{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54736/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54736","id":"gutenberg_54736","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54736","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Biography","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"BIBLE CHARACTERS\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: THE EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN.\n\nFrom the Painting by Gustave Dore]\n\n\n\n\n BIBLE CHARACTERS\n\n DESCRIBED AND ANALYZED IN THE SERMONS AND\n WRITINGS OF THE\n FOLLOWING FAMOUS AUTHORS:\n\n Dwight Lyman Moody.\n T. De Witt Talmage.\n Joseph Parker.\n\n SUPPLEMENTED BY THE GREATEST POEMS IN PRINT.\n\n [Illustration]\n\n CHICAGO:\n THOS. W. JACKSON PUBLISHING COMPANY.\n\n Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1902, by the\n RHODES & McCLURE PUBLISHING COMPANY\n in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.\n\n All Rights Reserved.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\nBY THE REV. C. B. GILLETTE, PH. D.\n\n\nIt frequently occurs to the devout Bible student and to the earnest\nChristian that, if he could have had the personal acquaintance of Jesus,\nand other Bible characters, it would have helped materially in the\ncultivation of a religious and spiritual life. One feels that, if he\ncould have been a James, or a John, a Martha, or a Mary; if he could\nhave stood by Jesus himself, and listened to the words falling from His\nlips: observed his life, become acquainted with his thought, and felt\nthat silent, subtle influence emanating from his personality; such would\nhave been potential factors, aiding one onward and upward in the divine\npathway.\n\nSo also, but in lesser degree, one regrets the impossibility of personal\ncontact with Elijah, Isaiah, John, Paul, et al. But time has drawn the\nveil, and we cannot lift it. We must look at them through the varying\natmosphere of many generations, and the best we can do is to avail\nourselves of the best aids possible, and through them draw as near as\npossible to these great and good characters, so closely linked with our\nreligious belief and our faith in the Infinite and Eternal.\n\nOne of Brooklyn\u2019s greatest divines once said, that he had never visited\nPalestine personally, but by study he had become so thoroughly acquainted\nwith that country, that, should he be left at any point in Palestine at\nmidnight, he would be able to tell in the morning, from the surrounding\ntopography, where he was.\n\nSo the editor of this volume has sought the scholars who have been\nrecognized by the world as the leading religious teachers of their age,\nand culled from their utterances choice selections, respecting Jesus and\nthe \u201cHoly men of old, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.\u201d\n\nDR. TALMAGE, who, perhaps, more than any other living preacher, has\ncommanded the public ear.\n\nJOSEPH PARKER, who, from his immense intellectual store-house, well\nfilled, has brought out such wonderful thoughts, respecting the Bible\nCharacters.\n\nDWIGHT L. MOODY, who moved the millions, both of this country and Great\nBritain. What was the source of his power? Not superior scholarship--far\nfrom it. Not his general appearance: for that, while not mean, was\nneither imposing nor inspiring. Not his eloquence; he never depended upon\nthat. What, then, was the source of his power? It was the power of God.\nThe Holy Spirit used him as a means in the conversion of souls.\n\nThe editor of this volume then presents you, in this age, when\nintelligent minds are looking for the greatest and the best, with the\nbest thoughts of these great men, respecting the Christ and other great\ncharacters which adorn the pages of the Holy Writ.\n\n C. B. GILLETTE.\n\nCHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 1, 1902.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY.\n\n Abel 17\n Abraham 18\n Ahab 21\n Barabbas 25\n Bartimeus and Zacch\u00e6us 27\n Belshazzar 32\n Caleb 34\n Daniel 36\n David 54\n Elijah 55\n Gideon 60\n Ittai 61\n Jacob 63\n Jacob\u2019s Sons 67\n John the Baptist 68\n Joshua 84\n Lot 95\n Martha 103\n Mephibosheth 107\n Moses 111\n Naaman 114\n Peter 122\n Saul 136\n Simeon 141\n The Good Samaritan 144\n The Leper 149\n The Penitent Thief 152\n The Pharisee & The Publican 164\n The Widow\u2019s Son 172\n Rock of Ages 175\n Where He Leads I Follow 176\n\n T. DE WITT TALMAGE.\n\n Athaliah 177\n David 181\n Deborah 187\n Dorcas 188\n Ehud 198\n Esau 200\n Felix and Drusilla 201\n Gallery of Characters 204\n Gideon 206\n Hezekiah 207\n Jehoiakim 209\n Jehu 211\n Jesus at Emmaus 214\n Job 215\n Jonah 217\n Joseph 220\n Lazarus 224\n Noah 230\n Othniel 231\n Paul 234\n Pharaoh 246\n Pontius Pilate 247\n Queen of Sheba 252\n Salome 254\n Saul 257\n Solomon 259\n The Gentile Mother 263\n Zacch\u00e6us 266\n Nearer, My God, To Thee 268\n\n JOSEPH PARKER.\n\n Abijah 269\n Ahab 282\n Ahaziah 308\n Asa 314\n Athaliah 321\n Balaam 328\n Elah 339\n Elijah 342\n Elisha 332\n Gehazi 374\n Hezekiah 384\n Jabez 401\n Jehoram 404\n Jehoram, King of Judah 414\n Jehoshaphat 421\n Jehu 430\n Job 440\n Micaiah 447\n Moses 449\n Nebuchadnezzar 457\n Queen of Sheba 459\n Rehoboam 461\n Shishak 466\n Solomon 467\n Baseless Pride 476\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\nSelected Especially for This Work\n\nFROM THE GREAT ART GALLERIES OF THE WORLD\n\n\n THE EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page Frontispiece\n\n THE TRIAL OF THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM. Genesis, xxii. Opposite Page 16\n\n \u201cTHE FIRST MOURNERS.\u201d\n From the Painting by Bougereau. Opposite Page 17\n\n THE ARRIVAL OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN AT THE INN.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 144\n\n DAVID.\n From Statue by Angelo. Opposite Page 145\n\n JACOB TENDING FLOCKS OF LABAN.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 160\n\n MOSES BREAKING THE TABLES OF THE LAW.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 161\n\n THE PROPHET AMOS.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 288\n\n THE DESPAIR OF JUDAS.\n From a Photograph of the Character in the Passion Play. Opposite Page 289\n\n JOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH\u2019S DREAM. Genesis, xli.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 304\n\n ST. PAUL.\n From the Painting by Raphael. Opposite Page 305\n\n SOLOMON.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 432\n\n THE JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 433\n\n THE CROSS.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 448\n\n MOSES IN THE BULRUSHES.\n From the Painting by Gustave Dore. Opposite Page 449\n\n[Illustration: THE TRIAL OF THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM. Genesis, xxii.]\n\n[Illustration: \u201cTHE FIRST MOURNERS.\u201d--From the Painting by Bougereau.]\n\n\n\n\nBIBLE CHARACTERS\n\nDESCRIBED IN HIS SOUL-WINNING SERMONS BY THE WORLD-KNOWN EVANGELIST,\nDWIGHT LYMAN MOODY.\n\n\nABEL.\n\nAbel was the first man who went to Heaven, and he went by way of blood.\nSo we find it in all the worships of God from the earliest times.\n\nIn the story of Abel and Cain we are told: \u201cIn process of time it came to\npass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the\nLord. And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the\nfat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but\nunto Cain and his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth,\nand his countenance fell.\u201d\n\nNow, we find that Cain brought a bloodless sacrifice--\u201che brought of the\nfruit of the ground\u201d--and Abel brought a bleeding lamb. Right on the\nmorning of grace we see here that God had marked a way for men to come to\nHim, and that way was the way that Abel took, and Cain came to God with\na sacrifice of his own, in his own way. Cain, perhaps, reasoned that he\ndid not see why the products of the earth--why the fruit--should not be\nas acceptable to God as a bleeding lamb. He did not like a bleeding lamb,\nand so he brought his fruit.\n\nNow, we do not know how there was any difference between those two boys.\nBoth must have been brought up in the same way; both came from the same\nparents. Yet we find in the offerings there was a difference between them.\n\n\nABRAHAM.\n\nIn the twenty-second chapter of Genesis we find the story of Abraham and\nhis only son, Isaac. Abraham was a follower of God, a man who loved and\nfeared God, and He commanded him to make a blood sacrifice.\n\nWe read in this chapter that He commanded Abraham to make the sacrifice\nof his only son. And we read that the next morning the old man saddled\nhis ass and started. He did not tell his wife any thing about it. If he\nhad, she would likely have persuaded him to remain where he was. But he\nhas heard the voice of God, and he obeys the command. He has heard God\u2019s\nwish, and he is going to do it.\n\nSo, early in the morning--Abraham did not wait till 10 or 12 o\u2019clock, but\nwent early in the morning--he takes two of his young men with him and his\nson Isaac, and you can see him starting out on the three days\u2019 journey.\nThey have the wood and the fire, for he is going to worship his God.\n\nAs Abraham goes on, he looks at his boy and says: \u201cIt is a strange\ncommandment that God has given. I love this boy dearly. I do not\nunderstand it, but I do know it is all right, for the Judge of all the\nearth makes no mistakes.\u201d An order from the Judge of Heaven is enough for\nAbraham.\n\nThe first night comes, their little camp is made, and Isaac is asleep.\nBut the old man does not sleep. He looks into the face of his sleeping\nboy, and sadly says: \u201cI will have no boy soon. I shall never see him on\nthis earth again. But I must obey God.\u201d\n\nI can see Abraham marching on the next day, and you might have seen him\ndrying his tears as he glanced upon that only son and thought upon what\nhe had been called upon to do. The second night comes; tomorrow is the\nday for the sacrifice. What a night that must have been to Abraham! Hear\nhim say: \u201cTomorrow I must take the life of that boy--my only son, dearer\nto me than any thing on earth--dearer to me than my life.\u201d\n\nThe third day comes, and as they go along they see the mountain in the\ndistance. Then Abraham says to the young men: \u201cYou stay here with the\nbeasts.\u201d He takes the wood and the fire, and along with his boy prepares\nto ascend Mount Moriah, from the peak of which could be seen the spot\nwhere, a few hundred years later, the Son of man was offered up.\n\nAs they ascend the mountain Isaac says: \u201cHere are the wood and the fire,\nfather. But where is the sacrifice?\u201d This question shows that the boy\nknew nothing of what was in store. How the question must have sunk down\ninto the old man\u2019s heart! And he only answers: \u201cThe Lord will provide a\nsacrifice.\u201d It was not time to tell him, and they go on until they come\nto the place appointed by God, and build the altar, and lay the wood upon\nit. Every thing is ready, and I can just imagine the old man take the boy\nby the hand, and, leading him to a rock, sitting down there and telling\nhim how God had called upon him to come out of his native land; how God\nhad been in communion with him for fifty years; what God had done for\nhim. \u201cAnd now,\u201d he says, \u201cmy boy, when I was in my bed three nights ago,\nGod came to me with a strange message, in which He told me to offer my\nchild as a sacrifice. I love you, my son, but God has told me to do this,\nand I must obey Him. So let us both go down on our knees and pray to Him.\u201d\n\nAfter they have sent up a petition to God, Abraham lays Isaac on the\naltar and kisses him for the last time. He lifts the knife to drive\nit into his son\u2019s heart, when all at once he hears a voice: \u201cAbraham!\nAbraham! Spare thine only son.\u201d\n\nAh! There was no voice heard on Calvary to save the Son of Man. God\nshowed mercy to the son of Abraham. You fathers and mothers, just picture\nto yourselves how you would suffer if you had to sacrifice your only\nson. And think what it must have caused God to give up His only Son. We\nare told that Abraham was glad. This manifestation of Abraham\u2019s faith\nso pleased God that He showed him the grace of Heaven and lifted the\ncurtain of time to let him look down into the future to see the Son of\nGod offered, bearing the sins of the world.\n\n\nAHAB.\n\nThere is a familiar saying: \u201cEvery man has his own price.\u201d\n\nAhab had his, and he sold himself for a garden; Judas sold himself for\nthirty pieces of silver, and Esau for a mess of pottage.\n\nAhab sold himself just to please a fallen woman. And so we might go\non--citing the men who have sold themselves. It is easy for us to condemn\nthese men, but let us see if there are not men and women doing the same\nthing today. How many are selling themselves tonight for naught! It is\neasy enough to condemn Judas, Herod and Ahab, but in doing this do we not\ncondemn ourselves?\n\nWe thought that slavery was hard. We thought it hard that those poor\nblack people should be put upon the block, in the market, and sold to the\nhighest bidder; but what do you think of those men who sell themselves\ntoday to evil?\n\nAhab sold himself to evil, and what did he get?\n\nElijah was the best friend that Ahab had, but he did not think so; he\nthought that Elijah was his enemy. Ahab was a religious man--that is,\nhe thought he was. He had 850 prophets. \u201cAnd what king has more? What\nking does more for religion than I?\u201d So he would have said. There is a\ndifference between religion and having Christ. There are a great many\npeople that have religion but have no Christ in it--that have not a spark\nof Christianity.\n\nThis man was very religious, but he began wrong. His marriage was his\nfirst wrong step. He did not care about the law of God. He wanted to\nstrengthen his kingdom. I can imagine they said: \u201cWe have outgrown the\nlaws of Moses. We do not want your God; we have got something better.\nHere are the nations all around us worshiping Baal, and we will worship\nBaal.\u201d\n\nAhab\u2019s wife, Jezebel, wanted the patriarchs and the prophets put to\ndeath, and they were put to death. Obadiah had a few, but wherever they\nwere found they were put to death. I suppose they said of Elijah: \u201cThat\nman belongs to the old Puritanical school.\u201d He was bigoted and narrow.\nThe idea of only worshiping one God! Ahab was willing to turn away from\nthe God of Elijah, but he did not look to have Elijah reprove him, and\nthus he was his enemy. Many a man who has a good, praying mother thinks\nthat mother is his enemy.\n\nAhab thought the God of Elijah was not going to carry out His warning. I\nwill leave it to you if the man who warns you of danger is not the best\nfriend you have got. If I saw a man about to walk over a precipice and\nhe was blind and I did not warn him, would not the blood of that man\nbe required at my hands? Would not I be guilty morally? Jezebel hated\nElijah, and she disliked him for his warnings. The man who warns you is\nthe best friend that you have got.\n\nSuppose I am going home at night--at midnight--and I see a building on\nfire and I pass along and say not a word about it, and the occupants\nare all asleep and I go right home and go to bed, and in the morning I\nfind that fifteen people in that house were burned up--how you would\ncondemn me! And if in preaching the Gospel I do not warn you about your\ndanger--about your sins and God\u2019s punishment--what will you say to me\nwhen I meet you at the Eternal Throne? I do not want you to think that\nI am trying to please the people by preaching that the just and unjust\nwill fare alike. You may be successful for a time. Ahab had two grand and\nglorious victories upon the battle field, and he was a very popular man\nfor a while. He built a palace of ivory, and just here I want to speak of\none act of that man.\n\nWhen Ahab\u2019s beautiful palace was finished, he found there was a poor man\nwho had a garden near it. This Ahab wanted. And Ahab came to Naboth, the\npoor man, and wanted him to sell his garden. But Naboth said he could not\ndo so, for it was against the law of his people. Then Ahab said to him:\n\u201cI will give you a better place than this, and I will give you a better\nvineyard than this.\u201d But Naboth was firm, and would not agree to sell his\ngarden.\n\nMany men would have liked to sell to the king. Such would have said: \u201cWe\nknow it is against the law, but he is foolish not to sell to the king.\u201d\n\nNaboth said: \u201cGod forbid that I should sell.\u201d\n\nAhab returns to his palace, where he pouts like a child. Jezebel notices\nhim, and begins to speak with him. She asks: \u201cWhat is the matter?\u201d Ahab\nmakes answer like a peevish child: \u201cI want Naboth\u2019s garden.\u201d And she asks\nhim why he does not take it, and then he tells her. Again she asks:\n\n\u201cAre you not king of Israel?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! Then why do you not get it? I will get it for you, and it shall\nnot cost you any thing. I will arrange it.\u201d\n\nThen Jezebel sent that infamous letter to the truculent elders. Those\nelders were just as bad as Jezebel. They knew that Naboth served the\nGod of Heaven. The instructions of the letter were followed. The two\nwitnesses said they saw Naboth despise God and the king, and so he was\ntaken out and stoned to death. I can see him kneeling there and the\ncrowds taking up the stones and hurling them at him.\n\nWell, when Ahab goes down to take possession of that vineyard there is a\nmessage that had come from the throne of Heaven. God has been watching\nhim. He notices all of us, and there is not a hellish act that has been,\nor is going to be, committed but God knows about it. Elijah stood before\nAhab as the latter went down to that garden, and Ahab got out of his\nchariot and met him. He knew that Elijah knew all, and he did not like to\nbe reproved. Ill-gotten gains do not bring peace. If you get any thing\nat the cost of the truth or honor, it will be peace lost for time, and\nperhaps for eternity.\n\nAs he walked through that garden, Ahab looked up and said: \u201cWhy, is not\nthat Elijah?\u201d He knew it was, and he knew what it meant. Elijah walks up\nto him and asks: \u201cHast thou killed and taken possession?\u201d Ahab answers:\n\u201cI wonder how he found that out. He knows all about me.\u201d And then Elijah\nsaid: \u201cIn the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth they shall\nlick thy blood.\u201d\n\nThen Ahab asked the prophet: \u201cMine enemy, have you found me out?\u201d\n\nElijah answered: \u201cYes. Because you have sold yourself to evil, you will\nbe found out.\u201d\n\nA few years before, Ahab had laughed at Elijah, but he now remembered\nthat every thing which Elijah\u2019s God had promised had been done, and he\ncould not get these words out of his mind: \u201cIn the place where the dogs\nlicked the blood of Naboth they shall lick thy blood.\u201d Sometimes just one\nact, that we can do in a minute, will cost us years of trouble and pain.\nLittle did Ahab think that it was going to cost him his kingdom and cause\nhis whole family to be swept from the face of the earth when he gave the\npromise to Jezebel to write that letter.\n\nAhab lived three years after Elijah met him in that garden, and how many\ntimes do you suppose those awful words of Elijah came into his mind? He\ncould not get them out of his mind. Jezebel tried to help him, but she\ncould not. He wanted to improve the garden, and no doubt he did improve\nit; but whenever he walked there the words came to him which Elijah had\nspoken. Then the time came for the judgment against Ahab to be carried\nout, and the Bible tells how it was done.\n\n\nBARABBAS.\n\nI have often thought what a night Barabbas must have spent just before\nthe day when Christ was crucified.\n\nAs the sun goes down, he says to himself: \u201cTomorrow--only tomorrow--and I\nmust die upon the cross! They will hang me up before a crowd of people;\nthey will drive nails through my hands and feet; they will break my legs\nwith bars of iron; and in that awful torture I shall die before this time\ntomorrow, and go up to the Judgment with all my crimes upon me.\u201d\n\nMaybe, they let his mother come to see him once more before dark. Perhaps\nhe had a wife and children, and they came to see him for the last time.\nHe could not sleep at all that night. He could hear somebody hammering\nin the prison yard, and knew they must be making the cross. He would\nstart up every now and then, thinking that he heard the footsteps of the\nofficers coming for him.\n\nAt last the light of the morning looks in through the bars of his prison.\n\n\u201cToday--this very day--they will open that door and lead me away to be\ncrucified!\u201d\n\nPretty soon he hears them coming. No mistake this time. They are\nunbarring the iron door. He hears them turning the key in the rusty lock.\nThen the door swings open. There are the soldiers.\n\nGood-by to life and hope! Death--horrible death--now! And after\ndeath--what will there be then?\n\nThe officer of the guard speaks to him: \u201cBarabbas, you are free!\u201d\n\nHe hears the strange words, but they make very little impression on him.\nHe is so near dead with fear and horror that the good news does not reach\nhim. His ears catch the sound, but he thinks it is a foolish fancy. He is\nasleep and dreaming. He stands gazing a moment at the soldiers, and then\nhe comes to himself.\n\n\u201cDo not laugh at me! Do not make sport of me! Take me away and crucify\nme, but do not tear my soul to pieces!\u201d Again the officer speaks: \u201c_You\nare free!_ Here--the door is open! Go out--go home!\u201d\n\nNow he begins to take in the truth. But it is so wonderful a thing to get\nout of the clutches of the Roman law that he is afraid to believe the\ngood news. And so he begins to doubt, and to ask how it can be.\n\nThey tell him that Pilate has promised the Jews the release of one\nprisoner that day, and that the Jews have chosen him instead of one Jesus\nof Nazareth, who was condemned to be crucified.\n\nNow the poor man begins to weep. This breaks his heart. He knows this\nJesus. He has seen Him perform some of His miracles. He was in the crowd,\npicking pockets, when Jesus fed the five thousand hungry people.\n\n\u201cWhat! That just man to die! And I--a thief, a highwayman, a murderer--to\ngo free!\u201d\n\nAnd in the midst of his joy at his own release his heart breaks at the\nthought that his life is saved at such a cost.\n\n\nBARTIMEUS AND ZACCH\u00c6US.\n\nIn the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke you will find Christ\nwas going into Jericho, and as He drew near the gates of the city there\nwas a poor blind man who sat by the wayside, begging people to give him a\nfarthing, and crying out: \u201cHave mercy on a poor blind man!\u201d\n\nThis blind beggar met a man who said to him: \u201cI have good news to tell\nyou, Bartimeus.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d asked the beggar.\n\n\u201cThere is a man of Israel who can give you sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no! There is no chance of my ever receiving my sight. I never shall\nsee. In fact, I never saw the mother who gave me birth. I never saw the\nwife of my bosom. I never saw my own children. I never saw in this world,\nbut I expect to see in the world to come.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me tell you. I have just come down from Jerusalem, and I saw that\nvillage carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth; and I saw a man who was born blind,\nwho had received his sight, and I never saw a man who had better sight.\nHe does not even have to use glasses.\u201d\n\nThen hope rises for the first time in this poor man\u2019s heart, and he says:\n\u201cTell me how the man got his sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d says the other, \u201cJesus first spat upon the ground and made clay,\nand put it on his eyes, and then He told the man to wash his eyes in\nthe pool of Siloam, and he would receive his sight. More than that,\nBartimeus: He does not charge you any thing. You have no fee to pay. You\njust tell him what you want, and you get it--without money and without\nprice. It does not need dukes, lords or influence. You just call upon Him\nyourself. And if He ever comes this way, do not let Him go back without\nyour going to see Jesus.\u201d\n\nAnd Bartimeus said: \u201cI will try it. There is no harm in trying it.\u201d\n\nI can imagine Bartimeus being led by a child to his seat, as usual, and\nthat he is crying out: \u201cPlease give a blind beggar a farthing.\u201d\n\nHe hears the footsteps of the coming multitude, and he inquires: \u201cWho is\npassing? What does this multitude mean?\u201d They tell him that it is Jesus\nof Nazareth passing by. The moment he hears that he says: \u201cWhy, that is\nthe man that gave sight to the blind!\u201d\n\nThe moment it reached his ear that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to\ncry out at the top of his voice: \u201cJesus, thou Son of David, have mercy\nupon me!\u201d\n\nSome of those who went before--perhaps Peter was one of them--rebuked\nhim, thinking the Master was going up to Jerusalem to be crowned King,\nand did not want to be distracted. They never knew the Son of God when He\nwas here. He would hush every harp in Heaven to hear a sinner pray. No\nmusic would delight Him so much. But the blind man still lifted up his\nvoice, and cried louder: \u201cThou Son of David, have mercy on me!\u201d\n\nThis prayer reached the ears of the Son of God, as prayer always will,\nand they led the poor blind man to Him. Well, when Jesus heard the blind\nbeggar, He commanded him to be brought. So they ran to him, and said: \u201cBe\nof good cheer. The Master calls you. He has a blessing for you.\u201d\n\nWhen Jesus saw Bartimeus He said: \u201cWhat can I do for you?\u201d\n\n\u201cLord, that I may receive sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall have it.\u201d\n\nAnd the Lord gave it to him. And now the beggar follows with the crowd,\nglorifying God. I can imagine he sang as sweetly as Mr. Sankey--and no\none can sing more sweetly than he--when he shouted: \u201cHosanna to the Son\nof David!\u201d No one sang louder than this one who had received his sight.\nThen he follows on with the crowd, which we see pressing into the\ngates of the city. I can imagine, when he gets into the city, he says\nto himself: \u201cI will go down and see Mrs. Bartimeus.\u201d Of course, after\nall those years of blindness, he had some curiosity to see what his wife\nlooked like.\n\nAs he is passing down the street, a man meets him, and turns around and\nsays: \u201cBartimeus, is that you?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; it is I.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I thought so, and yet I feared my eyes must deceive me. How did\nyou get your sight?\u201d\n\n\u201cI just met Jesus of Nazareth outside the walls of the city, and I asked\nHim to have mercy on me; and He gave me sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cJesus of Nazareth! Is he now in this part of the country?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; He is on His way to Jerusalem. He is now going down to the eastern\ngate.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should like to see Him,\u201d says the man. And he runs straightway down\nthe street. But he can not get a glimpse of Him, being small of stature,\non account of the great throng around Him. He runs to a sycamore tree,\nand says to himself: \u201cIf I get up there and hide, without any one seeing\nme, He can not get by without my having a good look at Him.\u201d\n\nA great many rich men do not like to be seen coming to Jesus.\n\nWell, there he is in the sycamore tree, on a branch hanging right over\nthe highway, and he says to himself: \u201cHe can not get by without my having\na good look at Him.\u201d All at once the crowd comes in sight. He looks\nat John. \u201cThat is not He.\u201d He looks at Peter. \u201cNo, that is not He.\u201d\nThen he sees One who is fairer than the sons of men. \u201cThat is He!\u201d And\nZacch\u00e6us, just peeping out from among the branches, looks down upon that\nwonderful--yes, that mighty--God-Man in amazement.\n\nAt last the crowd comes to the tree, and it looks as if Christ is going\nby; but He stops right under the tree. All at once He looks up and sees\nZacch\u00e6us, and says to him: \u201cZacch\u00e6us, make haste and come down.\u201d\n\nI can imagine Zacch\u00e6us says to himself: \u201cI wonder who told Him my name. I\nwas never introduced to Him.\u201d But Christ knew all about him.\n\nWell, He said to Zacch\u00e6us: \u201cMake haste and come down.\u201d He may have added:\n\u201cThis is the last time I shall pass this way, Zacch\u00e6us.\u201d That is the way\nHe speaks to sinners. \u201cThis may be the last time I shall pass this way.\nThis may be your last chance of eternity.\u201d There are some people in this\nnineteenth century who do not believe in sudden conversions. I should\nlike them to tell me where Zacch\u00e6us was converted. He certainly was not\nconverted when he went up into the tree, but he certainly was converted\nwhen he came down. He must have been converted somewhere between the\nbranches and the ground.\n\nThe Lord converted him right there. People say they do not believe in\nsudden conversions, and that if a man is converted suddenly he will not\nhold out--he will not be genuine. I wish we had a few men converted like\nZacch\u00e6us in London. They would make no small stir. When a man begins to\nmake restitution it is a pretty good sign of conversion. Let men give\nback money dishonestly obtained in London, and see how quickly people\nwill believe in conversion. Zacch\u00e6us gave half his goods to the poor.\nWhat would be said if some of the rich men of London did that? Zacch\u00e6us\ngave half his goods all at once, and he said: \u201cIf I have taken any thing\nfrom any man falsely, I restore him fourfold.\u201d I think that is the other\nhalf.\n\nBut to get Christ is worth more than all his wealth. I imagine, the next\nmorning, one of the servants of Zacch\u00e6us going with a check for \u00a3100, and\nsaying: \u201cMy master a few years ago took from you wrongfully about \u00a325,\nand this is restitution money.\u201d\n\nThat would give confidence in Zacch\u00e6us\u2019s conversion.\n\n\nBELSHAZZAR.\n\nIn the fifth chapter of Daniel we read the history of King Belshazzar. It\nis very short. Only one chapter tells us all we know about him. One short\nsight of his career is all we see. He just seems to burst upon the stage\nand then disappears. We are told that he gave a great feast, and at this\nfeast he had a thousand of his lords, and they were drinking and praising\nthe gods of silver, of gold, of brass, of iron and of wood, out of the\nvessels which had been brought from the Temple at Jerusalem.\n\nAs they were drinking out of these vessels of gold and silver from the\nhouse of God--I do not know but it was at the hour of midnight--all at\nonce came forth the fingers of a man\u2019s hand and began to write upon the\nwall of the banquet hall.\n\nThe king turns deathly pale, his knees shake together and he trembles\nfrom head to foot. Perhaps if some one had told him the time was coming\nwhen he would be put into the balance and weighed he would have laughed\nat him. But he knows the vital hour has come, and that the hand has\nwritten his doom in the words: \u201cMene, mene, tekel, upharsin.\u201d\n\nHe calls the wise men of his kingdom, and the man who can interpret\nthis will be made the third ruler of his realm, and shall be clothed in\nscarlet and have a chain about his neck. One after another tried, but the\neyes of no uncircumcised man could make it out. Belshazzar was greatly\ntroubled. At last one was spoken of who had been able to interpret the\ndream of his father, Nebuchadnezzar. He was told if he would send for\nDaniel the latter might interpret the writing.\n\nSo the prophet was brought in, and he looked upon the handwriting.\nHe told the king how his father had gone against God, and how he\n(Belshazzar) had gone against the Lord of Heaven, and how his reign was\nfinished. And this was the meaning of the mysterious writing:\n\n\u201cMENE--God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it.\n\n\u201cTEKEL--Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting.\n\n\u201cPERES--Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.\u201d\n\nThe trial is over, the verdict is rendered and the sentence brought out.\nThat very night the king was hurled from his throne. That very night the\narmy of Darius came tearing down the streets, and then you might have\nheard the clash of arms and shouts of war, and might have seen the king\u2019s\nblood mingling with the wine in that banquet hall.\n\n\nCALEB.\n\nCaleb and Joshua are great favorites of mine. They have got a ring about\nthem. They were not all the time looking for hindrances and obstacles in\ntheir way. They got their eyes above them.\n\nYou remember how those men were sent forward to spy out the land of\nCanaan. They had been sent out forty days to go over that land. They went\nfrom the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, and thence unto Hebron. And when\nthey reached the \u201cbrook of Eshcol they secured a branch with one cluster\nof grapes, and bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the\npomegranates and of the figs.\u201d\n\nThey were gone forty days, and the twelve men brought back what Congress\nwould call a majority and a minority report. Ten men reported that they\nhad gone unto the land to which they were sent, and that surely it flowed\nwith milk and honey. And so God\u2019s word was true. They found milk and\nhoney. And they brought along grapes.\n\nBut ten of them were full of unbelief. They further reported that they\nsaw giants there--the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. The\nHittites, Jebusites, Amalekites and Amorites dwelt there. They were\nall there, and also those great giants, in whose sight they were as\ngrasshoppers. It was a great war city, and they asked themselves if they\nlooked as though they were able to war with such giants. They said: \u201cWe\nare not able.\u201d\n\nThey undoubtedly brought back maps and charts, and said: \u201cThere is the\nregion. It would be monstrous for us to attempt to take it. There are\nmassive iron gates and a great wall, and we are not able to take it.\nWe are defenseless people--without any weapons. We will not be able to\novercome those people.\u201d\n\nI can imagine one man said: \u201cWhy, I looked up at those giants, and I\nseemed as a little grasshopper, and I felt as small as a grasshopper. We\ncan not hope to cope with those giants. It is a good land, but we will\nnot be able to go up and possess it.\u201d\n\nThen they began to murmur. It does not take a very great while to get\nunbelievers to murmuring. But Caleb tried to encourage them. He says to\nthem: \u201cLet us go up at once and possess the land. We are well able to\novercome it.\u201d\n\nEven Joshua joined in with Caleb, and they proved two with the faith. To\nbe sure, they were in the minority; but if the Lord is with us we are\nable to prove a powerful majority over the enemy. They determined to take\nit, and they wandered across all through Canaan, but the people took up\nstones, and would have stoned them to death. But \u201cthe glory of the Lord\nappeared in the tabernacle of the congregation, before all the children\nof Israel.\u201d\n\nAnd about three millions of people wandered in the wilderness for forty\nyears, until all the men laid themselves down in the desert grave and\nwere kept out of the Promised Land--all on account of their unbelief. And\nI believe today that four-fifths of the church is wandering around in the\nwilderness, far away from the cross of Calvary and the Promised Land. We\nare able to have victory with God with us.\n\nTen men were looking at all those obstacles that this new land presented\nto them, while these two men--Caleb and Joshua--looked up yonder. And\nthey saw God\u2019s face and remembered the waste in Egypt, the crossing of\nthe Red Sea, the destruction which was brought upon the Philistines, the\nwater from the flint rock, and they believed that God was able--as He\nmost certainly was--to give them that land He had promised.\n\n\nDANIEL.\n\nI want to talk about the life of the prophet, Daniel. The word means\n\u201cGod with him\u201d--not the public with him, not his fellow men, but God.\nTherefore, he had to report himself to God and hold himself responsible\nto Him.\n\nI do not know just what time Daniel went down to Babylon. I know that in\nthe third year of King Jehoakim Nebuchadnezzar took ten thousand of the\nchief men of Jerusalem, and carried them captive down to Babylon. I am\nglad these chief men, who brought on the war, were given into the great\nking\u2019s hands. Unlike too many of the ringleaders in our great war, they\ngot the punishment on their own heads.\n\nAmong the captives were four young men. They had been converted,\ndoubtless, under Jeremiah, the \u201cweeping prophet\u201d that God had sent to the\nchildren of Israel. Many had mocked at him when he lifted up his voice\nagainst their sins. They had laughed at his tears and told him to his\nface--as many say of us--that he was getting up a false excitement. But\nthese four young men listened, and they had the backbone to come out for\nGod.\n\nAnd now, after they were come to Babylon, the king said a number of the\nchildren should be educated, and ordered the same kind of meat and wine\nset before them that were used in his palace, and that at the end of a\nyear they should be brought before him. Daniel and his three friends were\namong these.\n\nNow, no young man ever comes to the city without having great temptation\ncross his path as he enters it. And just at this turning point in his\nlife, as in Daniel\u2019s, must lie the secret of his success. This was the\nsecret of young Daniel\u2019s success: He took his stand with God right on his\nentering the gate of Babylon, and cried to God to keep him steadfast.\nAnd he needed to cry hard. A law of his and his nation\u2019s God was that\nno man must eat meat offered to idols, but now comes the king\u2019s first\nedict, that this young man should eat the same kind of meat he himself\ndid. I do not think that it took young Daniel long to make up his mind.\nThe law of God forbade it, and he would not do it. \u201cHe purposed in his\nheart\u201d--in his heart; mark this--that he would not defile himself. He did\nnot resolve in his head, but love in his heart prompted him. If some\nChicago Christians could have advised Daniel, they would have said to\nhim: \u201cDon\u2019t you do it; don\u2019t set aside the meat. That would be a species\nof Phariseeism.\u201d Oh, yes; they would have insisted to the poor young\ncaptive that he should carry out the commandments of his God when he was\nin his own country, but not there where he was but a poor slave; he could\nnot possibly carry along his own religion down there to Babylon.\n\nThank God, this young man would not eat the meat, and, ordering it\ntaken away, he got the eunuch to bring him pulse. And behold, when he\ncame before the king, the eunuch\u2019s fears were gone, for the faces of\nDaniel and the rest of the dear boys were fairer and fatter than any\nthat the king looked down upon. They had not noses--like too many in our\nstreets--as red as if they were just going to blossom. It is God\u2019s truth,\nand Daniel tested it, that cold water, with a clear conscience, is far\nbetter than wine.\n\nAnd the king one day had a dream, and all the wise men were called before\nhim. But they all said: \u201cWe can not interpret it; it is too hard.\u201d The\nking, being wroth, threatened them. Still getting no answer, he made an\nedict that all the wise men should be put to death. And the officers came\nto Daniel, with the rest of the wise men, but Daniel was not afraid.\n\nI can imagine he prayed to God, falling low on his knees and with his\nface to the earth, and asked Him for guidance; and then he crawled\ninto bed and slept like a child. We would hardly sleep well under such\ncircumstances. And in his sleep God told him the meaning of the dream.\nThere must have been joy among the wise men that one of their number had\nfound it, and that the king would save their lives. And he is brought\nbefore the king, and cries out: \u201cO king, while thou didst lie with thy\nhead on thy pillow, thou didst dream, and in thy dream thou sawest a\ngreat image.\u201d\n\nI can imagine, at these opening words, how the kings eyes flashed, and\nhow he cried out with joy: \u201cYes, that is it--the whole thing comes back\nto me now.\u201d\n\nAnd then Daniel, in a death-like stillness, unfolded all the\ninterpretation, and told the king that the golden head of the great image\nrepresented his own government. I suppose Babylon was the biggest city\never in the world. It was sixty miles around. Some writers put the walls\nfrom sixty-five to eighty-five feet high and twenty-five feet wide. Four\nchariots could drive abreast on top of them. A street fifteen miles long\ndivided the grand city, and hanging gardens in acres made the public\nparks. It was like Chicago--so flat that they had to resort to artificial\nmounds; and, again like Chicago, the products of vast regions flowed\nright into and through it.\n\nThis great kingdom, Daniel told the king, was his own; but he said a\ndestroying kingdom should come, and afterward a third and fourth kingdom,\nwhen, at the last, the God of Heaven should set up His kingdom.\n\nDaniel lived to see the first kingdom overthrown, when the Medes and\nPersians came in, and centuries after came Alexander, and then the Romans.\n\nI believe in the literal fulfillment, so far, of Daniel\u2019s God given words\nand in the sure fulfillment of the final prophecy of the \u201cstone cut out\nof the mountains without hands,\u201d that by-and-by shall grind the kingdoms\nof this world into dust, and bring in the Kingdom of Peace. Then will be\nthe Millennium, and Christ will sway His scepter over all the earth.\n\nWell, the king was very much pleased. He gave to Daniel a place near\nthe throne, and he became one of the chief men of the world. His three\nfriends were also put in high office. God had blessed them signally, and\nHe blessed them still more--and that was, perhaps, a harder thing--in\nkeeping them true to Him in their prosperity. Their faith and fortunes\nwaxed strong together.\n\nTime went on, and now we reach a crisis indeed. \u201cNebuchadnezzar, the\nking,\u201d we read, \u201cmade an image of gold, one hundred and ten feet high and\nnine feet wide.\u201d It was not gilded, but was solid gold. When Babylon was\npillaged the second time a single god was found in the temple that was\nworth more than two million pounds sterling. The king\u2019s monstrous image\nwas set up in the Plains of Dura, near to the city. I suppose he wanted\nto please his kingly vanity by inaugurating a universal religion.\n\nWhen the time came for the dedication I do not suppose Daniel was there.\nHe was probably in Egypt, or some other province, on affairs of the\nempire. Counselors, satraps, high secretaries and the princes of the\npeople were ordered to hasten to the dedication, and when they should\nhear the sound of the cornet, flute and psaltery announce that the great\nidol was consecrated they were to bow down and worship it.\n\nPerhaps they called the ceremony the unveiling of the monument, as we\nshould say. But one command was made certain. At a given signal all the\npeople were to fall to the earth in worship. But in the law of God there\nis something against that. \u201cThou shalt have none other gods but Me.\u201d\nGod\u2019s law went right against the king\u2019s.\n\nWould all of us have Daniel\u2019s three friends to do the right thing at any\nhazard? Would none of us, without backbone, have advised them to just bow\ndown a little, so that no one would notice it, or to merely bow down but\nnot worship it?\n\nThe hour came, and Daniel\u2019s friends refused to bow down. They refused\nutterly to bend the knee to a god of gold. How many cry out in this city:\n\u201cGive me gold--give me money--and I will do any thing!\u201d Such may think\nthat men in Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s time should not bow down to a golden idol,\nbut they themselves are daily doing just that very thing. Money is their\ngolden image, or position, or golden ambition.\n\nWell, the informers came to the king, and told him that Shadrach, Meshach\nand Abednego had stood with unbended knee, and straightway they were\nhurried before him. The old king, speechless with rage, was gesturing his\ncommands. I can imagine that one last chance was given them, after the\nking finally regained his voice, and that one of them, probably Meshach,\nspoke up in a firm but respectful voice that they must obey God rather\nthan man.\n\nAt once the raging king cried out: \u201cWhat is your God that He can deliver\nyou out of our hands?\u201d And in the same breath he screamed a command to\nbind them hand and foot and cast them into the fiery furnace, and make\nit seven times hotter than ever. The command was instantly executed, and\nthe flames leaped out from the door and consumed the officers who cast\nthem in.\n\nBut Jesus was with His servants as the flames raged about them, and soon\nword was brought to the king that four men walked about in the flames.\nYes, they walked there with Jesus--they did not run--as in a green\npasture and beside still waters. And directly the king rushed up and\ncried: \u201cYe sons of the living God, come forth.\u201d And behold, even the hair\nof their heads was not singed. Then the king made a royal edict, that all\nin his realm should reverence the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.\n\nThen the king had a dream, and he was greatly perturbed thereby. This\ntime the particulars of the dream had not gone from him. They stood out\nvivid and clear in his mind, as he sent out to fetch the wise men, and\ncalled to them to give him the interpretation. But they can not give it.\n\nWhen he had his first dream he had summoned these same soothsayers, but\nthey had stood silent. And now they stand silent again as the second\ndream is told them. They can not interpret it. Then once again he sends\nfor the prophet, Daniel, whom he had named after one of his gods,\nBelteshazzar. And the young prophet comes before the king, and as soon as\nthe king sees Daniel he feels sure that he will now get the meaning.\n\nCalling out from his throne, he tells how he had dreamed a dream, wherein\nhe saw a tree in the midst of the earth, with branches that reached to\nHeaven, and the sight thereof to the ends of the earth. The beasts of\nthe field had shelter under it, and the fowls of the air dwelt in the\nboughs thereof. The tree was very fair and had much fruit, and all flesh\nwas fed on it. And then, lowering his voice, he tells how, as he gazed,\nhe saw a watcher and a holy one come down from Heaven, who cried aloud:\n\u201cHew down the tree.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d cries the king, \u201ccan you tell me the interpretation?\u201d\n\nFor a time Daniel stands motionless. Does his heart fail him? The record\nsimply says: \u201cFor one hour he was astonished.\u201d The ready words doubtless\nrush to his lips, but he dislikes to let them out. He does not want to\ntell how the king\u2019s kingdom and mind are going to depart from him, and he\nis to wander forth to eat grass like a beast. The king, too, hesitates;\na dark foreboding for a time gets the better of curiosity. But soon he\nnerves himself to hear the worst, and speaks very kindly: \u201cDo not be\nafraid to tell me, O Daniel! Let not the dream or its interpretation\ntrouble thee.\u201d And at last Daniel speaks: \u201cO king, thou art the man. God\nhas exalted thee over every king and over all the world, but thou shalt\nbe brought low. Thou shalt be driven out from men, and shalt eat grass\namong the beasts of the field; but thy kingdom--as the great watcher\nspared the stump of the tree--shall afterward return to thee. Wherefore,\nO king, break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by\nshowing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.\u201d\n\nAnd straightway the king repented in sackcloth and ashes, and God stayed\nthe doom. But twelve months from that time we see Nebuchadnezzar\nwalking in his palace and boasting: \u201cIs not this my great Babylon that\nI have built by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty!\u201d\nAnd behold, while he yet spake a voice came from Heaven, saying: \u201cThy\nkingdom hath departed.\u201d And undoubtedly God then touched his reason, and\nstraightway he ran madly through the gates to eat grass.\n\nBut his kingdom had not passed from him forever, and, according to\nthe prophet\u2019s word, at the end of seven years--or, possibly, seven\nmonths--his reason came back, and he returned to his palace. All his\nprinces and officers gathered about him. Then he immediately sent out\na new proclamation, and its closing words show his repentance, and how\nDaniel had brought this mighty king to God:\n\n\u201cAnd at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto\nHeaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most\nHigh, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion\nis an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to\ngeneration.\n\n\u201cAt the same time my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my\nkingdom mine honor and brightness returned unto me, and my councilors and\nmy lords sought unto me. I was established in my kingdom, and excellent\nmajesty was added unto me.\n\n\u201cNow I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol the King of Heaven, all whose\nworks are truth and His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride He is\nable to abase.\u201d\n\nAnd then he passes from the stage. This is the last record of him, and\nundoubtedly he and Daniel now walk the crystal pavement together. That\nmighty monarch was led to the God of the Hebrews by the faith of this\nHebrew slave, and just because he had a religion and dared to make it\nknown.\n\nBut now we lose sight of the prophet for a few years, perhaps fifteen or\ntwenty. The next we hear is that Belteshazzar is on the throne--possibly\nas regent. He is believed to have been a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.\nOne day he said he would make Daniel the third ruler of the people if\nhe would interpret for him the handwriting on the wall. He was probably\nsecond himself, and Daniel would be next to him. Of this prince we have\nonly one glimpse. The feast scene is the first and last we have of him,\nand it is enough. It was a great feast, and fully a thousand of his lords\nsat down together. In those days feasts sometimes lasted six months. How\nlong this one lasted we do not know. The king caroused with his princes\nand satraps and all the mighty men of Babylon, drinking and rioting and\npraying to gods of silver and gold and brass and stubble--just what we\nare doing today, if we bow the knee to the gods of this world. And the\nrevelers, waxing wanton, even go into the temple and lay sacrilegious\nhands on the sacred vessels that had been brought away from Jerusalem,\nand drank wine from them--drank toasts to idols and harlots. And,\nundoubtedly, as they are drinking they scoff at the God of Israel.\n\nI see these revelers swearing and rioting when, suddenly, the king turns\npale and trembles from head to foot. Above the golden candlesticks, on\na bare space on the wall, he sees the writing of the God of Zion. He\ndistinctly sees the terrible fingers. His voice shakes with terror, but\nhe manages to falter out: \u201cBring in the wise men! Any man who can read\nthe handwriting I will make third ruler of the kingdom.\u201d\n\nThen the wise men come trooping in, but there is no answer. Not one of\nthem can read it. They are skilled in Chaldean lore, but this stumps\nthem. At last the queen comes in and whispers: \u201cO king, there is a man\nin the kingdom who can read that writing. When your grandfather could\nnot interpret his dreams he sent for Daniel, the Hebrew, and he knew all\nabout them. Can we find him?\u201d\n\nThey did find him, and now we see the man of God again standing before\na king\u2019s throne. To the king\u2019s hurried promises of gifts and honors\nDaniel replies: \u201cYou can keep your rewards.\u201d Quietly he turns his eyes\non the writing. He reads it at the first glance, for it is his Father\u2019s\nhandwriting. He says:\n\n\u201cMene--Thy kingdom hath departed from thee.\n\n\u201cTekel--Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting.\n\n\u201cUpharsin--Thy kingdom is divided. It is given over to the hands of the\nenemy.\u201d\n\nHow these words of doom must have rung through the palace that night!\n\nAnd the destruction did not tarry. The king recovered himself, banished\nhis fears, and went on drinking in his hall. The mystery and its\ninterpretation were as an idle tale. He thought he was perfectly secure.\nHe had deemed the great walls of Babylon thoroughly safe. But there was\nDarius besieging the city; the enemy was right upon him. Was that safe?\nWhile they reveled, the river Euphrates, that flowed under the walls,\nwas turned into another channel. The hosts of Medes and Persians rushed\nthrough, unobstructed, and in a few minutes more battered down the king\u2019s\ngate and broke through the palace guard into the inmost palace chamber.\nAnd the king was slain, and his blood flowed in that banquet hall.\n\nWe are next told Darius took the throne and set over the people 120\nrulers, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first. And\nso we find him in office again. I do not know how long he was in that\nposition. But by-and-by a conspiracy took head among his fellow officers\nto get rid of him. They got jealous and said:\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s see if we can get this man removed. He has bossed us long\nenough--the sanctimonious old Hebrew.\u201d\n\nAnd then he was so impracticable, they could not do any thing with him.\nThere were plenty of collectors and treasurers, but he kept such a close\neye on them that they only made their salaries. There was no plundering\nof the government with Daniel at the head. He was president of the\nprinces, and all revenue accounts passed before him. I can overhear the\nplotters whispering: \u201cIf we can only put him out of the way, we can make\nenough in two or three years to retire from office, have a city house in\nBabylon and two or three villas in the country--have enough for all our\ndays. We can then go down to Egypt and see something of the world. As\nthings now are, we can only get our exact dues, and it will take years\nto get any thing respectable. Yes, let us down this pious Jew.\u201d\n\nWell, they worked things so as to get an investigating committee, hoping\nto catch him in his accounts. But they found no occasion for fault\nagainst him. If he had put any relatives in office it would have been\nfound out. If he had been guilty of peculation, or in any way broken the\nunalterable statutes of the kingdom, it would have come to light. What a\nbright light was that, standing alone in that great city for God and the\nmajesty of law!\n\nBut at last they struck on one weak point, as they called it--he would\nworship no one but the God of Israel. The law of his God was his only\nassailable side. The conspirators reasoned in their plotting:\n\n\u201cIf we can only get Darius to forbid any one making a request for thirty\ndays except from the king himself, we shall trap him, and then we can\ncast him among the lions. We will take good care to have the lions\nhungry.\u201d\n\nAnd the hundred and twenty princes took long council together. \u201cTake\ncare,\u201d they said; \u201cyou must draw up the paper which is to be signed by\nthe king with a deal of care and discretion. The king loves him, and\nhe has influence. Do not speak of the movement outside this meeting.\nIt might come to the ears of the king, and we must talk to the king\nourselves.\u201d\n\nWhen the mine is all ready, the hundred and twenty princes come to\nthe king and open their business with flattering speech. Naturally,\nwe hear these men saying: \u201cKing Darius, live for ever!\u201d They tell him\nhow prosperous the realm is, and how much the people think of him. And\nthen they tell him, in the most plausible way that ever was, that if\nhe would be remembered by children\u2019s children to all ages, just to sign\nthis decree. It would be a memorial of his greatness and goodness for\never. And the king replies graciously: \u201cWhat is the decree you wish me to\nsign?\u201d Casting his eye over the paper, he goes on: \u201cI see no objection to\nthat.\u201d In the pleasure of granting a request he thinks nothing of Daniel,\nand the princes carefully refrain from jogging his memory. And he asks\nfor his signet ring, and gives the royal stamp. The edict has become one\nof the laws of the Medes and Persians, that alter not. It reads: \u201cAny\nman that worships any God but me for thirty days shall be cast into the\nlions\u2019 den.\u201d\n\nThe news spreads all through the city, and quickly gets to the ears of\nDaniel. I can imagine some of them going to the prophet and advising him\nabout the edict, saying: \u201cIf you can only get out of the way for a little\ntime--if you can just quit Babylon for thirty days--it will advance your\nown and the public interest together. You are the chief secretary and\ntreasurer; in fact, you are the chief ruler in the government. You are an\nimportant man and can do as you please. Well, now, just you get out of\nBabylon. Or, if you will stay in Babylon, do not let them catch you on\nyour knees. At all events, do not pray at the window toward Jerusalem. If\nyou must pray, close that window, pull down the curtain and put something\nin the keyhole.\u201d\n\nI can imagine how that old prince, Daniel, now in his gray hairs, would\nview such a proposition--that he desert his God in his old age. All\nthe remonstrances that must have been made fell dead. He just went on\npraying as usual three times a day, with his face toward Jerusalem. This\nold prophet found plenty of time to pray, though secretary and treasurer\nof the most important empire of the world. And besides his own business,\nhe had to attend, doubtless, to much belonging of right to those hundred\nand twenty. But he would never have been too busy or ashamed at a prayer\nmeeting to stand up for God.\n\nDaniel had a purpose, and he dared to make that purpose known. He knew\nwhom he worshiped. The idea of looking back to church records of long\nago to see whether a man has professed religion is all wrong. In Babylon\nthey knew whom Daniel believed on. These hundred and twenty knew the very\nday after the passage of the edict. He knows they are watching near his\nwindow when the hour comes for prayer. He can see two men close at his\nside, and he knows they are spies. Perhaps they may be taking down every\nword he says for the papers.\n\nThe moment comes, and Daniel falls on his knees. In tones even louder\nthan ever he makes his prayer to the God of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and\nJacob. He does not omit to pray for the king. It is right to pray for our\nrulers. The reason they are not better, oftentimes, is just because we do\nnot pray for them.\n\nAnd now the spies rush to the king and say, \u201cO Darius, live for ever! Do\nyou know there is a man here in your kingdom who will not obey you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWill not obey me? Who is he?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, that man Daniel.\u201d\n\nAnd the king says: \u201cI know he will not bow down and worship me. I know\nthat Daniel worships the God of Heaven.\u201d\n\nThen the king sets his heart to deliver him, all the day, from those\nhundred and twenty men. But they come to him and say: \u201cIf you break your\nlaw, your kingdom will depart. Your subjects will no longer obey you. You\nmust drive him to the lions\u2019 den.\u201d\n\nSo Darius is compelled to yield, and at last he gives the word to have\nDaniel sent away and cast into the den of lions. These men take good care\nto have the den filled with the most hungry beasts of Babylon. He is\nthrown headlong into the den, but the angel of God flies down, and Daniel\nlights unharmed on the bottom. The lions\u2019 mouths are stopped. They are\nas harmless as lambs. The old prophet, at the wonted hour, drops on his\nknees and prays, with his face toward Jerusalem, as calmly as he did in\nhis chamber. And when it gets later he just lays his head on one of the\nlions and goes to sleep. Undoubtedly no one in all Babylon sleeps more\nsweetly than does Daniel in the lions\u2019 den.\n\nIn the palace, the king can not sleep. He orders his chariot, and early\nin the morning rattles over the pavement and jumps down at the lions\u2019\nden. I see the king alight from his chariot in eager haste, and hear him\ncry down through the mouth of the den: \u201cO Daniel, servant of the living\nGod! Is thy God, whom thou reverest continually, able to deliver thee\nfrom the lions?\u201d\n\nHark! Why, it is a resurrection voice! It is Daniel, saying: \u201cMy God is\nable. He hath sent one of His angels, and hath shut the lions\u2019 mouths.\u201d\n\nI can see them now just embrace each other, and together they jump into\nthe chariot and away they go back to the palace to breakfast.\n\nI want to say something further about Daniel. I want to refer to how an\nangel came to him, and, as we read in the twelfth chapter of Daniel, told\nhim he was a man greatly beloved. Another angel had come to him with the\nsame message. It is generally thought this last angel was the same one\nspoken of in Revelations--first chapter and thirteenth verse--as coming\nto John when banished to the Isle of Patmos. People thought he was sent\noff there alone, but he was not; the angel of God was with him.\n\nAnd so with Daniel. Here, in the tenth chapter and fifth verse, he says:\n\u201cThen I lifted up mine eyes, and behold, a certain man clothed with fine\nlinen, and otherwise arrayed as God\u2019s messenger, who cried: \u2018O Daniel, a\nman greatly beloved, understand the words which I speak unto thee, and\nstand upright, for unto thee am I now sent.\u2019\u201d\n\nIt was Daniel\u2019s need that brought him from the glory land. It was the\nSon of God right by his side in that strange land. And that was the\nsecond time when the word came to him, saying he was greatly beloved.\nYes, three times a messenger came from the throne of God to tell him\nthis. I love to speak of that precious verse in the eleventh chapter--the\nthirty-second verse: \u201cThe people that do know their God shall be strong\nand do exploits.\u201d I also love to speak of the twelfth chapter and second\nand third verses: \u201cAnd many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth\nshall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting\ncontempt; and they that be wise shall shine as the stars of the\nfirmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever\nand ever.\u201d\n\nThis was the angel\u2019s comfort to Daniel, and a great comfort it was.\nThe fact with all of us is that we like to shine. There is no doubt\nabout that. Every mother likes her child to shine. If her boy shines at\nschool by reaching the head of his class, the proud mother tells all\nthe neighbors, and she has a right to do so. But it is not the great of\nthis world that will shine the brightest. For a few years they may shed\nbright light, but they go out in darkness, without an inner brightness.\nSupplying the brightness, they go out in black darkness.\n\nWhere are the great men who did not know Daniel\u2019s God? Did they shine\nlong? Why, we know of Nebuchadnezzar and the rest of them scarcely a\nthing, except as they fill in the story about these humble men of God.\nWe are not told that statesmen shall shine; they may, for a few days or\nyears, but they are soon forgotten. Look at those great ones who passed\naway in the days of Daniel. How wise in council they were! How mighty\nand victorious over hundreds of nations! What gods upon earth they were!\nYet their names are forgotten--written only in the grave. Philosophers,\nfalsely so-called--do they live? Behold men of science--scientific men\nthey call themselves--going down into the bowels of the earth, digging\naway at some carcass and trying to make it talk against the voice of God!\nThey shall go down to death, by-and-by, and their names shall rot.\n\nBut the man of God shines. Yes, he it is who shall shine as the stars\nfor ever and ever. This Daniel has been gone for 2,500 years, but still\nincreasing millions read of his life and actions. And so it shall be\nto the end. He will only be better known and better loved; he shall\never shine the brighter as the world grows older. Of a truth, they that\nbe wise and turn many to righteousness shall shine on, like stars, to\neternity.\n\n\nDAVID.\n\nYou know how David fell. No man rose so high and fell so far, I think.\nGod took him from the sheepfold and put him upon a throne. He took him\nfrom obscurity and made him king of Israel and Judea; gave him lands in\nabundance, and would have given him more if he had wanted them. He was on\nthe pinnacle of glory, and honored among men.\n\nBut one day, while looking out of a window, he saw a woman with whom he\nbecame enamored. He yielded to the temptation, and ordered her to be\nbrought into the palace, and committed the terrible sin of adultery.\nAfter that, as is the case with all men who commit a sin, he had to\ncommit another to cover it up, so he laid plans to kill her husband, and\nordered him to be put in a position in the ranks of his army so that he\ncould be killed.\n\nMonths rolled away, and one day Nathan came into the palace of the king.\nI can imagine that David was glad to see him. Nathan began to tell him\nabout two men who dwelt in a certain city. The one was rich, the other\npoor; one had herds and flocks, and the other had only a little ewe lamb,\nand he went on to tell how this rich man seized this ewe lamb, all that\nthe poor man had, and slew it. I can see the anger of David as it flashed\nfrom his eye when he heard the story, and he cried: \u201cAs the Lord liveth,\nthe man that hath done this thing shall surely die.\u201d He turned to Nathan,\nand in tones of thunder demanded who the man was. \u201cThou art the man.\u201d\nThis was the reply of Nathan. David had convicted himself. \u201cThe man who\ndid this thing shall die.\u201d Then the Lord said: \u201cI will raise up evil\nagainst thee out of thine own house, because thou hast kept this thing\nsecret.\u201d\n\nSoon after this the hand of death was put upon that house. Not\nonly did death enter David\u2019s house, but it was not long before his\neldest son committed adultery with his sister, and another committed\nmurder--murdered his own brothers, and went off into a foreign land into\nexile. Then he got up a rebellion and drove the king from the throne, and\nat last died and was buried like a dog, and they heaped stones upon his\nresting place. \u201cWhatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\u201d David\ncommitted adultery, and so did his son; David committed murder, and his\nson did the same. He was paid back in his own coin. He learned the truth\nof this passage: \u201cWhatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\u201d\n\n\nELIJAH.\n\nLet us go to Carmel for a few minutes.\n\nKing Ahab had forsaken the God of Israel, and all the court people and\n\u201cupper ten\u201d had followed his example. But there was an old prophet out\nin the mountains, to whom God said: \u201cGo to Ahab, and tell him the heavens\nshall be shut up and there shall be no rain.\u201d\n\nAway he goes to the wicked king. He bursts in upon him like a clap of\nthunder, gives his message and hurries away.\n\nI suppose Ahab laughed at the old prophet. \u201cWhat! No more rain? Why, the\nfellow must be crazy.\u201d\n\nPretty soon the weather gets very dry. The earth is parched, and begins\nto crack open. The rivers have but little water in them, and the brooks\ndry up altogether. The trees die; all the grass perishes, and the cattle\ndie, too. Famine--starvation--death! If rain does not come pretty soon,\nthere will not be a live man or woman left in all the kingdom.\n\nOne day the king was talking with the prophet, Obadiah.\n\nYou see, he did have one good man near him, along with all the prophets\nof the false god. Almost anybody likes to have one good man within reach,\neven if he is ever so bad. He may be wanted in a hurry some time.\n\n\u201cSee here, Obadiah!\u201d says King Ahab. \u201cYou go one way and I will go\nanother, and we will see if we can find some water somewhere.\u201d\n\nObadiah has not gone a great way before Elijah bursts out upon him.\n\n\u201cO Elijah! Is that you? Ahab has been hunting for you everywhere, and\ncould not find you. He has sent off into all the kingdoms about, to have\nthem fetch you, if you were there.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; I am here,\u201d says Elijah. \u201cYou go and tell Ahab I want to see him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI dare not do that,\u201d says Obadiah, \u201cfor just as soon as I tell him you\nare here, the Spirit will catch you away and take you off somewhere else,\nand then the king will be very angry, and maybe he will kill me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d says Elijah. \u201cAs the Lord liveth, I will meet Ahab face to face\nthis day.\u201d\n\nSo Obadiah hurries off to find Ahab, and tells him he has seen the\nprophet.\n\n\u201cWhat! Elijah?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you bring him along?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe would not come. He says he wants you to come to him.\u201d\n\nAhab was not used to have people talk that way to him, but he was anxious\nto see the prophet, so he went. And when he sees Elijah he is very angry,\nand asks:\n\n\u201cArt thou he that troubleth Israel?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot at all,\u201d says Elijah. \u201cYou are the man that is troubling\nIsrael--going off after Baal, and leading ever so many of the people\nwith you. Now, we have had enough of this sort of thing. Some people\nare praying to God and some are praying to Baal, and we must have this\nquestion settled. You just bring all your prophets and all the priests of\nBaal up to Mount Carmel, and I also will come. We will make us each an\naltar, and offer sacrifice on it; and the god that answereth by fire, let\nHim be God.\u201d\n\n\u201cAgreed,\u201d says Ahab. And away he goes to tell his priests and get ready\nfor the trial.\n\nI fancy that was a great day when this question was decided.\n\nAll the places of business were closed, and everybody was going up to\nMount Carmel. There must have been more people on Mount Carmel than there\nare today at the races.[A] A better class of people, too.\n\n [A] This was said on Derby Day, in Opera House, Haymarket,\n London.\n\nThere were eight hundred and fifty of the prophets and priests of Baal\naltogether. I fancy I can see them all, going up in a grand procession,\nwith the king in his chariot at their head.\n\n\u201cFine-looking men, aren\u2019t they?\u201d says one man to another, as they go by.\n\u201cThey will be able to do great things up there on the mountain.\u201d\n\nBut there Elijah marched, all alone--a rough man, clad in the skins of\nbeasts, with a staff in his hand. No banners, no procession, no great men\nin his train! But the man who could hold the keys of Heaven for three\nyears and six months was not afraid to be alone.\n\nNow, Elijah says to the people: \u201cHow long will ye halt between two\nopinions? Let the priests of Baal build them an altar and offer\nsacrifice, but put no fire under, and I will do the same; and the god\nthat answereth by fire, let Him be God.\u201d\n\nSo the priests of Baal build their altar.\n\nI am sure that, if God had not held him back, Satan would have brought up\na little spark out of hell to set that sacrifice on fire. But God would\nnot let him.\n\nThen they begin to pray: \u201cO Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us!\u201d\n\nElijah might have said: \u201cWhy haven\u2019t you prayed to Baal for water this\ndry weather? You might just as well have asked him for water as for fire.\u201d\n\nAfter a long time they begin to get hoarse.\n\n\u201cYou must pray louder than that, if you expect Baal to hear you,\u201d says\nthe old prophet. \u201cMaybe he is asleep. Pray louder, so as to wake him up.\u201d\n\nPoor fellows! They haven\u2019t any voice left. So they begin to pray in\nblood. They now cut themselves with knives, and lift their streaming\nhands and arms to Baal. But no fire comes down.\n\nIt is getting toward sundown.\n\nThe prophet of the Lord builds an altar. Mind you, he does not have any\nthing to do with the altar of Baal. He builds an entirely different one,\non the ruins of the altar of the Lord, which had been broken down.\n\n\u201cWe will not have any one saying there is any trick about this thing,\u201d\nsays the prophet. So they bring twelve barrels of water and pour over the\naltar. I do not know how they managed to get so much water, but they did\nit.\n\nThen Elijah prays: \u201cO God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, let it be\nknown this day that Thou art God in Israel.\u201d\n\nHe did not have to pray very loud. God heard him at once, and down came\nthe fire. It burnt up the sacrifice--burnt up the wood--burnt up the\nwater--burnt up the very stones of the altar. Jehovah is God; nobody can\nhalt any longer.\n\nAh, but some of you say: \u201cI, too, would have decided for God if I had\nbeen on Mount Carmel that day.\u201d But Calvary is far more wonderful than\nCarmel. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is more wonderful than the\nsacrifice which was burnt on that altar.\n\n\nGIDEON.\n\nI believe this man Gideon was called an enthusiast in the camp of Israel.\nThe very idea of his going out to meet a hundred thousand men with\npitchers and lanterns! How many people would have said: \u201cThe man has gone\nclean mad.\u201d Yes, he was an enthusiast; but the Lord was with him.\n\nIf we lean upon ourselves we will have failure, but if we lean upon the\narm of God we will see how swiftly God will give us victory. God wants\nthe glory, and no flesh shall glory in His stead. Look at what He said to\nGideon.\n\nGideon had called in an army of thirty-two thousand men. The Lord said\nto him: \u201cYou have too many men. If I give you victory, Israel will vaunt\nthemselves against Me, saying: \u2018My own hand hath saved me.\u2019 You can not\nwork with so many, because I must have the glory. Just say to all that\nare fearful: \u2018Depart if you want to.\u2019\u201d\n\nSo Gideon proclaimed, in accordance with God\u2019s command, saying:\n\u201cWhosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from\nMount Gilead.\u201d And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand,\nand there remained ten thousand.\n\nI can imagine that Gideon became a little scared at first. Only ten\nthousand left! But the Lord came again, and said: \u201cGideon, you have\ngot too many men. If I work with them, you will take the glory.\u201d So he\nbrought down the people unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon:\n\u201cEvery one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth,\nhim shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon\nhis knees to drink.\u201d\n\nThree hundred lapped and ninety-seven hundred wheeled out of line. I\ncan imagine they were like many Christians. What can God do with those\nwho are like those of Gideon\u2019s army who were full of fears and doubts?\nLook at the reduction in that great army. But three hundred men with the\nAlmighty! Three hundred men that side with God can be a power for God.\nThree hundred like Gideon\u2019s men will move any city. What a routing there\nwas before that band! They fly like chaff before the wind. Do not call\nany thing small of God.\n\n\nITTAI.\n\nI will read a few verses in the fifteenth chapter of Second Samuel,\nbeginning at the nineteenth verse:\n\n\u201cThen said the king to Ittai, the Gittite: \u2018Wherefore goest thou also\nwith us? Return to thy place, and abide with the king; for thou art a\nstranger, and also an exile.\n\n\u201c\u2018Whereas, thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up\nand down with us? Seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back\nthy brethren. Mercy and truth be with thee.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd Ittai answered the king, and said: \u2018As the Lord liveth, and as my\nlord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be,\nwhether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd David said to Ittai: \u2018Go, and pass over.\u2019 And Ittai, the Gittite,\npassed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with them.\n\n\u201cAnd all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed\nover. The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the\npeople passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.\u201d\n\nWhat must have been the feeling of David when he got outside the city and\nfound this foreigner and stranger out there with six hundred men, ready\nand willing to go with him! He had had three men who sat at his table,\nand in the hour of trial, in the hour of trouble, they had deserted him.\nIt is in the time of darkness that we find out our friends. You find then\nwho are your friends.\n\nNow, David was in trouble, and here was this Ittai standing right by him.\nHow that must have cheered the heart of the king! He had been driven\nfrom the throne by Absalom, and the whole kingdom seemed to be going\nwith Absalom. Absalom and those who were with him were planning to take\nthe life of David, but here we find this stranger--this man Ittai--just\nfollowing David; and when David told him to go back, see what he says. I\nthink it is one of the sweetest things in the whole life of David:\n\n\u201cThen said the king to Ittai, the Gittite: \u2018Wherefore goest thou also\nwith us? Return to thy place, and abide with the king; for thou art a\nstranger, and also an exile.\n\n\u201c\u2018Whereas, thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up\nand down with us? Seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back\nthy brethren. Mercy and truth be with thee.\u2019\u201d\n\nHere was a man who was attached to a person. That was the point I wanted\nto call your attention to. We are living, I think, in the day of shams.\nThere are a good many people who are attached to creeds, denominations\nand churches. They are attached to this and to that, instead of a person.\nCreeds and churches are all right in their places, but if a man puts\nthem in the place of the Savior and the personal Christ, then they are\nbut snares. He would be willing to give up every thing but Christ in the\nhour of trouble, and if he is attached to Christ he will be able to say:\n\u201cWherever Thou goest I go.\u201d David had nothing to offer this man. There he\nwas--barefooted and leaving the throne. Ittai was attached to the man.\n\nDavid was every thing to Ittai, and life was nothing. No man had better\nfriends than David had in his day. What we want is to be attached to the\nLord Jesus Christ as Ittai was attached to David.\n\n\nJACOB.\n\nThe key to all Jacob\u2019s difficulties will be found in the twentieth\nchapter of Matthew. It is the story of the laborers in the vineyard.\nThe thought is in the second verse. The first men hired agreed to the\nbargain. The men would not go until the owner of the vineyard had made a\nbargain with them. He told them that he would pay them what was right.\nThey got a penny. He gave them the lawful wages. They probably asked:\n\u201cAnd is this all you are going to give us?\u201d\n\nJacob was all the time making bargains.\n\nThe Christians who are making bargains with the Lord do not get as much\nas those who trust Him. It does not pay to make bargains with the Lord.\n\nJacob is a twin brother of most of us. Where you find one Joseph or one\nDaniel you will find a hundred Jacobs. We are not willing, all of us, to\ntake God at His word and trust Him. There is a strong contrast between\nthe character of Joseph and Jacob. The one trusted God implicitly, but\nJacob wanted to trust Him no farther than he could see God. There would\nhave been a great deal of murmuring if Jacob had been thrown into jail in\nEgypt.\n\nNo doubt Jacob got much of his weakness from his mother. There was a\ndivision in that home. Isaac favored Esau, and Rebekah favored Jacob.\nSuch dissensions are just the thing to stir up the old Adam in the man.\nA mother and a father have no right to take this course. Rebekah plans\ncontinually to keep Jacob at home. The very thing that Rebekah tries to\nachieve, in that she fails. By nature Esau was the better of the two. If\nsuch a mean and contemptible nature as Jacob\u2019s can be saved, then there\nis hope for all of us.\n\nThe Lord promised to Jacob from the bottom of the ladder what he should\nhave. Jacob gets up and says: \u201cIf God will be with me and keep and\nclothe me, then shall the Lord be my God.\u201d What a low and contemptible\nidea he had! God had promised him all from Dan to Beersheba.\n\nThat is the difficulty with the people at the present time. If God will\nbless us in our basket and store, we shall have Him for our God. We find\nJacob after this in Haran, driving bargains all the time, and the worst\nof it is he gets beat every time. He had to work seven years for his\nwife, and then gets another woman in her place. He is paid back in his\nown coin. We must not think that God will allow us to deceive without\npunishing us for it. Jacob forgot all the vows which he made at Bethel,\nbut God did not forget His. Some of God\u2019s promises are unconditional. The\npromise which He made at Bethel was unconditional.\n\nGod chose Jacob rather than Esau. Some people say that God hated Esau\nbefore he was born. This is not the teaching of Scripture, even though\none of the minor prophets long years after mentioned it. God says to\nJacob after he had been in Haran for so many years: \u201cI am the God of\nBethel. Arise and dwell there.\u201d\n\nJacob ought to have been proud, and should have left Haran like a prince,\nbut instead he steals away like a thief. He starts off, and his uncle and\nfather-in-law pursue. God took care of him. God was determined to keep\nHis vows, and there is no doubt that, had not God interfered, Jacob would\nhave been slain.\n\nWe find that Jacob stays behind, like a miserable coward, after he had\nsent his effects away. A man out of communication with God is a coward\nalways.\n\nThere was a man who wrestled with Jacob. He was Christ. When did Jacob\nprevail? When his thigh was out of joint all he could do was to hold on\nand get the blessing. The man who is the lowest down is the man whom God\nlifts up the highest. The man that has the greatest humility will be the\nmost exalted.\n\nA great many say that Jacob was a different man. Would to God his thigh\nhad been left out of joint, so that there was no more of the flesh in\nhim. The next thing, we find Jacob and Esau embracing, and we would\nsuppose that he would be filled with gratitude. But no. He goes down to\nShechem and builds an altar and calls it by a high-sounding name. Jacob\nin Shechem, with this altar with a high-sounding name, was no better than\nhe was in Haran without an altar. He built an altar, finally, at Bethel.\nHe said that he would go to Bethel and build an altar to his God, as if\nthe Shechem altar was no altar. He called it El-Bethel. Just the moment\nhe came to Bethel the Lord God met him.\n\nThe next thing we hear is the saddest episode in the career of Jacob--the\ndeath of Rachel, his favorite wife. His sons go back to Shechem, and\nhunt up the old idols. His sons bring him back news from there that his\nmost dearly loved son was dead. Do you see how Jacob begins to reap the\nharvest of the sins of his early days? For twenty long years he mourned\nthat beloved boy. He deceived his own father, and his own sons, in turn,\ndeceived him.\n\nWhat a bitter life! What was Jacob\u2019s dying testimony to Pharaoh? It would\ntake ten thousand Jacobs to get one convert like Pharaoh. \u201cFew and evil,\u201d\nsaid Jacob, \u201chave my days been.\u201d He started with a lie in his mouth. He\ndied in exile. He died in Egypt--not in the land which God had promised\nhim. He would not let God choose for him. He was saved by fire--or, as\nJob said, by the skin of his teeth.\n\n\nJACOB\u2019S SONS.\n\nLook at the sons of Jacob. Look at them when they took away their\nbrother, and after they had delivered him into slavery see them coming\nback. How much they must have suffered with their secret during those\ntwenty years! What misery they must have endured as they looked, during\nall those years, at their old father sorrowing for his son, Joseph! They\nknew the boy had not been killed. They knew he was in slavery.\n\nFor twenty years the sin was covered up, but at last it came back upon\nthem. God had, in the meantime, been doing every thing for Joseph. He had\nraised him nearly to the throne of Egypt.\n\nA famine struck the land of the father, and the old man sent his sons\ndown into Egypt to purchase corn. God was at work. He was making these\nmen bring their own sin home to themselves. Their consciences smote them,\nand they confessed, in the presence of Joseph, that their sin had found\nthem out. Twenty years after it was committed that sin was resurrected,\nand they were brought face to face with it. \u201cHe that covereth his sin\nshall not prosper.\u201d\n\n\nJOHN THE BAPTIST.\n\nI want to call your attention to John, the forerunner of Christ. On\nhearing the news of the death of the king Joseph brings Jesus back to\nNazareth, and there He remained for thirty years.\n\nI once read of the founder of the Russian Empire going down to a Dutch\nsea port as a stranger and in disguise, that he might learn how to build\nships and return home and impart this knowledge to his own subjects.\nPeople have wondered at that. But this is a far greater wonder, that the\nPrince of Glory should come down here and learn the carpenter\u2019s trade.\nHe was not only the son of a carpenter, but He was a carpenter Himself.\nHis father was a carpenter, and He was a carpenter, too, for we read that\nthey brought it up against Him that He was a carpenter. We read:\n\n\u201cAnd when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their\nsynagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said: \u2018Whence hath\nthis man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter\u2019s\nson?\u2019\u201d\n\nRight here is one lesson that we ought to learn, and that is, when Christ\nwas here He was an industrious man. I have often said on this platform\nthat I have never known a lazy man to be converted. If one ever was\nconverted, he soon gave up his laziness. I tell you that laziness does\nnot belong to Christ\u2019s Kingdom. I do not believe a man would have a lazy\nhair in his head if he was converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. If a man\nhas really been born of the Spirit of Christ, he is not lazy. He wants\nto find something to do, and no kind of manual labor is degrading. It\nis honorable. If our Master, who is the Prince of Peace and the King\nof Glory, could leave Heaven and come down here and work as a village\ncarpenter, let us not think that manual labor is beneath our notice. Let\nus be willing to go out and work. If we can not find what we want, let us\ndo what we can. If we can earn only twenty-five cents a day, let us earn\nthat rather than do nothing. We not only want something to occupy our\nhands, but also our minds.\n\nBut this is not the point of the lecture this morning. I want to go back\nto those two wonderful men.\n\nThe thirty years have rolled away, and it is now time that this wonderful\nMessiah should come unto the nation. The Scriptures have been fulfilled,\nand the first sound we hear of His coming is that strange voice crying in\nthe wilderness.\n\nThose thirty years that have just expired were as nothing to the nation.\nUndoubtedly, the rumors about those two children, which created a great\nsensation at the time, had died out. The story of the shepherds on the\nplains of Bethlehem had gone out of popular recollection--faded away. The\nstory of this child being brought into the Temple, and that old man and\nthat old woman coming in there just at the time--that wonderful scene had\nfaded away. Many who were in the Temple at that time had gone. Zacharias\nand Elizabeth had passed away, and the Roman Empire had also died, after\nsending out a decree that the country should be taxed. Herod was also\ndead.\n\nA great change had taken place in thirty years. You just carry your minds\nback through thirty years, and see how many who stood with you thirty\nyears ago--with whom you were acquainted--have gone, and are sleeping in\ntheir graves.\n\nIf the Holy Ghost had not come after Christ went to Heaven, the story of\nHis death and His resurrection would have been forgotten as soon as His\nbirth and His life. No doubt about that. It is that which has kept the\nmemory of Christ in the world, and His name so fresh and fragrant. The\nHoly Ghost has come down here to keep in our minds the glory and beauty\nof Christ. Now, we find His forerunner comes.\n\nMatthew says: \u201cIn those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the\nwilderness.\u201d\n\nMark says: \u201cThe voice of one crying in the wilderness.\u201d\n\nLuke says: \u201cThe word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the\nwilderness.