{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36662/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36662","id":"gutenberg_36662","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36662","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by David E. Brown, Hazel Batey, Bryan Ness and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscribers Note:\nPage   7 cocoanut changed to cocoa nut\nPage   7 overtops changed to over tops\nPage  33 ensample changed to example\nPage  68 reoice changed to rejoice\nPage  68 Bastile changed to Bastille\nPage  72 in-coming changed to incoming\nPage  73 undercurrents changed to under-currents\nPage 107 caldron changed to cauldron\nPage 111 strengeneth changed to strengthenth\nPage 112 scarifice changed to sacrifice\nPage 151 inclosed  changed to enclosed\nPage 152 usally changed to usually\nPunctuation has been moved inside enquotes where it was outside\n\n\n\n\n    The Palm Tree Blessing\n\n    A discourse on the various characteristics of the palm tree,\n    illustrating the many features of the sanctified, Christian life.\n\n    _By_ Evangelist W. E. Shepard\n\n    _Author of_ \"Wrested Scriptures Made Plain\" Etc.\n\n    NAZARENE PUBLISHING HOUSE KANSAS CITY, MO.\n\n\n\n\n    COPYRIGHT, 1913 NAZARENE PUBLISHING HOUSE\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    CHAPTER ONE\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS BEAUTY                   7\n\n    CHAPTER TWO\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS STRAIGHTNESS            11\n\n    CHAPTER THREE\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS PERENNIAL FRESHNESS     14\n\n    CHAPTER FOUR\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS FRUITFULNESS            19\n\n    CHAPTER FIVE\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR SWEETNESS OF ITS FRUIT      26\n\n    CHAPTER SIX\n\n    THE PALM TREE BEARS FRUIT IN ITS OLD AGE               34\n\n    CHAPTER SEVEN\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS UTILITY                 41\n\n    CHAPTER EIGHT\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS APPRECIATED                           56\n\n    CHAPTER NINE\n\n    THE PALM TREE WILL GROW IN THE DESERT                  66\n\n    CHAPTER TEN\n\n    THE PALM TREE FINDS THE WATER                          71\n\n    CHAPTER ELEVEN\n\n    THE PALM TREE GETS OTHERS STARTED                      76\n\n    CHAPTER TWELVE\n\n    THE PALM TREE MOUNTS HEAVENWARD                        81\n\n    CHAPTER THIRTEEN\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS PECULIAR IN ITS GROWTH                86\n\n    CHAPTER FOURTEEN\n\n    THE PALM TREE HAS A ROUGH, COARSE EXTERIOR, BUT IS\n        SOFT AT THE HEART                                  89\n\n    CHAPTER FIFTEEN\n\n    THE LIFE OF THE PALM TREE IS AT THE CENTER             96\n\n    CHAPTER SIXTEEN\n\n    THE PALM BRANCH IS THE SYMBOL OF VICTORY              113\n\n    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN\n\n    THE PALM TREE WILL NOT ADMIT OF GRAFTING              128\n\n    CHAPTER EIGHTEEN\n\n    THE PALM TREE IS ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES             142\n\n    CHAPTER NINETEEN\n\n    PALM TREE PECULIARITIES                               146\n\n        a. _The Explosive Flower._\n\n        b. _The Living Sacrifice._\n\n        c. _The Foreign Missionary._\n\n        d. _Differences in Size and Form._\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction\n\n    \"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.\"--Psalm 92:12.\n\nWherever the Holy Spirit in the inspired Word has made any statement\nconcerning anything, whether in regard to flowers, fruit, agriculture,\nhorticulture, stock raising, minerals, earth, sea, sky, stars, science,\nreligion, or what not, rest assured that statement is absolutely\ncorrect. There may be some statements which are hard to understand at\nfirst, but which may become perfectly clear when proper light is thrown\nupon them.\n\nThe Word of God abounds in comparisons. It says the wicked are \"like the\ntroubled sea,\" the backslider like the dog \"turned to his own vomit\nagain; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.\" In the\nfirst Psalm it says the ungodly \"are like the chaff which the wind\ndriveth away,\" but on the other hand the godly are \"like a tree planted\nby the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his\nleaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.\"\n\nWherever God has compared the godly or the ungodly with anything, He\ncertainly understood the case and made no mistake.\n\nIf one is not sure of his spiritual standing, it might be well to select\nsomething to which God has likened him, and then note the difference.\n\nAmong the most beautiful comparisons in the Word is this: \"_The\nrighteous shall flourish like the palm tree_.\"\n\nThe object of this little book is to show some of the characteristics of\nthe palm tree blessing. Let the reader not forget to keep before his\nmind the thought of measuring up, and in that way be able to determine\nwhether he belongs to the class mentioned. Please do not think of\nneighbor So-and-so, but keep your thought on your own personal\nexperience.\n\n\n\n\nThe Palm Tree Blessing\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS BEAUTY\n\n\nIt is certainly one of the most beautiful trees in nature. That is why\nso many are used in decorating the premises. People do not plant scrub\noaks in their gardens, but they plant nature's beauties.\n\nIn the palm tree realm we have a large variety, of different sizes, such\nas date, fan, and cocoa nut, and in them all it seems that God laid\nHimself out to make something charming to behold.\n\nWhen He compared the saint with the palm tree, it signified that there\nis something in him that is beautiful. One may be counted homely, or\ndisfigured by some mark of nature or accident; but in spite of all he\ncan have God's beauty shining out from his face and life. It matters not\nhow he may be marked with some naturally undesirable feature, in spite\nof all, the palm tree saint has the effulgence of the upper-world glory,\nwhich over tops it all, and there shines forth real, heavenly beauty. So\nthere is hope for all.\n\nThat beautiful daughter of King David, and sister to Absalom, who was\nthe finest looking man of his day, was called Tamar, which is the Hebrew\nword for _palm_. Doubtless she was called Tamar on account of her\nbeauty. Absalom named his daughter Tamar for this same reason: \"And unto\nAbsalom there was born three sons and one daughter, whose name was\nTamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.\"\n\nMoses was so close to God and heaven during those days on the mount,\nthat his face literally shone. And just in proportion as people today\nget close to the upper world, will God cover them with His celestial\ncosmetics. This far surpasses the paint and powder and Circassian cream\nof a frivolous and fashion-loving world. If people only knew it, the\nmore of these--and of dead birds, rag posies, and glittering\ngewgaws--they put on, the more unbecoming they appear, and the more any\nnatural beauty they chance to have is covered up. Whenever a woman\nbesmears her face with paint and powder, hoping to cover up what she may\nthink to be unseemly, she might as well carry a placard bearing this\ninscription:\n\n     To whom it may concern: This is to certify that I am homely, and am\n     trying to cover up the fact by the use of paint and powder, thus\n     hoping to deceive the public.\n\n\n     SIGNED--O. C. PRIDE.\n\n\n\n\"The King's daughter is all glorious within.\" And because of this it\nworks out, and so, with God's glory upon one, surely there is no need of\nthe world's adornments to supplement God's handiwork. \"The ornament of\na meek and quiet spirit\" is the adorning which all should seek, and all\nmay obtain.\n\nThe climax of trinket wearing is to be found in the heathen world. There\nthey deck themselves literally from head to heel. They puncture ears,\nlips, and nose to find more room for their jewelry. God's arraignment of\nHis people in the third chapter of Isaiah for patterning after the\nheathen customs is appalling, and we wonder that the translators of the\nBible had the ingenuity to ferret out all the different kinds of\ntrumpery in that dead language and find their proper expression in\nEnglish. When the writer was a boy going to a country school, he was\ntold by the teacher that barbarians wore jewelry, and in proportion as\npeople did the same today they were barbarian. We once stepped into a\nrestaurant in the city of Omaha, and noticed a woman seated at one of\nthe tables. The sight of her hand eclipsed anything we had ever seen.\nThere were rings galore. We do not remember the number on her fingers,\nbut she had so many, it looked as if she had not room enough on her\nfingers, so she actually had one on her thumb. Doubtless she thought\nthis added to her beauty. We once saw a fortune teller with large rings\nin her ears, three chains around her neck, seven rings on her fingers\nand eight bracelets on the wrists.\n\nHow different is all this from the beauty which the Holy Spirit gives!\nWe have seen the faces of some saints that verily shone with the\nbrightness of the indwelling Christ within. Sometimes in deathbed\nscenes God has lifted the curtain just enough to let a little of\nheaven's halo fall across the features, and how it lighted up the face\nand made it radiant with a glory which at once was known to be\nunearthly. God surely knows how to beautify His people.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS STRAIGHTNESS\n\n\nThere is something in the very nature of this remarkable production,\nthat scarcely allows of any departure from the perpendicular. The palm\ntree will grow straight. One seldom sees a crooked one. We remember\nseeing one, but it was dead.\n\nNow, if we have the palm tree blessing, we are spiritually straight.\nGod's people are straight. They are straight in their homes, in the\nchurch, in their business, with the world, with each other and with God.\nIn their business deals they will not stoop to any underhanded trickery\neither on a big scale or little. They will even swear to their own hurt\nand change not. They will put themselves out to hunt up the conductor in\norder to pay their nickle fare before they leave the car. They never\nleave the counter with a surplus of change if they know it. They are\ncareful about not using many words in buying and selling. They never\ncover up the defects and make prominent the good points in their deals.\nThey endeavor to observe the Golden Rule, doing unto others as they\nwould have others do to them. They will surely overcome any stingy\nelement in their makeup, if previously possessed with such a factor.\nThey will not lavish their homes and let God's cause languish. Their\nearthly store belongs to God, and they recognize His right to draw upon\nthem whenever He chooses.\n\nOne of the greatest stumbling blocks to the world today is the\ncrookedness of so many so-called saints. The world knows when we walk\nstraight. They may call one an old fogy, brand him as a fanatic, say he\nhas gone crazy over religion, but at the same time they will say, \"He\npays his grocery bills.\" And perchance a sinner is dying and wants\nprayer, he will send for the very one he called fanatical and crazy. Do\nyou think, dear reader, that you would be the one he would call upon for\nprayer?\n\nThe story is told of a man who was felling a tree, and was buried\nbeneath the branches as it fell. On being extricated he was found to be\nmortally injured. A physician was summoned, and saw at once that the\npoor man must soon die. Being interested in his spiritual welfare, he\ntold the man plainly that he could not live, and advised him to make his\npreparation to meet God, suggesting at the same time that he send for a\ncertain neighbor who was a deacon in the church. Upon the mention of\nthis deacon's name, the dying man recoiled, and said, \"I hate him. He\nhas lived alongside of me for years and has never said a word to me\nabout my soul.\"\n\nIt is said that the palm tree has such a natural tendency to grow\nstraight, that it will not grow crooked though heavy burdens be placed\nupon it. It will push up in spite of all the load, and simply remain\nstraight. How like God's true saint! Satan has many burdens with which\nto break his back, or cause him to deviate from the straight course, but\nwith this blessing, he is enabled to rise in spite of all and be a\nperfectly perpendicular pilgrim. Praise the Lord! Business burdens,\ndomestic duties, religious responsibilities would crowd in and hold us\ndown, or shift our course upward, but He who carries our cares, and\nbears our burdens will bring us up straight if we but look constantly to\nHim.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nIT IS NOTED FOR ITS PERENNIAL FRESHNESS\n\n\nThe palm tree is an evergreen. It always has a fresh, green crown on\ntop, on the heavenly side. Some parts may wither; some leaves fade and\nfall in time, but up at the top is a never-fading, fresh, beautiful\ncrown that basks in the open sunlight and is a beauty to behold. Now,\npilgrim, press up alongside of this characteristic and see if you have\nthe mark.\n\nThe palm tree blessing is always a fresh blessing. Those who are so\nfortunate as to have this experience have a freshness about them that\nmakes others desire it. There is nothing stale nor dry in their\ntestimonies or prayers. With this beautiful characteristic, one does not\nsay over the same old testimony, repeat the same stereotyped prayer at\nfamily worship, nor ask the same blessing at the table over and over.\nYou might note the next time you say grace at the table, and then ask\nyourself if you have the palm tree blessing.\n\nHow refreshing some people's testimonies always are! We are sure to get\nsomething new. Even if it is old, it is set forth in a new garb, and\npeople enjoy it and get blessed. They have a perennial freshness in\ntheir lives, and a storehouse from which to draw, so that they are\nalways enabled to bless a congregation whenever they are present.\n\nThere are some saints that are always in demand in meetings because they\nare so juicy and blessed. There is such a crown of rejoicing toward\nheaven in it all, that the meeting is sure to rise in interest and power\nwhenever they take part.\n\nHave you ever noticed a meeting that begins to rise with each succeeding\ntestimony? One speaks and the spiritual thermometer goes up a little,\nthen another in the Spirit talks out his heart, and up goes the\ntemperature another degree or so, and thus it rises till it reaches a\ngood, warm level, when suddenly some one arises and instantly down goes\nthe thermometer. The meeting has cooled off several degrees. What was\nthe matter? Will you kindly notice the next time you testify, and see if\nthe thermometer goes up or down? Then ask yourself about this blessing,\nproviding you cooled the meeting off.\n\nWhat is the reason, when some people talk or pray, the saints seem to be\nso glad? They take it for granted that they are going to get something\nhelpful and interesting, and that the meeting will get a boost. On the\nother hand, why is it when certain others take part, there is a sort of\ninward sigh, \"uttered or unexpressed,\" and a settling down to endure the\nordeal till he gets through? We will let the reader answer. Oh, to be\nfresh, and free, and full of the Spirit all the time!\n\nThe Word declares that \"where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is\nliberty.\" The liberty of the Spirit always makes a meeting fresh and\nhelpful. One of the prevailing hindrances in the Christian life is\nquenching the Spirit. The command is, \"Quench not the Spirit\" and we\nhave no right to disobey that injunction any more than any other. We\nhave seen people pray through at the altar and get wonderfully blessed\nand have much of the freedom of the Spirit, and after a few days when\nthe Spirit desired again to manifest Himself through them, they have\nshrunk back through timidity, quenched the Spirit and leaked out in\ntheir experience. Does God make provision for any one to have any less\nliberty and freedom of Spirit later on in his Christian life? I trow\nnot. Look to it then that you do not frustrate the grace of God in your\nhearts. If you were ever turned loose in a meeting, or, under the\nblessing of God you ran off with the meeting, see to it that you lose\nnot your liberty, for the Lord may call upon you some other time to\nswing loose and take things by storm.\n\nThe story is told of Amanda Smith, the colored evangelist, who felt one\ntime that she should lift her hand in the service and say, \"Glory to\nGod.\" At first she wondered if that was best under the circumstances,\nbut felt the prompting was of the Lord, so she lifted her hand and\nshouted it out. Immediately the blessing of God was precipitated upon\nthe congregation and a wonderful time of freedom was the result. We knew\na brother who said he felt impressed once to do a similar thing, but he\nallowed something to hold him back, and so grieved the Spirit, and he\ndeclared it took him two weeks to pray back to God. It pays to obey\nGod. He will surely put His Spirit upon those whom He can trust. He will\ngive all the liberty we will use. We never need to pray for freedom in\nthe meetings, for all we have to do is to help ourselves. Imagine a\nchild coming home hungry, and asking his mother for some bread and\nbutter. His mother says, \"There is the pantry, child, help yourself.\"\nThe child teases further for bread and butter. Once more the kind parent\ninforms him that the cupboard is handy, and he may help himself. But the\nchild continues to beg. What attitude would that parent finally take? It\nwould probably result in a good spanking. Imagine a child of God\ncontinually teasing the Lord for liberty, when He is constantly saying,\n\"Help yourself.\" The freedom will surely be on hand when we step out and\ndo our part.\n\nThe amusing story is told of Frederick Douglas who rose from slavery to\nquite a place in history. When in bondage in the South, he was wont to\npray the Lord to give him his freedom. But he said the Lord did not\nanswer his prayer. Again and again he prayed, but the Lord did not\nanswer his petition. \"One night,\" said he, \"I went out and set my eyes\non the North Star, and scratched gravel behind, and then the Lord\nanswered my prayer.\" No wonder the paper he afterwards edited was called\nthe _North Star_. If more people who are in bondage to fear, and are\nlonging at the same time for deliverance, would do as this man of color\ndid--set their spiritual eyes on the pole star of freedom, and scratch\ngravel--they would soon find their prayers for liberty answered.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nIT IS NOTED FOR ITS FRUITFULNESS\n\n\nIn the orient, where the date palm thrives the best, it is astonishing\nthe quantity of delicious fruit it bears. It affords one of the chief\nindustries, and is one of the principal articles of food.\n\nSeeing the inspired Word declares that the righteous flourish like the\npalm tree, it stands to reason that the righteous bear an abundance of\nspiritual fruit. Fruit-bearing is the chief characteristic of the saint.\n\"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have\nyour fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life\" (Rom. 6: 23). A\nnonfruit-bearing holiness is a nonentity.\n\n\"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away: and every\nbranch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more\nfruit\" (John 15:2). In other words, every Christian who ceases to bear\nfruit, becomes a backslider and is cut off; while every one that bears\nfruit, keeps connected with the True Vine, and gets cleansed, or\nsanctified. This statement simply means, then, that one must get\ncleansed, or lose what grace he has. These are solemn truths, and each\none should look well to his fruit bearing, and continue in the same.\n\n\"Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,\ngentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is\nno law\" (Gal. 5:22, 23). All palm tree saints are in the fruit business.\nThere is no law, says the text, against such a business. There is no law\nwritten in the Bible, or upon our hearts that opposes it. There is no\nlaw of nature that runs counter to it. The law of the land does not\nforbid one having love, joy, peace, or any of the other varieties. Even\nformal ecclesiastical law does not oppose one having love, joy, peace,\nor the others mentioned; but sometimes it raises a hue and cry, and\nbrings forth a storm of persecution when the outward manifestations of\nthis fruit intrude into their graveyard quietness, and thus disturb\ntheir death.\n\nGod gave the Israelites specific instructions what to do when they\ngained the Promised Land. He told them when they entered Canaan they\nwere to take of the fruit of the land and put it into a basket and go to\nthe proper place and say to the priest, \"I profess this day unto the\nLord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swore unto\nour fathers for to give us\" (Deut. 26:3). The spiritual application is\nthis: When one arrives at Canaan today, he should immediately have a\nfine basket of the fruit of the land, and go to the church and tell\npreacher and people, that in the providence and mercy of God he has\nreceived a clean heart full of pure love, or in other words, he has been\nsanctified wholly. But he must have his basket of fruit. Alas! too many\nare testifying these days to being \"saved and sanctified and sweetly\nkept,\" and when one looks for the basket of fruit, there is \"nothing but\nleaves,\" or perchance some peelings, stems and shells.\n\nAbraham Lincoln once said, \"You may fool some of the people all the\ntime, and all the people some of the time; but you can't fool _all_ the\npeople _all_ the time.\" The palm tree saint does not fool any of the\npeople any of the time. He simply has his basket of fruit with him, and\nif one is inclined to doubt his testimony, all he has to do is to look\ninto his basket and behold the grapes, figs, and pomegranates of Canaan.\nThis is what tells so on others who have not as yet arrived at the\nstation. When they see such delicious displays from the land of Beulah,\ntheir mouths begin to water, and there is an inward longing for some of\nthe same kind. But what a stigma upon the religion of Jesus Christ, when\none lays claim to Canaan experience, and has nothing to show for it but\nan empty basket!\n\nWhen the spies returned from their Canaan exploration they brought of\nthe fruit to Moses and said, \"We came unto the land whither thou sentest\nus, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of\nit\" (Num. 13:27). They carried the unmistakable proof with them. Let us\nsee to it that our testimonies are accompanied with their proper proof.\n\nThere is altogether too much failure in Christian service, because of\nthe excuse of lacking in talent. It is true that some have more talent\nthan others, but does that excuse those of one talent? The terrible\npunishment inflicted upon the one who nicely wrapped his one talent in\nthe napkin and laid it away, ought to alarm any who may be tempted to do\nlikewise. Those who are favored with more talents are held more\nresponsible to God for the use of them. It seems that God is not\nespecially hunting for brains to use in His service, as He is looking\nfor clean channels. If He can get the man of ten talents all consecrated\nto Him, very well and good; He will certainly use him to His own glory;\nbut He is also ready to work with and through the simple-minded as well.\nAnd frequently we find Him doing more through such a channel than where\nthere is ten times the talent. We copy the story of what God did through\na half-idiot boy as printed in the _Herald of Holiness_:\n\n\"One time,\" said Dr. Broughton, \"I remember beginning a meeting in an\nold, conservative church in one of the most conservative towns of the\nSouth. A large crowd had gathered to hear my first sermon. It was not\nmuch of a sermon, however, that they heard, but a good deal of\nproposition making.\n\n\"To begin with, I asked for all fathers who had unsaved sons to stand\nup. Nobody stood, however, except a little boy about twelve years old,\nwho sat far back in the congregation. He arose. He was not satisfied to\nstand, he got up on the seat and lifted his hands. He was determined to\nbe seen. Everybody laughed at the mistake, and I said, 'Young man, that\nwill do; sit down.' My next proposition was to mothers, but not a mother\nstood. The same little boy stood up, however. 'That will do,' said I;\n'sit down.' Then I went for the brothers and sisters. I made five\npropositions that night, and he responded to every one of them, and he\nwas the only one that paid any attention to them whatever. I went away\nfrom that meeting very much humiliated. The same was true of the\nservices on the next night and on through the services of three days. To\nevery proposition I made, he responded, and he was the only one who did.\nFinally, a deacon of the church came to me and said: 'That boy is a half\nidiot. The fact is, he is a whole idiot, and those people are coming to\nsee him perform. That is what they are coming for.'\n\n\"'Well,' said I, 'what do you think I ought to do about it?'\n\n\"'Why,' said he, 'stop him, of course.'\n\n\"I said, 'Stop him? Never! He is the only sign of life I have seen in\nthis town. I feel like paying him to go around with me to worry old\nconservative deacons. Talk about that boy! Why, he is the only spark of\nhope the church has in this town so far as I have been able to see. I\nwould not think of putting that light out.'\n\n\"'Well,' said the deacon, 'he has thrown a damper on your meetings.'\n\n\"I said, 'No, brother, you can not throw a damper on an icehouse, and\nthis old thing has been frozen over for twenty years.'\n\n\"'All right, said he, 'let the boy go on.'\n\n\"So it went on for the rest of the week. Now and then some other simple\nsoul would stand for prayer, but very seldom.\n\n\"At the close of the sermon the next Sunday morning, when I gave out the\ninvitation for those who wished to join the church to come forward, that\nboy walked up to the front. I asked the usual questions and took the\nvote and he was received.\n\n\"That night as I came into the church a man arose and said: 'Brother\nBroughton, I want to ask a prayer for a man who is in this house, one of\nthe honored citizens of our town and a man of eighty-five years of age,\nwho has not been in a church for twenty-five years until tonight. He has\nbeen known as a skeptic, but I see him here tonight, and I think he will\npardon me for making this request. I feel so deeply the weight of his\nsoul.'\n\n\"As soon he sat down the old man arose and said: 'Friends and neighbors,\nI am the man you are about to pray for. I want to tell you why I am here\ntonight. This little boy who sits here by my side is my grandson. You\nknow that he is an unfortunate lad. It is because of that we have loved\nhim so. This morning he came home and threw his arms around my neck and\nsaid, \"Oh, grandpa, I have got religion, and have joined the church. And\ngrandpa, I am so happy that I don't know what to do. I wish grandma was\nhere. Oh, grandpa, you know she went to heaven three months ago and I\nhave nobody to talk to about Jesus.\"' The old man said, 'Just as the\nchild said that, something struck my heart that had not struck it before\nsince I was a boy and left home to go to college. You can call it what\nyou please, but if you can, by your prayers, bring the grace of God into\nmy heart, I will be thankful.' Before we left that night he was\nconverted.\n\n\"The next morning the little fellow went out in the town and climbed\nover his father's bar counter, for he was a barkeeper, and said, 'Papa,\nwon't you come and go with me to hear our preacher?' He promised he\nwould that night, which he did, and at two o'clock the father was\nconverted.\n\n\"The next day he went out, declaring he was going to be a missionary to\nhis fellow saloon keepers. He got them, every one of them, to close up\ntheir places and come to church. There were seven in number, and during\nthat week six out of the seven gave their hearts to God, and all of them\nagreed to close up their business. A great revival broke out in that\ntown which extended all through the county, and several counties, and in\nsix months' time there was not a barroom in that county. Every barkeeper\nagreed to quit the business, and so far as I know, there has never been\none in the county until this day.\n\n\"Such a gracious revival of religion! How did it all come about? Not by\npreaching; not by great manipulations; not by great singing, valuable as\nthese all may be--they did not bring it about. It came about through a\nlittle half idiot boy, who had no better sense than to trust God the\nbest he knew and do his level best.