, the second one bringing him\ntidings of the death of his son, and from this watch tower he staggers\nback again to his room crying out, \"O Absalom, my son, would God I had\ndied for thee!\"\n\nThe poet usually sings of the night as a time of beauty.  He sings of\nthe moon and the stars; but in the Bible night always stands for that\nwhich is dark, foul, loathsome, sinful, cold and deadly.  There are\ndifferent nights mentioned in the Scripture, for the most part in the\nOld Testament.  There was that night in Eden when sin blinded the eyes\nof Adam and Eve and a great darkness fell round about them.  There was\nthe night of the flood, all because the people had neglected God; and\nthere was the night of the destroying angel passing over the cities of\nEgypt, all because of the indifference of those who knew not God.  But\neven in these nights God does not leave his people without help, for in\nEden we read, \"The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head\";\nwhile in the flood behold the Ark; and in the Passover night we see the\nblood of the Paschal lamb sprinkled upon the lintels of the door.\n\nThere are different mornings mentioned in the Scriptures, and as a rule\nwe find them in the New Testament.\n\nThe morning of his birth.\n\nThe morning of his resurrection.\n\nThe morning of his miracle when the empty nets are filled and the\ndiscouraged fishermen are made to rejoice.\n\nThe morning of his return, when, after the rising of the morning star,\nan endless day of blessing shall be ushered in.\n\nIt used to be the custom in Scotland, especially in Aberdeen, for the\nnight watchman of the city guard as he paced the streets to cry aloud,\n\"Twelve o'clock and the night is dark; one o'clock and the storm is\nheavy,\" and the restless sleeper would toss upon his pillow and listen\nfor the tidings of the morning hour, \"Two o'clock and the morning is\nstarry.\"  It is in this spirit that we listen to-day to the cry of the\nwatchman when he declares, \"The morning cometh and also the night.\"\n\n\nI\n\nWe are in a sense in the night in these days, even though we are\nChristians.\n\nFirst: Because of the existence of sin.  It is everywhere, in the heart\nas a mighty principle of evil pulling us down as the law of gravitation\npulls material substances toward the earth's center.  In the life as\nshown by our habits and practices, for these are the fruits of sin.  In\nthe very air we breathe sin is manifest, and sin has brought the night.\n\nSecond: I sometimes think that the darkness is increasing because as\nministers we fail to preach concerning sin.  We speak of it as an error\nor a mistake; we talk about the devil and call him his Satanic majesty;\nwe preach about hell and call it the lost world, while it is true that\nin the olden days when men trembled under the word of the preacher the\nman of God spoke of the devil and hell and sin in all their awfulness.\nBut the morning cometh, for while it is true that sin is in the world\nand it has gripped many of us, yet because of Christ's death upon the\ncross we are free from the penalty of sin; we may be free from the\npower of sin, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us\nfree from the law of sin and death; we may be free from the practice of\nsin, for Christ is the secret of our deliverance.  But the text tells\nus that while the morning cometh the night also appears.  And so for\nthose of us whose lives have been such a struggle we cry, \"Is there no\ndeliverance?\" and I answer, yes, we shall one day be free from the\npresence of sin; and that will be at his return when we shall see him\nand be like him, and the new day which is never to close shall be upon\nus.\n\nThird: We are in the night because of the existence of sorrow.  Next to\nsin this is the greatest fact in the world, for men are born unto\ntrouble as the sparks fly upward.  And somehow the morning and the\nnight as they are fastened together in this text present to us the\nstory of our lives, for we are first in the morning when everything\nseems peaceful, and almost immediately in the night when we are really\nin despair.\n\nI journeyed from Naples to Rome over a fine piece of railway and found\nmyself now in the darkness of a tunnel and almost immediately rushing\nout onto a fertile plain.  That railroad is the story of many a life.\nBut \"Is there no deliverance that is complete?\" and I answer, yes,\nthere is a time coming when there shall be no sea and no tears and no\nnight, for the former things are passed away.\n\nFourth: We are in the night because of mystery.  Life is full of\nquestions.  \"Why must I have this trial or pain or trouble?\"  So many\nof us are asking these questions, and there is really no answer, at\nleast none for the present.  And yet God has not deceived us, for he\nhas said, \"What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know\nhereafter.\"  He tells us that when we see him we shall know, but also\ndeclares that no one can see his face and live; and then, said the\nsainted Augustine, \"Let me die that I may see him.\"  It is true that we\nshall go on from light into darkness, from morning into the night, but\nis there no final deliverance?  And I answer, yes, when we see him and\nbecome like him we shall know as we are known.  Let us wait and believe\nuntil that day.\n\nHave you ever seen a perfect rainbow--that is, a rainbow in a perfect\ncircle?  I never have.  The most perfect one I have ever seen was on\nthe plains of Jericho, but it was a half circle.  However, in the\nRevelation we are told that in that day there shall be a rainbow round\nabout the throne, when half circles shall be made whole and half things\nshall be made complete; that is the morning for which we long.\n\n\nII\n\nBut there is another suggestion, \"the morning cometh and also the\nnight.\"  There is the thought of the transition from the one to the\nother.  We certainly have been in the night so far as our living is\nconcerned and our working, but now I feel sure there is coming a change\nand we are living in a critical time.  May God help us to be faithful.\n\nAll truth is like a cycle and at different points in the circumference\nthere are truths which must be especially emphasized.\n\nThe late A. J. Gordon once preached a sermon on the \"Recurrence of\nDoctrine,\" in which he stated that while in one day justification by\nfaith was the prominent truth for the church, in another sanctification\nwas prominent, in still another the return of the Lord, and in still\nanother the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.  All this I firmly believe and\nit only proves to me that the prominent truth for to-day is every man\nfor his neighbor, every friend for his friend, every parent for his\nchild, the individual seeking the individual for Christ.  God is\ncalling us to action; let us not fail.\n\nI have a friend who used to use an illustration of a sea captain, his\nfirst mate and his wife wrecked upon a rocky shore, huddled together\nupon a rock out from the shore but too far for them to escape by\nthrowing themselves into the waves.  The life-line is shot out to them\nand the captain puts it round his first mate and bids him jump and he\nis drawn to the shore in safety.  Then he put the cord around the waist\nof his wife, but the current is running in such a way that she must\nspring at just the proper second or she will be thrown back against the\nrocks and be killed.  And he shouts to her, \"Spring!\" but she waited to\nkiss him and waited too long, sprang into the sea and was thrown back\nagainst the rock and drawn shoreward lifeless.  Whether that story is\ntrue or not I cannot say, but it is an illustration of the present day\nto me.  God is saying, \"Now is the day of opportunity.\"  May he pity us\nif we fail!\n\n\nIII\n\nWhile all that has been said is true concerning the morning  of the\nEternal Day, in another sense it is true that already a brighter day is\nbreaking.\n\nFirst: A better day for Bible study.  This old Book which people have\nfeared was going to pass away is better to-day than ever.  It is the\nobject of deeper affection, and there is no question but that more\npeople are believing in it to-day as the inspired Word of God than for\nyears; and all because they have tested it and it has stood the test.\n\nSecond: A better day of prayer is dawning.  Fifty thousand people in\nGreat Britain are banded together to pray and to pray until the\nblessing comes if that be for years.  Oh, that God would teach us to\npray!  We do not half understand what it means to ask God for blessings.\n\nA story of prayer which would seem impossible if I did not know it to\nbe true, for I have friends who have been in the town where it occurred\nand have met the descendants of the old sea captain, is the story of\nthe captain who took his boy and others to fish and in the midst of the\nhurricane the boy was washed over board.  Broken-hearted, he returned\nto the shore and the fisher wife, as was her custom, came down to meet\nthem, only to sob her way back to her home because her boy was gone.\nThey spent the night in the kirk in prayer, when the minister said,\n\"Why not ask God to restore his body?\" and they did.  They put out to\nsea and journeyed sixty miles until he told them to stop and when they\nlet over the grappling hooks they knew by the very tug of the rope that\nthey had his body.  They bore it back again to the broken-hearted\ncaptain and his wife, who had all the time been waiting in the kirk in\nprayer.  May God teach us how to pray!\n\nA brighter day is dawning, and while it may be that some of us cannot\nsee it, while there may be skeptics who say it is not exactly true, yet\nI know from what I have seen myself that the darkness is passing away.\n\nIn June, 1897, the steamer Catalonia at ten o'clock at night was found\nto be on fire.  One of my friends has told me that he paced the deck\nand considered himself lost because the flames were burning fiercely.\nFinally the fire was under control and the people sang, \"Praise God\nfrom whom all blessings flow.\"  Telling me of the lessons that he\nlearned on this awful journey, he said: \"That night at twelve o'clock,\nwhen the pumps were being forced and the clouds of smoke were taking on\nnew dimensions and we were wondering what the morning would bring us,\nthe man on the bridge shouted, as he had at each midnight of the trip,\n'Eight bells, all's well!'\"  Had the man down in a stateroom watching\nby the side of his sick wife heard the words, he might have said, \"It's\na falsehood,\" but that man's vision was restricted by the narrow walls\nof his stateroom.  Had the mother and daughter, sitting in the cabin,\nwith their arms about each other, wondering why they had been allowed\nto sail on the Catalonia and leave their loved ones behind, heard it,\nthey might have said, \"The man is beside himself,\" but they could not\nsee beyond the cabin.  Had the lonely traveler who stood near the\nhatchway given it a thought he might have said, \"It's a lie,\" but he\ncould not see through the clouds of smoke at which he stared silently.\nBut the vision of the watch swept the horizon, and there was no\nobstruction in the ship's path.  He knew that each revolution of the\nCatalonia's machinery pushed the ship on her way to Queenstown.  He had\na right to say it.\n\nI somehow seem to hear the sound of the goings in the tops of the trees\nand have evidence that God is coming to his church with blessing.  It\nis true there is in some quarters indifference, in many places\nworldliness, but I can see no insurmountable barrier in the way of the\nprogress of the Kingdom of God.\n\n\n\n\nAN OBSCURED VISION\n\n(Preached at the opening of the Winona Lake Bible Conference.)\n\nTEXT: \"_Where there is no vision, the people perish._\"--Proverbs 29:18.\n\nIt is not altogether an easy matter to secure a text for such an\noccasion as this; not because the texts are so few in number but rather\nbecause they are so many, for one has only to turn over the pages of\nthe Bible in the most casual way to find them facing him at every\nreading.\n\nFeeling the need of advice for such a time as this, I asked a number of\nmy friends who knew me intimately and knew the occasion which was\nbefore me to suggest what in their minds would be an appropriate\nScripture, and in their suggestions I have had the most singular\nindication of the leading of Providence.\n\nOne said, \"Use Hosea 5:4, where God in speaking concerning his people\nIsrael says, 'They will not frame their doings,'\" which means that his\npeople would not set before themselves the way in which they were\ngoing; or it might mean that they would not set up a plan for their\nlives which would be according to his will and which he might bring on\nto completion.\n\nAnother said, \"Use Genesis 26:18,\" where we are told that Isaac digged\nagain the wells of his father Abraham.  This is a suggestive incident\nand has in it a message for to-day, for if there is one thing needed\nmore than another it is that the old wells at which our fathers drank\nand were refreshed and which, alas! in these modern times have been\nfilled in, at least to a certain extent, should be opened and men be\nsummoned once again to drink of their living waters.\n\nAnother said, \"Use Jeremiah 6:16, 'Ask for the old paths;'\" for as a\nmatter of fact we cannot improve upon the ways in which our fathers\nwalked, so far as the revelation of God is concerned or the doing of\nhis will.\n\nStill another suggested that I should use Isaiah 62:10, \"Gather out the\nstones, lift up a standard for the people,\" in which the description is\nof a great prince coming and all hindrances should be removed that the\njourney might be robbed of its difficulties and dangers.\n\nYou will notice if you have watched the suggestions of these Christian\nworkers that the texts are practically all the same, and then when I\ntell you that the line of thought they have indicated was the very line\nwhich God suggested to me weeks and months before the conference you\nwill be impressed as I have been that this subject is not of my own\nchoosing, and therefore must be a message from God.  Neither is the\ntext one of my own choosing, for God pressed it in upon me again and\nagain and from it I was afraid to turn away.\n\nI like the text because it is in the book of Proverbs.  This book is\nnot simply a collection of wise sayings and affectionate exhortations,\nfor you will remember that the Proverbs were put down after the event\nand not before its occurrence.  This being true, Proverbs presents an\nestablished fact: here we find what the wise men in all the ages have\nlearned to be truth.  If they speak of sin and its penalty they do it\nin the light of their own experience; if they say the fear of the Lord\nis the beginning of knowledge they mean that they have tried other\nsources of wisdom and all have failed but this.  All this makes the\ntext exceedingly valuable, for the wise men of other days must have\ntried to walk without the vision and not only failed themselves but\nhave set the people astray.\n\nBy a vision we do not mean simply an imagination or dream which might\ncome to some person who had little practical understanding of the ways\nof life, but we mean an appreciation of God's thought and approximate\nunderstanding of his plan and a desire to know his will.\n\nThe word \"perish,\" does not mean destruction, but rather the idea is to\n\"run wild\"; so the literal rendering of the text is, \"Where there is no\nrevelation the people run wild\"--that is to say, if God is put out of\nthought every man is a law unto himself and therefore is dangerous to\nthe community in which he lives.  He is like a ship sailing for a\nharbor without chart or compass and with utter indifference to the pole\nstar.  Whatever your impressions, convictions or purposes, they should\nalways be squared by reverent, careful and profound study of God's will\nand word.\n\nThe first sentence of the Bible is this, \"In the beginning God,\" and it\nmust be the first sentence of every plan and of every purpose of the\nindividual and the community or there is danger ahead.\n\n\nI\n\nThere ought never to be an age without a vision, indeed without\nrepeated visions.  If there should be such a time it might be a time of\nprosperity, but inevitably souls would be neglected.  There ought not\nto be an individual without a vision.  If there should be such an one\nhe is missing the best of his life.  If there be no vision the horizon\nof man may be bounded by his office, his store, his home, his own city\nor his native land, while as a matter of fact this is only a part of\nwhat God meant him to do and to be.  God's plans are from everlasting\nto everlasting.  The wonderful work he is doing in this world is only a\npart of the plan, for in the ages to come he expects to show forth the\nmanysidedness of his grace and reveal to us the depth of his love to us\nin Christ.\n\nJohn McNeill's friend had an eagle which he had reared in the farm yard\nwith the ordinary fowl that lived there.  This friend sold his property\nand determined to move to another part of Scotland.  He could dispose\nof his horses and sell his chickens but no one wanted the eagle.  What\nshould he do with it?  He determined to teach it to fly, and threw it\nup in the air only to have it come down with a thud upon the ground.\nThen he lifted it and placed it upon the barn yard fence and was\nholding it for a moment when suddenly the eagle lifted its eyes and\ncaught a glimpse of the sun.  It stretched forth its head as far as it\ncould, threw out one wing, then another, and with a scream and a bound\nwas away flying upward until it was lost in the face of the sun.  