\u201d\n\nJohn\u2019s account is: \u201cThere was a man sent from God, whose name was John.\u201d\n\nThe last prophet had closed up his prophecy by saying that John should\ncome before the Messiah, and that he should be the herald who would come\nto introduce Him. Now, these four evangelists all take up their pens, and\nthey all notice it.\n\nYou know, if you let any four men write up any one thing, they will\nnot all write about it alike. Why, when men went to the Centennial, at\nPhiladelphia, not any four of them wrote about it alike. Let a man come\nin here, and let any four of us look at him. One will get a side view\nof him, one a front view, and so on; and no two of the four will see him\nalike.\n\nSo these evangelists wrote about John, but not one of the four used the\nsame language. You know, it was said he was to be like Elijah. Well, he\nlooked like him, dressed like him, and his preaching was like him.\n\nHe came suddenly and unexpectedly upon the world, and it was not long\nbefore his voice rang clear through the whole nation, and the whole\nnation was stirred. He stood between the two dispensations. He was the\nlast prophet the new dispensation was to have. They had had some mighty\nprophets--wonderful men; but this man was to be the last one.\n\nNow, we find this man standing there, as it were, between these two\ndispensations; and when he commenced to preach his preaching was very\nmuch like that of Elijah. He was a reformer. His cry was: \u201cRepent!\nReform!\u201d\n\nBut if he had stopped there his reform would have died out with him. A\ngreat many reformations die out with the reformers because they cry out:\n\u201cRepent! Repent! Reform! Reform!\u201d but they do not get any farther than\nthat. Thank God, John had something else to tell them. He did not stop\nat \u201cRepent! Repent!\u201d He kept telling them there was One coming mightier\nthan himself. Undoubtedly that was what thrilled the nation. Talk about\nsensation! There was never a nation moved as that one nation was moved by\nJohn the Baptist.\n\nIn these days, if certain persons want to stir a town or city, they need\nto influence the leading men of that city to stand around them, help\nthem and pray for them. But there stood John the Baptist, preaching in\nthe wilderness, without any influence of your committee. He did not have\nMr. Sankey to sing for him to draw out the people. He stood there upon\nthe banks of the Jordan alone, preaching the glorious tidings that the\nMessiah was coming after him, and he probably was preaching this to the\nlowest beggar in the land.\n\nThere John was in the wilderness, dressed like his predecessor, Elijah.\nThere he was, preaching in the wilderness; and just bear in mind, it was\nnot any milk-and-water preaching. He gave the message just as God gave it\nto him. I suppose, if he had some of the Christians of the present day\nthere, they would have said: \u201cDo not be so bold; be mild about it. Don\u2019t\nyou know you must use a little moderation about this? Come, John! If you\ntalk against these Pharisees they will cut your head off.\u201d\n\nBut that did not enter his mind. It was not what they wanted. It was\nwhat God gave him to deliver; and if any man just takes the message and\ndelivers it as God gives it to him, I tell you God will stand by him.\nHe is going to succeed--mind that. He may be unsuccessful at first; his\nlabor may seem to be unprofitable for a time, and people may turn away.\nBut the time will come when his words will cut deep down into their\nhearts and lead them to salvation.\n\nThen the people began to tremble. They had no newspapers then to print\nthe sermons; they had no telegraph wires to flash them over the country.\nBut one man just took the matter up and passed it to the next, and so\non, and very soon it was spread over the whole country.\n\n\u201cThere he is,\u201d they said, \u201cdressed just like Elijah, with his leathern\ngirdle and his raiment of camel\u2019s hair.\u201d He comes out about 9 o\u2019clock in\nthe morning, and there he stands on the banks of the Jordan, and there\nhe continues his talk. Day after day he is seen there, and his cry is:\n\u201cRepent! Repent!\u201d And that was his appeal.\n\nWell, it is not very long before every city, town and village has heard\nof this wonder. John preached the law just as it was given him, and as a\nspecimen of his preaching just read this. See how bold he was:\n\n\u201cThen said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him: \u2018O\ngeneration of vipers!\u2019\u201d\n\nO generation of vipers! Pretty hard talk, wasn\u2019t it? I don\u2019t know as you\ncould get many people into this Tabernacle by such talk as that. But he\nknew what he was doing. He knew they hated his Master. He knew that,\naway down in their hearts, they were at enmity with God. Read a little\nfarther, and see what he said:\n\n\u201cO generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to\ncome?\n\n\u201cBring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to\nsay within yourselves: \u2018We have Abraham to our father.\u2019 For I say unto\nyou that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.\u201d\n\nHe knew the men pretty well. I do not know where he had been all these\nthirty years. But he had found out the human heart. He had found out\nhuman nature pretty well. And those people undoubtedly said: \u201cWe belong\nto the seed of Abraham. We are the descendants of Abraham. We do not\nneed to be converted. We have got the law from Moses, and we obey that.\nLet these poor dogs of Gentiles be converted. It is not for us.\u201d\n\nAnd that is just the doctrine now.\n\n\u201cWe do not need to be converted. John a first-rate reformer? Oh, yes;\nbut that does not touch us. We go to church regularly. It is for these\npublicans and harlots. That kind of preaching is not for us. Oh, it is\nall good enough--all very good.\u201d\n\nAnd no doubt they would put up a Tabernacle for them--for the harlots and\ndrunkards to go to.\n\n\u201cOh, no! That preaching is not for us. It is good enough for them, but we\ndo not need to go. We are the seed of Abraham. We belong to Moses, and we\nare not such bad men. What do you mean by conversion? We do not need to\nbe born again. What do we need to be born again for? We pay our debts. We\nare good men.\u201d\n\nSee? That same old spirit. Eighteen hundred years have rolled away, and\nyou find human nature the same. John knew them pretty well.\n\n\u201cI say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children\nunto Abraham.\u201d\n\nYou need not flatter yourselves that you are better than the other\npeople. God can make children right out of these stones, and make them\nthe seed of Abraham.\n\n\u201cAnd now, also, the ax is laid unto the root of the tree; every tree,\ntherefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into\nthe fire.\n\n\u201cAnd the people asked him, saying: \u2018What shall we do, then?\u2019\u201d\n\nSee! They had an inquiry meeting, right there on the banks of the Jordan.\n\n\u201cHe answereth, and saith unto them: \u2018He that hath two coats, let him\nimpart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen came, also, publicans to be baptized, and said unto him: \u2018Master,\nwhat shall we do?\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd he said unto them: \u2018Exact no more than that which is appointed you.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying: \u2018And what shall we\ndo?\u2019 And he said unto them: \u2018Do violence to no man, neither accuse any\nfalsely, and be content with your wages.\u2019\u201d\n\nNow, that was his preaching up to the time that Christ came. As I said\nbefore, it was: \u201cRepent! Repent! Reform! Reform!\u201d And you may tell these\nmen they ought to do better; but if you do not tell them how, you can not\nsave them. Now, we find here, in this fifteenth verse, that they were\nlooking for something more:\n\n\u201cAnd as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts\nof John, whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, saying unto\nthem all: \u2018I, indeed, baptize you with water; but One mightier than I\ncometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall\nbaptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.\n\n\u201c\u2018Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and\nwill gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff He will burn with\nfire unquenchable.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.\u201d\n\nNow, what a chance there was for John to have let self come in! When\npeople were wondering in their hearts if he was not the true Messiah--if\nhe was not Christ--he might have been tempted to come out and say he was\nmore than himself--that he was Christ. But there was this commendable\ntrait about John: He never preached up self.\n\nHe was preparing the nation to receive the Lord of Glory. He had come\nmerely to introduce Him. He was nothing. Just as a man comes and\nintroduces a friend to you, he barely introduces him and steps aside. He\ndoes not put himself forward.\n\nSo John introduces the Son of God, and then begins to fade away, and soon\nis gone. He had not come to introduce himself, but to preach Christ.\n\nAnd let me say, right here, that this is the very height of preaching.\nWhen they begin to wonder who he is, he just comes right out and says: \u201cI\nam not Jesus. I am only just one sent to introduce Him. I have come for\nthat purpose. I have not come to preach up myself, but Him that is mighty\nto save.\u201d\n\nAnd then we find that while his star was just at its height, while he was\njust about at the zenith of his glory, while people were flocking in from\nthe towns and villages to hear him, the chief rulers of Jerusalem send\ndown a deputation to inquire what this religion meant. They appointed\nsome influential men to find him out, and they said to him: \u201cWe have been\nsent by the chief priest of Jerusalem to find out who you are. Are you\nChrist?\u201d And John answered: \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cWell, who are you? Are you this man\nor that man?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cAre you this prophet or that prophet?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cWell,\nwho are you?\u201d\n\nDid he say: \u201cI am Jesus\u201d? No. \u201cMerely Mr. Nobody--merely a voice crying\nin the wilderness.\u201d\n\nWhat a message that was to send back to Jerusalem! He was not trying to\nput himself forward. He was all the time trying to get out of self. In\nthe nineteenth verse and first chapter of John we read:\n\n\u201cAnd this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites\nfrom Jerusalem to ask him: \u2018Who art thou?\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd he confessed, and denied not; but confessed: \u2018I am not the Christ.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd they asked him: \u2018What, then? Art thou Elias?\u2019 And he saith: \u2018I am\nnot.\u2019 \u2018Art thou the prophet?\u2019 And he answered: \u2018No.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen said they unto him: \u2018Who art thou? That we may give an answer to\nthem that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?\u2019\n\n\u201cHe said: \u2018I am the voice of One crying in the wilderness. Make straight\nthe way of the Lord, as said the prophet, Esaias.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd they which were sent were of the Pharisees.\n\n\u201cAnd they asked him, and said unto him: \u2018Why baptize thou, then, if thou\nbe not Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?\u2019\n\n\u201cJohn answered them, saying: \u2018I baptize with water; but there standeth\nOne among you whom ye know not. He it is who, coming after me, is\npreferred before me, whose shoe\u2019s latchet I am unworthy to unloose.\u2019\n\n\u201cThese things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was\nbaptizing.\u201d\n\nNow, this was the day, I say, when John was at the very zenith of his\nglory; but see how noble he stood. He did not take any honor or glory to\nhimself, and in two different places he declared that he knew not this\nStranger that he was the herald of--his Messiah.\n\nSome are trying to make out that this was all planned by John and Jesus,\nthat he should say he did not know Him. But he declares in two places\nthat he did not know Him. They were brought up in two extremes of the\ncountry--one in the northern part of it, Nazareth, and the other at\nHebron.\n\nTalk about eloquence! John was one of the most eloquent men, I suppose,\nthat ever lived. He was the herald of God, and when the nation was in a\nterrible state of excitement, and the chief priests of Jerusalem, and\neven the king himself, went to hear him.\n\nThere he stood on the banks of the Jordan. I can see the men and women\non both sides of the river--little children, mothers with their babes\nin their arms--all intensely excited and leaning forward to catch what\nhe says. \u201cNow,\u201d says John, \u201cif you believe what I say, that if you have\nbroken the law given at Sinai you have sinned, to be forgiven you must\nrepent and come down into this Jordan, and I will baptize you in the name\nof the God of Hebron.\u201d\n\nThe people went in by scores and hundreds, and there he baptized them.\nAnd as he stood there baptizing them I can imagine about twenty thousand\npeople hanging upon his lips. There was a man came down through the\ncrowd. I can imagine that John was a man who looked as though he was more\nlike a mountain eagle, but his wings seemed to droop. That eye which\nhad been so keen and so severe on the Israelites when he called them a\ngeneration of vipers became lusterless, his face fell and he shook his\nhead, as this Stranger came.\n\nI suppose, as He came walking along toward John, God revealed the fact to\nhim and said: \u201cThis is My Son. This is the Savior of the world. This is\nthe Prince of Peace.\u201d And when John saw Him he quailed before Him, and he\nsaid: \u201cI have need to be baptized of Thee.\u201d\n\nWhat excitement! How it must have thrilled the audience as John drew\nback and said: \u201cI have need to be baptized of Thee.\u201d John knew Him. John\nat once recognized Him. He knew He was the promised One of the law.\nJohn said: \u201cI have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?\u201d\nBut Jesus said unto him: \u201cSuffer it to be so now, that the law may be\nfulfilled.\u201d Now, what excitement as these two men went down into the\nriver together!\n\nOh, if Jordan could speak it could tell some wonderful stories! Wonderful\nscenes have taken place there. Naaman had gone into that river and\nwashed, and had come forth clean. Elijah, going up with his mantle,\nstruck the water and went over dry-shod, as also did Elisha after Elijah\nhad ascended. But a more wonderful scene was taking place in Jordan than\never took place before. It was of transcendent interest to all mankind.\n\nOur Lord was going down into Jordan to be baptized, and He was going to\ncome up on resurrection ground. So He goes down with John the Baptist,\nand the moment He was baptized and came up out of the water the heavens\nwere opened unto Him, and the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a\ndove, and alighted upon Him. Heaven witnessed the scene. God the Father\nspoke then. He broke the silence of ages. The God of the Old Testament\nwas the Christ of the New. And he heard a voice from Heaven, saying:\n\u201cThis is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\u201d\n\nSome one says that was the first time God could look down on the world\nsince Adam fell and say that He was well pleased. In Hebrews, tenth\nchapter and seventh verse, we read:\n\n\u201cLo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy\nwill, O God.\u201d\n\nHe was the Son that was born above. The heavens opened and the Holy Ghost\ndescended upon Him. The Spirit of the Lord came down on Him, and God owns\nHim and recognizes Him.\n\nNow, there is another thought to which I want to call your attention.\nJohn\u2019s preaching changed. But he was not like many men of the present\nday, who want to reform the world without Christ, who set a good example\nand tell men to sign pledges and to do this or that, and to trust in\ntheir own strength.\n\nThe moment John got his eye on Christ he had one text: \u201cBehold the Lamb\nof God that taketh away the sins of the world.\u201d That is how you are going\nto get rid of your sins. Says John: \u201cI bear record of this in the Son of\nGod.\u201d And he told his disciples: \u201cNow, you follow Him. Go with Him.\u201d\n\nOne afternoon, as he sat there with his disciples, he said: \u201cBehold\nthe Lamb of God!\u201d And they left him to follow Jesus--two of his own\ndisciples. I tell you that is something which you do not like to do--to\nmake your friends leave you; to preach them away--your own congregation.\nBut now this man begins to ask his disciples to leave him. \u201cWhy,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cI tell you I am not worthy to just unloose His shoes. He is more\nworthy than I am. Follow Him.\u201d He began to preach up Christ. \u201cHe must\nincrease; I must decrease.\u201d\n\nSome of his disciples came to him one day and said: \u201cYou know that Man\nyou baptized over there in the Jordan? Well, more men are coming to Him\nthan are coming to you.\u201d That was jealousy--envy rankling in those men\u2019s\nbosoms. But what did John say? \u201cI told you that I was not He. Why, He\nmust increase, and I must decrease. That\u2019s right, I would rather see the\ncrowd flocking to hear Him.\u201d\n\nJohn, I think, was terribly abused by some one. He was cast into prison.\nThen he sent two of his disciples to inquire of Christ if He was the true\nMessiah, or must he look for another. I do not know, but I have an idea\nthat he wanted his disciples to leave him and go over to Jesus. So he\ncalled two of his most influential disciples and told them: \u201cNow, you go\nand ask Him if He is the true Messiah.\u201d I can not believe in John\u2019s faith\nwavering; but, if he was wavering, he took the very best way, and sent\nthose men to ask the Savior.\n\nI see his deputation arrive, and when Jesus had finished preaching these\ndisciples come up and say: \u201cOur master has sent us to ask if You are the\ntrue Messiah? Or, shall he look for another?\u201d\n\nJesus goes on healing the sick, causing the lame to leap, giving sight to\nthe blind, making the deaf to hear, and after He had gone on performing\nthese miracles He said to John\u2019s messengers: \u201cYou go back and tell your\nmaster what you have seen and what you have heard. Go back and tell John\nthat the blind see; that the deaf hear; that the lame walk, and that the\npoor have the Gospel preached to them.\u201d\n\nWhen John heard that, in prison, it settled all his doubts. His disciples\nbelieved, and the poor had the Gospel preached to them. That was the\ntest, and then John\u2019s disciples, one after another, left him. And now\nwe find him thrown into prison. There he is, in prison--awaiting his\nappointed time.\n\nJust bear in mind that God had sent him. His work was done. He had only\njust come to announce the Savior--only for that object. Some think that\nChrist\u2019s treatment of John was rather hard--in fact, harsh; but the\ngreatest tribute ever paid to any man was paid by Jesus to John.\n\n\u201cBut what went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they\nthat wear soft clothing are in kings\u2019 houses.\n\n\u201cBut what went ye out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more\nthan a prophet.\n\n\u201cFor this is he of whom it is written: \u2018Behold, I send my messenger\nbefore thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.\u2019\n\n\u201cVerily, I say unto you: \u2018Among them that are born of women there has not\nrisen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least\nin the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.\u2019\u201d\n\nThere was none greater than this same John. Our Savior knew that John was\ngoing first. He knew that He was soon to die, and that John would have\nto come to Him; that they would soon be together in Glory, and then they\ncould talk matters over; that John must sink out of sight, and the Lord\nof Glory must be the central object.\n\nJesus and John were like the Sun and Moon in comparison with the stars.\nAll the prophets were like the stars in comparison with those two men.\nThere was no prophet like John. None born of woman was greater. Moses was\na mighty prophet. Elijah was the son of thunder, and a great and mighty\nprophet; and so was Elisha. But they were not to be compared with John.\n\nWhat a character! He lost sight of himself entirely. Christ was\nuppermost; Christ was the all-in-all with him. He was beheaded outside\nthe Promised Land. He was buried in Moab, somewhere near where Moses\nwas laid away. The first and last prophet of that nation were buried\nnear together, and there they lie, outside the Promised Land; but their\nbodies, by-and-by, will be resurrected, and they will be the grandest and\nmost glorious in God\u2019s kingdom.\n\n\nJOSHUA.\n\nJoshua was a man who walked by faith, and you will find the key to his\ncharacter in three words--courage, obedience and faith.\n\nCourage, obedience and faith. And he dared to be in the minority.\n\nNow, friends, there are very few men at the present time who like to be\nin the minority. They always want to be in the majority. They want to go\nwith the crowd. But when a man has laid hold of the Divine nature of God,\nand has become a product of the Divine nature, he is willing then to go\nagainst the crowd of the world and be numbered with the minority.\n\nWhere Joshua met the God of Israel first we are not told. We do not catch\na glimpse of him until the man is about forty years old. The first sight\nwe get of Joshua is as he comes up out of Egypt. We are told that after\nMoses had struck the rock in Horeb and the children of Israel had drank\nthe water that came out of that rock--and that rock was typical of Christ\nand of God\u2019s pure throne--Amalek came out to fight them, and after they\nhad got a drink of this pure water they were willing to meet him.\n\nWe find that Joshua\u2019s first battle was successful, and that his last one\nwas successful. He never knew what defeat was. He was successful because\nhe believed in the Lord God of Heaven--because he had perfect faith in\nGod. Moses went up into the mountain to pray, and while he was praying\nJoshua was down fighting Amalek. And when Moses held up his hand Israel\nprevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed.\n\n\u201cAnd Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands--the one on the one side and the\nother on the other side--and his hands were steady until the going down\nof the sun.\u201d\n\nHis hands were up until Amalek was defeated.\n\nThere is only one thing against Joshua. He was opposed to the preaching\nof Eldad and Aminidab. He did not like to see Eldad and Aminidab out\nthere preaching in the camp, because they did not belong to the Apostolic\nbody. So he says to Moses: \u201cI wish you would rebuke Eldad and Aminidab\nfor preaching in the camp. I do not want them to preach there.\u201d\n\nBut Moses said: \u201cNo! I will not rebuke Eldad and Aminidab. That\u2019s just\nwhat we want. I wish to God there were more of them.\u201d\n\nAfter Moses rebuked Joshua we never hear him complaining any more about\nEldad and Aminidab. That is the only thing on record against him. The\nnext thing we hear of is the matter of those twelve spies, and I will\npass over that. You remember how they came back, and Joshua and Caleb\nwere the only two out of the twelve that dared to bring in a minority\nreport. But now the forty years\u2019 wilderness journey is over, and during\nall those forty years you can not find any place where Joshua or Caleb\never murmured or complained. They were not of that kind.\n\nNow, as I said, the forty years\u2019 wilderness journey is over, and Moses is\nabout to leave. He went up into Mount Nebo, and \u201cGod kissed away his soul\nand buried him.\u201d\n\nThen Joshua was commanded to take charge of the army. The word of the\nLord came to him, saying: \u201cJoshua, arise and go over this Jordan. Moses,\nmy servant, is dead.\u201d\n\nThere was no president, no general, no marshal about it. There was no\ntitle at all, but just merely: \u201cJoshua, arise and go over this Jordan.\u201d\nNow, Joshua just obeyed, and here you will find the secret of his\nwonderful success. He did just what the Lord told him to do. He did not\nstand, like many people would have done, and say: \u201cI don\u2019t know how I\nam going to get these people over. Hadn\u2019t you better wait, Lord, until\nthe next day? How am I to get these three million people over this angry\nflood? Hadn\u2019t we better wait until the waters recede?\u201d\n\nNo! Joshua did not say that. He had got his command from God: \u201cArise and\ngo.\u201d When the Lord gave orders, that was enough. He had got His word, and\nhe brings these children of Israel down in sight of the swollen stream.\nFaith must be tried. God will not have people whom He can not try.\n\nJoshua brings them there in three days, in sight of the angry flood, with\nnot a word of murmuring. If he had brought them there forty years before,\nwhat murmuring there would have been! We will get trained--every one of\nus.\n\nThey had had their faith tried in those forty years in the wilderness,\nand now they murmured not. There was not a word of complaint. But forty\nyears before they would have asked, when they had got opposite Jericho:\n\u201cWhat is He going to do? How are we going to get over? We\u2019ve got to have\na bridge or a pontoon. And even if we get over, they will see us and\ndefeat us. They will slay us here on the bank of Jordan. Guess we had\nbetter turn around and go back.\u201d\n\nThat is about what they would have said, what they would have tried, and\nwhat they would have done forty years before. But now Joshua tells the\npeople that the priests are to walk out in front of them, and that the\nmoment the priests touched the water--the moment the soles of their feet\ntouched the water--the water was to be cut off.\n\nThere was faith for you! When those seven men took up the ark God was\nwith them, and the moment the soles of their feet touched the water the\nwaters were cut off, and they passed into the middle of the stream and\nput down the ark.\n\nThat ark represented the Almighty. He was in the ark, with the ark right\nthere in the midst of death--for Jordan is death and judgment--right in\nthe middle of the stream. He held that stream in the palm of His hand.\nAnd now the people pass beyond--three millions of them.\n\nYou can hear their solemn tread. Not a word said on their march through\ndeath and judgment until Joshua led them on to Resurrection Ground. After\nhe had got them all over, he told twelve men--one from each tribe--to\ntake each a stone and set them up where the priests stood, so that when\ntheir children asked \u201cWhat mean ye by these stones?\u201d they could tell how\nthe Almighty brought them through dangers into the Promised Land.\n\nNow, after they had placed their stones, the ark was brought up out of\nthe Jordan, and the waters rolled off. Instead of moving right on at\nonce to Jericho, the children of Israel stopped to keep the Passover.\nThey were in no hurry. They were willing to worship God. They kept the\nPassover, and after that they started for Jericho. Jericho was shut off,\nundoubtedly, and surely the hearts of those people were filled with fear.\nHere the children of Israel had come to their country and their God had\nbrought them through the Red Sea with an out-stretched arm. Surely there\nwas a strange God among them. Jericho had no such God as that. He had\ndefended them and led them, and had given them light and life after that.\n\nBut now Joshua just takes a walk around the walls of Jericho. God had\nordered him to take it, and he must. And as he was walking around,\nviewing the walls of Jericho, all at once a man stood right in front of\nhim with a drawn sword right over him, and God said: \u201cNo man can be able\nto stand before you all the days of your life.\u201d And Joshua steps right up\nto him, and asks: \u201cArt thou for us or for our adversaries?\u201d The stranger\nanswered: \u201cI am captain of God\u2019s host, come to lead you to victory.\u201d\n\nThen Joshua fell on his face, and God talked with him. How many men\nof the present time would have laughed at Joshua if they had been in\nJericho! How much sport they would have made of him! If there had been a\nJericho Herald, what articles would have come out! The idea of taking the\ncity in that way! The ark was to come out, and the priests were to blow\nrams\u2019 horns. That was very absurd, wasn\u2019t it? Rams\u2019 horns!\n\nWell, the seventh day came, and they were up quite early in the morning.\nHere were these seven men blowing their rams\u2019 horns, and the people going\naround for the seventh time. At the end of the seventh time Joshua says:\n\u201cShout, for the Lord has given you the city.\u201d They shout, and down tumble\nthe walls of the city. Then they went up and entered Jericho, and every\nman, woman and child of that city perished. God had given the order, and\nHis commands were obeyed.\n\nNow they move on to Ai. You know, after a victory is gained over some\nlarge town they attack and take the little outlying towns. So, in this\ncase, they moved right on to Ai. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, and\nthey came back and told him that just a few thousand men could take Ai;\nand they go up and are repulsed. Then Joshua rends his clothes and falls\non his face, and asks God what the fault was. He knew the fault was in\nthe camp--not God\u2019s.\n\nWhen they went into Jericho they were told not to touch one solitary\nthing. But there was Acham, who saw a nice garment--perhaps he thought\nit would be a nice dress for his wife. He also saw two hundred shekels\nof silver and a wedge of gold, and he coveted all these things and took\nthem. He hid them, but he could not conceal them. He had to confess that\nhe had sinned against the Lord God of Israel. Those men of Ai were so\nhumbled that they could not stand before the Lord.\n\nAfter leaving Ai, we read that Joshua came to Mount Ebal, and there a\nwonderful thing took place. On one side, on the slope of Mount Gerizim,\nwere half of the children of Israel, and on the other side, on the slope\nof Mount Ebal, were the other half. There were three million people\ngathered there, and the whole law of Moses was read over to them.\n\nIt was a solemn sight. Moreover, all the law of God was read--not a\npart, but the whole. Joshua read the blessings and cursings. He did not\nstand up there like some one reading a moral essay and say that they\nmust be good for they were going into the Promised Land; that there were\nblessings for them, and said nothing about the curses. No; he did not do\nthat. He read all.\n\nIt says here, in the eighth chapter: \u201cAnd all Israel and their elders and\nofficers and their judges stood on this side the ark and on that side,\nbefore the priests, the Levites, which bore the ark of the covenant of\nthe Lord, as well the stranger as he that was born among them; half of\nthem over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over against Mount Ebal,\nas Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded before, that they should\nbless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the\nlaw, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the\nbook of the law.\u201d\n\nNow, mark that. \u201cHe read all the words of the law, the blessings and\ncursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.\u201d If\nJoshua had been like many of the present day, he would have said to\nhimself: \u201cI will read the blessings, but not the cursings. I do not\nbelieve God is going to curse a man if he does wrong, so I will read\nthe blessings and omit the cursings.\u201d But, thank God, he read the whole\nlaw--the blessings and the cursings. He did not keep back any thing. \u201cAnd\nthere was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not.\u201d\nThank God for such a man! That is the kind of men we want nowadays--men\nwho will not cut the Bible to pieces like the king who took out his\npenknife and said: \u201cI don\u2019t like that; cut that out. I don\u2019t like this;\ncut this out.\u201d So they cut and slashed the Bible until very little was\nleft.\n\nThe thirty-third verse of the eighth chapter says they were all\nthere--\u201cas well the stranger as he that was born among them.\u201d You see,\nJoshua made no distinction. He read to the stranger as well as to those\nthat were of the children of Israel. It was all read.\n\nAnd now Joshua is ready to move on. The law had been read, they had\nworshiped their God, and they were ready to move on. Undoubtedly the\nnations throughout that land had heard how this solemn assembly had met\non the mountain side and the law had been read. Now they are ready to\nmove on again. They had been there about three days.\n\nSome one now comes to Joshua with startling news. The messenger begins\nwith the question: \u201cJoshua, have you heard that there is a confederacy\nformed to oppose you? Instead of meeting one man you are to meet five.\nThey are coming down from the mountains with great regiments of giants.\nWhy, the mountains are full of the sons of Anak--full of giants--and some\nof them are six feet high. Why, they are so big that they would scare our\nown men to death. Why, one man came out and just shook his little finger\nat our men, and scared them out of their lives. There was not a man who\ndared to meet them. The whole land is full of giants. Do you know that\nthey have formed a confederacy? Five kings are coming down against you\nwith hordes of these giants.\u201d\n\nI see the old warrior. He does not tremble at all. He had received the\nword of God: \u201cJoshua, be of good courage. No man shall be able to stand\nagainst you.\u201d He moved on in his godly armor and in the name of his\nGod, and he routed his adversaries. The hour was growing late, and he\ncommanded Sun and Moon to stand still, and they obeyed him. So there were\ntwo days in one. He found the five kings hid away in a cave, and he took\nthem out and hanged them. He took thirty-one kings and kingdoms. He just\ntook that land by faith.\n\nNow, some people ask: \u201cWhat right had he to come over and take that\nland?\u201d If you will read the fourth verse of the ninth chapter of\nDeuteronomy, you will see what right he had. \u201cSpeak not thou in thine\nheart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee,\nsaying: \u2018For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this\nland.\u2019 But, for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord doth drive them\nout from before thee.\u201d\n\nThat is why He drove them out. Their cup of iniquity was filled, and God\njust dashed it to pieces. When any nation\u2019s cup of iniquity is full, God\nsweeps them away.\n\nNow, mark the Scripture: \u201cNot for thy righteousness or for the\nuprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land; but, for\nthe wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God hath driven them out\nfrom before thee, and that He may perform the word which the Lord swore\nunto thy fathers--Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u201d \u201cUnderstand, therefore, that\nthe Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy\nrighteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people.\u201d\n\nThey were a stiff-necked people. It was not for the righteousness of the\nchildren of Israel that the Lord gave them this land. He hated these\nnations on account of their wickedness.\n\nNow, Joshua has overcome them and driven them from the face of the earth,\nand this brings out one noble trait in his character. When he came to\ndivide up the land, Joshua took the poorest treasure himself, that he\nmight be near the ark. And there, on Mount Ephraim, he died at the\nripe old age of one hundred and ten years. During all those years not\na man was able to stand before him. See the contrast between his dying\ntestimony and that of Jacob! Jacob\u2019s self-reproach was: \u201cFew and evil\nhave the days of the years of my life been.\u201d He had a stormy voyage.\n\nLook and see this old warrior going to rest. He had tried God forty\nyears. He had heard the crack of the slave driver\u2019s whip, down there in\nEgypt. But probably he had a praying mother, who talked to him about this\nKing of the Hebrews, about the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and\nhe believed in that God. When Moses came down into Egypt he found this\nyoung man just in the prime of his life. Joshua recognized in Moses that\nhe was an instrument of the Almighty, and that the King of the Hebrews\nhad sent him there to deliver His people.\n\nJoshua had tried God forty years in the wilderness, and when eighty\nyears old he was called into the Promised Land. He had tried God thirty\nyears in Canaan, and now, at the age of one hundred and ten, the aged\nand invincible warrior is going home. But he is not going to die like an\ninfidel. He knows he is about to die, and he calls for all the tribes of\nIsrael and their elders. These come up from the tribe of Benjamin, the\ntribe of Simeon, the tribe of Zebulon, and so on; and they are gathered\nat Shiloh, to be there to hear the old prophet and patriarch.\n\nThat man of God speaks, and what does he say? What is his dying\ntestimony? How we all linger around the couch of our dying friends! How\nanxious we are to get their last words!\n\nWell, let us turn back. What are the last words of this man who has tried\nGod and proved God? These are the words: \u201cI am going the way of all the\nearth; and ye know in your hearts and in all your souls that not one\nthing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake\nconcerning you. All are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath\nfailed thereof.\u201d\n\nNot one good thing has failed! God has kept His word. God has made His\nword good. \u201cNot one good thing hath failed.\u201d What a dying testimony! How\nglorious! In the beautiful sunset light the old warrior sank away, like\nhe was going to sleep. In the dusk of a beautiful Summer\u2019s evening he\npassed away. There is the old man\u2019s dying testimony. He could tell the\npeople of God. He was the only one left. The rest had gone. Moses had\nsunk into his desert grave, and the other leaders of the tribe of Israel\nhad passed away. But now he was going to die in the Promised Land.\n\nTruly, he was a man of courage, obedience and faith.\n\n\nLOT.\n\nOne reason why I take up this character is because I believe he is\na representative man, and perhaps there is no Bible character that\nrepresents so many men of the present day as Lot of Sodom.\n\nWhere you can find one Abraham, one Daniel or one Joshua you can find a\nthousand Lots.\n\nLot started out very well. He got rich, and that was the beginning of his\ntroubles. He and Abraham, his uncle, went down to Egypt, and they came\nout of Egypt with great wealth. The next thing we hear of is strife among\ntheir herdsmen.\n\nBut Lot could not get up a quarrel with Abraham. Abraham said to him:\n\u201cYou are my nephew, and I can not quarrel with you; but take your goods\nand go to the right and I will go to the left, or I will go to the right\nand you go to the left.\u201d And they separated.\n\nRight here Lot made his mistake. He should have said, in reply to\nAbraham: \u201cNo, uncle! I don\u2019t want to leave you. The Lord has blessed me\nwith you, and I do not wish to leave you.\u201d But, if he had been determined\nto leave his uncle, he should have asked Abraham to choose for him.\nInstead of that, he lifted up his eyes and saw the well watered plains of\nSodom, and that decided him.\n\nNo doubt Lot was very ambitious; he probably wanted to become richer.\nPerhaps there was a little spirit of rivalry toward his uncle. He wanted\nto excel Abraham in worldly goods--to become rich faster. So he saw and\ndetermined upon the well watered plains of Sodom. If he had asked Abraham\nhe would not have gone there. If he had asked God, Lot would never have\nentered Sodom; no man ever goes into Sodom by God\u2019s advice. He determined\nfor himself, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. I do not know how long\nLot lived upon those well watered plains, but no doubt the men of those\ndays said of him when he had settled down: \u201cThere is a shrewd man; he is\na smart man. Why, I can predict that in a very short time he will be a\nwealthier man than his uncle, Abraham. Look at these well watered plains.\nWhy, he is a great deal better off than is Abraham now.\u201d\n\nLot is in a position in which he can soon become a rich man. How long he\nremained on those plains I do not know, but the next thing we know is\nthat he got into Sodom. We are told that Sodom was very wicked. Lot lived\nnear it, and he went into it with his eyes open, for he knew all about\nit. The wickedness of Sodom was coming up to God. He was going to destroy\nit soon. Do you think, if Lot had asked Him, He would have permitted the\nnephew of Abraham to enter that city?\n\nAll the years that Lot was in Sodom we do not read that he had any family\naltar. He must have known it meant ruin for his family to take them in\nthere. But he did not look at that. It was business that took him there.\nHe might have said: \u201cWell, I\u2019ve got a large family. I\u2019ve got a great\nmany dependent upon me, and I must get rich faster; so I will go into\nSodom. Business is the first consideration, and it must be attended to.\u201d\nSo he goes into Sodom, and the next thing we hear he is in trouble. Sodom\nhad got a war on hand, and when he went into the city he was forced to\ntake its side. In the war he was taken captive. It is a great mercy he\nwas not killed in battle.\n\nThe first thing Abraham did when he heard of his nephew\u2019s trouble was\nto set out after him. When Lot was captured in battle he was liable to\nbe taken into slavery, and his children also. He might have died in\nslavery if Abraham had not gone after him. But Abraham takes his servants\nand sets out and overtakes the warriors who had taken Lot captive, and\nbrought him back, with all the property that had been taken.\n\nNow, you would think Lot would have kept out of Sodom. You would expect\nto hear of his saying: \u201cI have had enough of Sodom; I will not go near\nit again.\u201d You would think that men, when they get into this and that\ndifficulty and affliction, would keep out of Sodom; but they will not. It\nis one of the greatest mysteries to me why men will remain in their Sodom\nwhen they have continual trouble.\n\nSo Lot went back. Probably he said: \u201cI\u2019ve lost a great deal, and I must\ngo back and try to recover it. I must go back and make it up for my\nchildren.\u201d And he prospered in Sodom.\n\nIf you had gone into Sodom before these angels came down you would\nprobably have found that no man had got on so well. If they had a\nCongress, perhaps they sent him to represent Sodom, because no man had\ndone better in business. That is the way of the world. Possibly they\nmight have made him Mayor of Sodom. If you could have seen his \u201cturnout,\u201d\nit would have been one of the very best. Mrs. Lot must have moved in the\nmost select society of the city. The Misses Lot were looked upon as the\nmost fashionable people there. They got on well.\n\nPerhaps Lot was a judge and had great influence. When the angels got to\nthe gate they might have heard of the Honorable Judge Lot. It sounded\npretty well. He might have owned many corner lots. He might have owned\nmany buildings with \u201cLot\u201d printed all over them, and on account of his\nproperty he might have been a very high man in Sodom. That is the way the\nworld looks at it. No doubt the dispositions of those people were exactly\nas they are today. Human nature has been pretty much the same always.\n\nBut time rolls on, and Lot, while sitting at the gate one evening, saw\ntwo strangers upon the highway. They are coming toward Sodom. Likely\nthese Sodomites did not know them, but twenty years before Lot had been\nin the company of Abraham, and he had seen these men at his uncle\u2019s\nhouse--had seen them sitting at his uncle\u2019s table. So he knew these\nangels when they approached, and he bowed down and worshiped them; he\nbowed down to the ground, and then invited them into his residence. But\nit was a sink of iniquity, and they would not enter in. Lot pressed his\ninvitation upon them, and finally they accepted.\n\nThe news was soon noised around the streets that he had two strangers\nthere, and it was not long before a crowd was around the door, and wanted\nto know whom he had inside.\n\nLot came out and endeavored to pacify them, but he was met with the\nderisive query: \u201cWho made this fellow a judge over us?\u201d He was dragged\nback into the house, and the door was shut against the mob. His influence\nwas gone. He had been in the city twenty years and had not made a convert.\n\nI suppose Lot lived in a marble front house there, and his heart was away\nfrom God. Then these men said to Lot: \u201cWhom have you got here beside\nyourself? What is your family? Have you got any others beside yourself in\nthis town?\u201d\n\nWell, the father and mother had to own up that they had married their\nchildren to some of the Sodomites. That was the result of his going into\nthe city. You go into the world and live like the world, and see what the\nresult will be. How many fathers and mothers are now mourning on account\nof marrying their sons and daughters to Sodomites! Marrying them to death\nand ruin!\n\nThese angels said to Lot: \u201cIf you have got any, get them out of this\nplace, for God is determined to burn it up. Tell them this, and if they\nwill not come, escape for your lives and leave them, for He will surely\ndestroy the city.\u201d\n\nNow, all these twenty years we do not know that Lot ever had a family\naltar. He could not call his children around him and pray to his God.\nThey had all become identified with Sodom and its people.\n\nLook at that scene. There are the men at the outside of the door,\ngroping about to find it, and the door opens and Lot starts out to tell\nhis son-in-law of the coming destruction. I can see the old man, head\nbowed down, passing through the streets of Sodom at midnight.\n\nHe goes to a house and knocks. No sound; all are asleep. He knocks again,\nand likely shouts at the top of his voice; and the man gets up and opens\nthe window. He puts his head out and asks:\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d\n\n\u201cLot, your father-in-law.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat has brought you out of bed at this hour? What\u2019s up?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, two angels are at my house, who say that God is going to destroy\nSodom and every one who shall remain here.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou go home and get to bed.\u201d\n\nThey mock Lot. He has lost his testimony. They all think he is deluded.\n\nI can see him now, going off to another daughter\u2019s house. I know not how\nmany daughters Lot had. He might have had as many daughters as Job. He\ngoes to them, and they mock him, too.\n\nThere is that old man, in that midnight hour, plodding along those\nstreets of Sodom to urge them to flee from the city, and they mock him.\nHe had been long enough with Abraham to know that every thing that came\nfrom God could be relied upon.\n\nNow he starts back home. You can see him--his head bowed down, his long\nwhite hair flowing over his bosom and tears flowing from those aged eyes!\nThe world calls him a successful man; but what a miserable end is his!\nLook at him tonight! He had achieved his ambition, and was wealthy. He\nobtained what he longed for, but with it came leanness of soul.\n\nNext morning the angels take him by the hand. He and his wife and two\ndaughters are led out of the city. And they lingered. How could they do\notherwise than linger, when they had left their sons and daughters in the\ncity and knew they would be destroyed?\n\nYes, they linger. I do not blame them. They had, probably, a faint hope\nthat the threatened storm might be stayed, and they could get their\nchildren out. But the angels took them by the hand and hastened them out\nof the city.\n\nPoor mother! Ah, how sad when God came in judgment! I can see that mother\nhesitating, but God orders her not to look back. \u201cFlee for your life;\nescape or you will be destroyed.\u201d \u201cNo man having put his hand to the\nplow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.\u201d\n\nMrs. Lot gets out of Sodom, but she looks back, and judgment falls upon\nher. And I believe that the condition of Lot\u2019s wife is the condition of\nmillions today. They have come out of Sodom, but their hearts are in the\nworld. They ask: \u201cHave I to give up the world? Have I to give up all and\nfollow Christ?\u201d They linger and look back, and judgment will fall upon\nthem.\n\nWe are told in the Scriptures that the people were eating, drinking,\nbuying and selling, planning and building until the very moment Lot went\nout of Sodom. Perhaps not a man in all Sodom took any account of his\ngoing out. It might have got rumored around that he was going because he\nbelieved the city was about to be destroyed, but no man believed it. His\nsons and daughters did not believe what their father said to them, and\nthe Son of God says they were all destroyed--great and small, learned and\nunlearned, rich and poor. All alike perished.\n\nBear in mind that if you live in Sodom destruction will come upon you.\nThe world may call you successful, but the only way to test success is to\ntake a man\u2019s whole life--not the beginning nor middle, but the whole of\nit. If a man is in Sodom, he will find at last the fruits of his life to\nbe\n\n \u201cNothing but leaves--nothing but leaves.\u201d\n\nLot spent his life in gaining worldly goods for his children, and he lost\nall and his children besides.\n\nHow many men of the present day can only say they have the same object in\nview that Lot had. They went into the city to make money. They have built\nno family altar. They recognize only two things--money and business.\nThey say: \u201cMy sons may become gamblers and drunkards and my daughters\nmay go off into ungodly society and marry drunkards and make their lives\nmiserable; but I want money, and I will have all I wish if I get it.\u201d\n\nMy friends, was Lot\u2019s life a successful one? It was a stupendous failure.\nLet us not follow in the footsteps of this man Lot. Let us keep out of\nSodom.\n\n\nMARTHA.\n\nThere was a woman right in the midst of this darkness, when many\ndisciples left Him, who came forward and invited Him to her home--a woman\nby the name of Martha.\n\nI can imagine Martha coming from Bethany, one day, and going into the\nTemple, in Jerusalem, to worship. The great Galilean Prophet came in, Who\nspake as never man spake, and she listened to His words. And as the words\ncame from His lips they fell upon Martha\u2019s ears, and she says: \u201cWell, I\nwill invite Him to my house.\u201d\n\nIt must have cost her something to do that. Christ was unpopular.\nThere was a hiss going up in Jerusalem against Him. They called Him an\nimpostor. All the leading men of the nation were opposed to Him. They\nsaid He was Beelzebub, the Lord of filth. They charged that He was an\nimpostor and a deceiver. And yet Martha invites Him to her home. I hope\nthere will always be some Martha to invite Him to her home, to be her\nguest. He will make that home a thousand times better than it ever was\nbefore.\n\nMartha invited Him home with her. We read of His going often to Bethany.\nThe noblest, best and grandest thing Martha ever did was to make room in\nher home for Jesus Christ. That one act will live for ever. Little did\nshe know, when she invited the Son of God to become her guest, who He\nwas; and when we receive Jesus into our hearts little do we know who He\nis. It will take all eternity to find out who He is.\n\nThere was a dark cloud then over that home in Bethany, but Martha did\nnot know it. Neither did Mary see that cloud. It was fast settling down\nupon that home. It was soon going to burst upon that little family. The\nSavior knew all about it. He saw that dark cloud coming across that\nthreshold.\n\nWe read that Jesus often lodged there. But a few months after He became\ntheir friend and guest, Lazarus sickened. The fever laid hold of him. It\nmight have been typhoid fever.\n\nYou can see those two sisters watching over their brother. The family\nphysician is sent for to Jerusalem, and he comes out and does every\nthing he can to restore Lazarus to health; but he sinks lower and lower.\nSome of us know what it is when the doctor comes in and feels the pulse,\nbegins to look very serious and takes you into another room, away from\nthe patient, and tells you it is a critical case.\n\nMartha and Mary passed through that experience. There was no hope, and\nLazarus must die. They felt that if Jesus was only here He would rebuke\nthis disease. He might prevent death from taking away our only brother.\nThey sent a messenger a good ways off to tell Jesus His friend was sick,\nand this was the message:\n\n\u201cHe whom Thou lovest is sick.\u201d\n\nThey do not ask Him to come. They knew Jesus loved Lazarus, and that He\nwould come if it was for their good. The messenger at last returned.\nHe found Christ and delivered his message. When he got back, he found\nthat the cloud had burst upon that little home, and Lazarus was dead and\nburied.\n\nI see those two sisters as they gather around the messenger, eagerly\nplying him with questions. They asked: \u201cDid you find Him?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I found Him.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat did He say?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe said the sickness was not unto death, and He would come and see him.\u201d\n\nNow, for the first time, I see faith beginning to stagger. Mary asks the\nmessenger:\n\n\u201cAre you sure you understood Him? Did He say the sickness was not unto\ndeath?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you quite sure?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, that is strange. If He is a prophet He should have known that\nLazarus was dead. Sure Elijah would have known it. If He was a prophet,\nHe must have known it. You had not been away from the house an hour\nbefore Lazarus died. He was dead when you met Him.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, that is what He told me. He said He would come here and see him.\u201d\n\nI see those two sisters as they kept watching for that Friend to come and\ncomfort them. How long those nights must have seemed, as they watched and\nwaited! I can imagine they did not sleep through the night, but listened\nto hear a footfall. The next day they watched, and He did not come. The\nsecond night passed, and He did not come. The third day came, and He\ndid not come. The fourth day comes, and the messenger returns and says:\n\u201cMartha, Jesus and His apostles are just outside the walls of the city.\nHe is coming on toward Bethany.\u201d Martha runs out to meet Him, and says:\n\u201cIf Thou hadst been here my brother had not died. Thou wouldst have kept\ndeath away from our dwelling.\u201d\n\nJesus answered her: \u201cBut thy brother shall rise again.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I knew that,\u201d says Martha. \u201cI know Lazarus will rise again, for he\nwas such a good brother. He will rise at the resurrection of the just.\u201d\n\nJesus had probably taught them of the resurrection. He answered Martha:\n\u201cI am the resurrection of the just. I carry the keys with Me. I have the\nkeys to death and the grave.\u201d Then He asks: \u201cWhere is Mary? Go call her.\u201d\n\nThey ran and told Mary that Jesus was there. Mary met Jesus with the\nwords of Martha:\n\n\u201cIf Thou hadst been here my brother had not died.\u201d\n\n\u201cThy brother shall rise again. Where have you laid him?\u201d\n\n\u201cCome and see.\u201d\n\nAnd they led the way. Look at that company moving along toward the grave\nyard. These two sisters are telling about the last words and last acts\nof Lazarus. Perhaps Lazarus left a loving message for Jesus. You know\nwhat that is. When you go to see friends who are mourning, how they will\ndwell upon the last words and the last acts of the departed ones! You see\nMartha and Mary weeping as they went along toward the grave, and the Son\nof God wept with them.\n\nJesus said to His disciples: \u201cTake away the stone.\u201d\n\nAgain the faith of those sisters wavered, and they said: \u201cLord, by this\ntime he stinketh, for he has been dead four days.\u201d They did not know who\ntheir Friend was. When the disciples rolled away that stone Christ cried\nin a loud voice to His old friend:\n\n\u201cLazarus, come forth.\u201d\n\nThen Lazarus leaped out of that same sepulcher and came forth. Some old\ndivine has said it was a good thing that Jesus singled out Lazarus, for\nthere is such power in the voice of the Son of God that the dead shall\nhear His voice, and if He had not called for Lazarus by name all the dead\nin that grave yard would have come forth.\n\nLittle did Martha know whom she was entertaining when she invited Christ\ninto her home. The world has been sneering at Martha ever since. But it\nwas by far the grandest, sublimest and noblest act of her life.\n\n\nMEPHIBOSHETH.\n\nThere is a story in the Books of Samuel--away back as far as the time of\nthe kings of Israel--which will help us to understand the Gospel. It is\nabout a man of the name of Mephibosheth.\n\nYou remember what a hard time David had when Saul was hunting him to kill\nhim--just as men hunt for game.\n\nWell, one day David and his good friend, Jonathan, were taking a walk\ntogether in the fields. Saul was very angry, and was bent on killing\nDavid; but his son, Jonathan, was looking out for a chance to save him.\n\nThe fact had been revealed to Jonathan that David was to be king after\nSaul\u2019s death, instead of himself, but this did not lessen his love for\nDavid. That must have been a real friendship which could stand this sort\nof thing.\n\nAfter they had agreed upon a sign by which David was to know whether it\nwas safe for him to stay around the court of the king, where he could see\nhis friend once in a while, or whether he must leave, and go off into the\ncave of Adullam, Jonathan says to him:\n\n\u201cDavid, it has been revealed to me that you are to be king after my\nfather. Now, I want you to promise me one thing. When you come to the\nthrone, if any of the house of Saul are alive, I want you to be good to\nthem, for my sake.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will do that, of course,\u201d said David. So he made a solemn covenant to\nthat effect, and then he went away to the cave of Adullam, to get out of\nthe way of Saul, who was bound to kill him if he could.\n\nBut God took care of David. You never can kill or harm a man if God is\ntaking care of him.\n\nAbout four years after that, David heard that there had been a great\nbattle over by Mount Gilboa, and that the Philistines had beaten back the\nIsraelites with great slaughter, and that Saul and Jonathan were both\ndead. So he got his men together, and went out after the enemies of the\nLord and of Israel; and it was not a great while before he had turned the\ntables on them, and set up his kingdom at Hebron.\n\nIt must have been pretty near fourteen years after that before David\nremembered his promise to his old friend, Jonathan. It is a great deal\neasier to make promises than to keep them. How many broken vows has God\nwritten down against you?\n\nBut one day King David was walking in his palace at Jerusalem, where he\nhad removed his capital, and all at once he happened to think of that\npromise. It is a good thing God does not forget His promises that way.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s too bad,\u201d mused David. \u201cI had forgot all about that promise. I\nhave been so busy fighting these Philistines and fixing things up that I\nhave not had time to think of any thing else.\u201d\n\nSo he called his servants in great haste, and asked: \u201cDo any of you know\nwhether there is any of Saul\u2019s family living?\u201d\n\nOne of them said there was an old servant of Saul\u2019s by the name of Ziba,\nand maybe he could tell.\n\n\u201cGo and tell him I want him, right away.\u201d\n\nPretty soon Ziba appeared, and King David asked: \u201cDo you know whether\nthere is anybody of the house of Saul in my kingdom?\u201d\n\nZiba said there was one he knew of--a son of Jonathan, by the name of\nMephibosheth.\n\nJonathan! How that name must have smitten King David! One of the sons of\nhis old friend living in his kingdom for as much as fourteen years, and\nhe had never known it! What would Jonathan think of him for forgetting\nhis promise that way?\n\n\u201cGo, fetch him!\u201d says David. \u201cGo quickly. Tell him I want him. I want to\nshow him the kindness of God.\u201d\n\nNow, where do you suppose Mephibosheth was all this time? Why, he was\ndown at Lo-debar. Did you ever hear of that place? If you are a sailor,\ndid you ever come across that port? When you have traveled on the\nrailway, did any of you ever stop at that station?\n\nAh, yes! That is where the whole human race are until they come to Christ\nfor salvation--away down at Lo-debar, which means \u201ca place of no pasture.\u201d\n\nThe king is in haste to keep his promise now. I see them hurrying off.\nMaybe they take the king\u2019s own chariot, and rattle away to find this son\nof Jonathan.\n\nWhen they reached the little out-of-the-way place, I fancy there was a\ngreat commotion.\n\n\u201cWhere is Mephibosheth? The king wants him.\u201d\n\nPoor fellow! When he heard this announcement he hung his head. He was\nafraid the king wanted to kill him because he was of the house of Saul,\nhis old enemy.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid,\u201d said the servants. \u201cThe king says he wants to show\nyou the kindness of God. He is in a great hurry to see you, so get ready\nand jump right into the chariot. Don\u2019t you see the king has sent his own\nchariot to fetch you?\u201d\n\nIt did begin to look as if the king meant no harm to him.\n\nBut poor Mephibosheth had another difficulty. He was lame in both feet.\nHe was a little fellow when King David came to the throne, and an old\nservant, who was afraid that all the house of Saul would be killed, took\nhim up and ran away to hide him. Somehow he managed to drop the lad, and\nlamed him in both feet.\n\nAnd now I can see poor Mephibosheth looking down at his feet. Maybe his\ntoes turned in, or he was club-footed. And he says to himself: \u201cI am not\nfit to go to the king. I am a poor cripple. I am not fit to be seen among\nthe tall and handsome servants of the palace in Jerusalem.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind your lame feet, Mephibosheth; so long as the king sends for\nyou, it is all right.\u201d\n\nSo they take him up and put him in the chariot, and start for Jerusalem\non a run.\n\nAs soon as the king sees him he takes him in his arms and cries out:\n\n\u201cO Mephibosheth! The son of my dear old friend, Jonathan! You shall have\nall that ever belonged to the house of Saul, and you shall live with me\nhere, in the palace.\u201d\n\nSome people think that Mephibosheth, like certain low-spirited\nChristians, after he went to live with the king, must have been all the\ntime worrying over his lame feet. But I do not think so. He could not\nhelp it, and if David did not mind it, it was all right. So, I think that\nwhen he dined with David in state, with the great lords and ladies all\naround him, he just stuck his club feet under the table, and looked the\nking right in the face.\n\n\nMOSES.\n\nMoses was about to leave the children of Israel in the wilderness. He had\nled them up to the borders of the Promised Land. For forty long years he\nhad been leading them in that wilderness, and now, as they are about to\ngo over, Moses takes his farewell. He said a great many wise and good\nthings on that memorable occasion.\n\nThere was not a man on the face of the earth at that time who knew as\nmuch about the world and as much about God as did Moses. Therefore, he\nwas a good judge. He had tasted of the pleasures of the world. In the\nforty years that he was in Egypt he probably sampled every thing of that\nday. He tasted of the world--of its pleasures. He knew all about it. He\nwas brought up in the palace of a king, a prince. Egypt then ruled the\nworld, as it were.\n\nMoses had been forty years in Horeb, where he had heard the voice of\nGod--where he had been taught by God--and for forty years he had been\nserving God. You might say he was God\u2019s right hand man, leading those\nbondmen up out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage into\nthe land of liberty, and this is his dying address--you might say, his\nfarewell address. This is the dying testimony of one who could speak with\nauthority and one who could speak intelligently.\n\nIf you have not read that farewell address of Moses, you will find it\nin the last few verses of Deuteronomy. I advise you to read it. You are\nreading a great many printed sermons. Suppose you read that. Why, there\nis as much truth in that farewell address of Moses as there is in fifteen\nhundred printed sermons at the present time. Let me just give you a few\nverses:\n\n \u201cGive ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O Earth,\n the words of my mouth.\n\n \u201cMy doctrine shall drop as the rain; my speech shall distill\n as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the\n showers upon the grass.\n\n \u201cBecause I will publish the name of the Lord. Ascribe ye\n greatness unto our God.\n\n \u201cHe is the Rock; His work is perfect. For all His ways are\n judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right\n is He.\n\n \u201cThey have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of\n His children. They are a perverse and crooked generation.\n\n \u201cDo ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is\n not He thy Father that hath bought thee? Hath He not made thee\n and established thee?\n\n \u201cRemember the days of old; consider the years of many\n generations. Ask thy Father, and He will show thee; thy elders,\n and they will tell thee.\n\n \u201cWhen the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,\n when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the\n people according to the number of the children of Israel.\n\n \u201cFor the Lord\u2019s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His\n inheritance.\n\n \u201cHe found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling\n wilderness. He led him about; He instructed him; He kept him as\n the apple of His eye.\u201d\n\nThere are two or three sermons in that last verse.\n\n \u201cAs an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,\n spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her\n wings, so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange\n god with him.\n\n \u201cHe made him ride on the high places of the Earth, that he\n might eat the increase of the fields; and He made him to suck\n honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.\u201d\n\nAnd so Moses went on and finished his sermon, and God called him off into\nthe mountain. He went up into Mount Nebo, and there God showed him, from\nthe top of Pisgah, that land which he could not possess; showed him the\nland from Dan to Beersheba.\n\nThen \u201cGod kissed away his soul and buried him.\u201d\n\n\nNAAMAN.\n\nNaaman was a successful, valiant and noble man. But he was a leper--and\nthat spoiled him.\n\nWhat a blight that must have cast on his path! It must have haunted him\nday and night.\n\nHe was a leper, and there was no physician in Syria who could help him.\nIt was an incurable disease, and I suppose he thought he would have to go\ndown to the grave with that loathsome ailment.\n\nWe read that several companies had gone down to the land of Israel and\nbrought back to Syria some poor captives. Among them was a little girl,\nwho was sent to wait on Naaman\u2019s wife. I can imagine that little maid had\na praying mother, who had taught her to love the Lord, and when she got\ndown there she was not ashamed to own her religion. She was not ashamed\nto acknowledge her Lord.\n\nOne day, while waiting on her mistress, I can think of her saying: \u201cWould\nto God your husband was in Samaria. There is a prophet in that country\nwho would cure him.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! A man in Israel who can cure my husband? Child, you must be\ndreaming. Did you ever hear of a man being cured of leprosy?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo. But that is nothing. Why, the prophet in Samaria has cured many\npersons worse than your husband.\u201d\n\nAnd perhaps she told her about the poor woman who had such an increase\nof oil, and how her two boys were saved from slavery by the prophet,\nand also how he had raised the child of that poor woman from the dead,\nadding: \u201cIf the prophet can raise anybody from the dead he can cure your\nhusband.\u201d\n\nThis girl must have had something about her to make those people listen\nto her. She must have shown her religion in her life. Her life must have\nbeen consistent with her religion to make them believe her.\n\nWe read that Naaman had faith in her word, and he went to the king and\ntold him what he intended to do. And the king said: \u201cI will tell you what\nI will do. I will give you a letter to the king of Israel. Of course, if\nany cure is to be effected, the king will know how to obtain it.\u201d\n\nLike many men nowadays, they believed, if a thing was to be got, it was\nto be got from the king, and not from his subjects. So you see this man\nstarting out to the king of Israel with all his letters and a very long\npurse. I can not find, just now, how much it was, but it must have been\nsomething like $500,000. The sum was a very large one, likely. He was\ngoing to be liberal. He was not going to be small.\n\nWell, he got all his money and letters together and started. There was no\nsmall stir as Naaman swept through the gates of Syria that day with his\nescort. He reaches Samaria, and sends a messenger to the king, announcing\nhis arrival. The messenger delivers the letter to the king, and the first\nthing he does is to open the letter and begin to read it.\n\nI can see his brow knit as he goes on.\n\n\u201cWhat is this? What does it mean? This man means war. This Assyrian king\nmeans to have a war with me. Who ever heard of such a thing as a man\ncured of leprosy?\u201d\n\nAnd the king rent his mantle.\n\nEvery one knew something was wrong when the king rent his mantle, and the\nnews spread through the streets that they were on the eve of a war. The\nair was filled with rumors of war; everybody was talking about it. No\ndoubt the news had gone abroad that the great general of Assyria was in\nthe city, and he was the cause of the rumors, and by-and-by it reached\nthe prophet Elisha that the king had rent his mantle, and he wanted to\nknow the cause. When he had heard what it was he just told the king to\nsend Naaman to him.\n\nNow you see the major-general riding up in grand style to the prophet\u2019s\nhouse. He probably lived in a small and obscure dwelling. Perhaps Naaman\nthought he was doing Elisha a great favor by calling on him. He had an\nidea that he was honoring this man, who had no influence or position.\nSo he rides up. A messenger is sent in to announce Major-General Naaman\nof Damascus. But the prophet does not even see him. He just tells the\nservant to say to his master:\n\n\u201cGo and wash in Jordan seven times.\u201d\n\nWhen the messenger comes to Naaman and tells him this, he is as mad as\nany thing. He considers it a reflection upon him--as if he had not kept\nhis person clean.\n\n\u201cDoes the man mean to insinuate that I have not kept my body clean? Can\u2019t\nI wash myself in the waters of Damascus? We have much better water than\nthey have here. Why, if we had the Jordan in Syria we certainly would\nlook upon it as a ditch. The idea--wash in that contemptible river!\u201d\n\nNaaman was as full of rage as he well could be, but suddenly he said:\n\u201cBehold, I thought.\u201d\n\nThat is the way with sinners; they always say they thought. In this\nexpression we can see that Naaman had thought of some plan, and had\nmarked out a way for the Lord to heal him.\n\nKeep this in mind: \u201cMy ways are not your ways, nor my thoughts your\nthoughts.\u201d If you look for the Lord to come in one direction, He\nwill come in another direction. \u201cMy ways are not your ways,\u201d thought\nthe leper. No man gets into the kingdom of God until he gives up his\nthoughts. God never saves a man until he gives up his own thoughts and\ntakes up God\u2019s.\n\nYes, Naaman thought the moment the prophet knew he was outside he would\ncome out and bow and scrape, and say he was glad to see such a great\nand honorable man from Syria. Instead of that, he merely sent him the\nperemptory prescription: \u201cGo wash in Jordan seven times.\u201d\n\nWhen we were in Glasgow we had an employer converted, and he wanted to\nget a man in his employ to come to our meetings, but he would not come.\nIf he was going to be converted, he would not be converted by those\nmeetings. You know, when a Scotchman gets an idea into his head he is the\nmost stubborn man you can find. He was determined not to be converted by\nMoody and Sankey. The employer argued and pleaded with this man, but he\ncould not get him to come to the meetings then being held.\n\nWell, we left Glasgow, and got away up to the north of Scotland--in\nInverness--and the employer sent his stubborn friend up there on\nbusiness, thinking he might be induced to go into the meetings. One night\nwe were singing \u201cOn the Banks of That Beautiful River,\u201d and he happened\nto be passing. He wondered where the sweet sounds were coming from. He\ncame into the meeting, and I happened to be preaching that evening on the\nvery text: \u201cI Thought.\u201d\n\nThe stubborn man from Glasgow listened attentively, and soon did not know\nexactly where he was. He was convicted--he was converted--and he became a\nChristian. Verily, a man must yield his own way to the way of the Lord.\n\nNow, you can see all along that Naaman\u2019s thoughts were altogether\ndifferent from those of God. He was going to get the grace of God by\nshowing favors--just as many men now believe they can buy their way into\nthe kingdom of God. But we can not purchase the favor of Heaven with\nmoney. If you get a seat in Heaven, you must accept salvation as a gift.\n\nNaaman had another thought. He believed he could get what he wanted by\ntaking letters to the king--not to the prophet. The little maid told him\nof the prophet, yet he was going to pass the prophet by. He was too proud\nto go to the prophet. But pride, if you will allow me the expression, got\na knock on the head on this important occasion.\n\nIt was a terrible thing for him to think of obeying by going down to the\nJordan and dipping seven times. He had got better rivers in Damascus,\nin his own wisdom, and he queries: \u201cCan\u2019t I wash there, and be clean?\u201d\nNaaman was angry, but when he got over it he listened to his servants.\n\nI would rather see people get angry than see them go to sleep. I would\nrather see a man get as angry as possible at any utterance of mine than\nto see I had sent him to sleep. When a man is asleep there is no chance\nof reaching him, but if he is angry we may get at him. It is a good thing\nfor a man to get angry sometimes, for when he cools off he generally\nlistens to reason.\n\nSo Naaman\u2019s servant came to him and said: \u201cSuppose Elisha had bid thee do\nsome great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?\u201d\n\nProbably, had Elisha told Naaman to take cod liver oil for ten years, he\nwould have willingly done it. If he had told Naaman he wanted as much\nmoney as the leper brought along, that would have been all right. But the\nidea of literally doing nothing--just to go down into Jordan and wash\nhimself! It was so far below his calculations that he thought he was\nbeing imposed upon by some charlatan.\n\nBut Naaman\u2019s sensible servant said to him: \u201cIf the prophet had bid thee\ndo some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? Hadn\u2019t you just\nbetter go down and wash in Jordan?\u201d\n\nPossibly, Naaman answered: \u201cIf I go down into Jordan and am not cured,\nwhat will my enemies say of me when I get back to Damascus?\u201d\n\nBut he was influenced by the servant, and he went. That was one good\npoint in Naaman\u2019s character--he was influenced by an humble messenger.\nA good many people will not accept a messenger unless he is refined and\ncultured and educated. But it is the message you want--not the messenger.\nIt would be the message I would want. And so it was with Naaman.\n\nShe was a little Hebrew girl who first told him to go to Samaria, and now\nhe was told to wash by his servant. So Naaman goes down and dips into the\nwaters. The first time he rose he said: \u201cI would just like to see how\nmuch my leprosy has gone.\u201d He looks, but not a bit has left him. \u201cWell, I\nam not going to get rid of my leprosy in this way; this is absurd.\u201d\n\nBut the servant persisted. \u201cDo just as the man of God tells you; obey\nhim.\u201d\n\nAnd this is just what we are told to do in the Scriptures--to obey Him.\nThe first thing we have to learn is obedience. Disobedience was the pit\nAdam fell into, and we must get out of it by obedience.\n\nWell, Naaman goes into the water a second time. If some Chicago\nChristians had been there, they would certainly have asked, sneeringly:\n\u201cWell, how do you feel now?\u201d\n\nHe did not see that he was any better, and down he went a third time; but\nwhen he looked himself over, he saw just as much leprosy as ever. Down he\ngoes a fourth, fifth and sixth time. He again looks at himself, but not a\nspeck of leprosy is removed.\n\nNaaman now chides his servant. \u201cI told you so! Look at me! I am just the\nsame as ever.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d says the servant, \u201cyou must do just what the man of God tells you\nto do--go down seven times.\u201d\n\nNaaman takes the seventh plunge, and comes out. He looks at himself.\nBehold, his flesh is as that of a little child. He says to his servant:\n\n\u201cWhy, I never felt as good as I do today. I feel better than if I had won\na great battle. Look! I am cleansed! Oh, what a great day this is for me!\nThe leprosy has gone.\u201d\n\nThe waters to him had been as death and judgment, and he had come out\nresurrected--his flesh as that of a little child. I suppose Naaman got\ninto his chariot, and away he went to the man of God. He had lost his\ntemper; he had lost his pride; he had lost his leprosy.\n\nThat is the way now. If a man will only lose his pride, he will soon see\nhis leprosy disappear; leprosy will go away with pride. I believe the\ngreatest enemies of men in this world are unbelief and pride.\n\nNaaman drives back to the man of God, and takes his gold and silver.\nHe offers him money. \u201cI do not want your money,\u201d replies the prophet.\nIf Elisha had taken money, it would have spoiled the beautiful story.\nNaaman had to take back every thing he brought from Damascus except his\nleprosy.\n\n\nPETER.\n\nThe first glimpse that we catch of Peter is when Andrew brought him to\nthe Savior. That is John\u2019s account. That is when he became a disciple;\nbut he did not leave every thing then and follow Christ. He waited until\nhe got another call.\n\nI think we all can learn a lesson right here--that it is not every one\nwho is called to be a disciple of Jesus that is called to leave his\noccupation and become His follower entirely. I believe there are many\nself-made preachers--man-made preachers--and this is the reason why so\nmany fail. No man who was called by God has ever failed, or has ever\nbroken down in the ministry; but when a man runs before he is sent, I\nbelieve he will fail.\n\nNow, we are called to be His disciples--all called to follow Him--but\nwe are not all called on to give up our occupations and devote all our\ntime to the ministry. I have men come to me constantly who say they have\nbeen raised up, and want to give up their business and their worldly\noccupation and go into the work of the Lord entirely; but I never advise\na man to go into the ministry. I think I never advised a man to give up\nhis occupation, and to go out into the vineyard of the Lord and go to\nwork. It is too high a calling, it seems to me, for men to be influencing\none another to go into it. If a man will only wait until God calls\nhim--be sure that God sends him--then success will crown his efforts.\n\nNow, we find, in the fifth chapter of Luke, and also in the fourth\nchapter of Matthew, where Peter got his calling. He was out with his\npartners and others, fishing, when Jesus came along and told them to cast\ntheir net, or to launch out into the deep and cast their net into the sea.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d says Peter, \u201cwe have toiled all night and caught nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cNevertheless,\u201d commanded Jesus, \u201clet down your nets.\u201d\n\nAt the word of God they did so, and were successful, and when they got\nashore they found Jesus had called them to be His disciples. Just open\nyour Bible at the fifth chapter of Luke:\n\n\u201cAnd it came to pass that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear the\nword of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships\nstanding by the lake; but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were\nwashing their nets.\n\n\u201cAnd He entered into one of the ships, which was Simon\u2019s, and prayed him\nthat he would thrust out a little from the land. And He sat down, and\ntaught the people out of the ship.\n\n\u201cNow, when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon: \u2018Launch out into the\ndeep, and let down your nets for a draught.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd Simon, answering, said unto Him: \u2018Master, we have toiled all the\nnight, and have taken nothing; nevertheless, at Thy word I will let down\nthe net.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd when they had done this, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes,\nand their net broke.\n\n\u201cAnd they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship,\nthat they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the\nships, so that they began to sink.\n\n\u201cWhen Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus\u2019 knees, saying: \u2018Depart\nfrom me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.\u2019\n\n\u201cFor he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the\nfishes which they had taken.\n\n\u201cAnd so, also, were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were\npartners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon: \u2018Fear not. Henceforth\nthou shalt catch men.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and\nfollowed Him.\u201d\n\nYou see, it says Christ just said to them: \u201cFollow me, and I will make\nyou fishers of men.\u201d And no one was more successful in the world, in\ncatching men, than Peter. And if you will just follow the Lord and\nbelieve in Him, He will make you fishers of men. Now, some may wonder why\nit was that God did not call them when they had their nets empty. Why did\nthe Lord just give them a draught of fish and then tell them to leave it?\n\nNow, it seems to me that He did so because He wanted them to leave\nsomething. There are a good many of us willing to be disciples of the\nLord if it does not cost any thing. If they can just swing their bag\nacross their back with the fish in it and follow Jesus, then they are\nwilling to follow Him, and to be His disciples. So Jesus wanted them to\ngive up something. They might have said:\n\n\u201cWe have been fishing a great while in the lake, business is pretty poor,\nand we might as well give up the business and go into this.\u201d\n\nBut no! The Lord did not call them until after they attained success.\nNow, after they scored a business success, He put the test to these men\nwhether they were willing to give up their nets and follow Him.\n\nSometime after that, Peter says: \u201cWe have left every thing to follow\nThee.\u201d What did Peter leave? Why, a few old broken nets! And it is just\nso now. People leave a few old broken nets, and then say to the Lord: \u201cWe\nhave left every thing to follow Thee.\u201d\n\nThe next glimpse we catch of Peter is when he takes on the character\nof a doubter. You will find, if you read it over, that it is our own\nexperience right over again. Peter got to doubting.\n\nIn the fourteenth chapter of Matthew, beginning at the twenty-second\nverse, you will find these words:\n\n\u201cAnd straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and\nto go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.\n\n\u201cAnd when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain\napart to pray; and when the evening was come He was there alone.\n\n\u201cBut the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves; for the\nwind was contrary.\n\n\u201cAnd in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on\nthe sea.\n\n\u201cAnd when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled,\nsaying: \u2018It is a spirit.\u2019 And they cried out for fear.\n\n\u201cBut straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying: \u2018Be of good cheer; it is\nI; be not afraid.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd Peter answered Him and said: \u2018Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto\nThee on the water.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd He said: \u2018Come.\u2019 And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he\nwalked on the water to go to Jesus.\u201d\n\nNow, that took faith. The idea of his just letting go the boat, and\nstepping down into the water! Why, that required faith. And there are a\ngreat many men today willing to become Christians if they can only just\nsee how they are going to walk. They want to walk by sight. They do not\nwant to walk by faith. It took faith for Peter to let go of the boat and\ntake the first step on the water, but the Lord had bid him to do it, and\nhe just did it; but after he began to sink he began to doubt, and called\non the Lord to save him.\n\n\u201cBut when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to\nsink, he cried, saying: \u2018Lord, save me.\u2019\u201d\n\nSee! He began to sink when he took his eyes off his Master. Peter did not\ntrust in Him. He did not have perfect faith.\n\nNow, the Lord says in Isaiah, twenty-sixth chapter and third verse:\n\n\u201cThou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee,\nbecause he trusteth in Thee.\u201d\n\nPeter did not have perfect faith, because his mind was not stayed on\nChrist; he did not trust in Him. If Peter had trusted in the Lord he\nwould not have sunk. The ship was in the midst of the sea; the wind was\nblowing quite a gale, and the waves were rolling high, and Peter began to\ntremble and doubt, and down he went. And a good many Christians follow\nhis example. When it gets dark, when the wind begins to blow, and when\nthe water rolls high about them, they begin to doubt--and down they go.\n\nSome one says if Peter had as long a preamble to his prayer as most\npeople, he would have been forty feet under water before he got through\npraying for what he wanted. Now, just read a little farther:\n\n\u201cAnd immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said\nunto him: \u2018O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?\u2019\u201d\n\nBut I want to pass rapidly over this portion of the Word of God, and get\nat something which, perhaps, may be of more help to us than any thing\nhere. In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, twenty-fourth verse, we find\nthat Peter was willing to confess Christ as the Son of the living God.\nMany men want to be disciples of Christ, but they are not willing to\nconfess Him.\n\n\u201cThen said Jesus unto His disciples: \u2018If any man will come after Me, let\nhim deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.\u201d\n\nTo go home and tell your friends that you want to be a disciple of the\nLord Jesus Christ requires much moral courage. But it required more then\nthan it does now, for the Jews said any man who should confess Christ\nshould be cast out of the synagogue.\n\n\u201cWhen Jesus came into the coasts of C\u00e6sarea Philippi, He asked His\ndisciples, saying: \u2018Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd they said: \u2018Some say that Thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias;\nand others, Jeremias or one of the prophets.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe saith unto them: \u2018But whom say ye that I am?\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd Peter--he generally spoke first--speaks out and says:\n\n\u201c\u2018Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd Jesus answered and said unto him: \u2018Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona;\nfor flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which\nis in Heaven.\u2019\u201d\n\nSee! Jesus blessed Peter right there, and I have yet to find the first\nman and the first woman who are willing to confess Christ who will not\nsay that God has blessed their souls after they have confessed Him.\n\nNow, let me call your attention to another scene in the life of Peter.