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nIT IS NOTED FOR THE SWEETNESS OF ITS FRUIT\n\n\nAll palms are not of the same variety, but the date palm is the one\nspecially noted for its sweet fruit. When the orientals dry their dates\nand press them and ship them into our country, we then learn how nearly\nakin to sugar they are.\n\nThe righteous shall flourish in sweetness. Full salvation surely\nsweetens one's life and disposition. A sour holiness is a sham holiness.\nSome professors of religion look and act as if they were pickled instead\nof preserved.\n\nWhen God described the beauties and benefits of Beulah Land, He told the\npeople it was a land of honey. Honey was one of the leading commodities\nof Canaan. One of the prime factors of the palm tree blessing is\nspiritual honey. It is certainly a sweet experience, both in its inward\nenjoyment and outward manifestation. In the various tests of life one\nwill find the inward proclivities making way to the surface, and out of\nthe abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. Sister, do you find\nyourself saying, \"Praise the Lord,\" when the clothes line breaks, or the\nbread burns? What comes to the surface when your children tug at your\napron by the hour in their fretfulness? How is it when your neighbor's\nchickens clean up your radish and turnip patch? or husband scolds, or\nthe older children are disobedient and saucy? It is true one may be\ntried in these disappointing ordeals, and have the smile of heaven at\nthe same time, but is there an overcoming sweetness in it all that\nconvinces others that you have the palm tree blessing?\n\nPerhaps husband is smiling, as wife reads these lines; but how do you\nfeel when the horse balks, or the cow kicks the milk all over you? What\ndo you say when hammering, and you hit the wrong nail? How is your\nequilibrium at the midnight hour in zero weather when wife hunches you\nunder the fifth rib and notifies you that baby has the colic and\nrequests you to get up and make a fire? Do you smile and say,\n\"Certainly, dear,\" or do you growl and let her do it? Think of the palm\ntree blessing next time.\n\nA minister once asked his colored servant why he didn't get along\nbetter, while she always seemed so happy. She replied that it was\nbecause he read his Bible wrong. He could not understand that, for he\ncertainly knew how to read the Bible. She finally told him, where the\nBible said \"Glory in tribulation,\" he read it, \"Growl in tribulation.\"\n\nThe grace of gentleness and sweetness under trying circumstances is so\nscarce in this world, that it is indeed refreshing when we come in\ncontact with it. It is said of the mother of John and Charles Wesley,\nthat one of the children once asked some privilege and was denied with a\n\"no.\" The child was persistent and asked again, and the answer was\nagain, \"no.\" For some reason the interrogation was requested time and\nagain, and the patient mother responded \"no\" twenty times, and the last\ntime in the same tone of voice as the first. We might question the\npropriety of allowing a child to be so persistent, but we could not\nquestion the propriety of suffering long, with kindness on the farther\nend of it. We have been struck before now at the agitation and seeming\nimpatience of some leading holiness preachers when some disturbance was\nmade in the meeting; when a child cried, some one went out, or some\nunusual noise or commotion occurred. Almost anybody can keep sweet when\neverything goes their way, but the time to prove that a part of one's\nstock in trade is honey, is when the trying ordeals of life press in,\nand people are looking on to see if he has what he has been shouting\nover in the meeting.\n\nThere is a clause in the Bible that reads thus: \"The God of all grace.\"\nI do not know how much our God has, but it says in another place, \"He\ngiveth more grace.\" We believe that in every exigency of life, the grace\nof our God is sufficient. If a policeman on the street of some large\ncity met with some opposition as he was endeavoring to do his duty, he\nwould have the privilege, if unable to cope with the opposition alone,\nto call upon another officer. If these two were unable to overcome, they\ncould have the whole police force of the city at their disposal. If this\npower was not sufficient they could have the state militia, and\nperchance this should fail, the whole government is back of him, and\nwould call out the regular army. That police officer has the whole\ngovernment ready to back him up in doing his duty. So it is with the\nfaithful child of God. When he is suffered to pass through some trying\nordeal, and the present stock of grace is not sufficient, \"He giveth\nmore grace,\" and the \"God of all grace\" is at his disposal, and \"God is\nable to make all grace abound toward\" him, and He would call out the\nwhole stock of grace of heaven before He would allow the faithful soul\nto fail who relied upon Him.\n\nThese testing trials are what make solid Christian character. What would\nthe giant oak on the mountain side amount to, if it were not for the\nstorms that surge against it? These storms cause the roots to take\nstronger hold, and thus they grapple with earth and rock and become\npractically immovable. When the storms of trial and persecution sweep up\nagainst the pure in heart, they cause them to cleave the more to their\nProtector and send the roots of faith and love deeper into the Rock\nbeneath.\n\nWhat does the Word mean when it says, \"That the trial of your faith,\nbeing much more precious than of gold that perisheth?\" Does it not mean\nthat these testings of faith are worth much more than gold nuggets which\none might find in the street? Then why do we not act that way? Imagine\none walking along the road and stumbling against a big chunk of fine\ngold, and then looking down at the mouth and complaining at his\nmisfortune. No, if such a one had been discouraged just before, we think\nthis sudden find would dispel all his sorrow. How would it do for us to\nact as if we had found a nugget of gold, the next time some great trial\ncrosses our path? Would it be inconsistent to shout \"Glory to God! I\nhave something that is worth more to me than gold tried in the fire?\"\n\"Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,\" for \"Blessed is\nthe man that endureth temptation.\" Suppose one should come into a\nmeeting and testify that he had more trials than anybody in the world.\nWe have heard testimonies that tend in that direction. Usually the\nwitness looks as if it were about true. But what does God's Word say\nabout it? \"My grace is sufficient for thee.\" We believe that all true\npilgrims, as they journey through life, have at times all they can stand\nof trials and testings. And yet, \"there hath no temptation taken you but\nsuch as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you\nto be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also\nmake a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it\" (1 Cor. 10:13).\nNow, in the light of these Scriptures, we see, that in proportion to\none's trials, temptations, and testings, God puts alongside the\nsufficient grace to bear them. If one has more trial than another, and\nholds true to God, it only shows that he has more grace than another.\nNow, why doesn't the brother in the meeting who testifies that he has\nmore trials than anybody else, look up and shout himself hoarse at the\nabundance of grace the Lord has for him? Let us not be infidels, but\nactually believe the Word of God, and _act_ as if we believed it. Amen!\n\nIf the Devil can get us to grunt and growl when he kicks us, it\nencourages him to kick the more. Notice those pestiferous boys at\nschool. See them poking fun at that crying lad who declares he is going\nto tell his mother. The more he cries the more encouraged they feel to\nimpose upon him. Now watch them as they ply their game on some\nindependent chap. He just laughs at them and says, \"I don't care.\" Their\nfun is spoiled and one of them says, \"Come on, boys, we can't have any\nfun out of him.\" Why not try this method on the Devil? Instead of crying\nand complaining, and pitying yourself, just shout, \"Glory to God!\" when\nhe kicks you. He may try it again, but shout \"Hallelujah!\" right in his\nface. Methinks he will say, \"I don't understand that Christian; the more\nI kick him, the more he praises the Lord and shouts.\"\n\nThe explanation of Psa. 40:11 by that sunny, happy-hearted Christian\nknown as Aunt Sophia may not be far out of the way. \"Let thy loving\nkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.\" Aunt Sophia said, \"Dat\njust like de deah Lawd. He puts His trusting children right in de big\nsaucepan of His lub, and He sweetens dem wif de sweetness of His grace,\nso dey nebber get sour. And when you see one who is cross and fretful\nand gloomy, bress you, honies, dey is not preserved; dey's only\npickled!\"\n\nThere is nothing in the Scriptures that would indicate that any part of\nthe Christian life was made up of sour material. \"Vinegar never catches\nflies,\" and a sour, long-faced professor of religion is certainly a poor\nsample of Christ's handiwork. When the sweetness of the palm tree\nblessing enters the soul, the long face in the direction of north and\nsouth, shortens up, and lengthens out east and west. A preacher once\nentered a grocery store, and casting his eyes about, he discovered some\npackages on a shelf, with the following label on them: \"Warranted to\nkeep sweet in all climates.\" The company sending out the goods,\nevidently had much faith in their enduring qualities. They surely knew\nthat the contents might be subjected to heat and cold, wet and dry, high\nand low altitudes, at home and abroad. Yet they were ready to put on the\ngoods, \"Warranted to keep sweet in all climates.\" Surely, when our\nPreserver has put the finishing touches on His goods, He has included an\nelement of grace which warrants them to keep sweet in all climates. It\ndoes not seem hard for some to keep sweet when all goes their way; when\nnothing crosses their path; when all is fair sailing; but let the\nnagging, disappointing, galling trials incident to this life press in\nupon the soul, and the look, tone and talk are changed. The preserves\nhave been changed to pickles. Such a one could not well influence\nanother by his life and example to become a follower of the meek and\nlowly Jesus.\n\nWe may not always be aware of it, but surely others are watching us. Can\nwe say with Paul, \"Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them\nwhich walk, so as ye have us for an example?\" (Phil. 3:17). Again,\n\"Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard and\nseen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you\" (Phil. 4:9).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE PALM TREE BEARS FRUIT IN OLD AGE\n\n\nIt is a very long-lived tree. At the age of about thirty it seems to\nhave reached its height in fruitfulness, but will continue its prolific\nyield for seventy years more under proper conditions, so that at the\ncentury mark it is still flourishing. It is said that it bears its very\nsweetest fruit in its old age.\n\nIn the realm of grace God has not planned for spiritual declension in\nold age. The free grace of God is just as willingly bestowed then as in\ndecades before. The next verses which follow the statement: \"The\nrighteous shall flourish like the palm tree,\" bring out this glorious\ntruth. \"Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in\nthe courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;\nthey shall be fat and flourishing\" (Psa. 92:13, 14).\n\nDo we not often see old people, after they have possibly professed\nholiness for many years, in their declining days, take on a fretful,\ncross, murmuring spirit, and make it hard to get along with them?\nInstead of the little children delighting to be around them, if they\nshould express themselves, they would say, \"What is the matter with\ngrandpa; he is getting so crabbed and cross?\" One of the saddest and\nalso one of the most dangerous calamities that can befall an old\nChristian, is to lose the sweetness and juice and fruitfulness of early\npiety.\n\n\"The trees of the Lord are full of sap.\" This sap life is characteristic\nof the palm tree, and he who lacks the sweet juice of fresh life\nbubbling up in his heart should inquire into his experience.\n\nOne of the most encouraging and soul-inspiring examples to young\nconverts is the victorious faith and activities of the aged saints. How\nit blesses our souls when we stand in the presence of such an\noctogenarian. The fire still burning within, he is ready to pray, shout\nor testify at a moment's notice. There are many of God's old palm trees,\nthough they may have the word \"superannuated\" attached somewhere, yet\nthey are ever active in bringing forth fruit. Like the old horse that\nwas superannuated from the fire department, and was used in a delivery\nwagon, when he heard the fire bell ring, he champed his bits and struck\noff down the road and never stopped till he had backed up to the fire.\nLive meetings and revival fires set some of these old war horses going,\nand one would think they were surely renewing their youth. They love the\nway and will not rust out with advancing years.\n\nLook at the unceasing and untiring activities of John Wesley, much of it\nafter he had crossed the line of fourscore years. The following\ninformation concerning him is current in religious papers:\n\n\n\"HOW JOHN WESLEY WORKED\"\n\n\"His travels were immense, amounting to about 290,000 miles, or about\ntwelve times the circumference of the globe, making about 5,000 miles a\nyear.\n\n\"He preached before the days of steam or electricity, twenty sermons a\nweek, and often more. Most of these sermons were preached in the open\nair, and often amid showers of brickbats, rotten eggs, and personal\nviolence calculated to test the strongest nerve. A Baptist preacher\nrecently celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his pastorate. It was\nannounced as an unusual fact that he had preached an average of three\nsermons a week during the fifty years. But John Wesley preached on an\naverage, for fifty-four years, three sermons a day. The Baptist\nclergyman had preached during the time a little over 8,000 sermons. Mr.\nWesley preached in fifty-four years, more than 44,000 sermons. This did\nnot include numberless addresses and exhortations on a great variety of\noccasions.\n\n\"For many years he was editor of the 'Arminian Magazine,' a periodical\nof fifty-six pages--the work of one man in these times.\n\n\"He wrote and published a commentary on the whole Bible in four large\nvolumes.\n\n\"He compiled and published a dictionary of the English language--no\nsmall undertaking.\n\n\"He wrote and published a work of four volumes on natural philosophy.\n\n\"He wrote and published a work of four volumes on ecclesiastical\nhistory.\n\n\"He wrote and published comprehensive histories of England and Rome.\n\n\"He wrote grammars of the Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French, and English\nlanguages.\n\n\"He wrote, abridged, revised, and published a library of fifty volumes\nknown as the 'Christian Library,' and some time after he re-read,\nrevised, corrected, and published the whole in thirty large volumes.\nThis library contains one of the richest collections found in the\nEnglish language.\n\n\"He wrote a good-sized work on electricity.\n\n\"He prepared and published for the common people three works on\nmedicine.\n\n\"He published six volumes of church music. His poetical works, in\nconnection with his brother Charles, amounted to not less than forty\nvolumes. Charles wrote most of them, but they passed under the keen\nrevision of John, without which we doubt if Charles Wesley's hymns would\nhave been what they are--the most beautiful and soul-inspiring to be\nfound in the English language.\n\n\"In addition to these multiplied publications, we have seven large\nvolumes, including sermons, journals, letters and controversial papers\nknown as 'Wesley's Works.' It is claimed that Mr. Wesley's works,\nincluding abridgments and translations, amounted to at least two hundred\nvolumes. It is difficult to understand how a man could have found time\nto accomplish so much literary labor while perpetually on the wing.\n\n\"In addition to all this, Wesley was a pastor and did more real\npastoral work than nine-tenths of the pastors of these times. One has\nonly to read his journals to be convinced of this. For a time he visited\nall the class and band meetings, and had special charge of the select\nsocieties. He appointed all the class and band leaders, stationed all\nthe preachers, and had a general oversight of the many thousands of his\nfollowers.\n\n\"He improved every moment of the day. Mr. Fletcher, who was for some\ntime his traveling companion, says of him, 'His diligence is matchless.\nThough oppressed with the weight of seventy years, and the care of\n30,000 souls, he shamed still, by his unabating zeal and immense labors,\nall the young ministers of England, perhaps, of Christendom. He has\nfrequently blown the gospel trumpet and rode twenty miles before most of\nthe professors who despise his labors have left their downy pillows. As\nhe begins the day, the week, so he concludes them, still intent upon\nextensive service for the glory of the Redeemer and the good of souls.\n\n\"'From four o'clock in the morning until ten at night every moment was\noccupied in loving efforts to save the lost; and he never lost ten\nminutes from wakefulness at night, as he himself affirmed. His motto\nwas, \"always in haste, but never in a hurry.\" \"Leisure and I have taken\nleave of each other.\" \"Ten thousand cares are no more to me than ten\nthousand hairs on my head.\" \"I am never weary with writing, preaching or\ntraveling,\" are a few of the utterances of this remarkable man. And in\nthe midst of all this wonderful activity he says, \"I enjoy more hours of\nprivate retirement than any man in England.\"'\"\n\nNo wonder he could shout on his dying bed with the heavenly halo around\nhis head and say, \"The best of all is, God is with us.\"\n\nLook at that apostle of faith, George Muller, after he had prayed in\nmillions of dollars, cared for thousands of orphans, preached in many\nlands and sent missionaries throughout the world, still active for God\nbetween eighty and ninety years of age.\n\nThomas Mayhew was one of those early missionaries to the North American\nIndians. When on his way to the old country to seek further aid for his\nwork, he was lost at sea. His old father, then past his seventieth year,\nregarded this sad bereavement as God's call for him to fill the place\nmade vacant by the death of his son. He immediately began to study the\nIndian language, and went forth to carry on the mission of his son,\nwhich he did until his death at the age of ninety-three. In his travels,\nthe old man would often have to walk twenty miles through the woods to\npreach to the Indians. Surely, this was better than idle sorrow. It was\nbringing forth fruit in old age. He had the palm tree vitality and\nblessing.\n\nI am thinking just now of an aged minister. For over half a century he\nhas served God in the regular ministry, and now although over six years\npast the \"allotted time\" of life, he is untiring in his work and zeal\nfor God. He is up to date in all the departments of the work. He is\nsuperintendent of the home department of the Sunday school, and does\nwork like a pastor in his regular visitations. He enters open doors and\npreaches many sermons. He is a most zealous advocate of prohibition, and\nstands in the forefront ranks in pushing that important work, and is\npresident of the prohibition work in his community. His zeal for the\nforeign missionary field is most inspiring, and by faith, with all the\nother blessings of giving that he takes upon himself, he has just taken\na native missionary to support from his limited means. While he is so\nactive on all the live issues of the church, and is at his post to push\nand pull, yet he is seemingly most at home in the battle for souls. You\ncan count on him at the revival unless he is providentially hindered.\nAnd when the seekers line up at the altar, he is at hand to pray and\nshout the battle on. He has the word \"superannuated\" applied somewhere,\nbut we think it a misnomer and that a more appropriate word would be\n\"superabundant.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS UTILITY\n\n\nThe uses to which the different palm tree varieties are put are\nsomething marvelous in the extreme. There is nothing like it in all the\nvegetable world. All parts are utilized, from the trunk and branches to\nthe sap. From the branches they make cages for poultry, and fences for\ngardens. From the leaves they manufacture couches, baskets, bags, and\nmats. From the fiber they make thread, ropes, and rigging. From the sap\nis manufactured a drink, while seeds are ground up for provender for\ncamels.\n\nThe following will show some of the many uses of the various kinds of\npalms: Fuel, clothing, building material, tents, cages, crates, fences,\nthatching, bridges, masts, boats, oars, canes, umbrellas, umbrella\nsticks, couches, baskets, bags, matting, mattresses, hammocks, pillows,\ncushions, carpets, sail cloth, oakum, paste-board, kites, thread,\nfishlines, bowstrings, ropes, rigging, tables, stands, chairs,\nbedsteads, cradles, window blinds, brooms, brushes, utensils, cooking\nvessels, weapons, shields, tools, hooks, spear tips, arrow heads,\nneedles, fans, ornaments, hats, bonnets, musical instruments, paper,\nwriting paper, candles, wax, resin, tannin, dying materials, medicines,\ntonics, refreshing drinks, vinegar, sugar, starch, meal, bread, sago,\nsyrup for cooking, substitute for salt, oil for butter, oil for light\nand lubrication, and for making soap. And the carnal ingenuity of\ndepraved man has even discovered how he can get drunk on the fermented\njuices. Besides all these a substance is used in tanning leather. The\nshell of the stems is used for making gutters, timber for flooring and\nwharf material, stems for blowpipes for poisonous arrows. One kind of\npalm is used in the construction of rude suspension bridges. Another\naffords a substitute for ivory. One part is used for fattening hogs. It\nis said that the various uses are declared to be three hundred sixty.\nThus we see that it could be of some use about every day in the year.\nReader, are you flourishing like this, and good for something every day\nin the year?\n\nGod certainly intends us to be useful. It means something to fill one's\nsphere in the world as Christ intended. There is something more to do\nthan to plow corn, milk cows, and feed hogs; something more than to keep\nhouse, wash clothes and scrub floors. There is more at hand than the\nmere avocations of life, necessary as some of them are. God never called\nanybody to labor alone for the perishable things of this life. \"A man's\nlife consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.\" The\nreal business of every Christian is primarily to serve God, and glorify\nHim; the other services are merely incidental. The old shoemaker had it\nright. When asked what his business was, he replied: \"My business is to\nserve the Lord; but I make boots and shoes to pay expenses.\"\n\nEven those who are shut indoors through feeble health may find avenues\nfor usefulness, and do service that will tell for eternity. In Pasadena,\nCal., is a blind girl, and almost entirely deaf, yet she applies herself\nto the Lord's work, and makes articles for sale, devoting the proceeds\nto the foreign missionary work.\n\nA remarkable story has been published in the _Ladies' Home Journal_ of\nMarch 1, 1911, showing what a girl can do without hands and arms.\nThrough the kindness of The Curtis Publishing Company, we are permitted\nto insert the article in this book. It was written by the young lady\nherself.\n\n\"I was not born a cripple. Even as a child I did not always have to make\nhands of my feet. Indeed, till I was nine years old, I not only had arms\nand hands like other children, but I was also a strong, healthy, normal\nchild like my two brothers, who were older than I, and my sister, who\nwas two years younger. Our family was in poor and humble circumstances\nas far back as I can remember. My parents were both English, but my\nfather became naturalized as a citizen of this country in 1882--the year\nin which I was born.\n\n\"Since I grew up I have learned that my father and mother were in good\ncircumstances at the time of their marriage, and for some ten or twelve\nyears afterward; that my father was a steady, hard-working, kindly man;\nand that he and my mother were devoted to one another and were very\nhappy together. But after the birth of my brothers my mother was taken\nill and was in poor health for a long time. Then, just as she was at the\nworst of her illness, my father lost his position, and matters speedily\nbegan to go from bad to worse. A tendency to strong drink, which he had\nkept well curbed for my mother's sake, now began to get the better of\nhim. Her failing health made it impossible for her to look out for him\nas she had hitherto done. The new work which he succeeded in obtaining\nwas hard and distasteful, and the family grew poorer and poorer until at\nlast there were times when we had not enough of food and clothing, and\nthe charitable societies of Chicago, where we lived, began to look after\nus.\n\n\"In the summer just before my ninth birthday, I was one of a number of\nchildren who were sent into the country for a two-weeks' outing by the\nmanagers of a fresh air fund. Those were the two pleasantest weeks of my\nlife. The beautiful, green country, the grass, flowers, trees, and birds\ndelighted me. I was well and robust, and I ran and picked flowers and\nplayed and enjoyed myself to the utmost. A few weeks after I came home\nfrom this wonderful outing my mother died, and I became the housekeeper\nof the family. I was then just nine years old. I did the work as well as\nI could, although there was not much to do nor much to do it with, in\nthe bare place which we called 'home,' in the basement of a small city\ndwelling. Soon after I had lost my mother's companionship I lost my\nsister's also, for she was adopted by well-to-do people, whose identity\nI did not know and have never learned.\n\n\"On the afternoon of the following Thanksgiving day, while my brothers\nwere playing outdoors and my father and I were alone in the house, I was\nputtering about when I found a bottle filled with what I afterward knew\nmust have been whisky. Being only a child, and possessed of a child's\nthoughtless curiosity, I took a long drink from the bottle. The effect\nwas almost instantaneous. I grew weak and stupefied. At that moment my\nfather, who was in an adjoining room, told me to go and put some wood on\nthe kitchen range. I said that I felt sick and could not go, but he\ninsisted and I obeyed. No sooner had I got the lids off the range,\nhowever, than the combined effect of the liquor and the heat overpowered\nme, and I fell forward upon the open fire, unconscious.\n\n\"My younger brother, who came in from play and lifted me off, saved me\nfrom death. But at the hospital it was found necessary to amputate both\nmy arms. The burns about my neck and chest were severe, but not serious,\nand two months later I was discharged from the hospital. A state society\nfor the care of children had already arranged with my father to take\nfull control of me. A fund contributed to by generous people far and\nnear was raised for my support and education, and after spending some\nmonths in a nursery I became an inmate of the Home for Destitute\nCrippled Children in Chicago.\n\n\"In this home I was given instruction in the common school studies, and\nI learned to write and sew with my feet. After four years I was\ntransferred by the Illinois Home Society to the care of a private family\nin Wisconsin, where I lived for eight years, going to the public school\nand practically completing the high school course. During all this time\nI continued to learn how to make hands of my feet, and I have kept on\nperfecting myself in this necessary acquirement ever since. It has, of\ncourse, taken a great deal of perseverance and determination, and has\nrequired constant effort and practice, coupled with no little physical\nskill and suppleness. But it must be borne in mind that for nearly\ntwenty years I have been without hands and arms, and that during most of\nthis time I have had to wait on myself. So my feet have been in almost\ncontinual training. I have never found a task too hard to undertake nor\ntoo tedious to finish, and no one appreciates the truth of the old\nsaying, 'Where there's a will, there's a way,' better than I do.