This\nis what we are needing to-day--namely, to lift up our eyes and see\nGod's plan and try to understand his purposes.  The eagle so long had\nheld its head down that it had lost the vision of the sun; the first\nglimpse of it set him free.  What we mean by a vision, therefore, is an\nappreciation of God's purposes and plans and a hearty yielding to him\nfor service in the accomplishment of the same.\n\nJoseph Cook when he was making a plea for China's millions said one\nday, \"Put your ear down to the ground and listen and you will hear the\ntramp, tramp, tramp of four hundred millions of weary feet.\"  I have to\nsay this morning, Lift up your eyes and look, open your ears and listen\nand you will both see and hear that God has a great plan for us which\nhe will reveal to all if only we will permit him to do so.  In\nproportion as a people loses its faith in a revelation from God it\nfalls into decay.  The student of history recalls vividly the story of\nthe French Revolution, which is a proof of this statement.\n\nGod has always spoken concerning his plans and it has been to living\nmen and women that he has granted visions.  He came to Abraham and he\nsaw Christ's day and was glad: he visited Moses and he endured as\nseeing him who is invisible: he was lifted up before Isaiah and he\nfirst confessed his sin and shame, then cried, \"Here am I, send me.\"\nHe granted Saul of Tarsus a vision of himself as he approached Damascus\nuntil he cried, \"Who art thou?\" and then began to walk in fellowship\nwith him until like the hero that he was he mounted from the Eternal\nCity to that City which has foundations whose Builder and Maker is God.\nHe stood before John as in apocalyptic vision he saw him with his head\nand his hair, white like wool, as white as snow and his eyes as a flame\nof fire.\n\nBut if you should say, \"Oh, yes, but this is in Bible times and we are\nliving in a different age,\" then hear me when I say that he has come to\nliving men and women in our own day with a revelation of his will.  He\nspoke to Zinzendorf and we have a mighty work among the Moravians.  He\nrevealed himself to the Wesleys and we have the mighty movement of\nMethodism.  He talked with Edwards and we have the great Revival of New\nEngland.  He revealed himself to Finney and we have the great\nmanifestation of power in the state of New York.  He walked and talked\nwith Moody and we have the greatest evangelistic work of his day and\ngeneration with Moody as his instrument.  These were all men with\nvisions.  He has come to great missionaries like Paton who saw the New\nHebrides Islands evangelized while yet they sat in darkness, because he\nsaw God.  He has spoken to our own Fulton in China, who writes that the\npeople are flocking to Christ.  To him it is no surprise, for he knew\nthat they would do it while others were still skeptical.  He knew it\nbecause he knew God.\n\nLet us remember that, however true it may be that God speaks in\nconscience, providence, through the church and by the preaching of his\nWord, his supreme revelation is in his own Word.  This Book contains\nthe revealed will of God and this Book is his Word.\n\n\nII\n\nWhy are we not having revelations to-day as we know they have been\ngiven at other times?  Why is not some one in our own land especially\nworking out some of the great plans and purposes of God?  The question\nis easily answered.  The difficulty is not with God.  He is the same\nforever.  We alone must be at fault.  Without any spirit of harsh\ncriticism and with a prayer to God that he will make my spirit as he\nwould have it, permit me to say that I fear the visions are not being\ngiven to us for the following reasons:\n\nFirst: Because of the disrespect shown to his Son.  We have come to a\ntime when men seek to limit his knowledge, and occasionally they are\nsaying that he did not know concerning the things of which he spake.\nSuch blasphemy makes us shudder.  There is a disposition to\nmisinterpret his teaching.  They did it in Paul's day and he spoke by\ninspiration when he said, \"If any man present another gospel than that\nwhich I have presented let him be accursed.\"  There is a disposition to\nrob him of his deity.  \"Is Jesus divine?\" was the question asked not\nlong ago of one who called himself a minister, and he answered, \"Yes,\nin the sense that Buddha is divine or Confucius is divine.\"  Our faces\ngrow white with fear as we listen to such blasphemous statements in\nsuch an age as this.  This helps to overcast the sky and God can hardly\ntrust us with a vision in such an atmosphere.\n\nSecond: An irreverent criticism of the Word of God.  That there is a\nreverent criticism all will allow, and that many who are walking these\npaths are devout believers in God and in his word I would like to be\namong the first to acknowledge.  There are three kinds of critics\nto-day.  First: Those who honestly want the best and who are studying\ncarefully and prayerfully to know the truth.  Second: Those who ape\nscholarship.  Third: Those whose lives may not be right, and for them\nif any part of the Bible could be cut away they would be less\ncondemned.  We need not fear, however; our Bible is not in danger, for\nthis is largely a question of scholarship.  Some of you who listen to\nme may not class yourselves as scholars.  I certainly do not put myself\nin that company, but one thing I know: I have seen the Bible work as no\nother book has ever worked, and I have seen Jesus Christ save\nmiraculously multitudes of poor lost sinners.  I am not disturbed for\nthe future; there are as great scholars as the world has ever known who\nstill hold to your mother's Bible and who have lost not one whit of\nconfidence in it.\n\nThomas Newberry, a devout English student, spent fifty years in study\nto give the world his Newberry Bible.  He said, \"I accept the theory of\nthe plenary inspiration of the Scriptures.  I have studied every 'jot\nand tittle' of the Word of God and after these fifty years I see no\nreason for changing my position.\"  Scholars' names almost without\nnumber could be mentioned as believing in the Scriptures as the\ndivinely inspired Word of God.  For myself I would have great assurance\nin standing side by side with Dr. Paton, and I would not think of\ntrembling so long as our sainted Dr. Moorehead walks courageously along\nlife's journey as he nears its end with faith in God's Word unshaken,\nwith confidence in God's Son constantly growing.  This blessed old Book\nhas been railed at in all the ages.  Men have professed to overthrow\nit, they have cut and slashed at it like Jehoiakim of old, but it is\nbetter than ever to-day.  It is the Word of God.  Heaven and earth may\npass away but this Word, never.\n\nNot long ago I attended a conference of Christian workers and was told\nby one of them that I could not appreciate the Bible except I read it\nwith the thought of literary criticism in mind.  My friend interpreted\na portion of the Word of God for me in this way and it was beautiful.\nIt reminded me of nothing so much as a diamond perfectly cut, kissed by\nthe sunlight and throwing back its sparkling light to me as I gazed\nupon it.\n\nAnother said that I would never be able to understand the Bible until I\nread it from the standpoint of the elocutionist in the best use of that\nexpression, and he read in my hearing the story of Joseph and his\nbrethren and I felt that I myself had never read the Bible before and\nreally had never heard it read.\n\nStill another came with his higher criticism and said that much of the\nBible was mythical, that the stories I had loved were simply\nallegorical; and I listened to him and went back to my Bible to read,\nonly to find that you may read it any way, spell it out in your youth\nletter by letter, read it through your tears as you reach middle life\nand your heart is aching, hold it against your heart when your eyes are\ntoo dim to read its pages, and it will yield to you a sweetness which\nis actually beyond the power of man to describe.  This is a wonderful\nBook and in this Book God reveals himself.  Handle it irreverently and\nyou will have no vision.\n\nThird: It seems to me that the church is not what she ought to be, and\nthis being true the vision is denied.  One of my friends said the other\nday that the difficulty with the church is that she has lost her\ninterrogation point.  At the day of Pentecost people were saying, \"What\ndo these things mean?\"  To-day they never think of saying it.  I have\nbeen told in a little pamphlet issued by an English writer that the\nchurch has lost her possessive case, which means that somehow she has\ngone on without realizing that the risen, glorified Christ is her\nblessed Lord.  It is a great thing to say \"Jesus\"; infinitely greater\nis it to say \"My Jesus.\"  The church has lost her imperative mode.  In\ndays that are past it was possible for the church to stand in the\npresence of evil and say, \"In the name of Almighty God this iniquity\nmust stop.\"  But to-day it is not possible.  The church has lost her\npresent tense.  We are constantly looking for blessings in the future.\nGod's promises are all written for the present.  It is to the church on\nfire that God grants a vision.\n\nFourth: Some of the difficulty must rest with us as ministers of the\nGospel.  I fear that some of us have lost our message.  It has loosened\nits grip upon us, and you never can move another man until you are\nfirst moved yourself by the message you would give to him.\n\nAt a great gathering not long ago I heard a distinguished Eastern\nprofessor speaking.  The topic of his lecture was \"My Foster Children,\"\nand these foster children were some animals which he had had as pets,\nwhose habits he had carefully studied.  One was a Gila monster from the\nplains of Arizona, another was a horned owl, the third was a rat, and\nthe fourth was an opossum.  If you can imagine more uninteresting\nsubjects than these you are more imaginative than myself, and yet he\nthrilled me and held three thousand people in breathless interest.  Oh,\nmy brethren, if I believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as a\nSavior able not only to save to the uttermost but to keep through\neternity, and that message grips me, I am a poor preacher if I fail\nwith it to grip and move other men.  I fear we have lost our boldness.\nI am a minister of the glorious Gospel of the grace of God and I have a\nright to demand a hearing and to give my message, not because of what I\nam myself--God forbid--but because of what my Savior is.  Some of us\nhave lost our passion for souls; we mourn over it, we know that when we\nonce had this it was the secret of a successful ministry.  It is not\nwrong for me to say to you this morning that to the minister without a\nmessage, to the minister who has lost his holy boldness, to the\nminister who has anything less than a burning passion for souls, God\ncannot give his vision.\n\n\nIII\n\nI know that I have your deepest sympathy in the longing which I now\nexpress for this great gathering--namely, that God would give to us a\nvision.\n\nFirst: As to what the Bible really is.  One of my friends told me the\nother day of a blind girl who could not read because she had been too\nbusy and somehow had not thought that she could use the raised letters\nwhich have been such a boon to God's blind children.  I am told she\nlearned that she might read while on these grounds last summer.  It was\nmade possible later on for her to have a teacher and she began to study\nlittle books until she could read quite fluently.  One day unknown to\nher there was brought into her home a Bible with raised letters and\nwithout telling what the book was it was opened at the fourteenth\nchapter of John and she was bidden to read in it.  She had no sooner\ntouched the page, her fingers enabling her to read, \"Let not your heart\nbe troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me,\" than with radiant\nface she exclaimed, \"Why this is God's Word; the very touch of it is\ndifferent.\"  I would that we might have this vision.\n\nSecond: I wish that we might have a vision of Christ.  He is the\nchiefest among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely.  He is a\nmighty Savior and a mighty helper.  I cannot bring him a burden too\ngreat, nor talk to him about a trial too insignificant.  Oh, that we\nmight see him as he is!\n\nAnd finally, I wish that we might know what service is, for knowing\nthis we would be instant in season and out of season.  Some years ago\nFannie Crosby, the blind hymn writer, was speaking in one of the\nmissions in New York City.  Suddenly she stopped and said, \"I wonder if\nthere is not some wandering boy in this audience this evening who would\nhave the courage to step out from this audience and come up and stand\nby my side so that I might put my arms around him and kiss him for his\nmother?\"  There was a hush upon the audience; then a boy from the rear\nseat started and came to the platform, and with her arms around about\nhim and her lips against his cheek for his mother's sake, Fannie Crosby\nsaid, \"Oh, my friends, let us rescue the perishing.\"  From this meeting\nshe went to her home, and sitting in her room wrote:\n\n      \"Rescue the perishing,\n      Care for the dying,\n  Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave,\n      Weep o'er the erring one,\n      Lift up the fallen,\n  Tell them of Jesus, the Mighty to save.\"\n\n\nYears afterward she spoke in St. Louis at a great meeting and related\nthis incident.  Before she had finished a man in the audience sprang to\nhis feet and said, \"Miss Crosby, listen to me.  I am a prosperous\nmerchant in this city, a husband and a father, a Christian and an\nofficer in the church.  I was that boy around whom you threw your\narms.\"  Such an experience as that is worth a lifetime of service.  I\nwish to put myself on record.  I know that many of you are with me.  I\nstand for nothing in these days that would in the least obscure men's\nvision of the power of God, or their vision of the glorious majesty of\nthe Son of God, and I count nothing worth while except to do that thing\nwhich would mean the winning of a soul to Jesus Christ.\n\nI believe God is giving to some men in these days a vision as to what\nmay be accomplished if only a mighty work of grace should be given to\nus.  He certainly is ready to pour out his Spirit upon his own people,\nand it is only necessary that we should first of all realize our\nweakness, then understand his power, realize that souls are lost and\ndying and then know that he is able to save to the uttermost; and above\nall to realize that in all ages he has used human instruments for the\naccomplishment of his purposes, and realizing these things to see that\nour lives are right in his sight, to have such a victory for God as the\nworld has never seen.  For this day we hope and pray and cry aloud, \"O\nLord, how long, how long?\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE COMPASSION OF JESUS\n\nTEXT: \"_But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with\ncompassion._\"--Matt. 9:36.\n\nThe keynote of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ was \"compassion.\"\nYou have but to follow him in his journeys by day and by night to find\nthe proof of this statement.  Whether he ministers to the sick of the\npalsy, turns aside to help the father whose child is dead, heals the\nwoman with the issue of blood, drives away the leprosy from the man\ndead by law, stops to open the eyes of the blind man by the wayside,\nhelps the beggar or wins the member of the Sanhedrim, he is always the\nsame.\n\nIf you journey with him in the morning on the shores of the Sea of\nGalilee, or at noon rest with him as he sits on the well curb of\nJacob's well; it you stop with him in the evening as he bares his side\nand thrusts forth his hand to the doubting Thomas, or behold him as he\nis roused from his sleep in the boat to quiet the storm; if you study\nhim on the mountain side at midnight or behold him in the garden of\nGethsemane when no one beholds his agony but the eye of his Father--you\nwill learn that he was always compassionate.  You cannot discover him\nunder any circumstances when this statement is not true of him.\n\nThis ninth chapter of Matthew is indeed remarkable.  It can be\nappreciated only when we read the closing part of the eighth chapter,\nfor it is here that the people, angry because of the destruction of the\nswine, besought him to leave their country; and it is here we see him\ntaking his departure.  Men have since that time driven him from their\nhearts and their homes for reasons quite as trifling.  It is a sad\nthing to know that any one can drive him away if he chooses to do so.\n\nThe chapter is remarkable, however, because here we not only read the\nstory of the calling of Matthew from his position of influence, but\nfind more specific cases of healing than in most other chapters of the\nNew Testament.  There is the healing of the sick of the palsy in the\nsecond verse, the significant part of which is he was healed when Jesus\nsaw _their_ faith; the picture of the father whose child was dead and\nthen raised by him, in the eighteenth verse and the twenty-fifth verse;\nthe account of the woman with the issue of blood, in the twentieth\nverse, and the picture of discouragement when all earthly physicians\nhad failed changed into great joy when the virtue of the great\nphysician healed her: the account of the dumb man, in the thirty-second\nverse, who was possessed of a devil as well; and then in the\nthirty-fifth verse a general statement concerning him to the effect\nthat he healed all manner of diseases.