{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_60669/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_60669","id":"gutenberg_60669","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60669","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Faith","Salvation"],"text":"Transcriber's Notes:\n\n  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by\n  =equal signs=.\n\n  Small uppercase have been replaced with regular uppercase.\n\n  Blank pages have been eliminated.\n\n  Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the\n  original.\n\n\n\n\n                                AROUND\n                           THE WICKET GATE;\n\n\n                                  OR,\n\n\n                     A FRIENDLY TALK WITH SEEKERS\n              CONCERNING FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.\n\n\n                                  BY\n\n                            C. H. SPURGEON.\n\n\n       \"Enter ye in at the strait gate.\"--_Matt._ vii. 13.\n\n\n                        AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,\n                     10 EAST 23D STREET, NEW YORK.\n\n\n\n\nThis book is published by special arrangement with the author and his\npublisher.\n\n\n                           COPYRIGHT, 1890,\n                      BY A. C. ARMSTRONG & SONS.\n\n                          TRANSFERRED TO THE\n                        AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nMillions of men are in the outlying regions, far off from God and\npeace; for these we pray, and to these we give warning. But just now we\nhave to do with a smaller company, who are not far from the kingdom,\nbut have come right up to the wicket gate which stands at the head of\nthe way of life. One would think that they would hasten to enter, for\na free and open invitation is placed over the entrance, the porter\nwaits to welcome them, and there is but this one way to eternal life.\nHe that is most loaded seems the most likely to pass in and begin the\nheavenward journey; but what ails the other men?\n\nThis is what I want to find out. Poor fellows! they have come a long\nway already to get where they are; and the King's highway, which they\nseek, is right before them: why do they not take to the Pilgrim Road\nat once? Alas! they have a great many reasons; and foolish as those\nreasons are, it needs a very wise man to answer them all. I cannot\npretend to do so. Only the Lord himself can remove the folly which is\nbound up in their hearts, and lead them to take the great decisive\nstep. Yet the Lord works by means; and I have prepared this little\nbook in the earnest hope that he may work by it to the blessed end of\nleading seekers to an immediate, simple trust in the Lord Jesus.\n\nHe who does not take the step of faith, and so enter upon the road to\nheaven, will perish. It will be an awful thing to die just outside the\ngate of life. Almost saved, but altogether lost! A man just outside\nNoah's ark would be drowned; a manslayer just outside the wall of the\ncity of refuge would be slain; and the man who is within a yard of\nChrist, and yet has not trusted him, will be lost. Therefore am I in\nterrible earnest to get my hesitating friends over the threshold. _Come\nin! Come in!_ is my pressing entreaty. May the Holy Spirit render it\neffectual with many who shall glance at these pages! May he cause his\nown almighty voice to be heard creating faith at once!\n\nMy reader, if God blesses this book to you, do the writer this\nfavour--either lend your own copy to one who is lingering at the gate,\nor buy another and give it away; for his great desire is that this\nlittle volume should be of service to many thousands of souls.\n\nTo God this book is commended; for without his grace nothing will come\nof all that is written.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.\n\n\nThe host of American Christians who have had the privilege of listening\nto the prince of modern preachers of the gospel in his own London\nTabernacle, and the countless thousands who have read his printed\nsermons, have long desired to see and hear him on this side of the\nocean. The state of his health, however, which requires frequent\nrespites from his incessant and exhausting labors, precludes the hope\nof an American tour, with its inevitable demands upon his already\noverburdened strength.\n\nAll the more on this account they will welcome a new volume from his\npen, designed for the benefit of a class found in every Christian\ncommunity, the object of the deepest concern to the Church of Christ:\na volume written by a master in Israel who has shown such a profound\nknowledge both of the human heart with all its needs, and of the wisdom\nand power of God in the gospel, and who has been to so many souls the\nblessed means of leading them to Christ.\n\nThis new volume, like the author's many previous books and tracts,\nhis well-organized Colporter Society, etc., testifies to his high\nappreciation of the power of the press, and to his desire thus to win\nfor Christ myriads of those whom his voice cannot reach.\n\nTo all who are hovering around the \"Wicket Gate,\" or who even from time\nto time come within sight of it and wish they were safe within it,\nthis little book is commended, with the hope that even while they are\nreading they will knock and it shall be opened to them.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                           PAGE\n\n  AWAKENING                                   9\n\n  JESUS ONLY                                 16\n\n  FAITH IN THE PERSON OF THE LORD JESUS      24\n\n  FAITH VERY SIMPLE                          35\n\n  FEARING TO BELIEVE                         48\n\n  DIFFICULTY IN THE WAY OF BELIEVING         57\n\n  A HELPFUL SURVEY OF CHRIST'S WORK          65\n\n  A REAL HINDRANCE TO FAITH                  73\n\n  ON RAISING QUESTIONS                       80\n\n  WITHOUT FAITH NO SALVATION                 88\n\n  TO THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED                 93\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nAround the Wicket Gate.\n\n\n\n\nAWAKENING.\n\n\nGreat numbers of persons have no concern about eternal things. They\ncare more about their cats and dogs than about their souls. It is a\ngreat mercy to be made to think about ourselves, and how we stand\ntowards God and the eternal world. This is full often a sign that\nsalvation is coming to us. By nature we do not like the anxiety which\nspiritual concern causes us, and we try, like sluggards, to sleep\nagain. This is great foolishness; for it is at our peril that we trifle\nwhen death is so near, and judgment is so sure. If the Lord has chosen\nus to eternal life, he will not let us return to our slumber. If we are\nsensible, we shall pray that our anxiety about our souls may never\ncome to an end till we are really and truly saved. Let us say from our\nhearts:--\n\n    \"He that suffered in my stead,\n      Shall my Physician be;\n    I will not be comforted,\n      Till Jesus comfort me.\"\n\nIt would be an awful thing to go dreaming down to hell, and there to\nlift up our eyes with a great gulf fixed between us and heaven. It\nwill be equally terrible to be aroused to escape from the wrath to\ncome, and then to shake off the warning influence, and go back to our\ninsensibility. I notice that those who overcome their convictions and\ncontinue in their sins are not so easily moved the next time: every\nawakening which is thrown away leaves the soul more drowsy than before,\nand less likely to be again stirred to holy feeling. Therefore our\nheart should be greatly troubled at the thought of getting rid of its\ntrouble in any other than the right way. One who had the gout was cured\nof it by a quack medicine, which drove the disease within, and the\npatient died. To be cured of distress of mind by a false hope, would be\na terrible business: the remedy would be worse than the disease. Better\nfar that our tenderness of conscience should cause us long years of\nanguish, than that we should lose it, and perish in the hardness of our\nhearts.\n\nYet awakening is not a thing to rest in, or to desire to have\nlengthened out month after month. If I start up in a fright, and find\nmy house on fire, I do not sit down at the edge of the bed, and say\nto myself, \"I hope I am truly awakened! Indeed, I am deeply grateful\nthat I am not left to sleep on!\" No, I want to escape from threatened\ndeath, and so I hasten to the door or to the window, that I may get\nout, and may not perish where I am. It would be a questionable boon to\nbe aroused, and yet not to escape from the danger. Remember, awakening\nis not salvation. A man may know that he is lost, and yet he may never\nbe saved. He may be made thoughtful, and yet he may die in his sins. If\nyou find out that you are a bankrupt, the consideration of your debts\nwill not pay them. A man may examine his wounds all the year around,\nand they will be none the nearer being healed because he feels their\nsmart, and notes their number. It is one trick of the devil to tempt\na man to be satisfied with a sense of sin; and another trick of the\nsame deceiver to insinuate that the sinner may not be content to trust\nChrist, unless he can bring a certain measure of despair to add to the\nSaviour's finished work. Our awakenings are not to help the Saviour,\nbut to help us to the Saviour. To imagine that my feeling of sin is\nto assist in the removal of the sin is absurd. It is as though I said\nthat water could not cleanse my face unless I had looked longer in the\nglass, and had counted the smuts upon my forehead. A sense of need of\nsalvation by grace is a very healthful sign; but one needs wisdom to\nuse it aright, and not to make an idol of it.\n\nSome seem as if they had fallen in love with their doubts, and fears,\nand distresses. You cannot get them away from their terrors--they seem\nwedded to them. It is said that the worst trouble with horses when\ntheir stables are on fire, is that you cannot get them to come out of\ntheir stalls. If they would but follow your lead, they might escape the\nflames; but they seem to be paralyzed with fear. So the fear of the\nfire prevents their escaping the fire. Reader, will your very fear of\nthe wrath to come prevent your escaping from it? We hope not.\n\nOne who had been long in prison was not willing to come out. The door\nwas open; but he pleaded even with tears to be allowed to stay where\nhe had been so long. Fond of prison! Wedded to the iron bolts and the\nprison fare! Surely the prisoner must have been a little touched in the\nhead! Are you willing to remain an awakened one, and nothing more? Are\nyou not eager to be at once forgiven? If you would tarry in anguish and\ndread, surely you, too, must be a little out of your mind! If peace is\nto be had, _have it at once_! Why tarry in the darkness of the pit,\nwherein your feet sink in the miry clay? There is light to be had;\nlight marvellous and heavenly; why lie in the gloom and die in anguish?\nYou do not know how near salvation is to you. If you did, you would\nsurely stretch out your hand and take it, for there it is; and _it is\nto be had for the taking_.\n\nDo not think that feelings of despair would fit you for mercy. When\nthe pilgrim, on his way to the Wicket Gate, tumbled into the Slough of\nDespond, do you think that, when the foul mire of that slough stuck\nto his garments, it was a recommendation to him, to get him easier\nadmission at the head of the way? It is not so. The pilgrim did not\nthink so by any means; neither may you. It is not what _you_ feel that\nwill save you, but what _Jesus_ felt. Even if there were some healing\nvalue in feelings, they would have to be good ones; and the feeling\nwhich makes us doubt the power of Christ to save, and prevents our\nfinding salvation in him, is by no means a good one, but a cruel wrong\nto the love of Jesus.\n\nOur friend has come to see us, and has travelled through our crowded\nLondon by rail, or tram, or omnibus. On a sudden he turns pale. We ask\nhim what is the matter, and he answers, \"I have lost my pocket-book,\nand it contained all the money I have in the world.\" He goes over\nthe amount to a penny, and describes the cheques, bills, notes, and\ncoins. We tell him that it must be a great consolation to him to be so\naccurately acquainted with the extent of his loss. He does not seem to\nsee the worth of our consolation. We assure him that he ought to be\ngrateful that he has so clear a sense of his loss; for many persons\nmight have lost their pocket-books and have been quite unable to\ncompute their losses. Our friend is not, however, cheered in the least.\n\"No,\" says he, \"to know my loss does not help me to recover it. Tell me\nwhere I can find my property, and you have done me real service; but\nmerely to know my loss is no comfort whatever.\" Even so, to believe\nthat you have sinned, and that your soul is forfeited to the justice\nof God, is a very proper thing; but it will not save. Salvation is not\nby our knowing our own ruin, but by fully grasping the deliverance\nprovided in Christ Jesus. A person who refuses to look to the Lord\nJesus, but persists in dwelling upon his sin and ruin, reminds us of a\nboy who dropped a shilling down an open grating of a London sewer, and\nlingered there for hours, finding comfort in saying, \"It rolled in just\nthere! Just between those two iron bars I saw it go right down.\" Poor\nsoul! Long might he remember the details of his loss before he would\nin this way get back a single penny into his pocket, wherewith to buy\nhimself a piece of bread. You see the drift of the parable; profit by\nit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nJESUS ONLY.\n\n\nWe cannot, too often or too plainly tell the seeking soul that his\nonly hope for salvation lies in the Lord Jesus Christ. It lies in him\ncompletely, only, and alone. To save both from the guilt and the power\nof sin, Jesus is all-sufficient. His name is called Jesus, because \"he\nshall save his people from their sins.\" \"The Son of man hath power on\nearth to forgive sins.\" He is exalted on high \"to give repentance and\nremission of sins.\" It pleased God from of old to devise a method of\nsalvation which should be all contained in his only-begotten Son. The\nLord Jesus, for the working out of this salvation, became man, and\nbeing found in fashion as a man, became obedient to death, even the\ndeath of the cross. If another way of deliverance had been possible,\nthe cup of bitterness would have passed from him. It stands to reason\nthat the darling of heaven would not have died to save us if we could\nhave been rescued at less expense. Infinite grace provided the great\nsacrifice; infinite love submitted to death for our sakes. How can\nwe dream that there can be another way than the way which God has\nprovided at such cost, and set forth in Holy Scripture so simply and\nso pressingly? Surely it is true that \"Neither is there salvation in\nany other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,\nwhereby we must be saved.