\n\n\"As a result, I have learned to dress myself, almost completely. I can\ntake a bath by myself, wash my face, brush my teeth, put on most of my\nclothes, and comb my hair when it is not too long. I can put on and take\noff my eyeglasses. I can use the scissors to cut paper, cloth, or any\nother material with which I am working, and then thread the needle, knot\nthe thread and do the necessary sewing. I can sweep and dust, mop and\nscrub, and even blacken stoves. I can sketch and draw, although I have\nnever had a lesson in these accomplishments and have acquired the little\nknowledge and skill I possess in this art solely by practice. In the\nsame way I have also learned to sharpen my own pencils, opening and\nclosing the knife myself. I have even made articles of furniture, such\nas small bookcases and writing desks, sawing all the lumber, driving the\nnails, putting on the hinges, and finally varnishing the completed\narticle. In short, I do with my feet almost anything that others do with\ntheir hands.\n\n\"At the close of my high school course I found myself, at the age of\ntwenty-one, left practically on my own resources. The fund which had\nbeen raised for me was exhausted, the obligation of the state society\nwhich had taken charge of me had ceased, my father had passed away, my\nbrothers were poor and could not help me, and my sister had gone out of\nmy life. For a while I earned a little money by selling my drawings,\nname-cards and other work. Then I gave exhibitions, in homes and\nelsewhere, of my skill with my feet. Eventually I found it possible to\nattend Taylor University at Upland, Indiana, and while there the hope I\nhad long cherished of some day being able to be of some help to poor,\ndeserving, crippled children took shape and my life work was made plain\nto me.\n\n\"A Home for Disabled Children was planned and eventually started in\nMaywood, Illinois. I took special studies to qualify me to handle\nproperly and capably the work of financial secretary of the Home. During\nthe year and a half between the starting of the Home and the writing of\nthis article five children have been cared for and a great deal of\nimprovement has been observed in all of them.\n\n\"It is not the intention to overcrowd the Home with children, or make it\ninstitutional in any way, but to give them a real home with good care\nand Christian training, and also an education which will enable them to\nbecome self-supporting. In this way I hope to show that even a girl\nwithout arms, born and raised under the most unfavorable circumstances,\ncan accomplish much good by lending a 'helping hand' to other cripples,\nand thus make their lives better, sweeter and more useful.\"\n\nThis lady's name is Kittie Smith, and the written article would be much\nmore interesting could we accompany it with the dozen or more\nillustrations in the _Ladies' Home Journal_, where she is seen writing a\nletter, using the telephone, making fancy-work, drinking water at\ndinner, using the typewriter and cutting out material for a dress.\nPictures of her drawings, the desk, the table and quilt she made are\nalso given.\n\nHere is a lady, educated, trained, and equipped for a life of special\nusefulness, who has had to battle through difficulties which would tend\nto discourage the stoutest hearts. Yet, in spite of all, she is engaged\nin Christian work and proving to the world what one is enabled to do who\nwill.\n\nWe have lately seen the half-tone picture in _Popular Mechanics_, of a\nman who had lost both legs and both arms in a railroad accident, yet he\nmakes his living by selling the pictures which he paints. He brings\ninto requisition his chin and the stump of his right arm in handling the\nbrush.\n\nAbout fifty years ago there was a member of the British Parliament by\nthe name of Cavanaugh. This man was born with no legs whatever and with\nno arms, save stumps half way up to his elbows. His penmanship was good,\nusing a false hand for his writing. He was wheeled in each time by a\nvalet, and was the only member who was allowed to address the Parliament\nwithout standing.\n\nThere are some men who will not down, even from the standpoint of the\nworld. May we not take a lesson from these \"unfortunates\" and rise above\nevery impediment, and yet succeed in the kingdom of God?\n\nHow many powerful revivals have occurred, when it was discovered that\nthey were the result of the faithful, intercessory praying of some\nshut-in saint, who had on the prayer list the very ones who got saved!\n\nLet me cite a quotation from Charles G. Finney's Revival Lectures:\n\n\"A pious man in the western part of this state (New York) was sick with\nconsumption. He was a poor man, sick for years. An unconverted merchant\nin the place had a kind heart, and used to send him now and then\nsomething for his comfort, or for his family. He felt grateful for the\nkindness, but could make no return, as he wanted to do. At length he\ndetermined that the best return he could make would be to pray for his\nsalvation. He began to pray and his soul kindled, and he got hold of\nGod. There was no revival there, but by and by, to the astonishment of\neverybody, this merchant came right out on the Lord's side. The fire\nkindled all over the place, and a powerful revival followed, and\nmultitudes were converted.\n\n\"This poor man lingered in this way for several years, and died. After\nhis death, I visited the place, and his widow put into my hands his\ndiary. Among other things, he says in his diary: 'I am acquainted with\nabout thirty ministers and churches.' He then goes on to set apart\ncertain hours in the day and week to pray for each of these ministers\nand churches, and also certain seasons for praying for the different\nmissionary stations. Then followed, under different dates, such facts as\nthese: 'Today,' naming the date, 'I have been enabled to offer what I\ncall the prayer of faith for the outpouring of the Spirit on----church\nand I trust in God there will soon be a revival there.' Under another\ndate, 'I have today been able to offer what I call the prayer of faith\nfor such a church, and trust there will soon be a revival there.' Thus\nhe had gone over a great many churches, recording the fact that he had\nprayed for them in faith that a revival might soon prevail among them.\nOf the missionary stations, if I recollect right, he mentions in\nparticular the mission of Ceylon. I believe the last place mentioned in\nhis diary, for which he offered the prayer of faith, was the place in\nwhich he lived. Not long after noting these facts in the diary, the\nrevival commenced, and went over the region of country, nearly I\nbelieve, if not quite in the order in which they had been mentioned in\nhis diary; and in due time news came from Ceylon that there was a\nrevival of religion there. The revival in his own town did not commence\ntill after his death. Its commencement was at the time when his widow\nput into my hands the document to which I have referred. She told me\nthat he was so exercised in prayer during his sickness, that she often\nfeared he would pray himself to death. The revival was exceedingly great\nand powerful in all the region; and the fact that it was about to\nprevail had not been hidden from this servant of the Lord. According to\nHis Word, 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.' Thus,\nthis man too feeble in body to go out of his house, was yet more useful\nto the world and the Church of God, than all the heartless professors of\nthe country. Standing between God and the desolations of Zion, and\npouring out his heart in prevailing prayer, as a prince he had power\nwith God, and prevailed.\" (Finney's Lectures, pp. 112, 113).\n\nFanny Crosby was blind, yet see how she has blessed the world with her\nthousands of beautiful hymns, written even down to her old age. Let the\nweak ones look up and take on fresh courage. \"My grace is sufficient for\nthee,\" and \"He giveth more grace,\" are promises that should encourage\nthose who are seemingly shut off from opportunities of service.\n\"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.\" The avenue to\nGod in prayer, and the way to hearts are still open. Be of some service\nstill. Like the palm tree, every Christian can be of much use in the\nworld.\n\nThree young ladies had just graduated from school and were talking over\ntheir ambitions in life. One said her great ambition was to be an author\nand write some great book. Another said her ambition was to be an artist\nand paint some great picture which might be hung up in some gallery for\npeople to see. The other young lady was silent, and hung her head. Her\nteacher saw her and remarked that she had not yet expressed her\nambitions in life. Finally, she replied: \"I know that I do not amount to\nmuch, and that I have not much talent, but I was just thinking that my\ngreatest ambition is so to live in this world, that when Jesus finally\nsees me coming, He can say, 'There comes one who has filled just the\nniche in the world that I wanted her to fill.'\"\n\nAs all parts of the palm tree are utilized, so will all of the palm tree\nsaint be consecrated to God, so that God may call upon him at any time\nfor any service which He in His infinite wisdom may require. But it will\ntake a complete yielding up of all one's parts; his spirit, soul and\nbody; his hands to work, his feet to walk, his eyes to see, his ears to\nhear, his tongue to talk, his mind to think, his heart to love, his\ntalents, time, and earthly store at God's disposal, his family, his\nservice, his all simply abandoned to the Holy Ghost.\n\nReader, this is the way to be useful, and the way to have all there is\nof you used. If you are not thus consecrated, look into your experience.\n\nFifty years ago seven shoemakers in a shop in the city of Hamburg said,\n\"By the grace of God we will help to send the gospel to our destitute\nfellow-men.\" It is said that in twenty-five years they had established\nfifty self-supporting churches, had gathered ten thousand converts, had\ndistributed four hundred thousand Bibles and eight million tracts, and\nhad carried the gospel to five million of their race. How many men would\nit take like that to carry the gospel to the world in twenty-five years?\n\nMrs. Adelaide L. Beers, wife of Rev. Alexander Beers, principal of the\nFree Methodist Seminary at Seattle, Wash., has furnished the following\ninformation concerning a family who moved to Seattle a number of years\nago. It beautifully illustrates the thought before us of utility in the\nChristian life. It not only illustrates utility itself, but like the\npalm tree, utility of all parts.\n\nMr. and Mrs. M----, formerly of Goldendale, Wash., had a family of six\nboys and two girls. Having received the blessing of entire\nsanctification, and wanting their children educated for God, they felt\nthey could not endanger their souls by placing them in worldly,\nChristless schools.\n\nThey owned a farm at Goldendale, but had little means available. They\nwere not daunted, however, by the difficulties in the way, but with the\nheroic spirit of the \"ancient worthies,\" they arranged to move to\nSeattle. The mother took the train, while as many as could, rode in a\nlarge wagon, and the others walked, leading several horses and cows. In\nturn they rode and walked, making the wearisome journey across the\nmountains, filled with hope and courage for the future. Soon after the\nmother's arrival in Seattle, a girl baby was born, being the ninth and\nlast child.\n\nThe first year of their stay in their new home was one of great hardship\nand self-denial. They lived on the plainest food, while every member of\nthe family except the baby worked very hard to obtain a livelihood. The\ntwo older girls were already saved and sanctified and were placed at\nonce in the Free Methodist Seminary. The boys were soon entered as\nstudents, and one by one converted to God. Two of the little boys, with\nknee trousers were clearly saved in the children's meeting which was\nregularly conducted by Mrs. Beers.\n\nA few years of consecrated service and Christian education have passed\nand we sum up the results. A faithful father and mother have trained\ntheir family for heaven, and gladly yielded their all to Christ. The\nmother has left the toils and cares of earth, and has gone to be with\nJesus. One is now at the head of the Free Methodist missionary work in\nChina. Another has been accepted as a missionary to China by the General\nMissionary Board and is to labor with his brother. One of the daughters\nis a successful missionary, laboring with her husband, who is at the\nhead of the missionary work in Japan. She received her call while a\nstudent in the Seattle Seminary. Another heard the Macedonian call and\ngladly left all to go to China. One son is filling the principal's chair\nat the Free Methodist Seminary at Spring Arbor, Mich., while another is\nprincipal of a high school in Seattle. All the family are saved, and are\nproving the Scripture true: \"Train up a child in the way he should go,\nand when he is old he will not depart from it.\" While Sister M---- has\nfinished her work and gone home to heaven, \"her children rise up and\ncall her blessed.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE PALM TREE IS APPRECIATED\n\n\nSearch the world over; call for a consensus of opinion in civilized\ncountries and heathen lands, and ask them what is the most appreciated\ntree in the world, and see if they do not with one voice exclaim, \"The\npalm tree.\"\n\nIn the civilized portions of the globe where the various kinds are not\nbrought into requisition for their extensive utility, yet the beauty of\nthe trees demands that they have a place in the front yards to decorate\ntheir surroundings. If any tree at all is used to beautify the place, it\nis quite sure to be a palm. And when the climate does not admit of\noutside growth, the hothouse will have its various kinds. But where is\nthere a tree in the world that furnishes so much material for\npractically all the necessities of life where the palm is indigenous?\nWhen we think of the great variety of food, and furniture, building\nmaterial, and the hundreds of useful articles of every description that\nare made from some part or other of this most valuable tree, it stands\nto reason that it occupies the very foremost place of utility and\nappreciation. There are some places in the world that the inhabitants\npractically live from the products of the palm. The appreciation of it\ncould hardly be estimated. Take it away and the people perish.\n\nIn the realm of grace, there is an experience that is most appreciated.\nIt is appreciated most by those who are the most familiar with it. It\nappeals little to those in spiritually frigid zones, who are utterly\nforeign to its utility; but by those of a warmer climate who know of its\nvaluable properties, it is prized above rubies and diamonds. Just as the\nIcelander or Greenlander cares nothing for the palm, and perhaps knows\nnothing of its merits, so the people who dwell in spiritual Arctics do\nnot appreciate the possibilities of this full salvation grace. Ask the\npossessor of the palm tree blessing what it is worth, and language at\nonce fails. It becomes his very life from day to day. It furnishes his\nspiritual necessities of life. Cut off its supplies and he would be\nstranded as quickly as the islander in the tropics, without his real\npalm.\n\nLet the definite seeker after this blessing reach the point of actual\npossession, and he will have to pass the station of utmost desire and\nappreciation. He will reach a want in his soul that will surpass every\nother desire. He will sell all to purchase that field. It is the pearl\nof great price to him.\n\nWhy do not more people obtain it? Because they are not willing to part\nwith that which stands in the way of its possession. When God says,\n\"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for\nthey shall be filled,\" He gave us a divine philosophy concerning the\nproper seeking. He wants a seeker to appreciate what he is after. That\nwhich costs nothing is rarely properly appreciated. That which costs a\nstruggle and \"all that he hath,\" will be held in high esteem. The\ncrucifixion route which results in the death of \"the old man,\" and the\nincoming of the fulness of God, puts one where he would rather part with\nlife itself than this pearl of great price.\n\nWe have been amazed at seekers at the altar of prayer; at the listless,\nlifeless way they have sought. Many times they fail even to make an\naudible prayer. This is _prima facie_ evidence of a lack of\nappreciation. When the hunger reaches practical starvation, and the\ndesire becomes sufficient, then the seeker will lay aside all\nconventionalities and press his claims regardless of people present or\nopposing foes, and lay hold on the precious prize.\n\nHow often have we observed the half-hearted seeker make his indifferent\nprayer and wait awhile and go away without the blessing sought, when at\na later time, when intensity took the place of listlessness, and hunger\npressed the soul, the agonizing heart pressed through spiritual\nchloroform, broke loose the padlock from the lips, and soon was\nrejoicing in the freedom of full salvation! One time the writer was\nconducting a meeting in Knoxville, Tenn., and a sister came to the altar\na number of times. She wanted the blessing, but did not seem to be\nenough in earnest, although she prayed aloud each time she came.\nFinally, we said to the sister, \"If you will do what I ask you to do,\nyou will get through in five minutes.\" Of course she wanted to know\nwhat that was and she certainly would like to get through. We told her\nto pray like a house afire. Immediately, she took us at our word and\nstarted in according to our suggestion. It occurred so suddenly that we\nwondered if we had not made a mistake and had a fear that it would not\nbe as predicted. To make sure, and unbeknown to the sister, we took out\nour watch, and timed the prayer. In just three and a half minutes the\nfire fell and our seeker obtained her heart's desire. While pastor in\nthe city of Los Angeles we had a member who was seeking the blessing of\nholiness periodically. She would come to the altar and weep and make a\nnice little prayer, but failed to reach the line of intensity adequate\nfor the blessing. Obtaining nothing she would depart and not be at the\naltar again for perhaps a couple of months. When a service would reach a\nspecially high tide of power and victory this lady would be down with\nothers seeking holiness. Revival meetings were in progress and she was\nat the altar one evening, and, as usual, was not receiving. We tried to\nshow her that she should constantly seek till she found; that she should\ncome to the altar every time she had an opportunity till she got\nthrough. Finally, we asked her if she would promise to come to the altar\none hundred times in succession without a letup, if she did not get the\nblessing before the hundred times were expired. After awhile she\npromised thus to do. Immediately we took out our pencil and right under\nher face we wrote the number 100 on the altar rail, and pointing to it,\nsaid, \"You have now promised to come to this altar one hundred times in\nsuccession providing you do not get through before.\" She assented. The\nfollowing night she was faithful to her promise and got through that\nnight. Intensity, desire, appreciation and determination are all factors\nin real seeking. Why do so many fail? There is a reason. Here is a soul\nthat seeks one, two, three, or more nights and then ceases. On being\nasked why the seeking ceased the answer is, \"Well, I tried and I did not\nget anything, and what is the use of trying further?\" Now, the Lord took\nthat all in at the start. He knew that the seeking was going to let up,\nand of course could not consistently bestow the gift under such\nconditions. If the Lord can look down the road and see that the seeker\nis going to give up at the end of a week or a month, He certainly has\nnot the gift for one who does not value it more than that. But if He can\nlook down the road and see a pile of bleached bones, or in other words,\none who will die in the attempt before he will give up, He sees a heart\nthat is about prepared to receive it now.\n\nWe once heard the story of a man who was real hungry for holiness. He\nwas in attendance at some spiritual gathering where a number of people\nwere professing the experience. He cast about in his mind to find some\nholy man whom he might get to pray with him. After selecting his man, he\nasked him if he would go into the woods and pray with him that he might\nobtain the experience of sanctification. The brother was only too glad\nto go and was ready for the trip at once. The anxious seeker said, \"I\nhave made up my mind that if I do not obtain the blessing at once I am\ngoing to remain all night in prayer. Will you stay with me?\" The brother\nresponded in the affirmative. \"But wait,\" said the seeker. \"If I do not\nobtain the first night I am going to remain the second night. Will you\nremain with me?\" After a little thought he again answered in the\naffirmative. He was ready to start, when the seeker declared he was\ngoing to remain the third night, then the fourth, until it amounted to a\nwhole week. When he obtained the promise of his friend to stay by him,\nthey started for the woods. After looking about for a good, grassy spot,\nand one that was nicely sheltered from the dew of the night he said,\n\"This is a good place; let us pray.\" His knees scarcely touched the\ngrass when he shouted, \"Glory to God, I've got it!\" Certainly! A good\nweek of solid prayer ought to clear the way for anybody to enter in, and\nthat honest, determined soul had virtually done that thing by faith, and\nGod saw that he was bound to pray through, and so He cut the work short\nin righteousness and bestowed it upon him on the spot.\n\nThere is something about an intensified determination that God honors.\nThe fact is, that He honors faith, and when the seeking soul gets into\nthe state of mind where he feels that he wants the grace more than life,\nand is determined to have it at any cost, it invariably opens up the way\nof faith, and the victory at once is his. We once heard of a young man\nat a campmeeting who was seeking the Lord. When he came to the altar he\ncurled up with his head in his arms and was perfectly mute. He would\nneither pray nor answer a question. While others were saved around him,\nhe remained silent, and would leave without any help. This was repeated\ntime and again. He always curled up the same way, and would never say a\nword to God or man. Finally, the workers, seeing they could not get\nanything out of him nor help him in any way, agreed among themselves to\nlet him entirely alone. After this he came as usual to the altar, took\nhis usual position, and while others around were praying through, he\nobtained nothing and went away. After a while it seemed to dawn upon his\nbenighted mind that everybody had forsaken him, and that he had better\npray for himself. Accordingly, he threw up his hands and screamed for\nhelp at the top of his voice. The merciful Christ, who said, \"Him that\ncometh to me, I will in no wise cast out,\" was right present to take him\nin. In an instant he had the victory and leaped to his feet and shouted,\n\"Glory to God! If it had not been for Jesus Christ, I never would have\nbeen saved.\" Certainly not.\n\nWhen all earthly hopes are gone, and one is thrown out alone on the\nmerits of Jesus Christ, it is then that faith takes hold and the victory\ncomes. It is certainly a sad sight at the altar when some daughter is\ncrying her way to God in a penitential grief, to have her foolish mother\nkneel down beside her and begin to stroke her and say, \"My dear child,\nyou have always been a good girl.\" Immediately note how the girl drops\nthe Lord and goes to leaning on her mother. The repentance stops at\nonce, self-pity takes its place, a soul is arrested in getting saved and\nmay possibly be lost forever. And yet this is being done continually.\n\nMr. Charles G. Finney tells of a woman in one of his meetings who was\nmuch burdened on account of her sins. Mr. Finney was stopping at her\nhouse and daily he was called upon to come and pray for the woman. He\nresponded from time to time and prayed for her the best he knew how, but\nfound out that it was doing no good. Finally, the Lord showed him that\nthe woman was depending upon his prayers instead of the Lord. The next\ntime she asked him to come and pray for her, he said, \"I will pray for\nyou no more.\" Heartbroken and alarmed she threw herself on the mercy of\nthe Lord and was saved at once. Christ must be depended upon alone.\nOther props must go. He needs no earthly help to save a sinner or\nsanctify a believer.\n\nAnd when the struggle is over and the pearl of full salvation is found,\nit will be observed that the harder the struggle and the more it cost,\nthe more will it be appreciated. It is quite apparent that the cause of\nthe fearful decadence of religion on every hand is the failure of\nobtaining the real thing on the one hand, and the failure to appreciate\non the other. How some can claim Christ today and sell Him out tomorrow,\nis a marvel. The way to appreciate anything is to note what one will be\nwith it, and what he will be without it. What is one with this great\npearl in his possession? He is safe for both worlds. He is saved from\ninward and outward sin. He has \"joy unspeakable and full of glory.\" He\nhas a life of usefulness ahead and a certainty of everlasting bliss in\nglory, where he will bear the palm of victory, wear the crown of glory,\nwalk the gold-paved streets of the New Jerusalem, enjoy the presence of\nChrist and the angels and redeemed loved ones, and sing and shout and\nshine and serve forevermore. This surely will pay. On the other hand, to\nfail, means a life of sin and sorrow and suffering here, a loss of souls\nwhich one might win to Christ, an awful death bed, a frightful judgment\nday, and an eternity of remorse and horror and darkness and death and\ndamnation.\n\nReader, how much is Christ worth? How much do you appreciate His gift?\nLet us ask some who let it slip. Judas, what is it worth? What is Christ\nworth to you? The answer is, \"Sixteen dollars and ninety-six cents.\"\nThat was his price for the Savior; the price of a slave in the olden\ntimes if he were killed by a beast; the lowest price placed upon a human\nbeing. Demas, how much is it worth? The answer is, \"The love of this\npresent world,\" for that is what he obtained. Saul, what is your\nsalvation worth? \"The gratifying of a jealous disposition,\" for he sold\nout on that line, till it turned to anger, then hatred and then murder,\ntill finally he was utterly forsaken by God, and he turned into a\nspiritualist, consulted the witch of Endor, went into battle, committed\nsuicide and passed off from the stage of action here. Solomon, what was\nyours worth? \"Outlandish women,\" is the answer, not from Solomon's lips,\nbut from the inspired pen of Nehemiah. \"Nevertheless even him did\noutlandish women cause to sin.\" Young lady, what was the price of your\nsoul? \"Mother, hang my fine dresses upon the wall and let me see them.\nThere, mother, is the price of my soul,\" and she passed out into the\ndarkness of the outer world. Again, young lady, what is the price of\n_your_ soul? \"That young man. I gave up Christ for him. I had to decide\nbetween the two, and I took him. Christ has been a stranger to me ever\nsince.\" Shall we sell out Christ for pleasure, or people, or pursuits,\nor popularity? God forbid. Let us raise the price of our soul and\nappreciate the gift of God and let nothing come between.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE PALM TREE WILL GROW IN THE DESERT\n\n\nIt is such a hardy, thrifty tree, that if it has any chance at all, it\nwill thrive where other trees will fail. Even in the hot sands of the\nSahara, its green foliage is seen, and it grows in spite of discouraging\nenvironments.\n\nThe Holy Spirit made no mistake when He declared that a certain class\nshould flourish like the palm tree. Where will it flourish? Any place in\na proper climate where it has half a chance. By the rivers of water, on\nthe rugged mountain side, by the rocky hedges, in the desert sands where\nscorching sun and swirling simoon have beat upon it, there it grows. It\nis a _flourishing_ tree.\n\nIn the realm of gospel grace, God has made provision for saints to\nflourish under circumstances that are a wonder to the world.\n\nThe outward condition of some of God's people is indeed deplorable. They\nare surrounded with deepest poverty, in the poorest of health, with a\nnumber of small children depending upon them, and in addition to all,\nthey are away from former home and friends. Some women are actually\nundergoing all this, and to make the desert worse, they have a\nprofligate, abusive husband further to burden their life. And yet, \"the\nGod of all grace\" has come into these lives who have abandoned\nthemselves to the Holy Ghost, and proved to them that they are of God's\nown hand planting, and through His sustaining grace they have flourished\nin their experiences, even in such desert places. I have no doubt if the\nreader will cast about in his mind he can recall those of like\nexperience.