\n\nThe chapter is also remarkable because these cases presented to Jesus\nwere of the very worst sort.  The man with the palsy could not come\nhimself, however much he wanted to do so, and four men were required to\nbring him; the child was dead and so beyond all human help; the two\nblind men were undoubtedly beggars and outcasts; the dumb man was\npossessed of a devil in addition to his dumbness; the group of people\nwho were subjects of his healing power had every manner of disease, but\nwhile the people were different and the cases were desperate, Jesus was\nalways the same.\n\nThere were six specific illustrations of healing: three of these came\nto Jesus for themselves, the two blind men and the woman; two others\nwere brought to him, the man sick with the palsy and the man who was\ndumb; and for the other case the father came and took Jesus to the\nchild.  In all the general cases Jesus went himself to the suffering.\n\nWhen all these subjects have been presented then comes the text, which\nis its own outline.  There is first the picture of the multitudes, a\ngreat number of people.  Then the statement that they had fainted;\nliterally it is, \"they were tired.\"  Then they were described as sheep,\nthe only animal known which in its wandering cannot find its way home\nof itself.  And finally it was stated that they had no shepherd, the\nresponsibility for their wandering resting upon others rather than upon\nthemselves.  This is the outline of this message.\n\n\nI\n\nThe picture which Jesus beheld as he walked through his own country is\nrepeated to-day on every side of us, and he is still moved with\ncompassion because of those who are helpless and undone.  It is true we\nhave done something for him.  The last census shows that the membership\nof the Protestant churches has increased more rapidly than the\npopulation.  For this we should be thankful.  It is also true that the\nchurch machinery of the day is well nigh perfect: the buildings and\nequipment with which we have to do have never been excelled.  Yet,\ncounting the membership of both the Catholic and Protestant churches,\nthere are forty million people to-day in our land who are not in the\nchurch and who evidently do not care for the church.  With these people\nthere seems to be a growing indifference to everything that is\nspiritual.\n\nA man in an apartment house in New York, when asked the other day to do\nsomething for a poor family for the sake of God, answered\nblasphemously, \"I do not care for the opinion of men, I do not even\ncare for God himself; I am for myself first, last and all the time.\"\nAs we walk the streets we ought to be impressed with the fact that men\non every side of us are lost in the proportion of one to four.  As we\nsit in a car we ought to be impressed with the fact that one in four\nhave rejected Christ and are hopeless.  In every city it is literally\ntrue that there are thousands of unchurched people without God and\nwithout hope in the world.  Of them the text would be true.  \"But when\nhe saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion.\"\n\n\nII\n\nWhen Jesus saw these multitudes he saw them fainting or literally\n\"growing tired,\" and this is the picture of lost people to-day.  I am\npersuaded that they are tired of many things which follow in the wake\nof sin.\n\n1. They must be weary of the hollowness of the world, for it cannot\nsatisfy.  I one day talked with a woman in Massachusetts whose\nopportunity to mingle with the so-called best people of the world had\nbeen unexcelled.  She had been a chosen and welcomed guest in the homes\nof royalty and knew intimately every President of the United States\nsince she had grown to womanhood.  After her conversion I asked her if\nthe life of the world had satisfied; her answer was, \"It is hollowness\nand sham almost from beginning to end.\"\n\n2. The unchurched people must be weary of an accusing conscience.\nThere is no unrest like it.  The man who sees the folly of his conduct\nand whose conscience will not let him sleep, the man who realizes the\nblighting power of sin and yet seems powerless to heed the call of\nconscience, is in a pitiful condition.\n\n  \"And I know of the future judgment,\n    How dreadful so'er it may be,\n  That to sit alone with my conscience\n    Would be judgment enough for me.\"\n\n\n3. They must be tired of the world's sorrow, for it is on every side.\nWe are born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward and I cannot but\nthink that in all parts of our cities to-day the people away from\nChrist are saying, \"Oh, that I knew where peace might be found.\"\n\n4. I know they are tired of the slavery of Satan.  A man formerly\nprominent in social and political circles, the cashier of a bank, when\nhe found that he was a defaulter took his own life and left a letter\nfor his wife in which he said, \"Oh, if some one had only spoken to me\nwhen I so much needed help all this might have been different.\"\n\n\nIII\n\nIn the Old Testament and New, God's people are represented by the\nfigure of sheep.  Especially it seems to me this must be a good figure,\nbecause sheep when wandering find it impossible to seek again for\nthemselves their home, and in their helplessness they fittingly\nrepresent the one who wanders away from God.  There are so many people\nto-day who are trying to find their way back without Christ.  They are\nlike wandering sheep.  There are so many who are seeking to climb up\nsome other way into the favor of God.  These are on every side of us,\nand the time has come for us to present unto them Jesus Christ the\nSavior of the world.\n\n\nIV\n\nThese people that Jesus saw were shepherdless.  The responsibility for\ntheir wandering therefore rested not so much upon themselves as upon\nthe fact that the one who should have cared for them was not doing so.\nWe are our brother's keeper, whether we are willing to acknowledge it\nor not.\n\nIn meetings in California one of the ministers went forth during the\nweek to invite those who were away from Christ to come to him.  He\nfound an old white-haired soldier who said, \"When I was in the army\nyears ago I promised God that I would be a Christian.  I have never\nkept my word.  Yes, I will come to him now.\"  And when he came his wife\nand children came with him.  \"All these years,\" he said, \"I have waited\nfor some one to ask me.\"  He called upon another man who had been\nimpressed in the meetings and this man acknowledged that he had long\nfelt his need of help, that he had prayed the night before, \"O God, if\nyou want me to come to thee send some one to speak to me.\"  When the\nminister came the man trembled when he said, \"You must be the messenger\nof God for whom I have been waiting,\" and he came beautifully to\nChrist.  On every side of us people are waiting as sheep without a\nshepherd for us simply to do our duty.\n\n\nV\n\nThe result of this vision which Jesus had was that he did an unusual\nthing.  In the tenth chapter and the first verse we read, \"And when he\nhad called unto him his twelve disciples he gave them power against\nunclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness\nand all manner of disease.\"  Which leads me to say that we must have\nthe same spirit.  Our present day church methods reach not more than\none-fourth the unsaved and many of these come from the ranks of our\nSunday schools and from Christian homes where for one reason or another\nthey have not made a profession of their faith in Christ.\nThree-fourths of the lost are left to wander farther and farther away\nsimply because they will not yield to our present day church methods.\nThis is not as Jesus would have it.\n\nIn the twenty-first chapter of John the fifth and sixth verses we read,\n\"Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat?  They answered\nhim, No.  And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the\nship, and ye shall find.  They cast therefore, and now they were not\nable to draw it for the multitudes of fishes.\"  Although these\ndisciples had toiled and taken nothing the results were all changed\nwhen they cast their net on the right side of the boat.  May it not be\nthat we have been fishing on the wrong side or fishing in our own\nstrength, or, as some one has said, fishing in too shallow water, when\nwe should have been casting our nets in the deep?  The fact is, we need\nhim and without him we can do nothing.\n\nI have been told that of the forty distinct cases of healing in the New\nTestament only six came to Jesus by themselves.  Twenty were brought to\nJesus and to the fourteen others Jesus was taken.  I doubt not that the\nproportion is the same to-day, and if it is true then our methods of\nwork must be changed and instead of praying for them to seek Jesus we\nmust either take them to Jesus or bring the Master into their company.\nThere can be no successful winning of the multitudes until the personal\nelement enters into it all.\n\n1. There must be prayer.  When Jacob went forth to meet Esau he walked\nwith fear and trembling, but in Genesis thirty-second chapter and\ntwenty-eighth verse we read, \"And he said, Thy name shall be called no\nmore Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and\nwith men, and hast prevailed,\" so that long before Esau was met victory\nwas won.  There must be no attempt to win the lost without first of all\nwe have gained an audience with God in prayer, and if we pray as we\nought to pray he will give us the assurance of victory before we start\nupon our mission.\n\n2. There must be personal contact.  It is said that a man recently went\ninto a jewelry store to buy an opal and rejected all that were\npresented to him.  One of them he rejected instantly.  The salesman\npicked it up and closed it in his hand and finally in a casual way\nopened his hand and placed the opal upon the counter.  \"Why,\" said the\ncustomer, \"that is the opal I want.  I have never seen anything finer,\"\nand yet he had rejected it first.  The salesman told him that it was a\nsensitive opal and needed the touch of a human hand before it could\nreveal its beauty.  Oh, how many souls there are like this in the world!\n\nI have read that when Robert Louis Stevenson visited the island of the\nlepers where Father Damien did his illustrious work he played croquet\nwith the children, using the same mallets that they used; and when it\nwas suggested that he put gloves upon his hands he refused to do so\nbecause, he said, \"it will remind them the more of the difference\nbetween us.\"  This spirit must prevail in our work if we are to win\nsouls.\n\nTwo things we may do to reach the lost.\n\n(1) Speak to them.  The power of human speech is simply marvelous.  A\nSunday school boy appeared in a Baptist Church to apply for membership\nand when they asked him about his conversion he said, \"My Sunday school\nteacher took me for a walk one Sunday in Prospect Park and talked with\nme about Jesus and I gave myself to him.\"  One of the officers of my\nchurch when an unsaved man was asked by his minister to attend special\nservices in the church and then was urged by his wife to go with her.\nBoth invitations were angrily declined.  He at last agreed to escort\nher to the church but not to enter in.  The biting cold wind of the\nnight drove him into the church and he was just in time to hear the\nminister's appeal to the unsaved.  All were asked to lift their hands\nwho would know Christ and then he remembered that when he was a boy and\nhad been drowning in Lake George he lifted up his hand as high as he\ncould and his brother took hold of it and kept him from sinking.\nSuddenly it came to him in the church that he was sinking in another\nway, and instantly he raised his hand and Christ took hold of it.  I do\nnot know of a more godly man among all my list of friends than he; and\nhe says to-day that the invitation given to him and refused with anger\nled him to Christ.\n\n(2) Write.  The chief justice of the supreme court of a western state\nwas not a Christian until a few years ago.  He was a genial, kindly\nman, and naturally a great lawyer, but he had never confessed Christ as\nhis Savior, and apparently had little real interest in the church.  One\nday the pastor of the Presbyterian church determined that he would\nwrite him a letter, and then decided that so great a man would not\nreceive his communication and destroyed it.  But the pastor's wife had\nmore faith and urged him to write again.  He did so, and sent the\nsecond letter and forwarded with it Spurgeon's \"All of Grace.\"  He\nreceived word almost instantly that the chief justice had been deeply\nimpressed, and that as a matter of fact he was waiting for years for\nsome one to speak to him.  The letter moved him and the little book\ngave him the instructions needed.  To-day he is one of the brightest\nChristians I know.  His face is a benediction.  He said to me one day\nthat it was a wonderful thing to be a Christian; that he never allowed\nany one to meet him that he did not talk with him about his soul.  Are\nthere not hundreds and thousands of other men waiting, as the chief\njustice waited, for some one to speak or write?\n\n3. There must be a personal consecration not only to Christ but to the\nwork if we would be successful.  The biography of Helen Kellar\n[Transcriber's note: Keller?], who was released from her imprisonment\nby the devotion of her teacher, is an illustration along this line.\nThis teacher must go to this girl sitting in darkness and describe to\nher the commonest objects of every-day life.  She told her about water,\nheat and cold and when something hurt her she told her with the\nlanguage of touch that she loved her and Helen Kellar [Transcriber's\nnote: Keller?] answered back, \"I love you, too.\"  The devotion of this\nteacher brought this noble soul to light and power.  A work like this\nawaits many of us in bringing the lost to Christ.\n\nWhen Elisha went down to raise the Shunammite's boy he put his eyes to\nthe eyes of the boy, his hands to the boy's hands and his mouth to his\nmouth.  Something like this we must do.  We have friends who possess\neyes and see not, we must have eyes for them; they have lips and speak\nnot, we must speak to God for them; they have hands and reach them not\nout after God, and we must have faith for them.  In other words, we\nmust not let them go away from Christ.  Such a spirit as this pleases\nGod and such a spirit saves our friends.  A friend told me that with\nthe ship's surgeon of a vessel he once crossed the sea.  He said the\ndoctor told him that one day a boy fell overboard and was rescued but\nthe case seemed hopeless.  The ship's surgeon casually passing along\nthe deck said to those who labored with him, \"I think you can do\nnothing more; you have done all that is possible,\" and then curiosity\nled him to look at the boy for himself.  Instantly his whole spirit was\nchanged.  He blew into his nostrils, breathed into his mouth, begged\nGod to spare him, labored for four hours with him before he could bring\nhim back to life, for the boy was his own boy.  What if we should not\nhave this spirit with the lost!\n\n  \"If grief in Heaven could find a place,\n    Or shame the worshiper bow down,\n  Who meets the Savior face to face,\n    'Twould be to wear a starless crown.\"\n\n\nBut on the other hand, what if we should simply be faithful?  Then may\nthe following be true of us:\n\n  \"Perhaps in Heaven, some day, to me\n    Some sainted one shall come and say,\n  All hail, beloved, but for thee\n    My soul to death had fallen a prey.\n  And, oh, the rapture of the thought,\n    One soul to glory to have brought.\"\n\n\nGeneral Booth of the Salvation Army describes a vessel making its way\nhome from the Australian gold fields.  The miners had struggled to get\nrich and at last every man had around about him his belt of gold.  The\nship lost her way in the ocean and, set out of her course, suddenly\ncrashed upon the rocks of an island near by.  Almost instantly she\nsank.  As one miner stood looking at the shore he knew that he was\nstrong enough as a swimmer to save his gold and save his own life; but\nas he was about to throw himself into the sea a little girl whose\nmother and father had been washed overboard came over to him to say,\n\"Oh, sir, can you not save me?\"  It was then a choice between the child\nand the gold.  The struggle was terrific but at last the gold was\nthrown aside, the child fastened to his body and he struggled through\nthe waves until he fell exhausted and fainting upon the shore.  The\ngreat Salvation Army officer says that when this strong man came to\nhimself the little child was by his side.  Throwing her arms about his\nneck she exclaimed with sobs, \"Oh, sir, I am so glad you saved me.\"\n\"That was worth more to him than the gold,\" said General Booth.  And if\nin heaven some day upon the streets of gold we shall meet just one\nredeemed soul who was once lost and in the darkness, and we know that\nthat one soul is there because we were true, the streets of gold will\nbe better, the gates of pearl will be brighter, the many mansions more\nbeautiful, the music sweeter, and, if such a thing were possible, the\nvision of Christ more entrancing.  Certainly it would be thrilling to\nhear him say to us, \"Inasmuch as ye did it unto these little ones ye\ndid it unto me.\"\n\n\n\n\nSANCTIFICATION\n\nTEXT: \"_This is the will of God, even your sanctification._\"--1 Thess.\n4:3.\n\nIt is quite significant that the Apostle Paul writes explicitly\nconcerning sanctification to a church in which he had such delight that\nhe could write as follows:\n\n\"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the Church of the\nThessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be\nunto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.