\"\n\nTo suppose that the Lord Jesus has only half saved men, and that there\nis needed some work or feeling of their own to finish his work, is\nwicked. What is there of ours that could be added to his blood and\nrighteousness? \"All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.\" Can these\nbe patched on to the costly fabric of his divine righteousness? Rags\nand fine white linen! Our dross and his pure gold! It is an insult to\nthe Saviour to dream of such a thing. We have sinned enough, without\nadding this to all our other offences.\n\nEven if we had any righteousness in which we could boast; if our fig\nleaves were broader than usual, and were not so utterly fading, it\nwould be wisdom to put them away, and accept that righteousness which\nmust be far more pleasing to God than anything of our own. The Lord\nmust see more that is acceptable in his Son than in the best of us.\n_The best of us!_ The words seem satirical, though they were not so\nintended. What best is there about any of us? \"There is none that doeth\ngood; no, not one.\" I who write these lines, would most freely confess\nthat I have not a thread of goodness of my own. I could not make up\nso much as a rag, or a piece of a rag. I am utterly destitute. But if\nI had the fairest suit of good works which even pride can imagine,\nI would tear it up that I might put on nothing but the garments of\nsalvation, which are freely given by the Lord Jesus, out of the\nheavenly wardrobe of his own merits.\n\nIt is most glorifying to our Lord Jesus Christ that we should hope for\nevery good thing from him alone. This is to treat him as he deserves to\nbe treated; for as he is God, and beside him there is none else, we are\nbound to look unto him and be saved.\n\nThis is to treat him as he loves to be treated, for he bids all those\nwho labour and are heavy laden to come to him, and he will give them\nrest. To imagine that he cannot save to the uttermost is to limit\nthe Holy One of Israel, and put a slur upon his power; or else to\nslander the loving heart of the Friend of sinners, and cast a doubt\nupon his love. In either case; we should commit a cruel and wanton sin\nagainst the tenderest points of his honour, which are his ability and\nwillingness to save all that come unto God by him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe child, in danger of the fire, just clings to the fireman, and\ntrusts to him alone. She raises no question about the strength of his\nlimbs to carry her, or the zeal of his heart to rescue her; but she\nclings. The heat is terrible, the smoke is blinding, but she clings;\nand her deliverer quickly bears her to safety. In the same childlike\nconfidence cling to Jesus, who can and will bear you out of danger from\nthe flames of sin.\n\nThe nature of the Lord Jesus should inspire us with the fullest\nconfidence. As he is God, he is almighty to save; as he is man, he is\nfilled with all fulness to bless; as he is God and man in one Majestic\nPerson, he meets man in his creatureship and God in his holiness. The\nladder is long enough to reach from Jacob prostrate on the earth, to\nJehovah reigning in heaven. To bring another ladder would be to suppose\nthat he failed to bridge the distance; and this would be grievously\nto dishonour him. If even to add to his words is to draw a curse upon\nourselves, what must it be to pretend to add to himself? Remember that\nhe, himself, is the Way; and to suppose that we must, in some manner,\nadd to the divine road, is to be arrogant enough to think of adding to\nhim. Away with such a notion! Loathe it as you would blasphemy; for in\nessence it is the worst of blasphemy against the Lord of love.\n\nTo come to Jesus with a price in our hand, would be insufferable pride,\neven if we had any price that we could bring. What does he need of us?\nWhat could we bring if he did need it? Would he sell the priceless\nblessings of his redemption? That which he wrought out in his heart's\nblood, would he barter it with us for our tears, and vows, or for\nceremonial observances, and feelings, and works? He is not reduced to\nmake a market of himself: he will give freely, as beseems his royal\nlove; but he that offereth a price to him knows not with whom he is\ndealing, nor how grievously he vexes his free Spirit. Empty-handed\nsinners may have what they will. All that they can possibly need is in\nJesus, and he gives it for the asking; but we must believe that he is\nall in all, and we must not dare to breathe a word about completing\nwhat he has finished, or fitting ourselves for what he gives to us as\nundeserving sinners.\n\nThe reason why we may hope for forgiveness of sin, and life eternal, by\nfaith in the Lord Jesus, is that God has so appointed. He has pledged\nhimself in the gospel to save all who truly trust in the Lord Jesus,\nand he will never run back from his promise. He is so well pleased\nwith his only-begotten Son, that he takes pleasure in all who lay\nhold upon him as their one and only hope. The great God himself has\ntaken hold on him who has taken hold on his Son. He works salvation for\nall who look for that salvation to the once-slain Redeemer. For the\nhonour of his Son, he will not suffer the man who trusts in him to be\nashamed. \"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life;\" for the\never-living God has taken him unto himself, and has given to him to be\na partaker of his life. If Jesus only be your trust, you need not fear\nbut what you shall effectually be saved, both now and in the day of his\nappearing.\n\nWhen a man confides, there is a point of union between him and God,\nand that union guarantees blessing. Faith saves us because it makes\nus cling to Christ Jesus, and he is one with God, and thus brings us\ninto connection with God. I am told that, years ago, above the Falls of\nNiagara, a boat was upset, and two men were being carried down by the\ncurrent, when persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them,\nwhich rope was seized by them both. One of them held fast to it, and\nwas safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come\nfloating by, unwisely let go the rope, and clung to the great piece of\ntimber, for it was the bigger thing of the two, and apparently better\nto cling to. Alas! the timber, with the man on it, went right over the\nvast abyss, because there was no union between the wood and the shore.\nThe size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed\na connection with the shore to produce safety. So, when a man trusts\nto his works, or to his prayers, or almsgivings, or to sacraments, or\nto anything of that sort, he will not be saved, because there is no\njunction between him and God through Christ Jesus; but faith, though it\nmay seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on\nthe shore side; infinite power pulls in the connecting line, and thus\ndraws the man from destruction. Oh, the blessedness of faith, because\nit unites us to God by the Saviour, whom he has appointed, even Jesus\nChrist! O reader, is there not common-sense in this matter? Think\nit over, and may there soon be a band of union between you and God,\nthrough your faith in Christ Jesus!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nFAITH IN THE PERSON OF THE LORD JESUS.\n\n\nThere is a wretched tendency among men to leave Christ himself out of\nthe gospel. They might as well leave flour out of bread. Men hear the\nway of salvation explained, and consent to it as being Scriptural, and\nin every way such as suits their case; but they forget that a plan\nis of no service unless it is carried out; and that in the matter of\nsalvation their own personal faith in the Lord Jesus is essential. A\nroad to York will not take me there, I must travel along it for myself.\nAll the sound doctrine that ever was believed will never save a man\nunless he puts his trust in the Lord Jesus for himself.\n\nMr. Macdonald asked the inhabitants of the island of St. Kilda how a\nman must be saved. An old man replied, \"We shall be saved if we repent,\nand forsake our sins, and turn to God.\" \"Yes,\" said a middle-aged\nfemale, \"and with a true heart too.\" \"Ay,\" rejoined a third, \"and\nwith prayer\"; and, added a fourth, \"It must be the prayer of the\nheart.\" \"And we must be diligent too,\" said a fifth, \"in keeping the\ncommandments.\" Thus, each having contributed his mite, feeling that a\nvery decent creed had been made up, they all looked and listened for\nthe preacher's approbation; but they had aroused his deepest pity: he\nhad to begin at the beginning, and preach Christ to them. The carnal\nmind always maps out for itself a way in which self can work and become\ngreat; but the Lord's way is quite the reverse. The Lord Jesus puts\nit very compactly in Mark xvi. 16: \"He that believeth and is baptized\nshall be saved.\" Believing and being baptized are no matters of merit\nto be gloried in; they are so simple that boasting is excluded, and\nfree grace bears the palm. This way of salvation is chosen that it\nmight be seen to be of grace alone. It may be that the reader is\nunsaved: what is the reason? Do you think the way of salvation, as\nlaid down in the text we have quoted, to be dubious? Do you fear that\nyou would not be saved if you followed it? How can that be, when God\nhas pledged his own word for its certainty? How can that fail which\nGod prescribes, and concerning which he gives a promise? Do you think\nit very easy? Why, then, do you not attend to it? Its ease leaves\nthose without excuse who neglect it. If you would have done some great\nthing, be not so foolish as to neglect the little thing. To believe\nis to trust, or lean upon Christ Jesus; in other words, to give up\nself-reliance, and to rely upon the Lord Jesus. To be baptized is to\nsubmit to the ordinance which our Lord fulfilled at Jordan, to which\nthe converted ones submitted at Pentecost, to which the jailer yielded\nobedience on the very night of his conversion. It is the outward\nconfession which should always go with inward faith. The outward sign\nsaves not; but it sets forth to us our death, burial, and resurrection\nwith Jesus, and, like the Lord's Supper, it is not to be neglected.\n\nThe great point is to believe in Jesus, and confess your faith. Do you\nbelieve in Jesus? Then, dear friend, dismiss your fears; you shall be\nsaved. Are you still an unbeliever? Then remember, there is but one\ndoor, and if you will not enter by it, you must perish in your sins.\nThe door is there; but unless you enter by it, what is the use of it\nto you? It is of necessity that you obey the command of the gospel.\nNothing can save you if you do not hear the voice of Jesus, and do his\nbidding indeed and of a truth. Thinking and resolving will not answer\nthe purpose; you must come to real business; for only as you actually\nbelieve will you truly live unto God.\n\nI heard of a friend who deeply desired to be the means of the\nconversion of a young man, and one said to him, \"You may go to him, and\ntalk to him, but you will get him no further; for he is exceedingly\nwell acquainted with the plan of salvation.\" It was eminently so;\nand therefore, when our friend began to speak with the young man, he\nreceived for an answer, \"I am much obliged to you, but I do not know\nthat you can tell me much, for I have long known and admired the plan\nof salvation by the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.\" Alas! he was\nresting in _the plan_, but he had not believed in _the Person_. The\nplan of salvation is most blessed, but it can avail us nothing unless\nwe personally believe in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. What is the\ncomfort of a plan of a house if you do not enter the house itself?\nThe man in our cut, who is sitting out in the rain, is not deriving\nmuch comfort from the plans which are spread out before him. What is\nthe good of a plan of clothing if you have not a rag to cover you?\nHave you never heard of the Arab chief at Cairo, who was very ill, and\nwent to the missionary, and the missionary said he could give him a\nprescription? He did so; and a week after he found the Arab none the\nbetter. Did you take my prescription?\" he asked. \"Yes, I ate every\nmorsel of the paper.\" He dreamed that he was going to be cured by\ndevouring the physician's writing, which I may call the plan of the\nmedicine. He should have had the prescription made up, and then it\nmight have wrought him good, if he had taken the draught: it could do\nhim no good to swallow the recipe. So is it with salvation: it is not\nthe plan of salvation which can save, it is the carrying out of that\nplan by the Lord Jesus in his death on our behalf, and our acceptance\nof the same. Under the Jewish law, the offerer brought a bullock, and\nlaid his hands upon it: it was no dream, or theory, or plan. In the\nvictim for sacrifice he found something substantial, which he could\nhandle and touch: even so do we lean upon the real and true work of\nJesus, the most substantial thing under heaven. We come to the Lord\nJesus by faith, and say, \"God has provided an atonement here, and\nI accept it. I believe in the fact accomplished on the cross; I am\nconfident that sin was put away by Christ, and I rest on him.\" If\nyou would be saved, you must get beyond the acceptance of plans and\ndoctrines to a resting in the divine person and finished work of the\nLord Jesus Christ. Dear reader, will you have Christ now?\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJesus invites all those who labour and are heavy laden to come to him,\nand he will give them rest. He does not promise this to their merely\ndreaming about him. They must come; and they must come TO HIM, and\nnot merely to the Church, to baptism, or to the orthodox faith, or\nto anything short of his divine person. When the brazen serpent was\nlifted up in the wilderness, the people were not to look to Moses,\nnor to the Tabernacle, nor to the pillar of cloud, but to the brazen\nserpent itself. Looking was not enough unless they looked to the right\nobject: and the right object was not enough unless they looked. It\nwas not enough for them to know about the serpent of brass; they must\neach one look to it for himself. When a man is ill, he may have a good\nknowledge of medicine, and yet he may die if he does not actually take\nthe healing draught. We must receive Jesus; for \"to as many as received\nhim, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.\" Lay the emphasis\non two words: _We must receive_ HIM, and _we must_ RECEIVE _him_. We\nmust open wide the door, and take Christ Jesus in; for \"Christ in you\"\nis \"the hope of glory.\" Christ must be no myth, no dream, no phantom\nto us, but a real man, and truly God; and our reception of him must be\nno forced and feigned acceptance, but the hearty and happy assent and\nconsent of the soul that he shall be the all in all of our salvation.\nWill we not at once come to him, and make him our sole trust?\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe dove is hunted by the hawk, and finds no security from its restless\nenemy. It has learned that there is shelter for it in the cleft of the\nrock, and it hastens there with gladsome wing. Once wholly sheltered\nwithin its refuge, it fears no bird of prey. But if it did not hide\nitself in the rock, it would be seized upon by its adversary. The rock\nwould be of no use to the dove, if the dove did not enter its cleft.