\nHe got to be a sort of a--well, I may say a sort of \u201chigh church\u201d man.\nHe belonged to the \u201chigh church.\u201d He was a sort of Ritualist. He had got\nthis idea that Christ was the same as any other saint; that He was to be\nput on a level with some of the rest of the saints. He did not make any\ndistinction.\n\nIn the ninth chapter of Luke we find that Jesus took His disciples and\nwent up into a mountain to pray. We begin at the twenty-eighth verse:\n\n\u201cAnd it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took Peter\nand John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.\n\n\u201cAnd as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His\nraiment was white and glistering.\n\n\u201cAnd, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias.\n\n\u201cWho appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should\naccomplish at Jerusalem.\n\n\u201cBut Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep; and when\nthey were awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him.\n\n\u201cAnd it came to pass, as they departed from Him, Peter said unto\nJesus: \u2018Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three\ntabernacles--one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias\u2019--not\nknowing what he said.\u201d\n\nPeter wanted to put Jesus on a level with Moses and Elias. To be sure,\nMoses was a mighty man. He went into the mountain and took the law from\nthe Lord God of Heaven, and Elias was a representative of the prophets\nand a mighty man; but when Peter wanted to put them on a level with the\nGod-man--with Jesus--what took place? Why, there came a cloud which\nover-shadowed them. God caught them right away. God would not have them\nplacing Moses and Elias on a level with His Son. He is above the angels\nof Heaven; and we find over here, in the last chapter of the Bible,\nand in almost the last verse in it, that John was guilty of the same\nthing--of worshiping angels. It says over here, in the twenty-second\nchapter and eighth verse of Revelations:\n\n\u201cAnd I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and\nseen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed\nme these things.\n\n\u201cThen saith he unto me: \u2018See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow servant,\nand of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of\nthis book. Worship God.\u2019\u201d\n\nNow, if Jesus was not the God-man--if He was not God in the flesh--then\nyou and I are guilty of idolatry; we are breaking the first command:\n\u201cThou shalt have no other God before Me.\u201d\n\nBut when Jesus came down here, He said: \u201cCome unto Me, all ye that are\nweary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\u201d And He never rebuked\nany one for worshiping Him. But John fell down and worshiped that angel,\nand the angel refused to let him; and when Peter wanted to put Elias and\nMoses on a level with Christ, God the Father spoke and said: \u201cThis is my\nbeloved Son. Hear ye Him.\u201d\n\nNo matter about Elias now. No matter about Moses now. Hear Jesus. He is\nthe one that God wants all of us here to worship.\n\nNow, some one says we can not know, down here, whether we are safe or\nnot. Well, we have an assurance right here:\n\n\u201cThen Simon Peter answered Him: \u2018Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the\nwords of eternal life.\n\n\u201c\u2018And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the\nliving God.\u2019\u201d\n\nI will now call your attention to Peters faults. If you will just turn\nover here into the twenty-second chapter of Luke, you will find there a\nfault. Begin at the thirty-third verse of the twenty-second chapter of\nLuke, and you will find the following:\n\n\u201cAnd he said unto him: \u2018Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into\nprison and to death.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd He said: \u2018I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow, this day,\nbefore that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd He said unto them: \u2018When I sent you without purse and scrip and\nshoes, lacked ye any thing?\u2019 And they said: \u2018Nothing.\u2019\u201d\n\nNow, here we find Peter\u2019s fault of self-confidence. That was really his\nbesetting sin, and when the Lord told him that the cock should not crow\ntwice before he had denied Him thrice, he ought to have believed the\nwords of Christ and cried for help; but no, he was very self-confident.\n\u201cWhy,\u201d says he, \u201cif the rest of the disciples deny You, I will not deny\nYou.\u201d\n\nPeter not only declared he would not deny Jesus, but he even tried to\nmake the other disciples worse by comparison. If you meet a man full of\nconceit and self-confidence, you may look for that man\u2019s downfall.\n\nMen who have stood the highest, in Scripture, have often fallen on their\nstrongest point.\n\nMoses was noted for his humility. Right there he fell. He got angry\ninstead of being humble, and fell through lack of humility.\n\nElijah was noted for his boldness. Right there he fell. Why, he stood on\nMount Carmel and defied the whole nation. He stood there alone. He seemed\nto be the boldest man in the whole nation. But after a while he got\nword that Jezebel was going to take his life, and then he lost all his\nboldness and got scared at the threat of a woman.\n\nThere was Samson, who was noted for his strength. He lost his hair,\nwherein his strength consisted, but he recovered it. They cut off his\nhair, but they did not remove the roots, and it grew out again.\n\nAbraham was noted for his faith. But he got into Egypt, and denied his\nwife.\n\nThere was only one time, I am told, that Edinburgh Castle was ever taken\nby the enemy, and that was done by climbing on the back rocks. The rocks\nwere so steep the besieged did not believe the enemy could get in that\nway, but that was just where they got in.\n\nI used to think when I had been a Christian ten or twelve years I should\nbe so strong that there would be no danger of my ever being tempted, but\nI find that I was blind. I have more temptations now than I ever had\nbefore, and it takes twenty times as much grace to keep me now as at\nfirst. Let every man take heed, lest he fall. We can not tell how quickly\nwe may fall if we are not kept by the grace of God.\n\nPeter had to learn this lesson before he went out to preach to others.\nHe was kept by the grace of God, if he could not keep himself. Well, I\nhave got right here two faults of the apostle. When the Lord told him he\nshould deny Him thrice, he ought to have trembled and cried: \u201cLord, keep\nme from denying Thee!\u201d But, no! He said: \u201cLord, I am not going to deny\nYou, if the rest do.\u201d Just see where he stands. He stands on a slippery\nplace, and it will not be long before he will be down. Self-confidence\nleads many men to their fall.\n\nWe must keep very humble and keep our eyes on the Master, and see that\nwe do not go to sleep. If we do get asleep, then it won\u2019t be long before\nwe deny Him. And so we find that when Christ was down in the garden,\nsweating great drops of blood, He knew He was hastening to death on the\ncross.\n\nPeter went to sleep. And when Jesus came back He said: \u201cWhy sleep ye?\nRise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.\u201d Peter had been with the\nLord three years, but he had to sleep.\n\nThe next that happens, for that second step down, we find that Peter\nfights in the flesh. When they came to arrest Christ, Peter took out his\nsword and cut off the servant\u2019s ear. That servant was the only person who\nhad suffered through the followers of Christ up to that time. Peter cut\nthe ear off, but it did not stay off long, for it got back in just about\nfive minutes.\n\nJesus cried out: \u201cPeter, put up your sword. If I wanted to defend Myself,\nI could call seventy thousand angels down; I could call legions of angels\ndown; I could defend Myself if I wanted to.\u201d But, no; He did not do that.\nHe had to rebuke Peter, to put a thorn in his flesh.\n\nThe next thing Peter did was to follow Jesus afar off; that is the next\nstep. When a man gets away from the Savior, then it won\u2019t be long before\nhe follows Him afar off. You know Peter said, at first, he would keep\nclose to Him. \u201cI will stand by You; I am willing to die with You,\u201d he had\nsaid. But now Peter changed his mind, and he followed Jesus afar off.\n\nWell, the next thing, we find that Peter is in bad company. That is\nanother step down. He had got, by this time, down pretty low.\n\nA young lady comes in, looks at Peter, and says: \u201cThis man is one of His\ndisciples.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I am not; no, not I,\u201d says Peter.\n\nThe maid cries out at him in perfect amazement--for perhaps she had heard\nhim preach some time--and she says: \u201cYou _are_ one of His disciples.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no; no, not I.\u201d\n\nHe did not know Jesus, who was right there inside, where he could see\nhim; and yet this man, who was so bold, did not know Him.\n\nAnother man comes to Peter and says: \u201cYou are one of His disciples.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Sir--not I. I don\u2019t know Him--no Sir.\u201d You see, he had got a good\nways off.\n\nThe man says: \u201cYou are.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; I am not.\u201d\n\nAbout an hour after Peter has denied Him, another man came around and\nsaid: \u201cYou are one of His disciples.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; I am not.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, but you are. Your speech betrays you.\u201d\n\nPeter had been with the Master three years, and he talked a different\nlanguage from those men; and you who have been with God two or three\nyears know that you talk better than you did before.\n\nThis man said: \u201cYou are one of those.\u201d And Peter began to curse and\nswear, and said he never knew Him.\n\nHow did the Lord call him back? Although Satan had been at work on him\nfor hours and hours, yet the Lord did call him back. The Lord asked him:\n\u201cPeter, is it true that you have forgotten Me so soon? Do you remember,\nwhen we walked together by the sea, how I saved you? Do you remember the\ntime I called you again? Do you remember the wonderful sermon that I\npreached on the mount? Is it true, Peter, that you do not know me?\u201d\n\nHe might have said these things to Peter, but He did not. He just gave\nhim one look--and what a look that was! It was a look of love, a look of\ntenderness, a look of pity, a look of peace.\n\nHe flashed upon Peter.\n\nPeter remembered what he had done to the Lord. Then the cock crew,\nand Peter went out and wept bitterly. No one on Earth knows how Peter\nsuffered in those hours that Christ was laid in the tomb. What hours they\nmust have been to him! I can imagine that he did not eat any thing; that\nhe did not sleep; that he spent those hours praying that the Lord might\nbe given back to him.\n\nAt last Sunday morning comes--that blessed morning--and the first thing\nPeter hears is that Christ has risen. And He sent word to Peter--one of\nthe most touching things He did. Just let me read from the sixteenth\nchapter of Mark and the seventh verse:\n\n\u201cBut go your way, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you\ninto Galilee; there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you.\u201d\n\nOh, how tender! I don\u2019t know but if He had said \u201cGo back and tell My\ndisciples,\u201d Peter would have said: \u201cI am no disciple; I have forfeited\nmy right as such.\u201d But Jesus said: \u201cTell My disciples and Peter.\u201d Tell\nPeter; put his name in; don\u2019t leave him out.\n\nWe are told that Christ had an interview with Peter, and they met alone.\nNo one ever told us what took place, but I can imagine how Peter felt.\nLike the woman that we read about in the seventh chapter of Matthew, He\nrestored him to salvation and then sent him out to preach.\n\nBut when the twelve were at meat together the Lord turned to Peter and\nasked: \u201cLovest thou Me more than these?\u201d\n\nHow those words must have cut down into Peter\u2019s heart! Jesus wanted to\nsee whether his conceit had been taken out. That was hard, you know. He\ncould not get any thing out of Peter. Peter did not say a word. Again the\nLord asked: \u201cPeter, lovest thou Me more than these?\u201d\n\nHe was a broken and empty vessel, and must be filled.\n\nThen Jesus gave Peter his commission: \u201cGo, feed my sheep; preach the\nGospel to all the world.\u201d\n\nThis is a sweet thought, that after Peter had denied the Lord, He took\nhim back and used him!\n\n\nSAUL.\n\nI have been speaking on the Prodigal Son, but now I want to take up\nanother man--a much harder case than the prodigal, because he did not\nbelieve he needed a Savior.\n\nYou need not have talked a great while to that prodigal before you\ncould have convinced him that he needed a Savior. It is easy to reach a\nprodigal\u2019s heart when he reaches the end of his rope.\n\nThe man of whom I shall now speak stood high in the estimation of the\npeople. He stood, as it were, at the top of the ladder, while the\nprodigal was at the bottom. This man was full of self-righteousness, and\nif you had tried to pick out a man in Jerusalem as a hopeless case, so\nfar as accepting Jesus of Nazareth as a Savior, you would have picked out\nSaul. He was the most utterly hopeless case you could have found.\n\nI would sooner have thought of the conversion of Pilate than of this man.\nWhen they were putting to death the martyrs to the cross he had cheered\non the murderers; but, in spite of all this, we find the Son of God\ncoming and knocking at his heart, and it was not long before he received\nHim as his Savior.\n\nYou can see Saul as he goes to the chief priests of Jerusalem, getting\nthe necessary documents that he might go to Damascus--that he might go\nto the synagogue there and get all who were calling upon the Lord Jesus\nChrist cast into prison. He was going to stamp out the teachers of the\nNew Gospel.\n\nOne thing that made him so mad, probably, was that when the disciples\nwere turned out of Jerusalem, instead of stopping they went all around\nand preached.\n\nPhilip went down to Samaria, and probably there was a great revival\nthere, and the news had come from Damascus that the preachers had\nactually reached that place.\n\nThis man Saul was full of zeal and full of religion. He was a religious\nman, and no doubt he could say a prayer as long as any one in Jerusalem.\nHe had kept the laws faithfully, and been an honest and upright man. The\npeople then would never have dreamed of him being in need of a Savior.\nMany persons today would say of Saul: \u201cHe is good enough. To be sure, he\ndoes not believe in Jesus Christ; but he is a good man.\u201d\n\nAnd there are many people today who do not believe in Him. They feel\nif they pay their debts and live a moral life they do not need to be\nconverted. They do not want to call upon Him; they want to get Jesus and\nall His teachings out of the way, as Saul wanted to do. That is what they\nhave been trying to do for eighteen centuries. Saul just wanted to stamp\nthem out at one swoop. So he got the necessary papers, and away he went\ndown to Damascus.\n\nSuppose, as he rode out of the gate of Jerusalem on his mission, any\none had said to Saul: \u201cYou are going down to Damascus to prosecute the\npreachers of Christ, but you will come back a preacher yourself.\u201d If any\nman had said this, his head would not have remained on his shoulders five\nminutes. Saul would have protested: \u201cI hate Him--I abhor Him. That is how\nI feel.\u201d\n\nYes, Saul wanted to get Christ and His disciples out of the way. He was\nno stranger to Christ. He knew His working, for, as Paul said to Agrippa:\n\u201cThis thing was not done in a corner.\u201d He knew all about Christ\u2019s\ndeath. Probably he was acquainted with Nicodemus and the members of\nthe Sanhedrim who were against Christ. Perhaps he was acquainted with\nChrist\u2019s disciples, and with all their good deeds. Yet he entertained a\nmalignant hatred for the Gospel and its propagandists, and he was going\ndown to Damascus to put all those Christians in prison.\n\nYou see Saul as he rides out of Jerusalem with that brilliant escort,\nand away he goes through Samaria, where Philip was. He would not speak\nto a Samaritan, however. The Jews detested the Samaritans. The idea of\nspeaking to an adulterous Samaritan would have been repulsive to Saul. So\nhe rode on, proudly, through the nation, with his head raised, breathing\nslaughter to the children of God.\n\nDamascus was about 138 miles from Jerusalem, but we are not told how long\nhe took for that journey.\n\nLittle did Saul think that, nineteen hundred years after, in this\ncountry, then wild, there would be thousands of people gathered just to\nhear the story of his journey down to Damascus.\n\nHe has arrived at the gates of the city, and is not yet cooled off, as\nwe say. He is still breathing revenge. See him as he stands before that\nbeautiful city.\n\nSome one has said Damascus is the most beautiful city in the world, and\nwe are told that when Mohammed came to it he turned his head away from\nit, lest the very beauty of it would take him from his God.\n\nSo this young man comes to Damascus, and he tells the hour of his\narrival. He never forgets the hour, for it was then that Christ met him.\nHe says: \u201cI saw in the way a light from Heaven above the brightness of\nthe sun.\u201d He saw the light of Heaven, and a glimpse of that light struck\nhim to the ground. From that light a voice called: \u201cSaul! Saul!\u201d Yes, the\nSon of God knows his name. Sinner, God knows your name. He knows all\nabout you. He knows the street you live in and the number of your house,\nbecause He told where Ananias lived when Paul went there.\n\n\u201cSaul! Saul! Why persecutest thou Me?\u201d\n\nHow these words must have gone down into his soul! He stopped. The words\nwere to him. Could Saul give any reason when the question was put to him:\n\u201cWhy persecutest thou Me?\u201d Can any sinner give a reason for persecuting\nChrist?\n\nI can imagine some of you saying: \u201cI never persecute Christ. I have a\ngreat many sins. I swear often--sometimes drink; but I always speak\nrespectfully of Christ.\u201d Do you? Do you never speak disrespectfully of\nHis disciples and God\u2019s children?\n\nWhen Christ asked Saul that question He might have added: \u201cI lived on\nEarth thirty years, and I never did you any hurt or injury; I never even\ninjured your friends. I came into the world to bless you. Why persecutest\nthou Me?\u201d\n\nWhen this question was put to Saul He supplemented it by saying: \u201cIt is\nhard for thee to kick against the pricks.\u201d You and I would not have had\nany compassion upon Saul if we had been in Christ\u2019s place. We would have\nsaid the hardship is upon the poor Christians in Damascus. But the Lord\nsaw differently.\n\nIn those days, when people did not drive their camels with whips, they\nhad a stick with a sharp piece of steel at the end, called a prick,\nand with this the animal was goaded. Hence the point of the saying is\nobvious.\n\n\nSIMEON.\n\nThe Lord was one day at Jerusalem, and a banquet was given him by Simeon.\n\nThere was a banquet table in the house, arranged according to the fashion\nof that day. Instead of chairs for the guests, the guests sat reclining\non lounges.\n\nWell, it was just one of these repasts that our Lord sat down to, along\nwith the wealthy Simeon and his many guests. But no sooner had He entered\nthan a certain woman followed Him into the house. She fell down at His\nfeet, and began to wash them with her tears.\n\nIt was the custom in those days to wash one\u2019s feet on entering a house.\nSandals were worn, and the practice was necessary.\n\nThis woman had got into the house by some means, and, once inside, had\nquietly stolen up to the feet of the Savior. In her hand was a box; but\nher heart, too, was just as full of ointment as the box she carried. And\nthere was the sweetest perfume as she stole to His feet.\n\nHer tears started to fall down on those sacred feet--hot, scalding tears,\nthat gushed out like water. She said nothing while the tears fell, and\nthen she took down her long black hair and wiped His feet with the hair\nof her head. And after that she poured out the ointment on His feet.\n\nAt once the Pharisees began to talk together. How, all through the New\nTestament, these Pharisees kept whispering and talking together!\n\nThey said, shaking their heads: \u201cThis Man receiveth sinners. Were He a\nprophet, He would know who and what manner of woman this is that touches\nHim, for she is a sinner.\u201d No prophet, they insisted, would allow that\nkind of a woman near him, but would push her away from him.\n\nBut Jesus read their thoughts, and quickly rebuked them. He said:\n\u201cSimeon, I have something to say to thee.\u201d\n\nSimeon answered: \u201cMaster, say on.\u201d\n\n\u201cSeest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me\nno water to wash my feet; but she has washed my feet with tears, and\nwiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this\nwoman, since I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with\nointment thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with\nointment.\u201d\n\nSimeon was like many Pharisees nowadays, who say: \u201cOh, well! We will\nentertain that minister if we must. We do not want to, for he is a\ndreadful nuisance; but we will have to put up with him. It is our duty to\nbe patronizing.\u201d\n\nWell, the Master said more to His entertainer, as follows:\n\n\u201cThere was a certain creditor which had two debtors. One owed 500 pence\nand the other 50 pence, and when he had nothing to pay----\u201d\n\nMark that, sinner; the debtor had nothing to pay. There is no sinner in\nthe world who can pay any thing to cancel his debt to God. The great\ntrouble is that sinners think they can pay--some of them 75 cents on the\ndollar, some even feel able to pay 99 cents on the dollar, and the one\ncent that they are short they believe can be made up in some manner.\nThat is not the correct way; it is all wrong; you must throw all the debt\non God. Some few, very likely, will only claim to pay 25 cents on the\ndollar, but they are not humble enough, either; they can not begin to\ncarry out their bargain. Why, sinner, you could not pay one-tenth part of\na single mill of the debt you are under to God.\n\nNow, it is said in this parable the debtors could not pay their creditor\nany thing; they had nothing to give, and their creditor frankly forgave\nthem both.\n\n\u201cNow, Simeon,\u201d the Master asked, \u201cwhich should love that man the more?\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose,\u201d was the reply, \u201che that was forgiven the more.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have rightly judged. This woman loves much because she has been\nforgiven much.\u201d And Jesus went on to tell Simeon all about her. I suppose\nHe wanted to make it plainer to Simeon, and He turned to the poor woman\nand said:\n\n\u201cThy sins are forgiven; go in peace.\u201d\n\nAll her sins were forgiven--not simply part of them; not half them, but\nevery sin from the cradle up. Every impurity is blotted out for time and\neternity.\n\nYes, truly, she went out in peace, for she went out in the light of\nHeaven. With what brightness the light must have come down to her from\nthose eternal hills! With what beauty it must have flashed on her soul!\n\nYes, she came to the feet of the Master for a blessing, and she received\nit.\n\n\nTHE GOOD SAMARITAN.\n\nWe are told that as Jesus stood with His disciples a man, a lawyer, stood\nup and tempted Him.\n\nThe lawyer asked Jesus this question:\n\n\u201cMaster, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d\n\nHe asked what he could do to inherit eternal life--what he could do to\nbuy salvation.\n\nJesus answered his question by asking another question: \u201cWhat is written\nin the law? How readest thou?\u201d\n\nTo this the lawyer answered:\n\n\u201cThou shalt love the Lord God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,\nand with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as\nthyself.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou hast answered right. But who is \u2018thy neighbor?\u2019\u201d\n\nThen Jesus drew a vivid picture, which has been told for the last\neighteen hundred years, and I do not know any thing that brings out more\ntruthfully the wonderful power of the Gospel than this story. It is the\nstory of the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and who fell\namong thieves.\n\nJerusalem was called the City of Peace. Jericho and the road leading to\nit were infested with thieves. Probably it had been taken possession of\nby the worst of Adam\u2019s sons.\n\n[Illustration: THE ARRIVAL OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN AT THE INN\n\nFrom the Painting by Gustave Dore.]\n\n[Illustration: DAVID.--From Statue by Angelo]\n\nI do not know how far the man got from Jerusalem toward Jericho, but the\nthieves had come out and fallen upon him, and had taken all his money,\nstripped him of his clothing and left him wounded. I suppose they left\nhim for dead.\n\nBy-and-by, a priest came down the road from Jerusalem. We are told that\nhe came by chance. Perhaps he was going down to dedicate some synagogue\nor preach a sermon on some important subject, and had the manuscript in\nhis pocket.\n\nAs he was going along on the other side, he heard a groan. He turned\naround, and saw the poor fellow, lying bleeding on the ground, and pitied\nhim. He went up close, took a look at him, and said: \u201cWhy, that man is a\nJew! He belongs to the seed of Abraham. If I remember aright, I saw him\nin the synagogue last Sabbath. I pity him; but I have too much business,\nand I can not attend to him.\u201d\n\nHe felt a pity for him, and looked on him, and probably wondered why God\nallowed such men as were those thieves to come into the world. Then he\npassed by.\n\nThere are many men just like this priest. They stop to discuss and wonder\nwhy sin came into the world, and look upon a wounded man, but do not stop\nto pick up a poor sinner--forgetting the fact that sin is in the world\nalready, and must be rooted out.\n\nSoon another man came along, a Levite, and he also heard the groans of\nthe robbers\u2019 victim. He, too, turned about and looked upon him with\npity. He felt compassion for him. He was one of those men that, if we\nhad him here, we would probably make an elder or a deacon. He looked at\nthe suffering man and said: \u201cPoor fellow! He is all covered with blood!\nHe has been badly hurt; he is nearly dead; and they have taken all his\nmoney and stripped him naked! Ah, well; I pity him.\u201d He would like to\nextend help, but he, too, has very pressing business; and so he passes by\non the other side. But he has scarcely got out of sight when another one\ncomes along, riding on a beast. He heard the groans of the wounded man,\nand went over and took a good look at him.\n\nThe traveler was a Samaritan. When he looked down he saw the man was a\nJew.\n\nAh, how the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans. There was a great, high\npartition wall between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews would not\nallow them in the Temple; they would not have any dealings with them;\nthey would not associate with them.\n\nI can see him coming along that road, with his good, benevolent face;\nand as he passes he hears a groan from the poor fellow. He draws in his\nbeast, and pauses to listen. \u201cAnd he came to where he was.\u201d\n\nThis is the sweetest thing, to my mind, in the whole story.\n\nA good many people would like to help a poor man if he was on the\nplatform--if it cost them no trouble. They want him to come to them. They\nare afraid to touch the wounded man; he is all over blood, and they will\nget their hands soiled.\n\nAnd that was just the way with the priest and the Levite. This poor\nman, perhaps, had paid half of all his means to help the service in the\nTemple, and might have been a constant worshiper; but they only felt pity\nfor him.\n\nThis good Samaritan \u201ccame to where he was,\u201d and after he saw him he had\ncompassion on him. That word \u201ccompassion\u201d--how sweet it sounds! The first\nthing he did on hearing him cry for water--the hot sun had been pouring\ndown upon his head--was to go and get it from a brook. Then he goes and\ngets a bag, that he had with him--what we might call a carpet-bag or a\nsaddle-bag in the West--and pours in oil on his wounds. Then he says to\nhimself: \u201cThe poor fellow is weak.\u201d So he goes and gets a little wine. He\nhas been lying so long in the burning sun that he is nearly dead now--he\nhad been left half dead--and the wine revives him.\n\nThe good Samaritan looks him over, and sees all the wounds that need\nto be bound up. But he has nothing to do this with. I can see him now,\ntearing the lining out of his coat, and with it binding up his wounds.\nThen he takes him up and lays him on his bosom until he is revived, and,\nwhen the poor fellow gets strength enough, the good Samaritan puts him on\nhis own beast.\n\nIf the Jew had not been half dead he would never have allowed the\nSamaritan to put his hands on him. He would have treated him with scorn.\nBut he is half dead, and he can not prevent the good Samaritan treating\nhim kindly and putting him on his beast.\n\nDid you ever stop to think what a strong picture it would have been if\nthe Samaritan had not been able himself to get the man on the beast--if\nhe had needed to call any assistance?\n\nPerhaps a man would have come along, and he would have asked him to help\nhim with the wounded man.\n\n\u201cWhat are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am a Samaritan.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are a Samaritan, are you? I can not help you--I am a Jew.\u201d\n\nThere is a good deal of that spirit today--just as strong as it was\nthen. When we are trying to get a poor man on the right way--when we are\ntugging at him to get his face toward Zion--we ask some one to help us,\nbut he says: \u201cI am a Roman Catholic.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d you say, \u201cI am a Protestant.\u201d\n\nSo they give no assistance to one another.\n\nThe same spirit of old is present today. The Protestants will have\nnothing to do with the Catholics; the Jews will have nothing to do with\nthe Gentiles. And there was a time--but, thank God, we are getting over\nit--when a Methodist would not touch a Baptist nor a Presbyterian a\nCongregationalist; and if we beheld a Methodist taking a man out of the\nditch, a Baptist was sure to ask:\n\n\u201cWhat are you going to do with him?\u201d\n\n\u201cTake him to a Methodist church.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ll have nothing to do with him.\u201d\n\nA great deal of this has gone by, and the time is certainly coming when,\nif we are trying to get a man out of the ditch, and they see us tugging\nat him, and we are so faint that we can not get him on the beast, they\nwill help him. And that is what Christ wants.\n\nWell, the Samaritan gets him on his beast, and says to him:\n\n\u201cYou are very weak, but my beast is sure-footed; he\u2019ll take you to the\ninn, and I\u2019ll hold you.\u201d\n\nHe held him firmly, and God is able to hold every one He takes out of the\npit. I see them going along the road, he holding him on, and he gets him\nto the inn. He gets him there, and he says to the inn keeper:\n\n\u201cHere is a wounded man; the thieves have been after him; give him the\nbest attention you can; nothing is too good for him.\u201d\n\nI can imagine the good Samaritan as stopping there all night, sitting up\nwith him, and attending to his every need. And the next morning he gets\nup and says to the landlord:\n\n\u201cI must be off; I leave a little money to pay you for what the man has\nhad, and if that is not enough I will pay what is necessary when I return\nfrom my business in Jericho.\u201d\n\nThis good Samaritan gave this landlord twopence to pay for what he had\ngot, and promised to come again and repay whatever had been spent to take\ncare of the man, and he had given him, besides, all his sympathy and\ncompassion.\n\nJesus tells this story in answer to the lawyer who came to tempt Him, and\nshowed that the Samaritan was the neighbor.\n\nNow, this story is brought out here to teach church-goers this thing: It\nis not creed or doctrine that we need so much as compassion and sympathy.\n\n\nTHE LEPER.\n\nSee that poor leper! Do you know what an awful thing leprosy is? A\ndisease so terrible that it separates its victim from all the world, and\nmakes him an outcast, even from his home. Every one is afraid of him.\nHis disease is so contagious that to touch him or even to breathe the air\nnear him is dangerous; and so these poor, afflicted wretches have to go\naway and live in cave or desert all alone.\n\nThey sit by the wayside afar off, calling to the passers-by for\ncharity--who sometimes throw them a piece of money and hurry off, lest\nthey also come into that terrible plight.\n\nHere is a poor man who finds the marks of what he thinks is this terrible\ndisease upon his body. According to the law, he must go to the priest and\nbe examined.\n\nAlas! The priest says it is leprosy--nothing else.\n\nNow the poor man, with broken heart, turns away from the Temple. He goes\nto his house, to say good-by to his wife and to take his children in\nhis arms once more before he goes away to spend the long years in the\nwilderness alone, or with other lepers like himself, until death shall\ncome to deliver him from his sufferings.\n\nWhat a sorry house is that! Surely, this is worse than death itself.\n\nHe goes out of his door with no hope of ever entering it again. He walks\nthe street by himself, and if any one comes near he lifts up his voice in\nthat mournful cry:\n\n\u201cUnclean! Unclean!\u201d\n\nOut of the gates of the city he goes, away from all his friends and\nacquaintances, carrying with him the sorrow of separation and the seeds\nof death.\n\nOne day he sees a crowd passing along the road, but he dares not go near\nenough to inquire what it is. All at once he happens to think it may\nbe that Prophet of Nazareth whom he had heard of--that same Man that,\npeople said, could open the eyes of blind men, make lame men to walk, and\nwho had even raised the son of the widow from death, over there at Nain.\nIf only He were passing! At any rate, he will take the chances, and cry\nout after Him; and so he shouts, at the top of his voice:\n\n\u201cHave mercy upon me!\u201d\n\nAll the rest of the crowd are afraid of him, but Jesus, who is in the\nmidst, hears some one calling; and, just as He always did when any one\nwanted any thing of Him, He stopped to find out what it was.\n\nHe is not afraid of the leper; and so, while the rest of the crowd stand\napart by themselves, He calls the poor fellow up to Him, and asks him\nwhat he wants.\n\nThe leper, with his heart full of anxious hope, makes answer:\n\n\u201cLord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.\u201d\n\nJesus says: \u201cI will; be thou clean.\u201d\n\nA strange sense of health and strength comes suddenly over the man. He\nlooks at his hands, and finds the leprosy all gone. He begins to pour\nout his heart in thanks to Jesus, who sends him away to the priests,\nsaying: \u201cGo, show thyself to the priests, and offer the gift that Moses\ncommanded.\u201d\n\nNow, I seem to see that cleansed leper, hurrying off to show himself\nto the priest, to be pronounced cured, according to the law; and then\nhastening to his little home, to see his wife and children once more. He\nbursts into the house, weeping for joy. He stretches out his arms to\nhis wife and little ones, saying: \u201cI am clean! Jesus did it--Jesus of\nNazareth.\u201d\n\n\nTHE PENITENT THIEF.\n\nI am going to take for my text, this morning, \u201cA Man\u201d--the last one that\nJesus saved before He returned to Heaven.\n\nThe fact that Jesus saved such a man at all ought to give every one of us\nmuch hope and comfort. This man was a thief--a highwayman and murderer,\nperhaps--and yet Christ takes him with Him when He ascends to glory; and\nif Jesus is not ashamed of such a man, surely no class of sinners need to\nfeel that they are left out.\n\nIt is a blessed fact that all kinds of men and women are represented\namong the converts in the Gospels, and almost all of them were converted\nsuddenly.\n\nVery many people object to sudden conversions, but you may read in the\nActs of the Apostles of eight thousand people converted in two days.\nThat seems to me rather quick work. If all the Christians before me this\nmorning would only consecrate themselves to the work of Christ, they\nmight be the means of converting that number before the week is out.\n\nLet us look at Christ hanging on the cross, between two thieves--the\nScribes and Pharisees wagging their heads and jeering at Him, His\ndisciples gone away, and only His mother and one or two other women in\nsight to cheer Him with their presence, among all this concourse of\nenemies--relentless and mocking enemies.\n\nHear those spiteful Pharisees calling out to Jesus: \u201cIf Thou be the Son\nof God, come down from the cross, and we will believe on Thee.\u201d And the\naccount says that the two thieves cast the same in His teeth.\n\nSo, then, the first thing that we know of our man is that he is a reviler\nof Christ. You might reasonably think that he ought to be doing something\nelse at such a time as this; but, hanging there in the midst of his\ntortures, and certain to be dead in a few hours, instead of confessing\nhis sins and preparing to meet the God whose laws he had broken all his\nlife--instead of that, he is abusing God\u2019s only Son. Surely, this man can\nnot sink any lower until he sinks into hell!\n\nThe next thing we hear of him, he appears to be under conviction. Nobody\nis ever converted until he is convicted.\n\nIn the twenty-third chapter of Luke we read:\n\n\u201cAnd one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying:\n\u2018If Thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us.\u2019 But the other, answering,\nrebuked him, saying: \u2018Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same\ncondemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our\ndeeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhat, do you suppose, it was that made this great change in this man\u2019s\nfeelings in these few hours?\n\nChrist had not preached him a sermon--had given him no exhortation. The\ndarkness had not yet come on; the Earth had not opened its mouth; the\nbusiness of death was going on as usual; the crowd was still there,\nmocking and hissing and wagging their heads; and yet this man, who in\nthe morning was railing at Christ, is now confessing his sins.\n\n\u201cWe indeed justly.\u201d\n\nNo miracle had been wrought before his eyes. The Son of God had not come\ndown from the cross. No angel from Heaven had come to place a glittering\ncrown upon His head, in place of the bloody crown of thorns.\n\nWhat was it, then?\n\nI will tell you what I think it was. I think it was the Savior\u2019s prayer:\n\n\u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d\n\nI seem to hear this thief talking with himself in this fashion:\n\n\u201cWhat a strange kind of man this must be! He says He is King of the Jews;\nand the superscription on His cross says the same thing. But what sort\nof a throne is this? He says He is the Son of God. Why does not God send\ndown His angels, and destroy all this great gathering of people that\nare torturing His Son? If He has all power now, as He used to have when\nHe worked those miracles they talk about, why does He not bring out His\nvengeance, and sweep all these wretches into destruction? I would do it\nin a minute, if I had the power. Oh, if I could, I would open the Earth,\nand swallow up these tormentors!\n\n\u201cBut this man prays to God to \u2018forgive them.\u2019\n\n\u201cStrange! Strange! He must be different from the rest of us. I am sorry\nthat I said one word against Him when they first hung us up here. What a\ndifference there is between Him and me!\n\n\u201cHere we are, hanging on two crosses--side by side; but all the rest\nof our lives we have been far enough apart. I have been robbing and\nmurdering, but He has been visiting the hungry, healing the sick, and\nraising the dead. Now these people are railing at us both. What a strange\nworld is this!\n\n\u201cI will not rail at Him any more. Indeed, I begin to believe He must be\nthe Son of God; for, surely, no son of man could forgive his enemies this\nway.\u201d\n\nThat is what did it, my friends.\n\nThis poor man had been scourged and beaten and nailed to the cross, and\nhung up there for the world to gaze upon; and he was not sorry for his\nsins one single bit--did not feel the least conviction on account of all\nthat misery. But when he heard the Savior praying for His murderers that\nbroke his heart.\n\nI remember to have heard a story, somewhere, of a bad boy that had run\naway from home. He had given his father no end of trouble. He had refused\nall the invitations that his father had sent him to come home and be\nforgiven, and help to comfort his old heart. He had even gone so far as\nto scoff at his father and mother.\n\nBut one day a letter came, telling him his father was dead, and they\nwanted him to come home and attend the funeral.\n\nAt first he determined he would not go, but then he thought it would be a\nshame not to pay some little show of respect to the memory of so good a\nman after he was dead; and so, just as a matter of form, he took a train\nand went to the old home.\n\nHe sat through all the funeral services, saw his kind old father buried,\nand came back with the rest of the friends to the house, with his heart\nas cold and stony as ever. But when the old man\u2019s will was brought out\nto be read, the ungrateful son found that his father had remembered him\nalong with all the other members of the family in the will, and had left\nhim an inheritance with the others, who had not gone astray.\n\nThis broke his heart.\n\nIt was too much for him, that his old father, during all those years in\nwhich he had been so wicked and so rebellious, had never ceased to love\nhim.\n\nThat is just the way our Father in Heaven does with us. That is just the\nway Jesus does with people who refuse to give their hearts to Him. He\nloves them in spite of their sins, and it is the love which, more than\nany thing else, brings hard-hearted sinners to fall upon their knees.\n\nNow, this thief on the cross confessed his sins. A man may be very sorry\nfor his sins; but, if he does not confess them, he has no promise of\nbeing forgiven. The thief says: \u201cWe are suffering justly.\u201d I never knew\nany man to be converted until he confessed.\n\nCain felt bad enough over his sins, but he did not confess.\n\nSaul was greatly tormented in his mind, but he went to the Witch of Endor\nrather than to the Lord.\n\nJudas felt so bad over the betrayal of his Master that he went out and\nhanged himself; but he did not confess--that is, he did not confess to\nGod. He came back and confessed to the priests, saying: \u201cI have sinned in\nthat I have betrayed the innocent blood.\u201d It was of no use to confess to\nthem; they could not forgive him. What he should have done was to confess\nto God; but instead of that, he rushed out and hanged himself.\n\nHow different is the case with the penitent thief! He confesses his sins\nto Christ, and Christ has mercy on him at once.\n\nJust here is one of the great difficulties with many people. They do not\nlike to come up face to face with their sins. They do not like to own\nthat they are sinners. They excuse themselves in every way. They think\nthey are not very bad sinners; that there are a great many worse than\nthey are; and so they try to cover up the great fact that this penitent\nthief confesses openly. My friends, you never will be saved, so long as\nyou try to cover up your sins.\n\nWe have heard a great deal about the faith of Abraham and the faith of\nMoses; but this man seems to me to have had more faith than any of them.\nHe stands at the head of his class.\n\nGod was twenty-five years toning up the faith of Abraham; Moses was\nforty years getting ready for his work; but this thief, right here in\nthe midst of men who rejected Him--nailed to the cross and racked with\npain in every nerve, overwhelmed with horror, and his soul in a perfect\ntempest--still manages to lay hold upon Christ, and trust in Him for a\nswift salvation. His heart goes out to the Savior. How glad he would be\nto fall on his knees at the foot of that cross, and pour out his prayer\nto Him who was hanging on it! But this he can not do. His hands and feet\nare nailed fast to the wood; but they can not nail his eyes, nor his\nheart. He can, at least, turn his head, and look upon the Son of God;\nand his breaking heart can go out in love to the One who is dying beside\nhim--dying for him, and dying for you and me.\n\nAnd what did Jesus say in answer to his prayer?\n\nThat prayer was a confession of Christ. He calls Jesus \u201cLord,\u201d and begs\nto be remembered in His kingdom. That must be a kingdom in Heaven--for,\nsurely, there was no chance of a kingdom on Earth, as matters looked at\nthat time.\n\nChrist fulfilled His promise to the thief:\n\n\u201cWhoso confesseth Me before men, him will I confess before my Father and\nthe holy angels.\u201d\n\nHe looks kindly upon him, and says:\n\n\u201cToday thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.\u201d\n\nAnd now the darkness falls upon the Earth; the Sun hides itself; but,\nworse than all, the Father hides His face from the Son. What else is the\nmeaning of that bitter cry?\n\n\u201cMy God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d\n\nAh! It had been written:\n\n\u201cCursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.\u201d\n\nJesus is made a curse for us. God can not look upon sin; and now His own\nSon is bearing, in His own body, the sins of the world; and so He can not\nlook upon Him.\n\nI think that was what was heaviest upon the Savior\u2019s heart, away there in\nthe Garden, when He prayed: \u201cIf it be possible, let this cup pass away\nfrom Me.\u201d\n\nHe could bear the unfaithfulness of His friends, the spite of His\nenemies, the pain of His crucifixion and the shadow of death. He could\nbear all these. But when it came to the hiding of His Father\u2019s face,\nthat seemed almost too much for even the Son of God to bear. But even\nthis He endured for our sins; and now the face of God is turned back to\nus, whose sins had turned it away, and looking upon Jesus, the sinless\nOne, He sees our souls in Him.\n\nIn the midst of all His agony, how sweet it must have been to Christ to\nhear that poor thief confessing Him! He likes to have men confessing Him.\n\nDo you remember His asking Peter: \u201cWho do men say that I am?\u201d\n\nPeter answered: \u201cSome people say You are Moses; some people say You are\nElias, and some people say You are one of the old prophets.\u201d\n\nHe asked again: \u201cBut, Peter, who do you say that I am?\u201d\n\nAnd when Peter said \u201cThou art the Son of God,\u201d Jesus blessed him for that\nconfession.\n\nAnd now this thief confesses Him--confesses Him in the darkness. Perhaps\nit is so dark he can not see Him any longer; but he feels that He is\nthere beside him.\n\nThis poor thief did as much for Christ in that one act as if he had lived\nand worked for Him fifty years. That is what Christ wants of us--to\nconfess Him; in the dark as well as in the light, and when it is hard as\nwell as when it is easy. For He was not ashamed of us, and carried our\nsins even unto death.\n\nJust look for a minute at the prayer of this penitent thief.\n\nHe calls Jesus \u201cLord.\u201d That sounds like a young convert. \u201cLord, remember\nme when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.\u201d Not a very long prayer, you see,\nbut a prevailing prayer.\n\nSome people think they must have a form of prayer--a prayer book,\nperhaps--if they are going to address the Throne of Grace properly. But\nwhat would that poor fellow do with a prayer book up there--hanging on\nthe cross, his hands nailed fast to the wood? Suppose it were necessary\nthat some minister or priest should pray for him, what is he going to\ndo? There is nobody there to pray for him, and he is going to die within\na few hours. He is out of reach of help from men, but God has laid help\nupon One who is mighty, and that One is close at hand.\n\nThen look at the answer to his prayer. The supplicant received more\nthan he asked. He only asked to be remembered when Christ came into His\nkingdom. But Christ said to him: \u201cI will take you right up with Me into\nMy kingdom today.\u201d\n\nThe Savior wants us all to remember Him in His old kingdom--to remember\nHim in the breaking of bread and in the drinking of wine--and then He\nwill remember us in the new kingdom.\n\nJust think of this, my friends. The last the world ever saw of Christ\nHe was on the cross. The last business of His life was the saving of a\npoor penitent thief. That was a part of His triumph; that was one of the\nglories attending His death.\n\nNo doubt Satan said to himself: \u201cI will have the soul of that thief,\npretty soon, down here in the caverns of the lost. He belongs to me; he\nhas belonged to me all these years.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: JACOB, TENDING FLOCKS OF LABAN.--From the Painting by\nGustave Dore.]\n\n[Illustration: MOSES, BREAKING THE TABLES OF THE LAW\n\nFrom the Painting by Gustave Dore.]\n\nBut Christ snapped the fetters of his soul, and set him at liberty; Satan\nlost his prey. \u201cThe Lion of the tribe of Judah\u201d conquered the lion of\nhell.\n\nYou know that in the British colonies, before the day of Wilberforce,\nthere used to be a great many slaves; but that good man began to agitate\nthe question of setting them free; and all the slaves in the colonies,\nwhen they heard of it, were very anxious to hear how he was getting\nalong. They knew the bill was before Parliament, and with them it was a\nquestion next to that of life itself.\n\nBut in those days there were no telegraphs and no steamships. The mails\nwent by the slow sailing vessels. They would be from six to eight months\nin making the voyage to some of the more distant of the colonies. The\nslaves used to watch for the white sails of British ships, hoping to hear\ngood reports, and also fearing they might hear bad ones.\n\nThere was a ship that had sailed immediately after the Emancipation\nAct had been passed and signed by the king; and when she came within\nhailing distance of the boats that had put off from the shore at the port\nof her destination, the captain could not wait to deliver the message\nofficially, and have it duly promulgated by the government; but, seeing\nthe anxious men standing up in their boats, eager for the news, he placed\nhis trumpet to his mouth, and shouted with all his might:\n\n\u201cFree! Free!\u201d\n\nJust so the angels shouted when this poor bondman of Satan\u2019s, almost\nin the jaws of the pit, was taken in hand by the Savior Himself;\ndelivered from the bondage of darkness into the liberty of His dear Son!\nFree--free from sin--free from the curse of the law--free, too, in a\nshort time, from the bonds of the flesh.\n\nWhat a contrast! In the morning he is led out a condemned criminal; in\nthe evening he is saved from his sins. In the morning he is cursing;\nin the evening he is singing hallelujahs with a choir of angels. In\nthe morning he is condemned by men as not fit to live on Earth; in the\nevening he is reckoned good enough for Heaven.\n\nChrist was not ashamed to walk arm-in-arm with him along the golden\npavements of the Eternal City.\n\nHe had heard the Savior\u2019s cry: \u201cIt is finished.\u201d He had seen the spear\nthrust into His side. Jesus had died before his very eyes, and hastened\nbefore him to get a place ready for this first soul brought from the\nworld after He had died.\n\nYou have heard of the child that did not like to die and go to\nHeaven, because he did not know anybody there. But the thief had one\nacquaintance--even the Master of the place. He calls to Gabriel, and says:\n\n\u201cPrepare a chariot; make haste! There is a friend of Mine hanging upon\nthat cross. They are breaking his legs; he soon will be ready to come.\nMake haste and bring him to Me.\u201d\n\nAnd the angel in the chariot sweeps down the sky, takes up the soul of\nthe poor penitent thief, and hastens back again to glory; while the gates\nof the city swing wide open, and the angels shout their welcome to this\npoor sinner--\u201cwashed in the blood of the Lamb.\u201d\n\nAnd that, my friends, is just what Christ wants to do for every sinner.\nHe wants to save you. That is the business on which He came down from\nHeaven. That is why He died; and if He gives such great and swift\nsalvation to this poor thief on the cross, surely He will give you the\nsame deliverance, if, like the penitent thief, you will repent, confess\nand trust in the Savior.\n\nSomebody says that this man \u201cwas saved at the eleventh hour.\u201d I do not\nknow about that. Perhaps it was the first hour. It might have been the\nfirst hour with him, I think. Perhaps he never knew Christ until he was\nled out to die beside Him. This may have been the very first time he had\never learned the way of faith in the Son of God.\n\nBut how many of you gave your hearts to Christ the very first time He\nasked them of you? Are you not farther along in the day than even that\npoor thief?\n\nA little while ago, in one of the mining districts of England, a young\nman attended one of our meetings, and refused to go from the place till\nhe had found peace in the Savior. The next day he went down into the pit,\nand the coal fell in upon him; and when they took him out he was broken\nand mangled, and had only about two or three minutes of life left in him.\nHis friends gathered about him, saw his lips moving, and, bending down\ntheir ears to catch his words, this was what they heard him say: \u201cIt was\na good thing I settled it last night.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nBegin now to confess your sins, and to pray the Lord to remember you when\nHe cometh into His kingdom.\n\n\nTHE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.\n\nIn this first parable we are told that men ought to pray always and\neverywhere; that prayer should not be left to a few in the churches, but\nall men ought to pray.\n\nJesus gives us a picture, so that we may understand in what spirit we\nought to pray.\n\nTwo men went up to the Temple--one to pray to himself and the other to\npray to God.\n\nI think it will be safe to divide the audience into two bodies, and put\nthem under these two heads. However, whether we divide the audience or\nnot, we come under these two heads--those who have the spirit of the\npublican and those who have the spirit of the Pharisee.\n\nYou can find that the entire community may be correctly divided into\nthese two classes. The spirit of the prodigal and the spirit of an elder\nbrother are still in the world; the spirits of Cain and Abel are still in\nthe world, and these two are representative men.\n\nOne of them trusted in his own righteousness and the other did not have\nany trust in it, and I say I think all men will come under these two\nheads. They have either given up all their self-righteousness--renounced\nit all and turned their backs upon it--or else they are clinging to their\nown righteousness; and you will find that these self-righteous men that\nare ever clinging to their own righteousness are continually measuring\nthemselves by their neighbors.\n\n\u201cI thank God that I am not as other men are.\u201d\n\nThis was the spirit of that Pharisee, and this is the spirit today of\none class in this community, and the other class comes under the head of\nthis other man.\n\nLet us look at the man Christ pictured first.\n\nIt is evident that he was full of egotism--full of conceit--full of\npride; and I believe, as I have said before on this platform, that is one\nof the greatest enemies the Son of God has today, and I believe it keeps\nmore men from the kingdom of God than any thing else.\n\nPride can grow on any soil, in any climate. No place is too hot for it,\nand no place is too cold for its growth. How much misery it has caused in\nthis world! How many men here are kept from salvation by pride!\n\nWhy, it sprung up into Heaven, and for it Lucifer was cast out; by pride\nNebuchadnezzar lost his throne. As he walked through Babylon he cried:\n\u201cIs not this a great Babylon which I have built?\u201d And he was hurled from\nhis throne.\n\nHow many men that have become drunkards, who are all broken up--will\ngone, health gone--and yet are just as full of pride as the sun is of\nlight! It will not let them come to Christ and be saved.\n\nA great many live like this Pharisee--only in the form of religion; they\ndo not want the wheat--only the husk; they do not want the kernel--only\nthe shell.\n\nHow many men are today just living on empty form! They say their prayers,\nbut they do not mean any thing.\n\nWhy, this Pharisee said plenty of prayers, but how did he pray? He prayed\nto himself. He might as well have prayed to a post. He did not pray to\nGod, who knew his heart a thousand times better than he himself did. He\nthought he knew himself; he forgot that he was a sepulcher, full of dead\nmen\u2019s bones; forgot that his heart was rotten, corrupt and vile; and he\ncomes and spreads out his hands and looks up to Heaven.\n\nWhy, the very angels in Heaven veil their faces before God as they cry:\n\u201cHoly, holy, holy!\u201d\n\nBut this Pharisee comes into the Temple and spreads out his hands, and\nsays:\n\n\u201cLord, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. I fast twice a week.\u201d\n\nHe set before God what he had done in comparison with other men, and was\nstriking a balance and making out God to be his debtor, as thousands are\ndoing today; and then he says: \u201cI give one-tenth of all I possess.\u201d\n\nI suppose if he was living in Chicago now, and we had gone to him and\nasked him for a donation to help put up this Tabernacle, he would have\nsaid:\n\n\u201cWell, I think it will do good; yes, I think it will. It may reach the\nvagabonds and outcasts--I do not need it, of course--but if it will reach\nthat class it will do good. I will give $50, especially if you can get it\nin the morning papers--if you can have it announced: \u2018John Jones gave $50\nto build the Tabernacle.\u2019\u201d\n\nThat is the way some of the people give donations to God\u2019s cause; they\ngive in a patronizing way. But in this manner God will not accept it. If\nyour heart does not go with your gift, God will not accept it.\n\nThis Pharisee says: \u201cI give one-tenth of all that I have; I keep up the\nservices in the Temple; I fast twice a week.\u201d\n\nHe fasted twice a week, although once was only called for, and he thought\nbecause of this he was far above other men. A great many people nowadays\nthink because they do not eat meat on Fridays, but only fish, they\ndeserve great credit, although they go on sinning all the week.\n\nLook at this prayer! There is no confession there. He had got so bad, and\nthe devil had so covered up his sins, that he was above confession.\n\nThe first thing we have to do when we come to God is to confess. If there\nis any sin clustering around the heart, bear in mind we can have no\ncommunion with God. It is because we have sin about our hearts that our\nprayers do not go any higher than our head. We can not get God\u2019s favor if\nwe have any iniquity in our hearts.\n\nPeople, like the Pharisee, have only been educated to pray. If they did\nnot pray every night their consciences would trouble them, and they would\nget out of bed and say their prayers; but the moment they get off their\nknees, perhaps, you may hear them swearing.\n\nA man may just as well get a string of beads and pray to them. It would\ndo him as much good.\n\nThis Pharisee\u2019s prayer showed no spirit of contrition; there was no\npetition; he did not ask any thing from God. This is a queer kind of\nprayer:\n\n\u201cLord, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are--extortionate, unjust,\nadulterous--or even as the poor publican.\u201d\n\nNot a petition in his prayer. It was a prayerless prayer--it was\ndownright mockery. But how many men have just got into that cradle and\nbeen rocked to sleep by the devil!\n\nA short time ago I put this question to a man:\n\n\u201cAre you a Christian?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course I am; I say my prayers every night.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut do you ever pray?\u201d\n\n\u201cDidn\u2019t I tell you I prayed?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut do you ever pray?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, of course I do; haven\u2019t I said so?\u201d\n\nI found that he prayed, but he only went through the form, and, after a\nlittle, I found that he had been in the habit of swearing.\n\n\u201cHow is this?\u201d I asked. \u201cSwearing and praying! Do your prayers ever go\nany higher than your head?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I have sometimes thought that they did not.\u201d\n\nMy friends, if you are not in communion with God your prayers are but\nforms; you are living in formalism, and your prayers will go no higher\nthan your head.\n\nHow many people just go through the form! They can not rest unless they\nsay their prayers. How many are there with whom it is only a matter of\neducation?\n\nBut this Pharisee trusted in his own righteousness; he ignored the mercy\nof God and the love of Jesus. He was measuring himself by his own rule.\nNow, if you want to measure yourself, do it by God\u2019s law--by God\u2019s\nrequirements.\n\nA great many people have a rule of their own, by which they measure\nthemselves, and by that rule they are perfectly ready and willing to\nforgive themselves.\n\nSo it was with this Pharisee. The idea of coming to God and asking His\nforgiveness never enters his mind.\n\nWhile talking to a man--one of those Pharisees--some time ago, about God\nand the need of Christ, he said to me:\n\n\u201cI can do without Christ; I do not want Him. I am ready to stand before\nGod any time.\u201d\n\nThat man was trusting in his own righteousness.\n\nNow, take a good look at this Pharisee. You know, I have an idea that the\nBible is like an album. I go into a man\u2019s house, and, while waiting for\nhim, I take up an album from a table and open it.\n\nI look at a picture.\n\n\u201cWhy, that looks like a man I know.\u201d\n\nI turn over and look at another.\n\n\u201cWell, I know that man.\u201d\n\nBy-and-by, I come upon another.\n\n\u201cWhy, that man looks like my brother.\u201d\n\nI am getting pretty near home. I keep turning over the leaves.\n\n\u201cWell, I declare! Here is a man who lives in the same street I do. Why,\nhe is my next-door neighbor.\u201d\n\nThen I come upon another, and I see--myself.\n\nMy friends, if you read your Bibles, you will find your own pictures\nthere. It will just describe you.\n\nNow, it may be there is some Pharisee here tonight. If there is, let\nhim turn to the third chapter of John, and see what Christ said to the\nPharisee:\n\n\u201cExcept a man be born again, he can not enter the kingdom of God.\u201d\n\nNicodemus, no doubt, was one of the fairest specimens of a man in\nJerusalem in those days, yet he had to be born again, else he could not\nenter into the kingdom of God.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d you may say, \u201cI am not a Pharisee. I am a poor and miserable\nsinner--too bad to come to Him.\u201d Well, turn to the woman of Samaria, and\nsee what He said to her.\n\nSee what a difference there was between that publican and that Pharisee.\nThere was as great a distance between them as between the Sun and the\nMoon.\n\nOne was in the very highest station, and the other occupied the very\nworst station. One had only himself and his sins to bring to God, and the\nother was trying to bring in his position and his aristocracy.\n\nI tell you, when a man gets a true sight of himself, all his position and\nstation and excellences drop.\n\nSee this prayer:\n\n\u201cI thank God.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not.\u201d\n\n\u201cI fast.\u201d\n\n\u201cI give.\u201d\n\n\u201cI possess.\u201d\n\nWhy, if he had delivered a long prayer, and the copy had been put into\nthe printers\u2019 hands, they would have had to send out for some \u201cI\u2019s.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thank God,\u201d \u201cI,\u201d \u201cI,\u201d \u201cI.\u201d\n\nWhen a man prays--not with himself, but to God--he does not exalt\nhimself; he does not pass a eulogy on himself. He falls flat down in the\ndust before God. In that prayer you do not find him thanking God for what\nHe had done for him. It was a heartless and prayerless prayer--merely a\nform.\n\nI hope the day will come when formal prayer will be a thing of the past.\nI think the reason why we can not get more people out to the meetings is\nbecause we have too many formal prayers in the churches. These formal\nChristians get up, like this Pharisee, and thank God that they are better\nthan other men; but when a man gets a look at himself he comes in the\nspirit of the publican.\n\nYou see this Pharisee standing and praying with himself, but God could\nnot give him any thing. He was too full of egotism--too full of himself.\nThere was no religion in it. God could not bless him.\n\nNow, for a moment, take a look at that poor publican. Just give his\nprayer your attention.\n\nThere was no capital \u201cI\u201d there--no exalting of himself. \u201cGod be merciful\nto this Pharisee; God be merciful to the other people who have injured\nme; God be merciful to the church members who have not been true to their\nbelief.\u201d\n\nWas that his prayer?\n\nThank God, he got to himself. \u201cGod be merciful to me, a sinner.\u201d It was\nvery short. He had got his eye upon himself; he saw that his heart was\nvile; he could not lift his eyes to Heaven. But, thank God, he could lift\nhis heart to Heaven.\n\nThere is not a poor publican in the audience tonight but can send up this\nprayer. No matter what your past life has been--no matter if it has been\nas black as hell--if you but send up the prayer it will be heard. He did\nnot buy his own righteousness; and God heard his appeal.\n\nSpurgeon, speaking of that publican, said he had the soundest theology of\nany man in England. He came before God, struck his hand on his heart, and\ncried: \u201cGod be merciful to me, a sinner.\u201d\n\n\nTHE WIDOW\u2019S SON.\n\nThink of that poor widow at Nain.\n\nShe is an old woman now; and her only son, who is the staff of her life,\nis sick.\n\nHow she watches him; sits up all night to see that he has his medicine at\nthe right time; sits by his bedside all day, fanning him, keeping away\nthe flies, moistening his parched lips with water!\n\nEvery thing he asks for she brings.\n\nThe very best doctor in Nain is sent for; and when he comes and feels the\npulse of the young man and looks at his tongue, he shakes his head; and\nthen the poor woman knows there is no hope for her boy.\n\nWhat an awful thought!\n\n\u201cMy son--my only son--must die! What will become of me then?\u201d\n\nSure enough, the doctor is right; and in a little while the fever comes\nto its crisis, and the poor boy dies, with his head upon his mother\u2019s\nbosom.\n\nThe people come in and try to comfort the bereaved mother; but it is of\nno use. Her heart is broken; and she wishes she were dead, too.\n\nSome of you know what it is to look your last upon the faces of those you\nlove. Some of you mothers have wept hot tears upon the cold faces of your\nsons.\n\nWell, they make him ready for burial; and when the time comes, they\ncelebrate the funeral service, and place him on a bier to carry him away\nto the grave.\n\nWhat a sad procession!\n\nJust as they come out of the city gates, they see a little company of\nthirteen dusty-looking travelers, coming up the road.\n\nThere is One among them who is tall and far fairer than the sons of men.\n\nWho can He be?\n\nHe is moved with compassion when He sees this little funeral procession;\nand it does not take Him long to find out that this woman who walks next\nthe bier is a poor widow, whose only son she is following in sadness to\nthe grave.\n\nHe tells the bearers to put down the bier; and while the mother wonders\nwhat is to be done, He bends tenderly over the dead man, and speaks to\nhim in a low and sweet voice:\n\n\u201cArise!\u201d\n\nAnd the dead man hears Him. His body begins to move; the man that was\ndead is struggling with his grave clothes; they unbind them, and now he\nsits up.\n\nHe leaps off the bier, catches sight of his mother, remembers that he was\ndead and is now alive again. He takes his mother in his arms, kisses her\nagain and again, and then turns to look at the Stranger who has wrought\nthis miracle upon him.\n\nHe is ready to do any thing for that Man--ready to follow Him to the\ndeath. But Jesus does not ask that of him. He knows his mother needs him;\nand so He does not take him away to be one of His disciples, but gives\nhim back to his old mother.\n\nI would have liked to see that young man re-entering the city of Nain,\narm-in-arm with his mother. What do you suppose he said to the people,\nwho looked at him with wonder? Would he not confess that Jesus of\nNazareth had raised him from the dead? Would he not go everywhere,\ndeclaring what the Lord had done for his dead body?\n\nOh, how I love to preach Christ, who can stand over all the graves, and\nsay to all the dead bodies: \u201cArise!\u201d\n\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\n XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n XXX\n\n\nROCK OF AGES.\n\n Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n Let me hide myself in Thee!\n Let the water and the blood\n From Thy riven side which flowed\n Be of sin the double cure--\n Cleanse from guilt and make me pure.\n\n In my hand no price I bring;\n Simply to Thy cross I cling.\n Naked--come to Thee for dress;\n Helpless--look to Thee for grace;\n Foul--I to Thy fountain fly;\n Cleanse me, Savior, or I die!\n\n Not the labors of my hands\n Can fulfill Thy law\u2019s demands.\n Could my zeal no respite know--\n Could my tears for ever flow--\n All for sin could not atone;\n Thou must save, and Thou alone!\n\n While I draw this fleeting breath,\n When my eye-strings break in death,\n When I soar to worlds unknown,\n See Thee on Thy judgment throne--\n Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n Let me hide myself in Thee!\n\n\nWHERE HE LEADS I\u2019LL FOLLOW.\n\n Sweet are the promises, kind is the word--\n Dearer far than any message man ever heard!\n Pure was the mind of Christ--sinless I see;\n He the great example is, and pattern for me.\n\n Where He leads I\u2019ll follow--\n Follow all the way!\n Where He leads I\u2019ll follow--\n Follow Jesus every day!\n\n Sweet is the tender love Jesus has shown--\n Sweeter far than any love that mortals have known!\n Kind to the erring one, faithful is He;\n He the great example is, and pattern for me!\n\n Where He leads I\u2019ll follow--\n Follow all the way!\n Where He leads I\u2019ll follow--\n Follow Jesus every day!\n\n List to His loving words: \u201cCome unto Me.\u201d\n Weary, heavy-laden, there is sweet rest for thee!\n Trust in His promises--faithful and sure;\n Lean upon the Savior, and thy soul is secure.\n\n Where He leads I\u2019ll follow--\n Follow all the way!\n Where He leads I\u2019ll follow--\n Follow Jesus every day!\n\n\n\n\nBIBLE CHARACTERS\n\nAS DEPICTED BY THE BRILLIANT AND NOTED PREACHER, T. DE WITT TALMAGE.\n\n\nATHALIAH\n\nGrandmothers are more lenient with their children\u2019s children than they\nwere with their own.\n\nAt forty years of age, if discipline be necessary, chastisement is used;\nbut at seventy, the grandmother, looking upon the misbehavior of the\ngrandchild, is apologetic and disposed to substitute confectionery for\nwhip.\n\nThere is nothing more beautiful than this mellowing of old age toward\nchildhood. Grandmother takes out her pocket handkerchief and wipes\nher spectacles and puts them on, and looks down into the face of her\nmischievous and rebellious descendant, and says:\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think he meant to do it; let him off this time; I\u2019ll be\nresponsible for his behavior in the future.\u201d\n\nMy mother, with the second generation around her--a boisterous crew--said\none day: \u201cI suppose they ought to be disciplined, but I can not do it.\nGrandmothers are not fit to bring up grandchildren.\u201d\n\nBut here we have a grandmother of a different hue.\n\nI have been at Jerusalem, where the occurrence that I shall describe took\nplace, and the whole scene came vividly before me while I was going over\nthe site of the ancient Temple and climbing the towers of the king\u2019s\npalace.\n\nHere is old Athaliah, the queenly murderess.\n\nShe ought to have been honorable. Her father was a king. Her husband\nwas a king. Her son was a king. And yet we find her plotting for the\nextermination of the entire royal family, including her own grandchildren.\n\nThe executioner\u2019s knives are sharpened; the palace is red with the blood\nof princes and princesses. On all sides are shrieks, and hands thrown up,\nand struggle and death groan. No mercy! Kill! Kill!\n\nBut while the ivory floors of the palace run with carnage and the whole\nland is under the shadow of a great horror, a fleet-footed woman--a\nclergyman\u2019s wife, Jehosheba by name--stealthily approaches the imperial\nnursery, seizes upon the grandchild that had, somehow, as yet escaped\nmassacre, wraps it up tenderly but in haste, snuggles it against her,\nflies down the palace stairs--her heart in her throat, lest she be\ndiscovered in this Christian abduction.\n\nGet her out of the way as quickly as you can, for she carries a precious\nburden--even a young king.\n\nWith this youthful prize she presses into the room of the ancient Temple,\nthe church of olden time, unwraps the young king and puts him down, sound\nasleep as he is, and unconscious of the peril that has been threatened;\nand there for six years he is kept secreted in that church apartment.\n\nMeanwhile, old Athaliah smacks her lips with satisfaction and thinks that\nall the royal family are dead.\n\nBut the six years expire, and it is now time for the young Joash to come\nforth and take the throne, and to push back into disgrace and death old\nAthaliah.\n\nThe arrangements are all made for political revolution. The military come\nand take full possession of the Temple, swear loyalty to the boy Joash,\nand then stand around for his defense. See the sharpened swords and\nburnished shields! Every thing is ready.\n\nNow Joash, half affrighted at the armed tramp of his defenders, scared at\nthe vociferation of his admirers, is brought forth in full regalia. The\nscroll of authority is put into his hands, the coronet of government is\nput on his brow, and the glad people clap and wave, huzza and trumpet.\n\nAthaliah is aroused, and asks:\n\n\u201cWhat is that? What is that sound over there in the Temple?\u201d\n\nShe hurries out to see, and on the way they meet her and say:\n\n\u201cWhy, haven\u2019t you heard? You thought you had slain all the royal family,\nbut Joash has come to light.\u201d\n\nThen the queenly murderess, frantic with rage, laid hold on her mantle\nand tore it to tatters, and cried out until she foamed at the mouth:\n\n\u201cYou have no right to crown my grandson. You have no right to take the\ngovernment from my shoulders. Treason! Treason!\u201d\n\nWhile she stood there, making this cry, the military started for her\narrest, and she took a short cut through a back door of the Temple and\nran through the royal stables; but the battle-axes of the military fell\non her in the barn-yard, and for many a day, when the horses were being\nunloosed from the chariot after drawing out young Joash, the fiery steeds\nwould snort and rear while passing the place, as they smelt the taint.\n\nThe first thought which I hand you from this subject is that the\nextermination of righteousness is an impossibility.\n\nWhen a woman is good she is apt to be very good, and when she is bad she\nis apt to be very bad; and this Athaliah was one of the latter sort.\nShe would exterminate the last scion of the house of David, through\nwhom Jesus was to come. There was plenty of work for embalmers and\nundertakers. She would clear the land of all God-fearing and God-loving\npeople. She would put an end to every thing that could in any wise\ninterfere with her imperial criminality.\n\nAthaliah folds her hands and says: \u201cThe work is done; it is completely\ndone.\u201d\n\nIs it?\n\nIn the swaddling clothes of that church apartment are wrapped the cause\nof God and the cause of good government.\n\nThat is the scion of the house of David; it is Joash, the Christian\nreformer; it is Joash, the friend of God; it is Joash, the demolisher of\nBaalitish idolatry. Rock him tenderly; nurse him gently.\n\nAthaliah, you may kill all the other children, but you can not kill him.\nEternal defenses are thrown all around him, and this clergyman\u2019s wife,\nJehosheba, will snatch him up from the palace nursery, and will run up\nand down with him into the house of the Lord, and there she will hide him\nfor six years, and at the end of that time he will come forth for your\ndethronement and utter obliteration.\n\n\nDAVID.\n\nDavid, the shepherd boy, is watching his father\u2019s sheep.\n\nThey are pasturing on the very hills where afterward a Lamb was born of\nwhich you have heard much--\u201cthe Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of\nthe world.\u201d\n\nDavid, the shepherd boy, was beautiful, brave, musical and poetic. I\nthink he often forgot the sheep in his reveries. There in the solitude he\nstruck the harp-string that is thrilling through all ages. David the boy\nwas at work gathering the material for David the poet and for David the\nman.\n\nLike other boys, David was fond of using his knife among the saplings,\nand he had noticed the exuding of the juice of the tree; and when he\nbecame a man he said: \u201cThe trees of the Lord are full of sap.\u201d\n\nDavid the boy, like other boys, had been fond of hunting the birds\u2019\nnests, and he had driven the old stork off the nest to find how many eggs\nwere under her; and when he became a man he said: \u201cAs for the stork, the\nfir trees are her house.\u201d\n\nIn boyhood he had heard the terrific thunder storm that frightened the\nred deer into premature sickness; and when he became a man he said: \u201cThe\nvoice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve.\u201d\n\nDavid the boy had lain upon his back, looking up at the stars and\nexamining the sky, and to his boyish imagination the sky seemed like a\npiece of divine embroidery, the divine fingers working in the threads of\nlight and the beads of stars; and when he grew up he wrote:\n\n\u201cWhen I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers.\u201d\n\nWhen he became an old man, thinking of the goodness of God, he seemed\nto hear again the bleating of his father\u2019s sheep across many years, and\nto think of the time when he tended them on the Bethlehem hills, and he\ncries out: \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd.\u201d\n\nThere is one scene in the life of David that you may not have pondered.\n\nYou have seen him with a harp, playing the devil out of Saul; with a\nsling, smashing the skull of Goliath; with a sword, hacking to pieces the\nPhilistines; with a scepter, ruling a vast realm; with a psalm, gathering\nall nations into doxology.\n\nBut now we have David playing the fool.\n\nHe has been anointed king, yet he is in exile and is passing incognito\namong the Gathites. They are beginning to suspect who he is, and they say:\n\n\u201cI wonder if this is not the warrior, King David? It looks like him. Is\nnot this the man about whom they used to make poetry, and about whom they\ncomposed a dance, so that the maidens of the city, reeling now on one\nfoot and now on the other, used to sing: \u2018Saul has slain his thousands,\nbut David has slain his tens of thousands\u2019? Yes, he is very much like\nDavid; he must be David; he is David.\u201d\n\nDavid, to escape their hands, pretends to be demented; and he said within\nhimself:\n\n\u201cIf I act crazily, then these people will not injure me. No one would be\nso much of a coward as to assault a madman.\u201d\n\nSo, one day, while these Gathites are watching King David with increased\nsuspicion, they see him standing by the door, running his hands\nmeaninglessly up and down the panels--scrabbling on the door as though he\nwould climb up, his mouth wide open, drooling like an infant.\n\nI suppose the boys of the streets threw missiles at him, but the sober\npeople of the town said:\n\n\u201cThis is not fair. Do you not see that he has lost his reason? Do not\ntouch this madman. Hands off! Hands off!\u201d\n\nSo David escaped. But what an exhibition he made of himself before all\nthe ages!\n\nThere was a majesty in King Lear\u2019s madness after Regan and Goneril, his\ndaughters, had persuaded him to banish their sister, Cordelia, and all\nthe friends of the drama have been thrilled with that spectacle.\n\nThe craziness of Meg Merrilies was weird and imposing, and formed the\nmost telling passage in Sir Walter Scott\u2019s \u201cGuy Mannering.\u201d\n\nThere was a fascination about the insanity of Alexander Cruden, who\nmade the best concordance of the Bible that the world ever saw--made it\nbetween the mad houses.\n\nBut there was nothing grand, nothing weird, nothing majestic, nothing\nsublime about this simulation on the part of David. Instead of trusting\nin the Lord, as he had trusted on other occasions, he gathers before\nhim a vast audience of all generations that were to come, and, standing\non that conspicuous stage of history, in view of all the ages, he\nimpersonates the slavering idiot.\n\nTaking the behavior of David as a suggestion, I wish to show you how\nmany of the wise, the brave and the regal sometimes play the fool. Those\nmen as badly play the fool as did David who, in any crisis of life, take\ntheir case out of the hand of God.\n\nDavid, in this case, acted as though there were no God to lift him out of\nthe predicament. What a contrast between his behavior, when this brave\nlittle man stood up in front of the giant ten feet in height, looking\ninto his face, and this time, when he debased himself and bedraggled his\nmanhood by affecting insanity in order that he might escape from the grip\nof the Gathites! In the one case, he played the hero; in the other case,\nhe played the fool.\n\nThere came a time when David fled from his pursuers. The world runs very\nfast when it is chasing a good man. The country is trying to catch David,\nand to slay him. David goes into the house of a priest, and asks him for\na sword or spear with which to defend himself.\n\nThe priest, not being accustomed to use deadly weapons, tells David\nthat he can not supply him; but suddenly the priest thinks of an old\nsword that had been carefully wrapped up and laid away--the very sword\nthat Goliath formerly used. He takes down that sword, and while he is\nunwrapping the sharp, glittering and memorable blade it flashes upon\nDavid\u2019s mind that this is the very sword that was used against himself\nwhen he was in the fight with Goliath, and David can hardly keep his hand\noff it until the priest has unwound it.\n\nDavid stretches out his hand toward that old sword, and says: \u201cThere is\nnone like it; give it me.\u201d In other words: \u201cI want in my own hand the\nsword that has been used against me, and against the cause of the Lord.\u201d\nSo it was given him.\n\nHere passes through these streets, as in imagination I see him, a\nwonderful man. Can it be that I am in the very city where lived and\nreigned David--conqueror, king and poet? David--great for power and great\nfor grief!\n\nHe was wrapped up in his boy, Absalom, who was a splendid boy, judged by\nthe rules of worldly criticism. From the crown of his head to the sole of\nhis foot there was not a single blemish. The Bible says that he had such\na luxuriant shock of hair that, when once a year it was shorn, what was\ncut off weighed over three pounds.\n\nBut, notwithstanding all his brilliancy of appearance, he was a bad\nboy, and broke his father\u2019s heart. He was plotting to get the throne of\nIsrael. He had marshaled an army to overthrow his father\u2019s government.\n\nThe day of battle had come; the conflict was begun. David, the father,\nsat between the gates of the palace, waiting for tidings of the conflict.\n\nOh, how rapidly his heart beat with emotion! Two great questions were to\nbe decided--the safety of his boy and the continuance of the throne of\nIsrael.\n\nAfter a while a servant, standing on the top of the house, looks off,\nand he sees some one running. He is coming with great speed, and the man\non top of the house announces the coming of the messenger.\n\nDavid watches and waits, and as soon as the messenger from the field\nof battle comes within hailing distance the father cries out. Is it a\nquestion in regard to the establishment of his throne? Does he say: \u201cHave\nthe armies of Israel been victorious? Am I to continue in my imperial\nauthority? Have I overthrown my enemies?\u201d Oh, no.\n\nThere is one question that springs from his heart to his lip, and springs\nfrom the lip into the ear of the besweated and bedusted messenger flying\nfrom the battle field--the question:\n\n\u201cIs the young man--Absalom--safe?\u201d\n\nWhen it was told to King David that, although his army had been\nvictorious, his son had been slain, the father turned his back upon the\ncongratulations of the nation, and went up the stairs of his palace, his\nheart breaking as he went, wringing his hands sometimes, and then again\npressing them against his temples, as though he would press them in,\ncrying:\n\n\u201cO Absalom! My son! My son! Would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom!\nMy son! My son!\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nStupendous grief of David, resounding through all succeeding ages!\n\n\nDEBORAH.\n\nA text of five words, and four of them one and the same, is found in the\nfifth chapter and twelfth verse of Judges: \u201cAwake, awake, Deborah; awake,\nawake!\u201d\n\nIt seems that the men of Israel had lost their courage. Trampled into the\ndust by their oppressors, the cowards had not spirit to rise.\n\nTheir vineyards destroyed, their women dishonored, their children slain,\nthe land was dying for a leader worthy of the cause.\n\nA holy woman by the name of Deborah saw the desolation, and, putting her\ntrust in the Lord, sounded the battle-cry, and by the help of General\nBarak launched into the plain ten thousand armed men.\n\nThe Canaanites, of course, came out with a larger force. They came out\nagainst Israel with nine hundred iron chariots, each of these iron\nchariots having attached to the sides of it long and sharp scythes, so\nthat when these engines of war were driven down to battle, each one of\nthe nine hundred was ready to cut two great swaths of death.\n\nBut, when God gives a mission to a woman, He also gives her strength and\ngrace to execute it.\n\nThe nine hundred iron chariots of the Canaanites could not save them.\nThey fly! They fly--horse and horseman, chariot and charioteer, officers\nand troops--in one wild and terrific overthrow. Sisera, their leader,\nis so frightened in the conflict that he can not wait until his team\nturns around. He leaps from the chariot and starts, full run, for the\nmountains.\n\nThen this epic of the text was composed to celebrate the grand womanly\ntriumph: \u201cAwake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake!\u201d\n\n\nDORCAS.\n\nImpressed as I am with the mosque at Joppa, the first I ever saw, and\nstirred as I am with the fact that this harbor once floated the great\nrafts of Lebanon cedar from which the Temple at Jerusalem was builded,\nSolomon\u2019s oxen drawing the logs through this very town on the way to\nJerusalem, nothing can make me forget that this Joppa was the birthplace\nof the sewing society that has blessed the poor of all succeeding ages in\nall lands.\n\nThe disasters to Joppa when Judas Maccab\u00e6us set it on fire and when\nNapoleon had five hundred prisoners massacred in this neighborhood can\nnot make me forget that one of the most magnificent charities of the\ncenturies was started in this seaport by Dorcas--a woman who with her\nneedle embroidered her name ineffaceably into the beneficence of the\nworld.\n\nI see her sitting in the village home. In the door way and around about\nthe building, and even in the room where she sits, are the pale faces of\nthe poor.\n\nShe listens to their plaint.\n\nShe pities their woe.\n\nShe makes garments for them, and she adjusts the manufactured articles to\nsuit the bent form of this invalid woman and to that cripple who comes\ncrawling upon his hands and knees. She gives a coat to this one and\nsandals to that one. With the gifts she mingles prayers and tears and\nChristian encouragement.\n\nThen she goes out to be greeted on the street corners by those whom\nshe has blessed, and all through the way of her walk the cry is heard:\n\u201cDorcas is coming!\u201d\n\nThe sick look up gratefully in her face as she puts a hand on the burning\nbrow, and the lost and the abandoned start up with hope as they hear her\ngentle voice, as though an angel had addressed them; and as she goes out\nthe lane, eyes half put out with sin think they see a halo of light about\nher brow and a trail of glory in her pathway.