\nWe are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet,\nbecause that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every\none of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory\nin you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your\npersecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token\nof the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the\nkingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: seeing it is a righteous\nthing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and\nto you who are troubled rest with us; when the Lord Jesus shall be\nrevealed from heaven with his mighty angels.  In flaming fire taking\nvengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of\nour Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with ever-lasting\ndestruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his\npower; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be\nadmired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was\nbelieved) in that day\" (2 Thessalonians 1:1-10).\n\nNo higher commendation than this could be paid to any followers of the\nLord Jesus Christ, and yet unto such a people we find him saying, \"This\nis the will of God, even your sanctification.\"\n\nIt reminds us of that other scene in the New Testament when Nicodemus\ncomes to Jesus by night.  He was a member of the Sanhedrim, he was in\nthe truest sense of the word a moral man, and yet Jesus, knowing all\nthis, deliberately looked into his face and said with emphasis,\n\"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of\nthe Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born\nof the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.\nMarvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again\" (John 3:5-7).\n\nBoth of these statements lead us to believe that God's requirements for\nhis people are very high.  These we may not attain unto at all in our\nown strength or the energy of our flesh or because of any inherited\nrighteousness which we may possess.  There is no way to reach his\nstandard except by complete identity with Christ; and this is made\npossible by means of faith.\n\nTo know the will of God concerning anything is a great satisfaction.\nIt is like food to our souls if we can say with Jesus, \"My meat is to\ndo God's will.\"  It is an indescribable pleasure if we can say with the\nSon of God, \"I delight to do thy will.\"  It is the key to the highest\nform of knowledge, for we have found it true that \"he that doeth the\nwill of God shall know of the doctrine.\"  It is the promise of eternal\nlife, for we are told in God's Word, \"He that doeth the will of God\nabideth forever.\"  There is possibly no place where God's will for us\nis more clearly stated than in this text.  Sometimes we may know his\nwill by praying.  How often revelations have come thus to us as if from\nthe very skies concerning his desires for us!  We may know it sometimes\nby thinking.  If one would but yield his mind perfectly to God in his\nprovidences as well as in his word he would know God's will concerning\nhim.  We may know it sometimes by talking to others, for not\ninfrequently God gives a revelation to one child of his for the\nguidance of another's life.  But in this connection it is most\ndefinitely stated, \"This is the will of God, even your sanctification.\"\nAnd the Apostle emphasizes his words,\n\nFirst: By the use of the most affectionate expression, \"Furthermore\nthen we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that\nas ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye\nwould abound more and more\" (1 Thessalonians 4:1).\n\nSecond: He speaks on the authority of Jesus himself.  \"For ye know what\ncommandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus\" (1 Thessalonians 4:2).\n\nThird: He emphasizes it by referring to the second coming of our Lord,\nfor he well knew that if one was looking for the appearing of the Son\nof God he would turn away from fleshly lusts and abstain from that\nwhich was unclean, thus encouraging the work of sanctification.  The\nApostle Paul says to the Thessalonians after he has clearly set before\nthem God's will concerning their living, \"But I would not have you to\nbe ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow\nnot, even as others which have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus\ndied and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God\nbring with him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that\nwe which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not\nprevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from\nheaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump\nof God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are\nalive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,\nto meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.\nWherefore comfort one another with these words\" (1 Thessalonians\n4:13-14).  It was not enough for them, in his judgment, to abide in the\nfaith; they must abound in the works of the Gospel.  To talk well\nwithout walking well is not pleasing to God, for the character of the\nChristian is thus described, \"He walks not after the flesh but after\nthe Spirit.\"\n\nThe presentation of this subject impresses upon us the fact that we\nhave lost many of the best words in the Bible because they have been\nmisused and their teaching misapprehended.  If you speak of holiness\nmen look askance at you, and yet holiness is simply wholeness or\nhealthfulness and is to the soul what health is to the body.  Who,\nthen, would be without it?  If you speak of sanctification immediately\nyour hearers imagine you are talking concerning sinlessness, and yet\nthere is no better word in the Scriptures than sanctification, for in\none way it means separation from sin, in another way it means an\nincreasing likeness to Christ.  There are six particular effects of\nfaith.\n\nFirst: There is union with Christ.  It is true that we were chosen in\nhim before the foundation of the world and that we are an elect people,\nbut it is also true that we are by nature the children of wrath and it\nis necessary that we should make a deliberate choice of him as a\nSavior.  When by faith we have taken Christ as a Savior we are united\nto him.  Faith is counting that which seems unreal as real, as untrue\nas true and that which seems not to exist as if it existed.  Faith\nunites us to him.  Without him we are as nothing.\n\nSecond: Justification.  \"There is therefore now no condemnation to them\nwhich are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the\nSpirit\" (Romans 8:1).  \"He that believeth on him is not condemned; but\nhe that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not\nbelieved in the name of the only begotten Son of God\" (John 3:18).  As\nwe believe in Christ we are clothed with his righteousness.  Whether we\ncan explain it or not, this righteousness answers every demand of God's\njustice.  Thus it is that Romans the eighth chapter the thirty-third\nand the thirty-fourth verses becomes true for us.  Let it be noticed,\nhowever, that in both of these verses the two words, \"_it_,\" and \"_is_\"\nare in italics, which would indicate that they were not in the\noriginal.  Concerning those who are justified, therefore, the verses\nwould read as follows: \"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's\nelect.\"  The rest of the verse is a question, \"God that justifieth?\"\nThe thirty-fourth verse reads, \"Who is he that condemneth?\" and the\nanswer is a question, \"Christ that died, yea rather that is risen\nagain, who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh\nintercession for us?\" and Paul here simply means to say that if God can\nlay nothing to our charge and Christ would not condemn us then we are\nfree, and justification at least to the layman carries with it this\nthought:\n\n1. The justified man stands as if he had not sinned at all.  His record\nis clean.\n\n2. The debt which sin had incurred is paid and instead of being afraid\nand trembling at the thought of sin we sing with rejoicing, \"Jesus paid\nit all, all to him I owe.\"\n\nThird: Participation of his life.  Paul writes to the Galatians, \"I\nlive, and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.\"  And in the fifteenth\nchapter of John the first six verses we read, \"I am the true vine, and\nmy Father is the husbandman.  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit\nhe taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,\nthat it may bring forth more fruit.  Now ye are clean through the word\nwhich I have spoken unto you.  Abide in me, and I in you.  As the\nbranch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no\nmore can ye, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the\nbranches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth\nmuch fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  If a man abide not in\nme, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them,\nand cast them into the fire, and they are burned.\"  So faith unites us\nto him and his life becomes a very part of our being.\n\n(a) It is like the principle of grafting.  When the branch is grafted\ninto the tree the life of the tree throbs its way into the branch and\nultimately there is fruitfulness.  If we only could sustain the right\nrelations to Christ we would have the cure for worldliness.\n\n(b) Because of this participation and privilege we need not be\nconcerned.  I have heard of a man who grafted a branch into a tree and\nthen went each day to take the graft out to see what progress it had\nmade, and the branch died.\n\n(c) Our life need not be intermittent--that is, hot to-day and cold\nto-morrow--but it may be all the time an abundant life; not because of\nwhat we are but because of what Christ is.\n\nFourth: Peace.  Romans 5:1, \"Therefore being justified by faith, we\nhave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\"  And peace arises\nfrom a sense of reconciliation.  If faith is strong, then peace is\nabundant; if it is fitful peace partakes of the same character.  That\nman who has faith in Jesus Christ as a personal Savior has the\nfollowing threefold blessing--first, _Peace with God_; second, _The\nPeace of God_; third, _The God of Peace_.\n\nFifth: Sanctification.  Acts 26:18, \"To open their eyes and to turn\nthem from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that\nthey may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which\nare sanctified by faith that is in me.\"  Of this we shall speak more at\nlength a little later.\n\nSixth: Assurance.  This is plainly written in God's word.  Notice John\n3:16, \"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,\nthat whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting\nlife.\"  And John 5:24, \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth\nmy word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and\nshall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life.\"\nThe entire first Epistle of John also emphasizes the same truth.\n\n\nI\n\nSanctification is therefore entirely by faith.\n\nFirst: By faith we receive the indwelling of the Spirit and he makes\nChrist real to us.  Because Christ is real by faith we may walk with\nhim; and that man who keeps step with Jesus Christ will find that he\nhas come day by day to turn away from those things which were formerly\nhis defeat.  We may also talk with him.  That hymn which we sometimes\nsing,\n\n  \"A little talk with Jesus,\n    How it smooths the rugged way,\"\n\nhas been true in the experience of many of us.  We may also be so\nconstantly associated with him that we may find ourselves actually like\nhim; and to grow like Christ by the power of the Spirit is to have the\nwork of Sanctification carried on.\n\nSecond: By faith exercised in God the Spirit continues his work.  We\nhave only to remember the promises of God concerning him, the first of\nwhich is that the Spirit is here carrying on his special work in his\nparticular dispensation.  His second promise is that he is in us if we\nbe children of God, and we need only to yield to his presence day by\nday to be delivered from the power of sin.  His third promise is that\nhe will take of the things of God and show them unto us.  Things which\nthe world's people cannot understand he makes plain unto us.  \"Eye hath\nnot seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man\nto conceive the things which God hath prepared for those who love him,\"\nbut the Spirit hath revealed them unto us.  The fourth promise is that\nhe will not leave us.  We may resist the Spirit, we may grieve the\nSpirit, but we will not grieve him away.  His power may be greatly\nlimited in our lives, the work of sanctification under the influence of\nhis presence be greatly hindered, but he is with us, \"nor height, nor\ndepth, nor any other creature can separate us from him.\"\n\nThird: By faith we have a vision of things unseen and they become real\nto us.  Faith is to the soul what the eye is to the body.  The things\nof God become actually real, and becoming so they are powerful.  Under\nthe influence of this vision temporal things are trifling.  The\nChristian who is true to his position lives in heaven, breathes its\natmosphere, is pervaded by its spirit and so becomes pure, tender,\nobedient, loving.  No wonder that to these people whose lives were so\nattractive Paul wrote in the text, \"This is the will of God, even your\nsanctification.\"\n\n\nII\n\nJustification and sanctification ought to be compared to appreciate the\nlatter.  The first is an act, the second is a work.  We do not grow in\njustification.  There is no distinction between Christians in this\nrespect; the smallest child accepting Christ is as truly justified as\nthe saint of a half century.  So far as sanctification is concerned\nthere is the widest possible difference.  Justification depends upon\nwhat Christ does for us, sanctification depends upon what Christ does\nin us.  First of all it is a supernatural work.  In this respect among\nothers it differs from reformation.  Henry Drummond has said that in\nreformation men work from the circumference, in sanctification they\nwork from the center.  The Triune God may really be counted upon as the\nauthor of this work.  In 1 Thessalonians the fifth chapter and the\ntwenty-third verse we have the work of the Father.  \"And the very God\nof peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul\nand body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\"  In Ephesians fifth chapter twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth\nverses we have the work of the Son.  \"Husbands, love your wives, even\nas Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it; that he might\nsanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.\"\n\nIn John the seventeenth chapter and the seventeenth verse we have\nspecial emphasis laid upon the work of the Spirit.  \"Sanctify them\nthrough thy truth; thy word is truth.\"  What folly, therefore, to think\nthat we could carry on this work by ourselves!\n\nSecond: Just what, therefore, is this work of sanctification?  When we\nare regenerated we have given to us an entirely new nature.  The old\nnature and the new are absolutely different; and the old and the new\nwar one against the other.  The Bible is full of the accounts of those\nwho have met this inward conflict.  Some of the most eminent people in\nthe world whose names have been mentioned in the Bible and out of it\nhave told the story of their backsliding, their falling, their\nrepentance, and their lamentation because of their weakness.  You have\nall read the seventh chapter of Romans.  Whether this is the story of\nPaul's experience or not, it is the story of yours.  Galatians the\nfifth chapter sixteenth and seventeenth verses gives us the same\nthought.  \"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not\nfulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusteth against the\nspirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary, the\none to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.\"  What\nis it, therefore?  It is just the working day by day of the spirit of\nChrist in us.  It is the growth of that spiritual nature which after a\nwhile controls our whole being.  It is the bringing into subjection of\nthe old nature until it has no more dominion over us.  After Paul's\nstruggle in the seventh chapter of Romans he comes triumphantly to the\nsecond verse of the eighth chapter of Romans and exclaims, \"For the law\nof the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of\nsin and death.\"\n\n\nIII\n\nIt God is the author, then certain things need to be emphasized.\n\nFirst: We need only to be yielding day by day to his efforts and\npresence and power to become more and more sanctified.  His life flows\nalong the path of least resistance; if there is difficulty with us in\nthe matter of temper, sharpness of tongue, an impure mind or an\nunforgiving spirit, give him liberty and the work is complete.\n\nSecond: We must learn that the least thing may hinder his work in us.\nIt became necessary for me recently to purchase a hayrake.  I was told\nof two different kinds, one the old-fashioned kind where the prongs of\nthe rake must be lifted by hand, the other an automatic arrangement\nwhere by simply touching the foot to a spring the movement of the\nwheels would lift the rake at the proper time so that raking hay was a\ndelight.  The first day the rake was in the field it was almost\nimpossible to use it.  It was too heavy to lift by hand and the foot\nattachment would not work.  