\n\n\"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the\ndesert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom\nabundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. * * * And the ransomed of\nthe Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy\nupon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and\nsighing shall flee away\" (Isa. 35:1, 2, 10).\n\nThere is nothing else in the world that will cause deep, settled\nsatisfaction in the human heart when the surroundings are of the desert\nnature. The people of the world draw their pleasure and satisfaction\nfrom the things of the world, but these are not calculated to satisfy\nthe longings of the heart. No matter how much one may have in the way of\nworldly riches, worldly honors, worldly pleasures, there is always a\nvoid in the soul, a something that is not satisfied. The human heart is\nso big, that if the whole world were poured into it, it would not fill\none crack or crevice.\n\nWhen God made the animal creation, He designed that all their pleasure\nshould be obtained from their surroundings--from the things in this\nworld, whether it be the fish in the stream, the bird in the air, or\nthe wild animal that roams over mountain and glen. But when He made man\nHe put into him desires, hopes, and ambitions that reach out and above\nthis mundane sphere. He never intended that man should draw his\nsatisfaction and enjoyment just from this world. Outside of grace, no\none is satisfied, because he is out of his natural, normal, creative\nelement. The little bird, or fish, or other animal is satisfied because\nit is in its creative sphere. Man, living in sin and away from God and\nholiness, is dissatisfied, because he is out of his proper element. What\nis man's creative sphere? \"Created in righteousness and true holiness.\"\nThat is the way God created man, and until man gets back to God, in\ncommunion with Him and heaven, he never will have a satisfying portion.\n\"For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with\ngoodness\" (Psa. 107:9). Without any of this world's goods in the way of\nriches, honors or pleasures, one abandoned to the Holy Ghost will have a\ndeep sense of soul-satisfaction, and will rejoice in the midst of\ndismal, desert surroundings.\n\nWhen Madame Guyon was in the Bastille, a prisoner of the Lord, she\ndeclared the Lord made the old stones of the murky wall to shine like\nrubies.\n\nOne of the happiest men it was ever my lot to meet, was one who had\nnothing of this world to cause his happiness. He was an inmate of the\npoorhouse at Placerville, Cal. He occupied a small, dingy bedroom all\nalone, and lay on a cot, afflicted in body, and never expected to leave\nit till Jesus said, \"Come up higher.\" While engaged in evangelistic\nservices in that city, we visited him more than once. It was a\nbenediction to enter his presence and behold his smiling face and hear\nhis praises to God. It seemed he was living four-fifths in heaven. He\nwas certainly flourishing like the palm tree in that desert. We had a\nfeeling of sorrow for the dear brother in his affliction, and lent him a\nbook on divine healing, hoping that he might get the inspiration of\nfaith, and trust the Lord to heal him. After we thought he had time to\nread the little book, we called on him again and asked him what he\nthought of it, and his answer was about as follows: \"I have been\nthinking that it would be best to let good enough alone. I am getting\nalong so well here and am so blessed, I do not know how it might turn\nout if I should get well.\"\n\nAnother man, one of the most contented and happy that I ever saw, was a\nborn cripple. He had one arm and a part of another; was so crooked in\nhis lower limbs that it was with great difficulty that he could propel\nhimself with the use of canes. This brother from poverty's dale would\nhobble out on Fourth street in San Francisco, with his little carpet-bag\nstool, and basket of trinkets for sale, and sit there reading his\nTestament, and shine for God. One day this brother handed a man a five\ndollar gold piece, desiring him to go and get it changed. The dishonest\nman never returned, but the dear brother never murmured, only said that\nhe could not afford to lose it. Just about that time a stranger came by\nand purchased some little article and handed him a five-dollar gold\npiece and would not accept any change. \"In some way or other, God will\nprovide.\"\n\nEvery night found this happy, sanctified cripple at the gospel mission\nwith shining face and victorious testimony. He usually closed his\ntestimony with these words: \"This has been a little the best day I ever\nhad in all my life.\" Brother Cooley is now rejoicing where the streets\nare made of gold.\n\nWhy will souls not learn to seek their pleasure from the right source?\nWith the failure of multiplied millions who have gone on before and\nthose who are now trying to fill their cup with earth's deceiving joys,\nshall I be such an egotistical fool as to think I can succeed in\nsomething when all before me tried and failed? The way of true success\nis laid down in the Word; \"This book of the law shall not depart out of\nthy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou\nmayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then\nthou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good\nsuccess\" (Josh. 1:8).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE PALM TREE FINDS THE WATER\n\n\nThis marvelous production of nature is not hindered by the scorching sun\nof the desert, nor is it dependent upon the copious showers of rain. If\nthe rain comes, all well and good; but if it fails, the palm flourishes\nright on anyway. But it will get to water. If it does not come down from\nabove, then it sends down its roots till they drink at the subterranean\nstream below. Water it must have and water it will find.\n\nNow, if God has a people that flourish this way, it signifies that they\nwill get where there is the water of life. If the \"showers of blessing\"\nare falling in the revival meeting, or campmeeting, or at the regular\npreaching service, they are sure to be present if possible and \"take of\nthe water of life freely.\" Perchance they are out on some spiritual\ndesert far from any means of grace where the gospel sound is never\nheard; there they are not dependent upon the revival rains, but they\nsend down the roots of faith till they strike the under-currents, and\nthen with joy they \"draw water out of the wells of salvation.\"\n\nHow refreshing to meet with such independent specimens of God's\nhandiwork! If they get to the place of worship where God's people are\nfree, they are a whole campmeeting in themselves. Out of them are\nflowing \"rivers of living water,\" because of the Spirit's incoming. They\nnever dry up, nor freeze up, because they keep in touch with the living\nstream from the heavenly fountain head, and bask in the spiritual\ntropics where the Sun of righteousness has arisen upon them.\n\nOh, for more palm tree saints! May we all be so in touch with the\nreservoir of the skies, that we may say, \"All my springs are in thee.\"\nThen, no matter whether our lot is with many pilgrims or none, we may\nflourish on and shine and shout, and show to the world that we are in\ntouch with hidden springs. Amen!\n\nIt is certainly a puzzle to the world and worldly minded professors,\nwhen one, who has no visible means of enjoyment, keeps up a happy,\ncheerful experience, and though her lot or his lot is extremely dry, and\nbarren of what generally goes to make people happy, yet the hidden\nstream is flowing, and that soul is drinking of the fountain that never\nruns dry. The deep, underlying current has been found and is supplying a\npeace which the world can not give, nor can it take away.\n\nWhen the martyrs went to the stake, they had a triumphant tread and a\nvictorious faith and a well-spring of joy which were indeed an enigma to\nthe persecutors.\n\nWho can understand Madame Guyon in her dismal prison cell singing her\nsweet song, a hundred times happier than those outside, or realize the\ntriumphant joy of the Apostle Paul as he faces the axman's block, and\nexpresses a gladsome victory over it all, unless he is acquainted with\nthe deep undercurrent of full salvation life?\n\nWhat would have become of the Apostle John on Patmos' lonely isle, shut\noff from all associations with kindred spirits on earth, with no\nprayermeeting nor fellowship such as he had been so accustomed to enjoy,\nhad he not known the way to the hidden springs which brought him in\ncontact with the Eternal? There was no place to banish this pilgrim\nsaint that would shut him off from the water of life. When human hands\nbanished him to an island in the sea, thinking they could cut off his\nsupply, he proved to the world that he could reach the hidden springs\nand be in touch with the Infinite, in spite of his banishment. God's\nholy ones are a conundrum to the world. \"For we are made a spectacle\n[theater in the margin] unto the world, and to angels, and to men,\" and\nthey do not understand the mystery of the hidden glory and springs of\nlife, the very angels desiring to look into some of these mysteries (1\nPeter 1:12).\n\nThere are some people, when we have not seen them for a few months, we\nhardly dare to ask them how they are prospering, for fear they will drop\ntheir heads and say, \"Well, not so well as I would like.\" They have not\nbeen drinking at the fountain. They did not send down their roots and\nfind the under-currents of saving grace; and the result is, they have no\nvictorious testimony to the power of Jesus to save. On the other hand,\nthere are certain individuals, though we have not seen them for years,\nwe scarcely think of asking them how they are getting along, for we have\nknown of their overcoming life so long, that we naturally take it for\ngranted that it is still well with their souls. We do not expect\nanything different from the past, except more of it. Many years ago we\nreceived a postal card from a brother in a distant city relative to some\nbusiness. It being a business card, the most of it was printed matter,\neven his name being printed. The card closed with these words: \"Yours\nsaved, H. W. S.----.\" In thinking the matter over, we observed that in\nall probability the brother had several hundreds of the cards printed,\nand he knew very well that it would take some time, perhaps weeks or\nmonths, before the last card would be sent out. The thought then was,\nBrother S----, how did you know that when the last card would be sent\nout, it would still be, \"Yours, saved, H. W. S----?\" How did you know\nbut it would be, \"Yours, backslidden, H. W. S----?\" The fact was, that\nBrother S---- had made no calculation on backsliding, and he figured\nthat the last card would be just as true as the first. Eight or ten\nyears passed and we received a note from this same brother. Instead of\nsigning his name the way he did before, it was, \"Yours saved to the\nuttermost, hallelujah, H. W. S----.\" Now, after years had passed and\ngone, he could still sign his name the same, only more of it.\n\nIn the economy of grace, God has made no provision for one to have less\ngrace than in the past. The best experience of one's life should be\nup-to-date. It is a sad epoch in one's life when he can take a\nretrospect and look down the lane of long ago and see a better\nexperience than now. That person has certainly headed toward Egypt that\nsees the highest plane of his Christian experience, and then gets the\nconsent of his mind to live on a lower plane. \"Therefore, leaving the\nprinciples of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.\"\nWhen the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea they sang and shouted\nand had a hallelujah time; but their slogan was, \"On to Canaan.\" When\nfinally, the survivors and those who were born on the way crossed the\nRiver Jordan, they built a monument, which signified that they had come\nover there to stay.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE PALM TREE GETS OTHERS STARTED\n\n\nWhere this remarkable tree finds root, and grows, it is almost sure,\nsooner or later, to cause other palms to spring up; so that it does not\nneed to be alone.\n\nTake it out in the sands of the Sahara, when this product of nature gets\nstarted, others spring up, then more, and they bring the moisture to the\nsurface, till the green grass begins to spread, and the springs come,\ntill finally the beautiful oases are found here and there, and make the\nstopping places for the desert caravans, where the travelers find rest\nand coolness in the shadows and water for man and beast. There are\nplaces in the orient where the Arabs have planted these palms on purpose\nto start an oasis. Refreshing spot! Prolific palm trees! Reader, are you\nstill measuring up? Are you growing alone? Has no other tree started\nbecause of your life and influence? May be you are saying, \"We do not\nhave any holiness meetings or prayermeetings where we live.\" But why? If\nnot, why not? Is there not a kitchen in your house? What hinders you\nfrom having a good prayermeeting, or Sunday school there? Be careful, or\nyou will not find yourself flourishing like the palm tree. Surely, you\nought to get another tree started; then, by that one's influence, get\nanother, then another, till springs arise in your desert place, and the\nspiritual oasis will call for the desert traveler to come and rest and\ndrink.\n\nNever rest contented to grow alone; it is too lonesome. It is neither\nlike nature nor grace. Get some one else saved, or find out the reason\nwhy. We know a man who once held a prayermeeting in a schoolhouse six\nmonths before anybody else attended. Finally, they began to come and it\nresulted in a revival. See the persistence of some of the foreign\nmissionaries. Think of the hardships of those early pioneers who blazed\ntheir way through dark continents, and with a determination to win, they\npressed their way through and with faith and prayer and continuous\nefforts, they saw the fruit of their labor in others finding Christ as\ntheir personal Savior. With David Livingstone's heart in the middle of\nAfrica, his sun-dried mummy in Westminster Abbey, his spirit in the\nglory world, do you not think he is glad he got others started to carry\non his work in the land of darkness? If John G. Paton, taking his life\nin his hands, could go into the New Hebrides, and there brave the awful\nhardships and dangers of those cannibal islands, and finally win out and\nsee them converted to God like a nation born in a day, does it not look\nas if you, my dear reader, ought to start the work somehow in your\nmidst, and get hold of God by fasting and prayer, and never give up till\nan oasis is started in your community? \"Where there is a will, there is\na way.\" It takes grit and grace, but God's storehouse has never yet been\nexhausted, and there is yet the man to be born that has proved all the\npossibilities of grace.\n\nCast about in your mind and think of that person, perhaps only a lassie\nor lad, that found Christ, and though persecuted at home at first, yet,\nby faithful perseverance, finally won the whole family to God. Think of\nthat one who dropped into the revival meeting some distance from his\nhome and found the Lord, and then carried the fire back to his own\ncommunity and the revival broke out there. Think of those faithful\npilgrims who have moved far out into some frontier settlement and stood\nfirm for God and holiness, and finally got a meeting started and today\nthe church flourishes in their midst. They had the experience that\nflourishes like the palm tree.\n\nThere is something in the very nature and heart of the palm tree saint\nthat longs and plans for the planting of God's kingdom among men. If one\nis so situated that he is isolated from sanctified people, he is not\ngoing to sit down on the stool of do-nothing and wither up and die; but\nhe will begin to cast about and see what he can do to start a Sunday\nschool, or a prayermeeting, or send for a holiness preacher. He must get\nother palms started in his community. Dr. Carradine tells the story of\nthe two women at the toll bridge in Kentucky who got the blessing of\nsanctification and set about praying for a holiness meeting in their\ncommunity. They prayed long and faithfully and would not give up.\nSomebody heard of their experience and visited them, then wrote an\narticle about them and put it in the paper. A preacher providentially\nsaw the article many miles from their abode, but it so got hold of his\nheart that he made up his mind to see them and get the same thing. God\nhonored his desire and faith and was answering their prayer at the same\ntime. This brother received the blessing and so preached it that others\nin his church received the same. At the conference this brother was\npersecuted on account of the newfound blessing of holiness, but he had\ngrace enough to stand and endure and not retaliate. Dr. Carradine saw\nthe abundant grace in this brother's heart and life, and it made him\nhungry for the same thing. In due time the persecuted brother was\ninvited to hold a revival meeting in Dr. Carradine's church, which\nresulted in the doctor's getting the experience himself. Time passed on\nand finally the prayers of these two faithful women were answered, in\nthat Dr. Carradine held a meeting in their town and led a number of\nothers into the experience. These two palm tree saints felt a spiritual\nloneliness in being there without others growing, and so they never\nrested till they had a grove of them.\n\nA certain preacher who was also a carpenter in southern California, was\nabout to move to some new place. He carefully thought the matter over\nand decided to move to a place where he hoped in the near future to\nplant a grove of palm tree saints. He thought he and his family might\nform a nucleus and thus establish the church of his choice (for it was a\nholiness church) in that place. Accordingly he went, and worked at his\ntrade and preached what he could and got as many interested as he was\nable, and after a while the writer, together with a fine band of\nworkers, went to this town and pitched a tent and began to preach\nholiness. Before we left we established a church, with this brother as\npastor, and now after a very few years, this brother is enjoying\nholiness in the heavenly world, and the church planted in that town is\nflourishing, having built a church and parsonage. There is something in\nit that wants to get others started. That is the secret of successful\nmissionary work among the heathen. Carey leaves the cobbler's bench and\nsails across the seas and soon has his palm grove growing in India's\nsoil. Paton moves to the Hebrides and jeopardizes his life among the\nsavages, but never lets up till he sees the groves flourishing in that\ndark and dreary land. Livingstone plunges into darkest Africa alone, but\nhe does not remain alone; God reaches those black and benighted savages\nand turns them into saints, and the oases begin on African soil. And so\non all over the world today are being planted God's palm tree saints who\nare getting others started and the big world is now being dotted with\npalm tree groves. Thank God forever. Reader, where are you living? Is\nyour abode far off from sanctified people? Do not get discouraged; God\nanswers prayer. Do your best, and the first thing you know you will have\nsome one to take his place by your side to push the work, and who knows\nbut that in a short time there may be a flourishing community of full\nsalvation saints there?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE PALM TREE MOUNTS HEAVENWARD\n\n\nIt would seem that the variety of palms which climbs upward into the\nsky, was bent on getting as far from the earth and as near heaven as\npossible. They ascend till they outstrip the other trees, and seemed\ndetermined to get above swamp, miasma and everything else of a groveling\nnature. There, in their exalted sphere, they wave their perennial\nboughs, and bear their fruit, and bask in the beautiful sunshine, and\nlive in an element truly above the world.\n\nAre you flourishing like that? Is there something divine in your very\nbeing that makes you ambitious to rise as far above this world of sin\nand as near heaven as it is possible to get? Can you sing from\nexperience,\n\n    \"I rise to walk in heaven's own light,\n      Above the world and sin;\n    With heart made pure and garments white,\n      And Christ enthroned within?\"\n\nGod has chosen us to sit together in heavenly places above the mist and\nfog and spiritual malaria of this sin-laden world. With the palm tree\nblessing in our souls, we are not yearning for the flesh-pots of Egypt.\nThe leeks and garlic and onions of the past Egyptian diet have no\ncharms for such a one. He has risen to heavenly heights, where he\ncatches the smiles of his Savior and is enabled really to look down on\nthings terrestrial.\n\nWhen Pharaoh was pressed by Moses and Aaron to let the children of\nIsrael go, he first refused, then tried to compromise by letting them\nworship the Lord \"in the land.\" When this failed, he tried the second\ncompromise and said he would let them go, \"only ye shall not go very far\naway.\" Pharaoh was certainly a long-headed schemer. He knew if they did\nnot get very far away, he would not have very far to go after them.\nThen, again, he knew if they were not very far away, and had a hard time\nto get something to eat, they would not have far to get back and fill up\non garlic and onions.\n\nIt is just that way with Pharaoh's antitype, the Devil. He first refuses\nto let his subjects go. Then if they are bound to go and be Christians\nhe tries to get them to do their religion \"in the land;\" that is, remain\nin the world and be worldly professors. How many are really deceived at\nthis point! When the Devil sees that this compromise will not take, he\ntries the next one and says if they are bound to be Christians, all\nright and good, but \"ye shall not go very far away.\"\n\nHow many poor deluded souls bite at this bait! They do not get very far\naway from Egypt, and certainly the Devil has not very far to go after\nthem. Then, when they fail to get enough in their religion to satisfy\nthe longing desires of their hearts, they naturally turn toward the\nflesh-pots of Egypt, and should they feel abashed because of their\nchurch profession in going outright to the theater, dance, card parties\nand other worldly amusements, they get them up in the name of the church\nand religion, and have a fourth class performance in the church, or\nenjoy the fun and frolic of strawberry festivals, bean suppers, oyster\nstews, grab-bags, fish ponds, and so on _ad libitum_. They may try to\nhide the smell of their Egyptian diet, but anybody can tell when one has\nbeen eating onions and garlic.\n\nThank God some folks got such a boost when they left Egypt, that they\nnever long for any of the former life. Like the palm tree, they are\nabove it all.\n\nImagine the Apostle Paul attending the performances which some churches\nhave these days! There are pilgrims scattered over the world today so\nlofty in their spiritual makeup, that to stoop to the level of the\npleasures of the worldly professors would be so utterly incongruous that\nit would border on the ridiculous.\n\nThe palm tree blessing is a high blessing. It is the \"higher life\"\nindeed. \"And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called\nthe way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it\" (Isa. 35:8).\n\n\"There is a path which no vulture's eye hath seen.\" This is the path of\nthe pilgrim. It is so high that the vulture in his aerial flights has\nnever yet been able to look down upon it. Pity such a person? Never! The\nworld thinks they are looking down upon us, but no worldling on this\nmundane globe ever looks down on the palm tree saint as he walks the\nnarrow, heavenly trail, practically oblivious of conditions below. Let\nnot any worldling think that he is looking down on God's holy ones; they\nare looking down on him and they are so far above, that he looks like a\nmere dot upon the surface.\n\nThe minds of many are turned toward the airships of the day. The\naviators are vying with each other in long distances, speed, altitudes,\nand endurance; but the palm tree saints have solved the problems of\naviation long ago. They have an heirship, though it may not be spelled\nexactly like those of the world, yet, for altitude, endurance, speed,\nand long traveling, it perfectly eclipses them all. The aviator of the\nworld may break the world's record today, and break his neck tomorrow,\nbut the possibilities of the Christian aviator are exceedingly charming\nand the dangers are reduced to naught. He is safer in his heirship than\non the earth. Borne upward on the wings of faith, pushed onward by the\npropeller of perfect love, with a lateral stability which is a marvel to\nmany who gave him \"just three weeks to hold out,\" he is still rushing on\ntoward the meridian sun, and has been out of sight for years. He never\nexpects to come down again. Some day he will fly so far away from\nearth's attraction, and get so near heaven, that the gravitation,\ninversely to the square of their distances, will pull so in the other\ndirection, that he will sail into glory and drop his pardon and purity\nbiplane on the gold-paved streets of the New Jerusalem, amidst the\nshouts and cheers of the angelic host and the multitudes that have\nsailed in before, there to enjoy an eternal \"aviation meet\" with prizes\nand crowns of glory for all.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nTHE PALM TREE IS PECULIAR IN ITS GROWTH\n\n\nWe have in the botanical world the exogenous and the endogenous tree.\nThe exogenous tree grows by adding to its exterior. Year after year adds\nlayers or rings to the outside, thus increasing its size. It is in this\nway that scientists are enabled to determine the age of trees. Some of\nthe mammoth trees of California show an age of many hundred years. Most\nof the trees with which we have to do are of the exogenous type.\n\nThe endogenous tree increases by internal growth. The palm tree is\nendogenous. Its growth is internal; out from the center and out at the\ntop.\n\nHow exact to the analogy was the Holy Spirit when He inspired the\nstatement, that \"the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree\"! The\npalm tree saint does not have his growth from the external, pushing out\nalong the lines of earth, and parallel to things of the world; but his\ngrowth is internal, and upward toward God and heaven, and perpendicular\nor diametrically opposed to the world, the flesh and the Devil.\n\nWhen the Holy Spirit gave us a picture of the sinner, it was \"spreading\nhimself like a green bay tree.\" A glance at the margin of this text will\nreveal that the green bay tree indicates one that is growing in its own\nsoil. It has never been transplanted. It remains in the same old\nconditions and environments. It spreads out on the earth and clings to\nthings terrestrial. Thus, the sinner, growing in the same soil, in the\nsame surroundings and conditions of sin year after year, having never\nbeen transplanted nor translated from nature's darkness to the marvelous\nlight of God, pushes out along worldly lines and worldly pleasures,\nknowing nothing of the internal developments of grace, nor upward growth\ntoward God and glory.\n\nWhenever a professing Christian spreads out with worldly ambitions, is\ndetermined to lay up his treasures upon earth, hungering more for the\nadjoining quarter section of land than for the mansions beyond,\ndetermined to have a name down here at the risk of having none in\nheaven, he certainly is far from the palm tree type.\n\nWith Christ crowned inside, and all the elements of Christian growth\nfirmly planted within the heart, no wonder there are inward developments\nunseen by mortal eye, that expand the saint's soul more and more as the\nyears roll on, and enable him to rise more and more above terrestrial\nthings to heights in the heavenlies.\n\nWith the secret of growth internal, it is not hindered by elements\nexternal, for one's life \"is hid with Christ in God.\" How comforting,\nthen, to the soul, to know that his secret growth is so far from\nexternal things, that neither trials, tests, troubles, tribulations,\npersecutions, disappointments, losses, crosses, circumstances, men, nor\ndevils can necessarily hinder him from pushing out and up in the divine\nlife.\n\nIn the earlier days of persecution of holiness professors, how often the\nfighting faction has tried to snow some of God's fire-baptized saints\nunder, only to see them rise up through the snowdrift, with perennial\nfreshness and smiling face ready for the next cold blizzard of snow. Or,\nperhaps it was a wet blanket suddenly thrown over them and their\ntestimony, but the fire within only burnt its way through and turned the\nwet into steam and proved the possessor to be practically invulnerable.\nIt is indeed hard to cut off one's growth when it comes from within.