\n\nThat night a half-paid shipwright climbs the hill and reaches home. There\nhe sees his little boy well clad, and he asks: \u201cWhere did these clothes\ncome from?\u201d They tell him: \u201cDorcas has been here.\u201d\n\nIn another place, a woman is trimming a lamp; Dorcas brought the oil.\n\nIn another place, a family that had not been at table for many a week are\ngathered now, for Dorcas brought them bread.\n\nBut there is a sudden pause in that woman\u2019s ministry. They say: \u201cWhere is\nDorcas? Why, we have not seen her for many a day. Where is Dorcas?\u201d\n\nThen one of these poor people goes up and knocks at the door, and finds\nthe mystery solved. All through the haunts of wretchedness the news comes:\n\n\u201cDorcas is sick!\u201d\n\nNo bulletin flashing from the palace gate, telling the stages of a king\u2019s\ndisease, is more anxiously waited for than the news from this sick\nbenefactress. Alas for Joppa! There is weeping and wailing. That voice\nwhich has uttered so many cheerful words is now hushed; that hand which\nhad made so many garments for the poor is cold and still; that star which\nhad poured light into the midnight of wretchedness is dimmed by the\nblinding mists that go up from the river of death.\n\nIn every God-forsaken place in that town; wherever there is hunger and no\nbread; wherever there is guilt and no commiseration; wherever there is a\nbroken heart and no comfort--there are despairing looks, streaming eyes\nand frantic gesticulations as they cry:\n\n\u201cDorcas is dead!\u201d\n\nThey send for the apostle, Peter. He edges his way through the\ncrowd around the door, and stands in the presence of the dead. What\nexpostulation and grief all about him!\n\nHere stand some of the poor people, who show the garments which this good\nwoman had made for them. Their grief can not be appeased.\n\nPeter, the apostle, wants to perform a miracle. He will not perform\nit amid the excited crowd, so he kindly orders that the whole room be\ncleared. The door is shut against the populace.\n\nThe apostle stands now with the dead. Oh, it is a serious moment, you\nknow, when you are alone with a lifeless body! The apostle gets down\non his knees and prays, and then he comes to the lifeless form of this\none all ready for the sepulcher, and in the strength of Him who is the\nresurrection he exclaims:\n\n\u201cTabitha, arise!\u201d\n\nThere is a stir in the fountains of life; the heart flutters; the nerves\nthrill; the cheek flushes; the eye opens; she sits up!\n\nWe see in this subject Dorcas the disciple, Dorcas the benefactress,\nDorcas the lamented, Dorcas the resurrected.\n\nIf I had not seen that word disciple in my text, I yet would have known\nthis woman was a Christian. Such music as that never came from a heart\nwhich is not both chorded and strung by Divine grace.\n\nBefore I show you the needle-work of this woman, I want to show you\nher regenerated heart--the source of a pure life and of all Christian\ncharities.\n\nI wish that the wives and mothers and daughters and sisters of this\ncongregation would imitate Dorcas in her discipleship. Before you sit\nwith the Sabbath class, before you cross the threshold of the hospital,\nbefore you carry a pack of tracts down the street, before you enter upon\nthe temptations and trials of tomorrow, I charge you, in the name of God\nand by the turmoil and tumult of the Judgment Day, O women, that you\nattend to the first, last and greatest duty of your life--the seeking for\nGod and being at peace with Him.\n\nNow, by the courtesies of society, you are deferred to, and he were far\nless than a man who would not oblige you with kind attentions; but when\nthe trumpet shall sound, there will be an uproar, and a wreck of mountain\nand continent, and no human arm can help you. Amidst the rising of the\ndead, and amidst the boiling of the seat and amidst the live, leaping\nthunders of the flying heavens, there will be no chance for these\ncourtesies.\n\nBut, on that day, calm and placid will be every woman\u2019s heart who has\nput her trust in Christ; calm, notwithstanding all the tumult, as though\nthe fire in the heavens were only the gildings of an autumnal sunset--as\nthough the peal of the trumpet were only the harmony of an orchestra--as\nthough the awful voices of the sky were but a group of friends bursting\nthrough a gateway at eventime with laughter, and shouting: \u201cDorcas the\ndisciple!\u201d\n\nWould to God that every Mary and every Martha would this day sit down at\nthe feet of Jesus!\n\nFurther, we see Dorcas the benefactress.\n\nHistory has told the story of the crown; the epic poet has sung of the\nsword; the pastoral poet, with his verses full of the redolence of\nclover-tops and arustle with the silk of the corn, has sung the praises\nof the plow. I tell you the praises of the needle.\n\nFrom the fig-leaf robe prepared in the Garden of Eden to the last\nstitch taken last night on some garment for some church fair, the\nneedle has wrought wonders of kindness, generosity and benefaction. It\nadorned the girdle of the high priest; it fashioned the curtains in\nthe ancient Tabernacle; it cushioned the chariots of King Solomon; it\nprovided the robes of Queen Elizabeth; and in high places and in low\nplaces, by the fire of the pioneer\u2019s back-log and under the flash of the\nchandelier--everywhere, it has clothed nakedness, it has preached the\nGospel, it has overcome hosts of penury and want with the war-cry of:\n\u201cStitch, stitch, stitch!\u201d The operatives have found a livelihood by it,\nand through it the mansions of the employers have been constructed.\n\nAmidst the greatest triumphs in all ages and lands, I set down the\nconquests of the needle.\n\nI admit its crimes; I admit its cruelties. It has had more martyrs\nthan the fire; it has butchered more souls than the Inquisition; it\nhas punctured the eye; it has pierced the side; it has struck weakness\ninto the lungs; it has sent madness into the brain; it has filled the\npotter\u2019s field; it has pitched whole armies of the suffering into crime,\nwretchedness and woe.\n\nBut, now that I am talking of Dorcas and her ministries to the poor, I\nshall speak only of the charities of the needle.\n\nThis woman was a representative of all those women who make garments for\nthe destitute, who knit socks for the barefooted, who prepare bandages\nfor the lacerated, who fix up boxes of clothing for Western missionaries,\nwho go into the asylums of the suffering and destitute bearing that\nGospel which is sight for the blind and hearing for the deaf, and which\nmakes the lame man leap like a hart, and brings the dead to life with\nimmortal health bounding in their pulses.\n\nWhat a contrast between the practical benevolence of this woman and a\ngreat deal of the charity of this day!\n\nDorcas did not spend her time planning how the poor of Joppa were to be\nrelieved; she took her needle and relieved them. She was not like those\npersons who sympathize with imaginary sorrows, and go out in the street\nand laugh at the boy who has upset his basket of cold victuals; nor was\nshe like that charity which makes a rousing speech on the benevolent\nplatform, and goes out to kick the beggar from the step, crying: \u201cHush\nyour miserable howling!\u201d\n\nThe sufferers of the world want not so much theory as practice; not so\nmuch tears as dollars; not so much kind wishes as loaves of bread; not\nso much smiles as shoes; not so much \u201cGod bless yous!\u201d as jackets and\nfrocks. I will put one earnest Christian man, who is a hard worker,\nagainst five thousand mere theorists on the subject of charity.\n\nThere are a great many who have fine ideas about church architecture who\nnever in their lives helped to build a church. There are men who can give\nyou the history of Buddhism and Mohammedanism who never sent a farthing\nfor the evangelization of the adherents of those religions.\n\nThere are women who talk beautifully about the suffering in the world who\nnever had the courage, like that of Dorcas, to take up the needle and\nassault it.\n\nI am glad that there is not a page of the world\u2019s history which is not a\nrecord of feminine benevolence. God says to all lands and peoples: \u201cCome,\nnow, and hear the widow\u2019s mite rattle down into the poor-box.\u201d\n\nThe Princess of Conti sold all her jewels, that she might help the\nfamine-stricken. Queen Blanche, wife of Louis VIII. of France, hearing\nthat there were some persons unjustly incarcerated in the prisons, went\nout and took a stick and struck the door, as a signal that all might\nstrike it; and down went the prison door, and out came the prisoners.\nQueen Maud, the wife of Henry I., went down amidst the poor and\nwashed their sores, and administered to them cordials. Mrs. Retson, at\nMatagorda, appeared on the battle field while the missiles of death were\nflying around, and cared for the wounded.\n\nBut why go so far back? Why go so far away?\n\nIs there a man or woman in this house who has forgotten the women of the\nsanitary and Christian Commissions? Has any one forgotten that, before\nthe smoke had gone from Gettysburg and South Mountain, the women of the\nNorth met the women of the South on the battle field, forgetting all\ntheir animosities while they bound up the wounded and closed the eyes of\nthe slain? Have you forgotten Dorcas, the benefactress?\n\nI come now to speak of Dorcas the lamented. When death struck down that\ngood woman, oh, how much sorrow there was in Joppa!\n\nI suppose there were women living in Joppa possessing larger fortunes;\nwomen, perhaps, with more handsome faces; but there was no grief at their\ndeparture like this at the death of Dorcas. There was not more turmoil\nand upturning in the Mediterranean Sea, dashing against the wharves of\nthat seaport, than there were surgings to and fro of grief in Joppa\nbecause Dorcas was dead.\n\nThere are a great many who go out of life and are unmissed. There may be\na very large funeral; there may be a great many carriages and a plumed\nhearse; there may be high-sounding eulogiums; the bell may toll at the\ncemetery gate; there may be a very fine marble shaft reared over the\nresting place. But the whole thing may be a falsehood and a sham.\n\nBy this demise the Church of God has lost nothing; the world has lost\nnothing. It is only a nuisance abated; it is only a grumbler ceasing to\nfind fault; it is only an idler stopped yawning; it is only a dissipated\nfashionable parted from his wine cellar--while, on the other hand, no\nuseful Christian leaves this world without being missed. The Church\nof God cries out like the prophet: \u201cHowl, fir tree, for the cedar has\nfallen.\u201d Widowhood comes and shows the garments which the departed had\nmade. Orphans are lifted up to look into the calm face of the sleeping\nbenefactress. Reclaimed vagrancy comes and kisses the cold brow of her\nwho charmed it away from sin, and all through the streets of Joppa there\nis mourning--mourning because Dorcas is dead.\n\nI suppose you have read of the fact that when Josephine was carried out\nto her grave there were a great many men and women of pomp and pride and\nposition that went out after her; but I am most affected by the story of\nhistory that on that day there were ten thousand of the poor of France\nwho followed her coffin, weeping and wailing until the air rang again,\nbecause when they lost Josephine they lost their last earthly friend.\n\nOh, who would not rather have such obsequies than all the tears that were\never poured in the lachrymals that have been exhumed from ancient cities!\nThere may be no mass for the dead; there may be no costly sarcophagus;\nthere may be no elaborate mausoleum. But in the damp cellars of the\ncity, and through the lonely huts of the mountain glen, there will be\nmourning--mourning because Dorcas is dead.\n\nI speak to you of Dorcas the resurrected. The apostle came to where she\nwas, and said: \u201cArise!\u201d And \u201cshe sat up.\u201d In what a short compass the\ngreat writer put that: \u201cShe sat up!\u201d\n\nOh, what a time there must have been when the apostle brought her out\namong her old friends! How the tears of joy must have started! What\nclapping of hands there must have been! What singing! What laughter!\nSound it all through that lane! Shout it down that dark alley! Let all\nJoppa hear it! Dorcas is resurrected!\n\nYou and I have seen the same thing many a time--not a dead body\nresuscitated, but the deceased coming up again after death in the good\naccomplished. If a man labors up to fifty years of age, serving God, and\nthen dies, we are apt to think that his earthly work is done. No! His\ninfluence on Earth will continue till the world ceases. Services rendered\nfor Christ never stop.\n\nHere is a Christian woman. She toils for the upbuilding of a church\nthrough many anxieties, through many self-denials, with prayers and\ntears, and then she dies. It is fifteen years since she went away. Now\nthe Spirit of God descends upon that church; hundreds of souls stand up\nand confess the faith of Christ.\n\nHas that Christian woman, who went away fifteen years ago, nothing to do\nwith these things? I see the flowering out of her noble heart. I hear the\necho of her footsteps in all these songs over sins forgiven--in all the\nprosperity of the church. The good that seemed to be buried has come up\nagain. Dorcas is resurrected.\n\nAfter a while all these womanly friends of Christ will put down their\nneedles for ever. After making garments for others, some one will make a\ngarment for them; the last robe which we shall ever wear--the robe which\nis for the grave.\n\nYou will have heard the last cry of pain. You will have witnessed the\nlast orphanage. You will have come in worn out from your last round of\nmercy. I do not know where you will sleep, nor what your epitaph will\nbe; but there will be a lamp burning at that tomb and an angel of God\nguarding it, and through all the long night no rude foot will disturb the\ndust. Sleep on--sleep on! Soft bed, pleasant shadows, undisturbed repose!\nSleep on!\n\n\nEHUD.\n\nEhud was a ruler in Israel. He was left-handed, and, what was peculiar\nabout the tribe of Benjamin, to which he belonged, there were in it seven\nhundred left-handed men; and yet, so dextrous had they all become in the\nuse of the left hand, the Bible says they could sling stones at a hair\u2019s\nbreadth and not miss.\n\nWell, there was a king by the name of Eglon, who was an oppressor of\nIsrael. He imposed upon them an outrageous tax.\n\nEhud, the man of whom I first spoke, had a divine commission to destroy\nthat oppressor. He came, pretending that he was going to pay the tax, and\nasked to see King Eglon. He was told the king was in the Summer house,\nthe place to which his majesty retired when the heat was too great to\nsit in the palace. This Summer house was a place surrounded by flowers,\nspringing fountains and trees--the latter filled with warbling birds.\n\nEhud entered the Summer house, and said to King Eglon that he had a\nsecret errand with him. Immediately all the attendants were waved out of\nthe royal presence. King Eglon rises up to receive the messenger. Ehud,\nthe left-handed man, puts his left hand to his right side, pulls out a\ndagger, and thrusts Eglon through until the haft went in after the blade.\nEglon falls.\n\nEhud comes forth to blow a trumpet of right amidst the mountains of\nEphraim; and a great host is marshaled, and proud Moab submits to the\nconqueror, and Israel is free.\n\nI learn first, from this subject, the power of left-handed men. There are\nmen who, by physical organization, have as much strength in their left\nhand as in their right hand; but there is something in the writing of the\nfifteenth verse of the third chapter of Judges that implies Ehud had some\ndefect in his right hand, which compelled him to use the left.\n\nOh, the power of left-handed men! Genius is often self-observant,\ncareful of itself, not given to much toil, burning incense to its own\naggrandizement; while many a man, with no natural endowments, actually\ndefective in physical and mental organization, has an earnestness for the\nright, a patient industry, an all-consuming perseverance, which achieve\nmarvels for the kingdom of the Lord. Though left-handed as Ehud, they can\nstrike down a sin as imperial as Eglon.\n\nBut I do not suppose that Ehud, the first time he took a sling in his\nleft hand, could throw a stone a hair\u2019s breadth, and not miss. I suppose\nit was practice that gave him the wonderful dexterity.\n\nGo forth to your spheres of duty, and do not be discouraged if, in your\nfirst attempts, you miss the mark. Ehud missed it.\n\n\nESAU.\n\nEsau had the birthright given him.\n\nIn the olden times this meant not only temporal but spiritual blessing.\n\nOne day Esau took this birthright and traded it off for something to eat.\nOh, the folly! But let us not be too severe upon him, for some of us have\ncommitted the same folly.\n\nAfter Esau had thus parted with his birthright, he wanted to get it back.\nJust as though you, tomorrow morning, should take all your notes and\nbonds and government securities, and should go into a restaurant, and\nin a fit of restlessness and hunger throw all those securities on the\ncounter and ask for a plate of food, making that exchange.\n\nThis was the exchange Esau made.\n\nHe sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and he was very sorry about\nit afterward; but \u201che found no place for repentance, though he sought it\ncarefully with tears.\u201d\n\nThere are sins which, though they may be pardoned, are in some respects\nirrevocable; and you can find no place for repentance, though you seek it\ncarefully with tears. After wasting forty years, you can not get back the\nneglected advantages of boyhood and youth.\n\n\nFELIX AND DRUSILLA.\n\nA city of marble was Cesarea--wharves of marble, houses of marble,\ntemples of marble. This being the ordinary architecture of the place, you\nmay well imagine something of the splendor of Governor Felix\u2019s residence.\n\nIn a room of that palace--floor tesselated, windows curtained, ceiling\nfretted, the whole scene affluent with Tyrian purple, and statues, and\npictures, and carvings--sat a very dark-complexioned man by the name of\nFelix, and beside him sat a woman of extraordinary beauty, whom he had\nstolen by breaking up another\u2019s domestic circle.\n\nShe was only eighteen years of age, a princess by birth, and unwittingly\nwaiting for her doom--that of being buried alive in the ashes and scoria\nof Mount Vesuvius, which in sudden eruption, one day, put an end to her\nabominations.\n\nWell, one afternoon Drusilla, seated in the palace, weary with the\nmagnificent stupidities of the place, says to Felix:\n\n\u201cYou have a very distinguished prisoner, I believe, by the name of Paul.\nDo you know he is one of my countrymen? I should very much like to see\nhim, and I should very much like to hear him speak, for I have heard so\nmuch about his eloquence.\n\n\u201cBesides that, the other day, when he was being tried in another room of\nthis palace, and the windows were open, I heard the applause that greeted\nthe speech of Lawyer Tertullus, as he denounced Paul. Now, I very much\nwish I could hear Paul speak. Won\u2019t you let me hear him speak?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Felix, \u201cI will. I will order him up now from the guard room.\u201d\n\nThe clank of a chain is heard coming up the marble stairway, there is a\nshuffle at the door, and in comes Paul--a little old man, prematurely old\nthrough exposure--only sixty years of age, but looking as though he were\neighty.\n\nPaul bows very courteously before Governor Felix and the beautiful woman\nby his side. They say:\n\n\u201cPaul, we have heard a great deal about your speaking. Give us, now, a\nspecimen of your eloquence.\u201d\n\nOh, if there ever was a chance for a man to show off, Paul had a chance\nthere!\n\nHe might have harangued them about Grecian art, about the wonderful\nwater-works which he had seen at Corinth, about the Acropolis by\nmoonlight, about prison life in Philippi, about \u201cWhat I Saw in\nThessalonica,\u201d or about the old mythologies.\n\nBut, instead, Paul said to himself: \u201cI am now on the way to martyrdom,\nand this man and woman will soon be dead; so this is my only opportunity\nto talk to them about the things of eternity.\u201d\n\nAnd, just there and then, there broke in upon the scene a peal of\nthunder. It was the voice of Judgment Day speaking through the words of\nthe decrepit apostle. As the grand old missionary proceeded with his\nremarks, the stoop begins to go out of his shoulders, and he rises up,\nand his countenance is illumined with the glories of a future life, and\nhis shackles rattle and grind as he lifts his fettered arm, and with it\nhurls upon his abashed auditors the bolts of God\u2019s indignation.\n\nFelix grew very white about the lips. His heart beat unevenly. He put his\nhand to his brow, as though to stop the quickness and violence of his\nthoughts. He drew his robe tighter about him, as under a sudden chill.\nHis eyes glare and his knees shake, and, as he clutches the side of his\nchair in a very paroxysm of terror, he orders the sheriff to take Paul\nback to the guard room.\n\n\u201cFelix trembled, and said: \u2018Go thy way for this time; when I have a\nconvenient season, I will call for thee.\u2019\u201d\n\nI propose to give you two or three reasons why I think Felix sent Paul\nback to the guard room and adjourned this whole subject of religion.\n\nThe first reason was: He was unwilling to give up his sins. He looked\naround; there was Drusilla. He knew that, when he became a Christian, he\nmust send her back to Azizus, her lawful husband; and he said to himself:\n\u201cI will risk the destruction of my immortal soul sooner than I will do\nthat.\u201d\n\nDelilah sheared the locks of Samson; Salome danced Herod into the pit;\nDrusilla blocked up the way to Heaven for Felix.\n\nAnother reason why Felix sent Paul back to the guard room and adjourned\nthis subject was: He was so very busy. In ordinary times he found the\naffairs of state absorbing, but those were extraordinary times. The whole\nland was ripe for insurrection. The Sicarii, a band of assassins, were\nalready prowling around the palace, and I suppose he thought: \u201cI can not\nattend to religion while I am so pressed by affairs of state.\u201d It was\nbusiness, among other things, that ruined his soul.\n\nAye, with thousands of the present day, it is the annoyance of the\nkitchen, and the sitting room and the parlor--the wearing economy of\ntrying to meet large expenses with a small income. Ten thousand voices of\n\u201cbusiness\u201d drown the voice of the Eternal Spirit.\n\n\nGALLERY OF CHARACTERS.\n\nI see the Gallery of the Prophets and Apostles.\n\nWho are those mighty ones up yonder? Hosea, Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah,\nPaul, Peter, John and James.\n\nThere sits Noah, waiting for all the world to come into the ark.\n\nMoses is waiting till the last Red Sea shall divide.\n\nJeremiah is waiting for the Jews to return.\n\nJohn of the Apocalypse is waiting for the swearing of the angel that Time\nshall be no longer.\n\nGlorious spirits! Ye were howled at; ye were stoned; ye were spit upon.\nThey have been in this fight themselves, and they are all with us. Daniel\nknows all about lions. Paul fought with beasts at Ephesus. For Joseph, a\npit; for Daniel, a wild beast den; for David, dethronement and exile; for\nJohn the Baptist, a wilderness diet and the executioner\u2019s ax; for Peter,\na prison; for Paul, shipwreck; for John, desolate Patmos; for Vashti,\nmost insulting cruelty.\n\nIn that gallery, prophetic and apostolic, they can not keep their peace.\nDaniel cries out: \u201cThy God will deliver thee from the mouth of the\nlions!\u201d David exclaims: \u201cHe will not suffer thy foot to be moved.\u201d Isaiah\ncalls out: \u201cFear not! I am with thee. Be not dismayed.\u201d Paul exclaims:\n\u201cVictory through our Lord Jesus Christ!\u201d\n\nI see the Angelic Gallery. There they are. There is the angel that swung\nthe sword at the gate of Eden, the same whom Ezekiel saw upholding\nthe throne of God, and from which I look away, for the splendor is\ninsufferable. Here are the guardian angels. That one watched a patriarch;\nthis one protected a child. That one has been pulling a soul out of\ntemptation. All these are messengers of light. Those drove the Spanish\nArmada on the rocks. This turned Sennacherib\u2019s living hosts into a heap\nof one hundred and eighty-five thousand corpses. Those, yonder, chanted\nthe Christmas carol over Bethlehem, until the chant awoke the shepherds.\nThese, at Creation, stood in the balcony of Heaven, and serenaded the\nnew-born world wrapped in swaddling clothes of light.\n\nAnd there, holier and mightier than all, is Michael, the archangel.\nTo command an earthly host gives dignity; but this one is leader of\nthe twenty thousand chariots of God, and of the ten thousand times ten\nthousand angels.\n\nI think God gives command to the archangel, and the archangel to the\nseraphim, and the seraphim to the cherubim, until all the lower orders of\nHeaven hear the command and go forth on the high behest.\n\n\nGIDEON.\n\nThe seventh chapter of the Book of Judges contains a detailed report of\nthe strangest battle ever fought.\n\nGod had told Gideon to go down and thrash the Midianites, but his army\nis too large; for the glory must be given to God, and not to man. And so\nproclamation is made that all those of the troops who are cowardly, and\nwant to go home, may go; and twenty-two thousand of them scampered away,\nleaving only ten thousand men.\n\nBut God says the army is too large yet; and so He orders these ten\nthousand remaining to march down through a stream, and commands Gideon\nto notice in what manner these men drink of the water as they pass\nthrough it. If they get down on all-fours and drink, then they are to\nbe pronounced lazy and incompetent for the campaign; but if, in passing\nthrough the stream, they scoop up the water in the palm of the hand and\ndrink, and pass on, they are to be the men selected for the battle.\n\nWell, the ten thousand men march down into the stream, and the most of\nthem come down on all-fours, and plunge their mouths, like a horse or\nan ox, into the water and drink; but there are three hundred men who,\ninstead of stooping, just dip the palm of their hands in the water and\nbring it to their lips--\u201clapping as the dog lappeth.\u201d\n\nThose three hundred brisk, rapid and enthusiastic men are chosen for the\ncampaign. They are each to take a trumpet in the right hand and a pitcher\nin the left hand, and a lamp inside the pitcher; and then at a given\nsignal they are to blow the trumpets, throw down the pitchers and hold up\nthe lamps. So it was done.\n\nIt is night. I see a great host of Midianites, sound asleep in the valley\nof Jezreel.\n\nGideon comes up with his three hundred picked men, and when every thing\nis ready the signal is given, and they blow the trumpets, throw down the\npitchers and hold up the lamps.\n\nThe great host of Midianites, waking out of a sound sleep, take the\ncrash of the crockery and the glare of the lamps for the coming on of an\noverwhelming foe; and they run, and cut themselves to pieces, and most\nhorribly perish.\n\nThe lessons of this subject are very spirited and impressive. This\nseemingly valueless lump of quartz has the pure gold in it. The smallest\ndewdrop on the meadow at night has a star sleeping in its bosom, and the\nmost insignificant passage of Scripture has in it a shining truth. God\u2019s\nmint coins no small change.\n\n\nHEZEKIAH.\n\nLuxurious living is not healthy. The second generation of kings and\nqueens and of lords and princes is apt to be brainless and invalid.\n\nThe second crop of grass is almost always short.\n\nRoyal blood is generally scrofulous. You will not be surprised, then, to\nhear that King Hezekiah had disorders which broke out in a carbuncle,\nvirulent and deathful. The Lord told him he must die.\n\nBut Hezekiah did not want to die. He turned his face to the wall, so that\nhis prayer would not be interrupted, and cried to God for his life.\n\nGod heard the prayer and answered it, saying: \u201cBehold, I will heal thee.\u201d\nBut there was human instrumentality to be employed.\n\nThis carbuncle needed a cataplasm. That is a tough word that we use to\nshow how much we know. If in the pulpit we always used words the people\nunderstood, we never should have any reputation for learning.\n\nWell, this carbuncle needed a cataplasm, which is a poultice. Your old\nmother, who doctored her own children in the time when physicians were\nnot as plentiful as they are now, will tell you that the very best\npoultice is a fig, and that was what was used upon the carbuncle of King\nHezekiah. The power of God, accompanied by this human instrumentality,\ncured the king.\n\nIn this age of discovery, when men know so much it kills them, and write\nso wisely it almost kills us, it has been found out that prayer to God is\na dead failure. All things are arranged according to inexorable law.\n\nAh, my friends, have we been so mistaken? Does God hear and answer\nprayer, or does He not? Why come out with a challenge in this day, and an\nexperiment, when we have here the very experiment?\n\nHezekiah was sick unto death; he prayed for his life; God heard him, and\nadded fifteen years to that lifetime. The prayer saved him, the lump of\nfigs applied being merely the God-appointed human instrumentality.\n\n\nJEHOIAKIM.\n\nWe look in upon a room in Jerusalem. Two men are there.\n\nAt the table sits Baruch, the scribe, with a roll of parchment and an\niron pen in his hand. The other man is walking the floor, as if strangely\nagitated.\n\nThere is an unearthly appearance about his countenance, and his whole\nframe quakes as if pressed upon by something unseen and supernal.\n\nThis is Jeremiah, in the spirit of prophecy. Being too much excited to\nwrite with his own hands the words that the Almighty pours upon his mind\nabout the coming destruction of Jerusalem, he dictates to Baruch, the\nscribe. It is a seething, scalding, burning denunciation of Jehoiakim,\nthe king, and a prophecy of approaching disasters.\n\nOf course, King Jehoiakim hears of the occurrence, and he sends Jehudi to\nobtain the parchment and read its contents.\n\nIt is winter. Jehoiakim is sitting in his comfortable winter house, by\na fire that glows upon the hearth and lights up the faces of the lords,\nprinces and senators who have gathered to hear the reading of the strange\ndocument.\n\nSilence is ordered. The royal circle bend forward to listen. Every eye is\nfixed.\n\nJehudi unrolls the book gleaming with the words of God, and as he reads\nJehoiakim frowns; his eye kindles; his cheek burns; his foot comes down\nwith thundering indignation.\n\nKing Jehoiakim snatches the book from Jehudi\u2019s hand, feels for his knife,\ncrumples up the book, and goes to work cutting it up with his penknife.\nThus God\u2019s book was permanently destroyed, and the king escaped.\n\nWas it destroyed?\n\nDid Jehoiakim escape?\n\nIn a little while King Jehoiakim\u2019s dead body is hurled forth to blacken\nin the sun, and the only epitaph that he ever had was that which Jeremiah\nwrote:\n\n\u201cBuried with the burial of an ass.\u201d\n\nTo restore the book which was destroyed, Baruch again takes his seat at\nthe table, while Jeremiah walks the floor and again dictates the terrible\nprophecy.\n\nIt would take more penknives than cutler ever sharpened to hew into\npermanent destruction the Word of God. He who shoots at this eternal rock\nwill feel the bullet rebound into his own torn and lacerated bosom.\n\nWhen the Almighty goes forth armed with the thunderbolts of His power, I\npity any Jehoiakim who attempts to fight Him with a penknife.\n\nThat Oriental scene has vanished, but it has often been repeated. There\nare thousands of Jehoiakims yet alive who cut the Word of God with their\npenknives.\n\nKing Jehoiakim showed as much indignity toward the scroll when he cut one\nway as when he cut the other. You might as well behead Moses as to behead\nJonah. Yes, Sir, I shall take all of the Bible or none. Men laugh at us\nas if we were the most gullible people in the world for believing in the\ngenuineness of the Scriptures; but there can be no doubt that the Bible,\nas we have it, is the same--no more, no less--as God wrote it.\n\nAs to the books of the New Testament, the great writers of the different\ncenturies give complete catalogs of their contents. Polycarp, Ignatius\nand Clemens Romanus, in the first century, give a catalog of the New\nTestament books; Tertullian and Justin Martyr, in the second century;\nCyprian and Origen, in the third century; Augustine, Jerome and Eusebius,\nin the fourth century. Their catalogs of the different books of the New\nTestament silence the suggestion that any new books could have been\nstealthily put in.\n\nAs to the books of the Old Testament, Christ sanctioned them by\nrecommending them to the Jews. If any part of the Old Testament had\nbeen uninspired, Christ would have said: \u201cSearch the Scriptures--all\nexcept that Book of Jonah,\u201d or \u201cSearch the Scriptures, except the Book\nof Esther.\u201d When Christ commends to all the canon of the Old Testament\nScriptures, He affirms its genuineness.\n\nThere never could have been any interpolations in the Bible, for the Jews\nwere constantly watching, and there were men whose lifetime business it\nwas to attend to the keeping of the Scriptures unadulterated.\n\n\nJEHU.\n\nJoram, wounded in battle, lies in a hospital at Jezreel. The watchman,\nstanding in the tower, looks off and sees against the sky horsemen and\nchariots.\n\nA messenger is sent out to find who is coming, but he does not return.\nAnother messenger is sent, but with the same result.\n\nThe watchman, standing in the tower, looks off upon the advancing troop,\nand gets more and more excited, wondering who are coming. But long before\nthe cavalcade comes up, the matter is decided.\n\nThe watchman can not descry the features of the fast approaching man, but\nhe exclaims:\n\n\u201cI have found out who he is. The driving is like the driving of Jehu, the\nson of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.\u201d\n\nBy the flash of that one sentence we discover Jehu\u2019s character. He came\nwith such speed not merely because he had an errand to do, but because\nhe was urged on by a headlong disposition, which had won him the name of\na reckless driver, even among the watchmen. The chariot plunges until\nyou almost expect the wheels to crash under it, or some of the princely\nparty to be thrown out, or the horses to become utterly unmanageable. But\nhe always goes so; and he becomes a type of that class of persons to be\nfound in all communities, who in worldly and in religious affairs may be\nstyled reckless drivers.\n\nTo this same class belong all those who conduct their worldly affairs\nin a headlong way, without any regard to prudence or righteousness. The\nminister of Christ does not do his whole duty who does not plainly and\nunmistakably bring the Gospel face to face with every style of business\ntransaction. We have a right, in a Christian manner, to point out those\nwho, year by year, are jeopardizing not only their welfare, but the\ninterests of many others, by reckless driving.\n\nAs a hackman, having lost control of a flying span, is apt to crash\ninto other vehicles, until the property and lives of a whole street are\nendangered, so a man driving his worldly calling with such loose reins\nthat, after a while, it will not answer his voice or hand, puts in peril\nthe commercial interests of scores or hundreds.\n\nThere are today in our midst many of our best citizens who have come down\nfrom affluence into straitened circumstances, because there was a partner\nin their firm, or a cashier in their bank, or an agent representing their\nhouse, or one of their largest creditors, who, like Jehu, the son of\nNimshi, was a furious driver.\n\nWhen I see in the community men with large incomes, but larger outgoes,\nrushing into wildest undertakings, their pockets filled with circulars\nabout gold to be found in Canada and lead in Missouri and fortunes of\nall sorts everywhere, launching out in expenditures to be met with the\nthousands they expect to make, and with derision dashing across the path\nof sober men depending upon their industry and honor for success, I say:\n\u201cHere he comes, the son of Nimshi, driving furiously.\u201d\n\nWhen I see a young man, not content gradually to come to a competency,\ncareless as to how often he goes upon credit, spending in one night\u2019s\ncarousal a month\u2019s salary, taking the few hundred dollars given him for\ngetting a start in the purchase of a regal wardrobe, lazy or ashamed to\nwork, anxious only for display, regardless of his father\u2019s counsel and\nthe example of the thousands who, in a short while, have wrecked body,\nmind and soul in scheming or dissipation, I say: \u201cHere he comes, the son\nof Nimshi, driving furiously.\u201d\n\nWhen this world gets full power over a man, he might as well be dead. He\nis dead! When Sisera came into the house of Jael, she gave him something\nto drink, and got him asleep on the floor. Then she took a peg from the\nside of her tent, and with a mallet she drove the peg through the brain\nof Sisera into the floor. So the world feeds and flatters a man, and when\nit has him sound asleep it strikes his life out.\n\n\nJESUS AT EMMAUS.\n\nTwo villagers, having concluded their errand in Jerusalem, have started\nout at the city gate, and are on their way to Emmaus, the place of their\nresidence.\n\nThey go with a sad heart. Jesus, who had been their admiration and their\njoy, had been basely massacred and entombed.\n\nAs with sad face and broken heart they pass on their way, a stranger\naccosts them. They tell him their anxieties and bitterness of soul. He,\nin turn, talks to them, mightily expounding the Scriptures. He throws\nover them the fascination of intelligent conversation. They forget the\ntime, and notice not the objects they pass, and, before they are aware,\nhave come up in front of their house.\n\nThey pause before the entrance, and attempt to persuade the stranger\nto tarry with them. They press upon him their hospitalities. Night is\ncoming on, and he may meet a prowling wild beast, or be obliged to lie\nunsheltered from the dew. He can not go much farther now. Why not stop\nthere, and continue their pleasant conversation? They take him by the\narm, and they insist on his coming in, addressing him in the words:\n\u201cAbide with us; for it is toward evening.\u201d\n\nThe candles are lighted. The tables are spread. Pleasant sociabilities\nare enkindled. They rejoice in the presence of the stranger guest. He\nasks a blessing upon the bread they eat, and he hands a piece of it to\neach.\n\nSuddenly, and with overwhelming power, the thought flashes upon the\nastonished people: \u201cHe is the Lord!\u201d And as they sat in breathless\nwonder, looking upon the resurrected body of Jesus, He vanished. The\ninterview was ended. He was gone.\n\nThe journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus will soon be ended. Our Bible, our\ncommon sense and our observation reiterate this fact in tones that we can\nnot mistake, and which we ought not to disregard.\n\n\nJOB.\n\nJob had it hard. What with boils and bereavements and bankruptcy, and a\nfool of a wife, he wished he was dead; and I do not blame him.\n\nHis flesh was gone, and his bones were dry. His teeth wasted away until\nnothing but the enamel seemed left. He cried out: \u201cI am escaped with the\nskin of my teeth.\u201d\n\nThere has been some difference of opinion about this passage. St. Jerome\nand Schultens and Doctors Good, Poole and Barnes have all tried their\nforceps on Job\u2019s teeth. You deny my interpretation, and ask: \u201cWhat did\nJob know about the enamel of the teeth?\u201d\n\nHe knew every thing about it. Dental surgery is almost as old as the\nEarth. The mummies of Egypt, thousands of years old, are found today with\ngold filling in their teeth. Ovid, Horace, Solomon and Moses wrote about\nthese important factors of the body.\n\nTo other provoking complaints, I think Job had added an exasperating\ntoothache, and, putting his hand against the inflamed face, he said: \u201cI\nam escaped with the skin of my teeth.\u201d\n\nA very narrow escape, you say, for Job\u2019s body and soul; but there are\nthousands of men who make just as narrow escape for their soul. There was\na time when the partition between them and ruin was no thicker than a\ntooth\u2019s enamel; but, as Job finally escaped, so, thank God, have they.\n\nPaul expresses the same idea by a different figure when he says that some\npeople are \u201csaved as by fire.\u201d\n\nA vessel at sea is in flames. You go to the stern of the vessel. The\nboats have shoved off. The flames advance; you can no longer endure the\nheat on your face. You slide down on the side of the vessel, and hold on\nwith your fingers, until the forked tongue of the fire begins to lick\nthe back of your hand, and you feel that you must fall, when one of the\nlife-boats comes back, and the passengers say they think they have room\nfor one more. The boat swings under you--you drop into it--you are saved.\n\nSo some men are pursued by temptation until they are partially consumed,\nbut, after all, get off--\u201csaved as by fire.\u201d\n\nBut I like the figure of Job a little better than that of Paul. With\nGod\u2019s help, some men do make narrow escape for their souls, and are saved\nas \u201cwith the skin of their teeth.\u201d\n\n\nJONAH.\n\nGod told Jonah to go to Nineveh on an unpleasant errand. He would not go.\nHe thought to get away from his duty by putting to sea.\n\nWith pack under his arm, I find him on his way to Joppa, a seaport. He\ngoes down among the shipping, and says to the men lying around on the\ndocks: \u201cWhich of these vessels sails today?\u201d\n\nA sailor answers: \u201cYonder is a vessel going to Tarshish. I think, if you\nhurry, you may get on board her.\u201d\n\nJonah steps on board the rough craft, asks how much the fare is, and\npays it. Anchor is weighed, sails are hoisted, and the rigging begins to\nrattle in the strong breeze of the Mediterranean.\n\nJoppa is an exposed harbor, and it does not take long for a vessel to\nget out on the broad sea. The sailors like what they call a \u201cspanking\nbreeze,\u201d and the plunge of the vessel from the crest of a tall wave is\nexhilarating to those who are at home on the deep.\n\nBut the strong breeze becomes a gale--the gale a hurricane. The\naffrighted passengers ask the captain if he ever saw any thing like this\nbefore. He answers:\n\n\u201cOh, yes. This is nothing.\u201d\n\nMariners are slow to admit danger to landsmen.\n\nBut, after a while, \u201ccrash!\u201d goes the mast, and the vessel pitches so far\n\u201ca-beam\u2019s-end\u201d that there is a fear she will not be righted. The captain\nanswers few questions, but orders the throwing out of boxes and bundles\nand so much of the cargo as they can get at.\n\nAt last, the captain confesses there is but little hope, and he tells\nthe passengers they had better begin praying. It is seldom that a sea\ncaptain is an Atheist. He knows there is a God, for he has seen Him at\nevery point of latitude and longitude between Sandy Hook and Queenstown.\nCaptain Moody, commanding the Cuba, of the Cunard line, at Sunday service\nled the music and sang like a Methodist.\n\nThe captain of this Mediterranean craft, having set the passengers to\npraying, goes around the vessel, examining it at every point. He descends\ninto the cabin to see whether, in the strong wrestling of the waves, the\nvessel has sprung a leak, and he finds Jonah asleep.\n\nJonah had had a wearisome tramp, and had spent many sleepless nights\nabout questions of duty, and he is so sound asleep that all the thunder\nof the storm and all the screaming of the passengers disturb him not.\n\nThe captain lays hold of him, and begins to shake him out of his\nunconsciousness with the cry: \u201cDon\u2019t you see that we are all going to the\nbottom? Wake up and go to praying, if you have any God to go to. What\nmeanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God--if so be that God\nwill think upon us--that we perish not.\u201d\n\nThe remainder of the story I will not rehearse, for you know it well. To\nappease the sea, they threw Jonah overboard.\n\nThe devil takes a man\u2019s money, and then sets him down in a poor landing\nplace. The Bible says Jonah paid his fare to Tarshish. But see him get\nout. The sailors bring him to the side of the ship, lift him over \u201cthe\nguards,\u201d and let him drop with a loud splash into the waves. He paid his\nfare all the way to Tarshish, but he did not get the worth of his money.\nNeither does any one who turns his back on his duty and does that which\nis not right.\n\nThe worst sinner on shipboard, considering the light he had, was Jonah.\nHe was a member of the Church, while they were heathen. The sailors\nwere engaged in their lawful calling--following the sea. The merchants\non board, I suppose, were going down to Tarshish to barter. But Jonah,\nnotwithstanding his Christian profession, was flying from duty. He was\nsound asleep in the cabin. Oh, how could the sinner sleep?\n\nIf Jonah had been told, one year before, that any heathen sea captain\nwould ever waken him to a sense of danger, he would have scoffed at the\nidea; but here it is done. So now--men in strangest ways are aroused from\nspiritual stupor.\n\nIf, instead of sleeping, Jonah had been on his knees confessing his sins\nfrom the time when he went on board the craft, I think God would have\nsaved him from being thrown overboard. But he woke up too late. The\ntempest is in full blast, the sea is lashing itself into convulsions,\nand nothing will stop it now but the overthrow of Jonah. So Jonah was\ncast overboard.\n\n\nJOSEPH.\n\nThe Egyptian capital was the focus of the world\u2019s wealth. In ships and\nbarges, there had been brought to it: From India, frankincense, cinnamon,\nivory and diamonds; from the North, marble and iron; from Syria, purple\nand silk; from Greece, some of the finest horses of the world and some\nof the most brilliant chariots; and from all the Earth, that which could\nbest please the eye, charm the ear and gratify the taste.\n\nThere were temples aflame with red sandstone, entered by gateways that\nwere guarded by pillars bewildering with hieroglyphics, wound with brazen\nserpents and adorned with winged creatures--their eyes, beaks and pinions\nglittering with precious stones.\n\nThere were marble columns blooming into white flower buds; there were\nstone pillars, at the top bursting into the shape of the lotus when in\nfull bloom.\n\nAlong the avenues--lined with sphinx, fane and obelisk--there were\nprinces who came in gorgeously upholstered palanquin, carried by servants\nin scarlet, or else were drawn by vehicles, the snow-white horses,\ngolden-bitted and six abreast, dashing at full run.\n\nThere were fountains from stone-wreathed vases climbing the ladders of\nthe light. You would hear a bolt shove, and a door of brass would open\nlike a flash of the sun. The surrounding gardens were saturated with\nodors that mounted the terrace, dripped from the arbors and burned their\nincense in the Egyptian noon.\n\nOn the floors of mosaic the glories of Pharaoh were spelled out in\nletters of porphyry, beryl and flame. There were ornaments twisted from\nthe wood of the tamarisk, embossed with silver breaking into foam. There\nwere footstools made out of a single precious stone. There were beds\nfashioned out of a crouched lion in bronze. There were chairs spotted\nwith the sleek hide of the leopard. There were sofas footed with the\nclaws of wild beasts, and armed with the beaks of birds.\n\nAs you stand on the level beach of the sea on a Summer day, and look each\nway, there are miles of breakers, white with the ocean foam, dashing\nshoreward; so it seemed as if the sea of the world\u2019s pomp and wealth\nin the Egyptian capital for miles and miles flung itself up into white\nbreakers of marble temple, mausoleum and obelisk.\n\nThis was the place where Joseph, the shepherd boy, was called to stand\nnext to Pharaoh in honor.\n\nWhat a contrast between this scene and his humble starting--between this\nscene and the pit into which his brothers threw him! Yet Joseph was not\nforgetful of his early home; he was not ashamed of where he came from.\n\nThe bishop of Mentz, descended from a wheelwright, covered his house\nwith spokes, hammers and wheels; and the king of Sicily, in honor of\nhis father, who was a potter, refused to drink out of any thing but an\nearthen vessel.\n\nSo Joseph was not ashamed of his early surroundings, or of his\nold-time father, or of his brothers. When the latter came up from the\nfamine-stricken land to get corn from the Egyptian king\u2019s corn crib,\nJoseph, instead of chiding them for the way they had maltreated and\nabused him, sent them back with wagons, which King Pharaoh furnished,\nladen with corn; and old Jacob, the father, was brought back in the\nvery same wagons, that Joseph, the son, might see him and give him a\ncomfortable home all the rest of his days.\n\nWell, I hear the wagons, the king\u2019s wagons, rumbling down in front of the\npalace. On the outside of the palace, to see the wagons depart, stands\nPharaoh in royal robes; and beside him stands Prime Minister Joseph,\nwith a chain of gold around his neck, and on his hand a ring given by\nPharaoh to him, so that any time he wanted to stamp the royal seal upon a\ndocument he could do so conveniently.\n\nWagon after wagon rolls on down from the palace, laden with corn, meat,\nchanges of raiment and every thing that could aid a famine-stricken\npeople.\n\nI see aged Jacob, one day, seated in the front of his house. He is\nprobably thinking of his absent boys (for sons, however old they get, are\nnever to a father any more than boys); and while he is seated there, he\nsees dust arising, and he hears wagons rumbling, and he wonders what is\ncoming now, for the whole land had been smitten with the famine, and was\nin silence.\n\nBut after a while the wagons have come near enough, and he sees his sons\non the wagons, and before they come quite up, they shout:\n\n\u201cJoseph is yet alive!\u201d\n\nThe old man faints dead away. I do not wonder at it. The boys now tell\nthe story how that the boy, the long-absent Joseph, has got to be the\nfirst man in the Egyptian palace.\n\nWhile they unload the wagons, the wan and wasted creatures in the\nneighborhood come up and ask for a handful of corn, and they are\nsatisfied.\n\nOne day the wagons are brought up, for Jacob, the old father, is about to\ngo to see Joseph in the Egyptian palace.\n\nYou know, it is not a very easy thing to transplant an old tree; and\nJacob has hard work to get away from the place where he has lived so\nlong. He finally bids good-by to the old place, and leaves his blessing\nwith the neighbors; and then his sons steady him, while he, still\ndetermined to help himself, gets into the wagon--stiff, old and decrepit.\n\nYonder they go--Jacob and his sons, his sons\u2019 wives and their children,\neighty-two in all--followed by herds and flocks, which the herdsmen drive\nalong. They are going out from famine to luxuriance; they are going from\na plain country home to the finest palace under the sun. Joseph, the\nprime minister, gets into his chariot and is driven down to meet the\nold man. Joseph\u2019s charioteer holds up the horses on the one side; the\ndust-covered wagons of the emigrants stop on the other.\n\nJoseph, instead of waiting for his father to come, leaps out of the\nchariot and jumps into the emigrants\u2019 wagon, throws his arms around the\nold man, and weeps aloud for past memories and present joy.\n\nThe father, Jacob, can hardly think it is his boy. Why, the smooth brow\nof childhood has now become a wrinkled brow--wrinkled with the cares\nof state--and the garb of the shepherd boy has become a robe royally\nbedizened!\n\nBut as the old man finally realizes that it is actually Joseph, I see the\nthin lip quiver against the toothless gum, as he cries out: \u201cNow let me\ndie, since I have seen thy face; behold, Joseph is yet alive!\u201d\n\n\nLAZARUS.\n\nWe stand in one of the finest private houses of the olden time. Every\nroom is luxurious. The floor--made of stones, gypsum, coal and chalk,\npounded together--is hard and beautiful. From the roof, surrounded by a\nbalustrade, you take in all the beauty of the landscape.\n\nThe porch is cool and refreshing, where sit the people who have come in\nto look at the building, and are waiting for the usher. In this place you\nhear the crystal plash of the fountains.\n\nThe windows, reaching to the floor and adorned, are quiet places to\nlounge in; and we sit here, listening to the stamp of the horses in the\nprincely stables.\n\nVenison and partridge, delicate morsels of fatted calf, and honey, figs,\ndates, pomegranates and fish that only two hours ago glided in the\nlake, and bowls of fine sherbet from Egypt--these make up the feast,\naccompanied with riddles and jests that evoke roaring laughter, with\noccasional outbursts of music, in which harps thrum and cymbals clap and\nshepherd\u2019s pipe whistles.\n\nWhat a place to sit in!\n\nThe lord of the place, in dress that changes with every whim, lies on a\nlounge, stupid from stuffed digestion. His linen is so fine, I wonder who\nwashed it and who ironed it. His jewels are the brightest, his purple the\nrarest.\n\nLet him lie perfectly quiet a moment, until we take his photograph. Here\nwe have it:\n\n\u201cA certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and\nfared sumptuously every day.\u201d\n\nHow accurate the picture! You can see every pleat in the linen and every\nwrinkle in the shirt. What more could that man have? My lord, be happy!\n\nAfter a while he leans over the balustrade, and says to a friend in\nshining apparel:\n\n\u201cLook at that fellow--lying at my gate! I wonder why the porter allows\nhim to lie there. How disgusting! But our dogs will be let out of the\nkennel very soon, and will clear him out.\u201d\n\nYes, they bound toward him. \u201cTake hold of him!\u201d cries the rich man from\nthe balustrade.\n\nThe dogs go at the beggar with terrible bark; then take lower growling;\nthen stop to yawn; and at the coaxing tone of the poor wretch, they frisk\nabout him, and put their soft, healing tongues to his ulcers, driving off\nthe flies and relieving the insufferable itch and sting of wounds which\ncould not afford salve or bandage.\n\nLazarus has friends at last. They will for a while keep off the insults\nof the street, and will defend their patient. That man is far from\nfriendless who has a good dog to stand by him. Dogs are often not so mean\nas are their masters. They will not be allowed to enter into Heaven, but\nmay they not be allowed to lie down at the gate? John says of the door of\nHeaven: \u201cWithout are dogs.\u201d\n\nBut what is the matter with that beggar? He lies over, now, with his face\nexposed to the sun. Lazarus, get up! He responds not. Poor fellow, he is\ndead!\n\nTwo men appointed by the town come to carry him out to the fields. They\ndig a hole, drop him in and cover him up. People say: \u201cOne more nuisance\ngot rid of.\u201d\n\nAha! That is not Lazarus whom they buried; they buried only his sores.\nYonder goes Lazarus--an angel on his right hand, an angel on his left,\ncarrying him up the steep of Heaven--talking, praising, rejoicing. Good\nold Abraham stands at the gate, and throws his arms around the new comer.\n\nNow Lazarus has his own fine house, and his own robes, and his own\nbanquet, and his own chariot; and that poor and sickly carcass of his,\nthat the overseers of the town dumped in the potter\u2019s field, will come\nup at the call of the archangel--straight, pure and healthy--corruption\nhaving become incorruption.\n\nNow, we will go back a minute to the fine Oriental house that we spoke\nof. The lord of the place has been receiving visitors today, as the\ndoorkeeper introduced them.\n\nAfter a while there is a visitor who waits not for the porter to open\nthe gate, nor for the doorkeeper to introduce him. Who is it coming? Stop\nhim there at the door! How dare he come in unheralded?\n\nHe walks into the room, and the lord cries out, with terror-stricken face:\n\n\u201cThis is Death! Away with him!\u201d\n\nThere is a hard thump on the floor. Is it a pitcher that has fallen? An\nottoman upset? No. Dives has fallen. Dives is dead.\n\nThe excitement in town is great. The grooms rush from the barns to see.\nAll the great folk of the neighborhood, who used to sit at his dinners,\ncome in. The grocer from whom he got his spices, the butcher from whom he\ngot his meats and the clothier from whom he got his garments come to find\nout all about it.\n\nThe day of burial has arrived. Dives is carried down out of his splendid\nroom, and through the porch into the street. The undertaker will\nmake a big job of it, for there is plenty to pay. There will be high\neulogies of him pronounced, although the Bible represents him as chiefly\ndistinguished for his enormous appetite and his fine shirt.\n\nThe long procession moves on, amid the accustomed weeping and howling\nof Oriental obsequies. The sepulcher is reached. Six persons, carrying\nthe body, go carefully down the steps leading to the door of the dead.\nThe weight of the body on those ahead is heavy, and they hold back. The\nrelics are left in the sepulcher, and the people return.\n\nBut Dives is not buried there.\n\nThat which they buried is only the shell in which he lived. Dives is\ndown yonder in a deeper grave. He who had all the wine he could drink\nasks for a plainer beverage. He wants water. He does not ask for a\ncupful, nor even for a teaspoonful, but \u201cjust one drop,\u201d and he can not\nget it.\n\nHe looks up and sees Lazarus, the very man whom he set his dogs on, and\nwants him to put his finger into water and let him lick it off.\n\nOnce Lazarus wanted just the crumbs from Dives\u2019 feast; now Dives wants\njust a drop from Lazarus\u2019 banquet. Poor as poor can be! He has eaten his\nlast quail\u2019s wing. He has broken the rind of his last pomegranate. Dives\nthe lord has become Dives the pauper. The dogs of remorse and despair\ncome not with healing tongue to lick, but with relentless muzzle to tear.\nNow Dives sits at the gate in everlasting beggary, while Lazarus, amid\nthe festivities of Heaven, fares sumptuously every day.\n\nYou see that this parable takes in the distant future, and speaks as\nthough the resurrection were passed and the body of Lazarus had already\njoined his spirit, and so I treat it.\n\nWell, you see a man may be beggared for this life, but be a prince\nin eternity. A cluster of old rags was the entire property of\nLazarus. His bare feet and his ulcered legs were an invitation to\nthe brutes; his food the broken victuals that were pitched out by\nthe house-keeper--half-chewed crusts, rinds, peelings, bones and\ngristle--about the last creature out of which to make a prince--yet for\neighteen hundred years he has been one of the millionaires of Heaven. No\nmore waiting for crumbs. He sits at the same table with the kings of\neternity, himself one of them. What were the forty years of his poverty\ncompared with the long ages of his royalty?\n\nLet all the Christian poor be comforted. Your good days will be after a\nwhile. Stand it a little longer, and you will be all right. God has a\nplace for you among the principalities. Do not be afraid of the dogs of\ndistress, for they will not bite; they will help to heal. Your poverty\nmay sometimes have led you to doubt whether you will have a decent\nfuneral. You shall have grander obsequies than many a man who is carried\nout by a procession of governors and senators. The pall-bearers will be\nthe angels that carried Lazarus into Abraham\u2019s bosom. The surveyors have\nbeen busy. Your eternal possessions have been already laid out by God\u2019s\nsurveyors, and the stake that bounds the property on this side is driven\ninto the top of your grave, and all beyond is yours.\n\nYou can afford to wear poor clothes now, when for you in the upper\nwardrobes is folded up the royal purple. You can afford to have coarse\nfood here, when your bread is to be made from the finest wheat of the\neternal harvests. Cheer up! Weeping may endure for a night, but joy\ncometh in the morning.\n\nSee, also, that a man may have every comfort and luxury here, and yet\ncome to a wretched future. It is no sin to be rich. It is a sin not to\nbe rich, if we can be rich honestly. I wish I had five hundred thousand\ndollars--I suppose I might as well make it a million. I see so much\nsuffering and trial every day that I say, again and again, I wish I had\nthe money to relieve it.\n\nBut alas for the man who has nothing but money! Dives\u2019 house had a front\ndoor and a back door, and they both opened into eternity. Sixty seconds\nafter Dives was gone, of what use were his horses? He could not ride\nthem. Of what use were his rich viands? He could not open his clenched\nteeth to eat them. Of what use were his fine linen shirts, when he could\nnot wear them?\n\nThe poorest man who stood along the road, watching the funeral procession\nof Dives, owned more of this world than did the dead gormandizer. The\nfuture world was all the darker because of the brightness of this.\n\nThat wife of a drunken husband, if she does wrong and loses her soul,\nwill not find it so intolerable in hell as others, for she has been in\nhell ever since she was married, and is partially used to it.\n\nBut this rich man, Dives, had every thing once--now nothing. He once had\nthe best wine; now he can not get water. He had, like other affluent\npersons of the East, slaves to fan him when he was hot; now he is being\nconsumed. He can afford no covering so good as the old patches that once\nfluttered about Lazarus as he went walking in the wind.\n\nWho among my hearers will take Dives\u2019 fine house, costly plate, dazzling\nequipage and kennel of blooded dogs, if his eternity must be thrown in\nwith it?\n\n\nNOAH.\n\nNoah did the best and the worst thing for the world. He built an ark\nagainst the deluge of water, but he also introduced a deluge against\nwhich the human race has ever since been trying to build an ark--the\ndeluge of drunkenness.\n\nIn the opening chapters of the Bible we can hear his staggering steps.\n\nShem and Japhet tried to cover up the disgrace, but there is Noah--drunk\non wine at a time in the history of the world when, to say the least,\nthere was no lack of water.\n\nInebriation, having flooded the world, has never receded.\n\nAbigail, the fair and heroic wife who saved the flocks of Nabal, her\nhusband, from confiscation by invaders, goes home at night and finds him\nso intoxicated she can not tell him the story of his narrow escape.\n\nUriah came to see David, and David got him drunk, and paved the way for\nthe despoliation of his household.\n\nEven the church bishops needed to be charged to be sober and not given to\ntoo much wine; and so familiar were the people of Bible times with the\nstaggering and falling motions of the inebriate, that Isaiah, when he\ncomes to describe the final dislocation of worlds, says: \u201cThe Earth shall\nreel to and fro like a drunkard.\u201d\n\n\nOTHNIEL.\n\nThe city of Debir was the Boston of antiquity--a great place for brains\nand books.\n\nCaleb wanted it, and he offered his daughter Achsah as a prize to any\none who would besiege or storm and capture that city.\n\nIt was a strange thing for Caleb to do; and yet the man who could take\nthe city would have, at any rate, two elements of manhood--bravery and\npatriotism.\n\nBesides, I do not think that Caleb was as foolish in offering his\ndaughter to the conqueror of Debir as thousands in this day who seek\nalliances for their children with those who have large means, without any\nreference to moral or mental acquirements.\n\nOf the two evils, I would rather measure happiness by the length of the\nsword than by the length of the pocket-book. In one case there is sure to\nbe one good element of character; in the other, there may be none at all.\n\nWith Caleb\u2019s daughter as a prize to fight for, General Othniel rode into\nthe battle. The gates of Debir were thundered into the dust, and the city\nof books lay at the feet of the conquerors.\n\nThe work done, Othniel comes back to claim his bride. Having conquered\nthe city, it is no great job for him to conquer the girl\u2019s heart; for,\nhowever faint-hearted a woman herself may be, she always loves courage in\na man. I never saw an exception to that.\n\nThe wedding festivity having gone by, Othniel and Achsah are about to go\nto their new home. However loudly the cymbals may clash and the laughter\nring, the parents are always sad when a fondly cherished daughter goes\naway to stay; and Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, knows that now is the\ntime to ask almost any thing she wants of her father.\n\nIt seems that Caleb, the good old man, had given as a wedding present to\nhis daughter a piece of land that was mountainous, and, sloping southward\ntoward the deserts of Arabia, it was swept by some very hot winds. It was\ncalled \u201ca south land.\u201d\n\nBut Achsah wants an addition of property; she desires a piece of land\nthat is well watered and fertile.\n\nNow, it is no wonder that Caleb, standing amid the bridal party, his eyes\nso full of tears because his daughter was going away that he could hardly\nsee her at all, gives her more than she asks. She said to him: \u201cThou hast\ngiven me a south land; give me also springs of water.\u201d And he gave her\nthe upper springs and the nether springs.\n\nThat passage occurs in the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Joshua,\nnineteenth verse, but I never saw it till a little while ago; and as I\ncame upon it I said: \u201cIf God will give me grace, I shall preach a sermon\non that before long.\u201d\n\nThe fact is that, as Caleb, the father, gave Achsah, the daughter, a\nsouth land, so God gives to us His world. I am very thankful that He has\ngiven it to us.\n\nBut I am like Achsah in the fact that I am not satisfied with the\nportion. Trees, flowers, grasses and blue skies are very well in their\nplaces; but he who has naught except this world for a portion has no\nportion at all. It is a mountainous land, sloping off toward the desert\nof sorrow, swept by fiery siroccos. It is \u201ca south land\u201d--a poor portion\nfor any man who tries to put trust in it.\n\n\nPAUL.\n\nThe Damascus of Bible times still stands, with a population of 135,000\npeople. It was a gay city of white and glistering architecture, its\nminarets and crescents and domes playing with the light of the morning\nsun; embowered in groves of olive, citron, orange and pomegranate; a\nfamous river plunging its brightness into the scene--a city by the\nancients styled \u201ca pearl surrounded by emeralds.\u201d\n\nA group of horsemen are advancing upon that city. Let the Christians of\nthe place hide, for that cavalcade coming over the hills is made up of\npersecutors.\n\nTheir leader is small of stature and unattractive in some respects,\nas leaders sometimes are insignificant in person--witness the Duke of\nWellington and Dr. Archibald Alexander. But there is something very\nintent in the eye of the man at the head of this troop, and the horse\nhe rides is lathered with the foam of a long and a quick travel of 135\nmiles. He cries \u201cGo \u2019long\u201d to his steed, for those Christians must be\ncaptured and must be silenced, and that religion of the cross must be\nannihilated.\n\nSuddenly the horses shy off, and plunge until their riders are\nprecipitated. Freed from their riders, the horses bound snorting away.\n\nYou know that dumb animals, at the sight of an eclipse or an earthquake,\nor any thing like a supernatural appearance, sometimes become very\nuncontrollable.\n\nA new sun had been kindled in the heavens, putting out the glare of the\nordinary sun. Christ, with the glories of Heaven wrapped about Him,\nlooked out from a cloud and the splendor was insufferable, and no wonder\nthe horses sprang and the equestrians dropped.\n\nDust-covered and bruised, Saul attempts to get up, shading his eyes with\nhis hand from the severe luster of the heavens, but unsuccessfully, for\nhe is struck stone blind as he cries out: \u201cWho art Thou, Lord?\u201d\n\nJesus answered him:\n\n\u201cI am the One you have been chasing. He that whips and scourges those\nDamascine Christians whips and scourges Me. It is not their back that is\nbleeding; it is Mine. It is not their heart that is breaking; it is Mine.\nI am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.\u201d\n\nFrom that wild, exciting and overwhelming scene there rises up the\ngreatest preacher of all ages--Paul; in whose behalf prisons were rocked\ndown, before whom soldiers turned pale, into whose hand Mediterranean sea\ncaptains put control of their shipwrecking craft, and whose epistles are\nthe advance courier of the Resurrection Day.\n\nI learn, first, from this scene that a worldly fall may precede a\nspiritual uplifting. A man does not get much sympathy by falling off a\nhorse. People say he ought not to have got into the saddle if he could\nnot ride. Those of us who were brought up in the country remember well\nhow the workmen laughed when, on our way back from the brook, we suddenly\nlost our ride. At the close of the great Civil War, when the army passed\nin review at Washington, if a general had toppled from the stirrups it\nwould have been a national merriment.\n\nHere is Paul on horseback--a proud man, riding on with government\ndocuments in his pocket, a graduate of a most famous school in which the\ncelebrated Dr. Gamaliel had been a professor, perhaps having already\nattained two of the three titles of the school: Rab, the first; Rabbi,\nthe second; and was on his way to Rabbak, the third and highest title.\n\nI know from Paul\u2019s temperament that his horse was ahead of the other\nhorses. But without time to think of what posture he should take, or\nwithout any consideration for his dignity, he is tumbled into the dust.\nAnd yet that was the best ride Paul ever took. Out of that violent fall\nhe arose into the apostleship. So it has been in all the ages, and so it\nis now.\n\nYou will never be worth any thing for God and the Church until you lose\nfifty thousand dollars, or have your reputation upset, or in some way,\nsomehow, are thrown and humiliated. You must go down before you go up.\n\nJoseph finds his path to the Egyptian court through the pit into which\nhis brothers threw him.\n\nDaniel would never have walked amid the bronze lions that adorned the\nBabylonish throne if he had not first walked amid the real lions of the\ncave.\n\nPaul marshals all the generations of Christendom by falling flat on his\nface on the road to Damascus.\n\nMen who have been always prosperous may be efficient servants of the\nworld, but will be of no advantage to Christ. You may ride majestically\nseated on your charger, rein in hand, foot in stirrup, but you will never\nbe worth any thing spiritually until you fall off. They who graduate from\nthe School of Christ with the highest honors have on their diploma the\nseal of a lion\u2019s muddy paw, or the plash of an angry wave, or the drop\nof a stray tear, or the brown scorch of a persecuting fire.\n\nIn nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of the thousand there is no\nmoral or spiritual elevation until there has been a thorough worldly\nupsetting.\n\nAgain, I learn from the subject that the religion of Christ is not a\npusillanimous thing. People of this day try to make us believe that\nChristianity is something for men of small caliber, for women with no\ncapacity to reason, for children in the infant class, under six years of\nage, but not for stalwart men.\n\nLook at this man who is mentioned in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the\nApostles. Do you not think that the religion that could capture such a\nman as that must have some power in it?\n\nPaul was a logician; he was a metaphysician; he was an all-conquering\norator; he was a poet of the highest type. He had a nature that could\nswamp the leading men of his own day, and, hurled against the Sanhedrim,\nhe made it tremble.\n\nPaul learned all he could get in the school of his immediate vicinity;\nthen he went to a higher school, and there mastered the Greek and the\nHebrew, and also perfected himself in belles-lettres, until in after\nyears he astonished the Cretans, the Corinthians and the Athenians by\nquotations from their own authors.\n\nI have never found any thing in Carlyle or Goethe or Herbert Spencer\nthat could compare in strength or in beauty with Paul\u2019s Epistles. I do\nnot think there is any thing in the writings of Sir William Hamilton\nthat shows such mental discipline as you find in Paul\u2019s argument about\njustification and the resurrection. I have not found any thing in Milton\nfiner in the way of imagination than I can find in Paul\u2019s illustrations\ndrawn from the amphitheater.\n\nThere was nothing in Robert Emmet pleading for his life, or in Edmund\nBurke arraigning Warren Hastings in Westminster Hall, that compared with\nthe scene in the court room when, before robed officials, Paul bowed and\nbegan his speech, saying: \u201cI think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I\nshall answer for myself this day.\u201d\n\nI repeat the assertion that a religion that can capture such a man as\nthat must have some power in it. It is time people stopped talking as\nthough all the brains of the world were opposed to Christianity. Where\nPaul leads we can afford to follow.\n\nI am glad to know that Christ has in the different ages of the world\nhad in His discipleship a Mozart and a Handel in music; a Raphael and a\nReynolds in painting; an Angelo and a Canova in sculpture; a Rush and\na Harvey in medicine; a Grotius and a Washington in statesmanship; a\nBlackstone, a Marshall and a Kent in law.\n\nThe time will come when the religion of Christ will conquer all the\nobservatories and universities, and then, through her telescope\nPhilosophy will behold the morning star of Jesus, and in her laboratory\nsee that \u201call things work together for good,\u201d and with her geological\nhammer discover the \u201cRock of Ages.\u201d\n\nInstead of cowering and shivering when the skeptic stands before you and\ntalks of religion as though it were a pusillanimous thing, take your New\nTestament from your pocket and show him the picture of the intellectual\ngiant of all the ages, prostrated on the road to Damascus, while his\nhorse is flying wildly away. Then ask the skeptic what it was that\nfrightened the one and threw the other.\n\nOh, no! It is no weak Gospel. It is a most glorious Gospel. It is an\nall-conquering Gospel. It is an omnipotent Gospel. It is the power of God\nand the wisdom of God unto salvation.\n\nJesus and Paul were boys at the same time in different villages, and\nPaul\u2019s antipathy to Christ was increasing. He hated every thing about\nChrist. He was going down then with writs in his pockets to have Christ\u2019s\ndisciples arrested. He was not going as a sheriff goes--to arrest a\nman against whom he has no spite--but Paul was going down to arrest\nthose people because he was glad to arrest them. The Bible says: \u201cHe\nbreathed out slaughter.\u201d He wanted them captured, and he also wanted them\nbutchered.\n\nIt was particularly outrageous that Saul should have gone to Damascus on\nthat errand. Jesus Christ had been dead only three years, and the story\nof His kindness, generosity and love filled all the air. It was not an\nold story, as it is now. It was a new story. Jesus had only three Summers\nago been in these very places, and Saul every day in Jerusalem must have\nmet people who knew Christ, people with good eyesight whom Jesus had\ncured of blindness, people who were dead and had been resurrected by\nthe Savior, and people who could tell Paul all the particulars of the\ncrucifixion--just how Jesus looked to the last hour--just how the heavens\ngrew black in the face at the torture. He heard that recited every day\nby people who were acquainted with all the circumstances, and yet in the\nfresh memory of that scene he goes out to persecute Christ\u2019s disciples,\nimpatient at the time it takes to feed the horses at the inn, not pulling\nat the snaffle, but riding with loose rein--faster and faster.\n\nTruly, Paul was the chief of sinners. No outbreak of modesty when he said\nthat. He was a murderer. He stood by when Stephen died, and helped in\nthe execution of that good man. When the rabble wanted to be unimpeded\nin their work of destroying Stephen, and wanted to take off their coats\nbut did not dare to lay them down lest they be stolen, Paul said: \u201cI will\ntake care of the coats.\u201d So they put their coats down at the feet of\nPaul, and he watched them, and he watched the horrid mangling of glorious\nStephen.\n\nIs it not a wonder that when Paul fell from the horse he did not break\nhis neck--that his foot did not catch somewhere in the trappings of\nthe saddle, and he was not dragged and kicked to death? He deserved\nto die--miserably, wretchedly and for ever--notwithstanding all his\nmetaphysics, eloquence and logic.\n\nIt seems to me as if I can see Paul today, rising up from the highway to\nDamascus, brushing off the dust from his cloak and wiping the sweat of\nexcitement from his brow, as he turns to us and all the ages, saying:\n\n\u201cThis is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ\nJesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.\u201d\n\nIf it had been a mere optical illusion on the road to Damascus, was\nnot Paul just the man to find it out? If it had been a sham and\npretense, would he not have pricked the bubble? He was a man of facts\nand arguments, of the most gigantic intellectual nature, and not a man\nof hallucinations; and when I see him fall from the saddle, blinded and\noverwhelmed, I say there must have been something in it.\n\nI have been reading this morning, in my New Testament, of a Mediterranean\nvoyage in an Alexandrian ship. It was in the month of November.\n\nOn board that vessel were two distinguished passengers--one, Josephus,\nthe historian, as we have strong reasons to believe; the other, a\nconvict, one Paul by name, who was going to prison for upsetting\nthings--or, as they termed it, \u201cturning the world upside down.\u201d\n\nThis convict had gained the confidence of the captain. Indeed, I think\nthat Paul knew almost as much about the sea as did the captain. He had\nbeen shipwrecked three times already, and had dwelt much of his life amid\ncapstans, yardarms, cables and storms, and he knew what he was talking\nabout.\n\nSeeing the equinoctial storm was coming, and perhaps noticing something\nunseaworthy in the vessel, he advised the captain to stay in the harbor.\nBut I heard the captain and the first mate talking together. They say, in\neffect:\n\n\u201cWe can not afford to take the advice of this landsman, and he a\nminister. He may be able to preach very well, but I do not believe he\nknows a marlinespike from a luff tackle. All aboard! Cast off! Shift the\nhelm for headway. Who fears the Mediterranean?\u201d\n\nThey had gone only a little way out when a whirlwind, called Euroclydon,\nmade the torn sail its turban, shook the mast as you would brandish a\nspear, and tossed the hulk into the heavens. Overboard with the cargo! It\nis all washed with salt water and worthless now, and there are no marine\ninsurance companies. All hands, ahoy, and out with the anchors!\n\nGreat consternation comes on crew and passengers. The sea monsters snort\nin the foam, and the billows clap their hands in glee of destruction.\nIn the lull of the storm I hear a chain clank. It is the chain of the\ngreat apostle as he walks the deck or holds fast to the rigging amid the\nlurching of the ship. The spray drips from his long beard as Paul cries\nout to the crew, in tones of confidence:\n\n\u201cNow, I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any\nman\u2019s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night\nthe angel of God--whose I am and whom I serve--saying: \u2018Fear not, Paul.\nThou must be brought before C\u00e6sar; and lo, God hath given thee all them\nthat sail with thee.\u2019\u201d\n\nFourteen days have passed, and there is no abatement of the storm. It is\nmidnight. Standing on the lookout, the man peers into the darkness, and,\nby a flash of lightning, sees the long white line of breakers, and knows\nthey must be coming near to some country, and fears that in a few moments\nthe vessel will be shivered on the rocks.\n\nThe ship flies like chaff in the tornado. They drop the sounding line,\nand by the light of the lantern they see it is twenty fathoms. Speeding\nalong a little farther, they drop the line again, and by the light of\nthe lantern they see it is fifteen fathoms. Two hundred and seventy-six\nsouls within a few feet of awful shipwreck!\n\nThe managers of the vessel, pretending they want to look over the side of\nthe ship and undergird it, get into the small boat, expecting in it to\nescape; but Paul sees through the sham, and he tells them that if they go\noff in the boat it will be the death of them.\n\nThe vessel strikes! The planks spring! The timbers crack! The vessel\nparts in the thundering surge! Oh, what struggling for life! Here they\nleap from plank to plank. There they go under as if they would never\nrise, but, catching hold of a timber, they come floating and panting on\nit to the beach.\n\nHere strong swimmers spread their arms through the waves until their\nchins plow the sand, and they rise up, and ring out their wet locks\non the beach. When the roll of the ship is called, two hundred and\nseventy-six people answer to their names.\n\nPaul was the most illustrious merely human being the world has ever\nknown. He walked the streets of Athens and preached from yonder pile of\nrocks, Mars Hill.\n\nThough more classic associations are connected with Athens than with\nany other city under the sun--because here Socrates, Plato, Aristotle,\nDemosthenes, Pericles, Herodotus, Pythagoras, Xenophon and Praxiteles\nwrote, chiseled, taught, thundered or sung--yet, in my mind, all those\nmen and their teachings were eclipsed by Paul and the Gospel he preached\nthere and in the near-by city of Corinth. Standing yesterday on the old\nfortress at Corinth, the Acro-Corinthus, out from the ruin at its base\narose in my imagination the old city--just as Paul saw it.\n\nI have been told that, for splendor, the world beholds no such wonder\ntoday as that ancient Corinth, standing on an isthmus washed by two\nseas--the one sea bringing the commerce of Europe, the other sea bringing\nthe commerce of Asia.\n\nFrom her wharves, in the construction of which entire kingdoms had been\nabsorbed, war galleys with three banks of oars pushed out and confounded\nthe navy yards of all the world.\n\nHuge handed machinery, such as modern invention can not equal, lifted\nships from the sea on one side and transported them on trucks across the\nisthmus and sat them down in the sea on the other side.\n\nThe revenue officers of the city went down through the olive groves that\nlined the beach to collect a tariff from all nations. The youth of all\npeoples sported in her isthmian games and the beauty of all lands sat\nin her theaters, walked her porticos and threw itself upon the altar of\nher stupendous dissipations. Column, statue and temple bewildered the\nbeholder. There were white marble fountains into which, from apertures\nat the side, there gushed waters everywhere known for health-giving\nqualities. Around these basins, twisted into wreaths of stone, there\nwere all the beauties of sculpture and architecture; while standing, as\nif to guard the costly display, was a statue of Hercules of burnished\nCorinthian brass. Vases of terra cotta adorned the cemeteries of the\ndead--vases so costly that Julius C\u00e6sar was not satisfied till he had\ncaptured them for Rome. Armed officials paced up and down to see that no\nstatue was defaced, pedestal overthrown or bas-relief touched.\n\nFrom the edge of the city the hill held its magnificent burden of columns\nand towers and temples (one thousand slaves waiting at one shrine), and\na citadel so thoroughly impregnable that Gibraltar is a heap of sand\ncompared with it. Amid all that strength and magnificence Corinth stood\nand defied the world.\n\nOh, it was not to rustics who had never seen any thing grand that Paul\npreached in Corinth. They had heard the best music that had come from the\nbest instruments in all the world; they had heard songs floating from\nmorning porticos and melting in evening groves; they had passed their\nwhole lives among pictures and sculpture and architecture and Corinthian\nbrass, which had been molded and shaped until there was no chariot wheel\nin which it had not sped, and no tower in which it had not glittered, and\nno gateway that it had not helped to adorn.\n\nAh, it was a bold act for Paul to stand there amid all that and say:\n\n\u201cAll this is nothing. These sounds that come from the Temple of Neptune\nare not music, compared with the harmonies of which I speak. These waters\nrushing in the basin of Pyrene are not pure. These statues of Bacchus and\nMercury are not exquisite. Your citadel of Acro-Corinthus is not strong,\ncompared with that which I offer to the poorest slave who puts down his\nburden at that brazen gate. You Corinthians think this is a splendid\ncity; you think you have heard all sweet sounds and seen all beautiful\nsights. But, I tell you, eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have\nentered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for\nthem that love Him.\u201d Following up Paul\u2019s line of thought, we may say\nthe Bible, now, is the scaffolding to the rising Temple, but when the\nbuilding is done there will be no further use for the scaffolding.\n\n\nPHARAOH.\n\nOne of the most intensely interesting things I saw in Egypt was Pharaoh\nof olden times--the very Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites. The\ninscription on his sarcophagus and the writing on his mummy bandages\nprove beyond controversy that he was the Pharaoh of Bible times. All the\nEgyptologists and the explorations agree that it is the old scoundrel\nhimself.\n\nVisible are the very teeth with which he gnashed against the Israelitish\nbrick makers. There are the sockets of the merciless eyes with which\nhe looked upon the over-burdened people of God. There is the hair that\nfloated in the breeze off the Red Sea. There are the very lips with which\nhe commanded the children of Israel to make bricks without straw.\n\nThousands of years afterward, when the wrappings of the mummy were\nunrolled, old Pharaoh lifted up his arm as if in imploration; but his\nskinny bones can not again clutch his shattered scepter. He is a dead\nlion.\n\n\nPONTIUS PILATE.\n\nAt about seven o\u2019clock in the morning, up the marble stairs of a palace\nand across the floors of richest mosaic and under ceilings dyed with all\nthe splendors of color and between snowbanks of white and glistening\nsculpture, passes a poor, pale and sick young man of thirty-three years,\nalready condemned to death, on his way to be condemned again. Jesus of\nNazareth is His name.\n\nComing out to meet him on this tesselated pavement is an unscrupulous,\ncompromising, time-serving and cowardly man, with a few traces of\nsympathy and fair dealing left in his composition--Governor Pontius\nPilate.\n\nDid ever such opposites meet? Luxury and pain, selfishness and\ngenerosity, arrogance and humility, sin and holiness, midnight and\nmidnoon.\n\nThe bloated-lipped governor takes the cushioned seat, but the prisoner\nstands, his wrists manacled. In a semicircle around the prisoner are the\nSanhedrists, with eyes flashing and fists brandished, prosecuting this\ncase in the name of their religion.\n\nThe most bitter persecutions have been religious persecutions, and when\nSatan takes hold of a good man he makes up by intensity for brevity of\noccupation. If you have never seen an ecclesiastical court trying a man,\nthen you have no idea of the foaming infernalism of those old religious\nSanhedrists.\n\nGovernor Pilate cross-questions the prisoner, and he finds right away\nthat he is innocent; so he wants to let him go. His caution is also\nincreased by some one who comes to the governor and whispers in his\near. The governor puts his hand behind his ear, so as to catch the words\nalmost inaudible.\n\nThese whispered words are a message from Claudia Procula, his wife, who\nhas had a dream about the innocence of this prisoner and about the danger\nof executing him, and she awakens from this morning dream in time to send\nthe message to her husband, who was at that hour on the judicial bench.\n\nAnd what with the protest of his wife, the voice of his own conscience\nand the entire failure of the Sanhedrists to make out their case Governor\nPilate resolves to discharge the prisoner from custody.\n\nBut the intimation of such a thing brings upon the governor an\nequinoctial storm of indignation. They will report him to the emperor\nat Rome. They will have him recalled. They will send him up home, and\nhe will be hanged for treason, for the emperor has already a suspicion\nin regard to Pilate, and that suspicion does not cease until Pilate is\nbanished and commits suicide.\n\nSo Governor Pontius Pilate compromises the matter, and proposes that\nChrist be whipped instead of assassinated. So the prisoner is fastened to\na low pillar, and on his bent and bared back come the thongs of leather,\nwith pieces of lead and bone intertwisted, so that every stroke shall be\nthe more awful.\n\nChrist lifts Himself from the scourging with flushed cheek and torn and\nquivering and mangled flesh, presenting a spectacle of suffering in which\nRubens, the painter, found the theme for his greatest masterpiece.