\nThe whole body must be hidden in the rock. What if ten thousand other\nbirds found a fortress there, yet that fact would not save the one\ndove which is now pursued by the hawk! It must put its whole self into\nthe shelter, and bury itself within its refuge, or its life will be\nforfeited to the destroyer.\n\nWhat a picture of faith is this! It is entering into Jesus, hiding in\nhis wounds.\n\n    \"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n    Let me hide myself in thee.\"\n\nThe dove is out of sight: the rock alone is seen. So does the guilty\nsoul dart into the riven side of Jesus by faith, and is buried in him\nout of sight of avenging justice. But there must be this personal\napplication to Jesus for shelter; and this it is that so many put\noff from day to day, till it is to be feared that they will \"die in\ntheir sins.\" What an awful word is that! It is what our Lord said to\nthe unbelieving Jews; and he says the same to us at this hour: \"If ye\nbelieve not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.\" It makes one's\nheart quiver to think that even one who shall read these lines may yet\nbe of the miserable company who will thus perish. The Lord prevent it\nof his great grace!\n\nI saw, the other day, a remarkable picture, which I shall use as an\nillustration of the way of salvation by faith in Jesus. An offender had\ncommitted a crime for which he must die, but it was in the olden time,\nwhen churches were considered to be sanctuaries in which criminals\nmight hide themselves, and so escape from death. See the transgressor!\nHe rushes towards the church, the guards pursue him with their drawn\nswords, athirst for his blood! They follow him even to the church door.\nHe rushes up the steps, and just as they are about to overtake him,\nand hew him in pieces on the threshold of the church, out comes the\nBishop, and holding up the cross, he cries, \"Back, back! Stain not the\nprecincts of God's house with blood! Stand back!\" The fierce soldiers\nat once respect the emblem, and retire, while the poor fugitive hides\nhimself behind the robes of the Bishop. It is even so with Christ. The\nguilty sinner flies straight away to Jesus; and though Justice pursues\nhim, Christ lifts up his wounded hands, and cries to Justice, \"Stand\nback! I shelter this sinner; in the secret place of my tabernacle do\nI hide him; I will not suffer him to perish, for he puts his trust\nin me.\" Sinner, fly to Christ! But you answer, \"I am too vile.\" The\nviler you are, the more will you honour him by believing that he is\nable to protect even you. \"But I am so great a sinner.\" Then the\nmore honour shall be given to him if you have faith to confide in\nhim, great sinner though you are. If you have a little sickness, and\nyou tell your physician--\"Sir, I am quite confident in your skill to\nheal,\" there is no great compliment in your declaration. Anybody can\ncure a finger-ache, or a trifling sickness. But if you are sore sick\nwith a complication of diseases which grievously torment you, and you\nsay--\"Sir, I seek no better physician; I will ask no other advice but\nyours; I trust myself joyfully with you;\" what an honour have you\nconferred on him, that you can trust your life in his hands while it is\nin extreme and immediate danger! Do the like with Christ; put your soul\ninto his care: do it deliberately, and without a doubt. Dare to quit\nall other hopes: venture all on Jesus; I say \"venture\" though there is\nnothing really venturesome in it, for he is abundantly able to save.\nCast yourself simply on Jesus; let nothing but faith be in your soul\ntowards Jesus; believe him, and trust in him, and you shall never be\nmade ashamed of your confidence. \"He that believeth on him shall not be\nconfounded\" (1 Peter ii. 6).\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nFAITH VERY SIMPLE.\n\n\nTo many, faith seems a hard thing. The truth is, _it is only hard\nbecause it is easy_. Naaman thought it hard that he should have to wash\nin Jordan; but if it had been some great thing, he would have done it\nright cheerfully. People think that salvation must be the result of\nsome act or feeling, very mysterious, and very difficult; but God's\nthoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways. In order\nthat the feeblest and the most ignorant may be saved, he has made the\nway of salvation as easy as the A, B, C. There is nothing about it to\npuzzle anyone; only, as everybody expects to be puzzled by it, many are\nquite bewildered when they find it to be so exceedingly simple.\n\nThe fact is, we do not believe that God means what he is saying; we act\nas if it could not be true.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nI have heard of a Sunday-school teacher who performed an experiment\nwhich I do not think I shall ever try with children, for it might turn\nout to be a very expensive one. Indeed, I feel sure that the result in\nmy case would be very different from what I now describe. This teacher\nhad been trying to illustrate what faith was, and, as he could not get\nit into the minds of his boys, he took his watch, and he said, \"Now, I\nwill give you this watch, John. Will you have it?\" John fell thinking\nwhat the teacher could mean, and did not seize the treasure, but made\nno answer. The teacher said to the next boy, \"Henry, here is the watch.\nWill you have it?\" The boy, with a very proper modesty, replied, \"No,\nthank you, sir.\" The teacher tried several of the boys with the same\nresult; till at last a youngster, who was not so wise or so thoughtful\nas the others, but rather more believing, said in the most natural way,\n\"Thank you, sir,\" and put the watch into his pocket. Then the other\nboys woke up to a startling fact: their companion had received a watch\nwhich they had refused. One of the boys quickly asked of the teacher,\n\"Is he to keep it?\" \"Of course he is,\" said the teacher, \"I offered it\nto him, and he accepted it. I would not give a thing and take a thing:\nthat would be very foolish. I put the watch before you, and said that\nI gave it to you, but none of you would have it.\" \"Oh!\" said the boy,\n\"if I had known you meant it, I would have had it.\" Of course he would.\nHe thought it was a piece of acting, and nothing more. All the other\nboys were in a dreadful state of mind to think that they had lost the\nwatch. Each one cried, \"Teacher, I did not know you meant it, _but I\nthought_--\" No one took the gift; but every one _thought_. Each one\nhad his theory, except the simple-minded boy who believed what he\nwas told, and got the watch. Now I wish that I could always be such\na simple child as literally to believe what the Lord says, and take\nwhat he puts before me, resting quite content that he is not playing\nwith me, and that I cannot be wrong in accepting what he sets before\nme in the gospel. Happy should we be if we would trust, and raise no\nquestions of any sort. But, alas! we will get thinking and doubting.\nWhen the Lord uplifts his dear Son before a sinner, that sinner should\ntake him without hesitation. If you take him, you have him; and none\ncan take him from you. Out with your hand, man, and take him at once!\n\nWhen enquirers accept the Bible as literally true, and see that\nJesus is really given to all who trust him, all the difficulty about\nunderstanding the way of salvation vanishes like the morning's frost at\nthe rising of the sun.\n\nTwo enquiring ones came to me in my vestry. They had been hearing\nthe gospel from me for only a short season, but they had been deeply\nimpressed by it. They expressed their regret that they were about to\nremove far away, but they added their gratitude that they had heard me\nat all. I was cheered by their kind thanks, but felt anxious that a\nmore effectual work should be wrought in them, and therefore I asked\nthem, \"Have you in very deed believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are\nyou saved?\" One of them replied, \"I have been trying hard to believe.\"\nThis statement I have often heard, but I will never let it go by me\nunchallenged. \"No,\" I said, \"that will not do. Did you ever tell your\nfather that you tried to believe him?\" After I had dwelt a while upon\nthe matter, they admitted that such language would have been an insult\nto their father. I then set the gospel very plainly before them in as\nsimple language as I could, and I begged them to believe Jesus, who is\nmore worthy of faith than the best of fathers. One of them replied, \"I\ncannot realize it: I cannot realize that I am saved.\" Then I went on\nto say, \"God bears testimony to his Son, that whosoever trusts in his\nSon is saved. Will you make him a liar now, or will you believe his\nword?\" While I thus spoke, one of them started as if astonished, and\nshe startled us all as she cried, \"O sir, I see it all; I am saved!\nOh, do bless Jesus for me; he has shown me the way, and he has saved\nme! I see it all.\" The esteemed sister who had brought these young\nfriends to me knelt down with them while, with all our hearts, we\nblessed and magnified the Lord for a soul brought into light. One of\nthe two sisters, however, could not see the gospel as the other had\ndone, though I feel sure she will do so before long. Did it not seem\nstrange that, both hearing the same words, one should come out into\nclear light, and the other should remain in the gloom? The change which\ncomes over the heart when the understanding grasps the gospel is often\nreflected in the face, and shines there like the light of heaven. Such\nnewly-enlightened souls often exclaim, \"Why, sir, it is so plain; how\nis it I have not seen it before this? I understand all I have read in\nthe Bible now, though I could not make it out before. It has all come\nin a minute, and now I see what I could never understand before.\" The\nfact is, the truth was always plain, but they were looking for signs\nand wonders, and therefore did not see what was nigh them. Old men\noften look for their spectacles when they are on their foreheads; and\nit is commonly observed that we fail to see that which is straight\nbefore us. Christ Jesus is before our faces, and we have only to look\nto him, and live; but we make all manner of bewilderment of it, and so\nmanufacture a maze out of that which is plain as a pikestaff.\n\nThe little incident about the two sisters reminds me of another. A\nmuch-esteemed friend came to me one Sabbath morning after service, to\nshake hands with me, \"for,\" said she, \"I was fifty years old on the\nsame day as yourself. I am like you in that one thing, sir; but I am\nthe very reverse of you in better things.\" I remarked, \"Then you must\nbe a very good woman; for in many things I wish I also could be the\nreverse of what I am.\" \"No, no,\" she said, \"I did not mean anything\nof that sort: I am not right at all.\" \"What!\" I cried, \"are you not a\nbeliever in the Lord Jesus?\" \"Well,\" she said, with much emotion, \"I, I\nwill try to be.\" I laid hold of her hand, and said, \"My dear soul, you\nare not going to tell me that you will try to believe my Lord Jesus! I\ncannot have such talk from you. It means blank unbelief. What has HE\ndone that you should talk of him in that way? Would you tell _me_ that\nyou would try to believe _me_? I know you would not treat me so rudely.\nYou think me a true man, and so you believe me at once; and surely you\ncannot do less with my Lord Jesus.\" Then with tears she exclaimed, \"Oh,\nsir, do pray for me!\" To this I replied, \"I do not feel that I can do\nanything of the kind. What can I ask the Lord Jesus to do for one who\nwill not trust him? I see nothing to pray about. If you will believe\nhim, you shall be saved; and if you will not believe him, I cannot ask\nhim to invent a new way to gratify your unbelief.\" Then she said again,\n\"I will try to believe\"; but I told her solemnly I would have none of\nher trying; for the message from the Lord did not mention \"trying,\"\nbut said, \"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.\"\nI pressed upon her the great truth, that \"He that believeth on him\nhath everlasting life\"; and its terrible reverse-- \"He that believeth\nnot is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of\nthe only-begotten Son of God.\" I urged her to full faith in the once\ncrucified but now ascended Lord, and the Holy Spirit there and then\nenabled her to trust. She most tenderly said, \"Oh, sir, I have been\nlooking to my feelings, and this has been my mistake! Now I trust my\nsoul with Jesus, and I am saved.\" She found immediate peace through\nbelieving. There is no other way.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nGod has been pleased to make the necessities of life very simple\nmatters. We must eat; and even a blind man can find the way to his\nmouth. We must drink; and even the tiniest babe knows how to do this\nwithout instruction. We have a fountain in the grounds of the Stockwell\nOrphanage, and when it is running in the hot weather, the boys go to\nit naturally. We have no class for fountain-drill. Many poor boys have\ncome to the Orphanage, but never one who was so ignorant that he did\nnot know how to drink. Now faith is, in spiritual things, what eating\nand drinking are in temporal things. By the mouth of faith we take the\nblessings of grace into our spiritual nature, and they are ours. O you\nwho would believe, but think you cannot, do you not see that, as one\ncan drink without strength, and as one can eat without strength, and\ngets strength by eating, so we may receive Jesus without effort, and by\naccepting him we receive power for all such further effort as we may be\ncalled to put forth?\n\nFaith is so simple a matter that, whenever I try to explain it, I am\nvery fearful lest I should becloud its simplicity. When Thomas Scott\nhad printed his notes upon \"The Pilgrim's Progress,\" he asked one of\nhis parishioners whether she understood the book. \"Oh yes, sir,\" said\nshe, \"I understand Mr. Bunyan well enough, and I am hoping that one\nday, by divine grace, I may understand your explanations.\" Should I not\nfeel mortified if my reader should know what faith is, and then get\nconfused by my explanation? I will, however, make one trial, and pray\nthe Lord to make it clear.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nI am told that on a certain highland road there was a disputed right of\nway. The owner wished to preserve his supremacy, and at the same time\nhe did not wish to inconvenience the public: hence an arrangement which\noccasioned the following incident. Seeing a sweet country girl standing\nat the gate, a tourist went up to her, and offered her a shilling to\npermit him to pass. \"No, no,\" said the child, \"I must not take anything\nfrom you; but you are to say, '_Please allow me to pass_,' and then you\nmay come through and welcome.