We sent for the man who had sold us the\nimplement.  There was just one little part of the attachment missing.\nMissing that, hard effort was required and poor work was accomplished.\nIt may be that some little thing stands in the way of your blessing, or\nthe lack of some little thing hinders your usefulness.\n\nThird: We have only to remember the law of growth.  We do not grow by\ntrying.  Who ever heard of a boy growing in this way?  Who ever heard\nof a doctor who had a prescription for growth?  Our effort for\nChristian growth is just a succession of failures.  How many times we\nhave said, \"I am determined to be better; my temper shall never get the\nbetter of me again\"!  We are beginning at the wrong end.  Instead of\ndealing with the symptoms, let us see that we are in right relations\nwith Christ and he will effect the cure.  Let us, therefore, just\nobserve the right attitude towards Christ and we have the secret.\n\nHenry Drummond has said in one of his books that the problem of the\nChristian life is simply this: \"Men must be brought to observe the\nright attitude.  To abide in Christ is to be in right position and that\nis all.\"  Much work is done on board a ship in crossing the Atlantic,\nyet none of this is spent in making the ship go.  The sailor harnesses\nhis vessel to the wind, he lifts his sail, lays hold of his rudder and\nthe miracle is wrought.  God creates, man utilizes.  God gives the\nwind, the water, the heat, and man lays hold of that which God has\ngiven us, holding himself in position by the grace of God, and the\npower of omnipotence courses within his soul.\n\n\nIV\n\nWe are in this world slowly but surely coming to be like Christ.  To be\nChrist-like is one thing--we may be in this way or that--but to be like\nChrist is entirely different.  Wonderful transformations have been\nwrought in this world by education and by culture.  I remember when I\nwas a lad in Indiana being told of a celebrated Indianapolis physician\nwho advertised for the most helpless idiot child and the most hopeless\nwas brought to him.  For weeks and months no impression could be made\nupon that child.  He used every day to take the child into his parlor,\nput him down on the floor and then lie beside him with the sunlight\nstreaming in his face.  He said over and over one syllable of a word\nuntil at last the child caught it, and I remember as a boy seeing that\nsame child stand upon a platform, repeat the Lord's Prayer and the\ntwenty-third Psalm and sing a hymn to the praise of God [Transcriber's\nnote: part of page torn away here, and one, possibly two, words are\nmissing] is wonderful; but more remarkable than that is the work which\nis going on in us day by day.  We are becoming more Christlike; one day\nwe shall be _like Christ_.  \"But _when_?\" you say.  This is the answer:\n\"Beloved, now are ye the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what\nwe shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like\nhim, for we shall see him as he is.\"\n\n\n\n\nAN UNHEEDED WARNING\n\nTEXT: \"_My Spirit shall not always strive with men._\"--Genesis 6:31.\n\nFor the truth of this statement one needs only to study his Bible and\nhe will find written in almost every book of Old Testament and New a\nsimilar expression.  At the same time in the study of God's word it\nwill be revealed to him that God has a great plan which he is carefully\nworking out.  We must be familiar with the beginning and the unfolding\nof this plan and with the conclusion he reached.  When after the\nrebellion of his people and their unwillingness to obey his precepts we\nfind him saying, \"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in\nthe earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was\nonly evil continually.  And it repented the Lord that he had made man\non the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.  And the Lord said, I\nwill destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both\nman, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for\nit repenteth me that I have made them.\"\n\nThen turning to the New Testament Scriptures we find almost a similar\nexpression when Jesus reaches the climax of his compassionate and\ngracious ministry with the children of Israel.  \"He came unto his own\nand his own received him not\"; and in the twenty-third chapter of\nMatthew and the thirty-seventh to the thirty-ninth verse, inclusive, we\nhear him saying, \"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the\nprophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I\nhave gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her\nchickens under her wings, and ye would not!  Behold, your house is left\nunto you desolate.  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth,\ntill ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.\"\n\nFrom that day on his special ministry was to the Gentiles, and he has\nbeen seeking in every possible way to bring us to an appreciation of\nwhat it means to know him and to be filled with all his fullness.  We\nhave but to stop for a moment and consider to realize that by many his\novertures have been declined, his Spirit grieved and his Son rejected.\nMen have lived as if they had no responsibility towards him at all and\nin many instances they have put him entirely out of their\nconsideration.  If we compare present day indifference and sin with the\ncondition of things at the time of the flood, and then again compare\nthem with the position of Israel when Jesus turned away from them with\ntears, it would seem almost as if the world of the present day had made\nprogress both in the matter of indifference and rejection; and\ntherefore it is not strange that such an Old Testament text as this\nwould be applicable to people living about us.  It is a solemn text.\n\"_My Spirit shall not always strive with men_.\"  It is along the line\nof those solemn words of Dr. Alexander:\n\n  \"There is a time, we know not when;\n    A place, we know not where,\n  That seals the destiny of man\n    For glory or despair.\"\n\nAgain we read, \"Ye shall seek me and shall not find me, and where I am\nthere ye cannot come.\"  That also is the spirit of the text.  God tells\nus, \"To-day if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart,\" which\nsimply means that if we neglect to hear the heart will become hardened,\nthe will stubborn, and we shall be unsaved and hopeless.  Again he\ntells us, \"Now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation.\"\nSo for men to act as if they might come at any time and choose their\nown way of salvation is to sin against him, and to all such he speaks\nthe text--\"My Spirit shall not always strive with men.\"\n\nIt is assumed that the spirit of God does strive with men.  If he will\nnot strive always, then he does strive at some particular time, and\nwith many of us he is striving now.  We may not be willing to confess\nit to our friends, but nevertheless it is true.  In many ways he is\nbringing to our attention the eternal interests of our souls, and this\nis striving.\n\nIt is implied that men are resisting the Spirit of God.  If this were\nnot so there could be no striving, and the text indicates that men may\ncontinue so long to resist him and to sin against him that after a\nwhile the door of mercy will close and hope be a thing of the past.\n\n\nI\n\nWhat is the striving of the Spirit?  I have no doubt but that many are\nasking this question seriously and fearfully and it is worthy of our\nmost careful consideration.\n\n1. It is just God speaking to us and causing us to say to ourselves if\nnot to others, \"Well, I ought to be a Christian; this life of\nworldliness does not pay.\"  There is nothing but an accusing\nconscience, a weakened character and a blighted life as the result of\nit.  Do not for a moment think that this is just an impression that has\ncome to you; it is the voice of God and you would do well to hear it.\nThis striving of the Spirit is simply the Spirit of God seeking to\nconvince men that the only safe life is that which is hid with Christ\nin God, safe not only for eternity--the most of us believe that--but\nsafe for time.  Temptations are too powerful for us to withstand alone\nand trials are too heavy for us to bear in our own strength.  The\nstriving of the Spirit is just our heavenly Father graciously\nattempting to persuade us to yield to him, sometimes by providences.\n\nWhen but a lad my old pastor used one night an illustration from which\nI never have been able to get away.  It was the story of the old\nfisherman who took his little boy with him to fish and found that on\nhis accustomed fishing grounds he was unsuccessful; so, leaving the boy\nupon the little island, he started away to fish alone.  The mists came\ndown in his absence and, missing his way, he lost his boy.  He rowed\neverywhere calling him and at last he heard him in the distance,\nsaying, \"I am up here, papa; over this way.\"  The fisherman found him,\nbut not quickly enough to enable him to escape the cold night winds,\nand the boy sickened and died.  The old fisherman said: \"Every night\nwhen I stood at my window I could see his outstretching hands and\nalways above the storm I could hear his voice calling me upward.  I\ncould not but be a Christian.\"  My mother had just a few weeks before\ngone home to God, and I heard her voice as plainly as I could hear the\nvoice of my friend at my side.  Every vision of a mother in heaven, of\na child in the skies, is a call of God.  He seeks to persuade us by\ncalamities.  The Chicago theater horror, with its hundreds of women and\nchildren dead and disfigured, was God's call to a great city and to the\nworld.  This is the striving of the Spirit.  Not with audible voice\ndoes he speak to us but by means of impressions and convictions.  Let\nus not think for a moment that these come simply because the preacher\nhas influence and may possibly be possessed of a certain kind of genius\nor power.  These are God's warnings to us.  Be careful, therefore, how\nyou resist them.  Jesus said in John the sixteenth chapter the seventh\nto the eleventh verses, \"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is\nexpedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter\nwill not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  And\nwhen he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness\nand of judgment.  Of sin, because they believe not on me; of\nrighteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of\njudgment, because the prince of this world is judged.\"  The word\n\"_reprove_\" is a judicial word.  When the judge has heard the testimony\nfor or against the criminal and the arguments of the counsel, he\nhimself sums up the case and lays it before the jury, bringing out the\nstrong points or the weak ones in relation to the criminal.  This is\nreproving, and it is this that the Spirit does.  He brings before us\nJesus Christ and then presents unto God our treatment of him, and so it\nis easy to understand how the text could be true.  \"My spirit shall not\nalways strive with men.\"\n\n2. How may we know that he is striving?  There are very many ways.\n\n(1) If the attention is aroused and centered upon religious subjects\nand interests, then be careful how you treat God.  The student who\nfinds his mind constantly escaping from his books to the thought of\neternity; the business man who cannot possibly escape the thought that\nhe owes God something and ought not to slight him, these have proofs\nthat the Spirit is striving.\n\nAfter an evangelistic meeting which I recently conducted I received the\nfollowing letter, which clearly indicates the striving of the Spirit:\n\n\"I had not attended the church for years until to-night, but being a\nvisitor in C. and hearing that you were from the East and a\nPresbyterian I determined to go.  I was lonely and it may be the Spirit\nwas calling me.  I heard you speak of your little boys and of the\nsainted mother who has gone before and my proud heart was touched.  I,\ntoo, have two darling boys back in the old state, a loving Christian\nwife and a dear old mother who in parting said, 'Dear son, I am old and\nI may never see you again on earth, but if I am not here when you\nreturn, remember, my son, my boy, we must meet in heaven.'\n\n\"How much that meant to her!  I did not quite realize it then, but your\ntalk to-night impressed me and I believe that her prayers are being\nanswered together with those of a loving, courageous, steadfast\nChristian wife, and that I am at last, at the age of forty-two,\nbeginning to see how great my opportunities to do good have been and\nhow my example has been a great hindrance and stumbling block to others\nin the way of life.  Admitting that this life has no stronger emotion\nthan our love for our families, how much more I am impressed to-night\nwith my duty to him who gave his only Son to suffer that we might live\nin the life everlasting!\n\n\"In a busy business life and career I had drifted away from the safe\nanchorage of the church and Sunday school of my boyhood and had almost\nconvinced myself that by charity and exercising good will and\nkindliness in my business I could do almost as much good as if I were\nin the church; but I see my mistake.  To make an army effective we must\nstand in the ranks, must be soldiers in the army of Christ ready and\nwilling to do at all times whatever we see before us.\n\n\"I have written my dear old mother a letter to-night which I know will\nplease her far more than if I had told her I had found a mine of\nCalifornia gold; her prayers, my wife's, yours and those of other true\nChristian men and women have been answered, and I realize that now,\n(not next week, nor next month, nor when I get my business finished and\ngo back to the East) is the day and the hour to remember Christ and\nknow that his love for us is greater even than the love that tugs at\nour heartstrings when we think of the dear little ones at home who\nlovingly call us father, and for whom we gladly endure the heartaches\nof separation when we know that our labors will contribute to their\ncomfort and happiness.\n\n\"I realize from the standpoint of a business man how many there are in\nthe world to criticise your best efforts and your work and how few who\never stop to say, 'I thank you; you have done me good.'  I take time\nto-night to do more.  I want to say that your message from the King of\nkings has not fallen on stony ground.  I shall try to enter again the\nbattle of life, not as only in search of the wealth of this world but\nin search of the wealth that the world cannot take away--life\neverlasting.\n\n\"You were right.  Preach and pray the fathers into the Kingdom of God\nand the rest is easy, for all unconsciously our children follow in our\nfootsteps, watch our every word and action; then how much, how much it\nmeans if our example is wrong!\"\n\n\nII\n\n(1) Whenever we are convinced especially of the sinfulness of sin we\nmay be sure that the Spirit is striving with us.  There are times when\nwe may be thoughtless and sin with impunity; but not so when the Spirit\nis doing his work, for sin is an awful thing.\n\n(2) Whenever we are impressed with the heinousness of unbelief be\nassured that the Spirit is at work, for the worst sin in all this world\nis not impurity but rather that we should not believe on Jesus Christ.\nTo reject him is to sneer at God, to trample the blood of his Son under\nfoot, to count his sacrifice a common thing and really to crucify him\nafresh.  In all this impression God speaks.\n\n(3) When we see the danger of dying in our sins he is moving us.  It is\na mystery to me how men can close their eyes in sleep when they realize\nthat any night God might simply touch them and time would give way to\neternity and the judgment would be before them.  As a matter of fact\nmen are not indifferent to this, and the fact that they are not proves\nthat the Spirit of God is opening their eyes.\n\n(4) When he strips us of excuses be sure that he is working.  The man\nwho has said, \"I will wait until I am better,\" begins to realize that\nhis past sins must be taken into account and no future resolutions can\ntouch them.  The man who has said, \"There is time enough,\" suddenly\nrealizes that between him and eternity there is but a beat of the\nheart.  The one who has claimed that hypocrisy in the church kept him\nout of it comes to see that hypocrisy proves the life of the church,\nfor men never counterfeit that which is bad money but rather that which\nis good.\n\n(5) Whenever we see the folly of trusting in any other word than\nChrist's then the Spirit of God is with us.  Not reformation, for it\ndoes not touch the sins of the past; not resolution, for this is too\nweak, and though we may seem better than others, this may be true only\naccording to our own standard.  When we see the folly of these\npositions the Spirit of God is doing his work; so be careful how you\ntreat him.\n\n\nIII\n\nWhat would be the consequences of the Spirit ceasing his work?  We\nreally could not express it in words.  No man has power or energy to\nmake it plain.  We can only just hint at the condition.\n\n1. There would be an opposition to religion, for whenever you find a\nman turning against that which has been the world's hope remember that\nthe state of that man is awful in the extreme and will grow worse.\n\n2. There will be an opposition to revivals, to all preaching and to the\nministers of the Gospel wherever this spirit is made manifest.  We\nought to tremble for ourselves if this is our spirit, or for others if\nit is theirs.\n\n3. Wherever men settle down into some form of error this is a\ndescription of one who has sinned against the Spirit of God, for there\nis a longing in every soul for something outside of and beyond one's\nself; and the things of the world cannot alone satisfy.