\n\nBut the Sanhedrists are not yet satisfied. They have had some of the\nprisoner\u2019s nerves lacerated; but they want them all lacerated. They\nhave had some of his blood; now they want all of it, down to the last\ncorpuscle.\n\nSo Governor Pontius Pilate, after all this merciful hesitation,\nsurrenders to the demoniacal cry:\n\n\u201cCrucify him! Crucify him!\u201d\n\nBut the governor sends for something. He sends a slave out to get\nsomething. Although the constables are in haste to take the prisoner to\nexecution, and the mob outside are impatient to glare upon their victim,\na pause is necessitated.\n\nYonder it comes--a wash basin. Some pure, bright water is poured into\nit, and then Governor Pilate puts his white and delicate hands into the\nwater and rubs them together, and then lifts them dripping, for the towel\nfastened at the slave\u2019s girdle, while he practically says:\n\n\u201cI wash my hands of this whole homicidal transaction. I wash my hands of\nthis entire responsibility. You will have to bear it.\u201d\n\nBehold in this that ceremony amounts to nothing, if there are not\ncontained in it correspondences of heart and life.\n\nIt is a good thing to wash the hands. God created three-fourths of the\nworld water, and in that act commanded cleanliness; and when the ancients\ndid not take the hint, He plunged the whole world under water, and kept\nit there for some time.\n\nHand washing was a religious ceremony among the Jews. The Jewish Mishna\ngave particular directions how that the hands must be thrust three times\nup to the wrist in water, and the palm of the hand must then be rubbed\nwith the closed fist of the other.\n\nAll that was well enough for a symbol, but here is a man in the case\nunder consideration who proposes to wash away the guilt of a sin which he\ndoes not quit and of which he does not make any repentance. Pilate\u2019s wash\nbasin was a dead failure.\n\nCeremonies, however beautiful and appropriate, may be no more than this\nhypocritical ablution. In infancy we may be sprinkled from the baptismal\nfont, and in manhood we may wade into deep immersion, and yet never\ncome to moral purification. We may kneel without prayer and bow without\nreverence, and sing without any acceptance. All your creeds, liturgies,\nsacraments, genuflections and religious convocations amount to nothing\nunless your heart-life go into them.\n\nWhen that bronzed slave took from the presence of Pilate that wash basin\nhe carried away none of Pilate\u2019s cruelty, wickedness or guilt.\n\nNothing against creeds; we all have them--either written or implied.\nNothing against ceremonies; they are of infinite importance. Nothing\nagainst sacraments; they are divinely commanded. Nothing against rosary,\nif there be as many heartfelt prayers as beads counted. Nothing against\nincense floating up from censer amid Gothic arches, if the prayers be as\ngenuine as the ceremony is sweet. Nothing against Epiphany, Lent, Ash\nWednesday, Easter, Good Friday, Whitsuntide or Palm Sunday, if these\nsymbols have behind them genuine repentance, holy reminiscence and\nChristian consecration.\n\nBut ceremony is only the sheath to the sword; it is only the shell to\nthe kernel; it is only the lamp to the flame; it is only the body to the\nspirit. The outward must be symbolical of the inward. Wash the hands, by\nall means; but, more than all, wash the heart.\n\nBehold, also, as you see Governor Pontius Pilate thrust his hands into\nhis wash basin, the power of conscience. He had an idea there was blood\non his hands--the blood of an innocent person, whom he might have\nacquitted if he only had the courage.\n\nPoor Pilate! His conscience was after him, and he knew the stain would\nnever be washed from the right hand or the left hand; that, until the day\nof his death, though he might wash in all the lavers of the Roman Empire,\nthere would be still eight fingers and two thumbs red at the tips.\n\nAlas for this Governor Pontius Pilate! That night, after the court had\nadjourned and the Sanhedrists had gone home and nothing was heard outside\nthe room but the step of the sentinel, I see Pontius Pilate arise from\nhis tapestried and sleepless couch and go to the laver and begin to wash\nhis hands, crying: \u201cOut! Out, crimson spot! Tellest thou to me and to God\nand to the night my crime? Is there no alkali to remove these dreadful\nstains? Is there no chemistry to dissolve this carnage? Must I to the day\nof my death carry the blood of this innocent man on my heart and hand?\nOut, thou crimson spot!\u201d\n\nAgainst the disappointing and insufficient laver of Pilate\u2019s vice,\ncowardice and sin I place the brazen sea of a Savior\u2019s pardoning mercy!\n\n\nQUEEN OF SHEBA.\n\nWhat is that long procession approaching Jerusalem? I think, from the\npomp of it, there must be royalty in the train. I smell the breath of\nthe spices which are brought as presents, and I hear the shout of the\ndrivers, and I see the dust-covered caravan, showing that they come from\nfar away. Cry the news up to the palace:\n\n\u201cThe Queen of Sheba advances.\u201d\n\nLet all the people come out to see. Let the mighty men of the land come\nout on the palace corridors. Let King Solomon come down the stairs of\nthe palace before the Queen has alighted. Shake out the cinnamon and the\nsaffron, the calamus and the frankincense, and pass it into the treasure\nhouse. Take up the diamonds until they glitter in the sun!\n\nThe Queen of Sheba alights.\n\nShe enters the palace.\n\nShe washes at the bath.\n\nShe sits down at the banquet.\n\nThe cup bearers bow. The meat smokes. The music trembles in the dash of\nthe waters from the modern sea. Then she rises from the banquet, walks\nthrough the conservatories, gazes on the architectural marvels, and asks\nSolomon many strange questions. Thus she learns about the religion of the\nHebrews, and then and there she becomes a servant of Jehovah.\n\nThe Queen of Sheba is overwhelmed. She begins to think that all the\nspices that she brought, and all the precious woods which are intended to\nbe turned into harps and psalteries and into railings for the causeway\nbetween the Temple and the palace and the $1,800,000 in money--she begins\nto think that all these presents amount to nothing in such a palace; and\nshe is almost ashamed that she has brought them, and she says within\nherself:\n\n\u201cI heard a great deal about this place and about this wonderful religion\nof the Hebrews, but I find it far beyond my highest anticipations. I must\nadd more than 50 per cent to what has been related. It exceeds every\nthing that could have been expected. The half was not told me.\u201d\n\nWhat a beautiful thing it is when social position and wealth surrender\nthemselves to God! When religion comes to a neighborhood, the first\nto receive it are the women. Some men say it is because they are weak\nminded. I say it is because they have quicker perception of what is\nright, more ardent affection and capacity for sublimer emotion.\n\nAfter the women have received the Gospel, then all the distressed and the\npoor of both sexes--those who have no friend except Jesus. Last of all\ncome the greatly prospered. Alas, that it is so!\n\nDo you know where Sheba was? Some say it was in Abyssinia; others say it\nwas in the southern part of Arabia Felix. In either case it was a great\nway off from Jerusalem. To get from there to Jerusalem the Queen of Sheba\nhad to cross a country infested with bandits and go across blistering\ndeserts.\n\nWhy did not the Queen of Sheba stay at home and send a committee to\ninquire about this new religion, and have the delegates report in regard\nto that religion and wealth of King Solomon? She wanted to see for\nherself and hear for herself. She could not do this by work of committee.\nShe felt that she had a soul worth ten thousand kingdoms like Sheba, and\nshe wanted a robe richer than any woven by Oriental shuttles, and she\nwanted a crown set with the jewels of eternity.\n\nBring out the camels. Put on the spices. Gather up the jewels of the\nthrone and put them on the caravan. Start now--no time is to be lost.\nGoad on the camels. When I see that caravan--dust-covered, weary and\nexhausted--trudging on across the desert and among the banditti until it\nreaches Jerusalem, I say: \u201cThere is an earnest seeker after truth.\u201d\n\n\nSALOME.\n\nThis is the anniversary of Herod\u2019s birthday. The palace is lighted. The\nhighways leading thereto are all ablaze with the pomp of invited guests.\nLords, captains, merchant princes, and all the mighty men of the land are\ncoming to mingle in the festivities.\n\nThe table is spread with all the luxuries that royal purveyors can\ngather. The guests, white robed and anointed and perfumed, come and sit\nat the table.\n\nMusic! The jests evoke roars of laughter. Riddles are propounded.\nRepartee is indulged. Toasts are drank. The brain is befogged. The wit\nrolls on into uproar and blasphemy. They are not satisfied yet. Turn on\nmore light. Pour out more wine. Music! Sound all the trumpets. Clear\nthe floor for a dance. Bring in Salome, the beautiful and accomplished\nprincess. The door opens, and in bounds the dancer. The lords are\nenchanted. Stand back and make room for the brilliant gyrations. These\nmen never saw such \u201cpoetry of motion.\u201d Their souls whirl in the reel and\nbound with the bounding feet.\n\nHerod forgets crown and throne and every thing but the fascinations of\nSalome. All the magnificence of his realm is as nothing compared with\nthe splendor that whirls on tiptoe before him. His body sways from side\nto side, corresponding with the motions of the enchantress. His soul is\nfilled with the pulsations of the feet and bewitched with the taking\npostures and attitudes more and more amazing.\n\nAfter a while Herod sits in enchanted silence, looking at the flashing,\nleaping, bouncing beauty, and as the dance closes and the tinkling\ncymbals cease to clap and the thunders of applause that shook the palace\nbegin to abate, the enchanted monarch swears to the princely performer:\n\n\u201cWhatsoever thou shalt ask of me I will give it thee, to the half of my\nkingdom.\u201d\n\nNow, there was in the prison at that time a minister of the Gospel by\nthe name of John the Baptist, and he had been making a great deal of\ntrouble by preaching some very plain sermons. He had denounced the sins\nof the king and brought down upon him the wrath of the women of the royal\nhousehold.\n\nAt the instigation of her mother, Salome takes advantage of the\nextravagant promise of the king, and says: \u201cBring me the head of John\nthe Baptist on a dinner plate.\u201d\n\nHark to the sound of feet outside the door and the clatter of swords! The\nexecutioners are returning from their awful errand. Open the door. They\nenter and present the platter to Salome.\n\nWhat is on this platter?\n\nA new glass of wine to continue the uproarious merriment? No. Something\nredder and far more costly--the ghastly, bleeding head of John the\nBaptist. The death glare is still in the eyes; the locks are all dabbled\nwith gore; the features are still distressed with the last agony.\n\nSalome, this enchantress who had whirled so gracefully in the dance,\nbends over the awful burden without a shudder. She gloats over the blood,\nand with as much indifference as a waiting maid might take a tray of\nempty glassware out of the room after an entertainment Salome carries the\ndissevered head of John the Baptist, while all the banqueters shout with\nlaughter. They regarded it as a capital joke that in so easy and quick a\nway they have got rid of an earnest and outspoken minister of the true\nGospel.\n\nWell, there is no harm in a birthday festival. All the kings from\nPharaoh\u2019s time had celebrated such occasions, and why not Herod? No harm\nin kindling the lights. No harm in spreading the banquet. No harm in\narousing music. But from the riot and wassail that closed the scene of\nthat day every pure nature revolts.\n\n\nSAUL.\n\nThe Amalekites thought they had conquered God, and that He would not\ncarry into execution His threats against them.\n\nThey had murdered the Israelites in battle and out of battle, and had\nleft no outrage untried. For four hundred years this had been going on,\nand they said: \u201cGod either dare not punish us, or He has forgotten to do\nso.\u201d\n\nLet us see.\n\nSamuel, God\u2019s prophet, tells Saul to go down and slay all the Amalekites,\nnot leaving one of them alive; also to destroy all the beasts in their\npossession--sheep, ox, camel and ass.\n\nHark! I hear the tread of two hundred and ten thousand men, with\nmonstrous Saul at their head, ablaze with armor, his shield dangling at\nhis side, holding in his hand a spear, at the waving of which the great\nhost marched or halted.\n\nThe sound of their feet, shaking the Earth, seems like the tread of the\ngreat God, as, marching in vengeance, He tramples nations into the dust.\n\nI see smoke curling against the sky. Now there is a thick cloud of it,\nand now I see the whole city rising in a chariot of smoke, behind steeds\nof fire.\n\nSaul has set the city ablaze.\n\nThe Amalekites and Israelites meet; the trumpets of battle blow peal on\npeal, and there is a death hush.\n\nThen there is a signal waved; swords cut and hack; javelins ring on\nshields; arms fall from trunks and heads roll into the dust. Gash after\ngash, the frenzied yell, the gurgling of throttled throats, the cry of\npain, the laugh of revenge, the curse hissed between clenched teeth--an\narmy\u2019s death groan. Stacks of dead on all sides, with eyes unshut and\nmouths yet grinning vengeance.\n\nHuzza for the Israelites! Two hundred and ten thousand men wave their\nplumes and clap their shields, for the Lord God has given them the\nvictory.\n\nYet the victorious warriors of Israel are conquered by sheep and oxen.\n\nGod, through His prophet, Samuel, told Saul to slay all the Amalekites,\nand to slay all the beasts in their possession; but Saul, thinking that\nhe knows more than God, spares Agag, the Amalekitish king, and five\ndroves of sheep and a herd of oxen that he can not bear to kill.\n\nSaul drives the sheep and oxen down toward home. He has no idea that\nSamuel, the prophet, will discover that he has saved these sheep and oxen\nfor himself.\n\nBut Samuel comes and asks Saul the news from the battle. Saul puts on\na solemn face--for there is no one who can look more solemn than your\ngenuine hypocrite--and he says: \u201cI have fulfilled the commandment of the\nLord.\u201d\n\nSamuel listens, and he hears the drove of sheep a little way off. Saul\nhad no idea the prophet\u2019s ear would be so acute.\n\nSamuel says to Saul: \u201cIf you have done as God told you, and have slain\nall the Amalekites and all the beasts in their possession, what meaneth\nthe bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen, that I\nhear?\u201d\n\nAh! One would have thought that blushes would have consumed the cheeks\nof Saul. No, no! He says the army--not himself, of course, but the\narmy--saved the sheep and oxen for sacrifice; and then they thought it\nwould be too bad, anyhow, to kill Agag, the Amalekitish king.\n\nSamuel takes the sword, and he slashes King Agag to pieces; and then he\ntakes the skirt of his coat, in true Oriental style, and rends it in\ntwain--as much as to say:\n\n\u201cYou, Saul, just like that, shall be torn away from your empire, and torn\naway from your throne.\u201d\n\nIn other words, let all the nations of Earth hear the story that Saul, by\ndisobeying God, won a flock of sheep but lost a kingdom.\n\nA hypocrite is one who pretends to be what he is not, or to do what he\ndoes not. Saul was only a type of a class. When the fox prays, look to\nyour chickens.\n\nDo not be hypocritical in any thing; you are never safe if you are. At\nthe most inopportune moment, the sheep will bleat and the oxen will\nbellow.\n\n\nSOLOMON.\n\nWhat is that building out yonder, glittering in the sunshine? Have you\nnot heard?\n\nIt is the House of the Forest of Lebanon. King Solomon has just taken\nto it his bride, the princess of Egypt. You see the pillars of the\nportico and a great tower, adorned with a thousand shields of gold, hung\non the outside of the tower. Five hundred of the shields of gold were\nmanufactured at Solomon\u2019s order, and five hundred were captured by David,\nhis father, in battle. See how they blaze in the noonday sun!\n\nSolomon goes up to the ivory stairs of his throne between twelve lions in\nstatuary, and sits down on the back of the golden bull, the head of the\nbronze beast turned toward the people.\n\nThe family and attendants of the king are so many that the caterers of\nthe place have to provide every day one hundred sheep and thirteen oxen,\nbesides the birds and the venison. I hear the stamping and pawing of four\nthousand horses in the royal stables.\n\nThey were important officials who had charge of the work of gathering the\nstraw and the barley for all these horses.\n\nKing Solomon was an early riser, tradition says, and used to take a ride\nout at daybreak; and when in his white apparel, behind the swiftest\nhorses of all the kingdom and followed by mounted archers in purple, as\nthe cavalcade dashed through the streets of Jerusalem I suppose it was\nsomething worth getting up at five o\u2019clock in the morning to look at.\n\nSolomon was not like some of the kings of the present day--crowned\nimbecility. All the splendor of his palace and retinue was eclipsed by\nhis intellectual powers. Why, he seemed to know every thing. He was the\nfirst great naturalist the world ever saw. Peacocks from India strutted\nthe basaltic walks, and apes chattered in the trees and deer stalked\nthe parks, and there were aquariums with foreign fish and aviaries with\nforeign birds; and tradition says these birds were so well tamed that\nSolomon might walk clear across the city under the shadow of their wings\nas they hovered and flitted about him.\n\nKing Solomon had a great reputation for the conundrums and riddles that\nhe made and guessed. He and King Hiram, his neighbor, used to sit by the\nhour and ask riddles, each one paying in money if he could not answer or\nguess the riddle.\n\nThe Solomonic navy visited all the world, and the sailors, of course,\ntalked about the wealth of their king, and about the riddles and enigmas\nthat he made and solved.\n\nSolomon had at his command gold to the value of \u00a3680,000,000, and he had\nsilver to the value of \u00a31,029,000,377. The Queen of Sheba made him a nice\nlittle present of \u00a3720,000, and King Hiram made him a present of the same\namount.\n\nIf Solomon had lost the value of a whole realm out of his pocket, it\nwould hardly have been worth his while to stoop down and pick it up.\n\nHe wrote one thousand and five songs. He wrote three thousand proverbs.\nHe wrote about almost every thing. The Bible says distinctly he wrote\nabout plants, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of\nthe wall, and about birds and beasts and fishes.\n\nNo doubt he put off his royal robes, and put on the hunter\u2019s trappings,\nand went out with his arrows to bring down the rarest specimens of birds;\nand then with his fishing apparatus he went down to the streams to bring\nup the denizens of the deep, and plunged into the forest and found the\nrarest specimens of flowers. He then came back to his study and wrote\nbooks about zoology, the science of animals; about ichthyology, the\nscience of fishes; about ornithology, the science of birds; about botany,\nthe science of plants.\n\nDid any other city ever behold so wonderful a man?\n\nHis fame spread abroad, and Queen Balkis, away to the south, heard of\nit. She sent messengers with a few riddles that she would like to have\nSolomon solve and a few puzzles which she would like to have him find out.\n\nShe sent to King Solomon, among other things, a diamond with a hole so\nsmall that a needle would not penetrate it, asking him to thread that\ndiamond. Solomon took a worm and put it at the opening in the diamond,\nand the worm crawled through, leaving the thread in the diamond.\n\nThis queen also sent a goblet to Solomon, asking him to fill it with\nwater that did not pour from the sky, and that did not rush out from the\nearth. Immediately the wise man put a slave on the back of a swift horse\nand galloped him around and around the park until the horse was nigh\nexhausted, and from the perspiration of the horse the goblet was filled.\n\nShe also sent King Solomon five hundred boys in girls\u2019 dress and five\nhundred girls in boys\u2019 dress, wondering if he would be acute enough to\nfind out the deception. Immediately Solomon, when he saw them wash their\nfaces, knew from the way they applied the water it was all a cheat.\n\nQueen Balkis was so pleased with the acuteness of Solomon that she said:\n\u201cI will just go and see him.\u201d\n\nYonder it comes--the cavalcade--horses and dromedaries, chariots and\ncharioteers, jingling harness and clattering hoofs, and blazing shields,\nand flying ensigns, and clapping cymbals.\n\nThe place is saturated with perfumes. She brings cinnamon, saffron,\ncalamus, frankincense and all manner of sweet spices. As the retinue\nsweeps through the gate the armed guards inhale the aroma. \u201cHalt!\u201d cry\nthe charioteers, as the wheels grind the gravel in front of the pillared\nportico of the king. Queen Balkis alights in an atmosphere bewitching\nwith perfume. As the dromedaries are driven up to the king\u2019s storehouses\nand the bundles of camphor are unloaded, and the cinnamon sacks and the\nboxes of spices are opened, the purveyors of the palace discovered, so\nthe Bible relates: \u201cOf spices, great abundance; neither was there any\nsuch spices as the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.\u201d\n\nWell, my friends, you know that all theologians agree in making Solomon\na type of Christ and making the Queen of Sheba a type of every truth\nseeker, and I take the responsibility of saying that all the spikenard,\ncassia and frankincense which the Queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon\nare mightily suggestive of the sweet spice of our holy religion.\n\n\nTHE GENTILE MOTHER.\n\nIt was a Sabbath afternoon in the Belleville parsonage. I had been trying\nfor two years to preach, but to me the Christian life had been nothing\nbut a struggle. I sat down at the table, took up my Bible, and asked for\ndivine illumination; and it poured like sunlight upon my soul through the\nstory of the Syro-Phenician woman.\n\nThis woman was a mother, and she had an afflicted daughter. The child had\na virulent, exasperating and convulsive disease, called the possession of\nthe devil.\n\nThe mother was just like other mothers; she had no peace as long as\nher child was sick. She was a Gentile, and the Jews had such a perfect\ncontempt for the Gentiles that they called them dogs. Nevertheless, she\ncomes to Christ, and asks Him to help her in her family troubles. Christ\nmakes no answer. The people become afraid there is going to be a \u201cscene\u201d\nenacted, and they try to get the woman out of Christ\u2019s presence; but He\nforbids her expulsion. Then she falls down and repeats her request.\n\nChrist, to rally her earnestness, and to make His mercy finally more\nconspicuous, addresses her, saying: \u201cIt is not meet to take the\nchildren\u2019s bread [that is, the salvation appointed for the Jews] and cast\nit to dogs\u201d--the Gentiles. Christ did not mean to characterize that woman\nas a dog. That would have been most unlike Him, who from the cross said:\n\u201cBehold thy mother.\u201d\n\nHis whole life was so gentle and so loving, He could not have given it\nout as His opinion that that was what she ought to be called; but He\nwas only employing the ordinary parlance of the Jews in regard to the\nGentiles. Yet that mother was not to be put off, pleading as she was for\nthe life of her daughter. She was not to be rebuffed; she was not to be\ndiscouraged. She says:\n\n\u201cYea, Lord, I acknowledge I am a Gentile dog; but I remember that even\nthe dogs have some privileges, and when the door is open they slink in\nand crawl under the table. When the bread or the meat sifts through the\ncracks of the table or falls off the edge of it, they pick it up, and\nthe master of the house is not angry with them. I do not ask for a big\nloaf; I do not ask even for a big slice; I only ask for that which drops\ndown through the chinks of the table--the dogs\u2019 portion. I ask only the\ncrumbs.\u201d\n\nChrist felt the wit and the earnestness and the stratagem and the faith\nof that woman. He turns upon her and says:\n\n\u201cYou have conquered Me. Your daughter is well now. Go home, mother; but\nbefore you get there she will come down, skipping out to meet you.\u201d\n\nThere I see the mother going. She feels full twenty years younger now.\nShe is getting on in life, but she goes with a half run. Amid an outburst\nof hysterical laughter and tears they meet. The mother breaks down every\ntime she tries to tell it. The daughter is before her, with cheeks as\nrosy as before she fell in the first fit. The doctors of the village\nprophesy that the cure will not last, because it was not according to\ntheir prescription. But I read in the oldest medical journal in the\nworld: \u201cThe daughter was made whole from that very hour.\u201d\n\nThis story shows you Jesus with His back turned. That woman came to Him\nand said: \u201cLord, spare the life of my child; it will not cost You any\nthing.\u201d Jesus turned His back. He threw positive discouragement on her\npetition. Jesus stood with His face to blind Bartimeus, to the foaming\ndemoniac, to the limping paralytic, to the sea when He hushed it, and to\nthe grave when He broke it; but now He turns His back.\n\nI asked an artist if he ever saw a representation of Jesus Christ with\nHis back turned. He said no. And it is a fact that you may go through all\nthe picture galleries of London, Dresden, Rome, Florence and Naples, and\nyou will find Christ with full face and profile, but never with His back\nturned. Yet here, in this passage, He turned away from the woman.\n\n\nZACCH\u00c6US.\n\nZacch\u00e6us was a politician and a tax gatherer. He had an honest calling,\nbut the opportunity for \u201cstealings\u201d was so large that the temptation was\ntoo much for him.\n\nThe Bible says that Zacch\u00e6us was \u201ca sinner\u201d--that is, in the public\nsense. How many fine men have been ruined by official position! It is\nan awful thing for any man to seek office under government unless his\nprinciples of integrity are deeply fixed. Many a man, upright in an\ninsignificant position, has made shipwreck in a great one. So far as I\ncan tell, in the city of Jericho this Zacch\u00e6us belonged to what might be\ncalled the \u201cring.\u201d\n\nThey had things their own way, successfully avoiding exposure--if by no\nother way, perhaps by hiring somebody to break in and steal the vouchers.\n\nNotwithstanding his bad reputation, there were some streaks of good about\nZacch\u00e6us--as there are about almost every man. Gold is found in quartz,\nand sometimes in a very small percentage.\n\nJesus was coming to town. The people all turned out to see Him. Here He\ncomes--the Lord of Glory--on foot, dust-covered and road-weary, limping\nalong the way, carrying the griefs and woes of the world. Christ looks to\nbe sixty years of age, when He is only about thirty.\n\nZacch\u00e6us was a short man, and could not see over the people\u2019s heads while\nstanding on the ground; so he got up into a sycamore tree that swung its\narm clear over the road.\n\nJesus advanced amid the wild excitement of the surging crowd. The most\nhonorable and popular men of the city are looking on, and are trying to\ngain His attention. But Jesus, instead of regarding them, looks up at the\nlittle man in the tree, and says:\n\n\u201cZacch\u00e6us, come down. I am going home with you.\u201d\n\nAll regretted to see such choice of company.\n\nZacch\u00e6us had mounted the sycamore tree out of mere curiosity. He wanted\nto see how this stranger looked--the color of his eyes, the length of his\nhair, the contour of his features, the height of his stature.\n\nI see Christ entering the front door of the house of Zacch\u00e6us. The King\nof Heaven and Earth sits down; and as He looks around on the place and\nthe family, He pronounces the benediction: \u201cThis day is salvation come to\nthis house.\u201d\n\n\nNEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE.\n\n Nearer, my God, to Thee--\n Nearer to Thee!\n E\u2019en though a cross it be\n That raiseth me,\n Still all my song shall be:\n Nearer, my God, to Thee--\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n Though, like a wanderer,\n The sun gone down,\n Darkness be over me,\n My rest a stone,\n Yet in my dreams I\u2019d be\n Nearer, my God, to Thee\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n There let the way appear\n Steps unto Heaven;\n All that Thou sendest me\n In mercy given!\n Angels to beckon me\n Nearer, my God, to Thee--\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n Then, with my waking thoughts\n Bright with Thy praise,\n Out of my stony griefs\n Bethel I\u2019ll raise;\n So, by my woes, to be\n Nearer, my God, to Thee--\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n Or if, on joyful wing\n Cleaving the sky--\n Sun, Moon and stars forgot--\n Upward I fly,\n Still all my song shall be:\n Nearer, my God, to Thee--\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n\n\n\nBIBLE CHARACTERS\n\nDISCUSSED AND ANALYZED BY THE SCHOLARLY DIVINE, JOSEPH PARKER, D. D.\n\n\nABIJAH.\n\nWe forget Abijah\u2019s character in his eloquence. He carries a spell with\nhim. Judging from his speech, one would suppose him faultless--entirely\nnoble in every aspiration and impulse and sublimely religious and\nunselfish.\n\nThe whole Abijah is not here. This is but the ideal Abijah. Who ever\nshows himself wholly upon any one occasion? Who does not sometimes go\nforth in his best clothing?\n\nWe must read the account of Abijah which is given in the Book of Kings\nbefore we can correctly estimate the Abijah who talks in the Book of\nChronicles.\n\nIt is, perhaps, encouraging that while men are upon the Earth they should\nnot be so dazzlingly good as to blind their fellow men. Yet it is pitiful\nto observe how men can be religious for the occasion. Nearly all men are\nreligious at a funeral; but few men are religious at a wedding.\n\nAbijah has a great cause to serve, and he addresses himself to it not\nonly with the skill of a rhetorician but with the piety of a mind that\nnever tenanted a worldly thought. God knows the whole character--how\nbright we are in points, how dark in many places; how lofty, how\nlow. Knowing all, He judges correctly, and His mercy is His delight.\nNeither God nor man is to be judged by one aspect, or one attribute, or\none quality. We must comprehend, so far as we may be able, the whole\ncircuit of character and purpose before we can come to a large and true\nconclusion.\n\nBut as we have to do with the ideal Abijah, let us hear what he has to\nsay in his ideal capacity. We will forget his faults while we listen to\nthe music of his religious eloquence.\n\nAbijah comes before us like a man who has a good cause to plead. He fixes\nhis feet upon a mountain as upon a natural throne, and from its summit\nhe addresses a king and a nation, and he addresses his auditors in the\nsacred name of \u201cthe Lord God of Israel.\u201d He will not begin the argument\nat a superficial point, or take it as starting from yesterday\u2019s new raw\nhistory--history hardly settled into form. He will go back, and with\ngreat sweep of historical reference he will establish his claim to be\nheard. In II. Chronicles, thirteenth chapter and fifth verse, Abijah asks:\n\n\u201cOught ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over\nIsrael to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of\nsalt?\u201d\n\nThe binding covenant--the covenant that even pagans would not break.\nIf you have eaten salt with a man you can never speak evil of him with\nan honest heart. You must forget your criticism in the remembrance of\nthe salt. You are at liberty to decline intercourse and fellowship and\nconfidence; you are perfectly at liberty to say: \u201cI will have nothing\nto do with thee in any association whatsoever.\u201d But you can not be both\nfriend and enemy. You can not eat salt with a man and smite him in the\nface, or wound him in the heel, or hurt him in any way, at any time, in\nany line or point.\n\nThat was pagan morality.\n\nWe are fallen a long way behind it in many cases, for what Christian is\nthere who could not eat all the salt a man has, and then go out and speak\nabout him with bitterness, plunder him, frustrate his plans, anticipate\nhim in some business venture, and laugh at him over his misplaced\nconfidence?\n\nAbijah recognized the perpetuity of the covenant. The kingdom was given\nto David for ever--if not in words, yet in spirit; if chapter and verse\ncan not be quoted, yet the whole spirit of the divine communion with\nDavid meant eternity of election and honor. It is right to hold up the\nideal covenant; it is right that even men who themselves have broken\ncovenants should insist that covenants are right. We must never forget\nthe ideal. Our prayers must express our better selves. A dying thief may\npray. Again and again we have to fall back upon the holy doctrine that a\nman is not to be judged in his character by the prayers which he offers,\ninasmuch as his prayers represent what he would be if he could.\n\nAbijah, having to deal with a perpetual covenant, charges Jeroboam with\nbreaking it:\n\n\u201cYet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of\nDavid, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his Lord.\u201d\n\nAll rebellion is wrong, unless it arises from a sense of injustice,\nuntruthfulness or dishonesty. No man has a right to dissent from the\nnational Church unless his dissent be founded upon conscience, a right\nconception of the nature of the Kingdom of Christ upon the Earth, which\nleads him to say to certain men: \u201cStand off.\u201d\n\nNo part of the empire has a right to arise against the central authority,\nof which itself constitutes a part, merely for the sake of expressing\npolitical prejudice or selfish design. Every rebellion must be put down\nthat can not justify itself by the very spirit and genius of justice.\nSeparation becomes schism when it but expresses a whim, an aversion, of\na superficial or technical kind; and every rebellion is wickedness, is\nborn of the spirit of the pit, that can not justify itself by appeals to\njustice, nobleness, liberty and God.\n\nYet our rebellions have made our history.\n\nWe should have been in slavery but for rebellion. The rebels are the\nheretics that have created orthodoxy. We owe nothing to the indifferent,\nthe languid, the selfish, the calculating, the let-alone people who\nsimply want to eat and drink and sleep and die. That they were ever born\nis either an affront to nature or is the supreme mystery of human life.\n\nAbijah, therefore, is perfectly right when he insists upon mere rebellion\nbeing put down; but when rebellion expresses the spirit of justice\nand the spirit of progress--the new revelation, the new day--all the\nAbijahs that ever addressed the world can only keep back the issue for a\nmeasurable period.\n\nThe accusation of Abijah was that Jeroboam had \u201cgathered unto him\nvain men, the children of Belial.\u201d For \u201cvain men\u201d read \u201csons of\nworthlessness\u201d--empty fellows, who will join any mob that pays best; men\nwho will cheer any speaker for a half-crown an hour, and put out anybody\non any plea on any side for extra remuneration.\n\nWhere do these men come from? Whose language do they speak? Whose image\nand superscription do they bear?\n\nThey are in every country; they worship in the sanctuary of mischief\nand bow down at the altar of selfishness. They know not what they\ndo. They will make a cross for a day\u2019s wages. Evil company follows\nevil men. Worthless fellows are soon dissatisfied with the company of\nrighteousness; the intercourse becomes monotonous and suffocating. A bad\nman could not live in Heaven. It is not in the power of mercy to save men\nfrom hell, for they carry hell with them; they are perdition.\n\nWho can wonder if desecration followed in the steps of worthlessness?\nAbijah asks:\n\n\u201cHave ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the\nLevites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of\nother lands, so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young\nbullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no\ngods?\u201d\n\nLet them bring the offering, and then they may become priests and do what\nthey please at altars that have no foundations, the incense of which is\na cloud that Heaven will not absorb. William Rufus declared that church\nbread was sweet bread. How many men have eaten church bread who ought\nto have died of hunger! What responsibility attaches to some people in\nthis matter! Church bread ought never to be given away--ought never to be\ndishonored with the name of a \u201cliving.\u201d No man should be in the Church\nwho could not make five times the money out of it that he ever made\nin it. It should be felt that if he put forth all his power--both his\nhands, his whole mind and strength--he could be the greatest man in the\ncommonwealth.\n\nJeroboam would admit any one to the altar; he would make room if there\nwas none; he would cast out a priest of the Lord to make room for a\npriest of Belial. This is the accusation which Abijah brings against\nJeroboam and his company of rebels.\n\nNow Abijah turns to state his own case. He tells us what he and his\npeople are:\n\n\u201cBut as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him;\nand the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron,\nand the Levites wait upon their business. And they burn unto the Lord\nevery morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense;\nthe shew-bread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the\ncandlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening; for\nwe keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken Him.\u201d\n\nWhat a character Abijah gives himself!\n\nLet us remember that we are dealing with an ideal man, and not with the\nreal personality.\n\nTake this, however, as an ideal representation, and how perfect it is in\nevery line! \u201cThe Lord is our God.\u201d We have a sound and vital theology; we\nhave a clear upward look, and no cloud conceals the face divine; no idols\nhave we--no images of wood, no pillars, no groves, no high places where\nidolatry may be performed as an entertainment.\n\nThe man reasons well. He insists upon having corner stones in any edifice\nor argument he puts up. When he accuses, he goes back to the covenant of\nsalt; when he claims a right position, he claims that it is a theological\none. He holds the right God. Losing the right theology, we lose all the\ndetail with it. When the conception of God is wrong, no other conception\ncan be right. It is only bold because it is true to say that if a man has\nnot the right desire after the right God he can not keep correct weights\nand scales. The custom house, the inland revenue, the excise--call it\nwhat you please--may to some extent keep him up to the right mark, but\nin his soul he takes in every customer that comes near him; if he does\nnot, he loses sleep. This applies to the so-called heathen as well as to\nthe Christian. It is not necessary that a man should have a clear and\nperfect revelation of God, but that in his heart he feels that he is a\ncreature, not a creator; a subject, not a sovereign; that he is under\nresponsibility, and not above it. In that proportion only can he deal\nrighteously and nobly with his fellow men.\n\n\u201cAnd the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron,\nand the Levites wait upon their business.\u201d\n\nHere is apostolic succession before the time of the invention of the\nterm. Here is an excellent pedigree, a most complete genealogy. Our\npriests are in the Aaronic line, and the Levites know their business and\nkeep to it; every thing is in order in our Church.\n\nThat is beautiful, and that is right. We need not shrink from adding,\nthat is necessary. We must have nothing to do with men who are not in\nthe Aaronic and apostolic succession; they must not occupy our pulpits,\nnor be allowed to make pulpits of their own; no man must sell them wood\nor stone with which to construct a pulpit; they must be forbidden by the\ngenius of law from ever preaching or attempting to preach.\n\nWhen we let go the doctrine of apostolic succession we let go a vital\ntreasure and blessing.\n\nWe may differ as to our definition of \u201capostolic succession,\u201d but surely\nthere can be no difference among frank and enlightened hearts and minds\nas to what apostolic succession is. No man is in the apostolic succession\nwho is not in the apostolic spirit, and no man is out of the apostolic\nsuccession who is animated by the spirit of the apostles. That is not a\nspirit which is conferred by the tips of any fingers; that is the gift of\nGod.\n\nDo you see your calling, brethren? God has chosen you. What a Church\nis God\u2019s! Not a Church of wax-works, all made at one factory, and all\ncharged for in one invoice; but living men, characterized by innumerable\nindividualities--some broad as the firmament, others beautiful and tender\nas little flowers that can only grow in the fullest sun-warmth; some\nmilitary in argument and in discipline, others persuasive in pathos,\nsympathy and tenderness.\n\nThere is no monotony in God. One star differeth from another in glory;\nno two blades of grass are microscopically identical. There is a common\nlikeness in the worlds and in the sub-economies of Nature, but the more\npenetrating our vision is made by mechanical and scientific aids the more\nwondrous in difference are discovered to be the very things which are\nsupposed to be identical.\n\nWe must never allow the apostolic succession to be handed about without\nits being accompanied by the apostolic spirit. Every man is in the\napostolic succession who believes in the apostles, who follows them as\nthey followed Christ, and who would know nothing among men but Jesus\nChrist and Him crucified.\n\n\u201cAnd they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt\nsacrifices and sweet incense; the shew-bread also set they in order upon\nthe pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to\nburn every evening.\u201d\n\nAt that time piety was mechanical. It could not be otherwise. God never\nforces history. The days come, each with its own burden and its own\nblessing, its own dawn and its own apocalypse. We can not have today what\nis due tomorrow. God\u2019s seasons move in measured revolution, and come\nto us in orderly and timely procession; and no man can hasten them by\nlighting his camp fire, or striking his matches, or kindling his little\ninflammable powder.\n\nWe can not imitate the Sun.\n\nSome have tried to mimic the stars; but where is the image of the Sun\nthat the Sun has not obliterated by one mid-day look?\n\nThe time came when all these ordinances were set aside. There was to\nbe no more burning; there was to be no morning sacrifice and evening\nsacrifice and sweet incense, or shew-bread and candlestick of gold and\nlamps thereof for evening burning.\n\n\u201cYe are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned\nwith fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound\nof a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard\nintreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more; but ye are\ncome unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly\nJerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general\nassembly and church of the first-born, which are written in Heaven, and\nto God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,\nand to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of\nsprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.\u201d\n\nSo we may misuse history by going back and making that necessary which\nhas already been abrogated. We may thus ill-treat the day of rest, by\nmeasuring it and weighing it in Jewish scales. We may cast a cloud over\nthe day of jubilee that comes every week, by measuring its beginning and\nits ending by Jewish arithmetic; we may make the whole week sabbatic by\nChristian consecration. There will always be ordinances, because while\nman is in the body he needs external helps, collateral assistances and\nauxiliaries. He is not always equally awake; he is not always equally\nspiritual. He needs the communion of saints, the coming together in holy\nfellowship, all the associations of a sacred time and a sacred place, and\nthrough the active yet subtle ministry of these he comes to feel that he\nis in touch with God. \u201cHere in the body pent\u201d we need such aids as can\npenetrate our prison and minister to the liberty of the soul.\n\nNow Abijah says, as a kind of climax:\n\n\u201cAnd, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and His priests\nwith sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel,\nfight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not\nprosper.\u201d\n\nHow steadfastly Abijah abides by the altar! He can not be tempted\none step from the throne of God. His appeal is sublime because it is\nreligious. It is historically religious. \u201cThe Lord God of your fathers.\u201d\nIt would seem to be a solemn thing to cut off oneself from all the\ncurrents of history--to bury our fathers over again in a deeper grave;\nyea, to bury them at night-time, so that when the morning came we could\nnot tell where they were interred.\n\nAbijah will have a historic line. He maintains the doctrine of\nphilosophic and personal heredity and organic unity. He will insist upon\nit that the men of his day represented the men of dead generations, and\nwere to do what they would have done had they then lived. Not only was it\nhistorically religious, but it was religion accentuated by motives, such\nas act most powerfully upon human conduct--\u201cfor ye shall not prosper.\u201d\nThat appeal they could understand.\n\nThe double appeal constitutes God\u2019s address to men. He is bound to point\nout consequences, though He would not have life built upon them. There\nis no other way of getting at certain people than by telling them that\nif they believe not they shall be damned. They are so curiously and\nfearfully made that only hell can excite their attention. The preacher\ndoes not declare this doctrine of fire, or mere penalty, for the sake of\nrevealing God and acting upon human thought and conduct. He knows it is\nan appeal more or less tinctured with possible selfishness. He can not\nbut despise the man who asks for Heaven simply because he has smelt the\nfire of hell.\n\nBut the Christian preacher will begin where he can. He has to do with\nall classes and conditions of men. All men do not occupy the highest\npoint of thought--do not approach the Kingdom of Heaven from the noblest\nconsiderations--and he is the wise pastor, he has the great shepherd\nheart, who receives men by night, by day, through the gate of fear,\nthrough the portals of love; who keeps the door ajar for men, not knowing\nwhen they may come home.\n\nHe is but a poor preacher, and he knows it, who bids people come to God\nthat they may get to Heaven; but he is aware that some people can only\nunderstand through the medium of such terms, if ever; and he really hopes\nfor them that by experience they may eventually rise to a nobler level,\nand desire God for God\u2019s own sake. He only is in the Spirit of Christ who\nwould pray as much, give as much, suffer as much, if he knew he had to\ndie this night, and be blotted out for ever, as he would do and give if\nhe knew he were this night going into everlasting glory.\n\nTo be good in order to buy Heaven is not to be good. To be religious in\norder to escape hell is not to be religious.\n\nYet we must always so judge human nature as to provide for people who\ncan only act through fear, and through love and hope of reward. Their\neducation will be continued and completed, and some day they will look\nback upon their infantile beginning and pity themselves.\n\nThe great thing, however, is to begin. If we are afraid of hell, let us\nask great questions. If we are in hope of Heaven, let us begin to do\ngreat services. Hell and Heaven have nothing to do with it in reality,\nbut they have to do a great deal with it initially, instrumentally and\neducationally.\n\nWhat was the upshot of the war? Who needs to inquire? When Omnipotence\ngoes forth to war, what can be the issue of the battle? God takes out His\nglittering sword, and His hand lays heavy in judgment; can grasshoppers\nstand before Him? Oppose a wooden fence to a boundless conflagration, and\nyou may act almost rationally--most rationally--as compared with those\nwho set a grasshopper to oppose the march of God.\n\nThe writer in the Book of Kings takes a much worse view of Abijah\u2019s\ncharacter than we find in the Book of Chronicles. From the first Book of\nKings we learn that Abijah endeavored to recover the kingdom of the Ten\nTribes, and made war on Jeroboam. No details are given, but we are also\ninformed that he walked in all the sins of Rehoboam--idolatry and its\nattendant immoralities--and that his heart \u201cwas not perfect before God,\nas the heart of David, his father.\u201d\n\nIn the second Book of Chronicles Abijah\u2019s war upon Jeroboam is more\nminutely described, and he makes a speech to the men of Israel,\nreproaching them for breaking their allegiance to the house of David,\nfor worshiping the golden calves, and substituting unauthorized priests\nfor the sons of Aaron and the Levites. He was successful in the battle\nagainst Jeroboam, and took the cities of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephraim,\nwith their dependent villages. Nothing is said by the writer in\nChronicles of the sins of Abijah, but we are told that after his victory\nhe \u201cwaxed mighty, and married fourteen wives\u201d--whence we may well infer\nthat he was elated with prosperity, and like Solomon, his grandfather,\nfell during the last two years of his life into wickedness, as described\nin Kings. Both records inform us that he reigned only for the period of\nthree years.\n\n\nAHAB.\n\nGod is the time-keeper. He says: \u201cNow.\u201d We wonder we can not go just when\nit is convenient to ourselves. We think we see the exact juncture when it\nwould be right to go, but if we went just then a serpent would bite us on\nthe road.\n\nWe want to go to Heaven, but God says: \u201cNot yet.\u201d\n\nWe want to begin the battle, but God says: \u201cWait.\u201d\n\nIn the eighteenth chapter of the first Book of Kings we read:\n\n\u201cAnd it came to pass, after many days, that the word of the Lord came to\nElijah in the third year, saying: \u2018Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will\nsend rain upon the Earth.\u2019 And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And\nthere was a sore famine in Samaria.\u201d\n\nThink of waiting \u201cmany days\u201d and doing nothing! But what if waiting be\nthe best working? What if we can best do every thing by simply doing\nnothing? There is a time to stand still and see the salvation of God.\n\nMark another thing in these verses. The Lord said \u201cGo,\u201d and Elijah went.\nNot Elijah \u201cobjected,\u201d Elijah \u201creasoned,\u201d or Elijah \u201cpointed out the\ndifficulties,\u201d but simply Elijah \u201cwent.\u201d\n\nThat is the true ideal of life.\n\nAlways be ready.\n\nContrast with this the case of Jonah. Elijah had no fear of Ahab. He\nwho fears God can not fear man. If you go up to your duties in your own\nstrength, you will find them difficult; if you come down upon them from\nhigh communion with God, you will find them easy.\n\nThe governor of the house of Ahab was called Obadiah. The word Obadiah\nmeans \u201cservant of Jehovah,\u201d and it would seem to have been a true\ndescription of the man, for we read that \u201cObadiah feared [or reverenced]\nthe Lord greatly.\u201d\n\nIt is possible for a man to be very bad in one direction and very\ntolerant in another. It was so in the case of Ahab. He was the worst of\nthe kings of Israel, yet he kept a governor over his house who feared\nthe Lord greatly.\n\nThe Lord causes the most wicked men to pay His religion the homage\nwhich is due to its excellence. A bad king employs a good governor. He\nwho himself disobeys Jehovah yet engages a servant who fears the Lord\ngreatly. The thief likes an honest man for steward. The blasphemer\nlikes a godly teacher for his child. The great speculator prefers an\nunspeculative man for book-keeper. It is thus that virtue has many\nunconscious votaries.\n\nHe who is the slave of idolatry becomes an easy prey to the power of\ncruel tempters. We do not know that Ahab was a cruel man, but we do\nknow that Jezebel was a cruel woman, and Ahab was greatly influenced by\nhis passionate and sanguinary wife. Ahab\u2019s provocation of the Lord may\nhave been in the direction of idolatry alone; but to be wrong in your\nconception of worship is to expose yourself to every possible attack of\nthe enemy. To pray in the wrong direction is to be weak in every other.\n\nAhab was a speculative idolater; Jezebel was a practical persecutor. Ahab\nshowed that speculative error is consistent with social toleration. You\nmust distinguish between Ahab and Elijah in this matter. It was Jezebel\nwho slew the prophets of the Lord, and Ahab knew that his servant,\nObadiah, had hidden fifty of these prophets in a cave; and yet Ahab kept\nObadiah in his service. But redeeming points do not restore the whole\ncharacter. \u201cOne swallow does not make a Summer.\u201d\n\nIn the same character may be met great faith and great doubt. Obadiah\nrisked his life to save fifty of the prophets of the Lord, yet dare not\nrisk it, without first receiving an oath, for the greatest prophet of\nall! This mixture we find in every human character. \u201cHow abject, how\naugust, is man!\u201d\n\nIn Ahab, Obadiah, Elijah and Jezebel we see a fourfold type of human\nsociety. There is the speculator, the godly servant, the far-seeing\nprophet and the cruel persecutor.\n\nSociety has got no farther than this today. The Ahabs of the age are\nleading us away into speculation that ends in idolatry and in infinite\nprovocation of the Lord; the Obadiahs of the age are still praying, and\nserving God, and saving even the worst households from the wrath of\nHeaven; the Elijahs of the age are still hurling their divine thunders\nthrough the corrupt and stagnant air, and piercing with lightning shafts\nthe gloomy and threatening future; and the Jezebels of the age are still\nnarrow, bitter, indignant, vengeful and sanguinary.\n\nO wondrous combination! So checked, so controlled, by invisible but\nbenignant power! Speculative error has its counterpart in actual cruelty,\nand patient worship has its counterpart in daring service.\n\nWe sometimes hear that Ahab was a covetous man. Are we quite sure that\nthe charge is just and that it can be substantiated?\n\nThis charge is based on the affair of Naboth\u2019s vineyard. How could Ahab\nbe covetous? He proposed terms, saying:\n\n\u201cGive me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because\nit is near unto my house, and I will give thee a better vineyard than it;\nor, if it seems good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.\u201d\n\nThe terms do not, upon the face of them, appear to be unreasonable or\ninapplicable. Surely this is not mere covetousness, if covetousness at\nall. The vineyard was close to the palace, and that fact was assigned\nas a reason for wishing to open negotiations concerning its transfer.\nBut do we not sometimes too narrowly interpret the word covetousness? It\nis generally, at least, limited to money. When a man is fond of money,\nwishes to add to it, and is not scrupulous as to the means by which he\nseeks to enhance his fortune, we describe him as covetous. The term is\nperfectly applicable in such a case.\n\nBut the term \u201ccovetous\u201d may apply to a much larger set of circumstances,\nand describe quite another set of impulses and desires.\n\nWe may even be covetous of personal appearance; we may be covetous of\npopular fame, such as is enjoyed by other men; we may be covetous in\nevery direction which implies the gratification of our own wishes; and\nyet, with regard to the mere matter of money, we may be almost liberal.\n\nThis is an astounding state of affairs.\n\nA man may be liberal with money, and yet covetous in many other\ndirections. Sometimes, when covetousness takes this other turn, we\ndescribe it by the narrower word, \u201cenvy.\u201d We say we envy the personal\nappearance of some; we envy the greatness and the public standing of\nothers.\n\nBut under all this envy is covetousness.\n\nEnvy is in a sense but a symptom; covetousness is the vital and devouring\ndisease. Under this interpretation of the term, therefore, it is not\nunfit or unjust to describe Ahab as a covetous man.\n\nLook at his dissatisfaction with circumstances. He wishes to have \u201ca\ngarden of herbs.\u201d That is all. He is king of Israel in Samaria; but there\nis one little thing of which he has not yet possessed himself, and until\nhe gets that in his hand he can not rest well. There is a dream that\ntroubles him; there is a nightmare which makes him afraid to lie down to\nsleep.\n\nLook at what he has. Who can measure it? Who can run through the\nenumeration of his possessions? Who can take an exhaustive inventory of\nall the riches of the king of Israel?\n\nBut there is one little corner that is not his, and he wants it, and\nuntil he can get it all the rest goes for nothing.\n\nThe great Alexander could not rest in his palace at Babylon because\nhe could not get ivy to grow in his garden. What was Babylon, or all\nAssyria, in view of the fact that this childish king could not cause ivy\nto grow in the palace gardens?\n\nAhab lived in circumstances; he lived in the very narrowest kind of\ncircumstances. As a little man, he lived in little things, and because\nthose things were not all to his mind it was impossible for him to be\nrestful or noble or really good.\n\nOnce let the mind become dissatisfied with some trifling circumstance,\nand that fly spoils the whole pot of ointment. Once get the notion that\nthe house is too small, and then morning, noon and night you never see\na picture that is in it, or acknowledge the comfort of one corner in\nall the little habitation. The one thing that is present in the mind\nthroughout all the weary hours is that the house is too small.\n\nOnce get the idea that the business is undignified, and you go to it late\nin the morning and leave it early in the afternoon, neglecting it between\ntimes; you are also ashamed to speak of it, and will not throw your whole\nheart and soul during business hours into its execution.\n\nOnce get the notion that the neighborhood is unfashionable, and it goes\nfor nothing that the rooms are large and airy, that the garden is one of\nthe best you ever had, that there is ample scope for a rich library, that\nall the neighbors are men of peculiar intelligence and goodness. All go\nfor nothing, because the tempter has said: \u201cThis neighborhood is not a\nfashionable quarter of the town, and when people come to know that you\nare living here they will lose confidence in you and respect for you.\u201d\n\nIf we live in circumstances, we shall be the sport of events; we shall\nbe without dignity, without calmness, without reality and solidity of\ncharacter. Let us, therefore, betake ourselves into inner thoughts, into\nspirituality of life, into the soul\u2019s true character, into the very\nsanctuary of God. There we shall have truth and light and peace; there\nthe stormy wind can not disturb us, and the great darkness is but an\noutside circumstance, for within there is the shining of the light of God.\n\nThen notice in Ahab a childish servility to circumstances.\n\n[Illustration: THE PROPHET AMOS.\n\nFrom the Painting by Gustave Dore.]\n\n[Illustration: THE DESPAIR OF JUDAS.\n\nFrom a Photograph of the Character in the Passion Play.]\n\n\u201cAhab came into his house heavy and displeased \u2026 and he laid him down\nupon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.\u201d\n\nYet he was the king of Israel in Samaria! He actually had subjects under\nhim. He was in reality a man who could give law, whose very look was a\ncommandment, and the uplifting of his hand could move an army. Now we see\nhim surely at his least. So we do, but not at his worst.\n\nAll this must have an explanation. We can not imagine that the man is so\nsimply childish and foolish as this incident alone would describe him.\nBehind all this childishness there is an explanation. What is it?\n\nWe find it in the twenty-fifth verse:\n\n\u201cBut there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work\nwickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up.\u201d\n\nThat explains the whole mystery. The man had sold himself to the devil.\nAnd men are doing that self-same thing every day.\n\nIf it were a transaction in the market place--if the auctioneer were\nvisibly interested in this affair, if he could call out in audible tones\n\u201cSo much is the price, and the man is about to take it,\u201d people would\nshrink from the villainous transaction.\n\nBut this is an affair which does not take place in the open market or in\nthe open daylight. It is not conducted in words. If the men involved in\nsuch transactions could speak the words, the very speech of the words\nmight break the spell and destroy the horrible infatuation. But the\ncompact is made in darkness, in silence, in out-of-the-way places. It is\nan understanding unwritten, rather than an agreement in detail signed\nin the presence of witnesses. It is a mystery which the heart alone can\nunderstand, which even the preacher can not explain in terms, but he can\nonly throw himself upon his own consciousness, and throw others upon\ntheir consciousness, and call for a united testimony to the fact that it\nis possible to sell one\u2019s very soul to evil.\n\nNow we understand King Ahab better. We thought him but little, frivolous\nof mind, childish and petty, without a man\u2019s worthy ambition; but now we\nsee that all this was only symptomatic, an outward sign, pointing, when\nrightly followed, to an inward and mortal corruption.\n\nNow, let us look at the case of Naboth and the position which he occupied\nin this matter.\n\nNaboth possessed the vineyard which Ahab is said to have coveted. Naboth\nsaid: \u201cThe Lord forbid.\u201d He made a religious question of it. Why did he\ninvoke the Eternal Name and stand back, as if an offense had been offered\nto his faith? The terms were commercial; the terms were not unreasonable;\nthe approach was courteous, and the ground given for the approach was not\nan unnatural ground. Why did Naboth stand back as if his religion had\nbeen shocked?\n\nThe answer is in the Book of Numbers, thirty-sixth chapter and seventh\nverse:\n\n\u201cSo shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe\nto tribe; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to\nthe inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.\u201d\n\nSo Naboth stood upon the law.\n\nIn Ezekiel we read:\n\n\u201cMoreover, the prince shall not take of the people\u2019s inheritance by\noppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give\nhis sons inheritance out of his own possession, that My people be not\nscattered every man from his possession.\u201d\n\nSo Naboth was not answering haughtily or resentfully. He was answering\nboth solemnly and religiously. When money was offered for his fathers\u2019\ninheritance, he spurned the offer. There are some things, blessed be God,\nwe can not pay for.\n\nWhen Ahab said \u201cI will give thee for it a better vineyard than it\u201d he\nknew not of what he was speaking. There can be no better vineyard than\nthe vineyard of the fathers; there can be no vineyard equal to the\nvineyard that is sown with history, planted with associations, solemnized\nand endeared by a thousand precious memories. There ought to be some\nthings which we can not barter. Surely there ought to be some things\nwhich we should never try to sell.\n\nVerily, when we hear propositions made to us that money shall be given\nin exchange for certain things, our whole soul should rise in horror and\nindignation, and repel the approach of a barter which itself expresses an\ninfinite, because a most spiritual, injustice. So Naboth\u2019s position was\nstrong, and he had the courage to answer the king in these terms.\n\nKings must submit to law. Kings ought to be the subjects of their own\npeople. Ahab was taught that there was a man in Samaria who valued the\ninheritance which had been handed down to him. Have we no inheritance\nhanded down to us--no book of revelation, no day of rest, no flag of\nliberty, no password of common trust? Do we inherit nothing? Did we make\nthe age as it is, and is civilization a creature of our own fashioning?\nAnd are we not bound to hand on to others what was handed to us intact\nand unpolluted?\n\nLet us live in a sacred past, and regard ourselves as trustees of many\npossessions, and only trustees, and as bound to vindicate our trust and\nhave an ample acquittal at the last.\n\nSo Ahab lay down upon his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no\nbread. But there is a way of accomplishing mean desires. There is a way\nof obtaining what we want. Take heart! There is a way of possessing\noneself of almost whatever one desires. There is always some Merlin who\nwill bring every Uther-Pendragon what he longs to have; there is always\nsome Lady Macbeth who will show the thane how to become king. There\nis always a way to be bad. The gate of hell stands wide open; or, if\napparently half closed, a touch will make it fly back, and the road is\nbroad that leads to destruction.\n\nJezebel said she would find the garden or vineyard for her husband. She\ntaunted him. \u201cDost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise and eat\nbread, and let thine heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of\nNaboth, the Jezreelite.\u201d Jezebel threw into the word \u201cgovern\u201d a subtle\nand significant emphasis.\n\nHow will she proceed? She will be ceremoniously religious; she will\nproclaim a fast. O thou sweet, white, pure religion, thou hast been\nforced into strange uses! \u201cProclaim a fast;\u201d lengthen your faces; mimic\nsolemnity; promise your hunger an early satisfaction, but look as if you\nwere fasting.\n\nIt is a sure sign of mischief when certain men become serious. The moment\nthey appear to be religious the devil is just adding the last touch to\nthe building which he has been putting up within their souls. When they\ntalk long words--when they speak about responsibility, obligation, duty,\nconscience, compulsion of conviction--they are walking over tesselated\npavement into the very jaws of hell.\n\nThey do not mean their words; they do but use them. \u201cThe heart is\ndeceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.\u201d\n\nFirst of all, then, be ceremoniously religious, Jezebel; then trample\ndown truth. \u201cSet two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness\nagainst him, saying: \u2018Thou didst blaspheme God and the king.\u2019\u201d Falsehood\nis always ready. A great black lie is always willing to be loosed and to\nbe set going in the minds of men to pervert them and mislead them. It is\nalways open to the bad heart to speak the untrue word. Nor is the untrue\nword always frankly and broadly spoken. If so, it could be answered in\nsome cases.\n\nThe false word is hardly spoken at all; it is uttered in a whisper.\nFalsehood is made to use signs and gestures; even silence is made to bear\nwitness to falsehood. Truly, again we may say: \u201cThe heart is deceitful\nabove all things, and desperately wicked.\u201d Tell a lie big enough about\nany man, and it will be difficult, if not impossible, to do away with\nthe consequences of the false accusation. People will always be found\nto say: \u201cThere must be something in it; it may not be just as rumor has\nit, but surely a statement of that kind never could have been invented.\nAllowing a good deal for exaggeration, there must be something in it.\u201d\n\nNor is it always possible to get even righteous men to purge their minds\nof that damnable sophism. Men who ought to stand up and say \u201cThere is\nnothing in it\u201d hang down their heads, and with a coward\u2019s gesture let the\nlie pass on.\n\nThis is how men insult the Son of God, and crucify the Man of truth. They\nwill not be thorough, bold and fearless, and make the enemy ashamed of\nhimself for either having invented or repeated a falsehood. Nor may the\nman escape because he says he heard the lie. Tell him he may have heard\nit, but he is yet responsible for repeating it. He may have no control\nover the hearing, but the moment he repeats it he adopts it, and renders\nhimself amenable to the Eternal Righteousness.\n\nMake the very law an instrument of injustice! First charge this man with\nblasphemy and treason, and then take him out and stone him, that he may\ndie! Do not give him time to speak; do not ask for his defense; do not\ngive him an opportunity of interrogating the witnesses. But who would\ncross-examine two \u201csons of Belial?\u201d Better almost to die than to taint\nthe hands and eyes with the touch and look of such children of blackness!\n\n\u201cThen they carried him [Naboth] forth out of the city, and stoned him\nwith stones, that he died.\u201d It is all over! Jezebel did this. Jezebel--a\nwoman, a king\u2019s wife--did this. High position goes for nothing when the\nheart is wrong. Great influence means great mischief when the soul is not\nin harmony with the spirit of righteousness.\n\nIs Naboth quite dead? Yes, he is dead. Take the vineyard--take possession\nof it instantly. Now grow herbs, and grow them plentifully. The vineyard\nis now at liberty--take it. \u201cAhab rose up to go down to the vineyard of\nNaboth, the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.\u201d But who is that looms\nin the distance? Is it Naboth? No.\n\nHow comes this man to be here just now--aye, just now? How the end\nis marked off into points, and how does providence reveal itself at\nunexpected times and in ways unforeseen! Who is this? He looks stern. He\nhas an eye of fire. His lips are shut as if they could never be opened.\nHe does but look.\n\nWho is he? \u201cElijah, the Tishbite.\u201d He has a message:\n\n\u201cThus saith the Lord: \u2018Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?\u2019 \u2026\nThus saith the Lord: \u2018In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth\nshall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.\u2019\u201d\n\nA sad walk!\n\nAhab went down to take possession of a vineyard, and a death warrant was\nread to him! After all, it is safe to live in this universe; there is law\nin it, there is a genius of righteousness, there is a Force that moves on\ntoward noble issues.\n\n\u201cAnd Ahab said to Elijah: \u2018Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?\u2019 And\nhe answered: \u2018I have found thee; because thou hast sold thyself\nto work evil in the sight of the Lord.\u2019\u201d Ahab went out to take\npossession of a garden of herbs, and there he stands face to face with\nrighteousness--face to face with honor--face to face with judgment.\n\nNow take the vineyard. He can not! An hour since the Sun shone upon it,\nand now it is black as if it were part of the midnight which has gathered\nin judgment.\n\nThere is a success which is failure. We can not take some prizes. Elijah\nwill not allow us. When we see him we would that a way might open under\nour feet that we might flee and escape the judgment of his silent look.\n\nIn the Septuagint version the twentieth chapter of the first Book of\nKings immediately precedes the twenty-second. The three years without war\nis a period which is reckoned from the peace which was so rashly made by\nAhab with Ben-hadad.\n\nIt is clear that Ben-hadad has recovered his independence, and is\nprobably in a position of superiority. It is certain that he has not\nrestored Ramoth-gilead, as he had promised to do, and his reconstructed\narmy now seems to him to be sufficient to encounter successfully the\nunited hosts of Israel and Judah. In the forty-second verse of the same\nchapter we have seen how Ahab was rebuked for allowing the enemy to\nescape.\n\nIt has been supposed that this conduct on the part of Ahab may have been\ndue partly to compassion and partly to weakness. The judgment of the Lord\nwas, however, expressed in the severest terms:\n\n\u201cBecause thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to\nutter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy\npeople for his people.\u201d\n\nIn the third verse we see these words signally fulfilled. The king of\nIsrael seems to have a good cause when he said to his servants: \u201cKnow ye\nthat Ramoth, in Gilead, is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of\nthe hand of the king of Syria?\u201d On this occasion Ahab entered into an\nalliance with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, for the purpose of taking back\nthe city which belonged to Israel. Jehoshaphat made a deferential as well\nas a friendly reply, but insisted upon the fulfillment of a religious\ncondition. Jehoshaphat would make inquiry at the word of the Lord.\n\nThereupon four hundred prophets were gathered together, and with one\nconsent they advised that the attack should be made upon Ramoth-gilead.\nSurely this was enough to satisfy the judgment and the conscience of the\nmost religious man, yet Jehoshaphat was not content with the unanimous\nreply which four hundred prophets had returned.\n\n\u201cThere is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth\nthem understanding.\u201d\n\nAll external unanimity goes for nothing when the conscience itself\ndissents from the judgment which has been pronounced. There is a\nverifying faculty which operates upon its own responsibility, and which\ncan not be overpowered by the clamor of multitudes who eagerly rush down\npaths that are forbidden. Even when imagination assents to the voice\nof the majority, and when ambition is delighted with the verdict of\nthe prophets, there yet remains the terrible but gracious authority of\nconscience. Through all the clamor that authority makes its way, and\ncalmly distinguishes between right and wrong, and solemnly insists that\nright shall be done at all hazards and in view of all consequences.\n\nA vital lesson rises here to all who are anxious to know the right way\nunder difficult circumstances. It is not enough to have great numbers of\nauthorities on our side; so long as the conscience remains unsatisfied\nall other authorities are \u201ctrifles light as air.\u201d\n\nJehoshaphat was uneasy, therefore, notwithstanding the prophets had said:\n\u201cGo up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.\u201d He\ninquired: \u201cIs there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might\ninquire of him?\u201d The word which Jehoshaphat used was the great word,\nJehovah. It was not enough for him to use a religious or sacred term. He\nmust have the prophecy identified with the awful name, Jehovah; then it\nwould come with final authority.\n\nThe king of Israel knew that there was another man whose very name\nsignified \u201cWho is like Jehovah?\u201d Ahab frankly admitted that he hated\nMicaiah because he never prophesied good concerning him, but always evil.\n\nObserve the madness of Ahab\u2019s policy, and note how often it is the policy\nwhich we ourselves are tempted to pursue. We suppose that if we do not\nconsult the Bible we may take license to do what seems good in our own\neyes, and we imagine that by ignoring the Bible we have divested it of\nauthority. We flatter ourselves that if we do not listen to an exposition\nof the divine word we shall be judged according to the light we have,\nforgetting the solemn law that it is not according to the light we have\nthat we are to be judged, but according to the light we might have if we\nput ourselves in right relations to the opportunities created for us by\ndivine providence.\n\nWe know that if we go to hear a certain preacher he will insist upon\n\u201crighteousness, temperance and judgment to come;\u201d and, supposing that\nwe already know every thing that he will say, we turn away from him and\nlisten to men who do not profoundly treat vital subjects, or press home\nupon the conscience the terrible judgments of God.\n\nWhat is this but closing our eyes to light, and supposing that darkness\nis safety? What is this ostrich policy but one that ought to be condemned\nby our sense as well as shrunk from by our piety?\n\nOur duty under all critical circumstances is to go to the truth-teller,\nand to get at the reality of things at all costs. Where the truth-teller\ndisturbs our peace and disappoints our ambition, we ought surely\nto learn that it is precisely at that point that we have to become\nself-rectifying. The truth-teller is only powerful in proportion as he\ntells the truth. Officially, he is nothing; his power is simply the\nmeasure of his righteousness.\n\nBut do not men love to be flattered, even in courses of evil? Is it\nnot pleasant to go to forbidden war amid the huzzas of thoughtless and\nirresponsible multitudes?\n\nJehoshaphat, however, was a just man, and as such he protested against\nthe sin of the king of Israel, saying: \u201cLet not the king say so.\u201d\nJehoshaphat being so bent upon a complete judgment of the case, Micaiah\nwas sent for. The king of Israel wished to overawe the despised prophet\nby the pomp and circumstance under which he was introduced to the royal\npresence. \u201cThe king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, sat\neach on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the\nentrance of the gate of Samaria,\u201d and, to increase the impressiveness of\nthe occasion, all the prophets prophesied before the kings.\n\nA singular addition was made to the surroundings of the occasion which\nwas intended to impress the imagination and stagger the courage of the\ndespised Micaiah. A man bearing the name of Zedekiah (\u201crighteousness of\nJehovah\u201d) made him horns of iron. The use of symbolical acts is quite\ncommon in biblical history. We have already seen Abijah engaged in acts\nof this kind. He \u201ccaught the new garment that was on him and rent it in\ntwelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam: \u2018Take thee ten pieces.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe enthusiasm of Zedekiah inflamed all the other prophets to the highest\npoint of excitement, and they shouted as with one voice:\n\n\u201cGo up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for the Lord shall deliver it into\nthe king\u2019s hand.\u201d\n\nIn this instance the prophets, overborne by the enthusiasm of Zedekiah,\nactually ventured to use the name of Jehovah, which had not been used in\nthe first instance. The excitement had passed the point of worship and\nhad become more nearly resembling the frantic cry that was heard on Mount\nCarmel: \u201cO Baal, hear us.\u201d\n\nIs it possible that there can be found any solitary man who dare oppose\nsuch unanimous testimony and complete enthusiasm?\n\nThe messenger who was sent to call Micaiah was evidently a man of\nconsiderate feeling and who wished the prophet well. Seeing that the\nwords of the prophets had all declared good unto the king with one mouth,\nthe messenger wished that Micaiah should for once agree with the other\nprophets, and please the king by leaving undisturbed their emphatic and\nunanimous counsel.\n\nThus the voice of persuasion was brought to bear on Micaiah, and that\nvoice is always the most difficult to resist. The temptation thus\naddressed to Micaiah was thus double in force. On the one hand, there\nwere the pomp and the terror of the king who had sold himself to do evil,\nand who would shrink from the infliction of no cruelty that would express\nhis unreasoning and unlimited anger; on the other hand, there was the\ngood will of the messenger, who wished Micaiah to escape all danger and\npenalty, and for once to take the popular side. Micaiah\u2019s reply is simply\nsublime: \u201cAs the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I\nspeak.\u201d\n\nThe humility of this answer is as conspicuous as its firmness. Its\nprofound religiousness saves it from the charge of being defiant. Micaiah\nrecognizes himself merely in the position of a servant or medium, who has\nnothing of his own to say; who is not called upon to invent an answer or\nto play the clever man in the presence of the kings. He was simply as a\ntrumpet through which God could blow His own blast, or a pillar on which\nGod would inscribe his own message, or a voice which God would use for\nthe declaration of His own will. It is unjust to attribute obstinacy or\nany form of self-will or self-worship to Micaiah. If he had consulted his\nnatural inclination alone, he would have sought favor with the king, and\nthe logical effect of his subsequent position would have been that Ahab\nwould have endeavored for ever to silence him by constituting him the\nprince and leader of the four hundred prophets. Micaiah said, in effect,\nwhat was said centuries afterward: \u201cWe have this treasure in earthen\nvessels.\u201d\n\nMicaiah lived in God, for God, and had nothing of his own to calculate\nor consider. Until preachers realize this same spiritual independence,\nthey will be attempting to accommodate themselves to the spirit of the\ntimes, and even the strongest of them may be betrayed into connivances\nand compromises fatal to personal integrity and to the claims of truth.\n\nNow came the critical moment. Now it was to be seen whether Micaiah was\nto be promoted to honor, or thrust away in contempt and wrath. It is\neasy to read of the recurrence of such moments, but difficult to realize\nthem in their agony. Yet these are the moments which make history in its\nsublimest lines.\n\nIt is not too much to say that there have been points of time at which\nif certain men had given way the whole economy of the world have been\nwrecked.\n\nThe king addressed himself to the prophet, saying: \u201cShall we go against\nRamoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?\u201d The answer of Micaiah must\nhave been a surprise to all who heard it, for he said: \u201cGo, and prosper;\nfor the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.\u201d\n\nThis is an answer which can not be understood in print. It was evident,\nhowever, that Ahab was in no doubt as to its meaning, for the tone of\nthe prophet was a tone of almost contemptuous irony. If King Ahab had\ntaken Micaiah\u2019s literal answer, he would have gone forth to the battle\ncomforting himself with the thought that he was carrying out the will of\nHeaven; but he knew in his own soul that Micaiah was not uttering that\nwhich expressed the reality of the case. With anger the king said unto\nhim: \u201cHow many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but\nthat which is true in the name of the Lord?\u201d\n\nThen Micaiah replied in symbolic language, the full meaning of which was\nvividly clear to the mind of Ahab; for, turning to Jehoshaphat, he said:\n\u201cDid I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but\nevil?\u201d\n\nThereupon Micaiah charged the whole band of prophets with being under\nthe inspiration of a lying spirit, and thus he put a stigma upon their\njudgment and extracted from it every particle of dignity and authority.\n\nBut this was not to be borne, for Zedekiah went near and smote Micaiah on\nthe cheek and taunted him as being the only prophet in Israel. Micaiah\nhad to bear the sarcasm conveyed in the inquiry: \u201cWhich way went the\nSpirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?\u201d\n\nMicaiah, like a true prophet, leaves his judgment to the decision of\ntime. He will not stoop to argue, or to exchange words either of anger or\nof controversy; he simply says that Zedekiah will one day see the meaning\nof the whole prophecy, and until that day controversy would be useless.\n\nMicaiah had to pay for his intrepidity. He was carried unto Amon, the\ngovernor of the city, and to Joash, the king\u2019s son, and was to be put\nin prison and fed with the bread of affliction and with the water of\naffliction until Ahab returned in peace.\n\nMicaiah thus disappears from history. Of his fate we know nothing; but\nthere can be no difficulty in forecasting it a cruel death. Micaiah knew\nwell the meaning of the king\u2019s message. It may be difficult for the\ncommentator to explain the expression, \u201cbread of affliction and water of\naffliction,\u201d but Micaiah knew the full meaning of the terms, and yet,\nwhile their cruel sound was in his ears, he looked at the king and said:\n\u201cIf thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me.\u201d\n\nMicaiah also made his appeal to the people, and thus committed himself to\nthe verdict of history, saying: \u201cHearken, O people, every one of you.\u201d\n\nSee whether it is not a moment to be proud of when Micaiah turns away\nin the custody of his persecutors, having delivered his soul with a\nfearlessness that did not cower or blanche, even at the sight of death\nin its most ghastly form. Surely, it is due to history to recognize the\nfact that there have been men who have not counted their lives dear unto\nthemselves when they were called upon to testify for truth and goodness.\n\nThe martyrs must never be forgotten.\n\n[Illustration: JOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH\u2019S DREAM. Genesis, xli.]\n\n[Illustration: St. Paul.\n\nFrom the Painting by Raphael.]\n\nDark will be the day in the history of any nation when the men who shed\ntheir blood that truth might be told and honor might be vindicated are\nno longer held in remembrance. In vain do we bring forth from our hidden\ntreasure the coins of ancient times, the robes worn in high antiquity by\nkings and priests, the rusty armor of warriors, if there is no longer in\nour heart the most tender recollection of the men who wandered about\nclad in sheep-skins and goat-skins--being destitute, afflicted and\ntormented--that they might save the torch of truth from extinction and\nthe standard of honor from overthrow.\n\nAway the kings have gone, and instead of relying upon the word of the\nLord, or taking refuge in the sanctuary of great principles, they invent\nlittle tricks for the surprise and dismay of the enemy.\n\nThe king of Israel disguised himself, and Jehoshaphat made himself as the\nking of Israel; but all their inventions came to nothing. A certain man\ndrew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints\nof the harness. The poor king was fatally struck. He \u201cwas stayed up his\nchariot against the Syrians, and died at even; and the blood ran out of\nthe wound into the midst of the chariot.\u2026 And one washed the chariot in\nthe pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed\nhis armor; according unto the word of the Lord which He spake.\u201d\n\nSo will perish all the enemies of the Lord.\n\nDifferences of merely accidental detail there will ever be, but no honor\ncan mark the death of those who have gone contrary to the will of Heaven,\nand taken counsel of their own imagination. How long shall the lessons of\nhistory be wasted upon us? How long will men delude themselves with the\nmad infatuation that they can fight against God and prosper? Horsemen and\nchariots are nothing; gold and silver are valueless; all the resources of\ncivilization are but an elaborate display of cobwebs. Nothing can stand\nin the final conflict but truth, right and purity. These are the eternal\nbulwarks, and unto these are assured complete and unchangeable victory.\nIf God be for us, who can be against us? And if God be against us, it\nwill matter not what kings are for us; they shall be blown away by the\nwind as if contemptuously, and cast out as refuse which is of no value.\n\nMy soul, be thou faithful to the voice of history, nor tell lies to\nthyself, nor operate merely through imagination, ambition or selfish\ncalculation; for the end of this course is death--not heroic death, not\ndeath over which coming men and women will weep, but death that shall be\nassociated with dishonor, a thing to be forgotten, an event never to be\nnamed without bitterness and shame.\n\nThe first and second Book of Kings constitute a section of Jewish\nhistory, and originally formed only one book in the sacred writings. It\nwas customary with the Jews to name the sacred books from the word or\nwords with which they commenced; and, while this practice may have given\nrise to the designation, \u201cKings,\u201d it is right to observe that the title\nis well fitted to indicate the character of these historic compositions.\n\nThe annals given in these sacred registers are necessarily brief; but\nthey extend from the close of David\u2019s reign till the commonwealth was\ndissolved, a period of 427 years. Succinct as is the history contained\nin these books, there are some peculiarities in them which should not\nbe overlooked, and from which not a little may be learned. There is not\nhere a simple biography of the various kings that occupied the thrones\nof Judah and Israel, nor is there a mere detail of national movements\nand events, nor even a tabular register of ecclesiastical affairs. The\nthrone, the state and the church are all exhibited in their mutual\nrelations and bearings upon each other. Kings and people are held up to\nview as existing and acting under the immediate government of God; and\nhence the character of the ruler is always tested by the mode in which he\nadheres to the laws of the Most High and develops the moral excellences\nof the people. The notice of his accession to royal office is generally\naccompanied with an estimate of his conduct, and the standard to which\nhe is likened or with which he is contrasted is either the character of\nDavid, of his own father or of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, \u201cwho made\nIsrael to sin.