\nThere may be a momentary check at times when unforeseen obstacles are\nthrust in one's way, but the growth producing qualities within assert\nthemselves and burst out with increasing force which make the tormentors\nwonder \"what next?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nTHE PALM TREE HAS A COARSE, ROUGH EXTERIOR; BUT IT IS SOFT AT HEART\n\n\nIn spite of its symmetry, its wonderful beauty and its perennial\nfreshness, the palm tree has rather a harsh exterior. But being an\nendogenous tree, its pithy interior makes it always soft at the center,\nor heart.\n\nIn the realm of grace, we often find some of God's best saints with a\nsomewhat coarse-grained exterior. They may be uncouth, unlettered,\nuncultured, and reared in the backwoods, but they can look up with Job\nand say, \"He maketh my heart soft.\"\n\nWhile Christian education is to be prized, and culture to be much\nesteemed, there are some who have not had these advantages, yet have\nproved by actual experience that God's grace is free for all, and a\nclean, soft heart can abide beneath a rough exterior.\n\nMethinks Elijah, with his rough garments and shaggy hair, had underneath\nhis crude exterior one of the softest hearts of his time. John the\nBaptist, with camel's hair clothing, leathern girdle, and locust pabulum\nhad a kind, soft heart within.\n\nSometimes God's people are much misunderstood because of their natural\nuncouthness and blunt manners, when, if their hearts could be seen,\nthey would appear whiter than snow and softer than silk. Thank God, He\nknows.\n\nThe beautiful blessing of \"perfect love\" has been often misunderstood.\nSome seem to think it is a sort of lovey-dovey, sentimental something\nthat makes its possessor smile on everybody and everything no matter\nwhat the moral quality may be. Perfect love sometimes assumes the rugged\ntype, and deals along drastic lines. It can weep with those who weep,\nbut when there is a very critical operation to perform, there may be no\nplace for tears just then, for tears would blind the eyes.\n\nElijah, whose heart was full of perfect love, came to a place where the\nfalse prophets had to be exterminated, and he had grace and grit enough\nto carry out the heaven-appointed program.\n\nJohn the Baptist, whose experience Jesus Christ himself did not\nquestion, could face the hypocritical church members and say, \"O\ngeneration of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to\ncome? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance\" (Matt. 3:7, 8).\n\nNo, perfect love deals death blows where death blows are needed. A mad\ndog is running loose in the street. Children are playing on the opposite\ncorner. Some one rushes out with a bludgeon in his hand, and jeopardizes\nhis life, but he lays out the mad dog. Some sentimental on-looker asks,\n\"Was that love that prompted you to treat that dog thus?\" He answers,\n\"Yes; love for those innocent children over on the corner.\"\n\nA man is drowning. In vain he struggles and screams. He is about to\nperish, when a stalwart specimen of humanity swims out and deals the\npoor man a terrible blow in the proper place to stun him. He ceases to\nstruggle, and the expert life-saver swims ashore and lays his man at the\nfeet of rejoicing friends. Some one says, \"Was that love that made you\nstrike that poor, helpless man?\" He replies, \"Yes; if I hadn't stunned\nhim, he would have drowned himself and me too.\"\n\nA freight train was pulling into an Illinois town in the night. The crew\nsaw a building on fire and had reason to believe that a friend was\nupstairs in a certain room. The train was stopped and two men rushed to\nthe scene of the fire. Up the stairs they mounted and never stopped to\nknock at the chamber door, but rushed to the slumberer. There was no\ntime for ceremonies. They grabbed the man and dragged him down the\nstairs most abruptly. They had scarcely reached the outside when the\nstairway fell in, and had they been a minute later all would have been\nlost. Imagine that rescued victim complaining of harsh treatment,\nskinned shins and sprained ankles! Love made the rescuers adopt speedy\nand most drastic measures and nothing else would have saved.\n\nWhen the writer was a small boy in Iowa, a presiding elder of the M. E.\nchurch lived in his town. He was an exceedingly corpulent man, weighing\nsomething over three hundred fifty pounds. One day he was taken very\nsick and a physician prescribed for him, leaving the medicine in the\nform of powders for him to take. The great, big preacher looked at the\nsmall powders and then at his bigness, and said to himself: \"I am so\nlarge I think I would better take two of them.\" He accordingly took a\ndouble dose and soon discovered that they were putting him to sleep. His\nfamily and friends saw the awful mistake he had made, and determined to\nuse desperate measures to keep him awake, or they well knew they would\nsoon have a dead presiding elder on their hands. Accordingly, love went\nto work. They walked him about, switched him, and punished him in any\nway their quickened ingenuity could invent. In vain he begged them to\nlet him alone and sleep, but they threshed him and punished him till\nthey wore off the effect of the opiate and saved his life. Would any one\nquestion the promptings of love that led those people to give their\npresiding elder such a beating? I trow not.\n\nDid Jesus Christ love when He drove the money changers out of the temple\nat the end of a whip? Did Daniel have love when he faced the wicked\nBelshazzar and told him of his sins at the risk of his own life? Was\nthere love in Jeremiah's heart when he swore to the truth and changed\nnot, even if he did land in the dark, miry dungeon? Where was Joshua's\nlove when he put his foot on the necks of the Canaanitish kings? What\nabout Samuel and Agag? Look over the history of the Old and New\nTestaments and note some of the rugged measures taken by God's prophets\nand others, and see that it was not always of the easy-going,\nsoft-gloved, alligator-teared type.\n\nIn the far North, when it was an object to get the mail over those\nbleak, barren plains, with the thermometer many degrees below zero, one\nfrightfully frigid morning the express driver was bundled up for his\nlong, cold ride in his sleigh. Just as he was about to start, a rather\nscantily dressed woman came up with a baby in her arms, and told the\ndriver that she had just received news of her husband's death, and she\nmust go to him. He remonstrated with her and tried to show her that she\ncould never stand the cold trip; that she would certainly freeze on the\nway. But his words were futile, for she climbed into the sleigh and was\ndetermined to go to her husband. Finding that he could not prevail upon\nher to desist, he tucked her in the bottom of the sleigh, piled the\nstraw around, placed the wraps about her and her baby and started on. As\nthey progressed, the cold grew more and more intense. The icy flakes\nbegan to fill the air, and the wind was cutting its way through to the\nvery marrow. Finally, the driver saw the poor woman nodding, and\ndiscovered the sleepy droop of her eyelids. He thought, \"Oh, the poor\nwoman is freezing to death and what shall I do?\" He hastily tried to\nthink of some way of saving her life, when suddenly he stopped the\nsleigh, and quietly, without saying a word, took the baby from her arms\nand lifted the freezing form of the woman into the road; then he took\nthe babe in his own arms and drove on. At first she staggered and\nstumbled around and then seemed to come to herself and discovered that\nthe driver was actually running off with her baby. The chase then began\nin good earnest. He managed to keep just far enough ahead to encourage\nher in her desperate run. Finally, he saw the glow return to her cheek,\nand knew that the warm blood was again coursing through her body, and\nthen he quietly let her in, placed the babe in her arms, snugly tucked\nthem in and drove on to their destination. At the journey's end she\nsaid, \"Oh, how I thank you for what you did! If you had not done that,\nmy baby would have been an orphan tonight.\" Rough treatment was that;\nbut it was prompted by love. Judging from the exterior appearance, it\nsurely looked rough and frightfully cruel; but a heart of kindness was\nbeneath it all.\n\nA certain phrenologist was giving a public exhibition showing the\nscience of phrenology. A well-known citizen was on the platform having\nhis cranium and physiognomy examined, the result of which was being\ncommunicated to the audience. The man had some very prominent bumps and\nfeatures which indicated a disposition far from pleasant, and the\nexaminer was telling it out to the congregation as one striking, ugly\npoint after another was discovered. As the phrenologist proceeded from\none statement to another, delineating the man's character, the\ncongregation first smiled, and then burst into laughter. The professor\nwas actually describing the man opposite to what he really was. They\nknew the man, and it excited their risibilities to see the scientist so\nfar miss the mark. Of course it was embarrassing to him, but on\nconcluding his talk, the gentleman who had been examined asked if he\nmight say a word. He then told the people that the phrenologist had told\nthe truth and had given a very accurate description of his natural\ndisposition; that he had perfectly pictured out his former life; that\nthe reason why he was not that way now, was because of the grace of God\nthat had come into his life. Grace had made the change, but the old,\nrough exterior was not worn off, and the phrenologist had judged from\nthe appearance.\n\nLet us not judge by the external simply. Like the palm tree, one may be\ncrude and rough outside, but inside he may meet the loving approbation\nof God.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE PALM TREE IS AT THE CENTER\n\n\nThis is unlike the life of all the exogenous trees, which is at the\nsurface, or rather just beneath the bark. When the life-giving sap\ncirculates along the length of these trees, it moves in its course close\nto the outside surface. When the maple tree is tapped they catch this\nflow of sap, because it is near to the outside. When farmers want to\ndestroy a tree, all they have to do is to girdle it, or, in other words,\ncut the bark down to the wood all around the tree, and thus stop the\ncirculation of sap, and the tree soon withers and dies. Such a tree can\nnot stand too much abuse. If it is chopped and hacked and peeled, or\ngirdled, it seems to discourage it, and it gives up and dies. Not so\nwith the palm tree. It has its life at the center. One may rip it and\npeel it and girdle it, and it grows just the same; it has a hidden life.\nWe have actually seen a row of palms which had been burnt, and yet they\nhad pushed out of their dismal darkness, and thrown out fresh foliage.\nThey do not get discouraged and quit when the odds are against them.\n\nDoes the reader still find himself flourishing like the palm tree? The\nperplexing and persecuting times will come more or less to all of us,\nand then how we will need the palm tree blessing!\n\nTake the professor of religion minus the real possession, and let him be\nplaced under the distressing ordeal of certain lines of adversity. Let\nhim be cut with the cruel tongue of the talker, peeled with popular\nprejudice, girdled with the scalpel of the religious dissecter, crunched\nby cruel cannibals who love to devour one another, and see how quickly\nthe spiritual sap ceases to flow. See how soon he withers and shrinks up\nand says, \"What is the use of trying any more; I might as well give up\nmy religion.\" He may not come out openly and above board and declare his\nintentions, but that is about the outcome. But see how it works on the\npalm tree saint, whose life is \"hid with Christ in God.\" Drag him\nthrough the streets by the hair of his head as they did John Wesley;\nincarcerate him as they did John Bunyan; incinerate him as they did the\nmartyrs of old; excommunicate him and revile him as they did some in our\nown day; ecclesiastically decapitate him and skin him alive and girdle\nhim clear around, and then see him leap and dance, and sing and shout\n\"Hallelujah! You can't hurt me, for I have the palm tree blessing, and\nmy life is hidden inside.\" The sap flows right on, and, though the\noutside may be somewhat worse for the wear, yet the Christ-life within\nsurmounts it all and shouts its victorious way over all obstacles.\n\nHad the early saints not known this wonderful blessing, they surely\nwould have failed in the struggles of life. Hear the Apostle Paul as he\nfaces the guillotine block: \"For I am now ready to be offered, and the\ntime of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have\nfinished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth, there is laid up\nfor me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,\nshall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also\nthat love his appearing\" (2 Tim. 4:6-8).\n\nHear the Apostle John on that dreary Isle of Patmos: \"He that\novercometh, shall inherit all things.\" \"These are they which come out of\ngreat tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in\nthe blood of the Lamb.\"\n\nSee the martyrs all down the ages with an inner current of joy as they\nfaced fagots, and with unfaltering step gave up their lives and flew to\nheaven in chariots of fire. There were no outside punishments that could\ncut off their life flow. It was hidden so deep that stripes, nor stocks,\nnor sword, nor stones, nor any other kind of affliction or infliction\ncould reach its fountain head.\n\nThere are those of our present day who know by actual experience the\njoys of this inner, invulnerable gift. Had it not been for this, they\nwould have been swept into the vortex of discouragement and despair long\nago. O, the unspeakable joy of a life that is not superficial, but\nhidden so deep that the Devil's darts or any of his devices can not\nreach it!\n\nHow is it that sister can sing and smile when a thousand trials\nconspire to cut off the flow of holy joy? Because she has the palm tree\nblessing, and her life of devotion and blessing is not external where\nthe things of earth can reach it.\n\nWhen one murmurs and complains, and finds fault with environments and\nthe things which would tend to annoy, let him know that he is living at\nthe external, and does not know the joys of internal rest where these\nthings do not intrude. Thank God for an inner current of holy life,\nwhich flows on, supplying the life more abundant and keeping the soul in\nblessed equipoise amidst the surging of life's storms.\n\nSo we see that the palm tree is endowed with an abundant life. Jesus\nsaid in John 10:10, \"I am come that they might have life, and that they\nmight have it more abundantly.\" The palm tree is certainly a fine type\nor illustration of life more abundant. Now, if the Christian is to\nmeasure up alongside of this characteristic, then he must have that\nwhich Jesus meant by the more abundant life. It is not sufficient to\nhave life in Christ; he must have it abundantly.\n\nWhat is this life more abundant? Look at the schoolboys as they file out\nof school. They can scarcely contain themselves, having been pentup\nthrough the day. Some are yelling, some are running and some are\nmanifesting their life in other ways. They seem to have more than they\nknow what to do with. Look at the stall-fed calf. See it gamboling over\nthe meadow. Notice the lambs frisk and frolic. Every action signifies\nabundant life. This is all physical life; yet the Holy Ghost coming\ninto the believer's heart and life will impart the spiritual life more\nabundant. Wherever there is life, we may hope to see the manifestation\nof that life. If there is life more abundant, then we may hope to see\nmore abundant manifestations of that life. The sinner is dead in\ntrespasses and sins. The believer is made alive in Jesus Christ. The\ndifference between a Christian and a sinner is the difference between a\nliving body and a corpse. If a funeral was in progress and Jesus Christ\nshould come by as He did when the procession was on the way from Nain to\nthe cemetery, and speak life into the dead body, how long would it be\nbefore the person in the coffin would find it out, and also the people\nlooking on? When a soul is born again, regenerated by power divine,\nthere are manifestations of that life, and the individual certainly\nfinds it out, and it is obvious to those who know him. Where there are\nno manifestations of life it is certainly taxing to one's credulity to\nbelieve there is life. The other day we read in the paper of a funeral\nin progress, and in the midst of the service the child who was dead or\nsupposed to be, arose in the casket and looked quietly around. The\ngrandmother sitting near by was so shocked at the sight that she\ninstantly fell over dead. It would not take the observers long to\nascertain that the child on the one hand was alive and that the\ngrandmother on the other hand was dead. There is too much in these\nlatter days that passes for life when it is death. It is certainly a\nmarvelous experience to be made alive unto God. We pick up a paper and\nread of a certain revival where hundreds and perhaps thousands have\nbeen converted. The question is: Have they really been made alive from\nthe dead, or have they simply made a resolution and joined the church?\n\nWe have never been very visionary, nor have we been carried away in\ntrances; but we did have a dream once that we felt sure was from the\nLord; at least the interpretation came so clearly and quickly at the\nmoment of waking, that we have felt the Lord's hand was in it. The dream\nran thus: We had gone into a cemetery and followed a lady into a tomb.\nAt the center of this tomb was a casket. The lady walked up to the\ncasket and quietly lifted the lid and laid it aside. She then gently\nplaced her hands inside the casket and lifted out of it the form of a\nyoung man. This young man seemed to come to life as she took him out.\nShe then placed him on her lap, took a clothes brush and nicely brushed\nhis clothes. He then stood up. We were standing near the wall, and this\nyoung man was observed to roll a cigarette between his fingers and\nlooking our way, asked for a match. We had none for that purpose and\nnever do. Immediately we said, \"Just out of the grave and yet he\ncontinues in his sins.\" Then the lady gently took this young man and\nlaid him within the casket, and he was as dead as before. The lid was\nplaced in shape and immediately we awoke, whereupon a voice seemed to\nsay clearly, \"This is a modern revival.\" And is it not true? Do they not\nhave many who stand up or sign their names and join the church? They\nseem to have a little life for awhile; are brushed up and stood up,\nwhen, lo, and behold the old sinful life clings to them, and in a few\ndays they are back in their old state of death just as dead as before.\nSurely, this is not the kind of life Jesus came to bring.\n\nNow, if in the incipient life which Jesus brings, there are\nmanifestations of the same, does it not hold true that in the life more\nabundant there should be expected greater manifestations of that life?\nWe read that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. This\nobtains in the justified relation, when the power of an endless life\nbegins to work in the heart and life of an individual. Then when that\nlife becomes more abundant in the sanctified experience, the love, joy,\npeace, and all the rest are more abundant. In pardon we have love; in\npurity, perfect love. In pardon we have joy; in purity, fulness of joy.\nIn pardon we have peace; in purity perfect peace. In pardon we have\nsalvation; in purity, full salvation. In pardon we have life; in purity\nlife more abundant. Surely, the sanctified soul ought to manifest more\nlove, joy, peace, longsuffering, and the rest of the imparted graces\nthan those who do not enjoy sanctification. Alas, too many who profess\nthis \"second blessing, properly so-called,\" do not manifest it in their\nlives. The palm tree abundance seems to be wanting. When our dear mother\nwas very old, and did not always get her letters properly connected in\nher letter writing, one time she wrote us a letter in which she spoke of\nthe blessing of sanctification. She got all the letters in, but placed\nthe \"c\" before the \"a\" and made it spell \"scantified.\" We thought that\nwas true of far too many; their sanctification is scantification; alas,\nfar too scant.\n\nWe had this life more abundant wonderfully illustrated on a certain\noccasion while holding a meeting in the city of Indianapolis. We stepped\ninto a doctor's office and observed a platform about four feet square.\nThis platform was perfectly insulated by having glass feet beneath. The\nobject of the platform was to form a place for an individual to sit and\nthen fill him full of electricity. A chair was placed on this platform,\nand we were asked to take a seat on it. At first we were somewhat\ndubious. We had read of the electrocuting chair, and did not know to\njust what extent the lightning might be turned on. After a little\npersuasion, and looking at the matter rather philosophically, thinking\nthat others had been there without being killed, we ventured to take a\nseat. At once the power was turned on and in a moment every hair on our\nhead was standing straight up, we observed in the mirror. The power went\nthrough and through our body from head to foot. It felt glorious, and no\none needed to tell us that something was going on inside. The doctor\nplaced his hand near our body, and a sharp crack was heard, a spark of\nlightning flew out to meet him. Every time the hand approached any part\nof us, the report was heard and lightning would flash. Our friend was\nsitting near and he was asked to shake hands with us, whereby he\nresponded, \"No, you don't.\" He felt there was too much going on for him\nto trifle with lightning that way. Now, we would not want to convey the\nthought, that necessarily when one obtains the blessing of holiness\nthere will be felt electric shocks throughout his being; but we do mean\nto say that when an individual places himself and all that he has on\nGod's platform of consecration, and becomes perfectly insulated from\nthis world, that God will turn on the power of the sanctifying baptism\nwith the Holy Ghost, and that individual will surely know that the\nmighty work has taken place. And not only the one who receives the\nblessing will be cognizant of the fact, but others who come in contact\nwith him will ascertain the same. To say that one has the blessing of\nholiness, but has no power, is to say what is not true. To say, \"I am\nstill sanctified, but I have lost the power,\" is to speak contradictory\nto the Word of God. There are some things which God has joined together,\nand surely we have no right to put them asunder. When the individual\nbecomes perfectly insulated from the world and worldliness, and makes\nproper connection with the dynamos of the skies, something is surely\ngoing to happen.\n\nOnce we heard a preacher tell an experience he had when a telegraph\noperator. It sometimes fell to his lot to go down the line and see what\ncaused obstructions to the messages. One time while out on such duty he\nobserved the line was broken. Usually he took along with him a telegraph\ninstrument with which to send and receive messages. This time he had\nneglected to carry such an instrument. He saw the importance of sending\nback a message, but having no instrument, he did not see how it could be\ndone. At length he thought of placing the two ends of the wire together,\nand by joining them in the proper way he could use the Morse code of\ndots and dashes, etc. He accordingly tried the experiment and it worked\nso successfully that he managed to get a message through to the office.\nThe next thing was, how could he get a message from the office to\nhimself? He could not hear the dots and dashes as they might pass along\nthe wire to him. Finally, the thought struck him, that he could make his\nbody a means of transmission of the message. Accordingly, he took hold\nof one end of the wire with one hand and the other wire with the other\nhand, when here came along the message and passed right through his\nbody, making the dots and dashes of the system perceptibly realized by\nthe jerking of the hands and arms. Here he had hold of one wire\nconnected with the office, and with the other hand he had grasped the\nwire that connected with the other side and through him came the\nmessage. Would to God that more people had learned the secret of perfect\ninsulation, and could have their very being so transformed that they\nwould become channels through which the Holy Ghost could pour His own\nmessages of divine truth out on a careless and deceived world! We need\nto become channels of life, abundant life to a lost and ruined world.\n\nThe world is perishing for life. The old humdrum of lifeless religion is\ntoo repulsive. When a certain noted preacher was asked why more people\ndid not attend church, the answer was, \"Because they can not stand the\nhumdrum.\" There is something about life that is attractive. A jumping,\nlaughing, rollicking baby always attracts attention. The frisking lamb,\nthe playing pups, the rollicking children, all attract. Folks don't like\ndeath. Funerals are sad. Graveyards are quiet places. The heart of man\ncries out for life. God puts a spiritual hunger within the breast for\nthe life more abundant. The lifeless, emotionless, joyless prayermeeting\nor preaching service never had its origin in the pentecostal upper room.\nThey are not the congregations of Spirit-filled, fire-baptized souls.\nDavid said, \"My cup runneth over.\" Isaiah said in that memorable twelfth\nchapter, that people would do five things: praise, pray, testify, sing,\nand shout. Then he gives as a cause for it all, that \"Great is the Holy\nOne of Israel in the midst of thee.\" And it is true to the letter. When\nGod gets in the midst of people there are these beautiful\nmanifestations. The people praise the Lord, call upon His name, make\nmention that His name is exalted, sing and shout. When the meeting dies,\nthese things are wanting. \"Life, life, eternal life!\" Let this be our\ncry till the dead wake up, and the slumbering church arouses from its\nstupor, and the pulpit pulsates with pentecostal fire.\n\nThe last thing a person wants to meet is death. No wonder it is termed\nan enemy. If then death is so dreaded in the material world, why should\nwe not abhor spiritual death? Thank God we do not need to have it\naround. With Christ the very embodiment of life, who was dead, but now\nis alive forevermore; with heaven's mighty reservoir of the elixir of\nlife at our command, there is no need of spiritual cemeteries. We do not\nhave to leak out our life because somebody said so; because some\npersecutor said something detrimental to us, or used some weapon of war\nagainst us. Did not martyrs of old face death at every turn? Paul said,\n\"I die daily.\" He was in constant jeopardy. He never could tell when an\nangry mob would swoop down upon him, or he would be cast to the wild\nbeasts. Yet none of these things moved him. He had a life like the palm\ntree, so hidden inside that external things did not affect. Indeed some\nof the early martyrs seemed to be endowed with miraculous physical life.\nIt is recorded that the Apostle John was cast into a cauldron of boiling\noil, but was miraculously delivered, the oil having no effect on him.\n\nWhen Blandina, a Christian lady, was undergoing such tremendous tortures\nby her persecutors, though weak in her constitution, yet she sustained\nsuch aid from heaven, that her tormentors several times became weary in\ntheir wicked work, and declared that she must have been supported by\nsome invisible power.\n\nSanctus was a deacon at Vienne. He was tortured for Jesus' sake and bore\nit all with marked fortitude and exclaimed, \"I am a Christian.\" When\nred-hot plates were applied repeatedly to the most sensitive parts of\nhis body, till the sinews were contracted, still he remained unmovable,\ninflexible in his steadfastness, and he was again placed in prison. In\na few days he was brought forth again, when his tormentors were\nwonderfully astonished to find that his wounds were healed and his body\nsound and perfect. He was again put to the torture, but being unable to\ntake his life, he was again remanded to prison, where soon afterward he\nwas beheaded.\n\nWe may not be called upon to suffer physical torture at the hands of\nheartless persecutors in these days, but \"They that will live godly in\nChrist Jesus shall suffer persecution.