\n\n4. When men continue to grow worse and worse and seem to glory in their\nshame there is great cause for solemn thought.  In the light of these\nsuggestions the text is given, \"My Spirit shall not always strive with\nmen.\"\n\n\nIV\n\nWhy should he cease his striving?  Not because he is not compassionate,\nfor he is; nor forbearing, for that is his character; not that he is\nwithout patience, for he is infinite in this grace; nor because he is\nwithout mercy, for his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.\n\n1. But because it will do the sinner no good to continue his pleadings.\nIt is a known law of the mind that truth resisted loses its power.  Why\nshould God continue when we only spurn his offers of mercy?\n\nAgassiz, the great Christian scientist, tells of his work in the\nmountains when his assistants lowered him to his work by means of a\nrope and a basket.  They always tested his weight before letting him\ndown; and yet he said that one day when they had lowered him deeper\nthan ever they found that they could not lift him, though they had\ntested his weight before he had been lowered.  They must go away over\nthe mountains to secure other assistance.  \"And then,\" said the\nscientist, \"when they did lift me they found that their failure was due\nto the fact that they did not take into account the weight of the\nrope.\"  Every time you refuse Jesus Christ as your Savior and God calls\nyou again you must lift against that other refusal, and this is why it\nis so difficult for some to come to Christ.\n\n2. Because to continue warning is to hinder the sinner.  The more light\nwe have the greater guilt.  Better would it be for the sinner when all\nhope is gone for the Spirit to leave, for he shall be called to account\nfor warnings.  Oh, the solemnity of the day of judgment!\n\n3. Because to resist the Spirit of God is for men to sin willfully if\nthe rejection is final.  It is a sad thing to say \"no\" to God, and if\nwe sin willfully there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.\n\n\nV\n\nWhat is meant by the Spirit not striving?  Not that he will be\nwithdrawn from men in general, but rather from the individual.\n\n1. He may not follow the sinner, who will be indifferent to preaching,\nto praying, to his own spiritual condition, for he has given himself\nover to error.\n\n2. It simply means that we have come to the limit of his patience, for\nwe have trifled with him in our continued rejection.\n\n3. It also means that there is just some one point where he will cease\nto work.  That point may be here and that day may be now, and so the\ntext is solemn.  A long time ago an old woman tripped and fell from the\ntop of a stone stairway in Boston as she was coming out of the police\nstation.  They called the patrol and carried her to the hospital and\nthe doctor examining her said to the nurse, \"She will not live more\nthan a day.\"  And when the nurse had won her confidence the old woman\nsaid, \"I have traveled from California, stopping at every city of\nimportance between San Francisco and Boston, visiting two places\nalways--the police station and the hospital.  My boy went away from me\nand did not tell me where he was going, so I have sold all my property\nand made this journey to seek him out.  Some day,\" she said, \"he may\ncome into this hospital, and if he does tell him that there were two\nwho never gave him up.\"  When the night came and the doctor standing\nbeside her said, \"It is now but a question of a few minutes,\" the nurse\nbent over her to say, \"Tell me the names of the two and I will tell\nyour son if I see him.\"  With trembling lips and eyes overflowing with\ntears she said, \"Tell him that the two were God and his mother,\" and\nshe was gone.\n\nI cannot believe that God has given any of you up.  You would not be\nlistening to this message, you certainly would not be reading these\nwords if he had.  He has not given you up.  I beseech you therefore\nhear him.  It would be a sad thing for you to say no to him at the last\nand have him take you at your word, and if he has not given you up I am\npersuaded that there is some one else in the world deeply concerned for\nyour soul.\n\n\n\n\nTHE APPROVAL OF THE SPIRIT\n\nTEXT: \"_Yea, saith the Spirit._\"--Rev. 14:31.\n\nThe world has had many notable galleries of art in which we have been\nenabled to study the beautiful landscape, to consider deeds of heroism\nwhich have made the past illustrious, in which we have also read the\nstories of saintly lives; but surpassing all these is the gallery of\nart in which we find the text.  Humanly speaking John is the artist\nwhile he is an exile on the Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea.  The\nwords he uses and the figures he presents are suggested by his\nsurroundings, and it would be difficult to imagine anything more\nuplifting than the book of Revelation if it be properly studied and\nunderstood.  When John speaks of the Son of Man he describes his voice\nas the sound of many waters--undoubtedly suggested by the waves of the\nsea breaking at his feet.  Locked in by the sea on this lonely island\nhe gives to us this Revelation for which every Christian should\ndevoutly thank God.  His eyes are opened in an unusual way and before\nhim as in panoramic vision the past, the present and the future move\nquickly, and he makes a record of all the things that he beholds.  His\nbody is on Patmos but as a matter of fact he seems to be walking the\nstreets of the heavenly city and gives to us a picture of those things\nwhich no mortal eye hath yet beheld.  He describes the risen Christ.\nIt is a new picture, for as he beholds him his head and his hair are\nwhite like wool, as white as snow; and yet it is an old picture he\ngives, for he is presented as the Lamb that has been slain, with the\nmarks of his suffering still upon him, and these help to make his glory\nthe greater, and if possible to increase the power and sweetness of the\nangels' music.  He presents to us a revelation of the glorified church\nand of the four and twenty elders falling down at the feet of Jesus,\ncasting their crowns before him and giving him all adoration and\npraise.  He cheers us with a knowledge of the doom of Satan, for in the\nclosing part of the book he presents him to us as bound, cast into the\npit and held as a prisoner for a thousand years, while in every other\npart of the Bible he is seen going about like a raging lion seeking\nwhom he may devour.  He gives to us some conception of the final\njudgment, and the great white throne is lifted up before us; the dead,\nsmall and great, stand before God, the books are opened and those whose\nnames are not found written in the book are cast away from his presence\nforever; and then as a climax of the picture we have before us the new\nheaven and the new earth.  Again I say, there is nothing so wonderful\nas Revelation if only we have the mind of the Spirit in its\ninterpretation.\n\nIn this text John is speaking of those who die in the Lord and the\nwhole verse reads as follows: \"And I heard a voice from heaven saying\nunto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from\nhenceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their\nlabors; and their works do follow them\" (Revelation 14:13).  Ordinarily\nthis text has been used only on funeral occasions, but literally\ninterpreted the text which stands as the heart of the verse may be read\nas follows, \"Amen, saith the Spirit.\"  It would seem as if the Holy\nGhost were giving his assent to the truth which has been spoken.\n\"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.\"  It is like an old time\nantiphonal service, when choir answered choir in the house of God; or,\nto put it in another way, it is one of those remarkable interruptions\nseveral instances of which are found in the Scriptures.\n\nOne is in Hebrews the thirteenth chapter and the eighth verse, \"Jesus\nChrist the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\"  According to the\nrevision this verse has an added word and reads as follows, \"Jesus\nChrist the same yesterday and to-day, _yea_ and forever.\"  I call\nspecial attention to the little word \"yea.\"  Somebody has said that it\nis as if the Apostle were saying that Jesus is the same to-day that he\nwas yesterday, than which no thought could be more comforting.  And it\nwould seem at the closing part of the verse as if the angels of God had\nbroken in upon his message to say, \"Yea, and he is forever the same,\"\nwhich is certainly true.  Could anything be more inspiring than to know\nthat we have the approval of the Holy Ghost of the things we say or\nthink?\n\nThere are many representations of the Spirit of God in the Bible.  His\nlove is presented under the figure of the mother love, as in Genesis\nthe first chapter and the second verse; \"And the earth was without\nform, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the\nSpirit of God _moved_ [or brooded] upon the face of the waters.\"  In\nthis text the Spirit broods over the world as the mother bird hovers\nover her little ones.  We see him in the figure of the dove in Matthew\nthe third chapter and the sixteenth verse: \"And Jesus, when he was\nbaptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens\nwere opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a\n_dove_, and lighting upon him.\"  And here we have a revelation of his\ngentleness.  Again he is presented to us under the figure of the wind,\n\"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty\n_wind_, and it filled all the house where they were sitting\" (Acts\n2:2).  Here we see his power.  We catch a vision of him in the fire in\nActs the second chapter and the third verse, \"And there appeared unto\nthem cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them\"; and\nhere we understand his cleansing influence.  But here in this text we\nhave his directing power.  It is as if he were giving particular\nattention to all that John is saying and giving his approval to it\nbecause it is the truth.  Since the day of Pentecost he has occupied a\nnew position.\n\nHowever, he has existed from all eternity.  We behold him in his work\nin the Old Testament Scriptures.  But from the day of Pentecost the\naffairs of the church have been committed to him, its organization, its\ndevelopment, its services, whether it be the preaching, the praying or\nthe singing.  We cannot ignore him, for he has to do with all the work\nand with the preaching of the word.  He convicts of sin.  John 6:44,\n\"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:\nand I will raise him up at the last day.\"  He applies Christ to the\nawakened sinner, \"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he\nwill guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but\nwhatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you\nthings to come.  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and\nshall shew it unto you.\"  He helps to interpret the Word of God because\nhe inspired men to write it.  It is impossible to get along without\nhim.  I put no mark of disrespect upon scholarship.  I know what it has\naccomplished; it has filled libraries with knowledge which has made the\nworld rich, it has weighed planets and given us almost a perfect\nunderstanding of the heavenly bodies.  It has estimated the velocity of\nlight until we have stopped to say, \"Such things are too wonderful for\nus.\"  It has read the tracings upon obelisks, and made the past an open\nbook to us, giving us the secrets of men who have been thousands of\nyears in their tombs, but I do wish to say that that which comes to us\ndirectly from the Spirit of God is beyond scholarship.  Hear what Paul\nhas said to us in 1 Corinthians the second chapter and the ninth to the\nfourteenth verses.  \"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear\nheard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God\nhath prepared for them that love him.  But God hath revealed them unto\nus by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep\nthings of God.  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the\nspirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no\nman, but the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of\nthe world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the\nthings that are freely given to us of God.  Which things also we speak,\nnot in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost\nteacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the natural\nman receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are\nfoolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are\nspiritually discerned.\"\n\nThere are certain great truths to which I am sure the Holy Ghost would\nsay a deep amen.\n\n\nI\n\nThe Bible _is_ the word of God--not simply that it _contains_ the word\nof God, but is that very word.\n\nPeter tells us where we got our Bible.  2 Peter 1:21, \"For the prophecy\ncame not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as\nthey were moved by the Holy Ghost.\"  It is an inspired Book, and\ninspiration is the inbreathing of God himself.  This makes the Bible\ndifferent from every other book.  We cannot study it exactly as we\nstudy others.  We may pick it up and say it is just paper, ink and\nleather, like any other book, but we have missed the power of it if we\nsay this.  We might say, \"Jesus is just a man, eating, drinking,\nsleeping, suffering like a man\"; but we have missed his power if we say\nonly this, for the Bible is filled with God, and Jesus is God Himself.\nJesus said, \"Ye must be born again if ye are to enter my Kingdom,\" and\nthis makes the difference in men.  Because of this new birth one man\nsees the things of God to which another would be totally blind, and\nthis makes the difference in books and leaves the Bible incomparably\nbeyond all other books.\n\nHow may we know that the Bible is the word of God?  Not simply\nscientifically, although the Bible is a scientific book; but not in\nthis way any more than we could find life in the body by cutting it up\nwith a knife.  The Bible is like a sensitive plant; approach it in the\nwrong way and it will close its leaves and withhold its fragrance.\nCome to it reverently and there is no blessing that it cannot bestow.\n\n1. Accept it by faith and act according to its principles.  If God\nexists, as we know he does, then talk with him; if Christ is here\npresented to us with all his uplifting teachings, then walk with him;\nif the promises of God are written here, as we know they are, then\npresent them to him expecting him to keep his word.\n\nGeneral Booth of the Salvation Army once said in a great meeting where\nI was present that we were poor, weak Christians to-day because we were\nnot living up to our privileges as Christians.  He described a young\nman who had lost his position and had gone from one degree of poverty\nto another until at last he was on the verge of starvation.  With his\nwife and little ones about him he sits in deepest gloom.  There is a\nrap at the door and the postman brings a letter which is a message from\na former employer who tells him that he has just learned of his\ndistress, that he will help him, and that in the meantime he incloses\nhis check for a sum of money which he hopes may make him comfortable.\nA check is simply a promise to pay.  The young man, says General Booth,\nlooks at it a moment and then begins to rush about the room in great\nexcitement.  \"Poor man,\" said his wife, \"I knew it would come to this.\nHis mind is giving way.\"  Then he presents the check to her and says,\n\"I know what I shall do with it.  I will frame it and hang it on the\nwall.\"  Then again he exclaims, \"I shall take it to my friend and have\nhim set it to music and sing it each day,\" and he might do both of\nthese and starve to death.  What he should have done was to present it\nfor payment and live off of its proceeds.  \"We have been framing God's\npromises long enough,\" said General Booth, \"and singing them quite long\nenough; let us now present them for payment, and we shall know that God\nis true.\"\n\n2. Live its truth.  Whatever God presents as a principle translate into\nyour life and then believe that God will transform your living.  It\nwill support you in trial and it will comfort you in the deepest sorrow.\n\nThe world was shocked by that great railroad accident which meant the\ndeath of Mrs. Booth-Tucker, but when in Carnegie Hall Commander\nBooth-Tucker stood to speak great words concerning his noble wife he\nsaid: \"I was once talking with a man in Chicago about becoming a\nChristian and he said to me, 'If God had taken away your beautiful wife\nand you were left desolate with your little children would you believe\nin him?'  And,\" said the Commander before his great New York audience,\n\"if that man is in this audience to-day let me tell him.  God has taken\nmy beautiful wife and I am here surrounded by my children, but I never\nbelieved in him more thoroughly and was never more confident of the\ntruth of his Word.\"\n\n\nII\n\nJesus Christ is the Son of God.  To this truth I am very sure the Holy\nGhost will add his amen.  In John the fifteenth chapter and the\ntwenty-sixth verse we read, \"But when the Comforter is come, whom I\nwill send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which\nproceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.\"  And if you would\nknow that Jesus Christ is God's Son I would suggest,\n\n1. That you simply test him; try him in heathen lands and tell me if\nany other story could thrill and transform as does the story of his\nlife and death.  