\u201d\n\nAll the political events which are recorded have been brought forward\nchiefly to exhibit the influence of religion on national prosperity, and\nin this way to show how the divine King of Israel observed the conduct\nof his subjects, and rewarded their fidelity or avenged their wickedness\nwith expressions of righteous indignation. And the affairs of the Church\nare all portrayed with the evident design of giving prominence to the\nsame important truth.\n\nIdolatry in Israel was treason against their King; religious defection\nwas open revolt, and every act of overt wickedness was an act of\nrebellion. Hence there is a constant comparing or contrasting of\nreligious state and feeling with those of former times, and especially\nare the oracles of truth continually elevated as the perfect standard to\nwhich the thoughts and actions of all should be conformed.\n\nThe Mosaic promises and warnings are strikingly verified in the Books of\nKings. For this object they were written, and to the manifestation of\nthis the author has made his whole narrative conduce.\n\nMuch variety of opinion exists with reference to the author of these\nrecords and the period of their composition. Jewish tradition ascribes\nthe authorship of the treatise to Jeremiah, the prophet--a supposition\nwhich is greatly strengthened by the similarity of style and idiom which\nis traceable between the language of the Books of Kings and that of\nJeremiah.\n\n\nAHAZIAH.\n\nAhaziah was the son of Ahab and Jezebel. He was badly born. Some\nallowance must be made for this fact in estimating his character.\n\nAgain and again we have had occasion, and shall indeed often have, to\nremark upon the disadvantages of children born of wicked parents. It is\nnot for us to lay down any final doctrine of responsibility; we must\nleave that in the hands of a just and gracious God.\n\nA terrible spectacle, however, it is to see a man whose father sold\nhimself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, who bound himself as\nfor a price to show rebellion on the very floor of Heaven.\n\nAhaziah was a prince of evil--a man who said he would defile the\nsanctuary and commit his supreme sin within the shadow of the altar,\nand whose mother laid the plans for the murder of Naboth, and who all\nbut personally superintended their execution. What can we expect from\nsuch a child of darkness? Who can gather grapes of thorns, or figs of\nthistles? Was he responsible for his own actions? Society is often hard\non such men--not unreasonably or unnaturally. Yet society is often very\ngracious to such men, saying with an instinctive piety and sense of\njustice: \u201cAfter all, such men are not to be personally blamed for their\nantecedents; they may indeed be open to some measure of suspicion, but\neven they must have their opportunity in life.\u201d\n\nLet us consider the case of Ahaziah and see how matters stand for our own\ninstruction.\n\nTo understand the matter thoroughly, we must go to the twenty-second\nchapter of the first Book of Kings: \u201cThen said Ahaziah, the son of Ahab,\nunto Jehoshaphat: \u2018Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships.\u2019\nBut Jehoshaphat would not.\u201d\n\nJehoshaphat was right when he acted upon his instinct. By-and-by he came\nto act upon a basis of calculation, and then a compact was entered into.\nBut who dare set aside the voice of instinct--the very first voice that\nrises in the soul to make judgment and to give direction?\n\nJehoshaphat, on hearing the proposal of the son of Ahab, said: \u201cNo. I\nhave known thy father too well. I am too familiarly acquainted with thy\nfamily history. Thou shalt not send thy servants with mine.\u201d\n\nIt would be well for us if we could sometimes act more promptly upon our\ninstincts. It would have been well for Jehoshaphat if he had acted upon\nhis instinct.\n\nAhaziah fell through the lattice, and in his helplessness he became\nreligious. Man must have some God. Even Atheism is a kind of religion.\nWhen a man recoils openly from what may be termed the public faith of\nhis country, he seeks to apologize for his recoil, and to make up for\nhis church absence by creating high obligations of another class. He\nplays the patriot; he plays the disciplinarian; he will be a Spartan in\npersonal training and drill--in some way he will try to make up for or\ndefend the recoil of his soul from the old altar of his country.\n\nIt is in their helplessness that we really know what men are. Do not\nlisten to the frivolous and irresponsible chatter of men who, being in\nrobust health, really know nothing about the aching, the sorrow, the\npain, the need and the agony of this awful human life.\n\nWhat does our helplessness suggest? Instantly we go out of ourselves to\nseek friendship, assistance and sympathy. \u201cOh, would some gentle hand\nbut touch my weariness!\u201d Thus cries the helpless one. All that, being\nfairly and duly interpreted, has a religious signification. The cry for\nfriendship is but a subdued cry for God.\n\nSometimes men will invent Gods of their own. This is what was done,\npractically, by Ahaziah. Men will go out after novel deities. This is\nwhat is being done every day--not under that name, but the mere name\nmakes no difference in the purpose of the spirit. Say new enjoyments, new\nentertainments, new programs, new customs--these, being interpreted as to\nthe heart of them, mean new altars, new helpers, new gods.\n\nIt is said of Shakespeare that he first exhausted worlds, and then\ninvented new. That was right. It was but of the liberty of a poet to\ndo so. But it is no part of the liberty of the soul. Necessity forbids\nit, because the true God cannot be exhausted. He is like His own nature,\nso far as we know it in the great creation; He is all things in one,\ngleaming and dazzling as noon-tide, soft and gentle as the balmy wind,\nstrong as the great mountains and rocks, beauteous as the tiny fragrant\nflowers, musical as the birds that make the air melodious, awful as the\ngathered thunder which hovers above the Earth as if in threatening.\n\nWho can exhaust nature?\n\nWho can exhaust nature\u2019s God?\n\nStill, the imagination of man is evil continually. He will invent new\nways of enjoying himself. He will degrade religion into a mere form of\ninterrogation. This is what Ahaziah did in this instance: \u201cGo, inquire of\nBaal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease.\u201d\nAll that we sometimes want of God is that He should be the great fortune\nteller.\n\nHow true it is that Ahaziah represents us all in making his religion\ninto a mere form of question asking--in other words, into a form of\nselfishness!\n\nThe messengers have now come. They have taken their speech from their\nking, and they are on the road to consult Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron.\nBut who is this who meets them, and who asks:\n\n\u201cIs it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of\nBaal-zebub, the god of Ekron?\u201d\n\nThe men had said nothing about their errand. Who is it that reads the\nheart night and day, to whom the darkness and the light are both alike,\nand from the fire of whose eye nothing is hid? How do we get the\nimpression that when we have perfected our lie it is in some sense public\nproperty? We are sure the man whom we meet knows it. He looks as if he\ndid.\n\nElijah is an abrupt speaker. The \u201chairy man\u201d and \u201cgirt with a girdle of\nleather\u201d did not study the scanning of his sentences. He struck with a\nbattering ram; his interrogations were spears that quivered in the heart;\nhis looks were judgments. What an effect he produced upon these men! Why\ndid they not go past him and say: \u201cKeep thy speeches to thyself, thou\nhairy man, nor interfere with the king\u2019s messengers\u201d?\n\nWe can not do that. We know that some men are not to be turned away so.\nWe may attempt to deceive, evade or disappoint them, but they have a\nmagnetic and most marvelous influence upon us. Though they do not speak\nin the imperative mood, they speak with imperative force.\n\nThe men turned back like whipped children to tell the king what they had\nheard, and Ahaziah was surprised at their early return. He can not sleep.\nHe asks that the book of the chronicles may be brought, that he may look\nup events and see where the loop slipped, where the wrong entry was made,\nor where the minutes were not carried out in detail.\n\nAll this means that Elijah lives in some form or other and will meet us\nand confront us and have it out with us.\n\nLook at the conflict between Ahaziah and Elijah, the Tishbite. Ahaziah is\nthe king and Elijah is only the prophet, and the king ought to have every\nthing his own way ex-officio. Now we shall see what metal Elijah is made\nof. He handled kings as if they were little children. He took them up and\nset them down behind him and said: \u201cWait there until I return, and stir\nat your peril.\u201d\n\nThe prophet should always be the uppermost man. Kings are nothing\ncompared to teachers and seers--men who hold the judgments of God on\ncommission. The great men of the nation are the prophets, the teachers,\nthe educators of thought, the inspirers of noble sacrificial enthusiasm.\nSee how Elijah tramps among the kings. He has no favor to ask. If he were\ndriven to ask for one morsel of bread, he would be Elijah no more.\n\nAhaziah sends to Elijah and says: \u201cCome down.\u201d These words sound very\ncommanding and imperative. Elijah answered: \u201cIf I be a man of God, then\nlet fire come down from Heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And there\ncame down fire from Heaven and consumed him and his fifty.\u201d\n\nLook at the conflict and its parties. On the one hand, petulance; on the\nother, dignity. On the one side, anger--fretful, fuming, petty; on the\nother, judgment--calm, sublime, comprehensive, final.\n\nEkron was one of the royal cities of the Philistines. Its situation is\npointed out with considerable minuteness in Scripture. It is described as\nlying on the northern border of Philistia and of the territory allotted\nto Judah. It stood on the plain between Bethshemesh and Jabneel. Jerome\nlocates it on the east of the road leading from Azotus (Ashdod) to Jamnia\n(Jabneel). From these notices we have no difficulty in identifying it\nwith the modern village of Akir. Akir stands on the southern slope of\na low and bleak ridge or swell which separates the Plain of Philistia\nfrom Sharon. It contains about fifty mud houses, and has not a vestige of\nantiquity except two large and deep wells and some stone water troughs.\nEkron means \u201cwasteness.\u201d The houses are built on the accumulated rubbish\nof past ages, and, like their predecessors, if left desolate for a few\nyears they would crumble to dust. The most interesting event in its\nhistory was the sending of the ark to Bethshemesh. A new cart was made\nand two milch kine yoked to it, and then left to choose their own path;\n\u201cand they took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh,\u201d the position\nof which can be seen in a gorge of the distant mountains eastward. The\ndeity worshiped at Ekron was called Baal-zebub, and we may conclude from\nthe story of Ahaziah that this oracle had a great reputation, even among\nthe degenerate Israelites. Ekron was a large village in the days of\nJerome, and also in the age of the crusades.\n\n\nASA.\n\nAsa was a good king of Judah. He \u201cdid that which was good and right in\nthe eyes of the Lord, his God.\u201d Not only \u201cgood and right,\u201d because these\nmight be variable terms. There are persons who set themselves to the\npresumptuous and impious task of settling for themselves what is \u201cright\u201d\nand what is \u201cgood.\u201d\n\nIn the case of Asa, he did not invent a righteousness, nor did he invent\na goodness which he could adapt to his own tempers, ambitions and\nconveniences. He was right and good and \u201cdid that which was good and\nright in the eyes of the Lord, his God.\u201d\n\nWhile the land had peace, Asa set to work and built walls, towers and\nfences, and did all that he could for the good of his country.\n\nZerah, an Ethiopian warrior, did not understand silence. He mistook\nquietness for languor. He made the vulgar mistake of supposing that\nquietness was indifference. He did not know that repose is the very\nhighest expression of power.\n\nZerah brought against Asa, king of Judah, no fewer than a million\nsoldiers--to us a large number, but to the Orientals quite a common\narray. Zerah\u2019s host was the largest collected army of which we read in\nScripture, but it does not exceed the known numbers of other Oriental\narmies in ancient times. Darius Codomannus brought into the field at\nArbela a force of 1,040,000. Xerxes crossed into Greece with certainly\nabove a million combatants. Artaxerxes Mnemon collected 1,260,000 men to\nmeet the attack of the younger Cyrus.\n\nWhat was to be done? Asa did not shrink from war, though he never courted\nit. He must meet the foe in battle. Before doing so he must pray.\n\n\u201cLord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many or with them\nthat have no power. Help us, O Lord, our God, for we rest on Thee; and in\nThy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not\nman prevail against Thee.\u201d\n\nHaving risen from their knees, they launched themselves against the\nEthiopians, and were mighty as men who answer straw with steel. They\nfought in God\u2019s name and for God\u2019s cause, and the thousand thousand of\nthe Ethiopians were as nothing before the precise and terrific stroke of\nmen who had studied war in the school of God.\n\nThe defeat of Zerah is one of the most remarkable events in the history\nof the Jews. On no other occasion did they meet in the field and overcome\nthe forces of either of the two great monarchies between which they were\nplaced. It was seldom that they ventured to resist, unless behind walls.\nShishak, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander and Ptolemy\nI. were either unopposed or only opposed in this way. On the other\noccasion on which they took the field--which was under Josiah against\nNecho--their boldness issued in a most disastrous defeat.\n\nAsa, then, began upon a good foundation; he established himself upon a\ngreat principle. That is what all, young people especially, should take\nto heart right seriously. Do not make an accident of your lives--a thing\nwithout center, purpose, certitude or holiness. Be right in your great\nfoundation lines, and you will build up a superstructure strong, after\nthe nature and quality of the foundation upon which you build. Do not\nsnatch at life. Do not take out an odd motto here and there and say:\n\u201cThis will do for the occasion.\u201d Life should be deeply laid in its bases,\nstrongly cemented together in its principles, noble in its convictions;\nthen it can be charitable in its concessions and recognitions.\n\n\u201cAnd Asa took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the\nland of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken\nfrom Mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord.\u201d\n\nLet us not trifle with the occasion by suggesting that we have no\nidolatries to uproot, no heathen groves to examine, to purify or to\ndestroy. That would indeed be making light of history and ignoring the\nbroadest and saddest facts of our present circumstances. The world is\nfull of little gods, man-made idols, groves planted by human hands,\noppositions and antagonisms to the tried Theism of the universe.\n\nWe are apt to think that the idols are a long way off--far beyond seas;\nor that they existed long centuries ago and spoke languages now obsolete\nor forgotten.\n\nNothing of the kind. They live here; they build today. Our gods\nare a million strong. We do not call them gods, but we worship\nthem none the less. Luck, Accident, Fortune, Fashion, Popularity,\nSelf-Indulgence--these are the base progeny of idols that did once\nrepresent some ideal thought and even some transcendental religion.\nIdolatry has retrograded; polytheism has gone quickly backward.\n\nAsa said, in effect: \u201cWe must be right about our gods before we can be\nright with one another.\u201d That is true teaching. With a wrong theology we\nnever can have a thoroughly sound and healthy economic system.\n\nThis was the corner-stone upon which Asa built his great and gracious\npolicy. What was the effect of it upon other people? We find that the\neffect then was what it must always be:\n\n\u201cThey fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the Lord,\nhis God, was with him.\u201d\n\nSuch is the influence of a great leadership. If Asa had been halting,\nthe people would have halted, too. Asa was positive; and positiveness,\nsustained by such beneficence, begets courage in other people. \u201cThey fell\nto him out of Israel in abundance\u201d--that is, they came over to him and\nwere on his side. They ranked themselves with Asa; they looked for his\nbanner and called it theirs, \u201cwhen they saw that the Lord, his God, was\nwith him.\u201d\n\nNations perish for want of great leaders. Social reforms are dependent to\na large extent upon the spirit of the leadership which has adopted them.\nThe Church is always looking around for some bolder man, some more heroic\nand dauntless spirit, who will utter the new truth, if any truth can be\nnew--say, rather, the next truth; for truth has always a next self, a\nlarger and immediately impending self, and the hero, who is also martyr,\nmust reveal that next phase of truth and die on Golgotha for his pains.\n\nCan we not, in some small sense, be leaders in our little circles--in our\nbusiness relations, in our family life, in our institutional existence?\nMany people can follow a tune who can not begin one. That is the\nphilosophy we would unfold and enforce.\n\nRegard all leaders with prayerful hopefulness in so far as they want to\ndo good and to be good. Sympathize with them; say to Asa, even the king:\n\u201cWhat thou hast done thou hast well done; in God\u2019s name we bless thee\nfor the purification of the land and for the encouragement of all noble\nthings.\u201d\n\nAsa showed the limits of human forbearance and human philosophy. He\nbroke down in the very act of doing that which was right because he went\ntoo far. He made a covenant, and the people made it along with him.\n\nSolemn renewals of the original covenant which God made with their\nfathers in the wilderness occur from time to time in the history of the\nJews, following upon intervals of apostacy. This renewal in the reign of\nAsa is the first on record. The next falls three hundred years later, in\nthe reign of Josiah. There is a third in the time of Nehemiah. On such\noccasions the people bound themselves by a solemn oath to observe all\nthe directions of the Law, and called down God\u2019s curse upon them if they\nforsook it.\n\n\u201cAnd they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers\nwith all their heart and all their soul; that whosoever would not seek\nthe Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great,\nwhether man or woman.\u201d\n\nThat is the danger. You can not make men religious by killing them, by\nthreatening them, by inflicting upon them any degree of penalty. Do not\nforce a child to church. Lead it; lure it; make the church so bright and\nhomelike and beautiful that the child will eagerly long for the time to\ncome when the door will be opened.\n\nAsa was impartial. There was a touch of real grandeur about the man. He\nwould not even allow his mother to keep an idol. The queen had an idol of\nher own \u201cin a grove.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd also concerning Maachah, the mother of Asa, the king, he removed her\nfrom being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa cut\ndown her idol, and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron.\u201d\n\nThus ruthlessly Asa disestablished that little royal church. See how\nburningly in earnest the man was, and what a man will do when his\nearnestness is fervent! He knows nothing about fathers, mothers,\npartialities or concessions. He says: \u201cLight is the foe of darkness, and\nyou can not have any little dark corner of your own. This light must find\nyou out, chase away every shadow and purify every secret place in human\nlife and thought.\u201d\n\nSome have supposed that Maachah, the mother of Abijah, and Maachah, the\n\u201cmother\u201d of Asa, were different persons, the former being the daughter\nof Absalom, the latter the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There are really\nno grounds for this. Maachah, the mother of Abijah, enjoyed the rank of\nqueen mother not only during his short reign of three years, but also\nduring that of her grandson, Asa, until deposed by him on account of her\nidolatry.\n\nThe original word for \u201cidol\u201d appears to signify a \u201chorrible abomination\u201d\nof some monstrous kind; and instead of \u201cin a grove\u201d we should read \u201cfor\nan asherah,\u201d the wooden emblem of the Canaanitish deity.\n\nThere seems little doubt that some obscene emblem is meant, of the kind\nso often connected with worship of the productive powers of nature in\nancient religions--substituted, as a still greater abomination, for the\nordinary asherah. Clearly, the act of Maachah was one of so flagrant a\nkind that Asa took the unusual step, on which the historian here lays\ngreat stress, of degrading her in her old age from her high dignity,\nbesides hewing down her idol and burning it publicly under the walls of\nJerusalem.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Asa, in effect, \u201cwhat is good for the public is good for the\nindividual; what is good for the subject is good for the queen.\u201d\n\n\nATHALIAH.\n\nAthaliah was a king\u2019s daughter and a king\u2019s wife. She had a son whose\nname was Ahaziah, but, as he was an invalid, he did not occupy the throne\nlonger than about twelve months.\n\nAs soon as his mother saw that he was dead a fierce and most murderous\npassion seized her heart. She then resolved to be queen herself.\n\nIn order to carry out this nefarious purpose, she slew all the seed\nroyal, so that, there being no successor to the throne, she ascended it\nand reigned as queen.\n\nIt is very wonderful that some of the most cruel and startling things in\nthe world have been done by women. One called Laodice poisoned her six\nsons one by one, that she might be empress of Constantinople. Another,\nironically named Irene, took the eyes out of her own boy, that he might\nbe incapable of empire, and that she might reign alone.\n\nThese things were done in the ancient time. Is any of the cruelty of\nheart left still? The accident may be changed--what about the passion and\npurpose of the heart? Let every one answer the question individually.\n\nAthaliah made her heap of corpses and laughed in her mad heart, saying\nthat now she was queen. But always some Fleance escapes the murderer\u2019s\nclutch. In that heap of corpses there was an infant boy, hardly twelve\nmonths old; he was spared. The sword had not taken his little life, but\nthe queen knew not that the child Joash had escaped. He was taken and\nwith his nurse was hidden in the Temple, and there he was trained by the\ngood priest, Jehoiada, for some six years. All the while the queen was\nreigning and doing evil.\n\nThe little boy was saved by his aunt, Jehosheba, and when six years had\npassed and the boy was seven years of age, being twelve months old when\nhe was snatched from impending ruin, Jehoiada called the rulers together\nand all the chief and mighty men of Israel. He then revealed the secret\nto them.\n\nHaving disposed these dignitaries in military order and with military\nprecision around the person of the young king, Jehoiada brought the\ncrown and put it upon his head, and he gave him the testimony or Book\nof Leviticus; and, having gone through all this ceremonial process, the\nyoung king stood upright by the pillar of inauguration in the Temple, and\nall that great throng then clapped their hands and shouted: \u201cGod save the\nking!\u201d Louder the shout rang till the queen heard it in her own house,\nwhich was not far off.\n\n\u201cThe nearer the church, the farther from God,\u201d has been wittily said.\n\nAthaliah hastened to the sacred place to know the reason of this\nhilarious tumult, and when the case was made clear to her she shrieked\nand cried:\n\n\u201cTreason! Treason!\u201d\n\nBut her voice found no echo in the hearts of men. Not a soul\nfluttered--not a heart started up in the royal defense. The woman--the\nevil daughter of an evil mother--was taken out by the way along which the\nhorses came into the king\u2019s house, and the sword which she had thrust\ninto the throats of others drank her own blood.\n\nIn an event of this kind there must be some great lessons for all time.\nThese are not merely momentary ebullitions of wrath or malice. They have\nhistory in them; they are red with the common blood of the whole race.\n\nVery few men stand out in ancient history with so fair and honorable\na fame as good Jehoshaphat. It is like a tonic, intellectual and\nspiritual, to read his vivid history. He was a grand king--long-headed,\ngood-hearted, honest and healthy in purpose of doing wondrous things for\nhis kingdom and for the chosen of God.\n\nBut is there not a weak point in every man? Does not the strongest man\nstoop? Does not great Homer sometimes nod?\n\nJehoshaphat had this weakness, that he hankered after some kind of\nconnection with the wicked house of Ahab. He had a son, whose name was\nJehoram (or Joram), and he wanted his son married. He must look around\nfor royal blood. Explain it as we may--no man has explained it fully\nyet--Jehoshaphat wanted to be connected with the evil house of Ahab. To\nthat house he looked for a wife for his son, Jehoram. His son married\nAthaliah, and she brought into the kingdom all the idolatry of Ahab\nand the fierce blood-thirstiness of Jezebel. That was the root of the\nmischief. Some roots lie a long time before they begin to germinate.\nThere may be roots in our lives which will take ten years or forty years\nto develop, but the root will bring forth according to its kind. Let us\ntake care what roots we plant in our lives--what connections we form.\n\nJehoram, the son of good Jehoshaphat, walked in the evil ways of the\nkings of Israel, and he wrought that which was evil in the sight of\nthe Lord. Mark the reason given by the inspired historian: \u201cHe had the\ndaughter of Ahab to wife.\u201d\n\nWhat secrets were indicated by that one reason! What a whole volume of\ntragedy is wrapped up in that brief sentence!\n\nThe responsibility seems to a large extent transferred from Jehoram and\nplaced upon his wife, who was a more subtle thinker, a more desperate\ncharacter, with a larger brain and a firmer will, with more accent and\nforce of personality. Jehoram played the evil trick, repeated the foul\nhabit, went in the wrong direction, bowed down to forbidden altars,\nfor--\u201che had the daughter of Ahab to wife.\u201d She lured him; the seduction\nwas hers; she won the conquest. When he would have bowed the knee to the\nGod of Heaven, she laughed at him and mocked him into Baal worship. He\nfell as a victim into her industrious and cruel hands.\n\n\u201cBe not unequally yoked together.\u201d Do not look upon marriage lightly;\ndo not suppose that it is a game for the passing day, a flash and\ngone, a hilarious excitement, a wine-bibbing, a passing around of\nkind salutations, then dying away like a trembling echo. Beware what\nconnections you form, and do not suppose that the laws of God can be set\naside with impunity. Get out of your heads the infinite mistake that\nyou can do as you like and escape the operation of divine law. Deliver\nyourselves from the cruel delusion that you can sow tares and reap wheat.\nBe not deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows that shall he\nalso reap.\n\nOur family life explains our public attitude and influence. What we are\nat home we are really abroad.\n\nWives, do not destroy your husbands. When they would do good, help them.\nWhen they propose to give to the cause of charity, suggest that the\ndonation be doubled, not divided. When they would help in any good and\nnoble work, give them sympathy, prayer and blessing. We never knew a\nman yet of any enduring public power that was not made by his wife, and\nwe never knew a public man yet that fully appreciated the value of that\nministry. It is secret; it is at home; it does not show. It is chalked on\na black-board, and not gilded on a high ceiling; it is silent, but vital.\n\nWe have seen a man go down in his church life, and we have wondered why.\nIt was his wife--the daughter of Ahab--who was degrading him, narrowing\nhim and dwarfing him in his thinking and sympathy.\n\nWe have seen a man go up in his public influence, and we have found that\nit was his wife who was encouraging him, helping him, telling him that he\nwas on the right way, and wishing him good luck in the name of the Lord.\n\nSee to it that your home is right. Have a beautiful home--morally and\nreligiously; a sacred house, a sanctuary where joy is the singing angel.\nAnd then, when you come abroad into the market-place, into the pulpit,\ninto parliament, into trade and commerce or into any of the social\nrelations of life, you will bring with you all the inspiration which\ncomes from a home that blooms like a garden or glows like a Summer sun.\n\nDo not suppose that the divine purpose can be set aside by Athaliahs,\nIrenes, Laodices or any false, furious or desperate characters of any\nkind.\n\nThe Lord promised David that he should always have a candle in Jerusalem.\nThe light was very low sometimes--it was reduced to a spark in young\nJoash; but it was God\u2019s candle, and Athaliah\u2019s wild breath could not blow\nout that light. The word of the Lord abideth for ever.\n\nObserve a very strong peculiarity in human nature, as shown in the\nconduct of Athaliah. She went into the Temple and saw the young Joash\nwith a crown upon his head, and she shrieked out: \u201cTreason! Treason!\u201d\n\nPoor innocent Athaliah! Who would not pity so gentle a dove, with a\nbreast of feathers and a cruel dart rankling in it? Sweet woman--gentle\nand loving creature--injured queen! Her hands were perfectly clean; she\nwas the victim of a cruel stratagem. She was outwitted by heads longer\nthan hers. She, poor unsuspecting soul, had been brought into this\ncondition, and all she could do was to cry in injured helplessness:\n\n\u201cTreason! Treason!\u201d\n\nHow moral we become under some circumstances! How very righteous we may\nstand up to be under certain provocations! Who could but pity poor\nAthaliah, who had nursed her grandchildren with a wolf\u2019s care? We do this\nvery self-same thing very often in our own lives. Where is the man who\ndoes not suppose that he has a right to do wrong? But let other people do\nwrong, and then hear him!\n\nGiven a religious sect of any name whatsoever, that has the domination\nof any neighborhood, and the probability is that that religious sect\nwill use its supremacy somewhat mischievously in certain circumstances.\nIt will not let anybody who opposes its tenets have an acre of ground\nin that neighborhood, nor will it allow any sect that opposes its\nprinciples to build a church there. No! It takes a righteous view of the\ncircumstances; it will not trifle with its responsibilities; it can allow\nno encroachment. It is charged with the spirit of stewardship, and must\nbe faithful to its sacred obligations.\n\nSo it cants and whines, whatever its name be. If it be the name we bear\nreligiously, so much the worse. We speak of no particular sect, but of\nany sect that may be placed in such peculiar circumstances as to claim\nthe domination and supremacy in any neighborhood.\n\nNow, let any member of that sect leave that particular locality and go\nto live under a wholly different set of circumstances, and apply for a\nfurlong of ground, or for a house that he may occupy as tenant. Then let\nit be found that his religious convictions are a bar to his enjoyment\nof local properties and liberties. He will cry out: \u201cPersecution!\nPersecution!\u201d How well it befits his lips! The very man who in one\ndistrict persecuted to the death those who opposed him removes to\nanother locality, where a screw is applied to his own joints, and he\nraises the cry of persecution. It is Athaliah\u2019s old trick, and will have\nAthaliah\u2019s poor reward.\n\nSee how the cry of the wicked is unheeded. Athaliah was a woman, and by\nso much had a claim upon the sympathy of the strong. Yet no man\u2019s heart\nwent out to her in loyal reverence.\n\nJehoash (or Joash, as the name was shortened) was trained in the Temple,\nunder the good Jehoiada. He was blessed in his aunt--for it was his\naunt who took him, the daughter of Ahab, but not by the mother of\nAthaliah--and Joash did good all the days of Jehoiada, the priest. See\nthe influence of a noble life. See how religion may help royalty, and\nhow that which is morally true lifts up patriotism to a higher level.\nNo country is sound at heart--through and through good and likely to\nendure--that draws not the inspiration of its patriotism from the\nloftiness and purity of its religion.\n\nAll these tragedies are making the Earth reek with abomination today.\nAthaliah lives in a vigorous progeny.\n\n\nBALAAM.\n\nBalaam comes into the narrative most suddenly--but he will never go out\nof it again. Other men have come into the Bible story quite as suddenly,\nbut they have only remained for a time. Balaam will never disappear; we\nshall read of him when we come to the Book of the Revelation of John the\nDivine.\n\nThere are some historical presences that you can never get rid of. It is\nuseless to quibble and question. The same mystery occurs in our own life.\nSome persons, having been once seen, are seen for ever. You can not get\naway from the image or the influence, or forget the magical touch of hand\nor mind or ear; they turn up in the last chapter of your life Bible. You\ncan not tell whence they come. Their origin is as great a mystery as is\nthe origin of Melchisedek; they come into your lifelines as quickly and\nabruptly as came Elijah, the Tishbite; and they take up their residence\nwith you--subtly coloring every thought, secretly and mightily turning\nspeech into new accents and unsuspected expressions full of significance\nand revealing that significance in ever-surprising ways and tones.\n\nWhy sit down and look at the story of Balaam as though it were something\nthat occurred once for all? It occurs every day. God teaches by surprise.\nHe sets the stranger in our life, and while we are wondering He turns our\nwonder into a mystery more sublime.\n\nWho would have a life four-square, in the sense of limitation, visible\nboundary, tangible beginning and ending? Who would not rather be in the\nworld as if he had been in some other world, and as if he were moving\non to some larger world? We lose power when we lose mystery. Let us not\nchaffer about words. If the spirit of mystery is in a man, the spirit of\nworship is in him; and if the spirit of worship is in him, it may detail\nitself into beliefs, actions and services which are accounted right, and\nwhose rightness will be proved by their beneficence. Balaam comes as\nsuddenly as Melchisedek, as unexpectedly as Elijah; but we shall find\nhim at the very last an instructive historical character.\n\nHe is called Balaam, the son of Beor, and he is domiciled at Pethor, on\nthe River Euphrates. At that time the king of Moab was called Balak, and\nwhen Balak saw how Israel had destroyed the Amorites he said:\n\n\u201cFighting is out of the question. If we have to come to battle, we may as\nwell surrender before we begin; the numbers are overwhelming. Now shall\nthis company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up\nthe grass of the field.\u201d\n\nYou can hear the lick and the crunch, and be present at the destruction.\nIt was a day of fear and much sorrow in Moab.\n\nWhat, then, was to be done?\n\nHerein came the wisdom of Balak. He also lives to the end of life\u2019s\nchapter, for to the end of that chapter we shall find the touch of\nsuperstition in the human mind. Balak would have recourse to supernatural\nhelp. He had heard of Balaam, the soothsayer of Pethor--a man of\ndivination, a person who had power to bless and to curse--the Simon Magus\nof his day. So he took advantage of his superstition, and thought to sow\nthe air with curses which would work where his little sword could not\nreach.\n\nThat is not a mean thought. Call it perversion or superstition--you do\nnot touch the inner and vital mystery of the case. The great agonies of\nlife are not to be explained by calling them perversions, or labeling\nthem superstitions, or denouncing them as nightmares or dreams; they\nare there. Man must obey voices which are not always articulate and\nreportable as to words and tones. It may be more superstitious to deny\nthe supernatural than to affirm it. Never forget the cant that is talked\nagainst cant.\n\nDo not believe that they are the heavenly, pure and brilliant souls who\nhave no church, no religion, no altar; who live under the dome of their\nown hats and walk on the marble of their own boots. Whose prophets, pray,\nare they? They must be accounted for, as well as the Melchisedeks, the\nBalaams and Elijahs of old time. What is their history? Where have they\nmade their mark? What marvels of beneficence have they performed? Or do\nthey only live in the very doubtful region of sneering at other people\u2019s\npiety?\n\nBalak\u2019s was a great thought. We do not adopt its form, but we should\nperhaps do unwisely to reject its spirit and intent. Balak said: \u201cNumbers\nare against us. If it is to be a mere contention of army against army,\nMoab will be destroyed at once. The thing to be done--if it can be\ndone--is to enlist the service and the action of the supernatural.\u201d Quite\nright. We say so now. If that can be done, any other thing that can be\ndone is contemptible in comparison.\n\nSo Balak sent for Balaam, who made answer that he would not come.\nBy-and-by Balak sent other princes more honorable still, with offers of\npromotion and honor and abundant wages. Balaam said he would ask God. He\nasked God, and angered Him by so doing. Some second prayers are worse\nthan superstitions.\n\nSo God said: \u201cIf the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them;\nyet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.\u201d But God\u2019s\nanger was kindled against Balaam.\n\n\u201cAnd God\u2019s anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of the Lord\nstood in the way for an adversary against him. Now, he was riding upon\nhis ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel\nof the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and\nthe ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field; and Balaam\nsmote the ass, to turn her into the way. But the angel of the Lord stood\nin a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that\nside.\u201d\n\nWhen Balak heard of Balaam\u2019s arrival he was glad. Gold went for nothing,\nnow the soothsayer had come. Riches were as water poured forth. In those\ndays the supernatural went for something in the market-place. It is the\ncheapest of all things now. Ideas are without value; religious thoughts\nare mere breath. But Balaam remembered that he was only to speak what God\ntold him; so he began to play the priest. He would have altars put up.\n\nHe took up his parable, and said: \u201cBalak, the king of Moab, hath brought\nme from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying: \u2018Come, curse me\nJacob,\u2019 and \u2018Come, defy Israel.\u2019\u201d\n\nBalaam would have altars put up and sacrifices rendered. But the answer\nwas: \u201cNo. Israel can not be cursed.\u201d\n\nSo Balak took him to another point of view, where perhaps, the multitude\nlooked greater or did not look so great. \u201cAnd he took up his parable, and\nsaid: \u2018Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor.\u2019\u201d\nAnd again the people were to rise like a lion, and lift up themselves as\na young lion; and the people were not to lie down until they had eaten of\nthe prey and drunk of the blood of the slain.\n\n\u201cWell, then,\u201d said Balak, \u201cif that be the case, this thou must do for me:\nNeutralize thyself; be nothing; act as if thou hadst not come at all.\nNeither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.\u201d\n\nBut Balaam said: \u201cNo. You can not treat God\u2019s messengers in that way. As\na matter of fact, they are here; you have to account for them being here,\nand to reckon with them while they are here.\u201d\n\nWe can not quiet things by ignoring them. Simply by writing \u201cUnknowable\u201d\nacross the heavens we really do not exclude supernatural or immeasurable\nforces. The ribbon is too narrow to shut out the whole Heaven. It is but\na little strip, and looks contemptible against the infinite arch. We do\nnot exclude God by denying Him, nor by saying that we do not know Him, or\nthat He can not be known. We can not neutralize God, so as to make Him\nneither the one thing nor the other.\n\nSo Balaam was the greatest mystery that Balak had to deal with. It is\njust the same with the Bible--God\u2019s supernatural Book. It will not lie\nwhere we want it to lie. It has a way of getting up through the dust\nthat gathers upon it and shaking itself, and making its pages felt. It\nwill open at the wrong place. Would it open at some catalogue of names\nit might be tolerated, but it opens at hot places, where white thrones\nare and severe judgments, and where scales are tried and measuring wands\ntested. It will speak to the soul about the wrong doing that never came\nto any thing, and the wicked thought that would have burned the heavens\nand scattered dishonor upon the throne of God.\n\nBalak said, in effect: \u201cWould to Heaven I could get rid of this man.\u201d He\ntook Balaam to another point of view, and Balaam \u201cset his face toward the\nwilderness, and took up his parable.\u201d He sang a sweet and noble song:\n\u201cHow goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! And thy tabernacles, O Israel! As\nthe valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river\u2019s side, as\nthe trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees\nbeside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his\nseed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag,\nand his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he\nhath, as it were, the strength of an unicorn; he shall eat up the nations\nhis enemies, and shall break their bones and pierce them through with his\narrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion; who shall\nstir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that\ncurseth thee.\u201d\n\nBalak made a bad bargain that day. He added unto his troubles, instead of\ndiminishing them.\n\nBalak would gladly have parted with Balaam, but he could not get rid of\nhim; and Balak was wroth. It became a king to become angry. And Balak\u2019s\nanger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together and\nsaid unto Balaam: \u201cI called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou\nhast altogether blessed them these three times. Therefore, now flee thou\nto thy place. I thought to promote thee unto great honor, but lo, the\nLord hath kept thee back from honor.\u201d\n\nBalaam then made a great speech to Balak. He said: \u201cIs this not precisely\nwhat I said to the king\u2019s messengers? Did I not say: \u2018If Balak would give\nme his house full of silver and gold, I can not go beyond the commandment\nof the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the Lord\nsaith, that will I speak\u2019? Now, I will tell that which I see.\u201d\n\nAnd then came the parable of the man whose eyes are open:\n\nAnd he took up his parable, and said: \u201cBalaam, the son of Beor, hath\nsaid, and the man whose eyes are open hath said, he hath said which heard\nthe words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw the\nvision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open;\nI shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; there\nshall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel,\nand shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of\nSheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession\nfor his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come\nhe that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the\ncity.\u201d\n\nThen the parable is continued, Balaam looking Balak full in the face;\nand last of all \u201cBalaam rose up, and went and returned to his place, and\nBalak also went his way.\u201d\n\nYou can not carve your God into any shape that will please your fancy.\nYou can not send for any true faith and bribe it to speak your blessings\nor your cursings. Balaam was a man of noble sentiments. Look at some of\nhis words: \u201cLet me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be\nlike his.\u201d And again: \u201cGod is not a man, that he should lie; neither the\nson of man, that he should repent.\u201d And again: \u201cI shall see him, but not\nnow; I shall behold him, but not nigh.\u201d\n\nThen take the grand words which he spoke to Balak, as reported in the\nprophecies of Micah. Never did man preach a nobler sermon than this: \u201cHe\nhath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of\nthee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy\nGod.\u201d\n\nWho can amend that speech? Who can refine that gold? Who dares touch that\nlily with his mean paint? Who taught Balaam that great speech?\n\nWe sometimes say we find, scattered up and down in ancient literature,\nmorals as beautiful as any we find in the Bible. Possibly so. Who wrote\nthem? Whence did they come? Is God the God of one corner of the creation?\nIs God a parochial Deity?\n\nIs there not a spirit in man--universal man--and does not the Spirit of\nthe Most High give him understanding? Wherever there is a line of beauty,\nGod wrote it; wherever there is a sentiment which is charged with the\nspirit of beneficence, that may be claimed as a good gift of God.\n\nApostle Paul never uttered a nobler sentiment than is uttered by Balaam,\nas reported in the prophecies of Micah. This is the Sermon upon the\nMount in anticipation. That is the vicious Church, built on the wrong\nfoundation, aiming at the wrong Heaven, which does not recognize in every\nliterature and in every nation all that is good, noble, wise, prophetic.\n\nBalaam\u2019s convictions and wishes disagreed sometimes. Therein he was most\nhuman. He knew he ought not to go to Balak, and yet he wished to go. He\nwould ask the second time; he would doubt his own convictions, or he\nwould adjust them according to the shape and temper of circumstances.\nWherever he came from, he claims herein to be quite a near neighbor of\nours. Doubt may exist as to the exact relation of Pethor to the river\nupon which it was built, but there can be no doubt whatever of the blood\nrelationship between Balaam and our own age. Speaking impulsively from\nthe center of his convictions, he said: \u201cNo. Nothing shall tempt me to\ngo. You speak of gold and silver. Were Balak to give me his house full of\ngold and silver, I would not go. I am the Lord\u2019s servant, and the Lord\u2019s\nwork alone will I do.\u201d\n\nThen the thought occurred to him--a second message coming, borne by more\nhonorable princes: \u201cPerhaps I might go and obtain this wealth and honor,\nand still do my duty.\u201d\n\nHe is on the downward road now. A man who thinks to do forbidden things\nand spend the bounty for the advantage of the Church is lost; there is no\npower in him that can overcome the gravitation that sucks him downward.\nHe says: \u201cI will bring back all Balak\u2019s gold and silver, and add a\ntransept to the church or another course of marble to the altar.\u201d\n\nHe will never return. God will not have His house so patched and\nbungled; nor does He want Balak\u2019s gold for the finishing of His\nsanctuary. A nobler spirit was Abram, who said no to the king of Sodom,\n\u201clest thou shouldest say: \u2018I have made Abram rich.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe whole story of Balaam is intensely Oriental and primeval. The first\ndeputation is dismissed in obedience to a divine warning; but, so far\nas we know, \u201cthe wages of unrighteousness,\u201d which Balaam loved, are\ncarefully retained. A second embassy of nobler messengers, carrying\nricher gifts, succeeds. He does not at once dismiss them, as God had\nrequired, but presses for permission to go with them, which at last is\ngranted.\n\nBalaam would earn the fame and honor apparently within his grasp, yet he\nknows that when the prophetic afflatus comes on him he can only utter\nwhat it prompts. With a feigned religiousness, he protests that if Balak\nwere to give him his house full of silver and gold he could not go beyond\nthe word of Jehovah, his God, to do less or more; but he also bids them\nwait overnight to see if he may not, after all, be allowed to go with\nthem. If his ignoble wish to be allowed to curse an unoffending nation be\ngratified, he has the wealth he craves; if it be refused, he can appeal\nto his words as proof of his being only the mouth-piece of God.\n\nThat Balaam should have been allowed to go with Balak\u2019s messengers was\nonly the permission given every man to act as a free agent, and in no\nway altered the divine command, that he should bless, and not curse. Yet\nhe goes as if at liberty to do either, and lets Balak deceive himself by\nfalse hopes, when the will of God has been already decisively made known.\n\nBalaam\u2019s was a maneuvering life--very truthful, and yet very false; very\ngodly, and yet very worldly--a most composite and self-contradictory\nlife, and still a most human life. Balaam never breaks away from the\nbrotherhood of the race in any of his inconsistencies. When he is very\ngood, there are men living today who are just as good as Balaam was;\nwhen he is very bad, it would not be difficult to confront him with men\nwho are quite his equals in wrong doing. When he is both good and bad\nalmost at the same moment, he does not separate himself from the common\nexperience of the race. He was always arranging, adjusting, endeavoring\nto meet one thing by another, and to set off one thing over against\nanother. It was a kind of gamester life--full of subtle calculation,\ntouched with a sort of wonder which becomes almost religious, and steeped\nin a superstition which reduces many of the actions of life to a state of\nmoral mystery wholly beyond ordinary comprehension.\n\n\nELAH.\n\nThere was once a king in Israel named Elah. He reigned over Israel, in\nTirzah, two years. He had a servant called Zimri, who was a captain of\nhis chariots.\n\nZimri was a born traitor. Treachery was in his very blood. In the case of\nElah, Zimri had a marked advantage, for Elah was a drunken fool. He was\nin the habit of visiting the house of another of his servants, a steward\ncalled Arza. There he had what drink he asked for, and he asked for a\ngreat deal--so much that he was often drunk in his servant\u2019s house. On\none of these occasions Zimri went in and killed him, and reigned in his\nstead.\n\nThese are the facts with which we have to deal. Are they very ancient, or\nare they happening about us every day? Is Elah dead? Is Zimri clean gone\nfor ever? And is the house of the servant Arza closed, so that the master\ncan drink no more with the steward?\n\nElah lives in every man who has great chances or opportunities in life,\nbut allows them to slip away from him through one leak in the character.\nElah was a king and was the son of a king, so his openings in life were\nwide and splendid; but he loved strong drink, and thus through that leak\nin his character all that might have made him a man oozed away, and left\nhim a king in nothing but the barren name.\n\nStrong drink will ruin any man. It is the supreme curse of England. I\nwill say nothing now of the old, but to the young I may speak a word.\nI care not, young man, how many and how brilliant in life your chances\nare, if you drink wine in the morning, as many young men in London do,\nyou are as good as damned already. You think not, but that only shows the\ninfinite deceitfulness of the enemy. He tells you:\n\n\u201cNothing of the kind. This is parson\u2019s twaddle. Take your wine when you\nwant it, and let it alone when you do not care for it.\u201d\n\nThere is suppressed mockery in that high challenge. There is no soundness\nof health in it. Every drink but leaves you weaker. Every emptied glass\nis another link added to the strong chain thrown upon your limbs.\n\nZimri still lives in all persons who take advantage of the weaknesses of\nothers. Zimri knew that Elah was a drunkard, and he further knew through\nElah\u2019s habit of drunkenness alone could he be reached. On every other\nside of his character Elah may have been a strong man--acute, shrewd and\nfar-sighted--but when in drink he was, of course, weak and foolish. Zimri\nplayed his game accordingly. He said:\n\n\u201cElah goes to Arza\u2019s house after sundown. In half an hour after going, he\nwill begin to fall under the effects of wine; then the worst wine will\nbe brought out, and he will go mad under its poison and become drowsy. I\nmust get Arza out of the way. The fool will go on any errand I name, on\npromise of another horse; that is it.\u201d\n\nThe Bible says: \u201cAnd Zimri went in and smote him and killed him.\u201d He took\nadvantage of his master\u2019s weakness, and his progeny is numerous on the\nEarth.\n\nSome people trade on the weaknesses of others. They study them. They\nadapt themselves to them. They watch for striking time, and seldom miss\nthe mark. How else could the net be always ready for the bird? How else\ncould the pit be always prepared for the unsuspecting and bewildered\ntraveler? There is an infernal science in these things--a devil\u2019s black\nart!\n\nAnd does not Arza still live in those who find the means whereby men may\nconceal their evil habits and indulge their unholy desires? They seem to\nsay: \u201cIn my house you may do what you please. I shall not look at you.\nCome when you please; go when you like; I am nobody, if you like to call\nme so.\u201d\n\nTirzah, whose name means pleasantness and which was Elah\u2019s capital,\nwas an ancient royal city of the Canaanites, captured by Joshua. After\nits conquest it is not again mentioned in history till the time of\nJeroboam, who appears to have chosen it as his principal residence.\nThe geographical position of Tirzah has not been given by any ancient\ngeographer. Zimri reigned only seven days in Tirzah. Omri, captain of\nthe host, was made king over Israel in the camp. He besieged Tirzah and\ntook it. Zimri, seeing that the city was taken, went into the king\u2019s\npalace, set it on fire and perished in it. The last mention of Tirzah in\nScripture history is in connection with Menahem, who went from Tirzah to\nSamaria, \u201cand smote Shallum, and reigned in his stead.\u201d Solomon made the\ncomparison: \u201cThou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah.\u201d\n\n\nELIJAH.\n\nElijah means \u201cJehovah is my God.\u201d There is often much in a name. It is\na history, sometimes--the summing up of generations; it is sometimes an\ninspiration, recalling memories that stir the soul to high daring.\n\nThere are two places called Tishbi--one in Gilead and the other\nin Galilee. Elijah belonged to the former. Sometimes character is\nmysteriously and very deeply affected by country. Gilead was a wild and\nmountainous district, bordering on Arabia, and consequently half Arab in\nits customs. There was a wonderful similarity between the man and the\nregion; stern, bleak, grand, majestic and awful were they both. John\nthe Baptist seemed to bring the wilderness with him when he came into\nthe city. Children born in luxury are apt to be themselves luxurious.\nChildren born in slavery will hardly ever be free, though slavery has\nbeen abolished. To the end of life we carry the color which first\nimpressed itself on our vision.\n\nAll revelations seem to us to be sudden. Look at the suddenness of the\nappearance of Ahijah to Jeroboam, and look at the instance before us:\n\u201cElijah, the Tishbite, said unto Ahab.\u201d The total apostasy of the Ten\nTribes (Israel) was now almost accomplished, and yet a faithful prophet\nof the Lord stands up in the degenerate land and declares that Jehovah is\nhis God, and in sacred solitariness protests against the abominations of\nIsrael and her king.\n\nNo mild man would have been equal to the occasion. God adapts His\nministry to circumstances. He sends a nurse to the sick room and a\nsoldier to the battle field. The son of consolation and the son of\nthunder can not change places. You are right when you say that the dew\nand the light and the soft breeze are God\u2019s; but you may not, therefore,\nsuppose that the thunder and the hurricane and the flood belong to a\nmeaner lord.\n\nImagine the two men standing face to face--Ahab, the dissolute king,\nand Elijah, the faithful prophet. Probably there is no finer picture\nin ancient history. Terrible indeed is the national crisis when king\nand prophet come into collision. There is not a combat between two men.\nMark that very closely. It is Right against Wrong, Faithfulness against\nTreachery, Purity against Corruption. Look at them--Ahab and Elijah--as\nthey face one another! Consider the boldness of the prophet. Religion is\nnever to be ashamed of its own testimony.\n\nAs we look at the scene, not wanting in the elements of the highest\ntragedy, we see the value of one noble witness in the midst of public\ncorruption and decay, and the grandeur as well as necessity of a distinct\npersonal profession of godliness. It is not enough to be godly; we must\navow it in open conduct and articulate confession.\n\nLet us now observe how Elijah proceeds to deal with Ahab. \u201cThere shall\nnot be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.\u201d Here is\nphysical punishment for moral transgression. So it is; and that is just\nwhat a parent does when he uses the rod upon his child for falsehood.\nYou can only punish people according to their nature. The garroter\ncan submit to any number of censures and lectures, but he dreads the\ncat-o\u2019-nine-tails.\n\nPhysical punishment for moral transgression is the law of society. So the\nliar is thrown out of his situation; the ill-tempered child is whipped;\nthe dishonorable man is expelled from social confidence.\n\nWith regard to the particular punishment denounced against Ahab, it is to\nbe remembered that drought is one of the punishments threatened by the\nlaw if Israel forsook Jehovah and turned after other gods.\n\nThis, then, was the brief communication which the prophet addressed to\nthe king. God\u2019s threatenings are terrible in their conciseness. He leaves\nno room in a multitude of works for ambiguity and verbal wriggling. The\nsoul that sinneth shall die. \u201cThe wages of sin is death.\u201d \u201cThere is no\npeace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.\u201d\n\nAnd as He can be concise in threatening, so He can be concise in promise:\n\u201cI will give you rest.\u201d \u201cI will give you living water.\u201d \u201cHe that\nbelieveth shall be saved.\u201d \u201cAsk, and it shall be given you.\u201d\n\nThus great things can be said in few words: \u201cGod is light.\u201d \u201cGod is\nlove.\u201d \u201cBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.\u201d \u201cYe\nmust be born again.\u201d\n\nAt the bidding of the word of the Lord, Elijah turned eastward and hid\nhimself by the brook Cherith, a place nowhere else mentioned in the\nBible, and \u201cno place like it has as yet been discovered in Palestine.\u201d It\nwas a torrent-course facing the Jordan, \u201cbut whether it was one of those\nwhich seam Mount Ephraim or of those on the opposite side of Jordan, in\nthe prophet\u2019s own country, is uncertain.\u201d\n\nBut what is the meaning of the extraordinary expression: \u201cI have\ncommanded the ravens to feed thee\u201d? By omitting the points, which are\ngenerally allowed to have no authority, the Hebrew letters may signify\nArabians. Then the passage would read: \u201cI have commanded the Arabians\nto feed thee.\u201d Or, if we retain the present pointing, the word may be\ntranslated \u201cmerchants,\u201d according to \u201cThe Speaker\u2019s Commentary.\u201d But it\nis better to allow the word \u201cravens\u201d to stand. It implies a miracle; but\nthe whole Bible is a miracle, and so is our own daily life, could we\nbut see the inner movement and look beyond all symbols to the spiritual\nreality.\n\nBut Elijah\u2019s brook dried up. Prophets may be overtaken by the operation\nof their own prophecies. The great laws are impartial, yet wonderful is\nthe scope within which exceptions may be established. This incident gives\nan instance in point.\n\n\u201cArise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there.\nBehold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.\u201d This place\nis called Sarepta in the New Testament. It lay upon the great public\nroad which connected the two towns. A little village called Sarafend now\noccupies the situation.\n\nBut how did it come about that Elijah was sent to a place so near the\ncity of Jezebel\u2019s father? It has been suggested that it would be the last\nplace that he would be suspected of having chosen as a retreat. When\nElijah came to the gate of the city the widow woman was there gathering\nsticks, and he asked her for a little water in a vessel, that he might\ndrink. And as she was going to fetch it, he asked her to bring also a\nmorsel of bread in her hand. But she had no bread--not so much as a\ncake--only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse.\n\nShe was just going to dress this little food for herself and her son,\n\u201cthat we may eat it and die.\u201d But Elijah claimed it in the name of the\nLord, and gave to her in return the gracious promise: \u201cThe barrel of meal\nshall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that\nthe Lord sendeth rain upon the Earth.\u201d\n\nWe may here admire and imitate one of the finest instances of ancient\nfaith. The woman was asked for all she had, and she gave it. But mark,\nshe was put in possession of a promise. This is God\u2019s law. He gives the\npromise first, and then asks for the faith of man. It was so in the ease\nof Abraham. It is so with ourselves today.\n\n\u201cAnd the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail.\u201d\nThis is the continual miracle of nature; this is the security of life. We\nare puzzled by it, but what of that? Are possibilities to be determined\nby our weakness or by God\u2019s strength? We could have increased the flour\nhad we sown the seed, reaped the grain and called in the aid of the\nmiller. Now let us venture on the supposition that Almighty God is able\nto do just a little more than we can do, and the whole difficulty is\ngone. The air wastes not, nor the light, nor the force of nature; what if\nGod can touch points which happen to lie beyond the range of our short\nfingers? We must allow something for Deity.\n\nAnd now sorrow fell upon the poor woman\u2019s house. Her only child died,\nand her heart was lacerated even to torment and agony. But the Lord was\nmerciful. Elijah took the dead child away into a loft--the upper chamber,\nwhich was often the best part of an Eastern house--and cried unto the\nLord, and stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried again\nand again unto the Lord, and the child\u2019s life returned. Then the glad\nmother hailed Elijah as a man, and one in whose mouth was the word of the\nLord.\n\nElijah had put himself beyond the reach of Ahab--not because he feared\nhim or distrusted the power of God in critical circumstances--but because\nGod\u2019s providence or government is a great scheme with innumerable sides,\nand requires time for its full disclosure and accomplishment. We are not\nto hasten the march of God. To every thing there is a season. Everywhere\nwe see this idea of time observed and honored. Though there is famine in\nthe land, we can not urge the seasons forward. The child, too, must have\nyears of growth, though his father be disabled and there be none to earn\nthe household bread but himself.\n\nSo in the case before us. Ahab must be wearied out with searching for\nElijah. He must be made to see how fruitless may be the efforts even of a\nking. And at last, when success does come, it must come not from his side\nat all.\n\nWe have said that Ahab was a speculative idolater rather than a cruel\npersecutor. Jezebel acted the part of cruelty; Ahab acted the part\nof unbeliever and spiritual rebel generally. A proof of the probable\ncorrectness of this view is found in the incident before us, for when\nAhab met Elijah he did not show a spirit of cruelty. He said unto the\nprophet: \u201cArt thou he that troubleth Israel?\u201d He did not threaten Elijah\nwith the sword; he did not demand his immediate surrender and arrest. He\nseems rather to have looked upon Elijah with wonder--perhaps not unmixed\nwith admiration of a figure so independent and audacious.\n\nThe tone of the king\u2019s mind may be inferred from the kind of challenge\nwhich he accepted. It exactly suited his speculative genius. Elijah\nproposed a trial between himself and the idolatrous prophets, 850 in\nnumber--proposing that the god who answered by fire should be God. The\nidea instantly commended itself to Ahab as excellent. He liked the high\nand practical speculation. He was fond of intellectual combat, and he\nwarmed at the notion of a holy fray. The man who could accept a notion\nof this kind was not cruel, wild or fond of human blood. Ahab was even\nwickedly religious; the more altars and groves the better--yea, altar\nupon altar, until the pile reached to Heaven; and grove after grove,\nuntil the line met itself again and formed a cordon around the world. If\nhe had started from a right center, Ahab had been the foremost evangelist\nin the ancient Church.\n\nLet us now look at the controversy itself.\n\nThis plan was proposed by the prophet of the Lord, and not by the\nservants of Baal. Truth addresses a perpetual challenge to all false\nreligions and all wicked and incompetent workers. Its challenges have\nheightened and broadened in tone from the first ages until now.\n\nMoses challenged the necromancers of Egypt; Elijah challenged the priests\nof Baal; Christ challenges the world.\n\nAt first the challenge was more strictly physical; but now it is\nintensely spiritual. What religion produces the highest and finest type\nof character? That is the challenging question.\n\nThat sane men should prefer a display of physical power or skill to a\nspiritual contest is an illustration of the infancy and rudeness of\ntheir minds, and not a proof of the best form of competition. Where,\nin Christian or in pagan lands, have we the finest men, the purest\ncharacter, the most sensitive honor? Where are schools, hospitals,\nasylums and charities of every kind most abundant?\n\nThat Christian countries are disgraced by some of the foulest crimes\npossible in human life, may but show that their very foulness and\natrocity never could have been so vividly seen and so cruelly felt but\nfor the enlightenment and culture furnished by Christianity. In any other\ncountries they would have been matters of course; but in Christian lands\ntheir abomination is seen by the help of Christian light.\n\nThe appeal or challenge was forced upon the prophets of Baal; it was not\nspontaneously accepted by them. This should be made very clear, as it is\na point apt to be overlooked.\n\nPerhaps the common impression is that Elijah challenged the prophets\ndirectly, standing face to face with them, without any medium of\ncommunication.\n\nNothing of the kind. Elijah first challenged King Ahab, who snatched\neagerly at the sensational chance, little knowing what he was snatching\nat. Having spoken first to the king, Elijah spoke next to the people, and\ndemanded why they hesitated between two opinions, insisting that they\nshould make a choice between Jehovah and Baal. Then Elijah made his grand\nappeal to the people of Israel, and they answered and said: \u201cIt is well\nspoken.\u201d Having secured the approval of the king and the people, Elijah\ncalled upon the prophets to proceed to trial.\n\nToday Christianity appeals not to a few sectarian prophets, nor to a\nfew bewildered speculators, nor to a few scientists who are wild with\nboy-like joy because they have found a bird\u2019s nest, though they have\nnever seen the bird that built it; but Christianity makes its appeal to\nthe great and broad heart of human nature, to the common sufferings of\nthe race, to the indestructible sentiments of mankind. In Elijah\u2019s day\nthe people said: \u201cIt is well spoken.\u201d Of Christ it is said: \u201cThe common\npeople heard him gladly.\u201d\n\nEvery assault upon truth must bring mockery and death upon the\nassailants. Elijah mocked the prophets on Carmel and slew them at Kishon.\n\nElijah was a prophet of truth, but of sternness and terror. He lived in a\ntempestuous atmosphere. Lightning seemed to play around his temples, and\nhis voice was as thunder.\n\nVan de Velde gives a vivid delineation of the precise locality of the\nCarmel contest. He was, it is believed, the first traveler who identified\nthe site of the \u201cBurning.\u201d The rock shoots up in an almost perpendicular\nwall, more than two hundred feet in height on the side of the vale of\nEsdrelon. This wall made the burning visible over the whole plain and\nfrom all the surrounding heights, so that even those left behind and who\nhad not ascended Carmel would still have been able to witness, at no\ngreat distance, the fire from Heaven that descended on the altar. Here\nthe place must have been, for it is the only point of all Carmel where\nElijah could have been so close to the brook Kishon as to take thither\nthe priests of Baal and slay them, return again to the mountain and pray\nfor rain, all in the short space of the same afternoon. Down 250 feet\nbeneath the altar plateau is a vaulted and very abundant fountain. While\nall other fountains were dried up, one can well understand that there\nmight have been found here that superabundance of water which Elijah\npoured so profusely over the altar.\n\n\nELISHA.\n\nWhen Elijah supposed that his work was done he was ordered by Jehovah to\ngo up and return on his way to the wilderness of Damascus; and he who\nsupposed that his ministry was concluded had yet to anoint Hazael to be\nking over Syria and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel.\n\nBut the anointing of these kings was a comparatively insignificant\ncircumstance. The great point of the commission is contained in this\nsentence:\n\n\u201cAnd Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel-mehola, shalt thou anoint to be\nprophet in thy room.\u201d\n\nProbably it had not occurred to Elijah that he could have a successor. A\nvery subtle indication is thus given of his approaching end. The Lord,\ninstead of telling Elijah that he had many a year left to spend in holy\nservice, gave him to understand that even he, mighty prophet though he\nwas, could be dispensed with, and a man of almost unknown name would be\nqualified by divine inspiration to take his room. We can not imagine\nElijah\u2019s feelings under these circumstances. If a great demonstration\nof regard had been made, on the part of the Lord God of Israel, because\nElijah was weary, the prophet might have supposed himself to be of vital\nconsequence to the divine economy; but to be told that Elisha, a man\nwho was plowing the twelfth plow in the field while his eleven servants\nwere plowing beside him, would succeed to the high dignity was really to\ninflict in the most gracious way a very solemn humiliation upon a man\nwho had become so self-conscious as practically to ignore the resources\nof the living God.\n\nElisha was a man in what we should now term comfortable circumstances. As\nhe was plowing in his field of Abel-mehola (\u201cthe meadow dance\u201d) Elijah\ndrew near and threw over the plowman his prophetic sheep-skin mantle, and\npassed on in silence, leaving Elisha himself to interpret the graphic\nsymbol. Elisha instantly comprehended the purpose, and, running after\nElijah, he begged to be allowed to kiss his father and mother, after\nwhich he promised to follow the senior prophet.\n\nIt is noteworthy that at this time Elisha must have been quite a young\nman--an inference which may be fairly drawn from the fact that sixty\nyears after this event he was still in the exercise of his prophetic\noffice.\n\nIt is a noticeable circumstance, which repeats itself even in our own\nday, that Elisha was in many respects the exact counterpart of Elijah.\n\nBy choosing all kinds of character and capacity to represent the divine\nkingdom, God shows His infinite wisdom in a way which even the dullest\nunderstanding can hardly fail to appreciate. He is not dependent upon\none particular aspect of genius, or one particular aspect of eloquence;\nbut He calls whom He will to the prophetic office and the ministerial\nfunction, and it should be our part to accept His vocations, however\nmuch we may be surprised at the course which they take and at the social\nconsequences which they involve.\n\nAt the time in which Elijah and Elisha exercised their functions religion\nand morals had gone down to the lowest possible point in Israel. The very\nschools of the prophets had themselves felt the corrupting influence of\nthe times. Ahab was able to gather four hundred false prophets at a time,\nthe remarkable circumstance being that they were not prophets of Baal,\nbut false prophets of the Lord himself.\n\nIt can hardly be a matter of surprise, therefore, that a man of burning\nspirit, arising under such circumstances, should begin his ministry with\ndisplays of power which can hardly escape the charge of being stern or\neven violent.\n\nThe second chapter of the second Book of Kings introduces us to the\nbeginning of Elisha\u2019s ministry. He had just seen Elijah ascend, and he\nfelt that he was left alone to carry on the great work which had been so\nwondrously conducted by a master hand.\n\nIn the twelfth verse we see how Elisha estimated the character and\nservice of Elijah. He exclaims: \u201cMy father! My father!\u201d He thus indicates\nthe most serious loss which can befall human life. This is not altogether\na cry of reverence, but it is also a cry of orphanhood. In their brief\nintercourse, one with the other, Elijah had naturally taken the paternal\nplace, and Elisha, as a very young man, had felt the comforting influence\nexercised upon him by the mighty prophet.\n\nThis is a cry of young sensibility. The almost child feels himself to be\nquite alone. He who an hour ago supposed that, after all, he might be\nable to continue the work of Elijah now felt how terrible was the void\nthat was created by Elijah\u2019s absence.\n\nWe do not know the bulk and value of some ministries until they are\nremoved from us. We become quite familiar with them, and attach no\nparticular significance to their exercise; we come to think we have some\nright in them, and that by some means or other they will be present with\nus always. When, however, the great removal does take place and we look\naround for the familiar face and expect to be touched by the familiar\nhand, but find our expectations disappointed, the natural cry is: \u201cMy\nfather! My father!\u201d\n\nThese words, too, may fairly be construed as suggesting an aspect of\nElijah\u2019s character which is generally overlooked. Probably it has hardly\noccurred to us to regard Elijah as a man of special tenderness. We think\nof him as a great comet, or as a flash of lightning, or as a mighty\nwhirlwind, or under any figure that suggests grandeur, majesty and force;\nbut we have never associated with Elijah the notion of graciousness,\ntenderness, love and that easy familiarity which constitutes the very\nsoul of friendship.\n\nNow, however, by the ascription of his name we do seem to know somewhat\nof the genial intercourse which passed between father and son--the senior\nprophet and the young apostle of God; and it is delightful to infer that\nsuch intercourse had been conducted on the one side paternally and on the\nother side filially.\n\nWe do not know altogether what men are when we only see them in public\nlife. The great parliamentary orator may be the simplest of all men\nwhen he is in the domestic circle. The great commander of armies, whose\ncourage never quails, may have the heart of a woman when he stands in the\npresence of suffering childhood. It is important for all who attempt to\ndelineate the characters of public men to remember that they see only\none aspect of those characters, and are not qualified to pronounce upon\nthe whole man.\n\nThe next expression of Elisha is: \u201cThe chariot of Israel, and the\nhorsemen thereof.\u201d\n\nThis is an apparently incoherent exclamation. When properly understood,\nhowever, it conveys a further tribute to the ministry which was exercised\nby the ascending prophet. The real meaning is: \u201cMy father--so much better\nthan all chariots and horses; in thy absence the chariot of Israel and\nthe horsemen thereof are useless. They were used by thee, and under thy\nconduct could be turned to good account; but, now that thou art gone,\nthey do but mock our loneliness and make us feel still more bitterly our\nhelpless condition.\u201d\n\nA greater question than \u201cWhere is Elijah?\u201d now occurred to the desolate\nyoung man. Instantly he seizes the reality of the occasion, and by\nexclaiming \u201cWhere is the Lord God of Elijah?\u201d he shows that he is not\ncalled to a merely official position, but that he is elected to represent\nthe divine majesty upon Earth.\n\nThe young man thus begins well. There is nothing frivolous in his inquiry\nor in his interpretation of events. The very depth of his feeling gives\nus an index to the capacity of his mind. Rely upon it, that he who can\nfeel as Elisha did must have a mind equal in its proportions to the fine\nemotions which enlarge and ennoble his heart. Had the young man deported\nhimself in a way which suggested self-sufficiency, his prophetic office\nwould have been destroyed well-nigh before it was created.\n\nIt is when we stand back in humility and in almost despair, and cry out\nin our desolateness \u201cWhere is the Lord God of Elijah?\u201d that we begin our\nwork in the right spirit, and only then.\n\nIn this whole ministry of righteousness and redemption there is no place\nfor self-sufficiency. Apostle Paul said: \u201cOur sufficiency is of God.\u201d\nThe great inquiry \u201cWho is sufficient for these things?\u201d keeps down\nhuman ambition and vanity, and prepares the heart for the utterance of\nprevailing prayer. The question which was thus propounded by Elisha is\nfull of suggestion to ourselves. When we come to read the Bible we should\nnot inquire so much where inspiration is, but where is wisdom which can\nbe applied to our own circumstances and be made unto us as the very staff\nof life.\n\nWe need not exclaim, in considering the Christian ministry of our own\nday: \u201cWhere are the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles?\u201d\nOur inquiry should be: \u201cWhere are the healed men, the comforted hearts,\nthe forgiven souls, the rejoicing spirits?\u201d\n\nWho care to inquire into the mechanism of the organ when he can hear its\nmusic and be bowed down by its most solemn appeals?\n\n\u201cAnd when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him,\nthey said: \u2018The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.\u2019 And they came to\nmeet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.\u201d\n\nThere was no mistaking that spirit. Who can mistake the presence and\ninfluence of fire? Better that our spirit should be discovered than that\nour credentials should be examined.\n\nOf what avail is it that a man can produce a whole portfolio of\ntestimonials, if nobody has discovered in him the presence and effect of\nthe divine Spirit?\n\nThis tribute is also to the credit of the sons of the prophets, for their\njudgment was vital, and was not accidental. There are men who will only\nregard providence as operating in one way, or as operating in one form.\nThese sons of the prophets did not belong to such an inferior class of\njudges.\n\nIt is remarkable, too, that the organic unity of the prophetic office\nis hereby recognized. The sons of the prophets do not treat Elisha as a\nnovelty, a new sensation, or as representing a new point of departure.\nThey unite the old with the new; though the man has changed, the spirit\nremains the same.\n\nThis is what must be always regarded in reading Christian history and in\nwatching the course of the Christian ministry. Old ministers depart, but\nwhen new men come they come with the old spirit and with the old truth,\nor if they come with any other spirit or any other doctrine, they should,\nin the degree of the change, be suspected of being other than genuine\nsuccessors of the prophets.\n\nElisha begins his ministry by doing good--that is to say, by healing\nthe water that was diseased. This appeal to the prophet to do something\nfor the city of Jericho was itself a tribute to the genuineness of the\nprophetic office as exercised by him. It is always beautiful to notice\nhow great power is associated with the doing of good. What is it to\nbe a prophet of any age, if the age is not practically benefited by\nthe exercise of the office? The age does not want ornamental prophets,\nnominal prophets, official prophets. The age is crying out for men who\ncan give it bread, who can heal its water, who can mitigate its sorrows,\nwho can destroy its oppressions.\n\nBy this sign must all prophets live or die. It would have been a poor\nthing on the part of Elisha to have shown the mantle of his predecessor\nif he could not also show his power. We are only in the apostolic\nsuccession as we are in the apostolic spirit.\n\nWe may have all the relics which the apostles left behind--the cloak\nthat was left at Troas, the parchment, the staff and the vessels out of\nwhich they ate and drank--we may even have the scrolls which they used in\nreading the Holy Scriptures; but all these things will constitute only a\nburden if we have not, along with all other possessions, the mighty and\neternal Spirit of the living God, without whose energy even the apostles\nthemselves were but common men.\n\nElisha, having cured the water, went up from the depressed plain of\nJericho to the top of the highland of Jordan, to the height of three\nthousand feet, that he might come unto Beth-el--which, alas, became the\nchief stronghold of the calf worship. The popular sentiment was debased\nto the lowest possible point; even the little children were tainted with\nthe awful disease of contempt for the greatest names and the greatest\nthoughts in all Israel.\n\n\u201cAnd he went up from thence to Beth-el; and as he was going up by the\nway, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him,\nand said unto him: \u2018Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald head!\u2019 And\nhe turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the\nLord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty\nand two children of them. And he went from thence to Mount Carmel, and\nfrom thence he returned to Samaria.\u201d\n\nThis miracle has occasioned no little difficulty to those who read it\nonly in the letter. It is not a narrow incident which can be regarded\nas a mere anecdote and treated, as it were, within the limits of its\nown four corners. We must understand the spirit of the age in which\nthe incident occurred. We must realize that the whole air was full of\nidolatry and blasphemy. We must also remember that the very Church of\nIsrael itself was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, with\nhardly one spot of health on all the altar from the crown of the head to\nthe sole of the foot. We must keep steadily before our minds the fact\nthat the places which are mentioned in this incident had become as Sodom\nand Gomorrah--not, perhaps, in the physical and carnal sense, but in the\nstill worse sense of spiritual alienation and spiritual contempt for\nevery thing associated with the name of the living God.\n\nWhen Elisha, therefore, wrought this deed of violence--this miracle of\ndestruction--his action must be regarded typically and as strictly in\nkeeping with the necessities of the occasion. Only this kind of miracle\ncould have been understood by the people among whom it was worked and\nwho had an opportunity of feeling its effects, either directly or\nincidentally. How often it happens that the first miracle is one which is\nmarked peculiarly by a destructive energy!\n\nThis would seem to be the miracle which our own first zealous impulses\nwould work, had they the power to express themselves in such a form. When\nthe soul is alive with the purity of God, when the heart glows and burns\nwith love, when the whole being is in vital sympathy with the purposes of\nthe cross of Christ, the first and all but uncontrollable impulse is to\ndestroy evil--not to reason with it, or make truce with it, or give it\nfurther treatment of any kind, but instantly and violently to crush it\nout of existence.\n\nThis impulse will be trained unto other uses in the School of Christ.\n\nWe see, in the opening of the sixth chapter of the second Book of Kings,\nsome of the simple and happy relations which existed between the elder\nand the younger prophets.\n\nIs it not possible to revive some of these relations? Look at the case:\n\n\u201cAnd the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha: \u2018Behold, now, the place\nwhere we dwell with thee is too strait for us.\u2019\u201d\n\nPut into modern language, the statement amounts to this: \u201cOur college is\ngetting too small, and we want more room. Let us, therefore, consider\nthis practical question, and see what can be done.\u201d\n\nElisha did not live with the young men. That, perhaps, was rather a happy\nthan an unhappy circumstance--though a very beautiful picture could be\ndrawn concerning domestic collegiate life. A college or a school with the\nteachers and the students all living together must, one would surely say,\nbe a little Heaven on Earth. What can be, ideally, more perfect than the\nold prophet surrounded by all the younger prophets, eating and living\ntogether, having a common room, a common hostelry--a common home? What\ncan be, imaginatively, more taking, pathetic and satisfactory?\n\nWithout pronouncing a judgment upon that inquiry, it is enough to be\nso far just to the text to say that Elisha did not adopt that system\nof collegiate life. He went around from place to place; he visited the\nschools of the prophets in the various localities, and when he came to\nthis place the young men said: \u201cWe have not room enough; we must consider\nour circumstances, and endeavor to enlarge our accommodation.\u201d\n\nWhat did they propose?\n\nIt is well now and again to hear what young men have to suggest. It is\nuseful to listen to young politicians in national crises, that we may\nhear how they would treat the patient. It is most desirable that young\nvoices should mingle with old voices in the common council.\n\nNow it is the turn of the young men to speak. What will they propose to\nElisha?\n\nThe answer is given in the second verse: \u201cLet us go, we pray thee, unto\nJordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make a place there\nwhere we may dwell.\u201d\n\nThe city was not situated exactly upon the Jordan, but upon a stream a\nlittle way from it, which flowed into that great river; and now the young\nmen proposed to get a little nearer to the main stream, for the district\nof it was called The Valley of Palms.\n\nPalestine was notably destitute of trees, but in this particular locality\ntimber was to be got. So the young men made the proposition to Elisha.\nWhat does the proposition amount to? It amounts to something which in\nthis day might horrify a good many of the successors of Elisha.\n\nThe young men said: \u201cLet us go and cut down our timber, and enlarge our\ncollege with our own hands.\u201d Did they propose that the question should be\n\u201creported upon\u201d--that it should be brought first under the attention of\nthe general committee, then be referred to a sub-committee being bound to\nmake a report to the general committee, and the general committee being\nunable to attend, or to constitute a quorum, and so go on to forget the\nwhole business? The young men said:\n\n\u201cWe want room; let us make it. We want a larger college; let us build it.\u201d\n\nWhy not adopt the same principle today? There is nothing so easy as to\nsend around an appeal for a contribution and never get any reply to it.\n\nWe, wanting to be missionaries, should go by the next boat; wanting to\npreach the Gospel to the heathen, we should ask: \u201cWhen does the ship\nstart?\u201d Being unable to pay the fare, we should work our passage. If\npeople should ask us what we are doing, and whether we have lost our\nsenses, we should say: \u201cYes; if we be beside ourselves, it is unto God.