\" We surely will have it in some\nform if true to God. The world does not love our Christ. Jesus told His\nown brothers that the world could not hate them, but it hated Him,\nbecause He told them their deeds were evil. When our persecutors come,\nwhat are we going to do? If we have the palm tree blessing, we have a\nlife hidden so deep that the world can not reach it. This life is a\nheart life. It does not lie on the surface where the enemy's tortures\ncan reach it. Look at the sainted martyrs in the early day; how they\nendured the afflictions that were heaped upon them, without a murmur,\nand would not flinch, nor compromise a hair's breadth. Their tormentors\nwere taxed to the extreme in devising modes of suffering by which they\nhoped to succeed in getting the Christians to deny Christ. In order to\nshow the real hidden life of the palm tree saint we will record the case\nof two martyrs as told in \"The Historic Martyrs of the Primitive\nChurch,\" by A. J. Mason.\n\nProbus was presented. \"Put away all foolish language,\" said Maximus,\n\"and tell me what you are called.\"\n\n\"My first and best name is Christian; my second, by which men call me,\nis Probus.\"\n\n\"Of what station in life?\"\n\n\"My father was a Thracian, but I was born at Sida in Pamphilia. I am a\ncivilian, but a Christian.\"\n\n\"Little good you will get from that name. Follow my advice, and\nsacrifice to the gods, that you may receive honor from the emperors, and\nbe a friend of mine.\"\n\n\"I do not want the honor of the emperors, nor am I anxious for your good\noffices. I had a considerable property, but I gave it up, to serve the\nliving God through Christ.\"\n\n\"Take off his cloak. Gird him up. Put him at the stretch. Beat him with\nthongs of rawhide.\"\n\nThe compassionate centurion, Demetrius, again spoke: \"Spare yourself,\nman; you see your blood running to the ground.\"\n\n\"My body is at your disposal,\" answered Probus. \"But your punishments to\nme are an anointing with sweet ointments.\"\n\nAfter a time Maximus began again his attempts at persuasion: \"Will you\nnot have done with this madness now? Do you persist in it, unhappy man?\"\n\n\"I am not mad. I am wiser than you. I do not serve devils.\"\n\n\"Turn him over and beat him on the belly.\"\n\n\"Lord, help thy servant.\"\n\n\"As you beat him, say, 'Christian man, where is your helper?\"\n\n\"He has helped, and He helps me still. I care so little for your\npunishment, that I will not obey you.\"\n\n\"Think of your body, unhappy wretch. All the floor is covered with the\nblood from it.\"\n\n\"Let me tell you this: the more my body suffers for Christ's sake, the\nbetter it is for the health of my soul.\"\n\n\"Put him in irons, and stretch him to the fourth hole. Let him have no\nattention paid to him.\"\n\nTarachus is then brought before Maximus.\n\n\"Well, well, Tarachus,\" said Maximus. \"I suppose that the reason why\npeople honor old age is because of the greater wisdom in counsel that\ncomes with it. Therefore, give yourself good advice, and do not today\npersist in your former notions, but sacrifice to the gods, and earn the\npraise of piety.\"\n\n\"I am a Christian,\" answered Tarachus, \"and I pray that you and your\nemperors may earn the same praise, and may put away all hardness of\nheart and blindness, and be quickened by the true God to a higher and\nbetter grounded conviction.\"\n\n\"Knock his mouth with stones, and say to him, 'Cease your folly.'\"\n\n\"If I were not of sound mind, I should be a fool as you are.\"\n\n\"See, your teeth are all loosened. Have pity on yourself, unhappy man.\"\n\n\"Nothing that you can do hurts me, not if you were to cut off all my\nextremities. I stand steadfastly before you in Christ which\nstrengtheneth me.\"\n\n\"Follow my advice. You had better. Come and sacrifice.\"\n\n\"If I knew that I had better do it, I should not suffer as I do.\"\n\n\"Strike him on the mouth and tell him to cry out.\"\n\n\"When my teeth are dashed out, and my jaws crushed, I can not cry out.\"\n\n\"Will you not even now comply, impious man? Come to the altars, and pour\na drink-offering to the gods.\"\n\n\"Though you have stopped my voice so that I can not cry out, you can not\nhinder the thoughts of my soul. You have made me bolder and firmer.\"\n\n\"I will take down your firmness, ruffian.\"\n\n\"I am at your disposal. Whatever you devise, I shall be more than a\nmatch for you in the name of God who strengtheneth me.\"\n\n\"Open his hands and put fire in them.\"\n\n\"I am not afraid of your fire, which endures for a moment; but I am\nafraid lest, if I were to obey you, I should become a partaker of the\neternal fire.\"\n\n\"Look, your hands are consumed with the fire. Will you leave off your\nmadness, senseless man, and sacrifice?\"\n\n\"You talk to me as if I had begged you not to use your arts of\npersuasion upon my body. I am proof against all that you are doing to\nme.\"\n\n\"Tie his feet and hang him aloft by them; then send up a thick smoke in\nhis face.\"\n\n\"I thought nothing of your fire; do you suppose that I shall be afraid\nof your smoke?\"\n\n\"Consent to sacrifice, now that you are hung up.\"\n\n\"_You_ may sacrifice, sir; you are accustomed to sacrificing--even to\nsacrificing men. But God forbid that I should do so.\"\n\n\"Put strong vinegar, mixed with salt up his nostrils.\"\n\n\"Your vinegar is sweet and your salt has lost its saltness.\"\n\n\"Mix mustard with the vinegar and pour it into his nostrils.\"\n\n\"Your officers are deceiving you, Maximus; they gave me honey instead of\nvinegar.\"\n\n\"I will think of some punishment for you next court day, and I will put\nan end to your folly.\"\n\n\"And I shall be the readier for your devices.\"\n\n\"Take him down; put him in chains and give him over to the gaoler. Call\nthe next.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nTHE PALM BRANCH IS THE SYMBOL OF VICTORY\n\n\n\"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could\nnumber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood\nbefore the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and\n_palms_ in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation\nto our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. * * * These\nare they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their\nrobes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb\" (Rev. 7:9, 14).\n\n\"When this cruel war is over,\" and the last enemy, death, has been\nconquered, and every tribulation has been passed through triumphantly,\nthen we shall come forth on the victor's side, clothed with white robes,\nand waving our palm branches gloriously, having overcome by the blood of\nthe Lamb and the word of our testimony.\n\nWhen Jesus made that triumphal entry into Jerusalem, just before His\ncrucifixion, the rejoicing followers acknowledged His kingly victories,\nand did homage by preparing His way, and \"took branches of palm trees,\nand went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of\nIsrael that cometh in the name of the Lord\" (John 12:13).\n\nNot only did the palm branch have the significance of victory in the\nBible, but certain countries have used it as a token of victory and\nrejoicing, a symbol or evidence of superiority or success. In our\npresent day, \"to bear the palm\" means to come off victoriously. This\nexpression has evidently been borrowed from the ancient symbol.\n\nWhat other tree in all the world could so well be used to signify\nvictory? When we think of its beauty, its perpendicular straightness,\nits perennial freshness, its sweet and abundant fruitfulness even in old\nage, its almost incomprehensible utility, its successful development\nwhere other trees fail, its natural propensity to ascend heavenward, its\nmarvelous hardiness with its internal and upward growth, does it not\nstand to reason that the palm branch should be the most fitting type of\nChristian triumph and joyous victory? No other tree could be used so\nwell to symbolize the victory of him who is fighting under the banner of\nKing Emmanuel.\n\nNow, if we are to flourish like the palm tree, then we shall flourish\nwith victory.\n\nWe are taught in the Word that \"we are more than conquerors through him\nthat loved us\" (Rom. 8:37). This means that the palm tree saint can\nfight and win and be ready to fight again.\n\nDavid's fight with Goliath illustrates it. He marched out against his\nenemy and God's enemy with five sling stones, and the first throw\nsomething entered Goliath's head that made an impression which he never\ngot over. And then the stripling, shepherd lad had four more stones to\nkill four more giants if necessary.\n\nIn the economy of God's grace He never arranged for us to be succumbers,\nbut rather overcomers. Read the marvelous promises of Revelation for\nthose who overcome. There are seven of them, and note the ascending\nscale.\n\n1. \"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which\nis in the midst of the paradise of God.\"\n\n2. \"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.\"\n\n3. \"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I\nwill give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written which\nno man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.\"\n\n4. \"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him\nwill I give power over the nations. * * * And I will give him the\nmorning star.\"\n\n5. \"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and\nI will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess\nhis name before my Father, and before his angels.\"\n\n6. \"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God,\nand he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my\nGod, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which\ncometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new\nname.\"\n\n7. \"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,\neven as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.\"\n\nWonderful stepping stones to the throne! Seven steps and into glory!\n\nLet us examine them in their order:\n\n1. He eats of the tree of life. Death has slipped away and eternal life\nhas come. He is living forever _now_. We eat of earth's food to live\nhere, and we eat of the tree of life to live forever.\n\n2. He has promise of a safe passage and a proper landing. He shall not\nbe hurt with the second death. Insurance in the King's Insurance\nCompany, secures a positive guaranty against the second death. Wrapped\nin the asbestos robes of full salvation, makes one immune from the fires\nof perdition.\n\n3. He eats again; but now it is hidden manna. Hidden manna was inside\nthe holy of holies. Thus, he reaches the \"second blessing\" properly\nso-called. Now arises special persecution and calumny; but the great\nJudge in casting the ballot for the condemned, puts in the white stone\nfor acquittal: hence, he receives the white stone at this stage. \"What\nshall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against\nus?\" (Rom. 8:31).\n\n4. Power, the positive side of holiness is now particularly manifested.\nAlso, the night of trouble, trial, testing, temptations, and tears will\npass away. The \"morning star\" is seen. He is looking toward the\nsun-rising, toward the morning when the Sun of righteousness shall\nappear.\n\n5. Now, the \"white raiment\" of a holy life shines forth particularly.\nHis outward life and testimony give him away. His hidden life manifests\nitself outwardly and differentiates itself from all other life. The\ninward glory is shining out to the surface, and his life is seen and\nfelt. In proportion to the inward glory will the outward effulgence be\nmanifested. Jesus, on the mount of transfiguration, let the inward glory\nout through His garments, and they became garments of light.\n\nNow comes the announcement that his name will not be blotted out of the\nbook of life. While it is possible to pass the point in sin, where the\nsoul fixes its destiny for damnation, so it seems that there is a point\nin the progress of spirituality and grace and overcoming, that fixes the\nsoul's destiny for glory. His name is confessed before God and the\nangels. The veil is getting very thin here, between the overcoming\npilgrim and paradise. In fact he is living mostly in heaven now.\n\n6. He is now counted a pillar in a peculiar sense. Like the pillars of\nancient Egypt and Babylon where great monarchs carved their names,\nbattles, victories, marvelous achievements, and chiseled their pedigree\nand dynasty, so God takes this time-honored, battle-scarred,\nself-sacrificing pilgrim at this stage and makes him an illustrious\npillar in the temple of God, and writes in his favor his victories and\nexploits, his overcoming life. He is to go no more out. As some are\nsealed for eternal damnation in this life, so he is sealed for eternal\nglory.\n\n\"I will write upon him.\" Yes, God will carve upon him victories and\nconquests. He will write upon him the city of God--his sure destination.\nLike the address on a sealed letter, with the government of the country\nback of it to see that it arrives safely at its destination, so with\nGod's \"epistles,\" \"sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,\" with the\naddress of his destination plainly written thereon, and with the\ngovernment of all heaven interested in seeing him through, we see the\novercoming saint nearing the Great White Throne. The end is near; he is\novercoming to the last. He has been ascending the steps, till now he\nsees inside the pearly gates, and one step more will put him inside.\n\n7. Here he is in glory at last, and a place with Jesus in His throne.\nExalted place! With Christ, the great Overcomer, he sits down with Him\nin His throne. It is more than finite minds can comprehend. Surely, it\nwill pay to be true to Jesus and be a final overcomer.\n\nWhen we read these wonderful promises to the overcomer, and see with\nwhat precision and certainty he is made to ascend the spiritual scale to\nglory, we scarcely wonder, that before we reach the close of Revelation\nwe hear the sudden announcement: \"He that overcometh shall inherit all\nthings.\"\n\n\"And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith\" (1\nJohn 5:4). The overcoming, victorious life is the only kind that\nsatisfies the soul and qualifies for spiritual success in this world.\nThe outside world is looking upon us, and if they do not see something\nin us beyond that which they see in themselves, there will be no\ninducement from our standpoint for them to make any change.\n\nGod has provided a life in which it is possible to \"rejoice evermore,\npray without ceasing, in everything give thanks.\" The psalmist said, \"I\nwill bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my\nmouth.\" No person can, by mere volition, bring himself into a frame of\nmind to bless the Lord at all times and have His praise continually in\nhis mouth. The harassing trials and nagging disappointments incident to\nearthly life are too many and too severe to admit of the everlasting\npraise life without the grace of God within. And many with a measure of\nGod's grace have not become acquainted with the secret of continual\npraise. Let us look at two statements, one in the Old Testament, and the\nother in the New Testament.\n\n\"All these things are against me\" (Gen. 42:36).\n\n\"All things work together for good\" (Rom. 8:28).\n\nThe first statement comes from Jacob; the second from the Apostle Paul.\nPaul said he had learned whatsoever state he was in, therewith to be\ncontent (Phil. 4:11). Jacob was looking at the mere external, and\njudging accordingly. What were the things that were against Jacob? \"Me\nhave ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and\nye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.\" But Jacob,\nyou are very much mistaken. The very things you say are against you,\nare all working together for your good. Joseph, right now is in Egypt,\nthe governor of that land, and is not dead as you suppose. Simeon is all\nright under Joseph's watchful care, and Benjamin will be in the best of\nhands. Joseph went before, to be a loadstone to draw Simeon there, and\nSimeon is a loadstone to draw Benjamin there, and Benjamin will be a\nloadstone to draw you there and all the rest of the family to preserve\nyou alive and to bring about God's wonderful plan and providence in the\nHebrew nation. No; the trouble with Jacob was with his foresight; had\nthat been half as good as his hindsight he never would have said what he\ndid.\n\nPerhaps Paul did not have so much to contend with in his day. Let us\nsee. \"In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more\nfrequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes\nsave one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I\nsuffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in\njourneyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils\nby mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city,\nin perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false\nbrethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger\nand thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those\nthings that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of\nall the churches\" (2 Cor. 11:23-28). In spite of all these, hear his\novercoming, victorious faith say: \"All things work together for good.\"\n\nThere is probably no department in the Christian life which is more\ndesired and for which more prayer is offered, than the victory\ndepartment. There are so many trials, disappointments and annoyances\nfrom day to day, that if one allows them to overcome him he is\nconstantly confronting failure and chagrin. But to know that one is from\nday to day and moment to moment living in the praise and overcoming\nlife, gives him a joy and satisfaction that is simply glorious in the\nextreme.\n\nThere are many Christians who go through the world in a sort of\nup-and-down, to-and-fro, in-and-out, zigzag way that is certainly\ndiscouraging. To have victory today and defeat tomorrow, keeps one on\nedge all the time, not knowing which way the battle is going to turn. A\nlesson from the Book of Joshua is encouraging. When he began that\nwonderful series of conquests just after crossing the Jordan into\nCanaan, it was victory after victory. Here is a sample of the records:\n\"And he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho.\"\nThen follows like statements in almost the identical language except\nthat the cities are different, showing that he took the last city and\nconquered it and its king in precisely the same manner as he did the one\nbefore. God had previously promised him that he should have just that\nkind of victory in Canaan. \"Hereby ye shall know that the living God is\namong you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the\nCanaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and\nthe Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites\" (Joshua 3:10).\nNotice two things in this: It was to occur in Canaan, and there were to\nbe seven nations conquered. Is not this typical of Holy Ghost victory in\nthe sanctified life? Canaan is a type of holiness, and seven is the\nperfect number. God wants us to have perfect victory from day to day\nover all our foes, and He will supply that which will enable us to\novercome.\n\nSo many so-called soldiers of the cross are living simply on the\ndefensive with scarcely a thought of spiritual, aggressive warfare. Look\nat the great battles that have been won in the world's history. Were not\nmost of them won by the aggressive side? Look at the whole armor of God\nas the inspired pen of Paul pictures it out in the sixth chapter of\nEphesians; the helmet for the head, the breastplate for the vital organs\nof the body, the shield for the whole man, and a sword to do aggressive\nexecution. We see the whole front of the man protected, but what about\nthe back? There is no protection for that part of the body, for God's\nsoldiers are not expected to turn their back to the foe. If they do,\nthey are sure to be hit. When the writer was a boy, accompanied by other\nboys, he discovered an old Indian burying ground on the beach bluff near\nSanta Barbara, California. They had seen indications of such a place,\nand were diligently searching for the exact spot. Finally, they\ndiscovered some rib bones sticking out of the bank, where the constant\nwashing of the waves had in time crumbled the bank down. With shovels in\nhand they went about the delightsome task of uncovering the dead, with\nthe hopes of finding wampum, arrowheads, pottery or any other relics\nwhich might have been buried with their owner. Finally, a section of an\nIndian's backbone was unearthed, and upon examination it was found that\nan arrow head had pierced the vertebra, just missing the spinal cord,\nand was wedged in like a nail driven into a board. The question might be\nasked: \"How did the arrow head get into that Indian's backbone?\"\nEvidently, because the Indian was on the retreat, and his enemy shot him\nin the back.\n\nWhere is the victorious life, when life is spent simply in the humdrum\nof daily routine of selfish interests? No wonder people have an\nup-and-down experience. No wonder they never get anywhere outside of the\ntreadmill of life. God wants us to branch out and bless the world and be\nconquerors. In the Garden of Eden we read about the wonderful river that\nflowed through it and watered it; but it was not self-centered nor\nself-contained; it branched out. So it is in sanctified human experience\ntoday; the Edenic stream of full salvation flows through the soul, but\nit does not stop there and center itself in the individual. The stream\nwaters one's life and experience, but it flows out and on to bless\nothers also. The Edenic stream started out as one stream, but the\naccount tells us that it branched out into four streams and watered the\nworld around. So it is with that soul who will let the Holy Ghost have\nHis way with him. Out of his inmost being will flow rivers of living\nwater. This fourfold Edenic stream went out in four directions, to the\nfour quarters of the earth, so to speak. Four is the human number of the\nBible, and when one gets the Holy Ghost, he is expected to branch out to\nthe people everywhere and water the world with the precious water of\nlife. Holiness is not self-centered. It consists of two elements--purity\nand power. If one has the thought of purity alone when he seeks the\nblessing, he has a one-sided idea of it. There is a power side which\nenables the possessor to conquer. Purity for the individual, and power\nfor the world; or in other words, power for aggressive warfare.\n\nWhoever became a conqueror that stayed always in one little, beaten\npath? The world is so big, the possibilities are so great, and the grace\nof God so boundless, that it looks as if we all ought to set our stakes\nfor bigger results in the Christian life. One day we were passing along\na street in a certain city and observed a gentleman constructing a very\npeculiar piece of frame work, and our curiosity was so aroused that we\nwent over and asked him what he was building. He answered, \"I am\nbuilding a razzle-dazzle.\" He then explained what that was. He said that\na razzle-dazzle was something like a merry-go-round, except that as it\nwent round and round it also went up and down. We thought how many\npeople in their so-called Christian life are riding the razzle-dazzle.\nThey want to be going and moving, but they are going round and round,\nand not only that, they are going up and down, up and down, and never\ngetting anywhere in their experience. Now, we never were much in favor\nof running off on tangents, but in this case we think it would be very\nadvantageous to strike a tangent and take a bee-line for Canaan.\n\nMany are hindered in their victorious life by the \"little foxes which\nspoil the vines.\" Their spiritual wall which surrounds them seems to\nadmit so many of the aggravating cares, that they find themselves\nfrequently overcome thereby. \"Salvation, will God appoint for walls and\nbulwarks\" (Isa. 26:1). \"But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy\ngates Praise\" (Isa. 60:18). When we remember that \"God is our\nsalvation,\" and \"Our God is a consuming fire,\" and this God, the\nconsuming fire, is the wall of salvation around us, we believe the wall\nis so high that the devil's little foxes can not jump over it; so thick\nthey can not bore through it, and so deep they can not dig under it.\nThis is surely a blessed protection for those on the inside. But the\npromised protection of God is still more. He will insphere His trusting\nchild and make him doubly safe, and make his surrounding simply\nglorious. Notice the divine insphering: \"As the mountains are round\nabout Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth\neven forever\" (Psalm 125:2). Here is the Lord all around us. \"Because he\nis at my right hand, I shall not be moved\" (Psa. 16:8). The Lord is by\nour side. \"Underneath are the everlasting arms\" (Deut. 33:27). The Lord\nis beneath us. \"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High\nshall abide under the shadow of the Almighty\" (Psalm 91:1). The Lord is\nover us. And we are also taught that we may abide in Him and He will\nabide in us. Think of this marvelous protection: the Lord all around us,\nby our side, underneath us, over us, in us and we in Him. Then shall we\nallow the trifling things of earth to conquer us and spoil our\nexperience? How often we hear one say words like this: \"I wouldn't give\nup my experience for all the world,\" and then possibly in an unguarded\nmoment go down over something not worth a quarter. We once heard of a\nsailor that had braved the sea and storms for years, and finally got\ndrowned in a bucket of water. While drinking he had some fit or accident\nwhich caused him to fall, so that his face was buried in the water and\nhe was strangled to death. Be careful of the little things; they are\nsometimes more dangerous than the bigger ones. A brother was once\naccosted by one of the Lord's workers and asked how he was getting along\nin his Christian experience. He replied that he got along very well\nusually through the day, but when he went home from his work in the\nevening, his wife nagged at him so much that he invariably lost out. He\nwould be blessed along through the day, but when that nagging spirit of\nhis wife got started, even though he would hold out for some time and\nkeep the victory, yet as sure as he would open his mouth, the victory\nwas gone. He told the worker that he had an experience like a pelican.\nHe then described how the pelican would start out in the morning and\nload up its big pouch with fish, and then in the evening it would start\nfor home, whereupon the little birds would get after it and peck it\nfirst on one side of the bill and then on the other, till the poor\npelican would throw its head around from one side to the other, and\nfinally its mouth would fly open and out would go the fish, which was\njust what the birds were after. He said he had a pelican experience;\nthat he would get along well through the day, but the constant annoyance\nof the wife in the evening would finally cause him to open his mouth,\nand away would go his victory. Many a blessing has been lost, simply by\nopening the mouth. It is much harder sometimes to keep the mouth shut\nthan to open it. \"So he openeth not his mouth,\" was the attitude of Him\nwho was our example.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nTHE PALM TREE WILL NOT ADMIT OF GRAFTING\n\n\nFor many years the process of grafting has been known and practiced by\nhorticulturists. This is accomplished by taking a scion, usually of the\nprevious year's growth, from a shrub or tree, and inserting it into\nanother shrub or tree more or less closely related to the first. It must\nbe so inserted that the cambium layer of the scion, that is, the layer\nof formative tissue between the bark and natural wood, is closely united\nto that of the stock. In time, these two parts grow together into a\nperfect union. The scion thus inserted will derive its life and strength\nfrom the original root and stock, but will bear its fruit according to\nthe nature of the scion.\n\nWhen we come to the palm tree, we find something that is opposed to this\nmethod and will not respond. It will not yield to any mixture. It has\nnot the qualifications that admit of grafting processes. It can neither\nbe grafted in with any other tree, nor can any other tree be united with\nthe palm. It will not mix. It is an endogenous tree, and the cambium\nlayer does not obtain. It has no joining tissue that can be thus united\nwith any other plant.\n\nDid the Omniscient Inspirer of the Word make any mistake when He said,\n\"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree?\"\n\nThe Word of God is diametrically opposed to unholy mixtures. Hear the\nword of the Lord in Deut. 22:9-11. \"Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with\ndivers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the\nfruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an\nass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of\nwoolen and linen together.\"\n\nWho has not seen the evil effects of mixing the planting of various\nseeds together, such as melons and pumpkins, or other incompatible\nvarieties? Why not yoke an ox and an ass together? They are neither\nmated in size, breed, nor disposition. It makes a lopsided pair. One is\nclassed with the clean animals, and the other with the unclean. We once\nsaw an oriental picture in the back part of a Bible where some native\nwas plowing with an ox and an ass together, and they had the appearance\nof being ashamed of themselves. It looked as if the poor plowman would\nhave a hard job to get any work out of the pair.