Dr. Torrey says that whether the story was told in\nChina or England, whether the story was told in India or Australia, it\nwas always the same and never was without effect.\n\n2. Try him in your own life.  One day in a service in a western city an\nold woman was wheeled into the church in an invalid's chair.  I knew by\nthe expression of her countenance that she was suffering.  When I met\nher after the service and asked her about her story she said as the\nmost excruciating pain convulsed her body, \"I have not been free from\npain in twenty years and have scarcely slept a night through all that\ntime,\" and then, brushing the tears from her eyes, and with an\nexpectant face, she exclaimed, \"but if I could tell you all that Jesus\nChrist has been to me in these twenty years I could thrill you through\nand through.\"\n\n3. If you would know that he is the Son of God just lift him up and\nbehold him as he draws all men unto him.  This is the secret of the\npower of great preaching.  It made Mr. Moody known whereever the\nEnglish language is spoken and constituted Mr. Spurgeon one of the\nworld's greatest preachers.  As a matter of fact there is no other\ntheme which may be presented in the pulpit by the minister with an\nassurance of the co-operation of the Holy Ghost.  There may be times\nwhen he may feel obliged to preach concerning philosophy, poetry, art\nand science, but unless these things lead directly to Christ we have no\nreason for believing that the Holy Ghost will add his amen to our\nmessage, and without this amen the time is almost lost.\n\n\nIII\n\nThe church is the body of Christ.  I am persuaded that to this truth he\nwill give his hearty assent.  This is Paul's over and over.  Notice the\nfollowing verses.\n\nActs 2:41, \"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and\nthe same day there were added _unto them_ about three thousand souls.\"\nThe words \"unto them\" are in italics, so not in the original, and we\nask \"added to what?\"\n\nActs 2: 47, \"Praising God, and having favor with all the people.  And\nthe Lord '_added to the Church_' daily such as should be saved.\"  Here\nwe are beginning to get the truth.\n\nActs 5:14, \"And believers were the more added _to the Lord_, multitudes\nboth of men and women.\"  This is the truth.\n\nYou will see that Christ is the head, the church is his body and we\nare, as individual members of the church, just being added to him.  One\nday the body will be completed and then the Lord himself will appear.\nIf Christ is the head he must control the body.  If his life is\nhindered and not permitted to flow through every part of it there is\nconfusion, strife, unrest and loss of power.\n\nThere are certain things which we must do if we are to be in this world\nas he would have us.\n\nHe must control the preaching.  If given an opportunity he will direct\nin the choice of a theme, he will quicken our intellect in the\ndevelopment of that theme, he will give us an insight into the best way\nto present it to our hearers, and putting faith in these preliminary\nconditions he will take care of the results.  He must also dictate the\npraying in a church.  There is much of it that is meaningless.  It is\ntoo formal, too lifeless, and entirely too general in its character.\nIn Matthew the eighteenth chapter and the nineteenth verse, we read,\n\"Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as\ntouching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my\nFather which is in heaven.\"  It does not mean that if the two should\nagree together as touching any one thing, but agree with him, for\nwherever you find two in prayer there are three, and wherever there are\nthree there are four, and the additional one present is the Spirit of\nGod waiting to help us in our praying and to present our prayers unto\nthe Father in the name of Jesus Christ.\n\nHe must inspire the singing of the church.  In Ephesians the fifth\nchapter and the nineteenth verse we read, \"Speaking to yourselves in\npsalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your\nheart to the Lord.\"  One reason why there is such a lack of power in\nmany churches in this country is due to the fact that the singing is\nsimply used as filling for the services.  Hymns are used in a haphazard\nway with little thought as to their bearing upon the theme to be\npresented.  I am quite persuaded that when the preaching, praying and\nsinging are all submitted to his control, whatever may be man's opinion\nof the service, he himself will give to it his hearty amen.\n\n\nIV\n\nWe are the sons of God.  In Romans the eighth chapter the sixteenth and\nseventeenth verses we read, \"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our\nspirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs;\nheirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with\nhim, that we may be also glorified together.\"  To this truth he will\nsay amen.  A careful study of the Scriptures will reveal the fact that,\n\n1. We are heirs.  If therefore this be true we have but to claim our\nbirthright privilege, and there is no weakness in our lives but may be\noffset by the strength of his.  Whatever Christ has received as the\nhead of the church he has received in trust for the body and we may\nhave our possession in him if we but appropriate it.\n\nA man in England died the other day in the poorhouse.  He had a little\nEnglish farm upon which he could raise no grain and he let it go to\nwaste and died a pauper.  His heirs discovered that on this little\nEnglish possession there was a copper mine and they are living in\nluxury to-day in the possession of that which belonged to their\nancester [Transcriber's note: ancestor?] all the time but was not\nappropriated and used by him.\n\n2. Being sons of God, we are not free from trial; but there is this one\nthing to say about our Christian experience: \"Our light afflictions\nwhich are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal\nweight of glory,\" and God's presence with us in trial is infinitely\nbetter than his absence from us in the time of prosperity.  Our trials\nare but the discipline through which we must pass in order that we may\none day be prepared to stand in his presence and do his bidding\nthroughout eternity.\n\n3. Being sons of God, we are sure one day of glory.  The song which has\nbeen singing its way around the world in the Torrey-Alexander meetings\npresents this thought to us beautifully.\n\n  \"When all my labors and trials are o'er\n  And I am safe on that beautiful shore,\n  Just to be near the dear Lord I adore\n  Will thro' the ages be glory for me.\n\n  \"When by the gift of his infinite grace\n  I am accorded in heaven a place,\n  Just to be there and look on his face\n  Will thro' the ages be glory for me.\n\n  \"Friends will be there I have loved long ago;\n  Joy like a river around me will flow;\n  Yet just a smile from my Savior, I know,\n  Will thro' the ages be glory for me.\n\n      _Chorus._\n\n  \"Oh, that will be glory for me,\n  Glory for me, glory for me,\n  When by his grace I shall look on his face,\n  That will be glory, be glory for me.\"\n\n\nWhatever may be our limitations here, they shall be gone there;\nwhatever may be our weakness here, it shall be lost there.\n\nDr. Charles Hodge in his \"Lectures on Theology\" has given us an\nimaginary picture of Laura Bridgman, the famous deaf-mute.  The\ncelebrated theologian has described her standing in the presence of\nChrist in that great day when we shall all be before Him, when Christ\nshall touch her eyes and say, \"Daughter, see,\" and there shall sweep\nthrough her vision all the glories of the sky; when He shall touch her\nears, which have been so long closed, and say, \"Daughter, hear,\" and\ninto her soul shall come all the harmonies of heaven; when he shall\ntouch her lips, which on earth have never spoken a human word, and say,\n\"Daughter, speak,\" and with all the angel choir she will burst into the\nnew song.  What Dr. Hodge has said concerning Laura Bridgman will be\ntrue of us.  Our day of limitations will be past, the experiences of\nweakness be gone, and we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he\nis.\n\nThis, therefore, is a good outline of a creed for us to-day.  We\nbelieve the Bible is the Word of God, we believe that Jesus is the Son\nof God, we believe that the Church is the body of Christ, we believe\nthat we are by regeneration the sons of God, and making such a\nstatement we have a right to stop and listen and I am sure we shall\nhear as from the skies, \"Amen, saith the spirit.\"\n\n\n\n\nA REASONABLE SERVICE\n\nTEXT: \"_I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that\nye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,\nwhich is your reasonable service._\"--Romans 12:1.\n\nThere is perhaps no chapter in the New Testament, certainly none in\nthis epistle, with which we are more familiar than this one which is\nintroduced by the text; and yet, however familiar we may be with the\nstatements, if we read them carefully and study them honestly they must\nalways come to us not only in the nature of an inspiration but also\nwith rebuke, especially to those of us who preach.\n\nPaul's intellectual ability has never been questioned.  Yet, giant\nthough he was in this respect, he was not ashamed to be pathetic when\nhe likens his care for his people to the care of a nurse for her\nchildren.  He is not ashamed to be extravagant when he likens his\nsorrow and pain at their backsliding to the travail of a woman for her\nchild.  He is not ashamed to be intense when in the ninth chapter and\nthe first, second and third verses he says, \"I say the truth in Christ,\nI lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,\nthat I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.  For I\ncould wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my\nkinsmen according to the flesh.\"\n\nWe must also be impressed with the fact that he was not at all afraid\nof public criticism.  He not only sat at Gamaliel's feet but the great\nlawmaker might well have taken his place at his feet, and yet he says,\n\"I am willing to be counted a fool if only I may win men to Christ.\"\nHe is not bound by custom.  He not only preaches in the synagogue and\nin the places set apart for the churches of the early days, but he goes\nabout from house to house entreating people to come to Christ.  He is\nnot ashamed to weep, for he sends his messages to the people and\nexclaims, \"I tell you these things weeping\"; and here in this text he\nis strikingly unusual, for he is not a preacher speaking with dignity,\nnor an Apostle commending obedience, but a loving friend beseeching in\nthe most pathetic way the yielding of themselves to Christ.\n\nThere are two things to remember about Paul in the study of such a\nsubject.\n\nFirst: He was a Jew and he knew all about offerings.  Sacrifices were\nnot forms to him and a living sacrifice was not a meaningless\nexpression.  He had been present on the great day of Atonement when the\nscapegoat bore away the sins of the people.  He had heard the chimes of\nthe bells on the high priest's robe as he moved to and fro before the\nentrance to the holy of holies, and he had waited with breathless\nsilence for him to come forth giving evidence in his coming of the fact\nthat Israel could once more approach Jehovah.  The text to him was\nthrobbing with holy memories and was full of significance.\n\nSecond: He received his instructions concerning these things of God,\nnot from men, for when he writes to the Galatians he says: \"But I\ncertify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not\nafter man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,\nbut by the revelation of Jesus Christ\" (Galatians 1:11-12).  And so,\nsince he is a heaven-taught man, we must listen while he speaks and\ngive heed to his entreaties.\n\n\nI\n\n_The context_.  We shall not appreciate this striking text unless we\ntake into account its setting.\n\nThe first chapters of Romans present to us a black cloud indeed, for\nwhen the first sentences are spoken we shudder because of their\nintensity.  We read in the twenty-fourth verse that God gave the people\n_up_ to uncleanness; in the twenty-sixth verse that he gave them _up_\nto vile affections, but in the twenty-eighth verse that he gave them\n_over_ to a reprobate mind.  With this awful condition of affairs we\nstart; and yet for fear that the man who counts himself a moralist\nmight read these verses and feel that they did not apply to him, Paul\nwrites in the third chapter and the twenty-second verse these words,\n\"Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto\nall and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.\"  But\nwhen the cloud is the blackest the rays of light begin to appear, and\nthey are rays of light from heaven; looking on the one side at mystery\nand catching a vision on the other side of grace, Paul exclaims, \"I\nbeseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present\nyour bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is\nyour reasonable service\" (Romans 12:1).\n\nThe word mercy is of frequent occurrence in the Bible.  \"From\neverlasting to everlasting is God's mercy,\" we read.  This gives us\nsome idea of duration.  \"New every morning and fresh every evening are\nhis mercies.\"  This reveals to us the fact that they are unchanging.\n\"He is a God of mercy.\"  This is his character.  \"Let the wicked\nforsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return\nunto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him.\"  This is the invitation\nof God given to all the world!  But Paul is not speaking of mercy in\ngeneral; he goes on in his masterful argument outlining the doctrines\nof grace and on the strength of that he uses the text.\n\nFirst: We are justified.  The fifth chapter and the first verse,\n\"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our\nLord Jesus Christ.\"  In justification our sins are pardoned and we are\naccepted as righteous because of the righteousness of Christ, which is\nimputed unto us and received by faith alone.  And yet to him this\ndefinition in every day language means that, being justified, we stand\nbefore God as if we never had sinned.  No wonder that in the light of\nsuch a doctrine Paul could say, \"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by\nthe mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,\nholy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service\" (Romans\n12:1).\n\nSecond: _We are kept safe_.  Romans 5:10, \"For if, when we were\nenemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more,\nbeing reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.\"  Literally the\nclosing part of this verse is, \"We are kept safe in his life.\"  A child\nin its mother's arms could not be so secure as we in his life.\nUnderneath us are the everlasting arms and around about us the sure\nmercies of God.\n\nThird: _We are baptized into his death_.  \"Know ye not that so many of\nus as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?\"\n(Romans 6:3).  \"The wages of sin is death.\"  This is God's irrevocable\nstatement, but Christ died for our sins and Paul's argument here is\nthat we died with him, so the demands of the law have been met and we\nare to go free.  No wonder Paul could say, \"I beseech you therefore,\nbrethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living\nsacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.\"\n\nFourth: _We are alive unto God_.  Romans 6:11, \"Likewise reckon ye also\nyourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus\nChrist our Lord.\"  Not only are we justified and kept safe and\ncrucified with him and buried with him but in the plan of God we are\nrisen with him.  What a wonderful mercy this is!\n\nFifth: _We have deliverance from the self life_.  The seventh chapter\nof Romans is just the cry of a breaking heart and reaches its climax in\nthe twenty-fourth verse, \"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver\nme from the body of this death?\"  But the deliverance is in the eighth\nchapter, especially in the second verse, \"For the law of the Spirit of\nlife in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.\"\nWhat a mercy this is!\n\nSixth: _For those of us who believe there is no condemnation_.  Romans\n8:1, \"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in\nChrist Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.\"\nJudgment is past because he has been judged.  We have nothing to do\nwith the great white throne; Christ as our substitute has met sin's\npenalty and paid our debts.  What a mercy this is!  No wonder Paul is\nthrilled with the thought of it.\n\nSeventh: _No separation_.  Romans 8:38-39, \"For I am persuaded, that\nneither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,\nnor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any\nother creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,\nwhich is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\"  So that for time we are safe and\nour eternity is sure.  Was there ever such a catalogue of mercies?  In\nthe light of all this the Apostle exclaims, \"I beseech you therefore,\nbrethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living\nsacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service\"\n(Romans 12:1).\n\nIt is a good thing to study Paul's \"_therefores_.\"  He is a logician of\nthe highest type.\n\nIn Romans 5:1, there is the \"_therefore of justification_.\"\n\nIn Romans the eighth chapter and the first verse there is the\n\"_therefore of no condemnation_.