\" The permission was to be asked for; but\nit could be had for the asking. Just so, eternal life is free; and it\ncan be had, yea, it shall be at once had, by trusting in the word of\nhim who cannot lie. Trust Christ, and by that trust you grasp salvation\nand eternal life. Do not philosophize. Do not sit down, and bother your\npoor brain. Just believe Jesus as you would believe your father. Trust\nhim as you trust your money with a banker, or your health with a doctor.\n\nFaith will not long seem a difficulty to you; nor ought it to be so,\nfor it is simple.\n\nFaith is trusting, trusting wholly upon the person, work, merit,\nand power of the Son of God. Some think this trusting is a romantic\nbusiness, but indeed it is the simplest thing that can possibly be.\nTo some of us, truths which were once hard to believe are now matters\nof fact which we should find it hard to doubt. If one of our great\ngrand-fathers were to rise from the dead, and come into the present\nstate of things, what a deal of trusting he would have to do! He would\nsay to-morrow morning, \"Where are the flint and steel? I want a light;\"\nand we should give him a little box with tiny pieces of wood in it,\nand tell him to strike one of them on the box. He would have to trust\na good deal before he would believe that fire would thus be produced.\nWe should next say to him, \"Now that you have a light, turn that\ntap, and light the gas.\" He sees nothing. How can light come through\nan invisible vapour? And yet it does. \"Come with us, grandfather. Sit\nin that chair. Look at that box in front of you. You shall have your\nlikeness directly.\" \"No, child,\" he would say, \"it is ridiculous. The\nsun take my portrait? I cannot believe it.\" \"Yes, and you shall ride\nfifty miles in an hour without horses.\" He will not believe it till\nwe get him into the train. \"My dear sir, you shall speak to your son\nin New York, and he shall answer you in a few minutes.\" Should we not\nastonish the old gentleman? Would he not want all his faith? Yet these\nthings are believed by us without effort, because experience has made\nus familiar with them. Faith is greatly needed by you who are strangers\nto spiritual things; you seem lost while we are talking about them. But\noh, how simple it is to us who have the new life, and have communion\nwith spiritual realities! We have a Father to whom we speak, and he\nhears us, and a blessed Saviour who hears our heart's longings, and\nhelps us in our struggles against sin. It is all plain to him that\nunderstandeth. May it now be plain to you!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nFEARING TO BELIEVE.\n\n\nIt is an odd product of our unhealthy nature--_the fear to believe_.\nYet have I met with it often: so often that I wish I may never see it\nagain. It looks like humility, and tries to pass itself off as the\nvery soul of modesty, and yet it is an infamously proud thing: in\nfact, it is presumption playing the hypocrite. If men were afraid to\n_dis_believe, there would be good sense in the fear; but to be afraid\nto trust their God is at best an absurdity, and in very deed it is a\ndeceitful way of refusing to the Lord the honour that is due to his\nfaithfulness and truth.\n\nHow unprofitable is the diligence which busies itself in finding out\nreasons why faith in our case should not be saving! We have God's word\nfor it, that _whosoever_ believeth in Jesus shall not perish, and\nwe search for arguments why _we_ should perish if we did believe. If\nany one gave me an estate, I certainly should not commence raising\nquestions as to the title. What can be the use of inventing reasons why\nI should not hold my own house, or possess any other piece of property\nwhich is enjoyed by me? If the Lord is satisfied to save me through the\nmerits of his dear Son, assuredly I may be satisfied to be so saved. If\nI take God at his word, the responsibility of fulfilling his promise\ndoes not lie with me, but with God, who made the promise.\n\nBut you fear that you may not be one of those for whom the promise\nis intended. Do not be alarmed by that idle suspicion. No soul ever\ncame to Jesus wrongly. No one can come at all unless the Father draw\nhim; and Jesus has said, \"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast\nout.\" No soul ever lays hold on Christ in a way of robbery; he that\nhath him hath him of right divine; for the Lord's giving of himself\n_for_ us, and _to_ us, is so free, that every soul that takes him has a\ngrace-given right to do so. If you lay hold on Jesus by the hem of his\ngarment, without leave, and behind him, yet virtue will flow from him\nto you as surely as if he had called you out by name, and bidden you\ntrust him. Dismiss all fear when you trust the Saviour. Take him and\nwelcome. He that believeth in Jesus is one of God's elect.\n\nDid you suggest that it would be a horrible thing if you were to trust\nin Jesus and yet perish? It would be so. But as you must perish if you\ndo not trust, the risk at the worst is not very great.\n\n    \"I can but perish if I go;\n      I am resolved to try;\n    For if I stay away, I know\n      I must for ever die.\"\n\nSuppose you stand in the Slough of Despond for ever; what will be the\ngood of that? Surely it would be better to die struggling along the\nKing's highway towards the Celestial City, than sinking deeper and\ndeeper in the mire and filth of dark distrustful thoughts! You have\nnothing to lose, for you have lost everything already; therefore make\na dash for it, and dare to believe in the mercy of God to you, even to\nyou.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut one moans, \"What if I come to Christ, and he refuses me?\" My answer\nis, \"Try him.\" Cast yourself on the Lord Jesus, and see if he refuses\nyou. You will be the first against whom he has shut the door of hope.\nFriend, don't cross that bridge till you come to it! When Jesus casts\nyou out, it will be time enough to despair; but that time will never\ncome. \"This man receiveth sinners\": he has not so much as begun to cast\nthem out.\n\nHave you never heard of the man who lost his way one night, and came\nto the edge of a precipice, as he thought, and in his own apprehension\nfell over the cliff? He clutched at an old tree, and there hung,\nclinging to his frail support with all his might. He felt persuaded\nthat, should he quit his hold, he would be dashed in pieces on some\nawful rocks that waited for him down below. There he hung, with the\nsweat upon his brow, and anguish in every limb. He passed into a\ndesperate state of fever and faintness, and at last his hands could\nhold up his body no longer. He relaxed his grasp! He dropped from his\nsupport! He fell--about a foot or so, and was received upon a soft\nmossy bank, whereon he lay, altogether unhurt, and perfectly safe till\nmorning. Thus, in the darkness of their ignorance, many think that\nsure destruction awaits them, if they confess their sin, quit all hope\nin self, and resign themselves into the hands of God. They are afraid\nto quit the hope to which they ignorantly cling. It is an idle fear.\nGive up your hold upon everything but Christ, and drop. Drop from\nall trust in your works, or prayers, or feelings. Drop at once! Drop\nnow! Soft and safe shall be the bank that receives you. Jesus Christ,\nin his love, in the efficacy of his precious blood, in his perfect\nrighteousness, will give you immediate rest and peace. Cease from\nself-confidence. Fall into the arms of Jesus. This is the major part\nof faith--giving up every other hold, and simply falling upon Christ.\nThere is no reason for fear: only ignorance causes your dread of that\nwhich will be your eternal safety. The death of carnal hope is the life\nof faith, and the life of faith is life everlasting. Let self die,\nthat Christ may live in you.\n\nBut the mischief is that, to the one act of faith in Jesus, we cannot\nbring men. They will adopt any expedient sooner than have done with\nself. They fight shy of believing, and fear faith as if it were a\nmonster. O foolish tremblers, who has bewitched you? You fear that\nwhich would be the death of all your fear, and the beginning of your\njoy. Why will you perish through perversely preferring other ways to\nGod's own appointed plan of salvation?\n\nAlas! there are many, many souls that say, \"We are bidden to trust\nin Jesus, but instead of that we will attend the means of grace\nregularly.\" Attend public worship by all means, but not as a substitute\nfor faith, or it will become a vain confidence. The command is,\n\"Believe and live;\" attend to that, whatever else you do. \"Well,\nI shall take to reading good books; perhaps I shall get good that\nway.\" Read the good books by all means, but that is not the gospel:\nthe gospel is, \"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be\nsaved.\" Suppose a physician has a patient under his care, and he says\nto him, \"You are to take a bath in the morning; it will be of very\ngreat service to your disease.\" But the man takes a cup of tea in\nthe morning instead of the bath, and he says, \"That will do as well,\nI have no doubt.\" What does his physician say when he enquires--\"Did\nyou follow my rule?\" \"No, I did not.\" \"Then you do not expect, of\ncourse, that there will be any good result from my visits, since you\ntake no notice of my directions.\" So we, practically, say to Jesus\nChrist, when we are under searching of soul, \"Lord, thou badest me\ntrust thee, but I would sooner do something else! Lord, I want to\nhave horrible convictions; I want to be shaken over hell's mouth; I\nwant to be alarmed and distressed!\" Yes, you want anything but what\nChrist prescribes for you, which is that you should _simply trust him_.\nWhether you feel or do not feel, cast yourself on him, that _he_ may\nsave you, and he alone. \"But you do not mean to say that you speak\nagainst praying, and reading good books, and so on?\" Not one single\nword do I speak against any of those things, any more than, if I were\nthe physician I quoted, I should speak against the man's drinking a\ncup of tea. Let him drink his tea; but not if he drinks it instead of\ntaking the bath which is prescribed for him. So let the man pray: the\nmore the better. Let the man search the Scriptures; but, remember,\nthat if these things are put in the place of simple faith in Christ,\nthe soul will be ruined. Beware lest it be said of any of you by our\nLord, \"Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal\nlife; but ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCome by faith to Jesus, for without him you perish for ever. Did you\never notice how a fir-tree will get a hold among rocks which seem to\nafford it no soil? It sends a rootlet into any little crack which\nopens; it clutches even the bare rock as with a huge bird's claw; it\nholds fast, and binds itself to earth with a hundred anchorages. Our\nlittle drawing is very accurate. We have often seen trees thus firmly\nrooted upon detached masses of bare rock. Now, dear heart, let this\nbe a picture of yourself. Grip the Rock of Ages. With the rootlet of\nlittle-faith hold to him. Let that tiny feeler grow; and, meanwhile,\nsend out another to take a new grasp of the same Rock. Lay hold on\nJesus, and keep hold on Jesus. Grow up into him. Twist the roots of\nyour nature, the fibres of your heart, about him. He is as free to you\nas the rocks are to the fir-tree: be you as firmly lashed to him as the\npine is to the mountain's side.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nDIFFICULTY IN THE WAY OF BELIEVING.\n\n\nIt may be that the reader feels a difficulty in believing. Let him\nconsider. We cannot believe by an immediate act. The state of mind\nwhich we describe as believing is a result, following upon certain\nformer states of mind. We come to faith by degrees. There may be such\na thing as faith at first sight; but usually we reach faith by stages:\nwe become interested, we consider, we hear evidence, we are convinced,\nand so led to believe. If, then, I wish to believe, but for some reason\nor other find that I cannot attain to faith, what shall I do? Shall I\nstand like a cow staring at a new gate; or shall I, like an intelligent\nbeing, use the proper means? If I wish to believe anything, what shall\nI do? We will answer according to the rules of common-sense.\n\nIf I were told that the Sultan of Zanzibar was a good man, and it\nhappened to be a matter of interest to me, I do not suppose I should\nfeel any difficulty in believing it. But if for some reason I had a\ndoubt about it, and yet wished to believe the news, how should I act?\nShould I not hunt up all the information within my reach about his\nMajesty, and try, by study of the newspapers and other documents,\nto arrive at the truth? Better still, if he happened to be in this\ncountry, and would see me, and I could also converse with members of\nhis court, and citizens of his country, I should be greatly helped to\narrive at a decision by using these sources of information. Evidence\nweighed and knowledge obtained lead up to faith. It is true that\nfaith in Jesus is the gift of God; but yet he usually bestows it in\naccordance with the laws of mind, and hence we are told that \"faith\ncometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.\" If you want to\nbelieve in Jesus, hear about him, read about him, think about him, know\nabout him, and so you will find faith springing up in your heart, like\nthe wheat which comes up through the moisture and the heat operating\nupon the seed which has been sown. If I wished to have faith in a\ncertain physician, I should ask for testimonials of his cures, I should\nwish to see the diplomas which certified to his professional knowledge,\nand I should also like to hear what he has to say upon certain\ncomplicated cases. In fact, I should take means to know, in order that\nI might believe.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBe much in _hearing_ concerning Jesus. Souls by hundreds come to faith\nin Jesus under a ministry which sets him forth clearly and constantly.\nFew remain unbelieving under a preacher whose great subject is Christ\ncrucified. Hear no minister of any other sort. There are such. I have\nheard of one who found in his pulpit Bible a paper bearing this text,\n\"_Sir, we would see Jesus_.\" Go to the place of worship to see Jesus;\nand if you cannot even hear the mention of his name, take yourself off\nto another place where he is more thought of, and is therefore more\nlikely to be present.\n\nBe much in _reading_ about the Lord Jesus. The books of Scripture are\nthe lilies among which he feedeth. The Bible is the window through\nwhich we may look and see our Lord. Read over the story of his\nsufferings and death with devout attention, and before long the Lord\nwill cause faith secretly to enter your soul. The Cross of Christ not\nonly rewards faith, but begets faith. Many a believer can say--\n\n    \"When I view thee, wounded, grieving,\n      Breathless, on the cursed tree,\n    Soon I feel my heart believing\n      Thou hast suffered thus for me.\"\n\nIf hearing and reading suffice not, then deliberately _set your mind\nto work to overhaul the matter_, and have it out. Either believe, or\nknow the reason why you do not believe. See the matter through to the\nutmost of your ability, and pray God to help you to make a thorough\ninvestigation, and to come to an honest decision one way or the other.