\n\nBut why not the mixed garment, of woolen and linen? \"They shall be\nclothed with linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them, whiles\nthey minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall\nhave linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon\ntheir loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth\nsweat\" (Eze. 44:17, 18). God did not want them to chafe and sweat in\nperforming their religious service; hence, the prohibition of the\nmixture in garments.\n\nIn this we find a beautiful lesson for spiritual experience. We have too\nmuch of the linsey-woolsey type of religion in our day. How God must\nabhor unholy mixing up!\n\nIn this threefold prohibition we see the three sides of religion. Pure\nreligion consists of three things: doctrine, service, and experience.\nFirst, they were not to mix the seed. What does seed typify? Read the\nparable of the sower in the eighth chapter of Luke. \"The seed is the\nword of God.\" Here we have the thought: it is the doctrine of God. One\npart of religion is doctrine, and we must not be mixed in this respect.\nWhen the Bible speaks of that teaching which comes from God, it is put\nin the singular and called \"doctrine.\" When it comes from men or devils\nit is called \"doctrines.\" God's doctrine is one; men and devils' are\nmany. Paul admonished Timothy to take heed unto the doctrine. In Paul's\ntime, and in the times of the early fathers, heresy abounded. In our own\ntime, Christendom is rent with heresy. Unscriptural doctrine obtains\neverywhere. Universalism proclaims the mercy of God reaching \"from\neverlasting to everlasting.\" So, in the ultimate outcome, all, because\nChrist died for all, will be housed safely, in spite of a\nChrist-rejecting life. Unitarianism, as the name suggests, believes in\none God; hence, rejects the deity of Jesus Christ, and being\nUniversalists also in belief, they are all going to get in by the\nexample of the Savior. While the Universalist believes that God is too\ngood to damn him, the Unitarian believes that he is too good to be\ndamned. Then comes along the soul-sleeper, who mixes with his doctrine\nthe heresy of no conscious existence after death till the resurrection,\nand the utter annihilation of the wicked following the judgment, all of\nwhich is in direct opposition to the plain teaching of the Word.\nMormonism comes in with its deluded adherents and claims a new\nrevelation in the Book of Mormon, and repudiates hell, flaunts its\nmantle of polygamous fornication over its dupes, and gives the world a\nmixture indeed. Christian Science, the greatest misnomer in modern\nparlance, foists its counterfeit religious currency over our fair land\nand makes the unwary deny the existence of sin, death, Devil, and the\nreal personality of God himself. The blood atonement of our Savior is\nobnoxious to them, and hell is not in their creed. Surely theirs is a\nmixed seed, with scarcely any real truth. Then springs up the _ignis\nfatuus_ fallacy of Russellism with its promised \"Millennial Dawn,\"\nspreading out the \"Plan of the Ages\" so that its deceived votaries\ndiscount the deity of Christ until His resurrection. They claim that His\nbody was not resurrected, but may have passed off into gases; that one\nis not born again till he is resurrected; that hell is a farce; that the\nworld will have a further chance of being saved after death. Not content\nwith these forces, the disseminator of mixed seeds raises up a regiment\nof Higher Critics, who, with their Jehoiakim penknives, have cut and\nslashed the blessed, inspired Word of God till it is beyond recognition\nas it comes from their hands. To follow their vandalism is to get into\nthe meshes of mysticism and doubt, and wonder what part, if any, is to\nbe relied upon as actual inspiration. Then we have the \"New Thought,\"\nand the \"New Theology,\" and the \"Aquarian Gospel,\" and their name is\nLegion, the \"isms\" that are foisted upon gullible humanity in these\nlatter days. Occasionally one pokes up his personality above the horizon\nand declares himself Jesus Christ, when, lo, and behold a following! Sad\nindeed is it that so many people and many good people, have been\nbeguiled into the unscriptural teaching couched in the creed of the\nso-called \"Tongues Movement.\" When it first claimed the attention of the\nChristian world their theory was first, justification, in which all sins\nwere forgiven; then following this experience came sanctification, which\ninvolved the cleansing of the heart from all inbred sin; following this\ndefinite work, comes the baptism with the Holy Ghost, accompanying which\nis the speaking in tongues as an evidence of said baptism. No one must\nrest satisfied that he has received his Pentecost till he has spoken in\ntongues. Then the factions began to arise. Leaders opposed each other,\nand all spoke in tongues as claimed. Their creed began to change, and\nnow one of the leading factions of the movement ridicules the thought of\nsanctification as a second work of grace, and declares, that while\nsanctification does come in, yet all the cleansing one gets is in the\nfirst work when pardon takes place; that is, all inbred sin is then\neradicated from the heart. They still hold to the baptism with the Holy\nGhost and speaking in tongues. Many of the good people of the land have\nbeen caught in this theological mix-up, and have dropped out of the\nold-time holiness ranks. What does it all signify? It signifies a mixing\nof seed--a mixing of doctrine. The theocracy of the Old Testament\nforbade it in the literal, and the inspired Word also forbids it in the\nspiritual, in the present dispensation.\n\nA person who is mixed in his doctrine is a dangerous element in the\ncommunity. His work is not to settle, root and ground others in the\nfaith, but rather to unsettle them. \"A heretic after the first and\nsecond admonition, reject.\" Has it ever occurred to the reader that\nheresy is one of the works of the flesh, or carnal mind? Read it in Gal.\n5:20. The Conservator of orthodoxy is the Holy Ghost in a purified\nheart. Outside of that, where is the hope of preserving inviolate the\npurity of the doctrine of God? Let me illustrate how this works. There\nenters an intelligent, so-called expounder of the truth, into a pulpit,\nand he proceeds to teach the people. There sits in the congregation one\nwith a purified heart, in whom dwells the Holy Ghost, the Author of the\ninspired Word. As this ingenious mixer of seed throws out some good\ntruth, he adroitly mixes into it his heresy, and makes it so plausible,\nthat, if possible, it would deceive the very elect. His arguments are so\nclear, and he uses the Scriptures so well to prove his statements, that\neven to the minds of the most spiritual, it seems that he has made the\npoints scripturally plain. The head responds and says, \"It looks that\nway,\" but the Holy Ghost dwelling in that purified heart causes a\nshrinking. The soul closes in, and the listener says, \"I do not feel\nright somehow. I am not comfortable.\" What is the matter? It is the\nblessed Conservator of orthodoxy, the Preserver of the purity of the\nWord of God operating in that heart to hinder it from accepting heresy.\nBut here sits another who has not been so fortunate as to have the\nelement of inbred sin purged from the heart; hence, has not the abiding\nfulness of the Holy Spirit in the heart. The speaker appeals to him in\nthe same way he did to the other. The head nods assent, for he certainly\nmakes it plain. But he has that in his heart from which heresy springs,\nand so the heresy from this man appeals to its kindred spirit in the\nlistener, and the result is, it is swallowed down, the poison has done\nits work, and another victim is numbered. Oh, reader, is it of small\nimport that we should be filled with the Holy Ghost, and thus have our\nspiritual Protector always guarding us from poisonous seed? We would not\nwant to take the stand that this is the infallible rule with all people,\nbut we do certainly believe that this is the secret of some remaining\nfirm and immovable in doctrine, while others are swept from their\nmoorings.\n\nThe next department of religion we wish to notice in connection with\nwrong mixtures is that of service. The ox and the ass were not to be\nyoked together. This signifies service. Service constitutes a large\nportion of our religion. Without proper service to God we could not hope\nto continue in the grace of God. Certainly it stands one in hand to know\nwhat kind of service he should engage in.\n\nThe world and the religion of Jesus Christ were never calculated to mix.\nIt is the unholy mixtures all down the ages that have brought the stigma\nupon the Church of God. It always causes trouble. \"And the mixed\nmultitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel\nalso wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?\" The children\nof Israel fell into line with the murmurings of the mixture they had on\nhand. God's plan has always been for His people to be separated people.\nThat is the reason He took them out of Egypt. He warned them before they\never got to Canaan, that they must remain separated from the inhabitants\nof the land. They were not to intermarry; they were not to mix. When\nBalaam utterly failed to curse the children of Israel for Balak's sake,\nbecause the Lord would not let him, yet on his departure he told Balak\nhow he could succeed anyway. He told him to mix up with the children of\nIsrael in an unholy and abominable alliance. He did so and brought the\ncurse and plague of God upon Israel, and thousands were slain thereby.\nWhen Nehemiah was sent to rebuild Jerusalem, he found a terrible state\nof affairs had arisen by the intermarriage of the Jews with the women of\nAshdod, Ammon and Moab. There were a lot of little half-breeds running\naround that could not talk the Jews' language. So Nehemiah had a great\ncleaning up time on his hands.\n\nGod has called His Church to stand out clean and spotless from the\nworld. What a power she would have been had she always taken the\nseparated, clean way! But how sad to see those who profess to be\nfollowers of the meek and lowly Nazarene, courting the world and mixing\nwith them in their pleasures, pride, popularity, and polluted politics!\n\nOne of the saddest things to behold today is the reckless transgression\nof that plain command, \"Be ye not unequally yoked together with\nunbelievers.\" See the unhappy homes everywhere, because Christians did\nnot counsel with God and His Word in taking a life-partner. Oh, the\nanguish, and heartaches, and backslidings, because the plain Word was\nnot followed! There was a certain Christian lady, who neglected to\nfollow the Guide Book in this important step, and right soon after the\nmarriage she knelt down to offer a little prayer to God, and His voice\nwas heard clear and distinct: \"Be ye not unequally yoked together with\nunbelievers.\" It was too late now to remedy the affair, but the same\nword was in the Book before she got into trouble. For thirty years this\nlady wandered on in darkness thereafter and never heard the voice of\nGod, till in mercy she was brought back to saving grace.\n\nHow many there are who take upon them the name of Jesus Christ and yet\nare mixed up in secret societies and labor unions. Let the world have\nthese institutions if they want, for they are simply worldly. Their\nmethods and practices and pleasures are not conducive to spiritual life.\nIt is a wrong mixture. \"Come out from among them and be ye separate.\"\n\nLet me not pass by another mixing which does not have the blessing of\nGod upon it. It is that of partnership in business with the unsaved. How\nmany of God's people have found themselves in serious difficulty on\naccount of unscriptural business partnership. More than once God has had\nto force the alternative upon one of His children to buy out or sell\nout; that he could not continue in such alliance to the glory of God. We\nhave been astonished and grieved at the careless and reckless way so\nmany professing Christians, yea, holiness people have disregarded this\ncommand of separation, and allowed themselves to be drawn into stock\ncompanies with the unsaved. Is it not an unequal yoking together? Shall\nwe take God's money, and put it in the control of the world? No wonder\nso many who have been so fortunate as to possess a little of this\nworld's goods have suddenly found their money taking wings and flying\naway. Had they counseled with God in the business, they would not have\nbeen beguiled into the unequal yoking with unbelievers. Let us not think\nwe can fly in the face of the plain Word of God and take matters in our\nown hands with impunity.\n\nNeither should we yoke up in church fellowship with those who are not\nsaved. We would not take the stand, that perchance some might not be\ntaking the track, that it should bar us from church membership, but when\nthe mass of members are not obeying God, and are opposed to holiness,\nand are worldly in their trend, it is no place for one who wishes to be\nspiritual and keep blessed. How long will it be if one mixes in with\nsuch a crowd till he will be like them? We once were passing through the\nstate of Colorado and saw from the car window a beautiful, clear stream\nof water join with another stream that was dark and muddy. How long did\nit take the crystal stream to become muddy like the other? It certainly\ndid not clarify the muddy current, but the muddy current mixed right\ninto it and all became impure.\n\nPoor Ephraim ought to stand out as a warning to those who think they can\nmix with the world with impunity. Hear the Word on his case: \"Ephraim,\nhe hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.\"\nPoor, unturned cake. He had mixed so much among the people that he did\nnot have fire enough to bake him on both sides; it did not pay to turn\nhim over. What is an unbaked cake good for? It is so sticky that it will\nadhere to almost anything. Ephraim adhered to this people and that, and\nmet with sad failure. Sticky, soggy, heavy, indigestible, unpalatable!\nWho wants it? \"Hot cakes\" is the call, and not cold, unturned ones.\n\nThe next department of religion we wish to notice is that of experience.\nHere we have the prohibition of the linen and woolen garments mixed.\nWhat is closer to a person than his garments? God has seen fit to\nexpress salvation under the fitting emblem of garments. \"For fine linen\nis the righteousness of saints\" (Rev. 19:8). \"These are they which came\nout of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them\nwhite in the blood of the Lamb\" (Rev. 7:14). \"Let thy garments be always\nwhite, and let thy head lack no ointment\" (Eccl. 9:8). \"Put on thy\nbeautiful garments, O Jerusalem\" (Isa. 52:1). \"He hath clothed me with\nthe garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of\nrighteousness\" (Isa. 61:10). We have given these beautiful Scriptures to\nshow that garments are used to symbolize Christian experience. Now, as\nthe garment is the closest thing that comes to a person, so one's\nexperience is the closest thing in his religion. It certainly gets up\nclose to a man. God forbade under the theocracy the wearing of linen and\nwoolen garments mixed. This mixture causes chafing and sweat and\nhardship that He wanted avoided in their religion. But in this present\nday we find, alas, too frequently a linsey-woolsey religion.\n\nLet us carry out the figure. Linen is the pure, clean, vegetable\ncreation, and is used to signify the righteousness of the saints. Wool\nis the product of the animal, and is carnal; hence, signifies the carnal\nelement in one's experience. This carnal element sometimes called the\nflesh, obtains in every Christian's heart until he obtains the baptism\nwith the Holy Ghost, wherein his heart is thus made pure.\n\n\"Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee\"\n(Lev. 19:19). As the Word of God was against the garment of this\nmixture, so that experience today that is allowed to remain in the\nheart whereby there is righteousness and carnality dwelling together is\nforbidden. There must not remain carnality where grace has taken up its\nabode. There will be spiritual sweating and chafing, and one's religion\nwill be hindered and thwarted, and in all probability there will be\nfailure in the end. As it was scientifically incompatible, the mixing of\nlinen and woolen together for a garment, so it is spiritually\nincompatible, the mixing of righteousness and carnality in the same\nheart. There is always more or less chafing and hardships and\ndiscouragements. \"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the\nSpirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other;\nso that ye can not do the things that ye would\" (Gal. 5:17). Thank God,\nin the economy of grace there is provided an elimination of the carnal\nelement of one's experience, leaving the pure, clean linen of\nrighteousness. Then the chafing, and galling, and spiritual\nperspiration, working against carnal odds, will cease.\n\nNow for a word of application. \"The righteous shall flourish like the\npalm tree\" in preclusion of uniting or mixing with others. There is\nsomething in the very nature of the palm that precludes the graft, or\nintermixing. There is something in the spiritual makeup of the holy,\npalm tree saints that have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of\ndarkness. They are a class by themselves. They will not mix their\nreligion with the world. In doctrine they are clean, true, clear, and\nscriptural. They are holding to the old landmarks which their fathers\nhave set. They are not running after the new fads under the guise of\nreligion. They are settled, rooted and grounded in the truth. In service\nthey are separate from the world. They are not mixing with the fun,\nfrolic and general pastime and pleasure of the worldly element. They\nscrupulously adhere to the admonition to \"come out from among them\" and\nnot to be unequally yoked together in any way. In experience, they have\nno admixture of the carnal and spiritual elements. They have had their\nhearts cleansed from all sin, and are really clothed with the pure,\nspotless garment of salvation. They lack that cambium layer of formative\ntissue that unites them to any other stock. Of course the world hates\nthem for standing out against them and failing to unite. The worldly\nminded church members steer clear of them, for these members retain a\nformative tissue that will admit of joining with the world and allowing\nthe world to join with them; but the palm tree saints stand aloof; they\ndo not mix.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nIT IS ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES\n\n\nOur God is the God of nature as well as of grace. Trees thrive best when\nin the sphere that nature intended them for. The palm tree is especially\na hot climate tree, and when taken out of its proper place it stands to\nreason that it will succumb. It can not stand the cold. It was not made\nthat way. It matters not how hot the place may be, even in the broiling\nsun of the desert, it will thrive. But place it in the cold regions, and\ndeath will inevitably be the result.\n\nThe palm tree saint has this same characteristic in the spiritual realm.\nA red-hot meeting is his delight. His very nature calls out for the fire\nwhich burns in meetings where God has His way. The warmer the meetings\nthe better he likes them, and the better he thrives. He can not stand\nthe cold. God did not make him to stand cold meetings, and so he is not\nresponsible for it. Cold meetings seem to chill him to the marrow. And\nshould he providentially be placed in such a sphere, he would feel that\nhe must do something to start the circulation or he would soon be frozen\nto death. Why do not more people have the wisdom of those in cold\nclimates? To illustrate: A man starts out on a load of wood to take it\nto the market several miles away. The thermometer is many degrees below\nzero. A friend meets him in the way and informs him that he saw him\nnodding as he came down the road; that his nose is white and that frost\nhas gathered on his eyebrows. The poor man still has sense enough left\nto see his danger, and he at once jumps off the load and begins to kick\nhis toes against the sled, and swing his arms around his body in that\npeculiar, cold-climate style to warm himself. After a most heroic effort\nhe finds himself thoroughly awake, and the warm blood again coursing\nthrough his veins, and he says to himself, \"I will not allow that to\nhappen again.\"\n\nHow often have we seen an iceberg in the pulpit, icicles in the pews,\nand polar breezes sweeping through the place! Surely, to live in that\nclimate long would be to freeze to death. One would have to make a\ntremendous stir if he hoped to keep up circulation in such a place. And\nshould the stir be made, there would be a hue and cry of fanaticism,\nwild fire, crazy, or such like. But the Holy Ghost never intended\nChristians to live in such an element. He never intended palm tree\nsaints to live in refrigerators. One may ask if refrigerators are not\ngood for something. Surely, they are. One can preserve a dead chicken\nwell in one of them, but put a live chicken in and it will soon chill\nand die. The idea of thinking that a lot of little, new-born babes could\nlive and thrive in church refrigerators! No, they must have warmth. It\nis their nature, and when one goes contrary to nature, bad results will\nsurely follow. Thank God there is a warm climate for those who must\nhave it. Let us see to it that we live under the warm rays of the Sun of\nrighteousness, and in an element conducive to spiritual growth and\nhealth.\n\nThere is a mistaken idea abroad concerning unity. Because there is no\noutward eruption, and because things seem to run smooth, they take it\nfor granted that there is oneness. There is such a thing as being frozen\ntogether instead of melted together. Jesus prayed for His disciples that\nthey might be sanctified, that they all might be one. It is the\nsanctifying baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire that makes people one\nin the proper and scriptural sense. If one had any fire in which to keep\nwarm, and should attempt to live in some frozen regions, they would soon\ncool him off, and he would be frozen together with them. The story is\ntold of an eagle floating down the Niagara river on a cake of ice. He\nwas enjoying a feast on a lamb which was frozen to the ice. After a\nwhile the eagle neared the falls, but he was not afraid, because he\ncould fly. Finally, as the water got swifter, the eagle was seen to\nspread his wings and prepare for the escape. When he saw that he could\nremain no longer with impunity, he attempted to spring from the ice,\nwhen, lo and behold, he found himself frozen to the cake of ice. With an\nawful screech and wings flapping he went over the falls to destruction.\nMay the Lord save _us_ from too much self-confidence and from remaining\nwhere death and destruction are inevitable, and where freezing and\nfalling go together.\n\nQuite a number of years ago the writer and another evangelist were\ninvited to a certain church in New Orleans for revival services. A\ncertain, noted evangelist had formerly served in that church as pastor,\nand great good had resulted from his ministry. The pastor at this time\nstated in his invitation to us, that should we accept it, it must be\nwith the understanding that we were not to preach holiness as a second\nwork of grace; that the church had previously undergone quite an\nupheaval on that line, but now things had quieted down, and peace was\nnow reigning instead. It might be of some interest to know if we\naccepted his invitation. Our answer was about on this line: \"We thank\nyou for your invitation to assist in meetings in your church, but\ninasmuch as you have placed an embargo on the stream of holiness as a\nsecond work of grace, which is the only way any one ever received it, we\nfeel if we should accept the invitation under such conditions we would\nbe selling Jesus Christ at a less figure than Judas got for Him. And\nfurthermore, may not that peace and quietude of which you speak relative\nto the church, be the quietude of the graveyard instead of a live\nchurch?\" Suffice it to say, we did not receive any further invitation.\n\nIt is a very easy thing to compromise both as preachers and laymen, and\naccommodate ourselves to cooled off environments, till we are a very\npart of the thing ourselves. As long as God has provided a warm home for\nHis sheep and lambs, let us see to it that we have the benefit of the\nsame. Amen!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nPALM TREE PECULIARITIES\n\n\nWe are told in Titus 2:14, that pilgrims are a peculiar people. They\nhave characteristics exclusively their own. They belong wholly to the\nLord, and are unlike other people. To the world they appear singular,\nstrange.\n\nThese people are peculiar in the source of their enjoyment, in their\nconversation, in their dress, and in other ways which differentiate them\nfrom the world. One saint may have a peculiarity which is not in any\nother. He may have a peculiar way in manifesting his emotions when he\ngets blessed, or in some striking manner of speech, or sphere of\nservice, or mode of dress. So it is with different varieties of the\npalm. Some have peculiar characteristics which indeed belong only to\ntheir species, and some are strikingly curious. The Christian life is\nillustrated so plainly by some of these, that we will note a few.\n\n\nI. THE EXPLOSIVE FLOWER\n\nThere is a certain palm which buds out in enormous clusters. It is said\nthat \"the flowers occur in an enormous cluster, at first ensheathed by\nlarge and frequently wooden spathes, which often burst with an\nexplosion.\" Much fault has been found with some of God's palm tree\nsaints because they have a peculiarity akin to this. To hinder this\nexplosive emotion in them might hinder their spiritual life itself. For\nthem to quench the Spirit, would be to thwart the plan and purpose of\nGod himself. Many precious souls have been tempted and tried because\nthey seem to be put up different from some others. They have wished to\nbe more quiet, and have wondered why they have to shout so much. Some\nalways have a gush of tears and have gone so far as to ask the Lord to\ndry their tears, and when the Lord answered their prayer, they\ninvariably were made lean, and prayed again for Him to open the\nfountain. On whatever plan of peculiar disposition we may be built, let\nus thank God for it and let the Holy Ghost have His way in all the\nminutia of life. All people do not shout, and all do not laugh, but all\nget blessed if the Lord has His way. We must not be tried over those\nwhose blessings do not fall within our desired method, nor should we be\ndiscouraged because the manifestations of the Spirit within us are not\nexactly like some others whom we admire.\n\n\"The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit\nwithal.\" The emotions which follow these operations of the Spirit vary\naccording to the peculiar makeup of the individual. If there were a row\nof various combustibles, such as shavings, salt, powder, gasoline, etc.,\nand fire were put to each one of them, there would be manifestations\naccording to their various characteristics. The shavings would quietly\nblaze up, the salt would flicker, the powder would blow up and that\nwould be the end of it, while the gasoline would blaze all over and keep\non till all was burned. So, when the fire of the Holy Ghost is turned\nloose on a lot of consecrated saints, the manifestations of the Spirit\nwill vary according to the peculiar characteristics of the spiritual\nmaterial on hand. When all do the same thing it might be an evidence of\ncustom or training, and not of the Spirit's manifestation, for God does\nnot confine Himself in ruts. What could be more stirring, and conducive\nto conviction than a body of fire-baptized souls under the control of\nthe Holy Ghost, some shouting, some laughing, some crying, and some\nleaping and dancing, while others might be praying or exhorting; all\nletting the Spirit work through them severally as He will. Such scenes\nnever fail to produce conviction upon an audience. The altar is\nfrequently filled with weeping penitents after such a scene.\n\nYes, in nature we have the explosive element in the palm; so in grace we\nhave the bursting forth of holy emotions, the upgush of heavenly\nraptures, and as a help and forewarning the Word tells us, \"Quench not\nthe Spirit.\"\n\nWhen a soul swings loose in the Spirit and becomes so free as to shout,\nor laugh, or jump for joy, it is reasonable to suppose that it is the\nmind of the Spirit for that soul to retain his freedom, not allowing\nhimself to be tied up so that such demonstrations could not be\nduplicated should God so desire. Alas, how many have failed right here!