\u201d\n\nThen an impression might be made upon those who look on. They would say:\n\u201cSurely, these men are in earnest; be they right or be they wrong, be\nthey fanatical or sober-minded, their earnestness burns in them like a\nfire, and such men can neither be put back nor be kept down.\u201d\n\nHowever, without wishing to modernize the details of this incident,\nwhich, owing to our civilization, would be impossible, it is enough to\nremember that, in the early days of collegiate and school life, the\nscholars were prepared to do something toward helping themselves. They\ndid not send for builders from Jerusalem, or even from the city of\nJericho; they undertook the work at their own impulse and at their own\ncharges.\n\nThere is a line of beauty even in the proposition of the young men. They\ndesired Elisha\u2019s permission. They said, in effect: \u201cFather, may we go?\u201d\nThey were enthusiastic, but they were under discipline; they had fire\nenough, but they responded to the touch of the master. And one said to\nElisha: \u201cBe content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants.\u201d They were\nstronger when the elder man was with them.\n\nSometimes the eye is the best master. It often happens that the man who\nis standing in the harvest field, resting upon his rake, a picture of\ndignity and ease, is doing more than if he were sweltering himself by\ncutting down corn with his own sickle. His eye is doing the work, and his\npresence is exerting an immeasurable and happy influence upon the whole\nfield.\n\nElisha was not asked to go and fell the timber, but to be with the young\nmen while they did the hard work; and, becoming young again himself, as\nold men do become young when associated with young life, he replied:\n\n\u201cI will go. The work is a common work. It belongs to me as well as to\nyou; it belongs to all Israel, in so far as all Israel is true to the\nliving God. Come, let us go in one band; union is strength.\u201d\n\nNow, they went--the old and the young together. Why would they not go\nalone? Perhaps they were all reminded of what happened when once they\ndid go alone. Elisha ordered that food should be prepared, and when the\nseething pot was on, one of the young men went out and gathered something\nand threw it into the pot, and nearly poisoned the whole college. Small\nwonder if one of them, remembering this, said:\n\n\u201cNo more going out alone, if you please. We once took the case into our\nown hands, and I remember how many of us fell sick, and how we cried\nto Elisha: \u2018Master, there is death in the pot!\u2019 And he kindly took\nup a handful of meal, sprinkled it into the vessel and restored its\nhealthfulness. The pot was relieved of all the disease which it had\ncontained, and the meal most happily proceeded.\u201d\n\nWe should remember our blunders, and learn from them. We are always safer\nin the company of the old and wise than when we are in our own society.\nHappy is the man who takes counsel with his elder neighbors, and who can\nsometimes renounce himself and say unto wise men: \u201cSuch and such are my\ncircumstances; now, what would you advise me to do?\u201d\n\nElisha and the young men have now gone down to the Jordan. Elisha felled\nno tree but he did his own particular kind of work.\n\nThe Syrian king could not rest. In his heart he hated or feared the king\nand the hosts of Israel. There was chronic war between Israel and Syria.\nThe king of Syria said: \u201cI will fix my camp in such and such a place.\u201d Of\nthis the sacred record says: \u201cAnd the man of God sent unto the king of\nIsrael, saying: \u2018Beware that thou pass not such a place, for thither the\nSyrians are come down.\u2019\u201d\n\nThere is a ministry of warning. Men may not go themselves to battle,\nand yet they may be controlling the fortunes of war. We need statesmen,\nspiritual interpreters, religious teachers, men of thought and men of\nprayer; and they may be doing more practical work than is being done\nby those who are engaged in the physical work of leading armies and\ncommanding military hosts.\n\nThis is what Elisha did.\n\nHe felled no tree; he wielded no sword. Yet, alike in the building of the\ncollege and in the direction of the war, his was the supreme mind. The\nprophet saved the king. This must always be the case.\n\nThe great man of the nation is the man who can think most profoundly\nand most comprehensively. The architect is a greater man than the\nbuilder. The prophet is a greater man than the king. He reads more; he\nsees farther; he grasps a larger field. He is master of metaphysical\nprinciples, which alone endure. They wear the clothes of the present\ntime; they adopt the form of the passing generation, but they go on from\nage to age--themselves always the same, their adaptations being addressed\nto the immediate and pressing necessities of the people.\n\nWe have been told that \u201cJustice is not an intermittent apparition.\u201d\nThat is perfectly true in one sense; but justice is often a deferred\ncreditor, and sometimes that may be done tomorrow which can not be justly\ndone today. The prophet sees all this. He looks ahead; he has a larger\nhorizon than is accessible to the vision of other men.\n\nSo let it stand, an eternal lesson, that the greatest men in any nation\nare the men who can think most, pray best, feel most deeply and penetrate\nthe metaphysics and the inmost reality of politics and of civilization.\n\nSpiritual power is not only useful in one direction; it is alarming in\nanother. When the king of Syria felt himself baffled, all his plans\nthrown into uncontrollable bewilderment, his heart was sorely troubled.\nIt is the Immeasurable that frightens men. It is the Unknown Quantity\nthat troubles all their calculations and causes them to feel that after\nthey have completed their arithmetic their conclusion is a lie.\n\nWhat was in the air? Whose was this ghostly presence that was upsetting\nBen-hadad\u2019s well laid schemes? What was it, or who, that always went\nbefore him, and that made his proposals abortive and turned all his\npolicies into mocking nothings?\n\nHad there been any man who was visible and measurable, that man could\nhave been dealt with. There is always a quantity equal to any quantity\nthat is known. What is wanting in one way can be made up in another--as,\nfor example, what is wanting in number may be made up in quality. As one\ngreat leader said in ancient history, when his soldiers were saying they\nwere too few for the battle: \u201cHow many do you count me for?\u201d That touched\nthe fire of the army, and inspired the soldiers with confidence.\n\nNow, the matter was revealed to the king, and he took means to remove the\nspectral influence. He made this arrangement: \u201cGo and spy where he is,\nthat I may send and fetch him.\u201d When he knew that Elisha was in Dothan\nthe king sent \u201cthither horses and chariots and a great host.\u201d\n\nWhat unconscious tributes bad men pay to good influences! Men do not know\nwholly what they are doing. Why, this was but a poor prophet, wearing a\nhairy robe that had descended to him; he was no king; he had no sword or\nhorse; he was but a man of prayer. How did Ben-hadad propose to capture\nhim?\n\nThe king sent \u201chorses and chariots and a great host\u201d to take a man whose\nsword was the word of God, whose helmet was the defense of the Most High,\nwhose breastplate was Righteousness!\n\nHere are three arms of the Syrian service--footmen, horsemen and\nchariots; and remember that these were all employed to bring one poor man\nto the king\u2019s presence. Well might Elisha have said, before Antigonus\nuttered it: \u201cHow many do you count _me_ for?\u201d Elisha might have taunted\nthe king of Syria, saying: \u201cWhy all this ado? Would not one soldier have\nbeen enough to take one prophet? He might have come on foot; a horse was\nnot necessary, and certainly not a sword. One soldier might surely have\narrested me.\u201d\n\nBut bad men unconsciously pay tribute to good men. They say, in effect:\n\u201cElisha is only one, but a stubborn one; only one tree, but his roots\nseem to have spread themselves through the Earth, and to have taken hold\nof the entire scheme of things; he is only one, yet, what is strange, he\nis many in one.\u201d\n\nAnd this, indeed, was the interpretation given by Elisha, for he said:\n\u201cThey that be with us are more than they that be with them.\u201d\n\nWho can tell how many angels are round about the praying man? How is it\nthat when the arresting hand is laid upon some men it becomes softened,\nthe muscles relax and have no more pith in them, and the men come back\nto say: \u201cNever man spake like this man; arrest him we can not\u201d? This is\na tribute paid to the Christian religion. Men have passed parliamentary\nstatutes against it, but the religion of the cross has outlived the\nstatutes--has seen them grow into yellow letters, has observed them being\ncanceled or otherwise passing into obsoleteness.\n\nWe are now brought to a very striking point in the incident. The servant\nof Elisha came back, saying: \u201cAlas, my master, how shall we do? I have\nbeen up early, and behold, a host compasses the city--both with horses\nand chariots.\u201d\n\nThen Elisha said: \u201cLord, open his eyes; let this young man see. At\npresent he can only look upon appearances, which are not realities. The\nuniverse is within the universe. The Bible is within the Bible. The man\nis within the man. This servant of mine sees only the outer circle--the\nrim or rind of things. Lord, show him the reality; let him see, and then\nhe will be at peace.\u201d\n\nThere is a view of sight; there is a view of faith. The worldly man goes\nby what his bodily eyes notice or discern; the spiritually minded man\nwalks by faith, not by sight.\n\nThe telescope does not create the stars; the telescope only reveals them,\nor enables the eye to see them. If, then, a telescope can do this, shall\nwe deny to that spiritual power within us called Faith the power which we\nascribe to a mechanical instrument which our own hands have fashioned?\n\nLook upon a given object--say, you take a piece of glass two inches\nsquare; look upon it and ask: \u201cIs there any thing on that glass?\u201d Looking\nwith the naked eye, the sharpest man would say: \u201cThat glass is perfectly\nfree from blot, stain, flaw or inscription of any kind whatsoever.\u201d\n\nNow, put that same two-inch square of glass under a microscope, and look\nthrough the microscope. What is upon it? The Lord\u2019s Prayer, upon a speck\nnot discernible by the naked eye.\n\nIf, then, we ascribe such wonderful powers to a glass which we ourselves\nhave determined as to its size and its relation to other glasses, shall\nwe deny to a certain spiritual faculty the power of seeing that which can\nnot be discriminated by unaided reason?\n\nBy all the pressure of analogy, by all the reasoning of inference, we\ninsist that, if such wonderful things can be done mechanically, things at\nleast equally wonderful can be done by forces that are spiritual.\n\nThe Sun does not make the landscape; the Sun only shows it. A man may\nstand upon a high hill on a dull-gray day and say: \u201cI can imagine what\nthis would be when the Sun was shining.\u201d But no man can imagine light. It\nstands as a sacred mystery in our life that the Sun never comes within\nthe lines of imagination. The Sun light is a continual surprise, even to\nthe eyes that have most reverently and lovingly studied it.\n\nWhen the Sun looks upon the landscape there are new colors, new\ndistances, new forms; a whole work is wrought upon the landscape which\ncan only be described by the word \u201cwizardry.\u201d\n\nSo it is with the Bible, the great work of the living God. Look at it\nwith the natural vision, and you may discover in it particular beauties.\nYou may say: \u201cThe poetry is noble; the English is pure; and the moral\nsentiment of the book is not without a certain elevation.\u201d\n\nBut the Bible wants no such reluctant or impoverished compliments. Let\nthe soul be touched by the Spirit that wrote the book; let the eyes be\nanointed by the living God; and then the Bible is like a landscape shone\nupon by the noonday\u2019s cloudless Sun.\n\nElisha took his own way with the Syrian army, and here occurs a point\nworthy of special note. When the Lord smote the people with blindness,\naccording to the word of Elisha, the latter said unto them: \u201cThis is not\nthe way, neither is this the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the\nman whom ye seek.\u201d But he led them to Samaria.\n\nWhat! Then did the man of God resort to a false strategy? This is a very\nserious case, indeed, and has occasioned much difficulty. Nor need we\nwonder, for in \u201cThe Speaker\u2019s Commentary\u201d we find such words as these:\n\n\u201cUntruth has been held by all moralists to be justifiable toward a public\nenemy. Where we have a right to kill, much more have we a right to\ndeceive by stratagem.\u201d\n\nWhen words like these occur in a Christian commentary, no wonder that\ninfidelity should seize upon the annotation as a prize, or use it as a\nweapon. No such comment can we adopt in perusing this portion of sacred\nScripture. It can not be justifiable to treat a public enemy by untruth\nor deception. We have no right to kill, and therefore we have no right to\ndeceive by stratagem. This is not the way to recommend the word of the\nliving God.\n\nThe incident must be taken in its totality. The reader must not arrest\nthe progress of the narrative by stopping here or there to ask a\nquestion. He must see the incident in its completeness, and, seeing it,\nhe will have reason further to glorify God for the pure morality of the\nbook and the noble spirit of the record.\n\nElisha might well so far follow his illustrious predecessor as to use the\nweapon of irony or taunting in dealing with the Lord\u2019s enemies.\n\nElijah said to the prophets of Baal: \u201cCry aloud; for he is a god.\u201d As\nwell might we stop there, and say: \u201cBy Elijah\u2019s own testimony deity was\nascribed to Baal.\u201d We forget the irony of the tone; we forget that Elijah\nwas mocking the debased prophets.\n\nSo Elisha might say: \u201cThis is not the way, neither is this the city;\nfollow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek.\u201d\n\nThere was a taunt in the tone; there was sarcasm in the emphasis. Nor is\nthe verse to be read in its unity. It is to be read as part and parcel of\na whole narrative.\n\nNow, what became of all this so-called deception and stratagem?\n\nWhen the people were come into Samaria, Elisha said: \u201cLord, open the\neyes of these men, that they may see.\u201d\n\nHe prayed, first, that their sight might be taken away. That seemed to be\ncruel. Now he prays that their sight may be given to them again.\n\n\u201cAnd, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And the king of Israel\nsaid unto Elisha, when he saw them: \u2018My father!\u2019\u201d As if he had become\na convert. The son of Ahab and Jezebel said to Elisha: \u201cMy father!\u201d A\nreluctant and hypocritical compliment, for Jehoram could be neither\nreverent or true.\n\nBut, said he, observing the prize that was before him: \u201cShall I smite\nthem? Shall I smite them?\u201d This was a Hebraism equal to: \u201cSmiting, shall\nI smite?\u201d So Jehoram said: \u201cShall I, smiting, smite them?\u201d\n\nElisha answered: \u201cNo.\u201d\n\nNow, let us hear what this man can say who has been judged guilty of\nuntruth and of stratagem.\n\nElisha said to Jehoram: \u201cThou shalt not smite them. Wouldst thou smite\nthose whom thou hast taken captive without thy sword and without thy\nbow?\u201d This is the same as saying: \u201cIf you yourself have won the victory,\nthen you can smite; but you did not take these men, and therefore you\nshall not smite them. What you have taken by your own sword and spear may\nbe your lawful prize in war; but here is a capture with which you have\nhad nothing to do.\u201d\n\nWhat, then, is to be done? Hear Elisha: \u201cSet bread and water before them,\nthat they may eat and drink and go to their master.\u201d\n\nAnd so great provision was prepared, \u201cand when they had eaten and drunk,\nhe sent them away, and they went to their master.\u201d\n\nWe might even excuse a strategic act in order to secure such a conclusion.\n\nElisha was supposed to be about a hundred years of age when he died. We\nhave seen that he was a domestic rather than a public prophet. He was\nunlike his great predecessor and father. The awful Elijah dwelt alone.\nHe came upon society now and then--came down like a flood from the\nthreatening clouds; shot out like a fire, and burned the men whom he\napproached.\n\nElisha was exactly the contrary. He worked his miracles in the house.\nHe often called upon people; he was quiet, serene, most sympathetic and\ntender-hearted. Now and then he could stand bolt upright and send away\nproud men from his door with a disdain that they could never forget; but\nin the usual process of his life he was a mother-man in Israel. He went\ninto people\u2019s houses and asked how they were. He consented to increase\ntheir oil and their flour, and to bless their family life with prophetic\nbenedictions.\n\n\nGEHAZI.\n\nThe name Gehazi means \u201cvalley of vision,\u201d and is appropriate enough if we\nthink of what Gehazi saw as to the nature of wickedness when the prophet\nopened his eyes.\n\nLet us note what points there are in this case which illustrate human\nlife as we now know it. In this way we shall test the moral accuracy of\nthe story--and that is all we are now principally concerned about.\n\nGehazi was \u201cthe servant of Elisha, the man of God.\u201d Surely, then, he\nwould be a good man? Can a good man have a bad servant? Can the man of\nprayer, whose life is a continual breathing unto God of supreme desires\nafter holiness, have a man in his company, looking on and watching him,\nand studying his character, who denies his very altar and blasphemes\nagainst his God? Is it possible to live in a Christian house and yet not\nbe a Christian? Can we come so near as that, and yet be at an infinite\ndistance from all that is pure and beautiful and true?\n\nIf so, then we must look at appearances more carefully than we have been\nwont to do, for they may have been deceiving us all the time.\n\nSurely, every good man\u2019s children must be good, for they have had great\nspiritual advantages. They have, indeed, had some hereditary benefits\ndenied to many others. Their house has been a home, their home has been a\nchurch, and surely they must show by their whole spirit and tone of life\nthat they are as their father as to all spiritual aspiration and positive\nexcellence.\n\nIs it not so?\n\nIf facts contradict that theory, then we must look at the theory again\nmore carefully, or we must examine the facts more closely, because\nthe whole science of Cause and Effect would seem to be upset by such\ncontradictions. There is a metaphysical question here, as well as a\nquestion of fact. A good tree must bring forth good fruit; good men must\nhave good children; good masters must have good servants. Association in\nlife must go for something.\n\nSo we would say--emphatically, because we think reasonably.\n\nBut facts are against such a fancy.\n\nWhat is possible in this human life? It is possible that a man may spend\nhis days in building a church, and yet denying God. Does not the very\ntouch of the stones help him to pray? No. He touches them roughly; he\nlays them mechanically, and he desecrates each of them with an oath.\n\nIs it possible that a man can be a builder of churches and yet be a\ndestroyer of Christian doctrine and teaching generally? Yes.\n\nLet us come closer still, for the question is intensely interesting and\nmay touch many.\n\nIt is possible for a man to print the Bible and yet not believe a word\nof it. On first hearing this shocking statement we revolt from it. We\nsay it is possible for a man to handle type that is meant to represent\nthe greatest revelation ever made to the human mind without feeling that\nthe very handling of the type is itself a kind of religious exercise.\nYet men can debauch themselves in the act of printing the Bible; can use\nprofane language while putting the Lord\u2019s Prayer in type; can set up the\nwhole Gospel of John without knowing that they are putting into visible\nrepresentation the highest metaphysics, the finest spiritual thinking,\nthe most tender religious instruction.\n\nLet us come even closer. A man can preach the Gospel and be a servant of\nthe devil. Who, then, can be saved? It is well to ask the question. It is\na burning inquiry; it is a spear-like interrogation. We would put it away\nfrom us if we dare.\n\nNow, let this stand as our first lesson in the study of this remarkable\nincident, that Gehazi was the servant of Elisha, the man of God, and was\nat the same time the servant of the devil. He was receiving wages from\nboth masters. He was a living contradiction; and in being such he was\nmost broadly human. He was not a monster; he was not a natural curiosity;\nhe is not to be accounted for by quietly saying that he was an eccentric\nperson. He represents the human heart, and by so much he brings against\nourselves an infinite impeachment.\n\nIt is in vain that we shake our skirts as if throwing off this man and\nall association with him and responsibility for him; this can not be\ndone. He anticipated ourselves; we repeat his wickedness. The iniquity\nis not in the accident, in the mere circumstances, or in the particular\nform; the iniquity is in the heart--yea, in the very heart itself. Marvel\nnot that Christ said: \u201cYe must be born again.\u201d\n\nGehazi did not understand the spirit of his master. He did not know what\nhis master was doing. How is it that men can be so far separated from one\nanother? How is it that a man can not be understood in his own house, but\nbe thought fanciful, fanatical, eccentric and phenomenally peculiar? How\nis it that a man may be living among men, and yet not be of them; may be\nin the world and yet above the world; may be speaking the very language\nof the time, and yet charging it with the meaning of eternity? See here\nthe differences that still exist, and must ever exist, as between one man\nand another:\n\nElisha--living the great spiritual life, the grand prayer-life and\nfaith-life.\n\nGehazi--grubbing in the Earth and seeking his contentment in the dust.\n\nThese contrasts exist through all time, and are full of instruction.\nBlessed is he who observes the wise man, and copies him; who looks upon\nthe fool, and turns away from him, if not with hatred yet with a desire\nnot to know his spirit.\n\nGehazi had a method in his reasoning. Said he, in effect:\n\n\u201cTo spare a stranger, a man who may never be seen again; to spare a\nbeneficiary, a man who has taken away benefits in the right hand and\nin the left; to spare a wealthy visitor, a man who could have given\nmuch without feeling he had given any thing; to spare a willing giver,\na man who actually offered to give something and who was surprised, if\nnot offended, because his gift was declined! There is no reason in my\nmaster\u2019s policy.\u201d\n\nIt never occurred to Gehazi that a man could have bread to eat that the\nworld knew not of. It never occurs to some men that others can live by\nfaith, and can work miracles of faith by the grace of God.\n\nAre there not minds that never had a noble thought? It is almost\nimpossible to conceive of the existence of such minds, but there they\nare. They never went beyond their own limited location; they never knew\nwhat suffering was on the other side of the wall of their own dwelling\nplace. They were never eyes to the blind, or ears to the deaf, or feet\nto the lame; they never surprised themselves by some noble thought of\ngenerosity. How, then, can they understand the prophets of the times?\n\nYet how noble a thing it is to have among us men who love the upper life,\nand who look upon the whole world from the very sanctuary of God, and who\nsay:\n\n\u201cA man\u2019s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he\npossesseth, but a man\u2019s life consists of his faith, love and charity.\u201d\n\nWe can not tell how much the prophets are doing to refine their age, to\ngive a new view to all human duty, to inspire those who otherwise would\nfail for the lack of courage.\n\nWe can not tell where the answers to prayer fall, or how those answers\nare given, but we feel that there is at work in society a mystic\ninfluence, a strange, ghostly, spectral action, which keeps things\ntogether, and now and again puts Sabbath day right in the midst of the\nvulgar time.\n\nThere are facts of a high and special kind, as well as what we commonly\ncall facts, which are often but appearances and dramatic illusions. What\nabout the secret ministry, the unnamable spiritual action, the holy,\nelevating and restraining influence? What is that hand which will write\nupon palace walls words of judgment and keep the world from plunging into\ndarkness infinite?\n\nSurely, God is in this place, and I knew it not. This--wherever it be,\ngarden or wilderness--is none other than the house of God and the gate of\nHeaven.\n\nGehazi prostituted an inventive and energetic mind. He had his plan: \u201cMy\nmaster hath sent me, saying: \u2018Behold, even now there be come to me from\nMount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I\npray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.\u201d\n\nThe case was admirably stated. It was stated, too, with just that urgency\nwhich increases the likelihood of that which is declared.\n\nElisha spent his time among the sons of the prophets. They all looked to\nhim as a father, as he had once looked to Elijah. He was the young man\u2019s\nfriend--the young minister\u2019s asylum. They all knew the gracious, gentle,\nChrist-like Elisha--the ante-type of the Messiah; and what was more\nlikely than that two of them, in the course of their journeying, should\nhave called on Elisha unexpectedly?\n\nIt was a free and gracious life that the old ministers lived. They seemed\nto have rights in one another. If any one of them had a loaf, that\nloaf belonged to the whole fraternity. If one of them, better off than\nanother, had a house or part of a house, any of the sons of the prophets\npassing by could go and lodge there.\n\nIt was a gracious masonry--a true brotherhood.\n\nGehazi was no model man in a moral sense. His invention was a lie; his\ncleverness was but an aspect of depravity; his very genius but made him\nmemorable for wickedness.\n\nBut Gehazi was successful. He took the two talents of silver in the two\nbags, with the two changes of garments. He brought them to the tower, and\nbestowed them in the house. Then he sat down--a successful man! Now all\nis well; lust is satisfied, wealth is laid up. Now the fitness of things\nhas been consulted, and harmony has been established between debtor and\ncreditor, and Justice nods because Justice has been appeased.\n\nWere the test to end with the twenty-fourth verse of the fifth chapter of\nthe second Book of Kings, we should describe Gehazi as a man who had set\nan example to all coming after him who wished to turn life into a success.\n\nWho had been wronged?\n\nNaaman pursues his journey all the more happy for thinking he has done\nsomething in return for the great benefit which has been conferred on\nhim. He is certainly more pleased than otherwise. The man of God has at\nlast been turned, he thinks, into directions indicated by common sense.\n\nAll this has come about in the way of business; for nothing that is not\ncustomary has been done.\n\nGehazi is satisfied, and Elisha knows nothing about it. The servant\nshould have something, even if the master would take nothing. It is\nthe trick of our own day. The servant is always at the door with his\nrheumatic hand, ready to take any thing that may be put into it. We leave\nnothing with the master; it would be an insult to him.\n\nSo far the case looks simple, natural and complete; and we have said\nElisha knows nothing about it.\n\nWhy will men trifle with prophets?\n\nWhy will men play with fire?\n\nWhen will men know that what is done in secret will be published on the\nhouse tops?\n\nWhen will men know that there can be nothing confidential that is wicked?\n\nObserve Gehazi going in to his master as usual, and look at his face;\nnot a sign upon it of any thing having been done that is wrong. Look at\nhis hands--large, white, innocent-looking hands that never doubled their\nfingers on things that did not belong to them.\n\nLook at Elisha. Fixing his eyes calmly upon Gehazi, he asks:\n\n\u201cWhence comest thou, Gehazi?\u201d\n\n\u201cThy servant went no whither.\u201d\n\nGehazi meant it to be understood that he had been on the premises all the\ntime; always within call; the lifting up of a finger would have brought\nhim.\n\nThen came the speech of judgment, delivered in a low tone, but every word\nwas heard--the beginning of the word and the end of the word--and the\nlast word was like a sting of righteousness.\n\n\u201cWent not mine heart with thee?\u201d\n\nOh, that heart! The good man knows when wickedness has been done. Christ\nknows when He enters into the congregation whether there is a man in it\nwith a withered hand.\n\n\u201cWent not mine heart with thee?\u201d Was I not present at the interview? Did\nI not hear every syllable that was said on the one side and on the other?\nDid I not look at thee when thou didst tell the black, flat and daring\nlie?\n\nThen came the infliction of the judgment:\n\n\u201cThe leprosy, therefore, of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy\nseed for ever.\u201d\n\nThou, Gehazi, hast touched the silver, not knowing that it was contagious\nand held the leprosy; thou didst bring in the two changes of garments,\nnot knowing that the germs of the disease were folded up with the cloth.\nPut on the coat; it will scorch thee.\n\n\u201cHe went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.\u201d\n\nA splendid conception is this silent departure. Not a word was said,\nnot a protest uttered. The judgment was felt to be just. \u201cCast ye the\nunprofitable servant into outer darkness.\u201d \u201cThese shall go away into\neverlasting punishment.\u201d\n\nOh, the hush--the solemn silence! The judgment seemed to begin with the\nsound of trumpets and the rending of things that apparently could not\nbe shaken; at the end there is simply a going away, a silent motion, a\nconviction that the sentence is right.\n\nSee Gehazi as he goes out of Elisha\u2019s presence, and regard him as a\nspecimen of those who, having been judged, on the last day will depart.\n\nMen should consider the price which they really pay for their success.\n\nThe grateful Syrian would gladly have pressed upon Elisha gifts of high\nvalue, but the holy man resolutely refused to take any thing, lest the\nglory redounding unto God from this great act should in any degree be\nobscured. But his servant, Gehazi, was less scrupulous, and hastened with\na lie in his mouth to ask, in his master\u2019s name, for a portion of that\nwhich Elisha had refused.\n\nThe illustrious Syrian no sooner saw the man running after his chariot\nthan he alighted to meet him, and being glad to relieve himself in some\ndegree under the sense of overwhelming obligation, he sent him back with\nmore than he ventured to ask.\n\nNothing more is known of Naaman.\n\nWe afterward find Gehazi recounting to King Joram the great deeds of\nElisha, and in the providence of God it so happened that when he was\nrelating the restoration to life of the Shunnammite\u2019s son, the very woman\nwith her son appeared before the king to claim her house and lands, which\nhad been usurped while she had been absent abroad during the recent\nfamine. Struck by the coincidence, the king immediately granted her\napplication.\n\nAs lepers were compelled to live apart outside the towns, and were not\nallowed to come too near to uninfected persons, some difficulty has\narisen with respect to Gehazi\u2019s interview with the king. Several answers\noccur. The interview may have taken place outside the town, in a garden\nor garden house, and the king may have kept Gehazi at a distance, with\nthe usual precautions which custom dictated. Some even suppose that the\nincident is misplaced, and actually occurred before Gehazi was smitten\nwith leprosy. Others hasten to the opposite conclusion, and allege the\nprobability that the leper had then repented of his crime, and had been\nrestored to health by his master.\n\n\nHEZEKIAH.\n\nSo far in our Bible studies we have had many weary wanderings among bad\nmen. The fear was that, to some extent, familiarity with them might\nblunt our own moral sensibility.\n\nMan after man has passed before us out of whose very countenance\nthe image of God had faded. How pleasant it is, and how spiritually\nexhilarating, to come upon a case in which we read of a different pattern\nof man! Of Hezekiah it is recorded in the eighteenth chapter of the\nsecond Book of Kings:\n\n\u201cAnd he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to\nall that David, his father, did.\u201d\n\nAfter a long journey underground we seem to have come suddenly upon a\nsweet garden, and the sight of it is as Heaven. The charm is always in\nthe contrast. If things are not quite so good as we supposed them to\nbe, they are all the better by reason of circumstances through which we\nhave passed, which have made us ill at ease and have impoverished or\ndisheartened us; then very little of the other kind goes a long way.\n\nA man comes up out of the underground railway and says, when he emerges\ninto the light:\n\n\u201cHow fresh the air is here! What a healthy locality! How well to live in\nthis neighborhood!\u201d\n\nWhy does he speak so kindly of his surroundings? Not because of those\nsurroundings intrinsically, but because of the contrast which they\npresent to the circumstances through which he has just passed.\n\nHezekiah was no perfect man.\n\nWe shall see how noble he was, and how rich in many high qualities, yet\nhow now and again we see the crutch of the cripple under the purple of\nthe king.\n\nIt is well for us that he was occasionally and temporarily weak, or he\nwould have been like a star which we can not touch, and at which we can\nnot light our own torch.\n\nEven Hezekiah was a man like ourselves in many particulars, and therefore\nwhat was good and sound in him is all the more attractive and is all the\nmore possible to us.\n\nWho can mistake an honest man?\n\nIf all men were upright, where would be the peculiarity of any individual\nman\u2019s integrity? But, given a corrupt state of society, when the\nhonest man appears we say: \u201cThe wind has changed. It blows balmily and\nhealthfully. It comes from a fine origin, and brings with it many a\nblessing.\u201d\n\nWho can mistake the atmosphere of the sea? How it blows away all the city\ndullness! How it quickens the blood! How it throws off increasing years,\nand makes the voyager feel almost young again!\n\nIt is so with honesty, nobleness, charity and goodness of character when\nthe surrounding air is charged with some kind of poison or pestilence.\n\nSo it is that we come upon Hezekiah.\n\nPerhaps it is well for him that we approach his case after such an\nexperience. He thus gets advantages that otherwise might not have been\naccorded to him. He looks the higher for the dwarfs that are round about\nhim, the whiter because of the black population amid which he stands--at\nonce a contrast and a rebuke.\n\nBut from Hezekiah\u2019s point of view the case was different. Behind him\nwere traditions of the most corrupt sort. He was as a speckled bird\nin the line of his own family. It is hard to be good amid so much\nthat is really bad. All attempts at goodness are accounted examples of\naffectation, conceit, vanity and pharisaism; and under such circumstances\nsometimes a man\u2019s foes may be the people of his own household. They wish\nhe was more pliable, less sabbatarian, less devoted to his Bible, less\nconstant in his attendance at church. He might go once a day, and give\nhimself one end of the rope not tethered to the altar; but he will not.\n\nHas that man an easy time of it?\n\nNo hard word may be spoken to him--certainly no bitter word--and yet\nall the while he may be made to feel that perhaps, after all, he may be\naffecting somewhat of piety and purity, and that those who are looking on\nmay be better critics of him than he is of himself.\n\nAt all events, there come to him periods of trial, and sometimes he says\nwithin himself:\n\n\u201cShall I today be as constant as I have been, or may I not break away\nnow? Have I not built up a character, and may I not retire upon my moral\ncompetence, and live henceforth the life of a latitudinarian? After a\nlong spell of many years, surely I might intermit just a little.\u201d\n\nWho shall say that the temptation is not subtle and strong? Some men\nhave to force their way to church through innumerable and unnamable\ndifficulties. This ought to be reckoned. Some credit must be due to\nmen who are thus constant to their sense of public duty and religious\nobligation. Men are not always at church with the entire consent of those\nwho are round about them.\n\nWhat, then, must be done?\n\nOne of two things. Either yield to the temptation or resist it. You can\nnot trifle with it. You can not compromise, and then recur to firmness,\nand again connive, and again balance, consider and hesitate. Virtue is\nnot an intermittent grace. We must stand, or we must fall.\n\nHezekiah had a wicked father. How will that wickedness come out in the\nson? Not, perhaps, as wickedness, but as infirmity, weakness, and want of\nconstancy in some directions, though there may be no want of firmness in\nothers.\n\nCan a man wholly escape the bad blood inherited of his father?\n\nWe must not forget that Hezekiah\u2019s mother\u2019s name was Abi, the daughter of\nZachariah. How she came to marry a wicked husband must remain a mystery.\nBut the mother will come up in the son.\n\nShe was the daughter of Zachariah, and Zachariah was a prophet, or\nseer--a man with double sight--one of those strange men who can see\nbeyond the merely visible and palpable, and can read things that lie\nbehind.\n\nZachariah came up again in his daughter, and the mother came up again in\nthe son, and so there was a mysterious play of inheritance, transfer,\ntransition, reappearance, somewhat of resurrection--a great tragic\nmystery of transformation and representation.\n\nWe speak about a man as if he were self-contained--just standing upon\nso much ground, without relation behind or before, on the right hand or\non the left. But no man is thus insularly placed; no man is an absolute\nsolitary.\n\nEvery man has in him the blood of the past and the life of the future.\n\nCan a son of a good mother be altogether bad? Most surely not. You must\nhave mistaken the case if you thought so. Your very thinking so may\nconstitute an element of hopefulness in your case. Take comfort from that\nsuggestion.\n\nSo long as you can think of yourself seriously and of the past and of\nyour advantages, and can compare what you are with what you might have\nbeen, there is hope of you.\n\nBut can there be in all history such an irony as this, that a man should\nhave had a praying mother and himself be a prayerless man?\n\nNo! It can not be. Somewhere--at some time and in some way--the better\nnature will assert itself, and out of a good seed surely there will come\na good harvest.\n\nBut the lesson does not lie upon one side only. Here is encouragement to\nthe praying fathers and to praying mothers.\n\nZachariah, read on; read between the lines of things; interpret events\nsymbolically; read the apocalyptic sense of what is happening--and out of\nall this mental elevation and spiritual conduct there will come results\nin your daughter or your son.\n\nAbi, pray on. Be just to your father\u2019s memory, and say: \u201cHe was a holy\nman. I must prove it by being a holy woman. He can not live upon a\nwritten character; he must live in my life. I will prove that such a\nchild must have had a good father.\u201d\n\nSo the vital lessons fall--on the right hand, on the left, and\naround about us. Shame be to us if, amid this shower of monition and\nencouragement and stimulus, we be deaf and dumb and blind, unfeeling,\nunresponsive.\n\nHezekiah will now go to work and prove himself to be an energetic\nreformer.\n\n\u201cHe removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the\ngroves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for\nunto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he\ncalled it Nehustan.\u201d\n\nHe must have been a strong man. He had no colleague, no ally; no one to\nsay to him: \u201cBe brave, be true.\u201d He went straight against the hardest\nwall that ever was built by the stubbornness and perversity of man.\n\nIt is not easy to begin life by a destructive process of reformation.\nWho would not rather plant a tree than throw down a wall? Who would not\nrather plant flowers and enjoy their beauty and fragrance than give\nhimself the severe toil and the incessant trouble of destroying corrupt\nand evil institutions?\n\nWhoever attempts this kind of destructive work, or even a constructive\nwork which involves preliminary destructiveness, will have a hard time of\nit. Criticism will be very sharp, and selfishness will be developed in an\nextraordinary degree.\n\nIf a man be more than politician--if he be a real born statesman, looking\nat whole empires at once and not at mere parishes, and if in his thought\nand purpose he should base his whole policy upon fundamental right--he\nwill not have an easy life of it, even in a Christian country. In\nproportion as he bases his whole policy on righteousness, temperance and\njudgment to come, he will be pelted with hard names and struck at with\nunfriendly hands.\n\nThis holds good in all departments of life, in all great reformations, in\nall assaults made upon ignorance, selfishness, tyranny and wrong of every\nname.\n\nThe children of Israel always seemed to live a foolish life. They were\nthe veriest children--so, at least, we would say but for fear of branding\nsweet children with an evil stigma.\n\nThey were infantile, weak, treacherous to themselves, uncertain at every\npoint--and so, having kept the brazen serpent, they burned incense to\nit. They liked a visible God. When the calf appealed to their religious\nfeelings they danced around it as if at last they had found a deity.\n\nBut who can worship a spirit--invisible, impalpable, far away, near at\nhand, without a name, without a shape which we can verify and say: \u201cIt\ncomes to thus much, and this is the weight and this is the value of it?\u201d\n\nIt requires a mind of some mental strength to stand up, take hold of the\nbrazen serpent and call it \u201cNehushtan\u201d--a contemptuous term, meaning a\npiece of brass; dead brass, useless and worthless brass, a relic but not\na God.\n\nLet us give credit to the men who have been bold--religiously\nintrepid--in the midst of circumstances of a most discouraging and\noverbearing kind. They are the men to whom we owe our present privileges.\nWe have the Bible in our mother tongue because they were valiant. Not a\nchurch would have been built today in which men could assemble with a\nsense of freedom--sweet, joyous liberty--but for the Hezekiahs and others\nwho went forth and, at great cost and great peril, destroyed things evil\nand black, by the power of God\u2019s almightiness--overthrew them, and set up\na better kingdom.\n\nWhat was the root of Hezekiah\u2019s character? At present we have seen\nphenomena of a gracious kind; we like what we have seen of this man.\n\n\u201cHe trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like\nhim among all the kings of Judah nor any that were before him. For he\nclave to the Lord, and departed not from following Him, but kept His\ncommandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.\u201d\n\nAt length a man arose who said: \u201cI will do God\u2019s will, God helping me. I\nwill not only read the commandments, but I will incarnate them. I will\nnot only speak religious words, but live a religious life.\u201d\n\nTender and yet emphatic are the words: \u201cHe trusted,\u201d \u201che clave,\u201d \u201che\nkept.\u201d\n\nHe \u201ctrusted\u201d--that is to say, he had no other trust. His religion was\nnot a convenience, one thing among many things, an occasional exercise\nin piety; but it was a perpetual confidence, the one trust, the\nall-centralizing and all-ruling fact.\n\nThen he \u201cclave\u201d--he kept close to. He would not allow any thing to come\nbetween his hand and the God he seized. The hand could do nothing except\ncleave to God and what was possible through that cleaving; and much is\npossible of a helpful and beneficent kind.\n\nHe \u201ckept the commandments\u201d--counted them one by one; examined himself\nin them; took himself daily to task about the whole ten. We live an\noff-hand life.\n\nReligion is now as easy as a wave of the hand, a salutation across a\nthoroughfare; it is something that can be taken up, laid down, forgotten\nand resumed.\n\nWhat wonder if the Rab-shakehs of the age come and taunt us, mock our\npiety and blow back our prayers before they get to the skies?\n\nWe want more trust, more cleaving piety, more keeping of the\ncommandments, living in them and having no other life that is not\nconsonant with them.\n\nNow came, as we have often seen, the inevitable temptation. We pass\ninstantly to the visit of Rab-shakeh. This Rab-shakeh was an eloquent\nman. He had the gift of mockery; he could gibe well. He was not without a\ncertain logical qualification.\n\nHe made a long and offensive speech to the people under Hezekiah\u2019s rule,\nand he thought he had them at both ends of the argument.\n\nHaving mocked their piety, laughed it down, challenged it, spat upon it,\nhe said:\n\n\u201cPerhaps you will say: \u2018We trust in the Lord, our God,\u2019 but you forget\nthat this very man, Hezekiah, has thrown down His altars, has taken away\nHis groves, has rooted up the house of your God by the foundations.\u201d\n\nRab-shakeh did not understand the destructive reformation wrought out by\nHezekiah. He heard of the groves being cut down and the holy places being\nremoved, and he said:\n\n\u201cThis is so much to our advantage. The king of Assyria shall hear of\nthis, and we shall make good commerce of it.\u201d\n\nRab-shakeh did not distinguish between idolatry and piety--between a\nreform essential to health and a mere accident in history. That which was\ngood in Hezekiah seemed to be wickedness to Rab-shakeh.\n\nRab-shakeh assaulted the people, trampled on them, leaped over their\nbodies, mocked their refuges and their trust, and thrust his fist into\nthe face of Egypt and said:\n\n\u201cCome away from Hezekiah. Trust him not; he is blind; he is incapable.\nLeave him, and I will tell you what the king of Assyria will do for you.\u201d\n\nAnd he held this out to them:\n\n\u201cI will come and take you away to a land like your own land--a land of\ncorn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and of\nhoney--that ye may live, and not die; and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when\nhe persuadeth you, saying: \u2018The Lord will deliver us.\u2019\u201d\n\nIt is but an empty saying: \u201cCome, and I will give you a great Canaan!\u201d\n\nSometimes it does seem as if the enemy had the best of it. Every thing\nlies so handily to him. He says:\n\n\u201cI will get you through this difficulty. I know a lie that would deceive\na king. I can instruct you in a policy that would blind a judge. I could\nget the money for you; you need have no difficulty about that. Why, I\nsay, in confidence, I can let you have it now!\u201d\n\nWhat can the preacher do in the presence of such a Rab-shakeh?\n\nOr, he may not offer temptation in that direction, but in another. He may\nsay:\n\n\u201cAll these arguments I could answer, if I cared to do so. Who wrote\nthe Bible? Who has seen the original manuscripts? Who has ever seen\nGod? It is utterly impossible to know the infinite. Come, and I will\nmake you rich at once in real, solid, practical things. I can give you\nwork instantly, and wages immediately the work is begun. I can give you\nsomething in advance. Leave the preacher, the altar, the Bible and the\nchurch. Come and work in the open streets, and be doing something that\nyou can handle and about which there is no manner of doubt.\u201d\n\nPeople begin then to wonder.\n\nThey should adopt the policy which was imposed on the children of\nHezekiah:\n\n\u201cBut the people held their peace, and answered him not a word, for the\nking\u2019s commandment was: \u2018Answer him not.\u2019\u201d\n\nNothing is to be got out of wordy controversy. Live the Christian life;\ngrow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. While the\ncontroversialist is contemning you, taunting you and smiting you, show\nto him that you are growing broader, more massive in character, more\ntender in disposition, more benevolent in every aspiration and desire and\npurpose, and thus by well-doing \u201cPut to silence the ignorance of foolish\nmen.\u201d\n\nDefend your Christianity by the eloquence of your life.\n\nThe servants of Hezekiah said to him: \u201cWhat Rab-shakeh has said may come\nto pass. Let us go to Isaiah and tell him all.\u201d\n\nHezekiah himself thought that perhaps there might be something in it,\nafter all. There he and his servants fell into a state of incertitude.\n\n\u201cSo the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.\u201d They came to the right\nman. Standing up like a king, he said:\n\n\u201cThus shall ye say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: \u2018Be not afraid of\nthe words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of\nAssyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he\nshall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause\nhim to fall by the sword in his own land.\u2019\u201d\n\nHe would make no violent attack on the men. He would summon no legion of\nangels to overwhelm this great Oriental potentate. He would simply \u201csend\na blast.\u201d He would change the wind; he would scatter something upon it\nand bid it blow across the brain of the king of Assyria, and the king\nwould not know his right hand from his left, nor the morning from the\nnight; he would be calling everybody by the wrong name, and be asking for\nthings that he did not wish to possess, and be, generally, thrown into a\nstate of unbalanced and wandering mind.\n\n\u201cI will send a whisperer to him. He shall simply go to the ear of the\nking of Assyria and say something, and the king will take fright and fly\naway in a panic. O Hezekiah, continue thy prayer, repeat thy morning\nsacrifice and thine evening oblation; and, as for the king of Assyria, I\nwill send a blast and a rumor. I will answer Rab-shakeh.\u201d\n\nLet the contempt of the enemy be answered by the contempt of Heaven.\n\nRab-shakeh, having found that the king of Assyria was warring against\nLibnah, returned; and when he heard that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, was\ncome up to war, he once more addressed Hezekiah in terms of exultation\nand contempt.\n\nRab-shakeh was pretendedly anxious that Hezekiah should not be deceived\nby the Lord, his God, and then he taunts him with many a history in which\nAssyria had been conqueror over opposing nations. He completes his taunt\nby asking:\n\n\u201cWhere is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the\ncity of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?\u201d\n\nThis message came to Hezekiah in the form of a letter, or letters, and he\ninstantly \u201cwent up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the\nLord.\u201d\n\nThere is no need to regard this as in any sense involving a heathenish\ncustom. The meaning simply is that Hezekiah consulted the Lord on the\nwhole matter, and declined to take any thing into his own counsel or\npower. He acknowledges the dignity of God by the expression: \u201cO Lord God\nof Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims.\u201d\n\nThen he pointed to the letter which more immediately concerned himself,\nthus showing his consciousness that the majesty of the Lord did not\nseparate Him from taking an interest in earthly things. We are not to\nstop at the point of majesty, but are to reason that, because God is so\nmajestic and august, He will pay attention to the prayers and desires of\nthe beings whom He has created in His own image and likeness. The divine\nmajesty is not a rebuke to human approach, but is an encouragement to\nhuman prayer. When Hezekiah says \u201cThou art the God,\u201d the emphasis is to\nbe laid on the pronoun. Thou art the true God, and Thou alone. When he\ndesires God to bow down His ear, and hear, the reference is not so much\nto listen to Hezekiah\u2019s prayer as to the words of Sennacherib.\n\nThe meaning of the whole petition may be:\n\n\u201cInterpose immediately and energetically between me and mine enemy. Let\nThine ears hear, let Thine eyes see, and let Thine arm be extended.\u201d\n\nHezekiah acknowledges that the kings of Assyria had destroyed the nations\nand their lands, and had cast the gods of the nations into the fire. By\nso much he gives the Assyrians credit for having spoken the truth, and\nfor having thus founded their project against Israel upon the success\nwhich they had already attained.\n\nHezekiah acknowledges, indeed, that the gods of the nations were no gods.\nAt the same time he feels that to the minds of the Assyrians they may\nhave been as real deities, and their overthrow may have encouraged the\nAssyrians to believe that Jehovah was like unto them.\n\nThus the prayer of Hezekiah was argued and ordered in logical and\nhistorical form, and was intended to excite, as it were, the very\njealousy of the Lord God of Israel.\n\nWe now turn to the reply which was made to Hezekiah through the lips of\nIsaiah, the son of Amos. The reply was manifestly given in a contemptuous\ntone:\n\n\u201cThe virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to\nscorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.\u201d\n\nThis is a poetic personification of place, Zion being regarded as mother\nof the people dwelling there. While the term \u201cvirgin\u201d may denote the\ninviolable security of the citadel of Jehovah, it may also intimate that\na woman--even a solitary woman--was enough, when under the inspiration\nand protection of God, to repel the assault of the most boastful and\naudacious king.\n\nThe expression, \u201chath shaken her head at thee,\u201d has been literally\nrendered: \u201cHath nodded behind thee.\u201d It signifies an act of security--as,\nfor example, in the Twenty-second Psalm: \u201cAll they that see me laugh\nme to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying: \u2018He\ntrusted on the Lord that He would deliver him. Let Him deliver him,\nseeing He delighted him.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe people of Jerusalem are represented by this expression as nodding\ntheir heads in contempt at the retiring envoys of Sennacherib.\n\nThe answer of Isaiah to Hezekiah was a religious revelation to the king\nof Assyria.\n\nThe twenty-second verse puts into interrogative form a reproach against\nthe ignorance of the king:\n\n\u201cWhom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou\nexalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high?\u201d\n\nThe meaning evidently is that the king did not know the real nature of\nthe God of Israel and Judah, and that he was making an infinite mistake\nin confounding that nature with what he had already seen of the idols of\nthe nations.\n\nHumiliation is promised to the king of Assyria. A hook is to be thrust\ninto his nose, a bridle is to be put on his lips, and he is to be turned\nback by the way which he came.\n\nWhile the king of Assyria is humiliated, the remnant that escaped of the\nhouse of Judah is promised again to take root downward and bear fruit\nupward--literally, shall add root to root, shall take firmer root than\never, as a tree often does after a storm; the ravaged land was to be\nnewly stocked by the remnant that was to be saved out of Jerusalem.\n\nAll these statements are supported by the declaration: \u201cThe zeal of the\nLord of Hosts shall do this.\u201d\n\nThus the promise is not made in any human name or guaranteed by the\nconquests of human history. It is immediately connected with the very\npurpose and power of the Most High. Nor is this the only instance in\nwhich divine strength is promised on behalf of Judah and of Israel. We\nread: \u201cFor I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and\nfor my servant David\u2019s sake.\u201d\n\nWe must always be careful to notice that the race is not to the swift,\nnor the battle to the strong, and that no occasion is ever given\nfor man to glory in man, but that everywhere from the beginning of\nreligious history, as given in the Bible, it is God who is King, Ruler\nand Protector, and to Him all the glory of deliverance and conquest\nundividedly belongs.\n\nAnd that night \u201cthe angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of\nthe Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose\nearly in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.\u201d\n\nAgain and again we say: \u201cIt is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of\nthe living God.\u201d\n\nLet Rab-shakeh talk--let him deliver his burning messages--and when he\nhas ceased his mockery it is not necessary for us to answer. God will\ndefend His own cause.\n\nHere we stand. We think all history is on the Christian side. But let\nus not forget that the finest argument in favor of Christianity is a\nChristian life.\n\n\nJABEZ.\n\nThe ninth verse of the fourth chapter of the first Book of Chronicles\ncontains a reference to Jabez. The whole history is brief:\n\n\u201cAnd Jabez was more honorable than his brethren; and his mother called\nhis name Jabez, saying: \u2018Because I bear him with sorrow.\u2019 And Jabez\ncalled on the God of Israel, saying: \u2018Oh, that Thou wouldst bless me\nindeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and\nthat Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!\u2019 And God\ngranted him that which he requested.\u201d\n\nNothing more is known of this Jabez or of his brethren. \u201cThe Speaker\u2019s\nCommentary\u201d regards the fact as remarkable that Jabez should be\nintroduced without description or patronymic, as if a well-known\npersonage, and supposes that he was known to those for whom the Book of\nChronicles was written, either by tradition or by writings which have\nperished.\n\nThe word Jabez signifies sorrowful.\n\nJabez was distinguished in some way above his brethren. By this\ndistinction we are not to infer the exercise of an undue partiality in\nthe spirit of his parents. Account for it as we may, some men appear to\nbe born with what may be called a larger religiousness of nature than\nother men. It is easy for them to pray; it is a delight to them to peruse\nall sacred writings; it is a positive pain to them to be deprived of\nreligious privileges.\n\nWe must leave this mystery as insoluble. It is a very pleasant mystery to\nthose who are gifted with religious intuition; but, on the other hand,\nit is a most appalling mystery to those who seem to be what we can not\nbetter describe than by calling them natural Atheists.\n\nThe name which Jabez bore was a memorial of his mother\u2019s sorrow--not\na prophecy of his own. Yet Jabez was animated by that inexplicable\nsuperstition which discovers in names and circumstances omens and\npredictions which the imagination can never treat with disregard.\n\nJabez might intellectually know that his name did but represent what his\nmother had endured, yet a subtle feeling took possession of him, as if he\nhimself would in some way be involved in the same sorrow. Nor was this an\nirrational conclusion.\n\nAs a matter of fact, some men are born to more sorrow than others--as\ncertainly as by constitution some men are more religious than others.\n\nHere, again, is a dark and painful mystery. We see the operation of this\nmystery even in the same family, where one of the children may be full of\nsunlight, hope and music, and another may be doomed to walk in darkness\nthroughout a lifetime--unable to discern between Summer and Winter,\nloaded with trouble and oppressed with undefinable apprehensions.\n\nJabez is known to history as pre-eminently a man of prayer. Although it\nhas been considered that the prayer of Jabez was uttered in view of some\nimminent battle or other dreaded experience, yet by common consent Jabez\nhas been regarded by Christian students as a typical man of prayer.\n\nJudging the case within the narrow limits of the history given in verses\nnine and ten, it would seem as if Jabez started life in an act of prayer.\nThe image is at once graphic and beautiful. Think of a young man standing\nat the door of his house, looking abroad at the unknown and unmeasured\nworld, listening to the conflicting voices which troubled his native air,\nand then turning his eyes to Heaven and asking divine direction before he\nwould take a single step from the threshold of his home.\n\nNothing of the nature of mere romance attaches itself to this picture.\n\nThis, indeed, is what every young man ought to do before going out to\nbattle or labor. It would appear, from instances which have come under\nour view, that God condescends to receive from men promises of religious\nlife on certain providential conditions. We can not understand this now,\nbut it is perfectly clear, from such instances as Jacob and Jabez, that\nGod was willing to respond to propositions of obedience founded upon the\nrealization of specified blessings.\n\nThe prayer of Jabez must be judged to be good, for the sufficient reason\nthat it was answered--\u201cand God granted him that which he requested.\u201d\n\nIs the conduct of life, then, open to regulation upon such high and\nsacred lines? May a young man come before the Almighty, speak out all his\nheart and receive promises of continual guidance and defense from the\nLiving One?\n\nIf we could realize the certainty of this holy commerce as between Earth\nand Heaven, our whole life would be lifted to a noble level, our spirit\nwould be released from the dominion of fear, and instead of laboring\nin toilsome prayer, we should be filled with the spirit of triumphant\nthankfulness and praise.\n\nWhat privileges are open to the young! It lies within their power to\ngive a whole life-time to God. Those who have advanced considerably in\nlife can now but give a fraction of their days, but the young soul can\ngive God the brightness of the morning, the glory of noonday and the\ntranquility of evening.\n\nLet the young think of this, and give themselves diligently to the study\nof such instances as that of Jabez, knowing that if they remember their\nCreator in the days of their youth increasing age will mean increasing\njoy.\n\n\nJEHORAM.\n\nJehoram undertakes an expedition against King Mesha, but in doing so he\npays a tribute to the power of the king of Moab by allying with himself\nJehoshaphat, king of Judah, and also the king of Edom. A remarkable\ncharacter is given of Jehoram. He was not an imitator of the evil of his\nfather as to its precise form, but he had his own method of serving the\ndevil.\n\nWe should have thought that Ahab and Jezebel had exhausted all the arts\nof wickedness, but it turns out that Jehoram had found a way of his own\nof living an evil life.\n\nWarned by the untimely fate of his brother, which had fallen upon him\nexpressly on account of his Baal worship, Jehoram began his reign by an\nostentatious abolition of the Phenician state religion, which his father\nhad introduced.\n\nJehoram went back to the olden times, and re-established the worship of\nthe calf, after the pattern which Jeroboam, its founder, had patronized.\nHis doing so, however, he found to be quite compatible with a secret\nallowance that the people should practice their own form of worship.\n\nThere is room in wickedness for the exercise of genius of a certain\nlimited kind. The limitation is imposed by wickedness itself--for, after\nall, wickedness is made up of but few elements.\n\nMany persons suppose that if they do not sin according to the prevailing\nfashion they are not sinning at all. They imagine that by varying the\nform of the evil they have mitigated the evil itself.\n\nA good deal of virtue is supposed to consist in reprobating certain forms\nof vice. A man may be no drunkard, according to the usual acceptation of\nthe term, and yet he may be in a continual state of intoxication. It is\npossible to shudder at what is usually known as persecution, and yet all\nthe while to be beheading enemies and burning martyrs.\n\nJehoram made a kind of trick of wickedness. He knew how to give a twist\nto old forms, or a turn to old ways, so as to escape part of their\nvulgarity and yet to retain all their iniquity.\n\nA most alarming thought it is to the really spiritual mind that men may\nbecome adepts in wickedness--experts in evil doing--and may be able so\nto manage their corrupt designs as to deceive many observers by a mere\nchange of surface or appearance.\n\nWe do not amend the idolatry by altering the shape of the altar. We do\nnot destroy the mischievous power of unbelief by throwing our skepticism\ninto metaphysical phrases, and thus making verbal mysteries where we\nmight have spiritual illumination. We are deceived by things simply\nbecause we ourselves live a superficial life and read only the history of\nappearances.\n\nWhat is the cure for all this manipulation of evil, this changing of\ncomplexion and of form, and this consequent imagining that the age is\nimproving because certain phenomena which used to be so patent are no\nlonger discernible on the face of things?\n\nWe come back to the sublime doctrine of regeneration, as the answer to\nthe great inquiry: \u201cWhat is the cure for this heart disease?\u201d\n\n\u201cMarvel not that I said unto thee: \u2018Ye must be born again.\u2019\u201d\n\nWe may change either the language or the manners of wickedness, or the\ntimes and seasons for doing wicked things, and we may decorate our\nwickedness with many beautiful colors, but so long as the heart itself\nis unchanged decoration is useless--yea, worse than useless; for it is a\nvain attempt to make that look true which is false--an endeavor even to\ndeceive Omniscience itself.\n\n\u201cAnd Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king\nof Israel an hundred thousand lambs and an hundred thousand rams, with\nthe wool. But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab\nrebelled against the king of Israel.\u201d\n\nEnduring masteries are not of a physical kind. Ahab held Mesha simply by\na strong arm, and the consequence was that, as soon as Ahab was dead,\nMesha refused to render the tribute.\n\nThis historical circumstance, limited so far as the mere letter is\nconcerned, is full of significance to the Christian Church and to all\nChristian countries.\n\nLet us not call ourselves masters of positions or of men, simply because\nwe happen to have the stronger arm. The dominion which is acquired by\nmere strength and held by superior force is an illusion wherever it is\nfound.\n\nThe men whom we may so hold may be hypocrites enough to assume an\nacquiescent attitude, or even to display a complacent demeanor; they may\neven go so far as to appear to be grateful for the rule which they can\nnot set aside. But all such appearances are of necessity without reason,\nand therefore without continuance. They are always to be suspected.\n\nThis would be so in the case of the Christian faith, had we the power of\nimposing even its nominal belief upon any nation. Suppose we say that\nany man not professing the Christian faith shall certainly be fined,\nimprisoned or otherwise punished. It is easy to see that such a threat\nmight in many instances bring about an appearance of acquiescence. But it\nmust be, by the very necessity of the case, appearance only.\n\nFaith is a question of the individual judgment and of the individual\nheart, and can not be controlled in any degree by external authority.\n\nSuppose we create a law making it penal to open places of business on\nthe Sabbath day. Looking upon all commercial houses whose business was\nsuspended for a particular time, we might say: \u201cSee how unanimously and\nhappily the Sabbath day is observed in this country!\u201d\n\nBut such would be an altogether superficial and mistaken judgment. The\nSabbath day can not be kept by law. If the Sabbath is not kept by the\nreason, and is not hailed with thankful delight by the very heart, it can\nnever be kept at all.\n\nAll shops may be closed, all places of amusement may suspend their\nentertainments, all toys may be put away from the nursery, all out-door\nenjoyments and avocations may be withdrawn for the time, but the people\nwho have retired in apparent acceptance of these conditions, but not in\nheartfelt acquiescence with them, are breaking the Sabbath every moment\nthey breathe.\n\nHere is a great law for the house, the church and the nation. The head of\nthe family who rules by mere dread or tyranny is not training an obedient\nhousehold, but he is preparing an outburst of sedition, which sooner or\nlater must transpire, and when it occurs his ruin is certain.\n\nThe same law applies in the matter of capital and labor. The man who only\nworks that he may receive his wages never truly serves or makes his labor\ninto a delight. The man who can threaten the laborer by withdrawment of\npecuniary recognition never elicits from that laborer a response to duty,\nthough he may insist on a formal compliance with law.\n\nWhat a blessed mastery is that of Jesus Christ in this respect.\n\nFor Christ reasons with men, and addresses the very highest form and\nquality of mind; He sets before men the alternative courses of life,\nand beseeches them to accept the straight and narrow way leading to\nrepentance. Certainly he threatens, He denounces, He declares an awful\nissue for the wicked man, but it is not mere threatening or mere\ndenunciation; it is the solemn disclosure of a sequence which even\nAlmighty God could not suspend and yet retain the integrity of His throne\nand the security of the universe. We must never accuse Jesus Christ of\nwhat is termed \u201cthreatening.\u201d His denunciations are revelations, and not\nthe expressions of merely angry feelings.\n\nThe way of the approach having been settled, the kings proceeded to fetch\na compass of seven days\u2019 journey around by the south end of the Dead Sea.\nThey little knew the difficulty that would arise in their way. We do not\nread that they made any religious inquiry at the outset of their journey,\nand therefore no responsibility could be charged upon God for the\nmisadventure which occurred. The three kings seem to have consulted only\nwith themselves, and to have resolved in their own counsel and strength\nupon their expedition against Mesha.\n\nWhat was the misadventure which occurred? It is related: \u201cAnd there was\nno water for the host and for the cattle that followed them.\u201d\n\nEven kings are dependent upon nature. Think of three kings, who supposed\nthemselves at least to be very mighty, and all their people, stopped in\ntheir career simply for want of water!\n\nA very pitiable and yet very instructive picture is this of three kings\nand their armies standing still merely for want of water. The so-called\nlittle things of life are often turned into not only things that are\ngreat, but into things that are vital.\n\nBlessed indeed would be the man who sees even in natural arrangements and\ndaily providences a call to him to lift up his head toward the heavens\nand ask great questions about being and duty and destiny.\n\nSo we have the usual religious appeal: \u201cIs there not here a prophet of\nthe Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?\u201d\n\nElisha now assumes a new attitude, and one certainly not destitute of\nspiritual grandeur. Turning to the king of Israel, he said:\n\n\u201c\u2018What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father,\nand to the prophets of thy mother.\u2019 And the king of Israel said unto him:\n\u2018Nay; for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver\nthem into the hand of Moab.\u2019\u201d\n\nObserve that this address was made to the very king of Israel. It simply\nmeans that the God of Israel had nothing to do with the king of Israel,\nand yet Israel was understood to be a theocracy. The form was theocratic,\nbut not the power.\n\nThink of a man bearing the name of God, and yet being godless! A temple\ndeserted of its deity is surely a melancholy sight, but what shall be\nsaid of the man from whose heart the Spirit of the living God has utterly\ndeparted?\n\nElisha seems to have inherited the taunting spirit of his great\npredecessor: \u201cGet thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets\nof thy mother.\u201d\n\nWho can say with how bitter a taunt the word \u201cmother\u201d was pronounced in\nthis connection?\n\nThe evil that men do goes on for many a day--not only to the end of their\nlife-time, but it lives after them.\n\nThis is a taunt that is founded on reason. If men have been serving a god\nfor seven years past, surely it can not be unreasonable to refer them to\nthat god in the time of their extremity. What is faith if it can not be\ntested? What is the value of an altar if you can not go to it and find\nlying upon it direct answers to your prayer?\n\nIs there any thing meaner in all the history of cowardice than that a man\nshould ignore the living God all his life, and then whiningly repent upon\nhis death-bed? Why does he not go to the trusts to which he has committed\nhimself, and say he will die in them as he has lived in them? Surely, the\ncowardice of men should teach those who observe it something regarding\nthe nature and uses of religious faith.\n\nThe appeal of Elisha was perfectly fair.\n\nIf the gods of Jehoram were worth any thing, they could find water for\nhim in the time of his necessity. Let them do it. If they will do it,\nthen they will establish their claim to be regarded with reverence, and\nindeed be honored and worshiped.\n\nWe must insist upon making the same appeal in our own day. Men must be\nmade to feel their irreligion.\n\nJehoram did feel his in this instance, for he protested against the\ndecision of Elisha. Throughout the course of Scripture men are referred\nto their gods, and are made to test the value of their religion.\n\nPossibly many a Jehoram may be acting under influences which he himself\ncan not explain--so much that he becomes a puzzle to his own mind,\nwondering how it is that he takes one road when he has decided upon\nanother, and that he mistakes substances for shadows and shadows for\nsubstances, so that his whole life is turned into a mocking bewilderment.\n\nThe answer is given in Scripture: \u201cI also will choose their delusions,\nand will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did\nanswer; when I spake, they did not hear; but they did evil before Mine\neyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.\u201d\n\nNow we come to a better phase of this history--namely, to the saving\nelement--which appears and reappears in the course of our changeful life.\n\nElisha was not to be placated by the king of Israel. In his eyes a vile\nperson was contemned. The king of Israel was but a poor, frail thing\nin the presence of a man who lived with God and was commissioned to\ndenounce the judgments of Heaven against evil. But the world is not made\nup of Jehorams. Blessed be God, there are men of another type, whose very\npresence saves society from judicial ruin.\n\n\u201cAnd Elisha said: \u2018As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before whom I stand,\nsurely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king\nof Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.\u2019\u201d\n\nNow we know that the spirit of Elijah rested upon Elisha. We seem to hear\nthe very tones of the old master in the new disciple. Is it not always so\nin life--that it is one man who saves many; that the ten righteous men\nsave the city, and that Paul saves all those who sail with him in the\nmidst of the tempestuous sea?\n\nYour house is saved because of your little child. Your whole estate is\nprotected from ruin because your wife is a praying woman. Your life would\nbe cut off tomorrow in shame and disgrace were it not that you have\nentered upon an inheritance of prayers laid up for you by those who went\nbefore.\n\nLife thus becomes very sacred and very tender, and we know not to whom we\nare under the deepest obligations. Enough to know that, somewhere, there\nis a presence that saves us, there is an influence that guards our life,\nand that we owe absolutely nothing in the way of security or honor to bad\nkings or bad men of any name.\n\nThe remainder of the chapter is occupied with a prophecy of Elisha and by\na statement of the overthrow of the king of Moab.\n\nNothing now could save Mesha. A strong delusion was sent upon him to\nbelieve a lie. When water came down by way of Edom, and the whole country\nwas filled with it, the Moabites rose up early in the morning, and as the\nSun shone on the water the Moabites saw the water on the other side as\nred as blood.\n\nIt looked so like blood that they declared it to be blood; and, believing\nthat the kings were slain who had come up against them, the Moabites\nadvanced to the spoil. Alas, they advanced to their ruin.\n\nThe king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him. In his despair\nhe took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through\neven unto the king of Edom, but through the iron wall he could not force\nhis way. In his madness he took his eldest son, who should have reigned\nin his stead, and flung him for a burnt offering upon the wall.\n\nBut the Lord will not be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten\nthousand rivers of oil, nor will He accept the first-born for a man\u2019s\ntransgression or the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul.\n\n\nJEHORAM, KING OF JUDAH.\n\nVerses sixteen to twenty-nine, inclusive, of the eighth chapter of the\nsecond Book of Kings should be compared with the twenty-first chapter of\nthe second Book of Chronicles. The name Joram is an obvious contraction\nof Jehoram. Joram and Jehoram were practically interchangeable terms.\nThe king of Israel is called Joram, and the king of Judah Jehoram. In\nanother place Joram is the name of the king of Judah. In two other places\nboth kings are called Jehoram.\n\nJehoram \u201cwalked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of\nAhab\u201d--in other words, as the house of Ahab acted. Jehoram, as son-in-law\nof Ahab and Jezebel, gave his patronage to the worship of the Tyrian Baal.\n\nJehoram had examples enough before him of the fate which had befallen\nidolatrous worship, and yet, turning his eye backward upon all the ruins\nwhich had been created by divine anger, he pursued his evil way as if\nthe Lord had approved the house of Ahab and its idolatry rather than\nmanifested His judgments upon them.\n\nRational men may well ask themselves how it is that history is lost on\nsome minds. They look backward and see that from the beginning sin has\nalways been followed by punishment, and punishment has in many cases been\ncarried as far as death itself. Yet in view of all the suffering, and in\nfull sight of the innumerable graves dug by the hand of justice, they\ncontinue the same policy without one particle of alteration.\n\nOne would have supposed that, looking at the history of the kings of\nIsrael, Jehoram would have said:\n\n\u201cI see now exactly what to avoid; and to see what to avoid is to begin\nto see what to cultivate and establish. It is perfectly evident that the\nworship of Baal is doomed, or that wherever it is set up divine anger\ninstantly and severely attests the displeasure of God. It must be my\ncare, therefore, to destroy every trace of idolatry, and build up faith\nin the true God.\u201d\n\nThis would have been called reflective and philosophical on the part\nof the king, and indeed any thing that stood opposed to this course of\nreasoning would seem to be marked by incredible fatuity.\n\nThe contrary, however, is the exact fact. With all the evidences of\ndivine displeasure around him Jehoram continued in the worship of Baal,\nor in some other form of idolatry which might appeal to the popular\nimagination or gratify the desires of his own corrupt fancy.\n\nIt is easy for moralists to condemn this neglect of history, and to point\nout to those who, having neglected it, come into suffering and loss, that\nthey ought to have been wise before the event; but the very same thing is\ndone even by the moralists who criticize the course of Jehoram and his\npredecessors.\n\nThis is the sin of every age, and it should be looked at clearly and\nacknowledged frankly, because until we do bring ourselves into vital\nrelation to it our reasoning will be founded on false bases and will\nhasten itself to false conclusions.\n\nAll history is teaching us that the wages of sin is death; that the way\nof transgressors is hard; that, though hand join in hand, the wicked\nshall not go unpunished; that the face of the Lord is as a flint against\nevil doers. Yet, with this plainest of all lessons written on the very\nface of history, men are doing today as their predecessors did centuries\nago, and will probably continue to repeat the folly and the wickedness\nuntil the end of time.\n\nSurely, this is as curious a puzzle as any that occurs in all the annals\nof human history. It would seem, indeed, to be more than a puzzle; to\nbe, in fact, indicative of a suicidal disposition on the part of the\nactor. It would not be tolerated in any other department of life.\n\nIf a man had known that a hundred of his ancestors were killed by\ndrinking a certain liquid, and he thus knowingly put that liquid to his\nlips, the iniquity of his suicide would be aggravated by the knowledge of\nwhat had occurred in the records of his family.\n\nHow many murders, then, may he be said to accomplish who murders himself\nas to his moral nature and spiritual cultivation? He does not do it in\nignorance. All history is surrounding him with its evidence, and is doing\nits utmost to secure his attention, and he himself is not unwilling to\nacknowledge that the testimony of history is uniform and absolute. Yet\nsome immeasurable force within him drives him with infinite fury to the\nrepetition of every sin and the defiance of every judgment.\n\nWhat was the reason of all this patronage and support of idolatry?\n\nJehoram had an excellent father, and if any thing was to be expected from\nthe operation of the law of hereditary dispositions, it would be that\nJehoram would be of the same quality as Jehoshaphat.\n\nSome curious and energetic influence must have been at work to throw\nback all hereditary quality and convert the man into a totally different\nnature. What was that influence? An expression in the eighteenth verse\nexplains its nature and its scope: \u201cFor the daughter of Ahab was his\nwife.\u201d\n\nWherever we find the name of Ahab we also find the presence of evil.\nAhab lived again in his daughter, though Jehoshaphat did not repeat\nhimself in his son. \u201cThe evil that men do lives after them.\u201d Jehoram was\nunder home influence; and is not home influence most potent of all? It is\na daily influence; it begins with the early morning and continues all the\nday through. It does not assume aggressive attitudes or excite suspicion\nby tumult and defiance of temper. It is noisy or quiet, persistent or\nreluctant, energetic or languid, according to the peculiar circumstances\nof the family history. At this moment a word too energetically spoken\nmight defeat its own object; at another moment a languid reference might\nbe more than a vehement appeal; and on still other occasions anger,\nfury and clamor may bring to a point a long process of suggestion and\neducation.\n\nThis is the mystery of home life.\n\nThe plotter waits for opportunities, creates them, puts them in the way\nof his victim, measures distances, regulates the methods of approaches.\nHe studies his prey, watches him with an evil eye, remembers all his\nwords, weighs them, calculates all their unspoken meanings, and at the\nright moment interposes his own influence. Wicked men in this respect are\noften models to good men.\n\nThe enemy of souls never rests.\n\n\u201cYour adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom\nhe may devour.\u201d\n\nNor is he always a lion. Sometimes he is as a serpent, and sometimes\neven as an angel of light. But his evil policy never hesitates. When\nhe blesses, it is that he may curse; when he leads his victim into the\nlight, it is that he may have the greater influence over him to persuade\nhim into the darkness.\n\nIs it of no consequence with whom we live our daily life? Is the married\nrelation one that expresses mere taste or momentary pleasure? Are not the\ncompanionships of life its true sources of tuition and inspiration?\n\nA man who is in happy fellowship at home may over-get some of the worst\nhereditary infirmities and disabilities, and may be encouraged into\nattainments of correct self-discipline and virtue which under other\ncircumstances would be simply impossible.\n\nThe conversion of the world, it would seem, must begin at home. We\nmust have happier married relations, fuller domestic confidence, riper\nhousehold trust and sympathy.\n\nOut of all this daily education, under happy influences, there may come a\nkind of character rich in its own quality and beneficent in its influence\non society.\n\nJehoram had provoked the Lord, yet so pitiful is the God of Heaven that\nHe spared Judah for the sake of David, His servant, as He promised to\ngive David always a light. But Jehoram was, nevertheless, severely\npunished for his wickedness.\n\nIn his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king\nover themselves. Libnah also revolted at the same time. Thus the peace of\nthe kingdom was broken up, and Jehoram was made indirectly to suffer for\nthe sin of idolatry.\n\nHow quietly the twenty-third verse reads! It says: \u201cAnd the rest of the\nacts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of\nthe chronicles of the kings of Judah?\u201d It would seem as if the bad king\nhad simply fallen asleep like a tired child.\n\nBut in the second Book of Chronicles we read that Jehoram died of sore\ndiseases, and that \u201cthe people made no burning for him\u201d--that is, the\nusual honors of a sovereign were withheld in this particular case.\n\nJehoram died in contempt and neglect. He departed without being desired;\nin other words, he departed without regret--died unregretted. He was not\nrefused burial in the city of David, but his body was not laid in the\nsepulchers of the kings.\n\nThus, sooner or later, wickedness finds out a man, and brands him with\ndishonor. If, under other conditions, wickedness is carried to the grave\namid great pomp and circumstance, it is only that the dishonor may be\nfound in some other quarter--in the hatred of good men and in the bitter\nrecriminations of those who have been wronged.\n\nSet it down as a sure doctrine that, whenever a bad man is buried,\ndishonor attaches to his whole name, and contempt withers every flower\nthat may be planted over his grave.\n\nThe words \u201cbut not in the sepulchers of the kings\u201d may receive a larger\ninterpretation than the technical one which belongs to this immediate\ncircumstance. Men are buried in the sepulchers of the kings when their\nlives are full of beneficence, when their names are the symbols of\nnoble charity, large-minded justice, heroic fortitude, tender sympathy\nfor others. Their burying place is not a merely topographical point.\nTheir relation to the hearts that knew them, their place in the memory\nof those who lived with them, the tears which are shed over the\nrecollection of their good deeds, the void which has been created by\ntheir removal--all these constitute the royalty of their interment.\n\nThe end of Jehoram, king of Judah--who would choose it?\n\n\nJEHOSHAPHAT.\n\nIn succeeding to the throne of Judah Jehoshaphat simply followed the\ncourse of a law, but in strengthening himself against Israel he indicated\na personal policy.\n\nHow definitely the statement reads!\n\n\u201cAnd Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself\nagainst Israel.\u201d\n\nThere is no doubt or hesitation in the mind of Jehoshaphat as to the\ncourse which ought to be pursued. He did not simply think that he would\nstrengthen himself against Israel; he had not a merely momentary vision\nof a possible fortification against the enemy; but he carried out his\npurpose, and thus challenged northern Israel. On the other hand, how\npeaceful is the declaration that is here made! There is not an aggressive\ntone in all the statement.\n\nInnocent Jehoshaphat simply \u201cstrengthened himself against Israel\u201d--that\nis to say, he put himself into a highly defensive position, so that if\nthe enemy should pour down from the north Jehoshaphat would be secured\nagainst his assaults.\n\nEvery thing, therefore, depends on the point of view which we take of\nthis policy. But the thing which history has made clear is that a man\noften lays down a policy before awaiting the issue of events which would\ndetermine its scope and tone.\n\nAll this was done by Jehoshaphat before he connected himself by marriage\nwith the northern dynasty.\n\nA marriage may upset a policy; a domestic event may alter the course of\na king\u2019s thinking, and may readjust the lines of a nation\u2019s relation to\nother kingdoms.\n\nThe wise man holds himself open to the suggestion and inspiration of\nevents. No man is as wise today as he will be tomorrow--provided, he pay\nattention to the literature of providence which is being daily written\nbefore his eyes. Our dogmatics, whether in theology or in state policy,\nshould be modified by the recollection that we do not now know all\nthings, and that further light may show what we do know in a totally\ndifferent aspect. Our policy, like our bread, should in a sense be from\nday to day.