\nConsider who Jesus was, and whether the constitution of his person\ndoes not entitle him to confidence. Consider what he did, and whether\nthis also must not be good ground for trust. Consider him as dying,\nrising from the dead, ascending, and ever living to intercede for\ntransgressors; and see whether this does not entitle him to be relied\non by you. Then cry to him, and see if he does not hear you. When Usher\nwished to know whether Rutherford was indeed as holy a man as he was\nsaid to be, he went to his house as a beggar, and gained a lodging,\nand heard the man of God pouring out his heart before the Lord in\nthe night. If you would know Jesus, get as near to him as you can by\nstudying his character, and appealing to his love.\n\nAt one time I might have needed evidence to make me believe in the\nLord Jesus; but now I know him so well, by proving him, that I should\nneed a very great deal of evidence to make me doubt him. It is now\nmore natural to me to trust than to disbelieve: this is the new nature\ntriumphing; it was not so at the first. The novelty of faith is, in the\nbeginning, a source of weakness; but act after act of trusting turns\nfaith into a habit. Experience brings to faith strong confirmation.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nI am not perplexed with doubt, because the truth which I believe has\nwrought a miracle on me. By its means I have received and still retain\na new life, to which I was once a stranger: and this is confirmation of\nthe strongest sort. I am like the good man and his wife who had kept\na lighthouse for years. A visitor, who came to see the lighthouse,\nlooking out from the window over the waste of waters, asked the good\nwoman, \"Are you not afraid at night, when the storm is out, and the big\nwaves dash right over the lantern? Do you not fear that the lighthouse,\nand all that is in it, will be carried away? I am sure I should be\nafraid to trust myself in a slender tower in the midst of the great\nbillows.\" The woman remarked that the idea never occurred to her now.\nShe had lived there so long that she felt as safe on the lone rock as\never she did when she lived on the mainland. As for her husband, when\nasked if he did not feel anxious when the wind blew a hurricane, he\nanswered, \"Yes, I feel anxious to keep the lamps well trimmed, and the\nlight burning, lest any vessel should be wrecked.\" As to anxiety about\nthe safety of the lighthouse, or his own personal security in it, he\nhad outlived all that. Even so it is with the full-grown believer. He\ncan humbly say, \"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he\nis able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.\"\nFrom henceforth let no man trouble me with doubts and questionings; I\nbear in my soul the proofs of the Spirit's truth and power, and I will\nhave none of your artful reasonings. The gospel to me is truth: I am\ncontent to perish if it be not true. I risk my soul's eternal fate upon\nthe truth of the gospel, and I know that there is no risk in it. My\none concern is to keep the lights burning, that I may thereby benefit\nothers. Only let the Lord give me oil enough to feed my lamp, so that\nI may cast a ray across the dark and treacherous sea of life, and I am\nwell content.\n\nNow, troubled seeker, if it be so, that your minister, and many others\nin whom you confide, have found perfect peace and rest in the gospel,\nwhy should not you? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Do not his\nwords do good to them that walk uprightly? Will not you also try their\nsaving virtue?\n\nMost true is the gospel, for God is its Author. Believe it. Most able\nis the Saviour, for he is the Son of God. Trust him. Most powerful is\nhis precious blood. Look to it for pardon. Most loving is his gracious\nheart. Run to it at once.\n\nThus would I urge the reader to seek faith; but if he be unwilling,\nwhat more can I do? I have brought the horse to the water, but I cannot\nmake him drink. This, however, be it remembered--_unbelief is wilful\nwhen evidence is put in a man's way, and he refuses carefully to\nexamine it_. He that does not desire to know, and accept the truth, has\nhimself to thank if he dies with a lie in his right hand. It is true\nthat \"he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved\": it is equally\ntrue that \"he that believeth not shall be damned.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nA HELPFUL SURVEY.\n\n\nTo help the seeker to a true faith in Jesus, I would remind him of the\nwork of the Lord Jesus in the room and place and stead of sinners.\n\"When we were yet without strength, in due time CHRIST DIED FOR THE\nUNGODLY\" (Rom. v. 6). \"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body\non the tree\" (1 Pet. ii. 24). \"The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity\nof us all\" (Is. liii. 6). \"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,\nthe Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God\" (1 Pet. iii.\n18).\n\nUpon one declaration of Scripture let the reader fix his eye. \"WITH HIS\nSTRIPES WE ARE HEALED\" (Is. liii. 5). God here treats sin as a disease,\nand he sets before us the costly remedy which he has provided.\n\nI ask you very solemnly to accompany me in your meditations, for a few\nminutes, while I bring before you the stripes of the Lord Jesus. The\nLord resolved to restore us, and therefore he sent his only-begotten\nSon, \"very God of very God,\" that he might descend into this world to\ntake upon himself our nature, in order to our redemption. He lived\nas a man among men; and, in due time, after thirty years or more of\nobedience, the time came when he should do us the greatest service of\nall, namely, stand in our stead, and bear \"the chastisement of our\npeace.\" He went to Gethsemane, and there, at the first taste of our\nbitter cup, he sweat great drops of blood. He went to Pilate's hall,\nand Herod's judgment-seat, and there drank draughts of pain and scorn\nin our room and place. Last of all, they took him to the cross, and\nnailed him there to die--to die in our stead. The word \"stripes\" is\nused to set forth his sufferings, both of body and of soul. The whole\nof Christ was made a sacrifice for us: his whole manhood suffered.\nAs to his body, it shared with his mind in a grief that never can\nbe described. In the beginning of his passion, when he emphatically\nsuffered instead of us, he was in an agony, and from his bodily frame\na bloody sweat distilled so copiously as to fall to the ground. It\nis very rarely that a man sweats blood. There have been one or two\ninstances of it, and they have been followed by almost immediate\ndeath; but our Saviour lived--lived after an agony which, to anyone\nelse, would have proved fatal. Ere he could cleanse his face from this\ndreadful crimson, they hurried him to the high priest's hall. In the\ndead of night they bound him, and led him away. Anon they took him to\nPilate and to Herod. These scourged him, and their soldiers spat in\nhis face, and buffeted him, and put on his head a crown of thorns.\nScourging is one of the most awful tortures that can be inflicted by\nmalice. It was formerly the disgrace of the British army that the \"cat\"\nwas used upon the soldier: a brutal infliction of torture. But to the\nRoman, cruelty was so natural that he made his common punishments worse\nthan brutal. The Roman scourge is said to have been made of the sinews\nof oxen, twisted into knots, and into these knots were inserted slivers\nof bone, and huckle-bones of sheep; so that every time the scourge fell\nupon the bare back, \"the plowers made deep furrows.\" Our Saviour was\ncalled upon to endure the fierce pain of the Roman scourge, and this\nnot as the _finis_ of his punishment, but as a preface to crucifixion.\nTo this his persecutors added buffeting, and plucking of the hair: they\nspared him no form of pain. In all his faintness, through bleeding and\nfasting, they made him carry his cross until another was forced, by the\nforethought of their cruelty, to bear it, lest their victim should die\non the road. They stripped him, and threw him down, and nailed him to\nthe wood. They pierced his hands and his feet. They lifted up the tree,\nwith him upon it, and then dashed it down into its place in the ground,\nso that all his limbs were dislocated, according to the lament of the\ntwenty-second psalm, \"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are\nout of joint.\" He hung in the burning sun till the fever dissolved his\nstrength, and he said, \"My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst\nof my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue\ncleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.\"\nThere he hung, a spectacle to God and men. The weight of his body was\nfirst sustained by his feet, till the nails tore through the tender\nnerves: and then the painful load began to drag upon his hands, and\nrend those sensitive parts of his frame. How small a wound in the hand\nhas brought on lockjaw! How awful must have been the torment caused\nby that dragging iron tearing through the delicate parts of the hands\nand feet! Now were all manner of bodily pains centred in his tortured\nframe. All the while his enemies stood around, pointing at him in\nscorn, thrusting out their tongues in mockery, jesting at his prayers,\nand gloating over his sufferings. He cried, \"I thirst,\" and then they\ngave him vinegar mingled with gall. After a while he said, \"It is\nfinished.\" He had endured the utmost of appointed grief, and had made\nfull vindication to divine justice: then, and not till then, he gave up\nthe ghost. Holy men of old have enlarged most lovingly upon the bodily\nsufferings of our Lord, and I have no hesitation in doing the same,\ntrusting that trembling sinners may see salvation in these painful\n\"stripes\" of the Redeemer.\n\nTo describe the outward sufferings of our Lord is not easy: I\nacknowledge that I have failed. But his soul-sufferings, which were the\nsoul of his sufferings, who can even conceive, much less express, what\nthey were? At the very first I told you that he sweat great drops of\nblood. That was his heart driving out its life-floods to the surface\nthrough the terrible depression of spirit which was upon him. He said,\n\"My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.\" The betrayal by\nJudas, and the desertion of the twelve, grieved our Lord; but the\nweight of our sin was the real pressure on his heart. Our guilt was\nthe olive-press which forced from him the moisture of his life. No\nlanguage can ever tell his agony in prospect of his passion; how little\nthen can we conceive the passion itself? When nailed to the cross,\nhe endured what no martyr ever suffered; for martyrs, when they have\ndied, have been so sustained of God that they have rejoiced amid their\npain; but our Redeemer was forsaken of his Father, until he cried, \"My\nGod, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\" That was the bitterest cry of\nall, the utmost depth of his unfathomable grief. Yet was it needful\nthat he should be deserted, because God must turn his back on sin, and\nconsequently upon him who was made sin for us. The soul of the great\nSubstitute suffered a horror of misery instead of that horror of hell\ninto which sinners would have been plunged had he not taken their sin\nupon himself, and been made a curse for them. It is written, \"Cursed\nis every one that hangeth on a tree;\" but who knows what that curse\nmeans?\n\nThe remedy for your sins and mine is found in the substitutionary\nsufferings of the Lord Jesus, and in these only. These \"stripes\" of\nthe Lord Jesus Christ were on our behalf. Do you enquire, \"Is there\nanything for us to do, to remove the guilt of sin?\" I answer: There is\nnothing whatever for you to do. By the stripes of Jesus we are healed.\nAll those stripes he has endured, and left not one of them for us to\nbear.\n\n\"But must we not believe on him?\" Ay, certainly. If I say of a certain\nointment that it heals, I do not deny that you need a bandage with\nwhich to apply it to the wound. Faith is the linen which binds the\nplaster of Christ's reconciliation to the sore of our sin. The linen\ndoes not heal; that is the work of the ointment. So faith does not\nheal; that is the work of the atonement of Christ.\n\n\"But we must repent,\" cries another. Assuredly we must, and shall, for\nrepentance is the first sign of healing; but the stripes of Jesus heal\nus, and not our repentance. These stripes, when applied to the heart,\nwork repentance in us: we hate sin because it made Jesus suffer.\n\nWhen you intelligently trust in Jesus as having suffered for you, then\nyou discover the fact that God will never punish you for the same\noffence for which Jesus died. His justice will not permit him to see\nthe debt paid, first, by the Surety, and then again by the debtor.\nJustice cannot twice demand a recompense: if my bleeding Surety has\nborne my guilt, then I cannot bear it. Accepting Christ Jesus as\nsuffering for me, I have accepted a complete discharge from judicial\nliability. I have been condemned in Christ, and there is, therefore,\nnow no condemnation to me any more. This is the ground-work of the\nsecurity of the sinner who believes in Jesus: he lives because Jesus\ndied in his room, and place, and stead; and he is acceptable before God\nbecause Jesus is accepted. The person for whom Jesus is an accepted\nSubstitute must go free; none can touch him; he is clear. O my hearer,\nwilt thou have Jesus Christ to be thy Substitute? If so, thou art free.\n\"He that believeth on him is not condemned.\" Thus \"with his stripes we\nare healed.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nA REAL HINDRANCE.\n\n\nAlthough it is by no means a difficult thing in itself to believe him\nwho cannot lie, and to trust in One whom we know to be able to save,\nyet something may intervene which may render even this a hard thing to\nmy reader. That hindrance may be a secret, and yet it may be none the\nless real. A door may be closed, not by a great stone which all can\nsee, but by an invisible bolt which shoots into a holdfast quite out\nof sight. A man may have good eyes, and yet may not be able to see an\nobject, because another substance comes in the way. You could not even\nsee the sun if a handkerchief, or a mere piece of rag, were tied over\nyour face. Oh, the bandages which men persist in binding over their own\neyes!\n\nA sweet sin, harboured in the heart, will prevent a soul from laying\nhold upon Christ by faith. The Lord Jesus has come to save us from\nsinning; and if we are resolved to go on sinning, Christ and our souls\nwill never agree. If a man takes poison, and a doctor is called in to\nsave his life, he may have a sure antidote ready; but if the patient\npersists in keeping the poison-bottle at his lips, and will continue\nto swallow the deadly drops, how can the doctor save him? Salvation\nconsists largely in parting the sinner from his sin, and the very\nnature of salvation would have to be changed before we could speak of a\nman's being saved when he is loving sin, and wilfully living in it. A\nman cannot be made white, and yet continue black; he cannot be healed,\nand yet remain sick; neither can anyone be saved, and be still a lover\nof evil.