\nWe have noted the freedom of a new, Spirit-filled soul. How the\npeculiar manifestation of the Spirit blest the meeting, and the \"profit\nwithal\" was apparent. Later on we have observed how the Holy Spirit\ntried to duplicate the freedom and blessing, but the dear soul felt\ntimid or backward and simply failed to keep abandoned to God. The\ninevitable result was, that the heart closed up, the Spirit was grieved,\nand dryness and leanness were the result. Let no one dare say, \"I am\nabandoned to the Holy Ghost\" and then not let Him have His way with him\nin every particular. To be consecrated means more than simply saying it.\nIf some one should place a thousand dollars on deposit in my name in\nsome bank and hand me over the bank book, telling me it all belonged to\nme, and for me to draw upon it for any purpose up to the amount of the\ndeposit, I would certainly feel free to do with it as I pleased without\nany fear of his interference. If I wanted five dollars for groceries, I\ncould draw on the deposit. If I wanted fifty dollars for missionary\nwork, it is on deposit. It is all mine; I can handle it as I please.\nConsecration is putting our all--body, soul, and spirit, time, talent,\nearthly store, family, future, service, all we have and know, and all we\ndo not know into heaven's bank on deposit and then handing the bank book\nover to the Holy Ghost, saying, \"Draw on the deposit for anything which\nThou in Thy infinite wisdom desirest.\" Be sure, then, that the Holy\nGhost will take us at our word. When He makes a draw for some particular\ndemonstration such as shouting, or taking a trip down the aisle, or\nlaughing, or crying, remember He controls the deposit and has a right to\ndo as He pleases with what has been turned over to Him. If our time is\nplaced in His hands He has a right to direct it. If our money is placed\nat His disposal, we must let Him say in what channels it shall be used.\nIt means much to say, \"I am all the Lord's.\"\n\n\nII. THE LIVING SACRIFICE\n\nThe Coquito palm of Chile is a tree about fifty feet in height, with a\nspreading crown of leaves. From its trunk a syrup is obtained called\n_miel de palma_, which is much esteemed by the Chileans and foreigners\nin cookery. This syrup is obtained by cutting down the tree, and lopping\noff its crown of leaves, when the sap flows from the wound, and is\ncarefully collected. By cutting off a fresh slice from the wound daily,\nor when the flow of sap becomes weak, it may be kept flowing for several\nmonths. A good tree is said to yield as much as ninety gallons of sap,\nwhich on being boiled down assumes the consistency of treacle or\nmolasses.\n\nHere we have a beautiful and fitting illustration of the daily and\nliving sacrifice of a palm tree saint. If the righteous flourish like\nthe palm tree, might it not be well to emulate this peculiar\ncharacteristic? When Paul admonished the Roman Christians to present\ntheir \"bodies a living sacrifice,\" he did not mean for them simply to\nobtain the blessing of holiness and then stop and thereafter settle down\nand enjoy themselves. He meant not only a sacrifice to be offered up at\nthe given time, but to remain offered up. Our sacrifice is to remain a\nliving sacrifice. The Christian life is one sacrificed to God's cause\nfor the sake of glorifying God and being used in His service. The very\nword sacrifice means something offered up in devotion. Then if it is\noffered up to another, can we claim it as our own? If we are to be like\nthis peculiar palm, then we are ready to be \"poured forth\" as Paul said\nhe was to the Philippians. Here is this sacrificed palm, with its very\nlife poured out from day to day for the benefit of humanity. And this is\nkept up till there remains nothing but the trunk. Oh, what a symbol of\nthe constant, daily outpouring of one's life and strength for the\nbenefit of a lost world! Look at David Brainerd, David Livingstone,\nHenry Martyn, yea, thousands of faithful men and women missionaries who\nhave literally poured out their lives, and died for their fellow-men.\n\nThe sacrifice element in the Christian life is further illustrated in\nanother kind of palm known as the Cabbage palm. The terminal bud, or\n\"cabbage,\" is enclosed among many thin, snow-white, brittle flakes. It\nhas the flavor of the almond, but of greater sweetness, and is boiled\nand eaten with meat. As its removal causes the death of the tree, it is\nregarded as an extravagant delicacy only rarely to be enjoyed.\n\nHere we find the illustration of the martyr element of the palm tree\nsaint. Paul said, \"I am now ready to be offered.\" Stephen gave himself a\nliving sacrifice to God, and right away lost his life. The martyrs are\nnumbered by thousands. Is not this an extravagant method of spreading\nthe gospel? It may be from a human standpoint, but God in His infinite\nwisdom can see beyond our shortsightedness, and permits such to be. \"The\nblood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.\" If there were more\npersecution today there would doubtless be a better type of Christians.\nWe should possess the martyr spirit. The word \"witness\" in the original\nis martyr. And surely many of those early Christians proved it. Every\nconsecrated soul should involve in his consecration the possibility of\nlosing his life for Jesus; then, if he ever faces the issue, he is\nprepared for it, and if he never has to face such an issue, he might\nconsider it so much clear gain.\n\n\nIII. THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY\n\nThe peculiarity of a certain kind of palm, known as the Great Rattan is\nits wandering or traveling characteristic. The stems of this very\npeculiar variety are of prodigious length extending for hundreds of\nfeet; it is stated from twelve hundred to eighteen hundred feet,\nclinging by hooks attached to their leaves to the trunks and boughs of\nneighboring trees, or trailing on the ground. They are extremely hard\nexternally and usually smooth.\n\nHere we have a beautiful illustration of the missionary spirit. We are\nliving in a day when many of God's dear palm tree saints are flourishing\nlike this Great Rattan. They have the missionary spirit. They have those\nspiritual hooks attached to their experience which enable them to cling\nto others with a tenacity which is not human. They are endowed with a\nspiritual sturdiness which in truth enables them to \"endure hardness as\ngood soldiers.\" They cross mountains, deserts and oceans, and live among\nthe heathen to win them to Christ. What we need in these days of\nself-ease and luxury is more of this Great Rattan movement. We need more\npilgrims to foreign lands. If we are not called ourselves with this\npeculiar characteristic, then let us help those who are thus called. We\ncan help them with our money and with our prayers.\n\nWe all have a call to the foreign field in one sense: \"Go ye into all\nthe world.\" If God has let you off in person, then see to it that you\nhave a part anyway in evangelizing the world. If I can not go, I can\nsend. If I can not reach them by word of mouth, I can by way of the\nthrone. If I can not preach and teach in the foreign land, I can pray\nand pay in the homeland. Amen!\n\nWith the thought of the missionary and also of the living sacrifice\nbefore us, we have the perfect combination of the two in the\nself-sacrificing experience of some of the early pioneers in the foreign\nlands. We, in the home lands, can scarcely realize the toils and\nhardships and dangers that some of these heroes of the cross waded\nthrough. We think of the dauntless Livingstone, who penetrated Africa's\njungles in order to plant the gospel in that benighted region. Lost to\nhome and the world for years, no wonder people considered him worth\nlooking up, and sending a Stanley in search for him. But he was doing a\nwork which would open up nations to hear the Word of life. Though he\nhad to bury his loved one on the bank of the Zambesi, yet \"with\nundaunted courage, he set his face toward new paths.\" How the natives\nloved this man--this living sacrifice. He was the means in God's hands\nof bringing them light for darkness, comfort for sorrow, life for death.\nHe was the foe of the slave stealers, and delivered the poor helpless\nmortals from their grasp. He toiled on in solitude, and gave his very\nlife to make a way to this dark and heathen world. Finally, far from the\nshore, and thousands of miles from home, he took sick. He was a man of\nprayer, and one morning when the native men looked into his abode, they\nfound only the body of this devoted follower of the Lamb; he was dead on\nhis knees. Those dusky, devoted souls determined to do the best they\ncould in memory of their apostle, and knowing that his great, loving\nheart was centered in Africa, they took out his heart and buried it\nbeneath a tree. They then let the hot sun dry the body and those loyal\nhands carried the remains many, many miles to the seashore, where, what\nwas left of the faithful missionary was shipped to England. And now,\nwith the heart of David Livingstone in the middle of Africa, his body in\nWestminster Abbey, his soul in heaven, we have an example of the grace\nof God in helping a man to give up his life for a lost world.\n\nLet us take a glance at Henry Martyn. Leaving England as a young man in\nfeeble health, for six years he worked against fearful odds in India.\nThere in that disease-ladened land and in Persia he pursued his arduous\ntask of learning three languages utterly adverse, such as Hindustani,\nArabic, and Persian. In these three languages he translated the entire\nNew Testament in six years. This is one of the most astonishing of\nintellectual feats on record. Besides these translations he made others\nand when we remember that he was burning up with consumptive's fever,\nand yet kept right on till, in order to perfect his translation in\nPersian, he made a trip to that country, and crossing burning, sand\ndeserts with his own body literally burning up with fever, he was surely\na living sacrifice. His passionate love for the Savior and the souls of\nlost men, made him suffer on in weakness and sickness, until the short\ncandle of his life consuming at both ends finally flickered out in that\nfaraway foreign land between Persia and the western shore, and where a\nlone headstone marked the spot where one of God's sainted heroes lay\ndown and died. How small it makes me feel as I write these lines!\n\nAnother example is that of David Brainerd, the apostle to the Indians\nbefore the colonies became independent. This young man, who died in his\nthirtieth year in the home of Jonathan Edwards, was one of those early\npioneers of gospel work among the wild and pagan Indians. He was another\nliving sacrifice, very feeble in body, dying by inches with consumption,\nyet toiled on without murmuring, and praying till his body would be\nbathed in perspiration, he battled almost against hope till finally God\ngave him marvelous success among those benighted savages. A few lines\nfrom the journal of this marvelous man of prayer may stir up more of a\nspirit of prayer and self-sacrifice in the reader:\n\n\"June 14, 1742.\n\n\"I set apart this day for secret fasting and prayer, to entreat God to\ndirect and bless me with regard to the great work which I have in view,\nof preaching the gospel--and that the Lord would return to me and show\nme the light of His countenance. Had little life and power in the\nforenoon. Near the middle of the afternoon, God enabled me to wrestle\nardently in intercession for my friends. But just at night the Lord\nvisited me marvelously in prayer. I think my soul never was in such an\nagony before. I felt no restraint; for the treasures of divine grace\nwere opened to me. I wrestled for absent friends, for the ingathering of\nsouls, for multitudes of poor souls, and for many that I thought were\nthe children of God, personally, in many distant places. I was in such\nan agony from sun half an hour high, till near dark, that I was all over\nwet with sweat; but yet it seemed to me that I had wasted the day and\ndone nothing. Oh, my dear Savior did sweat blood for poor souls! I\nlonged for more compassion towards them. Felt still in a sweet frame,\nunder a sense of divine love and grace, and went to bed in such a frame,\nwith my heart set on God.\n\n\"April 30, 1743.\n\n\"The presence of God is what I want. I live in the most lonely,\nmelancholy desert, about eighteen miles from Albany; for it was not\nthought best that I should go to Delaware river. I board with a poor\nScotchman. His wife can talk scarce any English. My diet consists mostly\nof hasty pudding, boiled corn, and bread baked in the ashes, and\nsometimes a little meat and butter. My lodging is a little heap of\nstraw, laid upon some boards a little way from the ground; for it is a\nlog room, without any floor, that I lodge in. My work is exceedingly\nhard and difficult. I travel on foot a mile and a half, the worst of\nways, almost daily, and back again; for I live so far from my Indians. I\nhave not seen an English person in this month. These, and many other\ncircumstances, equally uncomfortable, attend me. The Lord grant that I\nmay learn to 'endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.'\n\n\"August 15, 1743.\n\n\"Spent most of the day in labor to procure something to keep my horse on\nin the winter. Enjoyed not much sweetness in the morning; was very weak\nin body through the day, and thought that this frail body would soon\ndrop into the dust, and had some very realizing apprehensions of a\nspeedy entrance into another world. In this weak state of body, I was\nnot a little distressed for want of suitable food. I had no bread, nor\ncould I get any. I am forced to go or send ten or fifteen miles for all\nthe bread I eat; and sometimes it is moldy and sour before I eat it, if\nI get any considerable quantity. And then again I have none for some\ndays together, for want of an opportunity to send for it, and can not\nfind my horse in the woods to go myself; and this was my case today.\nBut through divine goodness I had some Indian meal, of which I made\nlittle cakes, and fried them. Yet I felt contented with my\ncircumstances, and sweetly resigned to God. In prayer I enjoyed great\nfreedom, and blessed God as much for my present circumstances, as if I\nhad been a king; and thought that I found a disposition to be contented\nin any circumstances. Blessed be God!\n\n\"January 23, 1744.\n\n\"I think I never felt more resigned to God, nor so dead to the world, in\nevery respect, as now. Am dead to all desire of reputation and\ngreatness, either in life or after death. All I long for is to be holy,\nhumble, and crucified to the world.\n\n\"March 2, 1744.\n\n\"Was most of the day employed in writing on a divine subject. Was\nfrequent in prayer and enjoyed some small degree of assistance. But in\nthe evening God was pleased to grant me divine sweetness in prayer\nespecially in the duty of intercession. I think I never felt so much\nkindness and love to those who, I have reason to think, are my\nenemies--though at that time I found such a disposition to think the\nbest of all, that I scarce knew how to think that any such thing as\nenmity and hatred lodged in any soul. It seemed that all the world must\nneeds be friends. I never prayed with more freedom and delight for\nmyself, or dearest friend, than I did now for my enemies.\n\n\"March 3, 1744.\n\n\"In the morning, spent (I believe) an hour in prayer, with great\nintenseness and freedom, and with the most soft and tender affection\ntoward mankind. I longed that those who, I have reason to think, bear me\nill will, might be eternally happy. It seemed refreshing to think of\nmeeting them in heaven, how much soever they had injured me on earth. I\nhad no disposition to insist upon any confession from them, in order to\nreconciliation and the exercise of love and kindness to them. Oh, it is\nan emblem of heaven itself, to love all the world with a love of\nkindness, forgiveness, and benevolence; to feel our souls sedate, mild\nand meek, to be void of all evil surmisings and suspicions, and scarce\nable to think evil of any man upon any occasion; to find our hearts\nsimple, open, and free, to those that look upon me with a different eye!\nPrayer was so sweet an exercise to me, that I knew not how to cease,\nlest I should lose the spirit of prayer. Felt no disposition to eat or\ndrink, for the sake of the pleasure of it, but only to support my body,\nand fit me for divine service. Could not be content without a very\nparticular mention of a great number of dear friends at the throne of\ngrace; as also the particular circumstances of many, so far as they were\nknown.\n\n\"July 24, 1744.\n\n\"Rode about seventeen miles westward, over a hideous mountain, to a\nnumber of Indians. Got together near thirty of them; preached to them in\nthe evening and lodged among them. Was weak, and felt in some degree\ndisconsolate; yet could have no freedom in the thought of any other\ncircumstances or other business in life. All my desire was the\nconversion of the heathen; and all hope was in God. God does not suffer\nme to please or comfort myself with hopes of seeing friends, returning\nto dear acquaintances, and enjoying worldly comforts.\n\n\"November 22, 1744.\n\n\"Came on my way from Rockciticus to the Delaware. Was very much\ndisordered with a cold and pain in my head. About six at night, I lost\nmy way in the wilderness, and wandered over rocks and mountains, down\nhideous steeps, through swamps, and most dreadful and dangerous places,\nand, the night being dark, so that few stars could be seen, I was\ngreatly exposed. I was much pinched with cold, and distressed with an\nextreme pain in my head, attended with sickness at my stomach; so that\nevery step I took was distressing to me. I had little hope for several\nhours together, but that I must lie out in the woods all night, in this\ndistressed case. But about nine o'clock, I found a house, through the\nabundant goodness of God, and was kindly entertained. Thus I have\nfrequently been exposed, and sometimes lain out the whole night; but God\nhas hitherto preserved me, and blessed be His name. Such fatigues and\nhardships as these serve to wean me from the earth; and, I trust, will\nmake heaven the sweeter. Formerly, when I was thus exposed to cold and\nrain, I was ready to please myself with the thoughts of enjoying a\ncomfortable house, a warm fire, and other outward comforts; but now\nthese have less place in my heart, (through the grace of God), and my\neye is more to God for comfort. In this world I expect tribulation; and\nit does not now, as formerly, appear strange to me. I do not in such\nseasons of difficulty flatter myself that it will be better hereafter;\nbut rather think how much worse it might be; how much greater trials\nothers of God's children have endured, and how much greater are yet,\nperhaps, reserved for me.\n\n\"October 5, 1746.\n\n\"After sermon, baptized two persons. Administered the Lord's Supper to\nthe Indians, besides divers dear Christians of the white people. It\nseemed to be a season of divine power and grace; and numbers seemed to\nrejoice in God. Oh, the sweet union and harmony then appearing among the\nreligious people! My soul was refreshed, and my religious friends of the\nwhite people, with me. After the sacrament, could scarcely get home,\nthough it was not more than twenty rods; but was supported and led by my\nfriends, and laid on my bed; where I lay in pain till some time in the\nevening; and then was able to sit up and discourse with friends. Oh, how\nwas this day spent in prayers and praises among my dear people! One\nmight hear them, all the morning before public worship, and in the\nevening, till near midnight, praying and singing praises to God, in one\nor other of their houses. My soul was refreshed, though my body was\nweak.\"\n\nJust before his death he wrote a letter to his brother Israel, who was\nthen in college. A part of this letter we give as follows:\n\n\"It is on the verge of eternity I now address you. I am heartily sorry\nthat I have so little strength to write what I long so much to\ncommunicate to you. But, let me tell you, my brother, eternity is\nanother thing than we ordinarily take it to be when in a healthful\nstate. Oh, how fixed and unalterable! Oh, of what infinite importance it\nis, that we be prepared for eternity! I have been just a dying, now for\nmore than a week; and all around me have thought me so. I have had clear\nviews of eternity, have seen the blessedness of the godly, in some\nmeasure, and have longed to share their happy state, as well as been\ncomfortably satisfied, that through grace I shall do so; but oh, what\nanguish is raised in my mind, to think of eternity for those who are\nChristless, for those who are mistaken, and who bring their false hopes\nto the grave with them! The sight was so dreadful, I could by no means\nbear it. My thoughts recoiled, and I said, under a more affecting sense\nthan ever before, 'Who can dwell with everlasting burnings!' Oh,\nmethought, could I now see my friends, that I may warn them to see it,\nthat they lay their foundation for eternity sure. * * * If you have\nreason to think you are graceless, O give yourself and the throne of\ngrace no rest, till God arise and save! But if the case should be\notherwise, bless God for His grace, and press after holiness.\n\n\"My soul longs, that you should be fitted for, and in due time go into\nthe work of the ministry. I can not bear to think of your going into any\nother business in life. Do not be discouraged, because you see your\nelder brothers in the ministry die early, one after another. I declare,\nnow I am dying, I would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole\nworld.\n\n\"Oh, my dear brother, flee fleshly lusts, and the enchanting amusements\nas well as the corrupt doctrines of the present day, and strive to live\nto God. Take this as the last line from your affectionate and dying\nbrother.\"\n\nAbout a year and six months before this faithful, self-sacrificing\nservant of God passed to his reward, he wrote in his diary something\nwhich most beautifully sets forth the thought we are trying to bring out\nin the illustration of the living sacrifice life of the missionary.\n\nUnder date of May 22, 1746, he wrote:\n\n\"If ever my soul presented itself to God for His service, without any\nreserve of any kind, it did so now. The language of my thoughts and\ndisposition now was, 'Here I am, Lord, send me. Send me to the ends of\nthe earth. Send me to the rough, savage pagans of the wilderness. Send\nme from all that is called comfort in earth, or earthly comfort. Send me\neven to death itself, if it be but in Thy service, and to promote Thy\nkingdom.' At the same time I had as quick and lively a sense of the\nvalue of worldly comforts as I ever had; but only saw them infinitely\novermatched by the worth of Christ's kingdom, and the propagation of His\nblessed gospel. A quiet settlement, a certain place of abode, the tender\nfriendships of life, appeared as valuable to me, considered absolutely\nand in themselves, as ever before; but considered comparatively, they\nappeared nothing. Compared with the value and preciousness of an\nenlargement of Christ's kingdom, they vanished as stars before a rising\nsun. Sure I am that though the comfortable accommodations of life\nappeared valuable and clear to me, yet I did surrender and resign\nmyself, soul and body, to the service of God, and to the promotion of\nChrist's kingdom, though it should be in the loss of them all. I could\nnot do any other, because I could not will or choose any other. I was\nconstrained, and yet chose, to say, 'Farewell, friends and earthly\ncomforts, the dearest of them all, the very dearest, if the Lord calls\nfor it. Adieu, adieu; I will spend my life to my latest moments, in the\ncaves and dens of the earth, if the kingdom of Christ may thereby be\nadvanced.'\n\n\"I felt extraordinary freedom at this time in pouring out my soul to God\nfor His cause, especially that His kingdom might be extended among the\nIndians, far remote; and I had a great and strong hope that God would do\nit. I continued wrestling with God in prayer for my dear little flock\nhere, and more especially for the Indians elsewhere, as well as for dear\nfriends in one place and another until it was bedtime, and I feared I\nshould hinder the family. But oh, with what reluctancy did I feel myself\nobliged to consume time in sleep! I longed to be a flame of fire,\ncontinually glowing in the divine service, and building up Christ's\nkingdom, to my latest, my dying moment.\"\n\nAnd God granted him his desire to his dying moment. David Brainerd was\ntruly a living sacrifice as a missionary to the pagan Indians, and won\nmany of them to Christ, where he is rejoicing with them in glory today.\n\n\nIV. DIFFERENCE IN SIZE AND FORM\n\nHere we find some very noted peculiarities. There are so many shapes and\nsizes in the various departments of the palm tree world that one is lost\nin wonder. Here is one gigantic tree two hundred feet high, while\nanother is only a few feet in height and both real palms. Some leaves\nattain the enormous proportions of thirty-five feet in length by five or\nsix feet in breadth, while on other varieties the leaves are only a few\ninches in length. Some palms have no flowers at all, while another known\nas the Talipot palm throws up a branching inflorescence to a height of\nthirty feet above the foliage, and it has been estimated that such an\ninflorescence has included as many as sixty millions of flowers.\n\nWhen we see such differences in size and propensities, we are reminded\nof the vast differences in the Christian world. Some saints loom up\nindeed like the giants of the forest, while others are more like house\nplants. Some are so full of stupendous works for God's kingdom, and are\naccomplishing such herculean tasks, while others seem to be more adapted\nfor the mantelpiece, or things to look at. We find the same differences\nobtaining on other lines. In the physical world is a Samson who can\ncarry off the gates of Gaza, while here is another who can scarcely\ncarry himself. In the intellectual world there are men who can walk\nthrough the heavens as we would stroll through a town; they weigh the\nplanets in their scales, and tell the composition of stars and their\ndistances; while others are still wondering if this world is not flat.\nIn the financial realm we find a man who can lug whole railroad systems,\nor trans-Atlantic steamers on his shoulders, or thousands of tanks of\nStandard oil. On the other hand we see some who would starve to death if\nthey were left to themselves. We know of one man who had been trying for\nyears to save up enough money on which to get divorced. We would not be\ntoo hard on those, who, in the spiritual realm, are not able to walk off\nwith mountains on their shoulders; they may not be endowed with any\nspecial gifts, and yet they may be the Lord's weak children.\n\nWe would not sit in judgment on any of God's children. Christ came to\nsave all who will put their trust in Him, and if one is naturally\nendowed with great and peculiar talents, so much the more responsibility\nrests upon him; but if one does not possess the extraordinary, he may be\na trustful follower of the Lamb after all. And yet we have known of some\nwho certainly did not seem possessed with anything above the ordinary,\nyet because of their fidelity to Christ and their abandonment to the\nHoly Ghost, were really blessed in usefulness beyond the ordinary. There\nis no telling what the Lord will do with the weak ones if they will only\nlet Him put over against them His strength. So, as in the palm tree\nrealm, there is such a variety in size and form, so in the Christian\nworld we have the babe and the man, the weak and the strong, the tiny,\ntrusting heart who is scarcely known around the corner, and the giant of\nGod who wields his influence throughout the nation. So, whether we are\nlittle or big, weak or strong, if we have the assurance that we belong\nto God's kingdom, let us look up and rejoice evermore. We may be tempted\nto discouragement when we see the stupendous accomplishments of some of\nthe palm tree saints, but we must remember that God requires from us\nonly that which we are able to perform. So while we may not do what some\nothers do, yet we can all, without an exception, measure up in our\nindividual sphere and prove that the Word of God is true, that \"The\nrighteous shall flourish like the palm tree.\"\n\nReader, in closing this little message to you, let me entreat you, by\nthe aid of the Holy Spirit, to introspect your heart and life and see if\nyou possess a spiritual life which would warrant you in believing that\nyou are flourishing like the palm tree. Amen!\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"The palm tree blessing : $b a discourse on the various characteristics of the palm tree, illustrating the many features of the sanctified, Christian life","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":41762}