\n\nWhen men are omniscient they may lay down a theological program from\nwhich departure would be blasphemy; but until they are omniscient they\nhad better write with modesty and subscribe even their best constructed\ncreeds with reservations which will leave room for providence.\n\n\u201cAnd the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways\nof his father, David, and sought not unto Baalim.\u201d\n\nThe Lord was not with Jehoshaphat because he strengthened himself against\nIsrael, nor because he had placed forces in all the fenced cities of\nJudah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah and within the streets of\nEphraim. Not one of these little triumphs is referred to as affording God\na basis for the complaisant treatment of the new king.\n\nAs ever, the Lord\u2019s relation to Jehoshaphat was determined by\nJehoshaphat\u2019s own moral condition. A very beautiful expression is this:\n\u201cHe walked in the first ways of his father, David.\u201d That is to say, in\nthe former or earlier ways of David, as contrasted with David\u2019s later\nconduct.\n\nSome have found here a tacit allusion to David\u2019s greatest sin, which he\ncommitted when he was advanced in life. A somewhat mournful thing it\nis that a man\u2019s first ways should be better than his last. The other\nrelation would seem to be the one which reason would approve and God\nwould specially honor--namely, that a man\u2019s old age should be the ripest\nand best part of his conduct--rich with wisdom, strong with experience,\nand chastened by many a pensive recollection.\n\nSad when you have to go back to a man\u2019s youth to find his virtues or his\nmost conspicuous excellences; but most beautiful when a man\u2019s earlier\nmistakes are lost in the richness and wisdom of his later conduct.\n\nJehoshaphat\u2019s conduct in this matter is the more notable because of the\nconstant observation of mankind that it is easier to follow the evil than\nto imitate the good. When imitation enters into a man\u2019s life he is apt to\ncopy that which is inferior, and to leave without reproduction that which\nis lofty and disciplinary.\n\nIn this instance Jehoshaphat sets an example to the world. His conduct,\ntoo, is represented negatively as well as positively--\u201cand sought not\nunto Baalim.\u201d The word \u201cBaalim\u201d is in the plural number, and the literal\nreading might be: \u201cJehoshaphat sought not the Baals.\u201d The Baals were\ndifferent local aspects or phases of the Sun god.\n\nIt is to be specially noted that the term Baal includes an aspect even of\nJehovah--that is to say, Israel had degenerated so far as to suppose that\nin worshiping Baal they were worshiping at least one phase of the true\nGod.\n\nIt is often difficult to abandon a popular custom. More people might be\nin favor of Jehoshaphat strengthening himself against Israel than in\nreturning to the first ways of David and abandoning the altar of the\nBaals.\n\nHistory and religion are always considered in their separate distribution.\n\nThere are politicians who would vote for a war who would on no account\nsurrender a superstition. On the other hand, there are men who pride\nthemselves on being free of the influence of superstition, yet who would\nenter willingly into the most sanguinary wars for the extension of empire\nor the glory of some particular throne.\n\nIn Jehoshaphat we seem to come into contact with a complete character--in\nother words, a man who in every point was equally strong, a man of\nforesight, a man of reverence, a man of an honest heart, a man who felt\nthat idolatry and true worship could not co-exist in the same breast.\n\n\u201cBut sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in His\ncommandments, and not after the doings of Israel.\u201d\n\nWe must be prepared for singularity if we are genuinely prepared to be\ngood. Let a man settle it with himself in prayerful solitude whether he\nmeans to walk with God or to identify himself with the spirit and customs\nof his age.\n\nJehoshaphat laid down a clear program for himself, and he followed it\nout with patient and faithful industry. \u201cThe Lord God of his father\u201d was\nnot a mere term in a crowd; it was the object of daily search and quest.\nJehoshaphat inquired for Him, and operated constantly upon the doctrine:\n\u201cAsk, and it shall be given you; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.\u201d\n\nNor was Jehoshaphat\u2019s religion merely speculative--that is to say, an\nintellectual quest after an intellectual God. Whatever was speculative\nin the mind and service of Jehoshaphat was sustained and ennobled by a\nsolid moral element. He read the Decalogue; he studied the Word of God;\nhe would take no action--personal, regal or social--that was not first\nexamined and approved in the light of the divine statutes.\n\nAll this might have been comparatively easy if Jehoshaphat had started at\nan independent point; but at such a point no man can start, for he must\ntake up the age as he finds it, and must first disembarrass himself from\nall the stipulations and claims of custom, usage and popular superstition.\n\nJehoshaphat sought not after the doings of Israel. He set himself up in\nthis respect against the kingdom. He was not afraid of peculiarity; in a\nword, Jehoshaphat\u2019s religion was characteristic; it had lines, points and\ncolors of its own, about which there could be no reasonable mistake.\n\nWhat is our religion?\n\nDo we intellectually assent to the existence and sovereignty of one\nGod, and then degenerate into self-worship? Do we admit that there must\nbe an ultimate morality, a philosophy of conduct founded on eternal\nmetaphysics; and then do we measure our own behavior by the canon of\ncustom?\n\nThese are questions that search the heart, and no man can answer them for\nhis brother.\n\nWhat became of all this noble conduct arising out of this high religious\nconception? We shall see in the following verse:\n\n\u201cTherefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all\nJudah brought to Jehoshaphat presents, and he had riches and honor in\nabundance.\u201d\n\nWhatever was doubtful about the ascent of Jehoshaphat to the throne was\nremoved, and the king was enabled to realize his power. When he closed\nhis hand on the royal scepter he found that he was not grasping a shadow\nbut a reality.\n\nThere are times when men become fully conscious of their influence and\nof their proper social position; happy are they if in this consciousness\nthey detect a prevailing religious element, which constrains them to\nacknowledge that honor and wealth, power and dignity are the gifts of\nGod. Is not this an anticipation of the Savior\u2019s great doctrine: \u201cSeek\nye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things\nshall be added unto you\u201d?\n\nJehoshaphat did not seek riches and honor. But he sought to the Lord God\nof his father and walked in the divine commandments, and as a result\nhe enjoyed all that kings delight in as indicating strength, renown and\ninfluence.\n\n\u201cAnd his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord; moreover, he took\naway the high places and the groves out of Judah.\u201d\n\nThe expression \u201chis heart was lifted up\u201d is an awkward one. The lifting\nup of the heart signifies increase of pride, a sensation of vanity, a\ndesire to gratify personal ambition, and to make an idol of his will. In\nthis instance the marginal reading is to be preferred--\u201cwas encouraged;\u201d\nor otherwise, \u201chis courage rose high.\u201d It has also been rendered:\n\u201cJehoshaphat grew bold\u201d--that is to say, he was not a timid reformer or\na timid worshiper, nor a trimmer or time server in any sense. He was a\nheroic worshiper of the living God. When he saw that reform was necessary\nhe went forward with a steady step and an energetic hand.\n\nWe should call Jehoshaphat a man of conviction and a man who had the\ncourage of his convictions. Altogether, this is the outline of a noble\npersonage--a born king, a man who has a right to the purple and the\nscepter. When such men ascend thrones nations should be glad and rejoice\nwith a great joy, for their character is grander than their office and\ntheir spirit is the best guarantee of the elevation and utility of their\nregal policy.\n\nBecoming conscious of his power, knowing that his kingdom was established\nfrom on high, Jehoshaphat not only did not seek the Baals himself, but he\ntook away the high places and groves out of Judah.\n\nJehoshaphat was not content with a merely personal religion. He could\nnot convert the hearts of his people, but he could destroy all the\nsymbols of unholy worship.\n\nMen are only required to do that which lies in their power. A proprietor\nmay not be able to make people sober, but he can forbid the introduction\nof temptations to drunkenness. A parent may not be able to subdue\nthe spirit of pride, but he can in many instances limit the means of\ngratifying it.\n\nThere are reforms which are open to us all--in personal custom, in social\nhabit, and it may be even in imperial ways. Let each Jehoshaphat seize\nhis opportunity and magnify it.\n\nAll this would have been comparatively in vain but for another step\nwhich Jehoshaphat took. In the third year of his reign he sent to his\nprinces--that is to say, he sent his princes--and he sent Levites, all\nof whose names are given; and he sent also two priests, Elishama and\nJehoram, and their business was purely educational.\n\n\u201cAnd they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord with\nthem, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the\npeople.\u201d\n\nThis was a mixed commission--partly civil, partly ecclesiastical. The men\nhere mentioned are otherwise unknown. We identify them as educational\nreformers, or reformers who operated through the medium of education.\nThey were not warriors, destroyers, revolutionists, but men who addressed\nthe mind and understanding and conscience, and caused men to know that\nthe true law was from above and not from beneath.\n\nThe book which the commission had in hand was the Pentateuch, or the law\nof Moses. This was known to be the law which alone could touch all the\nvital necessities of the commonwealth. Again and again we are constrained\nto admit that there is a law beyond man, above man, in a sense apart from\nman. Men are not driven within themselves to find a law, an instinct,\nor a reason. They have a written statute, an authoritative declaration,\na book which Christian teachers do not hesitate to describe as a\nrevelation, and to that they call the attention of men.\n\nIf the teacher were teaching out of his own consciousness he would be\nbut an equal, often exposing himself to the destructive criticism of his\nmore advanced and penetrating scholars; but the teacher takes his stand\non a book--on _the_ Book, the Bible--a revelation which he believes to be\ndivine and final.\n\nSay what we will, the effect of Bible teaching must be judged by its\nfruits.\n\nWhere are the nations that are most distinguished for wide and varied\nintelligence, for large and exhaustive sympathy, for missionary\nenterprise, for philanthropic institutions and for all the elements which\ngive grace and beauty to social existence?\n\nThe question should admit of definite reply.\n\nThe facts are before men; let them judge fearlessly and honestly, and we\nneed have no apprehension concerning their verdict.\n\nWherever the word of the Lord has had free course superstition has\nbeen chased away, human slavery has been abolished, every instance\nof intolerance, injustice, unkindness has felt the influence of holy\nthought. In all these matters discussion should be limited strictly to\nfacts. Thus kings can help nations, not by forcing education, not by\nattempting to rule opinion, not by setting up standards of orthodoxy to\nfall short of which is to incur penalty; but by spreading education, by\nextending light, by cultivating a spirit of inquiry, and by a generous\nmultiplication of all the instrumentalities needed for the destruction of\nignorance. What may come of this we are not supposed at this moment to\nknow.\n\nMeanwhile, let us be thankful that we are face to face with a man who has\nconviction, courage, independence, high patriotism and generous impulse,\nand let us hope that his end may be as beautiful as his beginning was\npromising.\n\n\nJEHU.\n\nWhile Jehoram was lying ill of his wounds Elisha had called one of\nthe children of the prophets and sent him on a special mission to\nRamoth-gilead.\n\nIt has been conjectured that this messenger was the Jonah who is\nmentioned in the twenty-fifth verse of the fourteenth chapter of the\nsecond Book of Kings.\n\nJehu was left in supreme command of the forces at Jehoram\u2019s departure.\nNothing is known of Jehu\u2019s origin. From the first, however, it is evident\nthat he was called to special functions. He was one of the men who had\nbeen foreseen by Elijah, the prophet, under the divine inspiration.\n\nElijah was ordered to return unto the wilderness of Damascus, and in the\ncourse of his progress he was to anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be\nking over Israel. Whether any communication had been made to Jehu we know\nnot. Yet it is not improbable that this had been done, as we may infer\nfrom the way in which he made answer to the appeal when it was addressed\nto him by the messenger of Elisha.\n\nAll the circumstances of the communication are full of dramatic color and\nimpressiveness.\n\nThe young man was to take a vial of oil and pour it on Jehu\u2019s head, and\nsay: \u201cThus saith the Lord: \u2018I have anointed thee king over Israel.\u2019\u201d\nInstantly he was to open the door and flee from the presence of the new\nmonarch. A tremendous charge was delivered to Jehu by the young man:\n\n\u201cAnd thou shalt smite the house of Ahab, thy master, that I may avenge\nthe blood of My servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants\nof the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall\nperish; \u2026 and I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam,\nthe son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah; and\nthe dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be\nnone to bury her.\u201d\n\nHaving delivered this message, the young man then \u201copened the door and\nfled,\u201d as if pursued by fire. We know not whether to pity Jehu under\nthe delivery of this charge. The Lord must have many servants in His\nhousehold, and some of them are entrusted with hard work. If we could\nchoose our places in the divine economy, who would not elect to be a\nminister of sympathy, consolation and tenderness to broken hearts? Who\nwould be willing to go forth to fight the battle and endure the trial and\nhardship of military service? Above all, who would be willing to accept\nthe ministry of shedding blood and cleansing the world of evil by putting\nto death all evil doers?\n\nWe must recognize the diversity of function in the Christian Church, and\nin every department of human life. Few men could do what Jehu did, but\nwhere the special qualification is given the special service is also\ndemanded.\n\nIt is pitiful criticism that stands back and shudders at the career of\nJehu; it is wanting in large-mindedness and in completeness of view.\n\nThe Lord\u2019s work is many-sided, and all kinds of men as to intellectual\nenergy and moral daring, and even as to physical capability, are required\nto complete the ministry of God.\n\nToday one man is gifted with the power of intercession, another with the\ntalent of controversy, another with the genius of exposition, another\nwith the supreme gift of consolation; one minister must tarry at home\nand work close to the fireside at which he was brought up; in another is\nthe spirit of travel and adventure, and he must brave all the dangers of\nenterprise and hasten to the ends of the Earth, that he may tell others\nwhat he knows of the Gospel of Christ.\n\nWe must recognize this diversity, and the unity that it constitutes;\notherwise we shall take but a partial view of the many-sided ministry\nwhich Jesus Christ came to establish, and to which He has promised His\ncontinual inspiration.\n\n[Illustration: SOLOMON]\n\n[Illustration: THE JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON. I Kings, iii.]\n\nWhen Jehu came forth he was taunted by the servants of his Lord; they\ncalled the young man \u201cmad.\u201d From their manner, Jehu began to wonder\nwhether the whole affair had not been planned by themselves with a view\nto befooling him by the excitement of his ambition. He said to them, in\neffect:\n\n\u201cYe know the man, and his communication in this matter is one of your own\narranging. Ye think to make a fool of me, and through the intoxication of\nmy vanity to lead me to my ruin.\u201d\n\nBut they denied the impeachment, and their tone so changed that Jehu\nreposed confidence in them, and told them what the man had said.\n\nInstantly, on hearing the message, they hasted, took every man his\ngarment or coat, and put it under Jehu on the top of the stairs, which\nthey constituted a kind of temporary throne, and then amid loud blasts of\nthe trumpet they cried: \u201cJehu is king!\u201d\n\nThus Jehu was suddenly called to royalty and all its responsibilities.\n\nMen should be prepared for the sudden calls of providence. \u201cWhat I say\nunto you I say unto all: Watch.\u201d\n\nOne is struck by the obedience of Jehu to the heavenly call. There was\nno hesitation. Men but show themselves to be yet under bondage when they\nhesitate regarding the calls which God addresses to them.\n\nJehu was determined to make complete work of his mission. Not one was to\nescape or go forth out of the city to tell what he was about to do to\nthose who were in Jezreel.\n\nSpringing into his chariot and calling for a detachment of cavalry,\nJehu set out on his journey of sixty or seventy miles. You can see him\nalmost flying down from Ramoth, which was about three thousand feet above\nthe sea level. Swiftly he crosses the Jordan, and then, turning to the\nnorth, he fled over the spurs of Ephraim; then he darted up the Valley of\nTrembling, made famous in the day of Gideon, and finally he came to the\nPlain of Esdraelon, where was Jezreel.\n\nJehoram was unaware of the approach of Jehu. One messenger after another\nwas sent out to make inquiry, but the messengers were ordered behind, and\nJehu came forward until he and the king met at the vineyard of Naboth.\n\nThe king asked what news was being brought--news of peace or of war.\n\nThe question was answered with another question: \u201cWhat peace can there\nbe so long as the idolatrous whoredoms of thy mother, Jezebel, and her\nwitchcrafts are so many?\u201d\n\nJehu thus referred to fundamental wrongs. Instead of trifling with\ndetails he went straight to the fountainhead, and by the delivery of a\nprofoundly religious message he excited the alarm of those who heard him.\n\nJehoram was weak and feeble and sought to flee, but Jehu drew a bow with\nhis full strength and smote between his arms, and the arrow went out at\nthe king\u2019s heart, and he sank down in his chariot.\n\nThen Jehu ordered his captain, or squire, to take up Jehoram and cast him\ninto the portion of the field of Naboth, the Jezreelite, that the word of\nthe Lord might be fulfilled.\n\nAnd when Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw this he sought to flee, but\nJehu followed him, saying: \u201cSmite him also in the chariot.\u201d After a hot\npursuit Ahaziah was struck at the declivity of Gur, where his chariot was\nforced to slacken its speed.\n\nThen came the most tragical of all the acts.\n\nNo sooner was Jehu come to Jezreel than Jezebel, now old and withered,\nheard of it, and her blood tingled at the news. She was not one who was\neasily deterred.\n\nAccording to the custom of Oriental ladies, Jezebel painted her eyebrows\nand lashes with a pigment composed of antimony and zinc. The intention of\nthe dark border was to throw the eye into relief and make it look larger.\nShe adorned her head with a tire, or a headdress, and after donning her\nroyal dress she looked out at a window, designing to impress Jehu.\n\nAs Jehu looked up to the window he exclaimed: \u201cWho is on my side?\u201d He\nordered the two or three eunuchs who looked out to throw down the painted\nwoman. Jehu knew that the cruel queen was intensely hated by the palace\nofficials.\n\nThe two or three eunuchs who had been accustomed to crouch before her in\nservile dread now saw that Jehu was in the ascendant, and in obedience to\nthe demand of the regicide they threw her out of the window.\n\nSuch has ever been the policy of sycophants--the rats of court--who only\nlinger there with a view of seeing how much they can appropriate or\ndestroy.\n\nNo sooner was Jezebel thrown down than some of her blood was sprinkled on\nthe wall and on the horses, and she was trodden under foot.\n\nHere, again, we see the end of wickedness. For a time there is escape,\nbut in the long run there is ruin.\n\nLook at Jezebel, and learn the fate of the wicked. No such fate, in\na merely physical sense, may await the iniquitous now; but all those\nintermediate punishments simply point to the last great penalty: \u201cThe\nwicked shall go away into everlasting punishment.\u201d\n\nOne can pity Jezebel as her flesh was eaten by the dogs and her carcass\nwas made as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, and\nwe almost shudder with horror as we think that she was to be so torn to\npieces that none should be able to say: \u201cThis is Queen Jezebel.\u201d\n\nBut all this is wasted sentiment, unless we reason from it toward\nspiritual conclusions.\n\nWe are so much the victims of our senses that we can pity with great\ncompassion those who are smitten with bodily disease, or are torn limb\nfrom limb in consequence of some wicked deed; but it seems impossible for\nus to rise to the conception of the terrible penalty which is to fall\nupon the soul for violating God\u2019s commandments and defying God\u2019s power.\n\nInstead of being appeased by the fate of Jezebel, Jehu sends out a decree\nthat the whole family of Ahab shall be massacred--that the kinsmen of\nAhaziah and the Baal worshipers shall be extirpated from the face of the\nEarth. He takes a new point of departure when he challenges the sons of\nAhab, saying:\n\n\u201cLook even out the best and meetest of your master\u2019s sons, and set him on\nhis father\u2019s throne, and fight for your master\u2019s house.\u201d\n\nAll this was a declaration of warlike intention on the part of Jehu. But\nJehu\u2019s character as a soldier was too well known to permit the rulers of\nJezreel and the elders to entertain the thought of encountering him in\nopen battle. So they made this answer:\n\n\u201cWe are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not\nmake any king. Do thou that which is good in thine eyes.\u201d\n\nThen Jehu set up a test of their obedience. He did impose on them hard\nwork. He said:\n\n\u201cIf ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads\nof the men your master\u2019s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this\ntime.\u201d\n\nThe word was enough. The heads of seventy men were put into baskets and\nsent to Jehu at Jezreel. Jehu pronounced the men who had beheaded the\nsons of Ahab guiltless in respect of their deaths, because what they did\nhad been done judicially, under royal command.\n\nSome think that Jehu wished to make them guilty of the massacre of the\nprinces, while he had slain but one king. On the whole, however, it is\nbetter to consider that Jehu exculpates the men who had only executed his\ncommand.\n\nThe slaughter of the priests is one of the most dramatic incidents in all\nthis portion of biblical history. Jehu proceeded by way of strategy. It\nis impossible to justify the spirit of the policy of Jehu in this matter.\nHe said he would serve Baal \u201cmuch.\u201d\n\nIt has been thought that he was thinking of his intended holocaust of\nhuman victims; but, whatever his thoughts, it is impossible to deny that\nthe impression he produced was that Jehu was about to become a worshiper\nof Baal. This reading is imported into the narrative in these words:\n\u201cBut Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the\nworshipers of Baal.\u201d\n\nNow a solemn assembly for Baal was proclaimed. From all Israel the\ndevotees of Baal came, so that there was not left a man that came not.\nThe house of Baal was full from one end to the other. And they were all\nclothed with appropriate vestments.\n\nJehu was careful that not one worshiper of Jehovah should be in the\nassembly, but those of Baal only.\n\nWhen the worshipers went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings Jehu\nstationed fourscore men without, and said: \u201cIf any of the men whom I have\nbrought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be\nfor the life of him.\u201d\n\nThen came the moment of massacre.\n\n\u201cAnd they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the\ncaptains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.\u201d\n\nJehu\u2019s guards, having completed their bloody work in the court of the\ntemple, hastened up the steps into the sanctuary itself, which, like the\nTemple of Solomon, was made after the pattern of a fortress.\n\nThe images of Baal were brought forth out of the house of Baal and\nburned. The image of Baal was broken down, and his house was broken down,\nand the whole scene was utterly dishonored and desecrated.\n\n\u201cThus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.\u201d\n\nBut the way was wrong. Perhaps, for the period within which the\ndestruction took place, it was the only ministry that was possible. The\nincident, however, must stand in historical isolation, being utterly\nuseless as a lesson or guide for our imitation.\n\nWe are called upon to destroy Baal out of Israel, but not with sword or\nstaff or implement of war.\n\n\u201cThe weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty, through God,\nto the pulling down of strongholds of Satan.\u201d\n\nJehu did his rough-and-ready work--a work, as we have said, adapted\nto the barbaric conditions under which he reigned. But there must be\nno Jehu in the Christian Church, except in point of energy, decision,\nobedience and single-mindedness of purpose. A Christian persecution is a\ncontradiction in terms.\n\nWhen Christians see evil, they are not to assail it with weapons of war;\nthey are to preach against it, to argue against it, to pray about it,\nto bring all possible moral force to bear upon it, but in no case is\nphysical persecution to accompany the propagation of Christianity. Not\nonly so. Any destruction that is accomplished by physical means is a\nmerely temporary destruction. There is in reality nothing in it.\n\nWhen progress of a Christian kind is reported it must not be tainted by\nthe presence of physical severity. We can not silence evil speakers by\nmerely closing their mouths. So long as we can hold those mouths there\nmay indeed be silence, but not until the spirit has been changed--not\nuntil the very heart has been converted and born again--can the evil-doer\nbe silenced and his mouth be dispossessed of wicked speech and filled\nwith words of honesty and pureness. Jehu himself was not a good man.\n\u201cFrom the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,\nJehu departed not from after them.\u201d\n\nFor reasons of state policy, Jehu maintained the worship of Bethel and\nDan.\n\n\u201cBut Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with\nall his heart; for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made\nIsrael to sin.\u201d\n\nJehu had done homage to Jehovah by extirpating the foreign Baal worship,\nbut he patronized and actively supported the irregular mode of worshiping\nJehovah established by Jeroboam as the state religion of the northern\nkingdom. He attempted to serve God and Mammon. Religion was to him but a\npolitical instrument.\n\nJehu did the particular kind of work which had been assigned to him--a\nwork of destruction and blood. Perhaps he alone of all the people of his\ntime could have accomplished this task. But Jehu must stand in history as\na warning rather than as an example.\n\n\nJOB.\n\nSometimes I have most clearly seen the whole tragedy of Job in a waking\ndream, the whole passing before me in twilight shadows, losing itself\nin thick darkness, reappearing in light like the dawn--always changing,\nalways solemn, always instructive; a thing that surely happened, because\na thing now happening in all the substance of its eternal meaning.\n\nIs it a pillar grand in height, and finished all over with the dainty\ncare of an artist whose life has been spent in learning and applying the\nart of color?\n\nHow stately! How Heaven seeking because Heaven worthy! While I admire, I\nwonder religiously.\n\nI see the hosts of darkness gathering around the erstwhile flashing\ncapital, and resting over it like midnight sevenfold in blackness; then\nthe lightning gleams from the center of the gloom, then the fire-bolt\nflies forth and smites the coronal once so glorious, and dashes it in hot\ndust to the Earth, and the tall stalk--so upright, so delicate, so like a\nwell-trained life--reels, totters and falls in an infinite crash!\n\nIs it true?\n\nEvery word of it. True now--may be true in thee and me, O man, so assured\nof stability and immovableness. There is danger in high places. Is\nthere a Spirit which hates all noble-mindedness and seeks to level the\nspiritual pile with mean things? Evil Spirit! The very Devil--hating all\ngoodness because hating God!\n\nBut stop.\n\nAfter all, who smote the pillar? Whose lightning was used to overthrow\nthe fair masonry?\n\nO God of gods, the devil\u2019s Creator and Master, without whom Satan could\nnot be, nor hell, nor trees forbidden, nor blast of death--O Mystery of\nBeing--what can our souls say in their groaning? And how, through anguish\nso intolerable, can they pray?\n\nI am afraid to build, because the higher the tower the more deadly the\nfall. Dost Thou watch our rising towers and delight to rain Thy fires on\nthem, lest our pride should abound and our damnation be aggravated by\nour vanity?\n\nAnd God\u2019s own Book it is that tells the good man\u2019s pains, and that\nrevels in swelling rhetoric over the rottenness and despair of the man\nwho feared God and eschewed evil! And what unguided hands--if hands\nunguided--set the tale of wrong and woe and sorrow next to the very\nPsalter? Is not the irony immoral, because cruel? Or is there meaning in\nall this?\n\nIs it Life\u2019s story down to the very letter and jot of reality? How better\nto come out of the valley than to the harping and song of musicians who\nhave known the way of the Almighty and tasted the counsels of Heaven?\n\nCheer thee, O poor soul! Thou art today miserable as Job, but tomorrow\nthou mayest dance to the music of David. Tomorrow thou mayest have a harp\nof thine own.\n\nA tree of the Lord\u2019s right hand planting arises loftily and broadly in\nthe warm air. Birds twitter and sing as they flit through its warp and\nwoof of light and shade. It is a tree whose leaves might heal the nations.\n\nWhat sudden wind makes it writhe? What Spirit torments every branch and\nleaf? What Demon yells in triumph as the firm trunk splits and falls in\ntwain? Was it grown for such a fate as this?\n\nBetter if the seed had been crushed and thrown into the fire than that it\nshould have been thus reared and perfected and then put to shame among\nthe trees of the field.\n\nWho can give speech to this flood as it plunges from rock to rock in the\nblack night time? Hush! There is a man\u2019s voice in the infinite storm:\n\u201cLet the day perish in which I was born! Let it be darkness; let that\nnight be joyless, let no song enter into it; let them who curse the day\nstigmatize it who are ready to stir up the leviathan. Why died I not\nfrom the womb? Then had I lain down and been quiet; I had slept; \u2026 there\nthe wicked cease from troubling, and there the wearied mighty rest;\nthe prisoners sweetly repose together, they hear not the voice of the\nexactor, and the slave is free from his lord.\u201d\n\nThese are human words, but are they not too strong, too rhetorical, to be\ntrue?\n\nNo! For who can mechanize the rhetoric of woe?\n\n\u201cWhy is life given to the miserable, and to one who would be blithe to\nfind a grave? I have no quiet, no repose, for trouble on trouble came,\nand my sighs gush out like waters long dammed back.\u201d\n\nNo doubt the rhetoric is lofty, yet with a strange familiarity it touches\nwith happy expressiveness all that is most vivid in our remembrance of\nwoe.\n\n\u201cI loathe my life. I will give loose to my complaint. I will speak in the\nbitterness of my soul. To God I will say: \u2018Condemn me not. Show me why\nThou contendest with me. As the clay Thou hast fashioned me, and to dust\nThou causest me to return. Thou hast poured me as milk and compacted me\nas cheese. As a fierce lion Thou huntest me; then Thou turnest again and\nshowest Thyself marvelous.\u2019\u201d\n\nJob has found fit words for all mourning souls. So they borrow of him\nwhen their own words fail like a stream which the Sun has dried up. What\nwoe the poor little heart can feel! Herein is its greatness. It is, in\nits own way, as the heart of God.\n\n\u201cTruly, now, He hath worn me out. Thou hast made all my household\ndesolate, and Thou hast shriveled me up. God giveth me up to the ungodly,\nand flingeth me over into the hands of the wicked. He seized me by the\nthroat and shook me. He breacheth me with breach on breach. He rusheth on\nme like a man of war.\u201d\n\nIn what good man\u2019s sick chamber is not Job welcome? Welcome because he\ncan utter the whole gamut of human woe. He can find words for the heart\nthat is ill at ease, and prayers for lips which have been chilled and\nsilenced by unbelief. His woe belongs to the whole world. All other woe\nis as the dripping of an icicle compared with the rush of stormy waters.\n\nIn the case of Job the internal is proved to be greater than the\nexternal. When the trials came one after another like shocks of thunder,\n\u201cin all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.\u201d\n\nBut did he speak? That is the point. If he did not, perhaps he was dazed.\nHe felt a tremendous blow on the forehead, and he reeled, and was not in\na condition to bear witness about the matter. If he said any thing, let\nus know what he did say. Could he speak in that tremendous crisis?\n\nYes, he spoke. His words are before us. Like a wise man, he went back to\nfirst principles. He said:\n\n\u201cCircumstances are nothing; they are temporary arrangements. The man\nis not what he has, but what he is. I do not hold my life in my hands,\nsaying \u2018It weighs so much,\u2019 and count up to a high number.\u201d\n\nJob went back to first principles--back to elementary truths. He said:\n\n\u201cNaked came I out of my mother\u2019s womb, and naked shall I return thither\n[that is, as I began]. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away [as He\nhad a right to do; I had nothing of my own]. Blessed be the name of the\nLord.\u201d\n\nCould Job look over the ages that have been healed and comforted by his\nexample--stimulated to bear the ills of this life by the grateful memory\nof his invincible patience--surely, even now, in Heaven, he would be\ntaking the reward of his long-continued and noble endurance of the divine\nvisitation.\n\nIt may be so with you, poor man or woman. You do not get all the sweet\nnow. This shall be a memory to you in Heaven, long ages hence. The\nwrestling you have now may minister to you high delight, keen enjoyment\nand rapture pure and abiding. Who can tell when God\u2019s rewards end? Who\nwill venture to say: \u201cThis is the measure of His benediction?\u201d\n\nGod is able to give and to do abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.\nShould any one inquire of you as to your compensation, say: \u201cIt is given\nby instalments--today and tomorrow, in death; in the resurrection, all\nthrough the ages of eternity. Ask me thousands of ages hence, and I will\nreply to your question concerning compensation.\u201d\n\nLife is not limited by the cradle and the tomb, and it is not between\nthese two mean and near points that great questions are to be discussed\nor determined.\n\nJob has been read by countless readers. His was, of course, a public\ntrial--a tragedy that was wrought out for the benefit of multitudes in\nall generations. Nevertheless, it is literally and pathetically true that\nevery man, even the most obscure, has his readers--fewer in number, it\nmay be, but equally earnest in attention.\n\nThink you that your children are not taking notice of you--seeing how you\nbear your temptations, difficulties and anxieties?\n\nThink you not that your eldest boy is kept away from the table of the\nLord because you are as atheistic in sorrow as ever Voltaire was?\n\nDo you know that your daughter hates the church because her pious father\nis only pious in the three Summer months of the year? He curls under the\ncold and biting wind as much as any Atheist ever did. Therefore, the\ngirl says: \u201cHe is a sham and a hypocrite--my father in the flesh, but no\nrelative of mine in the spirit.\u201d\n\nYou have your readers. The little Bible of your life is read in your\nkitchen, in your parlor, in your shop and in your warehouse; and if you\ndo not bear your trials, anxieties and difficulties with a Christian\nchivalry and heroism, what is there but mockery on Earth and gloating in\nhell?\n\nMay God give us grace to bear chastisement nobly and serenely; bless us\nwith the peace which passeth understanding--with the quietness kindred to\nthe calm of God; help us when death is in the house, when poverty is on\nthe hearth-stone.\n\nWhen there is a storm blinding the only poor little window we have, let\nus say: \u201cThough He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. If I perish I will\npray, and perish only here.\u201d That is Christianity--not some clever\nchatter and able controversy about metaphysical points; but noble temper,\nhigh behavior, faultless constancy and an invincible fortitude in the\nhour of trial and in the agony of pain.\n\n\nMICAIAH.\n\nMicaiah was the son of Imlah, a prophet of Samaria, who, in the last year\nof the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, predicted his defeat and death, B.\nC. 897. This was three years after the great battle with Ben-hadad, king\nof Syria, in which the extraordinary number of 100,000 Syrian soldiers\nis said to have been slain, without reckoning the 27,000 who, it is\nasserted, were killed by the falling of the wall at Aphek.\n\nAhab had proposed to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, that they should jointly\ngo up to battle against Ramoth-gilead, which Ben-hadad was bound by\ntreaty to restore to Ahab.\n\nJehoshaphat assented in cordial words to the proposal, but he suggested\nthat they should first \u201cinquire at the word of Jehovah.\u201d Accordingly,\nAhab assembled four hundred prophets, while in an open space at the gate\nof the city of Samaria he and Jehoshaphat sat in royal robes to meet and\nconsult them.\n\nThe prophets gave a unanimously favorable response. Among them was\nZedekiah, the son of Chenaanah. He made horns of iron as a symbol, and\nannounced, as from Jehovah, that with those horns Ahab would push the\nSyrians till he consumed them. For some reason which is unexplained, and\ncan now only be conjectured, King Jehoshaphat was dissatisfied with the\nanswer, and asked if there was no other prophet of Jehovah at Samaria.\n\nAhab replied that there was yet one--Micaiah, the son of Imlah; but in\nwords which obviously call to mind a passage in the \u201cIliad\u201d (i. 106),\nhe added: \u201cI hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but\nevil.\u201d\n\nNevertheless, Micaiah was sent for; and after a vain attempt had been\nmade to tamper with him, he first expressed an ironical concurrence with\nthe four hundred prophets, and then boldly foretold the defeat of Ahab\u2019s\narmy and the death of Ahab.\n\nIn contradiction of the false four hundred, Micaiah said he had seen\nJehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by\nHim--on His right hand and on His left. He said Jehovah asked: \u201cWho\nshall persuade Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?\u201d A Spirit came\nforth and volunteered to do so. On being asked \u201cWherewithal?\u201d the Spirit\nanswered that he would go forth and be a lying Spirit in the mouth of all\nthe prophets.\n\nIrritated by the account of this vision, Zedekiah struck Micaiah on the\ncheek.\n\nThen Ahab ordered that Micaiah be taken to prison, and be fed on bread\nand water till his return to Samaria. But Ahab was killed, and Micaiah\u2019s\nfate is unknown.\n\nThis incident is found in both the first Book of Kings and in the second\nBook of Chronicles.\n\n[Illustration: The Cross From the Painting by Gustave Dore.]\n\n[Illustration: MOSES IN THE BULRUSHES.--Exodus, ii.]\n\n\nMOSES.\n\nMoses loses nothing by diffuseness. Even in days that were made long\nby intolerable monotony--in which men lived centuries because of\nweariness--Moses did not shrink from a condensation unparalleled in human\nliterature.\n\nConsidered as embracing the history of one month only, the third Book\nof Moses may claim to be the most remarkable book in the Old Testament.\nContaining twenty-seven chapters, ranging its contents under sixteen\ndifferent categories, and requiring to be actively represented within the\nspace of twenty-eight days--it may, in its own degree, claim an energy\nnot inferior to the Book of Genesis.\n\nThe same fearlessness of treatment is distinctive of both books.\nThe reverent audacity which represented creation as the work of six\ndays--whatever the measure of a day may be--did not shrink from\nfocalizing into one month the whole discipline of life.\n\nMoses\u2019 words could hardly have been fewer if he had lived in our time of\nfeverish haste and tumult. To put up the Heavens and the Earth in one\nchapter was a miracle in authorship. Yet, well pondered, it was the only\nthing to be done. Any poet could have built them in endless stanzas, and\nany philosopher could have begun the infinite story in a book too large\nfor the world to hold.\n\nMoses chose the more excellent way, creating creation with a swiftness\nthat has dazed a literal criticism ever since--literal criticism that\nhas but one season in its dreary year, a year that knows nothing of\nsnow-blossom or wedded light and song. But this very haste was part of\nthe man.\n\nThe Moses of Poetry required fifty-one days for the revolution of his\n\u201cIliad\u201d; the Moses of Revelation only took a week for the settlement of\nthe Heavens and the Earth, and in that week he found one whole day of\nrest for the Creator.\n\nThis action was entirely characteristic of Moses, for he was the most\nwrathful man as well as the meekest--killing, smiting, destroying and\nburning with anger, as well as praying like the father-priest of his\npeople.\n\nIn a sense obvious enough he was the protoplastic Christ--for was not\nhe who described himself as \u201cmeek and lowly in heart\u201d the scourger of\ntrespassers, and did he not burn the religious actors of his day?\n\nMoses and Christ both did things with most startling rapidity. In their\nvery soul they were akin. They were \u201cstraitened\u201d until their work was\n\u201caccomplished.\u201d The Pentateuch and the Gospels have action enough in them\nto fill innumerable volumes, yet there is an infinite calm in both--the\nhaste being in the temporary framework, the calm being in the eternal\npurpose.\n\nThink of these twenty-seven chapters constituting the discipline of one\nmonth! The reflections started by this circumstance culminate in a sense\nof pain, for who can bear this grievous toil or endure this sting of\naccusation? There is no respite.\n\nEgyptian burdens were for the body, but these wilderness exactions\ntormented the soul, and by so doing made Egyptian memories bright. The\ntrial of muscle is nothing to the trial of patience. Men may sleep\nafter labor, but an unquiet conscience keeps the eyes wide open. This\ndiscipline afflicted both the body and the soul, and thus drained the\nentire strength of the people.\n\nThis conscious toil must have been accompanied by unconscious\ninspiration--a reciprocal action impossible in theory but well understood\nin spiritual experience.\n\nWe resume our burdens in the very act of dreading them. We pray the next\nprayer in the very process of waiting for answers to a thousand prayers\nto which God has paid no known heed. Yesterday\u2019s sacrifice has nothing to\ndo with this day\u2019s sin, except to remind us that today must provide its\nown sacrifice.\n\nThis was so with the Jews; this is precisely so with ourselves. Yet we\nboast our liberty, and suppose that in leaping one inch from the Earth we\nhave broken the tether of gravitation.\n\nAs put before us in this manual called Leviticus, the discipline of the\nmonth seems to be more than we could endure; and this we say in ignorance\nof the fact that our own manual imposes a more severe discipline. Our\npity for the Jews arises out of the apparently ineradicable sophism that\nspiritual service is easier than bodily exercise. A most deadly sophism\nis this, and prevalent yet, notwithstanding the rebuke and condemnation\nof universal history.\n\nIn no spiritual sense is Leviticus an obsolete book. Moses is not dead.\nThe inventors of the alphabet have some rights even in \u201cParadise Lost,\u201d\nand quite a large property in \u201cEuclid.\u201d It is not grateful on our part to\nforget the primers through which we passed to the encyclopedias, though\ntheir authors were but our intellectual nurses. In no mere dream was\nMoses present when Christ communed with Him concerning the Exodus that\nwas to be accomplished at Jerusalem, and in no dramatic sense did Elijah\nwatch the consummation of prophecy.\n\nThe wonder is that Christians should be so willing to regard the\nPentateuch as obsolete. This is practically a foregone conclusion--to\nsuch an extent, certainly, that the Pentateuch is tolerated rather than\nstudied for edification by the rank and file of Christians.\n\nWithout the Pentateuch, Christ as revealed in the Gospels would have been\nimpossible; and without Christ the Pentateuch would have been impossible.\n\nI venture upon this proposition because I find no great-event in the\nPentateuch that is not for some purpose of argument or illustration used\nby Christ or by His disciples and apostles in the interests of what is\nknown as evangelical truth.\n\nIt lies within easy proof that Christ is the text of the Old Testament\nand that the Old Testament is the text of Christ. What use is made in\nthe New Testament of the creation of the universe, the faith of Abraham,\nthe rain of manna, the lifting up of the serpent and the tabernacle of\nwitness! The sublime apology of Stephen epitomizes the Old Testament, and\nthe Epistle to the Hebrews could not have been written but for the ritual\nof Exodus and Leviticus. In its purely moral tone the Old Testament is of\nkindred quality with the New.\n\nTake an instance from Leviticus. Three forms of evil are recognized in\none of its most ardent chapters--namely, Violence, Deceit and Perjury.\nThis is a succession amounting to a development, and, unwittingly it\nmay or may not be, confirming that law of evolution which is as happily\nillustrated in morals as in physics.\n\nMen begin with acts of violence, then go on to silent deceit and\ncalculation, and close with a profanation of the holiest terms. The early\nsinners robbed gardens and killed brothers; the later sinners \u201cagreed\ntogether\u201d to \u201clie unto God.\u201d It is something, therefore, to find in so\nancient a book as Leviticus recognition of an order which is true to\nphilosophy and to history.\n\nBut the proof that Moses and Christ are identical in moral tone is to\nbe found in the process which offenders were commanded to adopt. By\nno sacerdotal jugglery was the foul blot to be removed; by no sigh of\nselfishness could the inward corruption be permitted to evaporate; by no\ninvestment of cheap tears could thieves compound for felony.\n\nFirst, there must be restoration; second, there must be an addition of\na fifth part of the whole; third, the priest must be faced as the very\nrepresentative of God and a trespass offering be laid on the altar. After\natonement forgiveness would come--a white angel from Heaven--and dwell\nin the reclaimed and sanctified heart. All the past would be driven\naway as a black cloud and all the present filled with a light above the\nbrightness of the Sun.\n\nWhat is this but an outline or forecast of what Christ said when He\ndrove the hostile and vindictive man from the altar, bidding him first\nbe reconciled with his brother and at peace with society? Christianity\nis not a substitute for morality; it is morality inspired, glorified\nand crowned. Say that the ritual was sanitary rather than doctrinal or\ntheological. What then? All divine things are first sanitary, but not\nnecessarily bounded by that term.\n\nIt will be found that the practice of genuine cleanness, chemical as well\nas mechanical, will be followed by a philosophy, and that the morality of\ncleanness will be followed by a theology.\n\nAccustom a man to look out for bullocks and rams and lambs \u201cwithout\nblemish,\u201d and he will find that he can not stop at that point. He has\nbegun an education which can only culminate in the prayer: \u201cCreate in me\na clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.\u201d Yet no word of\nthat holy thought was named in the original instructions.\n\nLeviticus is the gospel of the Pentateuch--glistening with purity,\nturning law into music and spreading a banquet in the wilderness. But its\nritual is dead. This is hard to believe--hard because religious vanity is\nfond of ritualism, which makes no demand on the conscience. Yet ritualism\nhad a divinely appointed function in the education of the awakening mind,\nand was the only influence which could hold the attention of a people to\nwhom freedom was a new experience.\n\nSpectacular religion is alphabetic religion; therefore, to revert to it\nis to ignore every characteristic and impulse of manhood and progress.\nBut they who say so be prepared to complete the philosophy which that\ncontention initiates.\n\nIt is not enough to dismiss ritualism on the ground that it has been\ndisplaced by spiritual worship. Admit that such is the case, and other\nand broader admissions are involved in the plea, and can only be shirked\nat the expense of consistency.\n\nIt is generally admitted, for example, that the Old Testament law has\nbeen displaced by a New Testament principle. So Ritualism and Law, in\ntheir ancient forms, have passed away. But let us be careful. When we say\nRitualism and Law, we mean in reality the letter, and it is evident that\nif any one letter can be displaced every other letter may be outlived and\ncompleted. And what is \u201cthe letter\u201d but a symbol of flesh--visibleness,\nobjectivity, historic fact and bulk?\n\nApostle Paul went so far as to say that even Christ was no longer known\n\u201cafter the flesh\u201d--yea, though He had been known after the flesh, that\nkind of knowledge was for ever done away, and another knowledge had\npermanently taken its place.\n\nThe Church has never adopted the whole meaning of that teaching. Willing\nenough to consign Leviticus to the shades, the Church still clings to\nsome sort of bodily Christ--the figure of a man--a bulk to be at least\nimaginatively touched. This is easily accounted for without suggesting\nsuperstition, and yet it might be done away with without imperiling\nfaith. We are held in bondage by a mistaken conception of personality.\nWhen we think of that term we think of ourselves.\n\nBut even admitting the necessity of this, we may by a correct definition\nof personality acquire a higher conception of our own being. Instead of\nsaying personality is this or that, after the manner of a geometrical\nfigure, binding it to four points and otherwise limiting it, say that\npersonality is the unit of being, and instantly every conception is\nenlarged and illuminated--the meaning being that personality is the\nstarting point of conscious existence; not the fullness, but the outline;\nnot the maximum, but the minimum; the very smallest conception which the\nmind can lay hold of--the Euclidic point, to be carried on into ratios\nand dimensions which originate a new vocabulary.\n\nWe do not, then, define \u201cGod\u201d when we describe Him as a \u201cPerson,\u201d but\nwe merely begin to define Him; in other words, we say that God can not\nbe less than a Person. What more He is, we must gradually and adoringly\ndiscover.\n\nSo far as Christ is concerned, there is one enlargement of His\npersonality which no school of thinkers will dispute. This is\nrhetorically expressed by M. Renan, when he says of Jesus:\n\n\u201cA thousand times more living, a thousand times more loved, since Thy\ndeath than during the days of Thy pilgrimage here below, Thou wilt become\nto such a degree the Corner-Stone of humanity that to tear Thy name from\nthis world would be to shake it to its foundations.\u201d\n\nIf ritualism has been displaced by spirituality, and if law has been\nsuspended by a principle--in other words, if the local has made way for\nthe universal--why shrink from the admission that limited Personality has\nbeen exchanged for unlimited Influence?\n\nHow would Moses regard nineteenth century worship--say, of a Low Church\nand Evangelical type, as the true evolution of Leviticus? Where is the\nresemblance? The eye that can see the similitude is surely looking\nthrough an adapted medium. Yet the mystery would be dissolved if the Book\nof Leviticus were not open to reference.\n\nThe man is the completion of the child, but the child is no longer in\nexistence.\n\nThe fruit is the fulfillment of the blossom, but the blossom is no longer\navailable for comparison and for contrast.\n\nChristianity is the consummation of Leviticus, but Leviticus\nremains--unlike the child and the blossom--and offers a series of\ndissonances or dissimilarities of the most positive quality.\n\nYet if Moses were living now he would be unchurched if he refused to\nidentify the meaning of Leviticus in the service of the Christian\nsanctuary--the Papist nearest in gorgeousness, the Protestant claiming to\nbe nearest in doctrine.\n\nThe Nonconformist Moses, in the absence of inspiration, would in this\nmatter be the arch-heretic of the century.\n\n\nNEBUCHADNEZZAR.\n\nThe moral character of Nebuchadnezzar is not such as entitles him to\nour approval. Besides the overweening pride which brought on him such\nterrible chastisement, we note a violence and fury common enough in\nOriental monarchs of the weaker kind, but from which the greatest of\nthem have usually been free; while at the same time we observe a cold\nand relentless cruelty that is particularly revolting. The blinding\nof Zedekiah may possibly be justified as an ordinary Eastern practice,\nthough it is the earliest case of the kind on record; but the refinement\nof cruelty by which he was made to witness his sons\u2019 execution before his\neyes were put out was more worthy of a Dionysius or a Domitian than of a\nreally great king.\n\nAgain, the detention of Jehoiachin in prison thirty-six years for an\noffence committed at the age of eighteen is a severity surpassing\nOriental harshness.\n\nAgainst these grave faults we have nothing to set, unless it be a\nfeeble trait of magnanimity in the pardon of Shadrach, Meshach and\nAbednego--when he found that he was without power to punish them.\n\nIt has been thought remarkable that to a man of this character God should\nhave vouchsafed a revelation of the future by means of visions. But the\ncircumstance, however it may disturb our preconceived notions, is not\nreally at variance with the general laws of God\u2019s providence, as revealed\nto us in Scripture.\n\nAs with His natural gifts, so with His supernatural gifts--they are not\nconfined to the worthy. Even under Christianity, miraculous powers were\nsometimes possessed by those who made an ill use of them. And God, it\nis plain, did not leave the old heathen world without some supernatural\naid, but made His presence felt from time to time in visions, through\nprophets, or even by a voice from Heaven.\n\nIt is only necessary to refer to the histories of Pharaoh, Abimelech, Job\nand Balaam in order to establish the parity of Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s visions\nwith other facts recorded in the Bible. He was warned, and the nations\nover which he ruled were warned through him, God leaving not Himself\n\u201cwithout witness\u201d even in those dark times.\n\nAbydenus, a heathen writer who generally drew his inspiration from\nBerosus, ascribes to Nebuchadnezzar a miraculous speech just before his\ndeath, announcing to the Babylonians the speedy coming of \u201ca Persian\nmule,\u201d who, with the aid of the Medes, would enslave Babylon.\n\n\nQUEEN OF SHEBA.\n\nThe Queen of Sheba is a model to all inquirers. It was not enough for\nher to have heard of the fame of Solomon and to have admired him at a\ndistance as a unique genius. Her admiration excited her interest and\nsuspicion, and, being a woman of penetrating mind, she desired to put\nriddles and enigmas whereby she could test the proverbial wisdom of\nSolomon.\n\nWhen she arrived at his court she did not put flippant questions to King\nSolomon. She rather sought out the most difficult inquiries which she\ncould possibly make.\n\nIt is recorded that Solomon told the queen all her questions, and there\nwas nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not. She was astounded by\nwhat she heard and what she saw. She declared that the half had not been\ntold her.\n\nThe visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, though not strictly\ncommercial, arose out of commercial intercourse. The territory of\nSheba, according to Strabo, reached so far north as to meet that of the\nNabath\u00e6ans, although its proper seat was at the southernmost angle of\nArabia.\n\nThe very rich presents made by the queen show the extreme value of her\ncommerce with the Hebrew monarch. This early interchange of hospitality\nderives a peculiar interest from the fact that in much later ages--those\nof the Maccabees and downward--the intercourse of the Jews with Sheba\nbecame so intimate and their influence and power so great. Jewish\ncircumcision took root there, and princes held sway there who were called\nJewish.\n\nThe language of Sheba is believed to have been very different from\nthe literate Arabic; yet, like the Ethiopic, it belonged to the great\nSyro-Arabian family, and was not alien to the Hebrew in the same sense\nthat the Egyptian language was.\n\nThe great ease with which the pure monotheism of the Maccabees spread\nitself in Sheba gives plausibility to the opinion that even at the time\nof Solomon the people of Sheba had much religious superiority over the\nArabs and Syrians in general. If so, it becomes clear how the curiosity\nof the southern queen would be worked on by seeing the riches of the\ndistant monarch, whose purer creed must have been carried everywhere with\nthem by his sailors and servants.\n\n\nREHOBOAM.\n\n\u201cSo Jeroboam and all Israel came and spake to Rehoboam, saying: \u2018Thy\nfather made our yoke grievous. Now, therefore, ease thou somewhat the\ngrievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us,\nand we will serve thee.\u2019\u201d\n\nA cause so stated must succeed. There will be difficulty, but the end is\nassured.\n\nThe reasonable always triumphs, due time being given for the elucidation\nof its purposes and the manifestation of its real spirit. Violence can\nhave but a short day; the tempest cries itself to rest.\n\nThe speech of this man was a speech strong in reason. \u201cEase thou somewhat\nthe grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon\nus, and we will serve thee.\u201d They wanted ease for service--for loyalty.\nWhere there is no ease how can there be homage, thankfulness, devotion or\nany of the high qualities of patriotism?\n\nMen who are not disquieted are prone to tell others to bear their burdens\nuncomplainingly. We ought to hear what they have to say who feel the\niron. Our inquiry should be: \u201cHow does it suit you? What is the effect\nof the piercing iron on the soul? How does manhood bear the heel of\noppression?\u201d\n\nThe sufferers should sometimes be admitted to the witness-box.\n\nThere is a danger lest our personal comfortableness should disqualify us\nfor judging the case of down-trodden men.\n\nWherever there is weakness the Christian Church should be found. Wherever\nthere is reasonableness the Christian sanctuary should offer hospitality.\nThe Christian sanctuary ceases to be the Tabernacle of God among men when\nit shuts its door on the cries of reason, the petitions of weakness, the\nhumble requests of those who ask for nothing exaggerated, but simply ask\nto have their misery mitigated somewhat, that their loyalty may be of a\nlarger and better quality. The names are ancient, but the circumstances\nmay be painfully modern.\n\nIt is the peculiarity of the Bible that it is always getting in our\nway. It has a word on every subject. Is there any thing more detestable\nthan that a man who has his own way seven days a week, whose footsteps\nare marked by prosperity, whose very breathing is a commercial success,\nshould stand up and tell men who are bleeding at every pore to be quiet\nand contented, and not create disturbance in the body politic?\n\nIf Jeroboam had come with a petition conceived in another tone it ought\nto have been rejected. It would have been irrational, violent and\ncontemptuous; but the reasonableness of the request will insure its\nvictory in the long run.\n\nHow easy it is to think of Rehoboam as the foolish son of a wise father!\nBut are we not unjust to the son in so regarding him? Was Solomon the\nwise man he is often made out to be? The answer would be: \u201cYes--No.\u201d\nThere was no greater fool than Solomon; and he attained his supremacy in\nfolly because there was no man so wise. \u201cIf the light that is in thee be\ndarkness, how great is that darkness!\u201d \u201cHow art thou fallen from Heaven,\nO Lucifer, son of the morning!\u201d If he had not been son of the morning\nsome shallow pit might have held him; but, being son of the morning and\ndetaching himself from the gravitation of God, the pit into which he\nfalls is bottomless.\n\nPliny says no man can be always wise. That is true philosophically and\nexperimentally; for all men have vulnerable heels, or are exposed to\ntemptations to lightness of mind, amounting in some instances almost to\nfrivolity. They are also the subjects of a most singular rebound, which\nmakes them appear the more frivolous because when we last saw them they\nwere absorbed in the solemnity of prayer.\n\nSolomon was not wise in this matter of government. The history shows\nthat the people were appealing, not against Rehoboam, who had yet had no\nopportunity of proving his quality as a king, but against his father.\n\u201cThy father made our yoke grievous.\u201d We are prone to copy the defects of\nour ancestors and our idols rather than their excellences.\n\nFolly has often more charms for us than wisdom. When Diogenes discoursed\nof philosophy his auditors turned away from him, but when he began to\nplay frivolous music or to sing frivolous songs the crowds thronged about\nhim, and he said: \u201cYe gods! How much more popular is folly than wisdom!\u201d\nEven there he spoke as a philosopher.\n\nRehoboam made a cautious reply, and therein he began well. He said to the\npetitioners: \u201cCome again unto me after three days.\u201d This looked hopeful.\n\nKing Rehoboam utilized the interval by taking counsel with \u201cthe old men\nwho had stood before Solomon, his father, while he yet lived, saying:\n\u2018What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?\u2019 And they spake\nunto him, saying: \u2018If thou be kind to this people and please them, and\nspeak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.\u2019\u201d\n\nRich is the king whose old men talk in such a strain. They were patriots\nand philanthropists and philosophers; they were Christians before the\ntime.\n\nMarvelous is the power of kindness. They will do most in life who are\nmost considerate. They may be charged with sentimentalism by those who do\nnot understand the power of human feeling, but they will be given credit\nfor philosophy by men who understand the genius of sympathy.\n\nWhat a message would this have been to return to the complaining people!\nIf, when the people returned after three days, Rehoboam had spoken so,\nthe welkin would have rung with the resonant cheers of a delighted and\nthankful people. Kindness is not weakness.\n\nBut Rehoboam forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took\ncounsel with the young men who had been brought up with him and who stood\nbefore him. He asked them the same question he had asked the old men.\nTheir answer was:\n\n\u201cSay unto them: \u2018My little finger shall be thicker than my father\u2019s\nloins. For, whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more\nto your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you\nwith scorpions.\u2019\u201d\n\nWoe to the nation whose young men talked so! A young oppressor is an\ninfant devil. Young men talking so will ruin any occasion.\n\nAre there such things in history as retorts, reprisals, rebounds and\nconsequences? Let it be known and laid down as the basic principle of all\naction--social, ecclesiastical and imperial--that there is no right of\ntyranny.\n\nIt might be supposed that the king had taken a most patriotic course in\nconsulting the young and the old. He had done nothing of the kind. He had\nomitted to consult Him who had called his house to the royalty.\n\nRehoboam should have consulted the King Maker whose throne is on the\ncircle of the Earth, whose scepter touches the horizon and whose will is\nthe law of both monarchy and commonwealth.\n\nThe greater the man, the nearer should he stand to God; yea, he should\nbe within whisper-reach of the Lord of lords, asking Him in every crisis\nof national history what Israel ought to do--what the country ought to\nanswer--what is the will of Heaven.\n\nRehoboam answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old\nmen. \u201cSo the king hearkened not unto the people.\u201d\n\nThe Gospel never gives liberty to oppression. Employers may adopt this\ncourse if they please, but they will find it end in ruin. We must\nrecognize the difference between employing cattle and employing men.\nA parent may adopt this course of Rehoboam, if he so chooses, but his\nchildren will chastise him and sting him with many a disappointment; or,\nif he does not live to see the wreck of their manhood, they will execrate\nhis unfragrant memory.\n\nRehoboam will be punished; have no fear of that. \u201cWith what measure ye\nmete, it shall be measured to you again.\u201d You can make your whips thongs\nof scorpions, but on your own back shall the lacerating lash be laid; you\ncan play the fantastic trick before high Heaven and make the angels weep,\nbut the bitterness shall be yours. The triumphing of such a policy is\nshort, and the end is everlasting punishment.\n\n\nSHISHAK.\n\nShishak was a king of Egypt contemporary with Jeroboam, to whom he gave\nan asylum when he fled from Solomon. This was indicative of his politic\ndisposition to encourage the weakening of the neighboring kingdom, the\ngrowth of which under David and Solomon was probably regarded by the\nkings of Egypt with some alarm.\n\nAfter Jeroboam had become king of Israel, and probably at his suggestion,\nShishak invaded the kingdom of Judah (B. C. 971) at the head of an\nimmense army, and after having taken the fortified places advanced\nagainst Jerusalem.\n\nSatisfied with the submission of Rehoboam and with the immense spoils\nof the Temple, the king of Egypt withdrew without imposing any onerous\nconditions on the humbled grandson of David.\n\nShishak has been identified as the first king of the twenty-second or\nDiospolitan dynasty, the Sesonchis of profane history. His name has been\nfound on the Egyptian monuments in the form of Sheshonk. He is said to\nhave been of Ethiopian origin, and it is thought that, with the aid of\nthe military caste, he dethroned the Pharaoh who gave his daughter to\nSolomon.\n\n\nSOLOMON.\n\nThe first prominent scene in the reign of Solomon is one which presents\nhis character in its noblest aspect. There were two holy places which\ndivided the reverence of the people--the ark and its provisional\ntabernacle at Jerusalem and the original Tabernacle of the Congregation,\nwhich, after many wanderings, was then pitched at Gibeon.\n\nIt was thought right that the new king should offer solemn sacrifices at\nboth.\n\nAfter those at Gibeon there came that vision of the night which has in\nall ages borne its noble witness to the hearts of rulers.\n\nNot for riches, long life or victory over enemies did the son of\nDavid--then, at least, true to his high calling, feeling himself as \u201ca\nlittle child\u201d in comparison with the vastness of his work--offer his\nsupplications, but for a \u201cwise and understanding heart,\u201d that he might\njudge the people.\n\nThe \u201cspeech pleased the Lord.\u201d\n\nThere came in answer the promise of a wisdom \u201clike which there had been\nnone before--like which there should be none after.\u201d So far all was\nwell. The prayer was a right and noble one. Yet there is also a contrast\nbetween it and the prayers of David which accounts for many other\ncontrasts.\n\nThe desire of David\u2019s heart is not chiefly for wisdom, but for holiness.\nHe is conscious of an oppressing evil, and seeks to be delivered from it.\nHe repents and falls, and repents again.\n\nSolomon asks only for wisdom. He has a lofty ideal before him, and seeks\nto accomplish it, but he is as yet haunted by no deeper yearnings, and\nspeaks as one who has no need of repentance.\n\nThen began Solomon\u2019s marvelous development as a builder and statesman.\n\nHe was not content to build the house of the Lord alone. This is a\nremarkable circumstance, as illustrating the spirit which is created and\nsustained by all truly religious exercises. It would have been ambition\nenough for any man religiously uninspired to have erected such an edifice\nas the Temple. Most men are contented to do one thing, and to rest their\nfame on its peculiar excellence.\n\nHaving completed the house of the Lord and his own house, Solomon began\nto build the cities which Huram had restored to him, and to cause the\nchildren of Israel to dwell there.\n\nA religion that ends only in ceremony building is little better than\na superstition. No man can be zealously affected in the interests of\nthe Church without having his whole philanthropic spirit enlarged and\nennobled, so that he may become a builder of cities as well as a builder\nof churches. It must be remembered, on the other hand, that he who builds\na synagogue really helps to build the town in which it is located. A\nsynagogue, temple or church is not to be looked on in its singularity,\nas if it were so many walls, with so many doors and so many windows. A\nchurch is a representative institution, through which should flow rivers\nthat will fertilize all the districts of the city--rivers of knowledge,\nrivers of charity, rivers of brotherhood, rivers of co-operation--so that\nmen should turn to the Church, assured that every rational and healthy\nexpectation would be satisfied by its provisions.\n\nHaving completed for the time being the measure of building on which his\nmind was set, Solomon went forth to war.\n\nIt would seem as if, in ancient days, kings could not be satisfied to\ndwell at peace. Even Solomon, whose very name signifies peace, had in\nhim the military spirit which was characteristic of his race and time;\nit was in him, indeed, as the word of the living God. Solomon did not go\nforth to war for the sake of war; he believed he was obeying a divinely\nimplanted instinct, or carrying out to the letter some divinely written\nlaw.\n\nHaving passed through another military period, King Solomon began once\nmore to build. He built Tadmor, and all the store cities; he built\nBeth-horon the Upper and Beth-horon the Lower, and fenced cities with\nwalls, gates and bars.\n\nA busy time it was in the reign of Solomon. But even all this building is\nnot without its suggestion of a corresponding evil.\n\nWhy were the cities fenced? Why the gates? Why the bars? We have\ninstances of the same kind in our own civilization--silent witnesses\nagainst the honesty of the society in which we live. Every bolt on the\ndoor is a moral accusation; every time we turn the lock we mean that\nthere is an enemy outside who may endeavor to violate the sanctity of the\nhouse.\n\nWe sometimes forget the moral suggestiveness even of our commonest\ninstitutions and plans of procedure. Every precaution that is taken for\nour preservation implies the presence of hostile elements in the society\nthat is round about us.\n\nSolomon may be taken in this instance as representing the great doctrine\nthat men should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and\nafterward attend to minor matters, or even leave those minor matters to\nthe adjustment of providence.\n\nSolomon is represented as first most anxious about the Temple, giving\nhimself wholly to its erection, occupying his thoughts night and day,\nturning every thing to account in its relation to the Temple. Having\nfinished that marvelous structure, he was prepared to descend to other\nlevels and do the commoner work which lay to his hand.\n\nMany persons leave the temple half finished. What wonder if they go out\nto the war and return wounded and disabled? Our religious purposes are\nbroken off. What wonder if our political ends pierce us and sting us by\nway of retribution?\n\n\u201cBut of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work;\nbut they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his\nchariots and horsemen.\u201d\n\nThe statesmanship of Solomon is as distinctly proved by this arrangement\nas by any thing we have yet seen in his whole policy. Solomon knew that\none man was not as good as another, however much democratic philosophy\nmay have endeavored to prove the contrary. One man is a genius, but\nanother man is a slave--an imitator, a hewer of wood; very serviceable,\nand in fact indispensable, but not adorned with the very highest\nexcellence and dignity of mind.\n\nSolomon made a distribution of classes, saying in effect that some men\ncan do the drudgery, some men can dig and build, some can pull down and\ntake away and make ready for the exertions of others; the higher class\nof men can think and direct, for they are inspired with the genius of\nadministration, and are men of powerful mind, of fertile resources in\ngovernment and in war. So Solomon made the best use of the material at\nhis disposal--not getting great men to do small work or setting small men\nto fail in great work.\n\nAdaptation is the secret of success. For want of knowing this, many men\nfail in life.\n\nThere are employers who are making themselves but little better than\ntoilers, when they might by an expenditure of money apparently distinctly\nnot economical very greatly assist the progress and solidity of their\nfortunes. A man may be industrious in a way which involves the absolute\nfrittering and humiliation of his energies.\n\nWe are to be careful not only to be industrious, but industrious about\nthe right things and in the right proportion. A man might slave himself\nto death cutting down wood or in throwing away stones, but if some other\nman of inferior mental faculty could be employed to do that work the\nsuperior man should turn his attention to other and nobler pursuits, and\nthus with smaller expenditure of strength he might be doing immeasurably\ngreater good.\n\nIf the thinker is not to degrade himself to the level of a drudge,\nneither is the drudge to attempt to force his way to positions for which\nhe is not qualified. Nothing is mean that is not meanly done.\n\nThe Canaanites might be as useful as the Israelites in their own way.\nWith the eye of a statesman and with the inspiration of a genius, Solomon\nsaw that he must distribute and classify men, and set each man to do that\nfor which he was best fitted. Even Solomon could not do all the work\nalone.\n\n\u201cAnd Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David\nunto the house that he had built for her; for he said: \u2018My wife shall not\ndwell in the house of David, king of Israel, because the places are holy\nwhereunto the ark of the Lord hath come.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis may be taken as an instance of punctilious morality. We are not\nable to understand all that was involved in the incident. Evidently\nwe are in the presence of conscience working under some eccentric law\nor suggestion. Yet here is a conscience, and by so much the action of\nSolomon is to be respected. He will not have any place or institution\neven ceremonially defiled. He will go back to precedents; he will consult\nthe genius of history; he will preserve the consistency of the royal\npolicy. Solomon felt that the ark of the Lord had sanctified every\nlocality into which it had come, and that a broad distinction must always\nbe maintained between heathenism and Judaism--between the idols of pagan\nlands and the Spirit of the living God.\n\nIn these matters Solomon\u2019s wisdom was displayed as certainly as in the\ngreater concerns of State and Church. We are to remember that at the\nbeginning Solomon was endowed with the spirit of wisdom and of a sound\nmind. The Lord quickened his sagacity and gave him that marvelous insight\nwhich enabled him to penetrate into the interiors and cores which were\nhidden from the scrutiny of other men.\n\nWe are, therefore, to give Solomon credit for being at once wise and\nconscientious; we are to see in his action the working of a tender\nconscience. Even though he may be appeasing his conscience by some trick\nor ceremony, yet he is showing us the working of the moral nature within\nthe kingly breast.\n\nYet there is a point to be noted here which is common to human\nexperience. Why should Solomon have married the daughter of Pharaoh?\nWhy should he, in the first instance, have placed himself in so vital a\nrelation to heathenism? Are there not men who first plunge into great\nmistakes, and then seek to rectify their position by zealous care about\ncomparatively trifling details? Do not men make money by base means, and\nthen most zealously betake themselves to bookkeeping, as if they would\nnot spend money except in approved directions?\n\nThere is nothing more misleading than a conscience that does not rest\non a basis of reason. We are to beware of the creation of a false\nconscience, or a partial conscience, or a conscience that operates only\nin given directions, but which makes up for sins of a larger kind by\nostentatious devotion at the altar of detail and ceremony and petty\nritual.\n\n\u201cThen Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of\nthe Lord, which he had built before the porch, even after a certain\nrate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses--on the\nSabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times\nin the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of\nweeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.\u201d\n\nSolomon was great in burnt offerings. Do not men sometimes make up\nin burnt offerings what they lack in moral consistency? Is not an\nostentatious religion the best proof of internal decay? It ought not to\nbe so.\n\nThe hand and the heart should be one; the outward and the inward should\ncorrespond; the action should be the incarnation of the thought. We are\nnot always to look on the ceremonial action of the Church as indicative\nof its real spirituality.\n\nSolomon did not live to a very great age, since he was not more than\ntwenty years old when he ascended the throne. Whether Solomon turned to\nthe Lord again with all his heart--a question widely discussed by the\nolder commentators--can not be ascertained from the Scriptures.\n\nIf the Preacher (Koheleth) is traceable to Solomon so far as the leading\nthoughts are concerned, we should find in this fact an evidence of his\nconversion, or at least a proof that at the close of his life Solomon\ndiscovered the vanity of all earthly possessions and aims, and even\ndeclared the fear of God to be the only abiding good with which a man can\nstand before the judgment of God.\n\nThe Temple of Solomon was, according to our ideas of size, a small\nbuilding. It was less than one hundred and twenty feet long, and less\nthan thirty-five feet broad; in other words, it was not so large as\none of the ordinary parish churches of our own land. Much less did it\napproach to the size of the colossal buildings in Babylon or Egypt.\nBut in Jewish eyes, at the time that it was built, it may have been\n\u201cgreat\u201d--that is to say, it may have exceeded the dimensions of any\nsingle separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its\nerection. It may even have been larger than the buildings which the\nneighboring nations had erected to their respective gods.\n\nAncient worship was mainly in the open air, and the temples were viewed\nas shrines for the Deity and for His priests--not as buildings in which\nworshipers were to congregate. Hence their comparatively small size.\n\n\u201cAnd Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of\nDavid, his father; and Rehoboam, his son, reigned in his stead.\u201d\n\nThis seems to be a lame and impotent conclusion. Yet it distinctly sets\nforth the common humanity of this most extraordinary and brilliant king.\nLiterally, the passage means that Solomon lay down with his fathers. He\nmight hardly be recognized from the humblest of them. The Sun dies at\nevening with scarcely a reminder of the glory which shone from him at\nmid-day.\n\n\nBASELESS PRIDE.\n\n(This pride-humbling survey of man and his destiny was written by William\nKnox, a Scotchman.)\n\n Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?\n Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud,\n A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,\n Man passes from life to his rest in the grave.\n\n The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,\n Be scattered around, and together be laid;\n And the young and the old and the low and the high\n Shall molder to dust, and together shall lie.\n\n The infant a mother attended and loved,\n The mother that infant\u2019s affection who proved,\n The husband that mother and infant who blessed--\n Each and all are away to their dwellings of rest.\n\n The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,\n Shone beauty and pleasure--her triumphs are by;\n And the memory of those who loved her and praised\n Is alike from the minds of the living erased.\n\n The hand of the king that the scepter has borne,\n The brow of the priest that the miter has worn,\n The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave\n Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.\n\n The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap,\n The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep,\n The beggar who wandered in search of his bread,\n Have faded away like the grass that we tread.\n\n The saint who enjoyed the communion of Heaven,\n The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven,\n The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,\n Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.\n\n So the multitude goes--like the flower or the weed\n That withers away to let others succeed;\n So the multitude comes--even those we behold--\n To repeat every tale that has often been told.\n\n For we are the same our fathers have been;\n We see the same sights our fathers have seen;\n We drink the same stream, we view the same Sun,\n And run the same course our fathers have run.\n\n The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think;\n From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink;\n To the life we are clinging they also would cling--\n But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing.\n\n They loved--but the story we can not unfold;\n They scorned--but the heart of the haughty is cold;\n They grieved--but no wail from their slumber will come;\n They joyed--but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.\n\n They died--aye, they died--and we things that are now,\n That walk on the turf that lies o\u2019er their brow\n And make in their dwellings a transient abode,\n Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.\n\n Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,\n Are mingled together in sunshine and rain;\n And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge,\n Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.\n\n \u2019Tis the wink of an eye--\u2019tis the draught of a breath--\n From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,\n From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud!\n Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS PUBLISHED BY THOS. W. JACKSON PUB. CO.\n\nCHICAGO, ILL.\n\n\nAll Handsomely Bound in the Best American and English Cloth, Uniform in\nStyle of Binding--Together They Make a Handsome Library--Separately, They\nMake Handsome Center-Table Volumes.\n\nPRICE, SENT POST-PAID, $1.50 EACH.\n\nThirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains; or, The Last Voice\nfrom the Plains--An authentic record of a life time of hunting, trapping,\nscouting and Indian fighting in the Far West. Copiously illustrated by\nH. S. De Lay and by many reproductions from photographs. By Capt. W. F.\nDrannan, who went on to The Plains when fifteen years old.\n\nRough Life on the Frontier.--A True and Graphic tale of the Doing and\nDaring of the Men who pushed Westward in the early days of our country\u2019s\nlife; told by a man who was one of them, and shared their struggles,\nhardships and final success. Copiously illustrated with 23 full page\nengravings from original drawings by H. S. De Lay. 530 pages.\n\nLife in the Mines; or, Crime Avenged.--Including thrilling adventures\namong miners and outlaws, the mystery of the Phantom Horseman and the\ndark concoctions of One-Eyed Riley. By C. H. Simpson, author of \u201cWild\nLife in the Far West,\u201d \u201cA Yankee\u2019s Adventures in South Africa,\u201d etc.\nCopiously illustrated by H. S. De Lay.\n\nElegantly Cloth Bound Books, $1.50 per Copy\n\nPearls from Many Seas.--A collation of the best thoughts of 400\nwriters of wide repute. Selected and classified by Rev. J. B. McClure.\nIllustrated with 50 full-page engravings selected especially for this\nwork from the great art galleries of the world. A volume of rare value\nand interest to all lovers of good literature. Reading matter, 528 pages.\n\nEvils of the Cities.--By T. De Witt Talmage, D. D. The author, in company\nwith the proper detectives, visited many of the most vile and wicked\nplaces in New York City and Brooklyn, ostensibly looking for a thief,\nbut in reality taking notes for a series of discourses, published in\nthis volume, which contains a full and graphic description of what he\nsaw and the lessons drawn therefrom. The Doctor has also extended his\nobservations to the \u201cSummer Resorts,\u201d the \u201cWatering Places,\u201d the \u201cRaces,\u201d\netc., all of which are popularized from his standpoint in this volume.\nReading matter, 397 pages.\n\nA Yankee\u2019s Adventures in South America.--(In the diamond country.) By\nC. H. Simpson. Giving the varied experiences, adventures, dangers and\nnarrow escapes of a Yankee seeking his fortune in this wild country, who,\nby undaunted courage, perseverance, suffering, fighting and adventures\nof various sorts, is requited at last by the ownership of the largest\ndiamond taken out of the Kimberly mines up to that time and with the\nheart and hand of the fairest daughter of a diamond king. Containing 30\nfull-page illustrations by H. S. De Lay. Reading matter, 234 pages.\n\nBible Characters.--A collection of Sermons by the most renowned divines\nof their times on these subjects; a beautiful and inspiring book that\nought to find its place into every home where good and elevating\nliterature is sought after. Dwight Lyman Moody, Dr. Talmage, Joseph\nParker, etc.; illustrations from the famous paintings by Gustave Dore.\n477 pages reading matter.\n\nThe First Mortgage.--A truthful, instructive, pleasing and poetical\npresentation of Biblical Stories, History and Gospel Truth. By E.\nU. Cook. Fully and handsomely illustrated from the world-renowned\nartist, Gustave Dore, the whole forming an exceedingly interesting and\nentertaining Poetical Bible. One of the most handsome volumes ever issued\nin Chicago. 288 pages.\n\nHelen Blair.--A novel by Nina Miller Elliott. It is a well written and\ndecidedly interesting story and holds the reader from the first page to\nthe last.\n\nWhen the Heart Is Young.--By Nina Miller Elliott. Everyone who has read\n\u201cHelen Blair\u201d will want to read \u201cWhen the Heart Is Young.\u201d It is one of\nthe best works of fiction brought out in recent years.\n\nEvery Woman\u2019s Right.--An exceptionally interesting story by Nina Miller\nElliott. A story full of love and true to life, and every woman will\nenjoy reading it.\n\nPeggy Kip.--Nina Miller Elliott\u2019s latest book. A novel that every one\nwill read and remember with appreciation.","title":"Bible Characters","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":127874}