\n\nA drunkard will be saved by believing in Christ--that is to say, he\nwill be saved from being a drunkard; but if he determines still to make\nhimself intoxicated, he is not saved from it, and he has not truly\nbelieved in Jesus. A liar can by faith be saved from falsehood, but\nthen he leaves off lying, and is careful to speak the truth. Anyone can\nsee with half an eye that he cannot be saved from being a liar, and\nyet go on in his old style of deceit and untruthfulness. A person who\nis at enmity with another will be saved from that feeling of enmity\nby believing in the Lord Jesus; but if he vows that he will still\ncherish the feeling of hate, it is clear that he is not saved from\nit, and equally clear that he has not believed in the Lord Jesus unto\nsalvation. The great matter is to be delivered from the love of sin:\nthis is the sure effect of trust in the Saviour; but if this effect is\nso far from being desired that it is even refused, all talk of trusting\nin the Saviour for salvation is an idle tale. A man goes to the\nshipping-office, and asks if he can be taken to America. He is assured\nthat a ship is just ready, and that he has only to go on board, and he\nwill soon reach New York. \"But,\" says he, \"I want to stop at home in\nEngland, and mind my shop all the time I am crossing the Atlantic.\"\nThe agent thinks he is talking to a madman, and tells him to go about\nhis business, and not waste his time by playing the fool. To pretend\nto trust Christ to save you from sin while you are still determined to\ncontinue in it, is making a mock of Christ. I pray my reader not to be\nguilty of such profanity. Let him not dream that the holy Jesus will be\nthe patron of iniquity.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDo you see the tree in my picture? The ivy has grown all over it, and\nis strangling it, sucking out its life, and killing it. Can that tree\nbe saved? The gardener thinks it can be. He is willing to do his best.\nBut before he begins to use his axe and his knife, he is told that he\nmust not cut away the ivy. \"Ah! then,\" he says, \"it is impossible. It\nis the ivy which is killing the tree, and if you want the tree saved,\nyou cannot save the ivy. If you trust me to preserve the tree, you must\nlet me get the deadly climber away from it.\" Is not that common sense?\nCertainly it is. You do not trust the tree to the gardener unless you\ntrust him to cut away that which is deadly to it. If the sinner will\nkeep his sin, he must die in it; if he is willing to be rescued from\nhis sin, the Lord Jesus is able to do it, and will do it if he commits\nhis case to his care.\n\nWhat, then, is your darling sin? Is it any gross wrong-doing? Then very\nshame should make you cease from it. Is it love of the world, or fear\nof men, or longing for evil gains? Surely, none of these things should\nreconcile you to living in enmity with God, and beneath his frown. Is\nit a human love, which is eating like a canker into the heart? Can any\ncreature rival the Lord Jesus? Is it not idolatry to allow any earthly\nthing to compare for one instant with the Lord God? \"Well,\" saith one,\n\"for me to give up the particular sin by which I am held captive, would\nbe to my serious injury in business, would ruin my prospects, and\nlessen my usefulness in many ways.\" If it be so, you have your case met\nby the words of the Lord Jesus, who bids you to pluck out your eye,\nand cut off your hand or foot, and cast it from you, rather than be\ncast into hell. It is better to enter into life with one eye, with the\npoorest prospects, than to keep all your hopes, and be out of Christ.\nBetter be a lame believer than a leaping sinner. Better be in the rear\nrank for life in the army of Christ than lead the van and be a chief\nofficer under the command of Satan. If you win Christ, it will little\nmatter what you lose. No doubt many have had to suffer that which has\nmaimed and lamed them for this life; but if they have entered thereby\ninto eternal life, they have been great gainers.\n\nIt comes to this, my friend, as it did with John Bunyan; a voice now\nspeaks to you, and says--\n\n                WILT THOU KEEP THY SIN AND GO TO HELL?\n\n                                  OR\n\n                    LEAVE THY SIN AND GO TO HEAVEN?\n\nThe point should be decided before you quit the spot. In the name\nof God, I ask you, Which shall it be--Christ and salvation, or the\nfavourite sin and damnation? There is no middle course. Waiting or\nrefusing to decide will practically be a sure decision for the evil\none. He that stands questioning whether he will be honest or not, is\nalready out of the straight line: he that does not know whether he\nwishes to be cleansed from sin gives evidence of a foul heart.\n\nIf you are anxious to give up every evil way, our Lord Jesus will\nenable you to do so at once. His grace has already changed the\ndirection of your desires: in fact, your heart is renewed. Therefore,\nrest on him to strengthen you to battle with temptations as they arise,\nand to fulfil the Lord's commands from day to day. The Lord Jesus is\ngreat at making the lame man to leap like a hart, and in enabling those\nwho are sick of the palsy to take up their bed and walk. He will make\nyou able to conquer the evil habit. He will even cast the devil out of\nyou. Yes, if you had seven devils, he could drive them out at once;\nthere is no limit to his power to cleanse and sanctify. Now that you\nare willing to be made whole, the great difficulty is removed. He that\nhas set the will right can arrange all your other powers, and make them\nmove to his praise. You would not have earnestly desired to quit all\nsin if he had not secretly inclined you in that direction. If you now\ntrust him, it will be clear that he has begun a good work in you, and\nwe feel assured that he will carry it on.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nON RAISING QUESTIONS.\n\n\nIn these days, a simple, childlike faith is very rare; but the usual\nthing is to believe nothing, and question everything. Doubts are as\nplentiful as blackberries, and all hands and lips are stained with\nthem. To me it seems very strange that men should hunt up difficulties\nas to their own salvation. If I were doomed to die, and I had a hint of\nmercy, I am sure I should not set my wits to work to find out reasons\nwhy I should not be pardoned. I could leave my enemies to do that: I\nshould be on the look-out in a very different direction. If I were\ndrowning, I should sooner catch at a straw than push a life-belt away\nfrom me. To reason against one's own life is a sort of constructive\nsuicide of which only a drunken man would be guilty. To argue against\nyour only hope is like a foolish man sitting on a bough, and chopping\nit away so as to let himself down. Who but an idiot would do that?\nYet many appear to be special pleaders for their own ruin. They hunt\nthe Bible through for threatening texts; and when they have done with\nthat, they turn to reason, and philosophy, and scepticism, in order to\nshut the door in their own faces. Surely this is poor employment for a\nsensible man.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMany nowadays who cannot quite get away from religious thought, are\nable to stave off the inconvenient pressure of conscience by quibbling\nover the great truths of revelation. Great mysteries are in the Book\nof God of necessity; for how can the infinite God so speak that all his\nthoughts can be grasped by finite man? But it is the height of folly\nto get discussing these deep things, and to leave plain, soul-saving\ntruths in abeyance. It reminds one of the two philosophers who debated\nabout food, and went away empty from the table, while the common\ncountryman in the corner asked no question, but used his knife and fork\nwith great diligence, and went on his way rejoicing. Thousands are now\nhappy in the Lord through receiving the gospel like little children;\nwhile others, who can always see difficulties, or invent them, are as\nfar off as ever from any comfortable hope of salvation. I know many\nvery decent people who seem to have resolved never to come to Christ\ntill they can understand how the doctrine of election is consistent\nwith the free invitations of the gospel. I might just as well determine\nnever to eat a morsel of bread till it has been explained to me how it\nis that God keeps me alive, and yet I must eat to live. The fact is,\nthat we most of us _know_ quite enough already, and the real want with\nus is not light in the head, but truth in the heart; not help over\ndifficulties, but grace to make us hate sin and seek reconciliation.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHere let me add a warning against tampering with the Word of God.\nNo habit can be more ruinous to the soul. It is cool, contemptuous\nimpertinence to sit down and correct your Maker, and it tends to make\nthe heart harder than the nether millstone. We remember one who used\na penknife on his Bible, and it was not long before he had given up\nall his former beliefs. The spirit of reverence is healthy, but the\nimpertinence of criticizing the inspired Word is destructive of all\nproper feeling towards God.\n\nIf ever a man does feel his need of a Saviour after treating Scripture\nwith a proud, critical spirit, he is very apt to find his conscience\nstanding in the way, and hindering him from comfort by reminding\nhim of ill-treatment of the sacred Word. It comes hard to him to\ndraw consolation out of passages of the Bible which he has treated\ncavalierly, or even set aside altogether, as unworthy of consideration.\nIn his distress the sacred texts seem to laugh at his calamity. When\nthe time of need comes, the wells which he stopped with stones yield no\nwater for his thirst. Beware, when you despise a Scripture, lest you\ncast away the only friend that can help you in the hour of agony.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA certain German duke was accustomed to call upon his servant to read a\nchapter of the Bible to him every morning. When anything did not square\nwith his judgment he would sternly cry, \"Hans, strike that out.\" At\nlength Hans was a long time before he began to read. He fumbled over\nthe Book, till his master called out, \"Hans, why do you not read?\" Then\nHans answered, \"Sir, there is hardly anything left. It is all struck\nout!\" One day his master's objections had run one way, and another\nday they had taken another turn, and another set of passages had been\nblotted, till nothing was left to instruct or comfort him. Let us not,\nby carping criticism, destroy our own mercies. We may yet need those\npromises which appear needless; and those portions of Holy Writ which\nhave been most assailed by sceptics may yet prove essential to our very\nlife: wherefore let us guard the priceless treasure of the Bible, and\ndetermine never to resign a single line of it.\n\nWhat have we to do with recondite questions while our souls are in\nperil? The way to escape from sin is plain enough. The wayfaring man,\nthough a fool, shall not err therein. God has not mocked us with a\nsalvation which we cannot understand. BELIEVE AND LIVE is a command\nwhich a babe may comprehend and obey.\n\n    Doubt no more, but now believe;\n    Question not, but just receive.\n    Artful doubts and reasonings be\n    Nailed with Jesus to the tree.\n\nInstead of cavilling at Scripture, the man who is led of the Spirit of\nGod will close in with the Lord Jesus at once. Seeing that thousands of\ndecent, common-sense people--people, too, of the best character--are\ntrusting their all with Jesus, he will do the same, and have done with\nfurther delays. Then has he begun a life worth living, and he may have\ndone with further fear. He may at once advance to that higher and\nbetter way of living, which grows out of love to Jesus, the Saviour.\nWhy should not the reader do so at once? Oh that he would!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA Newark, New Jersey, butcher received a letter from his old home in\nGermany, notifying that he had, by the death of a relative, fallen\nheir to a considerable amount of money. He was cutting up a pig at the\ntime. After reading the letter, he hastily tore off his dirty apron,\nand did not stop to see the pork cut up into sausages, but left the\nshop to make preparations for going home to Germany. Do you blame him,\nor would you have had him stop in Newark with his block and his cleaver?\n\nSee here the operation of faith. The butcher believed what was told\nhim, and acted on it at once. Sensible fellow, too!\n\nGod has sent his messages to man, telling him the good news of\nsalvation. When a man believes the good news to be true, he accepts the\nblessing announced to him, and hastens to lay hold upon it. If he truly\nbelieves, he will at once take Christ, with all he has to bestow, turn\nfrom his present evil ways, and set out for the Heavenly City, where\nthe full blessing is to be enjoyed. He cannot be holy too soon, or too\nearly quit the ways of sin. If a man could really see what sin is, he\nwould flee from it as from a deadly serpent, and rejoice to be freed\nfrom it by Christ Jesus.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nWITHOUT FAITH NO SALVATION.\n\n\nSome think it hard that there should be nothing for them but ruin if\nthey will not believe in Jesus Christ; but if you will think for a\nminute you will see that it is just and reasonable. I suppose there is\nno way for a man to keep his strength up except by eating. If you were\nto say, \"I will not eat again, I despise such animalism,\" you might go\nto Madeira, or travel in all lands (supposing you lived long enough!),\nbut you would most certainly find that no climate and no exercise would\navail to keep you alive if you refused food. Would you then complain,\n\"It is a hard thing that I should die because I do not believe in\neating\"? It is not an unjust thing that if you are so foolish as not\nto eat, you must die. It is precisely so with believing. \"Believe, and\nthou art saved.\" If thou wilt not believe, it is no hard thing that\nthou shouldst be lost. It would be strange indeed if it were not to be\nthe case.\n\nA man who is thirsty stands before a fountain. \"No,\" he says, \"I\nwill never touch a drop of moisture as long as I live. Cannot I get\nmy thirst quenched in my own way?\" We tell him, no; he must drink\nor die. He says, \"I will never drink; but it is a hard thing that I\nmust therefore die. It is a bigoted, cruel thing to tell me so.\" He\nis wrong. His thirst is the inevitable result of neglecting a law of\nnature. You, too, must believe or die; why refuse to obey the command?\nDrink, man, drink! Take Christ and live. There is the way of salvation,\nand to enter you must trust Christ; but there is nothing hard in the\nfact that you must perish if you will not trust the Saviour. Here is\na man out at sea; he has a chart, and that chart, if well studied,\nwill, with the help of the compass, guide him to his journey's end.