\"\n\nIn Romans the twelfth chapter and the first verse there is the\n\"_therefore of consecration_,\" and this as a matter of fact is the\noutline of the Epistle.\n\n\nII\n\n_Present your bodies_.  This means the entire yielding of one's self to\nChrist.  It corresponds to the Old Testament presentation of the burnt\noffering all of which was consumed.  Back in the Old Testament times\nfor fourteen years there had been no song in the temple, for it was\nfilled with rubbish and uncleanness, but the rubbish was put away and\nthe uncleanness vanished, the burnt offering was presented and the song\nof the Lord began again.  If you have lost your song and have been\ndeprived of the harmony of heaven then present your bodies a living\nsacrifice.\n\nThere is a threefold division in man's nature.\n\n_The Spirit_, where God abides if we are his children.  This is like\nthe holy of holies.\n\n_The Soul_, which is the abode of the man himself.\n\n_The Body_, which is the outer court.\n\nWhen Christ was crucified the veil of the temple was rent in twain and\nthe whole was like one great compartment.  I cannot but think that if\nwe should come to the place of complete consecration, the acceptance in\nour lives of what was purchased for us when he was crucified, for us\nthe veil of the temple would be rent in twain and not only would God\nabide in our spirits but he would suffuse our whole nature, look with\nour eyes, and speak with our lips.  This must have been what Paul meant\nwhen he said, \"I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.\"\n\n\nIII\n\n_A living sacrifice_.  That is in contrast with the dead offering of\nthe Old Testament sacrifice.  Suppose for a moment that it would have\nbeen possible for an offering to have been presented in the Old\nTestament times and then after that for it to have lived again; it is\ninconceivable that this offering would have been put to any unholy use.\nI have many times tried to imagine the surprise of the son of the widow\nof Nain and the daughter of Jairus after their being raised from the\ndead.  They certainly could not have lived selfish, sinful lives again,\nand I am sure that Lazarus when once he had been in the grave and was\nraised at the voice of the Master could never again have been worldly\nand unclean.  But let it not be forgotten that we are a risen people;\nwe were crucified with Christ, we died with Christ, we were buried with\nChrist, we have risen with Christ!  How then ought we to live?\n\nIn one of our western cities a minister told me recently of a young man\nwho had graduated at a school for stammerers and came to see him one\nday.  Keeping time with his fingers in the use of his words he said\nslowly:\n\n\"I--want--to--speak--to--you.\"  Without following his method of speech\nthrough I will quote what he said: \"I have for a long time wanted to be\na Christian and was ashamed to attempt to speak when it was so\nimperfectly done, but now I have graduated and I have the control in\npart at least of my speech, and I have come to you to-day to make my\nconfession, for the first use I make of my voice must be the confession\nof him who loved me and gave himself for me.\"\n\n\nIV\n\n_Your reasonable service_.  It is a reasonable service,\n\nFirst: Because God uses human instrumentality and he needs you, and it\nis therefore a reasonable demand to make, for we should place ourselves\nabsolutely at his disposal.\n\nIn the guest book of a friend I saw recently a few lines written by Dr.\nJohn Willis Baer in which he said, quoting from another:\n\n\"God gave himself for us.\n\n\"God gave himself to us.\n\n\"God wants to give himself through us.\"\n\nBut if our lives are inconsistent and our hearts are unclean he cannot\ndo it.  If we have not yielded ourselves altogether God himself is\nlimited.\n\nSecond: It is a reasonable request to make because of what God has done\nfor us.\n\nOne of the distinguished ministers of the Presbyterian Church told us\nthe other day in a conference in a western city that a little boy who\nhad been operated upon by Dr. Lorenz said as soon as he came out from\nunder the anesthetic, \"It will be a long time before my mother hears\nthe last of this doctor\"; and then, said my friend, \"I thought of an\nincident in my own life of a poor German boy whose feet were twisted\nout of shape, whose mother was poor and could not have him operated\nupon, and I determined to bring him to a great doctor and ask him to\ntake him in charge.  The operation was over and was a great success.\nWhen the plaster cast had been taken off from his feet my friend said\nhe went to take him home.  He called his attention to the hospital and\nthe boy admired it, but he said, 'I like the doctor best.'  He spoke of\nthe nurses and the boy was slightly interested, but said, 'They are\nnothing compared to the doctor.'  He called his attention to the\nperfect equipment of the hospital and he was unmoved except as again\nand again he referred to the doctor.  They reached the Missouri town\nand stepped out of the station together, and the old German mother was\nwaiting to receive him.  She did not look at her boy's face nor at his\nhands but she fell on her knees and looked at his feet and then said\nsobbing, 'It is just like any other boy's foot.'  Taken into her arms,\nthe minister said all the boy kept saying to her over and over was,\n'Mother, you ought to know the doctor that made me walk.'\"\n\nThen my friend said, \"There is not one of us for whom Jesus Christ has\nnot done ten thousand times more for us than the doctor did for this\nboy, and we have never spoken for him, we have not yielded ourselves to\nhim.\"  It must have been with some such spirit as this that the Apostle\nsaid, \"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that\nye present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable\nservice\" (Romans 12:1).\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRUE CHRISTIAN LIFE\n\nTEXT: \"_My beloved is mine, and I am his._\"--Sol. Song 2:16.\n\n\"_I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine._\"--Sol. Song 6:3.\n\n\"_I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me._\"--Sol. Song 7:10.\n\nThese three texts should be read together, and the significant change\nfound in each text as the thought unfolds should be studied carefully.\nThey remind one of three mountain peaks one rising higher than the\nother until the third is lifted into the very heavens.  Indeed, if one\nshould live in the spirit of this third text he would enjoy what Paul\nhas described as a life in the heavenly places, and his picture of\nChrist would be surpassingly beautiful.  At the same time the three\ntexts give us a complete picture of a true Christian life.  The first\ntext may be regeneration, the second text consecration, and the third\ntext sanctification.\n\nThe Jews counted this Book, the Song of Solomon, as exceedingly sacred.\nThey hid it away until the child had come to maturity before he was\nallowed to read it, and it was to them the holy of holies of the Old\nTestament Scripture.  These texts are also like the division of the\nancient tabernacle.  There was first of all the outer court where the\naltar of sacrifice was to be found--and this must be constantly kept in\nmind, for no one can say \"my beloved is mine\" until he has passed the\naltar of sacrifice.  It is only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are\nadopted into the membership of the family of God.\n\nThe second division was the holy place, where was found the laver.\nHere the priests made themselves clean, and they could not minister in\nthe presence of Jehovah until they had been made clean from all earthly\ndefilement.  This second text gives us the same thought, for here the\nwriter changes the order exactly and says, \"I am my beloved,\" instead\nof saying, \"My beloved is mine.\"  This is consecration and the\nconsecration of a clean life.  God will not accept or use that which is\nunclean, and it is only as we come to the place where we allow him to\nhave full control of our lives that we realize we are his.\n\nThe third division of the tabernacle was the holy of holies, where the\nhigh priest made his way once a year that he might stand in the\npresence of Jehovah.  In this third text, where the writer says, \"I am\nmy beloved's, and his desire is towards me,\" we have come to the place\nin our experience where if his desire for us controls our living we are\nin the holy of holies indeed; where we can see him and enjoy his\npresence.\n\n\nI\n\n\"_My beloved is mine._\"  This is regeneration.  A minister once\npreaching to his congregation said, \"Let every one say Jesus,\" and from\nall over the congregation there came the music of his name.  \"Now,\"\nsaid the minister, \"Let all those who can, say 'my Jesus,'\" and the\nresponse was not so hearty.  A line ran through the congregation\nseparating husband from wife and parents from children.  It is only by\nfaith in Christ and by the operation of the grace of God that we can\nexperience this first text.  Two things are true concerning this point.\n\nFirst: He wants to make better all that we have.  Whatever may be our\nnatural characteristics, he can make all that we have more beautiful.\n\nOne day in Colorado I wanted to make a journey to the summit of Pike's\nPeak, only to find that throughout the entire day the train was\nchartered.  I was turning away in despair when a railroad man said,\n\"Why do you not go up at three o'clock to-morrow morning, for then,\" he\nsaid, \"you can see the sun rise, and the sight is beautiful.\"  So the\nnext morning we started.  Just as I was going on the train a railroad\nman said, \"When you come to the sharp turn in the way as you go up,\nlook over in the Cripple Creek district and you will see a sight never\nto be forgotten.\"  We climbed higher and higher, leaving the darkness\nat the foot of the mountain, until at last we came to the place\nindicated and I looked away, only to be intensely disappointed.  The\nsight was almost commonplace.  As we pursued the journey upward finally\nwe came to another place, where I heard some one give an exclamation of\ndelight.  As I looked in the same direction there was a marvelous\ntransformation.  I could see before me a mountain which looked like a\nwhite-robed priest and another like a choir of angels and still another\nlike a golden ladder reaching up into the skies, and all because the\nsun had risen upon the same scenery which a moment ago was\nuninteresting.  If Christ could only thus take possession of our lives\nand become our Savior the transformation would be quite as great.\n\nSecond: He is ours to exercise in our behalf all that he is as Prophet,\nPriest and King.  His office of Prophet relates to the past, his office\nof King to the future when he shall be crowned King of kings and Lord\nof lords, but his office as Priest is now being fulfilled and he is my\ngreat High Priest to intercede for me with God and make explanation for\nall my weakness.\n\nAdelaide Proctor has given us the story of a young girl who was in a\nconvent in France, whose special work it was to attend the portal and\nkeep the altar clean.  The war swept over France, the battle raged near\nthe convent, many of the soldiers were killed and a number injured.\nThese were borne into the hospital that they might be nursed back to\nstrength, and one of them was given to this young girl.  Her nursing\nwas successful, but he tempted her to leave the convent.  They made\ntheir way to Paris, where she lost everything that makes life worth\nliving.  Then, just a wreck of her former self, she came back again to\ndie within the sound of the convent bell.  She touched the portal and\ninstantly it was opened, not by a girl such as she had been but by a\nwoman such as she might have been--true and noble.  She bore her in her\narms to her old cell, nursed her back again to a semblance of her old\nstrength, and then she slipped into her old place to answer the portal\nand keep the altar clean, and not a nun in all the convent ever knew\nthat she had sinned.  This is Christ's ministry in our behalf at this\ntime.  Making up for my weakness, answering for my defects, he is my\nHigh Priest.\n\n\nII\n\n\"_I am my beloved's._\"  This is really better than the first text,\nbecause if he is mine, and faith is like a hand of the soul, then faith\nmay grow weary and the result would be sad; if I am his and he holds me\nthen that is different.  In John the tenth chapter, the twenty-eighth\nto the thirtieth verses, we have a picture of the true sheepfold and of\nthe place where the child of God may rest, held in the hand of God and\nof his dear son.  \"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall\nnever perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  My\nfather, which gave them unto me, is greater than all; and no man is\nable to pluck them out of my Father's hand.  I and my Father are one.\"\nWhat a joy it is to know that we are his!\n\nFirst: His by redemption, for we are redeemed not with corruptible\nthings such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.\n\"Ye are not your own but ye are bought with a price.\"\n\nSecond: We are his because God gave us to him; in his wonderful\nintercessory prayer Jesus said, \"Thou gavest them to me,\" and again,\n\"Ye are not our own.\"\n\nThird: We are his because again and again we have said so with our\nlips.  How true the text is, then, in the light of the Scripture!  If\nthis is true then what is consecration?  It is not giving God\nsomething, for how could we give him that which is already his own?\nConsecration is simply taking our hands off and letting him have his\nway with us in everything.\n\nThe late George Macgregor used to tell the story of one of the bishops\nof the Church of England, who had an invalid wife and who never could\nsurrender beyond a certain point.  He was unwilling to say that he\nwould give up his wife, for God might call him to some mission he could\nnot perform, and she had been the constant object of his care.  But at\nlast he won the victory and rose from his knees to say to his friend\nthat the surrender should be complete, and then they went into the room\nof his invalid wife to tell her.  With a sweet smile upon her face she\nsaid, \"I have reached the same decision and you can go to the ends of\nthe earth if need be.\"  That night the old bishop's wife died and when\nthey went across the hall to tell the bishop there was no answer to\ntheir knock.  When they entered the door they found the bishop with\neyes closed, hands folded and heart still.  He, too, had gone.  God did\nnot want to separate them.  He wanted them to be united, their wills\nsurrendered to him and then he would send them in the same chariot up\ninto heaven.\n\n\nIII\n\n\"_I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me._\"  If we would know\nGod's desire for us we have only to study the Scriptures, and if we\nshould fulfill his desires we would have an experience of heaven upon\nearth.\n\nFirst: It is his desire that we should be holy.  Ephesians 1:4,\n\"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the\nworld, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.\"\nHoliness in not sinlessness, it is to the spiritual nature what health\nis to the physical life.  In other words, God desires that we should be\nspiritually healthy, and this we cannot be with secret sins in our\nlives.\n\nSecond: It is his desire that we should be sanctified.  1 Thessalonians\n4:3, \"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye\nshould abstain from fornication.\"\n\nSanctification is not sinlessness, it is separation.  It is absolutely\nuseless to think of pleasing God if we are in touch with the world in\nany way, for since the days of the crucifixion it has been against him.\n\nThird: It is his desire that we should present ourselves unto him in\nthe sense above suggested--namely, that we should take our hands off\nfrom ourselves and allow him to direct and to control his own\npossession.  Romans 12:1-2, \"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the\nmercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,\nacceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not\nconformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your\nmind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,\nwill of God.\"  Romans 6:13, \"Neither yield ye your members as\ninstruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God,\nas those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments\nof righteousness unto God.\"  In these expressions the tense of the verb\nindicates that the action is to be definite and that it is to be once\nand for all.  He has certain desires for us also expressed in the\nseventeenth chapter of John.\n\nFirst: He desires that we should have joy.  Joy is better than\nhappiness; happiness depends upon our surroundings and circumstances,\njoy has nothing to do with these but rather is the result of centering\nour affections upon him.\n\nSecond: He desires that we should be one with him.  By this I am sure\nhe means that we should be one in our thought of sin, one in our desire\nfor holiness, one in our efforts to reach the unsaved, and one in our\nlonging in all things to be pure and true and good.\n\nThird: He desires to make us the object of his love.  In this\nseventeenth chapter of John he tells us that the same love which he had\nfor his son he has for those of us who are in his Son.  Thank God for\nthis.  If he must open the windows of heaven to speak forth his love\nfor that Son and then has the same for us, oh, what joy it is to be a\nChristian!","title":"And Judas Iscariot: Together with other evangelistic addresses","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":68086}