\nThe pole-star gleams out amidst the cloud-rifts, and that, too, will\nhelp him. \"No,\" says he, \"I will have nothing to do with your stars; I\ndo not believe in the North Pole. I shall not attend to that little\nthing inside the box; one needle is as good as another needle. I have\nno faith in your chart, and I will have nothing to do with it. The art\nof navigation is only a lot of nonsense, got up by people on purpose\nto make money, and I will not be gulled by it.\" The man never reaches\nport, and he says it is a very hard thing--a very hard thing. I do not\nthink so. Some of you say, \"I am not going to read the Scriptures; I am\nnot going to listen to your talk about Jesus Christ: I do not believe\nin such things.\" Then Jesus says, \"He that believeth not shall be\ndamned.\" \"That's very hard,\" say you. But it is not so. It is not more\nhard than the fact that if you reject the compass and the pole-star you\nwill not reach your port. There is no help for it; it must be so.\n\nYou say you will have nothing to do with Jesus and his blood, and you\npooh-pooh all religion. You will find it hard to laugh these matters\ndown when you come to die, when the clammy sweat must be wiped from\nyour brow, and your heart beats against your ribs as if it wanted to\nleap out and fly away from God. O soul! you will find then, that those\nSundays, and those services, and this old Book, are something more and\nbetter than you thought they were, and you will wonder that you were so\nsimple as to neglect any true help to salvation. Above all, what woe it\nwill be to have neglected Christ, that Pole-star which alone can guide\nthe mariner to the haven of rest!\n\nWhere do you live?\n\nYou live, perhaps, on the other side of the river, and you have to\ncross a bridge before you can get home. You have been so silly as to\nnurse the notion that you do not believe in bridges, nor in boats, nor\nin the existence of such a thing as water. You say, \"I am not going\nover any of your bridges, and I shall not get into any of your boats. I\ndo not believe that there is a river, or that there is any such stuff\nas water.\" You are going home, and soon you come to the old bridge; but\nyou will not cross it. Yonder is a boat; but you are determined that\nyou will not get into it. There is the river, and you resolve that you\nwill not cross it in the usual way; and yet you think it is very hard\nthat you cannot get home. Surely something has destroyed your reasoning\npowers, for you would not think it so hard if you were in your senses.\nIf a man will not do the thing that is necessary to a certain end,\nhow can he expect to gain that end? You have taken poison, and the\nphysician brings an antidote, and says, \"Take it quickly, or you will\ndie; but if you take it quickly, I will guarantee that the poison\nwill be neutralized.\" But you say, \"No, doctor, I do not believe in\nantidotes. Let everything take its course; let every tub stand on its\nown bottom; I will have nothing to do with your remedy. Besides, I do\nnot believe that there is any remedy for the poison I have taken; and,\nwhat is more, I don't care whether there is or not.\"\n\nWell, sir, you will die; and when the coroner's inquest is held on\nyour body, the verdict will be, 'Served him right!' So will it be with\nyou if, having heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, you say, \"I am too\nmuch of an advanced man to have anything to do with that old-fashioned\nnotion of substitution. I shall not attend to the preacher's talk about\nsacrifice and blood-shedding.\" Then, when you perish, the verdict given\nby your conscience, which will sit upon the King's quest at last, will\nrun thus, \"_Suicide: he destroyed his own soul_.\" So says the old\nBook--\"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself!\" Reader, I implore thee,\ndo not so.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTO THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED.\n\n\nFriends, if now you have begun to trust the Lord, trust him out and\nout. Let your faith be the most real and practical thing in your\nwhole life. Don't trust the Lord in mere sentiment about a few great\nspiritual things; but trust him for everything, for ever, both for time\nand eternity, for body and for soul. See how the Lord hangeth the world\nupon nothing but his own word! It has neither prop nor pillar. Yon\ngreat arch of heaven stands without a buttress or a wooden centre. The\nLord can and will bear all the strain that faith can ever put upon him.\nThe greatest troubles are easy to his power, and the darkest mysteries\nare clear to his wisdom. Trust God up to the hilt. Lean, and lean\nhard; yes, lean all your weight, and every other weight upon the Mighty\nGod of Jacob.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe future you can safely leave with the Lord, who ever liveth and\nnever changeth. The past is now in your Saviour's hand, and you shall\nnever be condemned for it, whatever it may have been, for the Lord has\ncast your iniquities into the midst of the sea. Believe at this moment\nin your present privileges. YOU ARE SAVED. If you are a believer in the\nLord Jesus, you have passed from death unto life, and YOU ARE SAVED.\nIn the old slave days a lady brought her black servant on board an\nEnglish ship, and she laughingly said to the Captain, \"I suppose if I\nand Aunt Chloe were to go to England she would be free?\" \"Madam,\" said\nthe Captain, \"she is _now_ free. The moment she came on board a British\nvessel she was free.\" When the negro woman knew this, she did not leave\nthe ship--not she. It was not _the hope of liberty_ that made her\nbold, but _the fact of liberty_. So you are not now merely hoping for\neternal life, but \"_He that believeth in him hath everlasting life_.\"\nAccept this as a fact revealed in the sacred Word, and begin to rejoice\naccordingly. Do not reason about it, or call it in question; believe\nit, and leap for joy.\n\nI want my reader, upon believing in the Lord Jesus, to believe for\n_eternal_ salvation. Do not be content with the notion that you can\nreceive a new birth which will die out, a heavenly life which will\nexpire, a pardon which will be recalled. The Lord Jesus gives to his\nsheep _eternal_ life, and do not be at rest until you have it. Now, if\nit be eternal, how can it die out? Be saved out and out, for eternity.\nThere is \"a living and incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth\nfor ever\"; do not be put off with a temporary change, a sort of grace\nwhich will only bloom to fade. You are now starting on the railway\nof grace--_take a ticket all the way through_. I have no commission\nto preach to you salvation for a time: the gospel I am bidden to set\nbefore you is, \"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.\" He\nshall be saved from sin, from going back to sin, from turning aside to\nthe broad road. May the Holy Spirit lead you to believe for nothing\nless than that. \"Do you mean,\" says one, \"that I am to believe if\nI once trust Christ I shall be saved whatever sin I may choose to\ncommit?\" I have never said anything of the kind. I have described true\nsalvation as a thorough change of heart of so radical a kind that it\nwill alter your tastes and desires; and I say that if you have such a\nchange wrought in you by the Holy Spirit, it will be permanent; for the\nLord's work is not like the cheap work of the present day, which soon\ngoes to pieces. Trust the Lord to keep you, however long you may live,\nand however much you may be tempted; and \"according to your faith, so\nbe it unto you.\" Believe in Jesus for _everlasting_ life.\n\nOh, that you may also trust the Lord for all the sufferings of this\npresent time! In the world you will have tribulation; learn by faith to\nknow that all things work together for good, and then submit yourself\nto the Lord's will. Look at the sheep when it is being shorn. If it\nlies quite still, the shears will not hurt it; if it struggles, or\neven shrinks, it may be pricked. Submit yourselves under the hand of\nGod, and affliction will lose its sharpness. Self-will and repining\ncause us a hundred times more grief than our afflictions themselves.\nSo believe your Lord as to be certain that his will must be far better\nthan yours, and therefore you not only submit to it, but even rejoice\nin it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTrust the Lord Jesus in the matter of _sanctification_. Certain friends\nappear to think that the Lord Jesus cannot sanctify them wholly,\nspirit, soul, and body. Hence they willingly give way to such and such\nsins under the notion that there is no help for it, but that they must\npay tribute to the devil as long as they live in that particular form.\nDo not basely bow your neck in bondage to any sin, but strike hard\nfor liberty. Be it anger, or unbelief, or sloth, or any other form of\niniquity, we are able, by divine grace, to drive out the Canaanite,\nand, what is more, we must drive him out. No virtue is impossible to\nhim that believeth in Jesus, and no sin need have victory over him.\nIndeed, it is written, \"Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye\nare not under the law, but under grace.\" Believe for high degrees\nof joy in the Lord, and likeness to Jesus, and advance to take full\npossession of these precious things; for as thou believest, so shall it\nbe unto thee. \"All things are possible to him that believeth\"; and he\nwho is the chief of sinners may yet be not a whit behind the greatest\nof saints.\n\nOften realize the joy of heaven. This is grand faith; and yet it is\nno more than we ought to have. Within a very short time the man who\nbelieves in the Lord Jesus shall be with him where he is. This head\nwill wear a crown; these eyes shall see the King in his beauty; these\nears shall hear his own dear voice; this soul shall be in glory; and\nthis poor body shall be raised from the dead and joined in incorruption\nto the perfected soul! Glory, glory, glory! And so near, so sure. Let\nus at once rehearse the music and anticipate the bliss!\n\nBut cries one, \"We are not there yet.\" No: but faith fills us with\ndelight in the blessed prospect, and meanwhile it sustains us on the\nroad. Reader, I long that you may be a firm believer in the Lord alone.\nI want you to get wholly upon the rock, and not keep a foot on the\nsand. In this mortal life _trust God for all things_; and trust him\nalone. This is the way to live. I know it by experience. God's bare arm\nis quite enough to lean upon. I will give you a bit of the experience\nof an old labouring man I once knew. He feared God above many, and was\nvery deeply taught of the Spirit. My picture will show you what kind\nof a man he was--great at hedging and ditching; but greater at simple\ntrust. Here is how he described faith:--\"It was a bitter winter, and I\nhad no work, and no bread in the house. The children were crying. The\nsnow was deep, and my way was dark. My old master told me I might have\na bit of wood when I wanted it; so I thought a bit of fire would warm\nthe poor children, and I went out with my chopper to get some fuel. I\nwas standing near a deep ditch full of snow, which had drifted into it\nmany feet deep--in fact, I did not know how deep. While aiming a blow\nat a bit of wood my bill-hook slipped out of my hand, and went right\ndown into the snow, where I could not hope to find it. Standing there\nwith no food, no fire, and the chopper gone, something seemed to say to\nme, 'Will Richardson, can you trust God now?' and my very soul said,\n'That I can.'\" This is true faith--the faith which trusts the Lord when\nthe bill-hook is gone: the faith which believes God when all outward\nappearances give him the lie; the faith which is happy with God alone\nwhen all friends turn their backs upon you. Dear reader, may you and\nI have this precious faith, this real faith, this God-honouring faith!\nThe Lord's truth deserves it; his love claims it, his faithfulness\nconstrains it. Happy is he who has it! He is the man whom the Lord\nloves, and the world shall be made to know it before all is finished.\n\n[Illustration: OLD WILL, THE LABOURER.]\n\nAfter all, the very best faith is an everyday faith: the faith which\ndeals with bread and water, coats and stockings, children and cattle,\nhouse-rent and weather. The super-fine confectionery religion which\nis only available on Sundays, and in drawing-room meetings and Bible\nreadings, will never take a soul to heaven till life becomes one long\nConference, and there are seven Sabbaths in a week. Faith is doing her\nvery best when for many years she plods on, month by month, trusting\nthe Lord about the sick husband, the failing daughter, the declining\nbusiness, the unconverted friend, and such-like things.\n\nFaith also helps us to use the world as not abusing it. It is good at\nhard work, and at daily duty. It is not an angelic thing for skies and\nstars, but a human grace, at home in kitchens and workshops. It is\na sort of maid-of-all-work, and is at home at every kind of labour,\nand in every rank of life. It is a grace for every day, all the year\nround. Holy confidence in God is never out of work. Faith's ware is so\nvalued at the heavenly court that she always has one fine piece of work\nor another on the wheel or in the furnace. Men dream that heroes are\nonly to be made on special occasions, once or twice in a century; but\nin truth the finest heroes are home-spun, and are more often hidden in\nobscurity than platformed by public observation. Trust in the living\nGod is the bullion out of which heroism is coined. Perseverance in\nwell-doing is one of the fields in which faith grows not flowers, but\nthe wheat of her harvest. Plodding on in hard work, bringing up a\nfamily on a few shillings a week, bearing constant pain with patience,\nand so forth--these are the feats of valour through which God is\nglorified by the rank and file of his believing people.\n\nReader, you and I will be of one mind in this: we will not pine to be\ngreat, but we will be eager to be good. For this we will rely upon\nthe Lord our God, whose we are, and whom we serve. We will ask to be\nmade holy throughout every day of the week. We will pray to our God as\nmuch about our daily business as about our soul's salvation. We will\ntrust him concerning our farm, and our turnips and our cows as well as\nconcerning our spiritual privileges and our hope of heaven. The Lord\nJehovah is our household God; Jesus is our brother born for adversity;\nand the Holy Spirit is our Comforter in every hour of trial. We have\nnot an unapproachable God: he hears, he pities, he helps. Let us trust\nhim without a break, without a doubt, without a hesitation. The life\nof faith is life within God's wicket-gate. If we have hitherto stood\ntrembling outside in the wide world of unbelief, may the Holy Spirit\nenable us now to take the great decisive step, and say, once for all,\n\"Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief!\"\n\n\n\n\n          _Any book in this Catalogue sent postage prepaid on\n                        receipt of the price._\n\n\n\n\n                    RELIGIOUS AND DEVOTIONAL BOOKS\n\n                           PUBLISHED BY THE\n\n                        American Tract Society,\n                     10 East 23d Street, New York.\n\n\n      BOSTON, 54 Bromfield St.     PHILADELPHIA, 1512 Chestnut St.\n      ROCHESTER, 93 State St.      CHICAGO, 211-213 Wabash Avenue.\n      CINCINNATI, 176 Elm St.      SAN FRANCISCO, 735 Market St.\n\n\n                     ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.\n              By Thomas Laurie, D. D. With Illustrations.\n\nFrom the Preface: \"This volume does not claim to march in the front\nranks of Assyrian scholars. The writer has not excavated mounds\nhitherto unknown and interpreted the tablets he found there, as our own\n'Wolfe Expedition' has done so well. His has been the humbler aim of\nmaking a larger number acquainted with the work that has been done, and\nwith some at least of the results obtained. He has sought to gather up\nthe fragments, that nothing be lost; so that humble believers who have\nbeen startled by the noise of the battle now raging round the Word may\nhave their hearts reassured by the corroborations of the truth that lie\nstored up in every ancient mound, and are brought to light by the pick\nof the explorer.\n\n\"Many facts of history in the royal inscriptions, many incidents of\nthe daily life recorded on the tablets, illustrate and confirm the\nScripture record.\n\n\"One object of these pages has been to give a general idea of the\nprogress that has been made in this interesting department of\narch\u00e6ology.\"\n\n\n         AMUSEMENTS in the Light of Reason and the Scriptures.\n              By H. C. Haydn, D. D. 16mo. 162 pp. 75 cts.\n\n\n                        COMPANION TO THE BIBLE.\n    By Rev. E. P. Barrows, D. D. Large 12mo. 639 pp. Cloth, $1 75.\n\nDesigned to assist in the study of God's Word, containing a concise\nview of the Evidences of Revealed Religion as to the genuineness,\nintegrity, authenticity, and inspiration of the books of the Bible. It\nhas also a notice of each particular book, to prepare the reader to\nstudy it intelligently, and fills a place not occupied by either Bible\nDictionary or Commentary.\n\n\n                   SACRED GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES.\n    By Rev. E. P. Barrows, D. D. Five maps and numerous engravings.\n                   685 pp. Large 12mo. Cloth, $2 25.\n\nIn this faithfully prepared volume the scholar will find the most\nimportant information on all the topics included under the title\nfurnished by the large and costly works of the best and latest\nscholars. Palestine and all Bible lands are minutely described:\nthe domestic institutions and customs of the Jews, their dress,\nagriculture, sciences and arts; their forms of government, justice and\nmilitary affairs; their temple services, priesthood, sacrifices, and\nreligious customs.\n\n\n                     THE SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.\n   By Richard Baxter. Large type, fine edition. 12mo. 540 pp. $1 25.\n              18mo edition, smaller type. 453 pp. 50 cts.\n\n\n            THE PROGRESS OF DOCTRINE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.\n               By T. D. Bernard, M. A. 12mo. 250 pp. $1.\n\n\"The style is absolutely perfect. A broad, deep stream of fresh\nthought, in language as clear as crystal, flows through the whole\ndevout, instructive, quickening and inspiring work. This volume makes\nmy New Testament a new book to me.\"\n                                      REV. T. L. CUYLER, D. D.\n\n\n                             BIBLE ATLAS.\n         Containing 18 new and beautiful maps. Paper, 25 cts.\n\n\n                      BIBLE ATLAS AND GAZETTEER.\n                            4to. 32 pp. $1.\n\nContaining the following maps, printed from steel: General Map of the\nCountries named in the Bible; Route of the Israelites through the\nDesert; Holy Land in the Time of Samuel; Holy Land in the Time of\nChrist; Paul's Missionary Tours; Jerusalem in the Time of Christ.\n\n\n                           BIBLE TEXT-BOOK.\n                     12mo. 232 pp. Cloth, 90 cts.\n\nThis is a short yet very comprehensive cyclop\u00e6dia of the contents of\nthe Holy Scriptures; in fact, \"a _Topical_ Concordance.\" All Bible\nplaces, persons and subjects are arranged alphabetically, and under\neach word is given the texts bearing upon the same. This book has been\nmost carefully revised, very greatly enlarged, and is printed from new\nplates. It has the \"Bible Student's Manual,\" with indexes, tables of\nvarious kinds, and a complete set of maps. It is one of the most useful\nand complete \"Bible Helps\" published.\n\n\n             [Illustration: _From the \"Bible Dictionary\"_]\n\n\n                     DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE.\n    By Rev. W. W. Rand, D. D. 8vo. 720 pp. $2; morocco gilt, $3 50.\n\nRevised in the light of recent researches in Bible lands and enlarged\nfrom the popular edition, of which over 200,000 copies have been sold.\nIt is printed from new type in the best manner upon fine paper, with\nnew wood cuts, 16 of the whole number of 360 being elegant full-page\npictures, and strongly bound. Is an invaluable help to clergymen,\nSabbath-school teachers, and all other Bible students. Its 18 maps are\nfrom the latest authorities, and are printed in colors.\n\n\"All the more important information needed by the Sunday-school teacher\nor pastor, in connection with the study of the Bible, will be found in\nconcise shape in this beautiful and well-nigh perfect volume.\"\n                                           CHRISTIAN AT WORK.\n\n\n                    BIBLICAL HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY.\n             By H. S. Osborn, LL. D. 12mo. 312 pp. $1 25.\n\n\"It presents not only the consecutive history of the Bible in an\nattractive form, but brings much scholarship to bear on the various\nmonumental and topographical discoveries which help to a better\nunderstanding of the sacred text.\"\n                                                     INTERIOR.\n\n\n           FAMILY BIBLE, with brief Notes and Instructions.\n\nBy Justin Edwards, D. D., and E. P. Barrows, D. D. 4to. Sheep, dark,\n$4; Roan, panelled sides, gilt stamp and edge, $6; Persian morocco,\npanelled sides, gilt stamp and edge, $7 50; Levant morocco, padded\nsides, gilt edge, $10; Seal, padded sides, red under gold edge, $12.\n\nReferences and Marginal Reading of the Polyglot Bible, Harmony of\nthe Gospels, 6 Maps, 6 steel plates, Tables of Weights, Measures,\nChronology, etc., Bible Gazetteer, Family Record.\n\n\n                             FAMILY BIBLE.\n   The above Bible in pocket edition, with Notes, Maps, etc. 3 vols.\n                 18mo. 2,676 pp. Cloth, $3; sheep, $5.\n\nThe \"New York Methodist\" says, \"In accuracy and critical\ntrustworthiness no other annotated English Bible approaches this.\"\n\n\n                     FAMILY TESTAMENT AND PSALMS.\n     Taken from the 4to edition, with Notes, Maps, etc. Royal 8vo.\n             524 pp. Cloth, $1 75; gilt, $2 50; sheep, $3.\n\n\n                           FAMILY TESTAMENT.\n    With Notes, Maps, etc. Pocket edition. 800 pp. Cloth, $1; gilt,\n                 $1 40; sheep, $1 50; morocco, $3 50.\n\n\n                          THE SPIRIT OF LIFE.\n             By E. H. Bickersteth, D. D. 12mo. 192 pp. $1.\n\n\n                           BLIND BARTIMEUS.\n             By Moses D. Hoge, D. D. 18mo. 257 pp. 50 cts.\n\n\n                           BLENDING LIGHTS.\n                  By Dr. Fraser. 12mo. 439 pp. $1 25.\n\n\n                            BLOOD OF JESUS.\n                By Rev. Wm. Reid. 18mo. 128 pp. 25 cts.\n\n\n  [Illustration: _From the \"Pilgrim's Progress,\" 12mo edition._]\n\n\n                     BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.\n            With 129 illustrations. Quarto. 324 pp. $1 50.\n\n\"An exceedingly satisfactory edition. The illustrations are in general\nof an excellent style of German art. Many of them are full-page\npictures, and all of them are spirited and telling.\"\n                                                   EVANGELIST.\n\nAnother edition, with Chapman's illustrations. 12mo. 651 pp. $1.\n\nAnother edition. 18mo. Illustrated. 495 pp. 50 cts.\n\n\n                           BRIDAL SOUVENIR.\n     With Marriage Certificate. New edition. 16mo. 80 pp. 60 cts.\n\nThis dainty little book is composed of choice selections from popular\nwriters on the relations of husband and wife; suitable to present to\nthose joined in matrimony as a data and remembrance of the event. It is\nbound in dainty cloth, and put in a neat box.\n\n\n                      BOGATZKY'S GOLDEN TREASURY.\n              32mo. 510 pp. 60 cts.; gilt edges, 75 cts.\n\n\n                       THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD.\n             By Rev. F. Bourdillon. 12mo. 320 pp. 90 cts.\n\n\n                       BURDER'S VILLAGE SERMONS.\n                   Fifty-two sermons. 571 pp. $1 25.\n\n\n\n\n                      Books by E. F. Burr, D. D.\n\n\n                               AD FIDEM.\n                             12mo. $1 50.\n\n\n                          CELESTIAL EMPIRES.\n                    12mo. 19 illustrations. $1 50.\n\n\n                            ECCE COELUM.\n                               12mo. $1.\n\n\n                             PATER MUNDI.\n                           2 vols. 12mo. $2.\n\n\n                            SUPREME THINGS.\n                             12mo. $1 50.\n\n\n                         TEMPTED TO UNBELIEF.\n                             12mo. 50 cts.\n\n\n                          UNIVERSAL BELIEFS.\n                             12mo. 75 cts.\n\n\n                               LONG AGO.\n                               12mo. $1.\n\n\"The works of this author are all of them so good that to make a choice\nof any one of them as the 'supreme' effort of his life would not be\nan easy choice to make. Dr. Burr does his own thinking, and it is not\nnecessary to say how strikingly original he is in these works.\"\n                                           CHRISTIAN INQUIRER.\n\n\n\n\n               THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS and Other Sermons.\n              By David James Burrell, D. D. 12mo. $1 25.\n\n\n                          THE MORNING COMETH.\n         A new volume of sermons by Rev. David James Burrell,\n                          D. D. 12mo. $1 25.\n\n\"He uses vigorous, forceful Anglo-Saxon. He gives men something to\nthink about in every sermon, and puts it in a clear-cut way.\"\n                                                     INTERIOR.\n\n\n        HINTS AND HELPS ON THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSONS FOR 1894.\n                    By the Brothers Burrell. $1 25.\n\n\"Good and helpful.\" CHRISTIAN OBSERVER.\n\n\"Comprehensive and satisfactory.\" METHODIST PROTESTANT.\n\n\n                          STORY OF THE HYMNS.\n              By Hezekiah Butterworth. Large 12mo. $1 75.\n\n\n                          STORY OF THE TUNES.\n              By Hezekiah Butterworth. Large 12mo. $1 75.\n\n\"This is a charming book, and in every home where it goes it will add a\nnew interest to the hymns that are sung there.\"\n                                           METHODIST RECORDER.\n\n\n                  CENTRAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.\n             By Cairns, Wace, Row, and Thomson. 12mo. $1.\n\n\"In this volume are brought together the irrefragible modern arguments\nfor the truth of Christianity, perspicuously put and masterly handled.\"\n                                         METHODIST PROTESTANT.\n\n\n                       ASTRONOMICAL DISCOURSES.\n                By Thomas Chalmers, D. D. 12mo. 70 cts.\n\n\n                             MODERN DOUBT.\n                   By Theodore Christlieb. 8vo. $3.\n\n\n                     CLARKE'S SCRIPTURE PROMISES.\n       32mo. 40 cts.; gilt edges, 50 cts.; thin paper, calf, $1.\n\n\n                          CLEWS TO HOLY WRIT.\n    A Scheme for Studying the whole Bible in its Historical Order.\n              By Miss M. L. G. Petrie, M. A. 12mo. $1 50.\n\n\"The scholarship shown in its plan and execution is of a high order;\nits tone is eminently evangelical, spiritual and devout.\"\n                                           EPISCOPAL RECORDER.\n\n\n                            COME TO JESUS.\n             By Newman Hall. Cloth, 15 cts.; paper, 4 cts.\n\n\n                         CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE.\n                 Edited by Dr. Eadie. 8vo. 561 pp. $1.\n\nThis book, containing 150,000 distinct references to passages in the\nScriptures, is invaluable to the student of the Word. It gives not only\nthe reference but also the connection, thus enabling a person with ease\nto find the passage sought. It is printed in plain, clear type, on fine\npaper, making an elegant octavo volume of 561 pages.\n\n\n                          POCKET CONCORDANCE.\n                             16mo. 50 cts.\n\n\n                          CRUMBS OF COMFORT.\n     By Mrs. F. A. Noble. Square 24mo. White cloth, gilt, 40 cts.\n\n\"This is a sweet little book and will bring joy to many a sorrowing\nheart. To parents who have been deprived of their children by death it\nwill be specially comforting and welcome.\"\n                                              CENTRAL BAPTIST.\n\n\n\n\n                   Books by Rev. T. L. Cuyler, D. D.\n\n\n                              HEART LIFE.\n                             18mo. 50 cts.\n\n\n                            NEWLY ENLISTED.\n              Square 24mo. Cloth, 50 cts; paper, 25 cts.\n\n\n                           WAYSIDE SPRINGS.\n                             16mo. 50 cts.\n\n\n                            THOUGHT HIVES.\n                             12mo. $1 25.\n\n\"Dr. Cuyler is always earnest, fervid, intensely practical, and so\nof necessity interesting and impressive. These brief papers address\nthemselves to all classes and conditions of men, reaching just those\nexperiences which are at the same time the most common and the most\nprofound.\"\n                                       WATCHMAN AND REFLECTOR.\n\n\n\n\n         HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION in the Sixteenth Century.\n            By J. H. Merle D'Aubigne. 5 vols. 12mo. $3 50.\n\n\"It was Dr. Merle's good fortune to be a disciple of the modern school\nof history, which is wholly opposed to any mere re-handling, however\nskilful, of old materials, and demands a thorough and constant resort\nto the sources. Nothing is to be taken at second hand, much less by\nguess-work, but original authorities must be consulted throughout.\nThe evidences of this conscientious diligence are to be seen on every\npage.\"\n                                      CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER.","title":"Around the Wicket Gate: or, a friendly talk with seekers concerning faith in the Lord Jesus Christ","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":21635}